Mark Rigney's Blog - Posts Tagged "novels"
Horror-ific Prose for Halloween and Beyond
First, for those wondering about my first Goodreads giveaway of Check-Out Time, your copies are in the mail. Media mail, to be precise, so be patient––but they should arrive with you shortly, shortly, shortly. Enjoy! (And if you do, please consider posting a review; this site, and others, are highly interactive.)
Also, Ginger Nuts Of Horror just posted a nice long interview with me, which you can find here:
http://www.gingernutsofhorror.com/5/p...
Now then. Today's topic...
These past few days, as I drive around town, I’ve been entertaining myself with the audio book of John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I must say I was delighted to discover that le Carré had named one of his central characters Control.
Up until about the age of forty-five (and no, I’m not yet fifty), I was frightened of so many things that it was difficult, at times, to keep track. Monsters under the bed. Darkness. Tentacles. Other people’s opinion. The Wicked Witch Of the West. Deep water.
Now that I’m older and wiser and frightened of nothing, I look back and try to find commonalities. Perhaps, I tell myself, my fiction all springs from some discrete source, a point of origin that, if I could but pinpoint it, would reveal everything I’d ever want to know about both myself and what to write next.
So far, my best answer is “control.”
It’s a broad umbrella, that’s sure, the proverbial Big Tent, if I may borrow a political term. If one is afraid of losing control, then everything but everything comes replete with a barge-load of requisite terror.
My Renner & Quist tales bear out the hypothesis. My semi-dynamic duo begin each adventure by unwittingly surrendering control, or, as in Sleeping Bear especially, having it wrenched bodily away from them. Chaos ensues, and chaos, as any frightened soul can tell you, is profoundly terrifying.
Check-Out Time, the newest of my Renner & Quist tales, forces both my heroes into territory well beyond their usual stomping grounds. First, they wind up in a different city. Second, they have to cope with an entire building that’s long-demolished but semi-sentient. That kind of breakdown in reality signals clearly that just about anything can happen.
What could be more alarming than the idea that anything can happen?
Explicitly or implicitly, the past masters of horror have all understood that rules provide security, and that security tends to obviate drama in favor of comfort’s cozy, fireside slippers. How to add spice, drama, terror? Pull the rug out. Ship the mariners off to Cthulhu’s private island; plunge the exploring teens into a haunted house that really is haunted.
As I work on crafting the next Renner & Quist title, issues of control will be constantly on my mind––simmering, as it were. And if my characters find their feet before stories’ end, then I’ll know I’ve done it wrong. To push them to the brink, and to bring readers with them, the last thing I’ll want to do is to put Renner & Quist entirely, comfortably, in any given driver’s seat.
Finally, come visit my website, where you can find a snippet of this latest Renner & Quist, plus related links and excerpted (glowing) reviews.
http://www.markrigney.net/Rigney/Chec...
Back to work now.
Onward.
Also, Ginger Nuts Of Horror just posted a nice long interview with me, which you can find here:
http://www.gingernutsofhorror.com/5/p...
Now then. Today's topic...
These past few days, as I drive around town, I’ve been entertaining myself with the audio book of John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I must say I was delighted to discover that le Carré had named one of his central characters Control.
Up until about the age of forty-five (and no, I’m not yet fifty), I was frightened of so many things that it was difficult, at times, to keep track. Monsters under the bed. Darkness. Tentacles. Other people’s opinion. The Wicked Witch Of the West. Deep water.
Now that I’m older and wiser and frightened of nothing, I look back and try to find commonalities. Perhaps, I tell myself, my fiction all springs from some discrete source, a point of origin that, if I could but pinpoint it, would reveal everything I’d ever want to know about both myself and what to write next.
So far, my best answer is “control.”
It’s a broad umbrella, that’s sure, the proverbial Big Tent, if I may borrow a political term. If one is afraid of losing control, then everything but everything comes replete with a barge-load of requisite terror.
My Renner & Quist tales bear out the hypothesis. My semi-dynamic duo begin each adventure by unwittingly surrendering control, or, as in Sleeping Bear especially, having it wrenched bodily away from them. Chaos ensues, and chaos, as any frightened soul can tell you, is profoundly terrifying.
Check-Out Time, the newest of my Renner & Quist tales, forces both my heroes into territory well beyond their usual stomping grounds. First, they wind up in a different city. Second, they have to cope with an entire building that’s long-demolished but semi-sentient. That kind of breakdown in reality signals clearly that just about anything can happen.
What could be more alarming than the idea that anything can happen?
Explicitly or implicitly, the past masters of horror have all understood that rules provide security, and that security tends to obviate drama in favor of comfort’s cozy, fireside slippers. How to add spice, drama, terror? Pull the rug out. Ship the mariners off to Cthulhu’s private island; plunge the exploring teens into a haunted house that really is haunted.
As I work on crafting the next Renner & Quist title, issues of control will be constantly on my mind––simmering, as it were. And if my characters find their feet before stories’ end, then I’ll know I’ve done it wrong. To push them to the brink, and to bring readers with them, the last thing I’ll want to do is to put Renner & Quist entirely, comfortably, in any given driver’s seat.
Finally, come visit my website, where you can find a snippet of this latest Renner & Quist, plus related links and excerpted (glowing) reviews.
http://www.markrigney.net/Rigney/Chec...
Back to work now.
Onward.
Upcoming: Bonesy
Hello Readers,
Bonesy, my latest novel, arrives on NetGalley on July 1, and will be available to one and all come September 1.
If you haven't yet caught up with its three prequels, here's a link to my author page at Samhain Publishing:
https://www.samhainpublishing.com/aut...
I might also suggest reading (free!) the short story that started it all, and one that, as of today (6/26/15), is no longer much of a risk since it now channels rather than anticipates the new direction of our nation as regards gender and marriage. Check it out, and you'll see what I mean. It's called "A Perfect Wedded Bliss" and you can find it at my website:
http://www.markrigney.net/Rigney/Perf...
If you wish, for whatever reason, to know more about me as a writer and all around gadfly, a brand new and extensive interview has been posted over at YouAreEntitledToMyOpinion:
http://youareentitledtomyopinioninter...
Frankly, it was a fun interview all 'round. My thanks to site owner Scott Lefebvre for including me.
If you're in the neighborhood of Indianapolis come August, stop by the Indy Fringe Festival and come see "The Shout," a topical (but comedic!) one-act that I'll be debuting, courtesy of In the Mix Ensemble. Rehearsals start in four weeks, and I can't wait. I'm in love with my cast, not to mention my director. This is good, since my director is also my wife.
August 7 update: showtimes for "The Shout," which is looking great in rehearsal, may be found here:
http://inthemixensemble.org/?page_id=41
Also: Bonesy has received its first review! It's a Youtube review, of all things, from The Low Budget Review Show.
Did host Erik Smith LOVE it?
Yep.
Here's the link. Much discussion of plot, but after the ten-minute mark he gets on to the superlatives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKC9F...
There. That's the news from my particular writer's garret.
All my best, as always, and keep your eyes peeled for giveaways of both Check-Out Time and Bonesy. Both are imminent!
Onward.
Bonesy, my latest novel, arrives on NetGalley on July 1, and will be available to one and all come September 1.
If you haven't yet caught up with its three prequels, here's a link to my author page at Samhain Publishing:
https://www.samhainpublishing.com/aut...
I might also suggest reading (free!) the short story that started it all, and one that, as of today (6/26/15), is no longer much of a risk since it now channels rather than anticipates the new direction of our nation as regards gender and marriage. Check it out, and you'll see what I mean. It's called "A Perfect Wedded Bliss" and you can find it at my website:
http://www.markrigney.net/Rigney/Perf...
If you wish, for whatever reason, to know more about me as a writer and all around gadfly, a brand new and extensive interview has been posted over at YouAreEntitledToMyOpinion:
http://youareentitledtomyopinioninter...
Frankly, it was a fun interview all 'round. My thanks to site owner Scott Lefebvre for including me.
If you're in the neighborhood of Indianapolis come August, stop by the Indy Fringe Festival and come see "The Shout," a topical (but comedic!) one-act that I'll be debuting, courtesy of In the Mix Ensemble. Rehearsals start in four weeks, and I can't wait. I'm in love with my cast, not to mention my director. This is good, since my director is also my wife.
August 7 update: showtimes for "The Shout," which is looking great in rehearsal, may be found here:
http://inthemixensemble.org/?page_id=41
Also: Bonesy has received its first review! It's a Youtube review, of all things, from The Low Budget Review Show.
Did host Erik Smith LOVE it?
Yep.
Here's the link. Much discussion of plot, but after the ten-minute mark he gets on to the superlatives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKC9F...
There. That's the news from my particular writer's garret.
All my best, as always, and keep your eyes peeled for giveaways of both Check-Out Time and Bonesy. Both are imminent!
Onward.
Bones On the Run!
Hello Readers,
Bonesy, my latest novel, has arrived as of September 1, and as of today, Sept. 23, the two giveaways I just ran are concluded, and the winners' books are in the mail. Bonesy has received very positive (even ecstatic) reviews from Horror Maiden, Black Gate, and the Low Budget Book Review.
If you haven't yet caught up with Renner & Quist, here's a link to my author page at Samhain Publishing:
https://www.samhainpublishing.com/aut...
I might also suggest reading (free!) the short story that started it all, and one that is no longer much of a risk since it now channels rather than anticipates the new direction of our nation as regards gender and marriage. Check it out, and you'll see what I mean. It's called "A Perfect Wedded Bliss" and you can find it at my website:
http://www.markrigney.net/Rigney/Perf...
If you wish, for whatever reason, to know more about me as a writer and all around gadfly, a brand new and extensive interview has been posted over at YouAreEntitledToMyOpinion:
http://youareentitledtomyopinioninter...
Frankly, it was a fun interview all 'round. My thanks to site owner Scott Lefebvre for including me.
For reviews (positive!) and a good many links to my various writing projects, please visit my webpage:
http://www.markrigney.net/Rigney/Home...
There. That's the news from my particular writer's garret.
Now to add another two thousand words to my latest project, a brand-new novel...and one not even remotely in the ballpark of horror. Let's hope I'm as multi-talented as I think I am, eh?
: )
Onward!
Bonesy, my latest novel, has arrived as of September 1, and as of today, Sept. 23, the two giveaways I just ran are concluded, and the winners' books are in the mail. Bonesy has received very positive (even ecstatic) reviews from Horror Maiden, Black Gate, and the Low Budget Book Review.
If you haven't yet caught up with Renner & Quist, here's a link to my author page at Samhain Publishing:
https://www.samhainpublishing.com/aut...
I might also suggest reading (free!) the short story that started it all, and one that is no longer much of a risk since it now channels rather than anticipates the new direction of our nation as regards gender and marriage. Check it out, and you'll see what I mean. It's called "A Perfect Wedded Bliss" and you can find it at my website:
http://www.markrigney.net/Rigney/Perf...
If you wish, for whatever reason, to know more about me as a writer and all around gadfly, a brand new and extensive interview has been posted over at YouAreEntitledToMyOpinion:
http://youareentitledtomyopinioninter...
Frankly, it was a fun interview all 'round. My thanks to site owner Scott Lefebvre for including me.
For reviews (positive!) and a good many links to my various writing projects, please visit my webpage:
http://www.markrigney.net/Rigney/Home...
There. That's the news from my particular writer's garret.
Now to add another two thousand words to my latest project, a brand-new novel...and one not even remotely in the ballpark of horror. Let's hope I'm as multi-talented as I think I am, eh?
: )
Onward!
The Skinny
So, one of my publishers, and the one that has been handling my Renner & Quist titles, is going belly up. That's right, out of business! This happens all the time in the world of publishing, especially with small presses, and eventually my rights will revert back to me, at which point I can sell them all over again to someone else. It'll be incumbent on me, in the meantime, to make a dent with fresh material such that R&Q will be attractive to somebody else.
Anyway, here's my point: if you have been putting off purchasing any of my Renner & Quist titles, including THE SKATES, SLEEPING BEAR, CHECK-OUT TIME, and BONESY, don't delay any longer. The exact date of Samhain's final breath is very much up in the air, but once they're gone, it will be quite difficult to order these titles, at least for the foreseeable future..
So. Carpe diem, and such.
In the meantime, you can find additional details of what I've got out and available in print, including plays, stories, and non-fiction, at my website:
http://www.markrigney.net/Rigney/Home...
Come visit!
And I wish you the best in your reading life and beyond.
: )
Mark
Anyway, here's my point: if you have been putting off purchasing any of my Renner & Quist titles, including THE SKATES, SLEEPING BEAR, CHECK-OUT TIME, and BONESY, don't delay any longer. The exact date of Samhain's final breath is very much up in the air, but once they're gone, it will be quite difficult to order these titles, at least for the foreseeable future..
So. Carpe diem, and such.
In the meantime, you can find additional details of what I've got out and available in print, including plays, stories, and non-fiction, at my website:
http://www.markrigney.net/Rigney/Home...
Come visit!
And I wish you the best in your reading life and beyond.
: )
Mark
