Blog Archives
New story and essay, novel excerpt AVAILABLE NOW in FREE SIRENS CALL EZINE ISSUE 60!
BIG NEWS!! I’m ecstatic to announce that Sirens Call eZine Issue #60—FREE to download—not only contains my story, “What the Ocean Knows,” but, because they honored me with being featured author, also contains an essay, “Whispers Beneath the Lines: Dark Fiction’s Power to Heal” and a longer excerpt from my novel, Bad Apple! This giant issue also features Read the rest of this entry
This writing chick’s got fingers crossed for an even more fabulous year …
Another year has passed … for me, it’s “Already?” Well, they say time flies when you’re having fun, and quite honestly, my 2021 was pretty awesome. I went to or held a few really fun virtual parties (including my 50th birthday!), and got to visit some favorite and new places: twice to Mystic, a few times to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, to a retreat on Cape Cod, and to Salem for the first time. I attended two virtual Cons–StokerCon and the HP Lovecraft Film Festival–and, with my co-chair David Griffith, got the Horror Writers Association’s Connecticut Chapter off the ground. Horrorfest with my cousin returned. I read some amazing books, both issues of 34 Orchard were successful, and I was honored to participate in two online readings as well as be a guest at a few online high school and college classes. And me and Nathan got to spend many an evening watching movies in the comfort of our living room–something we have always enjoyed, but never seemed to have much time to do pre-pandemic.
But it was the Read the rest of this entry
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.
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
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.
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.
A Caregiving Journey
Recently discovering an organization like the American Association of Caregiving Youth and pledging to support it (see here) has opened up some interesting doors. First, I learned about a website called Caregiving.com when someone on my Broad Universe list who is a member there posted about her reading the book Bad Apple (http://www.caregiving.com/2012/10my-next-leisure-read/). That website, which is a wonderful resource and online community for caregivers (those who care for loved ones), has a podcast called Your Caregiving Journey, onto which I was invited to talk about my experiences as a youth caregiver.
Interestingly enough, discussing some of these issues on the air has not only allowed me to really think about how I have learned from my youth caregiving experiences (and how they have affected me as a person and as a writer), but has also allowed me to come to grips with the fact that there are so many youth and adults out there today putting their lives on hold for others. That there are, essentially, still people in the world out there now doing what I was then. And I think that’s one of the most difficult things to overcome about being a caregiver, whether you are doing it as a youth or as an adult: it can be isolating. Websites/Online Communities like Caregiving.com and podcasts like Your Caregiving Journey help to decrease that sense of isolation and create an environment in which caregivers can share their sorrows—and their joys. While I am hopeful that I will never be in that situation again as an adult, I am very grateful to know that in case I ever am, there are places to go for support.
If you know someone who is a caregiver as a youth or adult, help guide them to some of these great resources. Or reach out. You might just change the course of a life.
Below are some resource links, followed by the two episodes of Your Caregiving Journey on which I’ve appeared so far. I will be appearing on Your Caregiving Journey again on December 10 to talk about Identity and Choice.
Caregiving.com
Caregiving.com is a community of family caregivers sharing their stories, support and solutions.
Your Caregiving Journey (Podcast)
Hosted by Denise Brown, the podcast of Caregiving.com which touches upon various caregiving-related issues—everything from managing your anger and Holiday stress to being productive, daily living and beyond. http://www.caregiving.com/articles/your-caregiving-journey-talk-show/
National Alliance for Caregiving
Family Caregiving 101
http://www.familycaregiving101.org
FamilyCaregiving101.org: If you’re caring for another person who is ill or disabled, this site is a place to find assistance and answers.
The American Association of Caregiving Youth
Interviews on Your Caregiving Journey
November 7, 2012: “The Story Always Gets Out”
http://www.caregiving.com/2012/11/the-story-always-gets-out/
November 7, 2012 (Podcast): “Helping Our Youngest Family Caregivers”
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/caregiving/2012/11/05/helping-our-youngest-family-caregivers
November 19, 2012: “What’s Your Choice?”
http://www.caregiving.com/2012/11/whats-your-choice/
November 19, 2012 (Podcast): “Where’s the Choice?”
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/caregiving/2012/11/19/wheres-the-choice
The Bad Apple Party: We took a bite out of Youth Caregiving!
An edible centerpiece. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
With the first nine months of 2012 consumed by our wedding and honeymoon, everyone said I was crazy to do it: hold a signing and release party for my emerging dark YA novel Bad Apple, which was published by Vagabondage Press Books on September 25 (the day we happened to be flying home from Walt Disney World). Still, I love a good celebration, and I love to throw good celebrations. And with so much to be thankful for, the opportunity to hold a release and signing party—as well as a benefit for the American Association of Caregiving Youth, which I’d only just discovered—was a thing to be taken.
So, on November 17—the only day I could really do it (I’d have only about six weeks to plan and get the house ready, and any later would railroad into the Holidays)—forty or so friends and supporters gathered at my house to toast to Bad Apple and raise a few dollars for a cause close to my heart. The party alone generated close to one hundred dollars for the AACY: not bad with the biggest spending season of the year about to descend and in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which I know has cut into many of my friends’ wallets, not just with their own repairs but with reaching out to others who didn’t fare the storm as well.
Here are photos. Enjoy!
We have a miniature cemetery we set up every year just outside our front stoop (it has been called “The Cemetery of Dismembered Dolls” in prior entries: http://kristipetersenschoonover.com/2010/10/21/the-cemetery-of-dismembered-dolls/). It is normally on display between September 15 until just after Halloween, but with the wedding and everything, it only got set up sometime in late October. Because Bad Apple is, after all, a horror novel, I thought it might be fun to leave it up for the party. Each year we add more pieces, but the candles are always present. It looks really neat after dark.
The signing area.
No party is complete without favors (or as my parents used to call them way back in the 1970s, “goody bags.”). My friend Suzanne Zuckerman and I worked hard to figure out what was going to go in them—items relative to the book—and she came over the night before to help me put them together. I had originally wanted the brown handled bags many apple orchards give out to happy pickers, but I couldn’t find any the right size that were in my budget, so I settled for plain brown paper lunch bags (also relevant to the book, since Scree makes brown bag lunches for herself and family members). It worked out perfectly.
A long shot photo of everything that went into the bags. Each item had some relevance to Bad Apple.
From left:
An apple-themed refrigerator memo pad, which Scree mentions: “Her magnetic “Shopping List” pad on the refrigerator reminded me that I was in my summer camp play next Thursday, I needed bright yellow tights, and I had to return my library book on hornets. At the bottom of the page, near some artwork of dancing apples, she had scrawled “beer.” (Page 6). A deck of cards, which feature prominently in the book: “Thanks to her friend Russell, Scree becomes obsessed with Speed Solitaire. I don’t know why I chose this particular card game—probably because it’s the only one I really know how to play, and, in fact, play quite often. Here’s how to play Solitaire Yukon, the type with which most people are familiar (when you really get into solitaire, you find there are several variations—you can learn about them all here: http://absolutist.com/solitaire/yukon_solitaire.html).” A Yankee Candle Red Apple Wreath scented tealight, which might be reminiscent of what Scree’s kitchen smells like: “I took over most of the domestic duties and lived in a daily caravan of dishes, cleaning products, and burnt apple pie crusts.” (Page 9)
Suzanne Zuckerman handmade white chocolate hearts to mark one of the most significant phrases in the book: “She got broken, and nobody knew how to fix her…She had things wrong in her broken head, and that was because of her broken heart.” (Pages 182-183). The folio beneath the chocolates contained information about each item in the gift bag as well as instructions on how to play solitaire (one form of it, anyway) and a simplified recipe for Stained Glass Cookies, which are also discussed in the book.
Pretzels: “Finally, she pulled out not a piece of paper, but the back of a pretzel package. “I thought,” she said, “that for our wedding favors, we would make pretzels and tie them with white and orange ribbons… I reached my hand out to take the article from her.
She smiled. “They were a very important part of the marriage ceremony, like, way back four hundred years ago when the world was so much more connected to nature,” she said. “I thought since it was in an orchard and everything—” (Pages 34-35). And Green Apple Candy Corn, Caramel Candy Corn, and Caramels, since I really didn’t have time to make full-blown candy apples (and they would not have traveled well): “I understood needing crates of apples, to eat, to make pies, cider, caramel apples, tarts, spice cakes, cookies, slices for Beckitt—there were never enough apples to supply the masses, because they had so many intricate uses.” (Page 54)
Pushpins: “That was frustrating, sometimes, too, because of the colors of the pushpins. The general store, down by the lake, was an antique, all squeaky boards and the overpowering odor of chicken feed and rusty metal. It didn’t have what anyone would call a diverse selection of products, and that included pushpins: They didn’t carry the clear ones. All they had were boxes of the multi-colored ones. I had to buy several boxes because if I was tacking up a green shirt with green pins, I might need twelve green pieces to do it, and, very often, there weren’t twelve of one color per box. It was okay if I had colors that complemented the color of the shirt, but even then, I had to watch the balance: yellow pins or red pins were okay for an orange shirt, but three yellow pins and seven red pins together were not okay for that one orange shirt. Sometimes, the pushpins popped clear of the wall, and if they did that, I ripped all my shirts down and swore at them and threatened to put them in boxes if they didn’t behave.” (Page 29)
Our foyer, lit for the event. What’s creepy is that this picture almost looks like the Bad Apple cover.
Scott and Trisha Wooldridge came all the way from Massachusetts for the party! Trisha is the President of Broad Universe. Her YA novel, The Kelpie, is forthcoming from Spencer Hill Press in 2013.
The spread in the dining room. We had another table of food in the kitchen, but I don’t think anyone got a shot of that. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
My cousin Maryanne—who has been coming down to help me get ready for parties for at least 13 years, possibly longer—and my friend Manzino, whom I met back when I was doing community theatre in 1995.
A small display in my living room.
Me, Maryanne, and Nathan. LOVE his Dr. Who bowtie!
Nathan and Suzanne.
Oh, my. Let the partying begin.
Scott Wooldridge took charge of thawing the shrimp. He is all kinds of awesome!
A gathering in the living room. From left, Jim—a friend from Pencils! Days—Suzanne and Adam Zuckerman, Nathan, and my dear writing friend Al, who writes under AJ Profeta. He and I also go back to Pencils! In 2005.
A close-up of the signing table. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Adam and Suzanne. I have known both of them since 2001, when I volunteered at the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.
Carla and her husband Frank. I have known Carla since Middle School, possibly earlier.
Adam, Manzino, and my friend Jen L, whom I’ve also known since 2001 and my days at the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. My favorite memory of hanging out with Jen is watching “Mommy Dearest” in her old West Haven apartment (she hasn’t lived there in many years). Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
AJ O’Connell, who was in the original Pencils! Writing Workshop with me beginning in 2004 and who is now the author of Beware the Hawk from Vagabondage Press Books, me, and Michael Klous, whom I’ve known since probably First Grade.
Me and my friend Dawn. Dawn and I grew up in the same church back in New Milford, and she and her family used to come to our place up in the Adirondacks all the time. She was also my babysitter who corrupted us back in the early 1980s by letting us listen to Hall and Oates while she worked on her Gregg shorthand homework. Ha! The things I remember!
Nathan.
Our friends Melissa and Marc.
Greg Logsted, author of several books including Something Happened, with my housemate, Charles.
From left, Lauren, Maureen, Maryanne, and Rob. Rob and I edit Read Short Fiction together, although this year he had school and I had the wedding so we’ll be getting back on track with it very soon.
Manzino and Jen L.
Another shot of the dining room spread. Half of it has been consumed at this point.
Jim, me, and Al.
Another shot of Jim, me, and Al. This was just before they were ready to head out.
Melissa, Mark, and me.
Me and Mo.
Maureen and Suzanne.
Maureen and Suzanne.
From left, Nanette Blake, Scott, and Jen Connic. Nanette was my editor at Vagabondage Press Books who is responsible for Bad Apple being the book it is today. Jen Connic, at right, is a journalist. Nanette, Jen C and I met way back in Pencils! Writing Workshop days.
This photo of AJ, me, and Nanette is a fave—not only are we all wearing these really awesome hair ponytailers that Nanette and AJ made for the three of us to wear (they are in the “theme” colors of the book Bad Apple—cool, right?), but this represents the coming of the book full circle. Nanette and AJ and I were on the retreat in Maine at which I started the first draft of the book—Labor Day Weekend, 2005. I started the book on that Friday, and on Saturday afternoon, they heard the very first paragraphs of the raw draft.
Manzino and Jen.
Manzino and Scott.
Me and Lori. I have known Lori since 2000. After the second draft of Bad Apple was completed (late 2005), I read the entire thing into a cassette recorder (Spring, 2006), and then took it to a CD conversion place to have the whole book put on audio (ah, the days when you had to outsource everything because you couldn’t do it on your home computer!) Lori listened to the entire CD set. When I told her Bad Apple was coming out, she was very excited to realize it was the same book (which she told me she loved) she had listened to way back when.
Me and Jen L.
The Crow’s Nest Writing Group and then some: from left, Lauren (whom we affectionately call L2—you’ll see why in a minute), Greg, Jen and Rob Mayette (Jen was a bridesmaid in my wedding), me, and Lauren Baratz-Logsted, author of several books including Vertigo and, with her daughter, the YA series The Sisters 8.
My cousin Maryanne built her first fire. She was very proud of it!
A color shot of the fire. She did an awesome job.
At some point, we ended up hitting the absinthe. Of course, Nathan did the honors.
Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
The ritual of the sugar cube and water. We have an actual drip pourer for the ice water, but at this point in the night it was just too much work. Let’s face it—sometimes the sink is easier (and after everything we’d been drinking, it didn’t really matter).
My friend Billy—whom I’ve known since grade school—meets my kitchen lamp (I like to call it the E.T. lamp since it’s similar to the one that hangs in their kitchen). Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Billy and Manzino. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Carl, Nathan, and Billy.
Jen and Maureen. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Me, signing a book for Jen Connic. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Maureen and Suzanne.
Me at the signing table—here’s where you get a really good shot of the awesome hairpiece that AJ and Nanette made for me. I am definitely going to be wearing it again, because I love its affect. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Dear Lord. I have no idea what they are doing. But I do know it was probably inspired by strong drink.
Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Manzino and Jen L. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Rob and Jen Mayette. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Me and Carla at the signing table. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Getting ready to read from Bad Apple. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Me and Suzanne.
Adam and Billy. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Nathan wishes me luck. I love this picture—it’s sweet. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Manzino and Suzanne. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
An overhead shot of the display table. The stack of white sheets at the front are copies of the awesome review Sci-Fi Saturday Night gave me for Bad Apple. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Nathan and Maureen. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Me at the signing table. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Manzino and Suzanne. Making fish faces. Or something. I seem to remember pix similar to this at my wedding, but at that time, the funeral flowers that were around our wedding cake were involved.
Jen, Maureen, and Maryanne. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Carl, Nathan, and Billy. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
The flowers at the center of one of the tables. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Reading from Bad Apple. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Listening to a reading of Bad Apple. From left: Maureen, AJ, Nanette, Carla, Frank. Standing: Michael. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
A great shot of Jen. Photo by Suzanne Zuckerman.
Toasting with Absinthe.
Billy and Suzanne.
There’s a story behind this. This candle, which is out front in The Cemetery of Dismembered Dolls, was lit about an hour before the party, at 6 p.m. on Saturday November 17. Here’s a shot of it before the event.
Believe it or not, here is the same candle, burning at 1:13 p.m. the next day. It didn’t burn out until the wee hours of Monday morning—sometime between 1 a.m., when I went to bed, and 6 a.m., when I got up. It was just interesting that this candle burned for the party and the whole next day (when I got up to discover my friends Adam, Suzanne, and Manzino had been up earlier and had cleaned the entire kitchen and that Charles had made cinnamon rolls and coffee), as well as into that evening. A good omen.
Me. Photo by Jen Connic. I think it was Nanette who said, ‘this is the quintessential Kaye picture.’ I’m not sure about that, but I certainly do agree with my sister Missie who said, ‘I don’t know why but you totally remind me of Aunt Sylvia’ (one of my red-haired aunts who always had a bouffant, a cigarette and a glass of wine and died many years ago).
On reading in Haunted Cemeteries…
Me, camped out in a haunted cemetery while live on the air for the Bad Apple episode of Scary Scribes, October 22, 2012.
We’d been promising an exclusive taste of the first few pages of my novel, Bad Apple, to Scary Scribes listeners for awhile. We got to do that on Episode 8: Paranormal Eh? Meets Scary Scribes…from a haunted cemetery.
The show went as planned, but after the episode went to archive, downloaders contacted Terry, noting they were hearing static followed by a woman’s voice (a woman’s voice that wasn’t mine). Could this be an EVP [electronic voice phenomena—an unexplained voice, attributed to a ghostly presence, heard on a recording which wasn’t audible when the recording was made]? Or is it simply an errant cell phone transmission? You’ll hear it toward the end of the podcast. To me, it sounds like it could be the latter, but either way, it’s eerie, so I’m not so sure I’ll be reading in any haunted cemeteries again anytime soon.
Here’s the link to listen to the episode:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/paranormaleh/2012/10/22/paranormal-eh-radio-meets-scary-scribes
Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
