Category Archives: Bad Apple
Recommendation: DOLL CRIMES, by Karen Runge
If you’ve read my novel Bad Apple and enjoyed it, then don’t miss out on Karen Runge’s Doll Crimes.
This is a gorgeously written, terrifying examination of the complicated mother-daughter relationship; how they love and respect each other despite flaws; how they can damage each other no matter the depth of that love. This is real-life horror that reaches into the very bones of any woman who has loved her mother or daughter despite emotional crimes, big or small. Rife with sharp, stunning details and strong internal narrative, it’s possibly one of the most moving, visually beautiful–and yet accessible–books I’ve ever read, fraught with tension, sadness–and a strange kind of joy, because no matter where we are in our relationships with our mothers or daughters, their men, and the people who have done them wrong, we know that we are not alone. If you love dark fiction and are a mother, daughter, or both; or, if you have struggled with that emotionally fragile, yet seemingly unbreakable, bond between you, then this book is for you. High recommend.
Doll Crimes is published by Crystal Lake Publishing. It’s available everywhere, but here’s the Amazon link for ease: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1646693140/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_aRO5DbJF27VPK
Still haven’t read my book Bad Apple? You can get it here: http://bit.ly/BadAppleKPS
My mother (left) and I didn’t have the easiest relationship. She died when she was 39 and I was 15. DOLL CRIMES really spoke to me.
Adam the Woo explores HALLOWEEN filming locations
I’ve always loved seeing “then and nows,” especially when it involves a location such as a no-longer operating amusement park, hotel, or town. In the spirit of all things abandoned, here’s a then-and-now short that Adam the Woo (a popular urban explorer I follow) did on the filming locations for John Carpenter’s Halloween, which includes scenes from the film for comparison.
If you like all things abandoned, you might want to pick up either the upcoming Ink Stains Volume 7: Decay, or my novel Bad Apple.
Out they go…
This stack of drafts was in a copy box in my basement. The novel was edited/revised seven times. One of the drafts is missing because I bound and gave it away to a reader.
One of the toughest things about being a writer is getting rid of clutter. While it’s a given we need our project materials, as well as the things that inspire us (anyone remember that picture of Ray Bradbury’s office?), there’s more: old projects and stacks of drafts.
While it’s gotten much easier since the age of electronic documents (I can keep drafts in a compact form now), there are still times when paper accumulates…and forget about years ago, when everything was done on paper. My most recent project has been to take paper drafts of stories, scan them into PDFs, and store them that way.
Bad Apple took two years to write and revise, then another two years of polish once the novel was sold to Dark Alley Press. What resulted were seven giant drafts peppered with notes and Post-It flags, wine and coffee stains. A few years back I took one of the early drafts, bound it, and gave it to a reader as a gift–but other than that, they were all there.
Scanning these all to PDF, I felt, was going to be a waste of time and energy–am I ever going to look at these again?Who is going to give a crap, anyway? So…I made a deal with myself. I photographed the pile. Just so I’d always have it to remember.
Then off to the shredder it went.
Bad Apple was published by Dark Alley Press in 2012. You can get your copy here: http://a.co/htRbr9v
Take time out for the Taco Society Presents!
A close-up of one component of the “set,” which is computer-generated imagery (yes! CGI!)
Recently, friend and fellow writer Stacey Longo and I had the privilege of traveling to Goffstown, New Hampshire, to appear on The Taco Society Presents!–a local access television program showcasing genre writers and their work.
The Taco Society’s name is inspired by Read the rest of this entry
THE SMOKING POET: BAD APPLE sends “shiver of delightful creepiness up and down the spine”; interview sheds light on book’s real locations
The Smoking Poet, which published my short story “Incident at Dark Acres” in its Winter 2010-2011 Issue #17, has given Bad Apple Read the rest of this entry
BAD APPLE makes “best of” lists
Every once in a while you find out something that just makes your day. Recently, I discovered my novel Bad Apple was listed on a couple of Favorites/Best Of Lists (and in all the wedding planning and post-wedding clean-up chaos I missed it). So it was a nice surprise to find out that
Literary Mayhem’s Peter Schwotzer, who reviewed the book last year, named it to his My Favorite Books for 2013 List here and science fiction writer Brady Allen recommended it on his Way Out There blog as 8 Books You Might Like here.
In addition, Elissa Malcohn recommended it in connection with caregiving, as Bad Apple is the story of my experience with youth caregiving told through the lens of fiction. Read her interview over at The Genius Salon here.
Snowed in? No problem! The SFSN Story Bundle is here!
Every once in awhile some awesome comes my way, and this month was no exception. Bad Apple was selected to appear in the SciFi Saturday Night Story Bundle. What’s story bundle? In a nutshell, it’s pay what you want for a group of five to seven e-books (what’s even cooler is it includes Michael J. Sullivan’s Hollow World!!). It’s live now – but only for a limited time; it’s gone forever on February 17! More info is below; don’t miss out on this opportunity to get seven great e-books: For very little dough, entertainment in the snow (groan)! To get your set from now through Feb. 17, click here: http://storybundle.com/main.
STORYBUNDLE’S SCI-FI SATURDAY NIGHT BUNDLE FEATURES SEVEN OF THE PODCAST’S FAVORITE BOOKS
StoryBundle’s proud to present the Sci-Fi Saturday Night Bundle, a collection of 7 titles curated exclusively by Sci-Fi Saturday Night. The popular podcast’s hosts each chose their favorite authors and we’re proud to feature the collection together for the first time anywhere. I’ll let them explain: Read the rest of this entry
Writers: Need to Ground?
In today’s world, being a writer is, I believe, much more difficult than it used to be; there are so many opportunities, so many things to do in terms of marketing and promotion, and, quite frankly, a lot of push to be busy, busy, busy to advance—and if I’m not “advancing” by my own standards, it gets depressing. Read the rest of this entry
Sci-Fi Saturday Night gives Bad Apple a rave review!
Sci-Fi Saturday Night’s Zombrarian.
Sci-Fi Saturday Night’s The Dome and Zombrarian gave Bad Apple rave reviews! Zombrarian noted “You know a book is really good horror when it leaves you feeling set adrift and raw—and Bad Apple did that for me,” and Dome wrote “The characters are real and that reality is stark, bitter, and at the same time maddeningly beautiful.” To read both reviews, visit SFSN’s site at http://www.scifisaturdaynight.com/?p=6592.
