The Dragons Hour, Remembering Robert E. Howard

It's no secret that Robert E. Howard is my favorite author. This is his birthday so I'm dusting the blog off for the new year and giving him a toast as it were.

I'm writing this just after midnight, so I'm not sure yet what tale of his I will read later, but I surely will, of course not too much times goes by since the last time I read one. Recently, I revisited one of my favorite Conan yarns - People of the Black Circle and shortly before that Iron Shadows in the Moon.

Around Halloween as a family we listened to some of the audiobook of The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard and I was very pleasantly surprised that my son brought up In the Forest of Villefere just a few days ago. The boys have always loved Pigeons From Hell, my kids like creepy.

That's probably why I share it with them, because I am so amazed and taken with the stories. The tales light the fire of wonder in me and I want to share that with the kids.

I went to Howard Days in 2018 and meant to blog about it then and never did, that's when I kinda fell of the wagon blogging here, then I wasn't able to make it in 2019, but it is my plan to go this year again. Its an interesting feeling walking through his house and thinking about being where he was when he wrote - not just his desk but all over the house from what I have heard. It was like visiting a sacred shrine and I can't wait to go back. I have also been able to visit Hemingway's graveside but spending so much time in the Howard house had a lot more personal feel than just seeing Papa's stone and museum.
Meeting a bunch of online friends in person finally was a big plus too!

Not sure where I am going with this other than just expressing heartfelt appreciation to the man for countless hours of reading enjoyment, contemplative thought and the sheer love of the written word.

Wish you had been around a bit longer to write more, but I surely love what you did accomplish.

SKOAL!

This is a print I got at Howard Days, that is in my study.

My son, Mathias (14) made this Conan bust for me for Christmas.

Treat Yourself

I had a friend recently ask on Facebook for some advice on feeling stuck with his current WIP. I also know he has a lot on his plate and has as many struggles as anyone - I know what that feels like when you're trying to work - 2013 was the year of being a single full time Dad - but when it comes persevering with the work, I did have a few things to say.

Looking back this is a good a reminder for me as it hopefully is for him.

(And these are pic's of me writing in paradise last weekend - made a lot of progress on a noir-fantasy novella)

This is a paraphrased response I gave him.



I go through ups and downs just like ANY writer/creator/artist out there. It comes with the territory. But ultimately I have to write/create, it must come out, it must be made and finally shared.

Sometimes it really sucks when it doesn't feel like you're getting the recognition - whether it be sales, reviews, awards or spoken appreciation, but I do think a lot of that is just how you feel - I know there are people out there who appreciate my work that I have never heard from and that I don't know even exist. Its like that for everyone. 

What I'm really getting at though, is the number one person you have to please is yourself, you have to have the self-satisfaction with what you have done regardless.
You have to have that as a writer.

I'm also a believer in that it takes ten years to be an overnight success = meaning it takes a lot of work (not luck) that almost nobody else ever realizes was happening behind the scenes.

Other people will appreciate and love your work - BUT you have to first.

 If you're not feeling like writing, reexamine what gave you a passion for the piece in the first place, regain that passion --- or drop it and move on to something that does excite you.

I also try and stop at a place where I know what happens next. ;) 
I got that from Hemingway.

Birthday Book Bomb! Weird Tales of Horror

June 22nd was my birthday, on behalf of that, I am releasing my collection of short strange tales collectively entitled Weird Tales of Horror for .99 cents just for today!

I would sincerely appreciate your getting a copy and eventually leaving me a scathing review.

Among those who have had some kind words are the talented Wilum Pugmire and Bruce Durham

"With these tales of many lands and many peoples, David J. West combines an excellent prose style with a brilliant imagination to give us a solid collection of wonderful stories. This is a refreshingly original gathering of weird fiction." --W. H. Pugmire 

"David J. West, author of 'Heroes of the Fallen', is a strong voice in the field of Sword & Sorcery. His work is evocative, featuring deftly drawn characters, exotic locales and energetic tale spinning." -- Bruce Durham

A Good Home For the Spoon

My short story, A Good Home for the Spoon, is now available in issue #17 of Dark Eclipse and hey, I'm actually sharing a table of contents with Clark Ashton Smith, that's pretty cool, my first with one of the Great Old Ones = "Klarkash-Ton".

My tale has the dubious honor of being the only thing I have written thus far, where I deliberately try to sound like another author, in this case I wrote as if it were a snippet of Hemingway's experiences in 1920's Paris, and therefore a "lost" chapter of A Moveable Feast, one of my personal favorites.

His wife actually did lose a suitcase full of his writings on the train and the notebooks turned up again decades later, Hemingway then reworked them into what was to become in my arrogant opinion his posthumous opus A Moveable Feast.

While he steered clear of writing anything supernatural, I thought, what if there was something that could be written off later as an absinthe fueled experience, so I brought that into play to beg the question of what really happened when Papa got all bashed and cut up one night.

I also based the tiny silver spoon off my personal baby spoon that my mother recently gave me. This pic is close but not quite right.

Here is the table of contents...

Issue #17 of Dark Eclipse includes some great short stories including "Consummate Justice" (Gerry Griffiths), "Sink" (Bill Morrow), "A Good Home for the Spoon" (David J. West), "Beimini" (Ryan Neil Falcone), "Tangible Evil" (Kathy Busse and Kimberly Yerina) "Over Time" (Christine Proctor) "Dead Ends" (Richard J. O'Neill) and "The Beast of Averoigne" (a classic short story by Clark Ashton Smith). Columns and articles includes "The Chimerical Dark: Remodeling Hill House: From Book to Movie to Remake" (Sean Davis), "Book Review: Specter Spectacular: 13 Ghostly Tales" (reviewed by Rin Gardner), "Lovecraftian" (Manny Frishberg), "Books to Die For" (Nicholas Paschall), "Book Review: The Dark Man" (reviewed by Kurt Reichenbaugh) and "Bits of the Dead" (Jay Wilburn). And don't forget we have horror poetry in in each issue including poems by M. Sullivan, Dawn Napier and Hitcher.

And for the Nook - props to Keith for making me think

The Ball is Rolling

I'm feeling pretty slick. Space Eldritch is coming October 29th,  an excerpt of my tale "Gods in Darkness" is up on Cold Fusion Media
This of course is my big Lovecraftian science fiction piece, which I actually tried to channel how would I do a near modern day Sword & Sorcery tale. It takes place in the indeterminate 60's during the hidden heyday of the U.S./Soviet space race.

AND

I have been told that my tale, "Rolling in the Deep" should be available on Halloween itself in the
A Flame in the Dark: Monsters anthology.
This particular tale is one of my Porter Rockwell weird westerns, though it takes place largely at sea. Lot of interesting motivations gelled together for this. This collection was put together with the idea that Faith had to play a big part, so I crafted a  Porter (Samson) meets a Lovecraftian Elder God (Philistine God, Dagon) Sorry, no wicked Delilah this time round. YES, I loved the Adele title so much I stole it-I think I blogged I was gonna do that last year.

They posted the table of contents last week, I only saw it just now.

"Visitor Bob," a unique look at the bogeyman by Ellen C. Maze
"Divide and Conquer," wherein author Greg Mitchell looks at a different kind of vampire
"Running Late," a vampire tale by Pauline Creeden
"Closet Commentary," Teric Darken's tale of voices in the night
"Willing Blood," A vampire tale with a twist by Kat Heckenbach
"We Create Them," Thomas Smith's look at poverty through a lens of horror
"Invisible Intruder," by Stoney Setzer
"Twelfth Night," a Christmas story by Sean Philips
"Psychobabble, Toil, and Trouble," in which Stephen McQuiggan laments the loss of our monsters
"Of the Lake," JR Roper's tale of aquatic terror
"More Lives," a cat tale by Dana Bell
"Smoke," a good old-fashioned werewolf story or is it? by Jeremy Tyler
"Cornhusker," a tender, coming-of-age story (mua ha ha ha) by Tim Ward
"Holy Angels," Delphine Boswell's story of a church's uninvited guest
and of course
"Rolling in the Deep," a decidedly Lovecraftian tale by David West

 AND

What gave Papa Hemingway that head-wound?

Find out in my tale "A Good Home for the Spoon".
It is supposed to be up on November 1st in  Dark Eclipse Magazine
This one is my lost chapter of Hemingway's A Moveable Feast (one of my all time favorites)
I tried to make the piece fit as if it had been left out for some reason, perhaps because Papa wasn't sure himself if it was true or simply an absinthe induced nightmare.

This is my only tale where I have deliberately tried to sound like another writer.


So having three stories come out in one week is making feel like this writing thing is working out.

Hemingway & Gellhorn: The Good and the Bad

I may be a trifle late with this. I DVR'ed "Hemingway and Gellhorn" back when it first aired and only just got around to watching it.

Overall I liked it, especially Clive Owen's performance when Hemingway starts to talk about writing. I enjoyed the use of his actual advice about the craft.

And while I did not/do not personally find Martha Gellhorn a sympathetic person, (I'm never gonna "get" leftist atheist's) Nicole Kidman's portrayal was excellent - she was charismatic and charming and you have to respect her drive and ambition, but likeable for me?
No. But Hell, we don't have to like people to appreciate them.
She struck me as very bitter, especially in the sense that for the rest of her life she did not want Hemingway mentioned in interviews. I wanted to shout at her to get over herself, because when you were/are married to an icon, people will want to talk about it.

The makeup on Nicole Kidman to look elderly was fantastic, they even gave her slightly bloodshot eyes. Its awful when makeup does bad elderly. (Guy Pierce/Waylon in Prometheus for example) The cast, sets, costumes, cinematography were all wonderful...
BUT
I thought the last ten minutes could have/should have been left on the cutting room floor.

I understand why the movie played out like it did (for the dramatic effect) but that's also why I was sore with the ending.

I didn't like that the film played Hemingway off as the only cheater - Gellhorn had an affair while they were married too. I didn't like the final focus on Hemingway to be his suicide simply because is that really the ending of he and Gellhorn?
No, that was back in 1945.
And if we are gonna play that game, why not have Gellhorn committing suicide as well? She did. Instead of having her heroically marching out the door, off to another battle to report on.

To me, you can't tell a story of two people and leave it so lopsided. I would sooner believe he haunted her than the other way around.

The remembrance angle could have been used without having Hemingway being annoyed with Mary Welsh (Parker Posey) and the dig with the Italian song at how Hemingway and Gelhorn met- as if in his final moments he was pinning for Gellhorn - I honestly do not believe he was.
He wasn't that kind of man to be pinning away for only one.

After I finished watching I had to go and reread some of Hemingway's short stories about the Spanish Civil War. Under the Ridge is hilarious and deadly serious at the same time, brilliant.