"The Good Daughter" Makes Tangent Online's Recommended Reading List for 2011

These are the moments which make "traditional" publishing special.

"The Good Daughter" from Triangulation: Last Contact (edited by Steve Ramey and Jamie Lackey) has been selected as a starred "recommended read" at Tangent Online (read the entire Tangent Online Recommended Reading List 2011).  It's the second time one of my tales has made the list (the other story was also from a Triangulation anthology, Dark Glass back in 2009). 

Congrats to all the authors who made the list. I'm humbled to be in your company.

WIP Wednesday: Doing the Right Thing

June has been icky so far. A bonafide pain in my ass (and other parts I've injured while home remodeling). I haven't been able to write enough to satisfy my inner demons. I have cuts and bruises on every limb of my body, including a pretty severe sprain of my left wrist. Along with my tanking output, I haven't had a good month in sales for my indie/self-pubbed work or traditional schtuff.

Boo-hoo.

Then I woke to an email from a reader. This particular reader took part in a LibraryThing giveaway for We are the Monsters. Among other things, dear reader said:

"I thought the language of the novel was amazing...Beautiful prose, dark river water imagery..."

Wow. That really fills one's tank.

I started a new novel, trying to write it "thriller style". The voice isn't coming--it's too much of a departure from what I am. I'm starting over. The reader's email reminded me of how I write best, even if it doesn't garner an obscene amount of sales. I have to do what's right.

I have to do what's right.

WIP Wednesday: Tales of WIPs Past, Present, and Future

Hellnotes posted a great review of Shock Totem #3, and I'm thrilled to say the reviewer liked my story. "Wanting It" had a long and winding road before acceptance. For example: Ken Wood (editorial genius) and I exchanged several emails about what the narrator would call his butt. Anyway, the reviewer (Dave) had this to say:

"Facing facts leads to an emotional hurt that lyrically lingers in this lovely and haunting story."

Read the rest, here.

I'm working on Borrowed Saints (letting Sons of Chaos and the Desert of the Dead cool before another editing round). Parts of the book are much better than I remember:

She held the razor up to the mirror. The black mouth of the mirror girl opened, anticipating.

Phoebe blinked.

Make it pretty.

So, yes, there's a fair bit of cutting in the book. And voices. And ghosts. Oh my.

Snowpocalypse Now

Seriously, I should be teaching, but mother nature has dumped a massive (like from New Mexico to Michigan) sized storm of the U.S.

Speaking of teaching, one of the skills I've learned as a teacher is how to transition between topics. Try this:

Snowpocalypse Now is a cheeky reference to the movie Apocalypse Now which is based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness which is the template for my book, Loathsome, Dark, and Deep.

Whew.

Well check out this nice review of Loathsome, Dark, and Deep at Hellnotes:

It’s a cleverly thought out survival novel that turns into a “search for a man who can answer our questions” novel, with Henry taken prisoner by a fellow named Curt who can explain the presence of the zombie-like “Ruined Men.”

Now that's nice. Click above to read the rest (should you want to, of course). Daniel Powell, author of An Autumn Harvest, had some nice things to say, too. Thanks for reading.

This transition isn't as smooth.

I've come to the end of my first "month of experimentation" with Kindle publishing, and, well, have (drum roll please) seven sales! Yes, seven copies of The Bottom Feeders sold in January, and, I'm surprisingly excited about it. Why? Because everybody I know already bought copies before January (I think)--that means seven "strangers" gave it a go. So my "profit" total for 2011...

7 books x $.35 a book = $2.45!

Now, I know I said I was going to donate 10% to a charity each month...I am. At least. 25 cents doesn't seem like much of a donation, does it? So each month I make less than $10 (could be the whole year, folks), I'm going to donate at least $5.

So who should the $5 go to this month? I'm taking suggestions and then will hold a poll.

I'll announce the winner of the review contest tomorrow...stay tuned. We're likely snowed in for a few days...

Every Story a Horror Story & Fantastic Reviews

Aaron Hughes of Fantastic Review Blog liked my short story, "A Game of Lost Boys" (from Linger Fiction) so much, it's his story recommendation of the week. That's pretty cool. Fantastic, in fact.

So I've been thinking...and maybe because of the horrific outing my Chiefs had in yesterday's playoff game...

I don't care what "genre" you read/write: you are engaged in horror fiction. Don't deny it--I know horror writers often receive a bad rap, but the truth is, quite simply, every story is a horror story.

Since today is a snow day (yay!) which means I have to wrangle my kids (er, yay?), I'll keep this quick:

For a story to work, there must be conflict. Internal or external, implied or explicit, I don't care. Conflict has to happen. A story simply isn't a story without conflict.

Conflict creates suspense (will the conflict resolve favorably for our dear protagonist). Suspense is driven by fear. Fear is the central emotion of horror.

Need I say more?

Okay, Aaron, you might say, what about the Formula Romance? Well, the story revolves around the central will they/won't they conflict. The fear might not be Horror (capital H), but it is suspenseful, at least a little, or otherwise no one would read it. Suspense drives the reader to the end of a story. The best stories have loads of it, even where the big threat (death) doesn't exist. But I'd say every good story carries elements of the big threat...at least derivatives of it. If my seven-year-old is asking questions about whether Harry Potter ever dies after book 1, well, the big threat is there. Derivatives? Think lost love, lost family member, lost job, lost respect...all those "losses" are surrogates for death.

Something to think about while I sit in my nice, warm house, hoping the heater keeps doing its job as the world slowly fades to white.

Attack of the Killer Blahs

I deleted the bitchy post. Sorry if you hunted for it...

I subbed my first write 1 / sub 1 entry: "The Good Daughter" (which, technically, is a piece of sci fi). Only 51 more to go...

I've received several rejections in the past few days and am growing tired of them.

A reader on Goodreads called The Bottom Feeders "mediocre horror stories" and gave it two stars. I wish the slam was more interesting.

How is your day?

Halloween Treats

Treat #1: Being an obsessive Googler of my own name (as all good authors should be, right?), I'm not sure how I missed this lovely review of "Empty Vessels" from Morpheus Tales VIII:

"... modern-day horror story set in the bayou and the Gulf of Mexico after a disastrous flood has drowned hundreds of local people. Elroy Jantz, a boatman who occasionally contracted for shrimp companies, is drafted along with many other small boatmen to retrieve the water-logged bodies from the waters. This was one of the gems of this issue and made for a strong finish. The imagery is dark, but unique, and the development of the reader’s understanding of Elroy’s past is revealed carefully, without stunting the pace of the story."

Read the rest of reviewer Maggie Jamison's take at Tangent Online.

Heck, read "Empty Vessels" for free via Scribd.

Treat #2: Tangent keeps coughing them up...a bit about "Precious Metal" (Albedo One #38) from reviewer Dave Truesdale:

"...Aaron Polson's "Precious Metal" gives a snapshot of a post-collapse world where professional gangs ravage the countryside for anything of value, in this case scrap metal of any sort. Using mob tactics, they regularly extort from one old man who lives in a junkyard and who, on the sly, makes the most wonderful creations. His pride and joy is a mechanical owl who can think (think steampunk here). When the mobsters visit the kindly old man in what turns out to be their final visit, the tragedy turns poignant as we learn the mechanical owl has been imbued with feelings as well as thought. Though reminiscent of the devotion flesh and blood animals feel for their owners/masters (especially dogs), this—for want of a better decription—"emotional vignette" achieves its purpose. The final image is well drawn."

More here.

Treat #3: The incomparable Gef Fox allowed me to write about two of my favorite movies (with the same name): Thing One and Thing Two for the Monster Movie Marathon. I like to talk about monsters...

And finally, Treat #4: Joe Nazare has some author blurbs about their favorite Halloween costumes. The blurbs won't be posted until Halloween, but I suspect I'll be busy. Check it out at http://www.macabre-republic.com.

The Proverbial Sh*t Hits the Fan

***please forgive any spammy emails from my address...I've been hijacked, again***

I failed to mention yesterday's installment of "Black Medicine Thunder and the Sons of Chaos" at The Red Penny Papers yesterday (bad writer!). Oh yes, things go from bad to severely f*cked this week, or as Max would say, "What the heck?"

(We've worked so hard at keeping the little scamp's language clean. Can't you tell?)

Also, review goodness from ScaryMinds re: Dark Pages Volume 1...

"And Cargo by Aaron Polson calls to mind the best of Romero in a sort of sifting through the ashes of post apocalyptic society way."

Awwww...I conjured Romero. (I'm not even sure if the things out there in the dark were zombies. Hell Heck, this review at ASIF suggests it was a vampire apocalypse. Now I'm confused.)

Moby Effing Dick

Max and Owen caught a number of smallish fish at a city "lake" this morning. We've been fishing a few times this summer with no luck. When Max (sporting the stylish Scooby-Doo fishing pole) reeled in that blue gill, you would have thought he'd caught the great white whale. We are strictly catch-and-release fishermen (as if anyone could find a half-ounce of meat on that poor little fella, anyway). Good times.

Where'd Max get that goofy smile? Must be from his mother's side.

Speaking of hauling things in, "Precious Metal" received a nice write-up in this review of Albedo One #38. Yeah, I smiled when I read it--but it wasn't like catching my first live fish with a bona fide Scooby-Doo pole...

(Okay, so the review has vanished into the ether...I'll post a link when I can find one which isn't broken, 'kay?)

"Precious Metal" Reviewed at SFCrowsnest

"Precious Metal" (from Albedo One #38) has a brief but favorable mention at Stepehn Hunt's SF Crowsnest.

Reviewer Gareth D. Jones uses the words touching, poignant, and valuable, but not necessarily in that order.

Read the review of the whole issue here.

You Never Know Who's Reading

I stumbled across this mention at BestScienceFictionStories.com last Friday:

"...an enjoyable story, and it really made me wonder if I would have the guts to do what some of the people in this story did."

It seems "The World in Rubber, Soft and Malleable" is the story that just keeps on giving. I wish I could write another dozen like it...of course, then it wouldn't be special. Right?

Anyway, thanks to Rusty, the human behind BestScienceFictionStories.com. I hear you, and thank you for the kind words.

Andy prefers Krylon spray paint. (and no, he isn't paid for his endorsement)

Tuesday Grab Bag

Here's your free schtuff for Tuesday:

A piece of haunting ambient music, "Gentle Now, Ghosty", from a longer work of love songs for ghosts on which I'm working. (look, I'm no professional musician, okay?)

A lovely Amazon comment about "Former Vocations" (a poem in A.P. Fuch's Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes):

"...'Former Vocations' (Aaron Polson) provides marvelously personal snapshots of the end of it all." - from Anton LeCancre "horror geek"

A recommendation for Rio Youers' Mama Fish over at Skull Salad Reviews (BT's send up of the latest from The New Bedlam Project has been imported over there, too).

Finally, a list of imagery generated by one of my classes (I love me some imagery):

Sight
vibrant, sparkling, gleaming, dull, dirty, filthy, glossy, lustrous

Sound
screech, squeal, ding, rumble, muted, congested, crunching, crackling, gurgle, swoosh, swish

Taste
fruity, bitter, sour, sweet, tart, spicy, foul, bland, savory, tangy, stale, fresh, rotten, rancid

Touch
gritty, grainy, poky, knobby, oily, slimy, smooth, rough, bumpy, prickly, sharp, puffy, fluffy, dry, wet, slick, pocked

Smell
foul, stinky, raunchy, stench, skunky, dusty, musty, floral, pungent, smoky, fishy, musky

We spent about ten minutes generating the list. What other magnificent words could we add to the list?

Decade, You Have Been Good To Me

Whatever history will end up calling the last decade, she's almost over.

In the last ten years I've:

...married my wife (the current and only one).

...seen ten senior classes leave McLouth High School.

...witnessed the birth of my two beautiful boys (Owen in 2003...Max in 2006).

...started and finished my M.S. program at the University of Kansas.

...been nominated for Kansas Teacher of the Year.

...written four books and nearly 200 stories. One of the books really sucks; one is being published; the jury is still out on the others.

...lost a little hair (and a number of the survivors have gone grey).

...helped my wife through some pretty crappy post-partum depression.

...witnessed random acts of violence in the 21st Century's "new war". I'll never forget walking from my classroom on September 11th...my vice-principal told me what had happened, his face drawn and pale. Likewise, bombings in Madrid, London, elsewhere--terrorism was no longer a "Middle East" problem--not that it ever was.

...took my children to the doctor/emergency room for broken arms, fevers, anaphylactic shock, and stitches.

...grown up. A little. ('course Santa brought me a Nerf gun...so pbbbbbt to growing up)

Later this week I'll review my year in writing. For now...wow. What a decade. I know I'm leaving soooo much out. Blame it on the post-Christmas stomach flu. I know I am.

While I'm trying to remember what I forgot, please have a look at this lovely review of Kaleidotrope #7 from Tangent Online. My entry lands some favorable e-ink:

'To Put Away Childish Things’ provides some remarkable observations about the nature of humanity...

(the reviewer then goes on to kick me in the teeth with a glancing shot of feminist criticism...read for yourself)

Gotta love it.

Reviewy-Tuesday

Catching up on some reviews and other news.

I've posted my recommendation of See No Evil, Say No Evil by Matt Betts at Skull Salad.

Jorge Solis of Fangoria.com had some nice things to say about Dead Bait, including my contribution, "Grim Adaptations":

My favorites in the collection are Tim Curran’s “Piraya” and Aaron A. Polson’s “Grim Adaptations.” In both tales, dead fish are reanimated back to life as zombies to feed off of humans...

Luke Reviews covered Monstrous back in May, but I've only recently stumbled across this lovely send up of "A Plague from the Mud":

In this tale, Polson presents us with a slowly evolving tale of dread, as the clues are all there, and we all know what will happen, but we can't turn and look away. This dark piece works that dread well, playing on suspense and short bits of story with lots of breaks, nailing the suspense of the dying town of Monument, Oregon.


Finally (for the review portion of the post), Tom Powers at Small Press Reviews mentioned "Dancing Lessons" while covering Triangulation: Dark Glass.

...a girl poignantly encounters an animated carnival monster who may be her dead father...

In other news,"Precious Metal", a short-short accepted by the venerable Albedo One last year, is due out in their next issue. I'm giddy about this, as Albedo One has a long and storied track record.

Last but not least I found myself listed in the International Science-Fiction Database. They only have two of my shorts listed: "A Plague from the Mud" and "The Ox-Cart Man". Weird to be listed at all. I must be "real".

Oh, and I've added the "followers" bit to the sidebar. I wrestled with it for a while, not wanting to seem to narcissistic, but I think it can be a good social networking tool for visitors. So, there it is.

Now, Let's Have A Traffic Jam...

So you've discovered what your protagonist lusts after, now frustrate her/him with a good old fashioned traffic jam (I'm writing metaphorically here, unless a real traffic jam works).

Nothing creates dramatic tension (uh, suspense) more than making the protagonist wait, and every good traffic jam carries an element of danger (more suspense!). Would you really want to find yourself in the middle of the cluster-$&#^ above?


Speaking of traffic jams (I don't have a better segue), A very nice review of Triangulation: Dark Glass popped up on Sunday at SF Crowsnest, including a favorable mention of my story, "Dancing Lessons".

Although well-written these didn't hold up as well as Arron [sic] Polson's very short story, 'Dancing Lessons', where a small girl briefly aids a resurrected hobo who was temporarily augmented as his body started to fail...

Nice mention. Nice blurb to add to the website and all, but my name...oh well. What's in a name, anyway?

More Reviews (AKA a reason to procrastinate)

I've stumbled across a few more reviews to pass along (while I should be writing or editing or doing something likewise productive).

Fatally-Yours also did a send up of Tainted: Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, and the reviewer marched along with Mr. Tomlinson's perspective for the most part.

"The inspiration is no doubt there, but the originality and deftness of each author’s story is jaw-dropping..."

Natalie L. Sin receives high praise in this one. Kudos.

Monstrous has been garnering a few reviews as well, including one from Mark Sieber at The Horror Drive-In :

"I had never heard of Aaron A. Polson [who has?] before I picked up Monstrous, but I was most impressed with his entry, "A Plague from the Mud". It captures the personality of a small town in the grip of mounting terror quite well."

The aforementioned Fatally-Yours also has a take on the book. Give a look, see, huh?

[comments in brackets are from your humble blogger]

Digging in the Garden

Fatally-Yours has a review of The Black Garden. Thanks to Felicity Dowker for the heads up on this via her blog, Here There Be Tygers.

...and I quote:

"The Black Garden is a wickedly fun collection of macabre mayhem that would make a great addition to any horror fan’s library..."

"An old evil inhabits Old Flat Mile Road, an evil that won’t stop until blood has been shed on its pot-hole-riddled black top in “Care and Feeding of the Old Flat Mile” by Aaron A. Polson."

I can't wait to sink my, er, teeth into this one; the stories sound...delicious.

Review: High Cotton by Joe R. Lansdale

As a fledgling horror writer, I'm trying to digest some bits and pieces from masters of the genre. Consider this review more of a discussion of what I liked in the book. Like I said, I'm a fledgling writer myself, and once you start creating something, you realize how much easier it is to criticize than create--so I'm trying to keep it on the positive.

I enjoyed much of High Cotton. Personal highlights include "Mister Weed-Eater", "The Night They Missed the Horror Show", "Incident on and Off a Mountain Road", and my favorite, "Steppin' Out, Summer, '68". Each of these tales forced my hand, made me keep turning those pages to see what bizzare sight waited around the corner. Each contained just the right mix of black humor for my taste.

In this mix of 21 tales, the reader really gains a respect for Lansdale's style of storytelling. He is from East Texas, and you hear the voice throughout, even when the story might be a bit wide of the darkly humorous horror for which he's known. A warning to the squeamish: this book will offend your senses and offers enough racial ephitats to make political correctness roll around in it's grave.

Lansdale knows how to entertain, and when he's on his game, he's among the best.

Peace