Sean Taylor invites you to join the Crowd in Babylon in his new collection of dark and horror tales!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Atlanta, GA (March 8, 2024) -- Featuring 17 tales of Southern horror, dark fantasy, and weird adventure inspired as much by Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, and Shirley Jackson as by F. Marion Crawford, Stephen King, and Ray Bradbury, Sean Taylor's A CROWD IN BABYLON takes readers from the chilling underside of the urban landscape to the homegrown terrors of rural life and hidden frights that lie beneath suburban smiles.

This collection includes both stories that have been out of print for a while -- such as "The Fairest of Them All: A Symphony of Revenge," the Zombies vs. Robots (IDW) tale "Farm Fresh," and "Posthumous" -- and brand-new stories, such as the title tale, "A Lot Different from the Brochures, Isn't It?," "The Ghosts of Children," "The Color of the Blues," and many more. 

Inside the pages of A CROWD IN BABYLON, readers will meet a diverse and macabre group of characters, including: 

• A zombie writer whose work funds the lifestyle of her cheating husband

• A musician who learns that true art requires irretrievable loss

• A Cherokee brave who must face the monsters from his people's legends

• A time-traveling widow nursing a violent and deadly grudge

• A woman who needs four-footed help to teach her grandchild to grieve

• A young writer obsessed with a dead actress

• An immigrant haunted by the vengeful ghosts of children

• And ten other creepy tales!

"This one has been a long time coming," Taylor says. "So much happened to delay the release of this, my first horror collection, but I couldn't stop pushing. Horror is so important to me. It's one of my favorite genres to write, and I hope even a little of that love for the genre shines through the book."

A CROWD IN BABYLON is currently available as a trade paperback for $14.99 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW5Q3YQZ) and a Kindle ebook for $2.99 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW1WMZMV), both from Amazon. 

Sean Taylor writes short stories, novellas, novels, graphic novels, and comic books (yes, Virginia, there is a difference between comic books and graphic novels, just like there's a difference between a short story and a novel). In his writing life, he has directed the “lives” of zombies, superheroes, goddesses, dominatrices, Bad Girls, pulp heroes, and yes, even frogs, for such diverse bosses as IDW Publishing, Gene Simmons, and The Oxygen Network. Visit him online at www.thetaylorverse.com and www.badgirlsgoodguys.com.

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Movie Reviews for Writers: Fantastic Britain

What is it about Britain and the U.K. that fosters such a rich history of fantasy literature? Not only modern best-sellers like Harry Potter, but also classics like C.S. Lewis' Narnia books, Tolkien's Middle Earth books, George McDonald's children and adult fantasies, and Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Or does it begin long before that with the country's legends of King Arthur and his knights?

Or, is it as host Robin Bennett claims, that because of the rigid outer life of manners and mannerisms, the inner life of British writers is so filled with fantastic eccentricities?

Or perhaps it has more to do with Britain being geologically separated and having such a long history?

Or finally, does it have more to do with colonialism? Just like Britain took opium and other resources from countries, they also plundered the mythology and legends of the countries they suppressed. 

You can watch the documentary to find out for yourself. What I'm concerned about is more what this whimsical documentary has to say to us as writers. 

On that front, there's quite a bit to cover. 

Perhaps my favorite bit from this documentary hits at about the halfway point. It says quite adamantly that a write "can only get away with one big lie." Everything else must be true. For example, the narrator goes on to say, in Narnia the one big lie is a wardrobe that takes children to another world. After that, the characters must act and interact as if real. I love that. I think that works not just for fantasy but other genres as well. The suspension of disbelief can only stretch so far, after all. 

The next point is that of why Fantasy books, and books in general, matter. Sometimes a book is a child's (or an adult's I would add) only friend, a secret friend. I can vouch for this in my life. As a child I hid myself in my room during my years of having few friends and escaped into books, particularly my Childcraft Encyclopedias and my Illustrated Classics by Verne, Dickens, and Wells. You never know. That book you're writing at this very moment might be the safe haven some reader is looking for. 

The importance of Fantasy can't be overstated, regardless of how some wish to relegate it to childish flights of fancy. Without the safe otherworld provided by Fantasy literature, it might be too risky or painful to address certain topics. Fantasy can be a way of investigating things that are real, and perhaps things that are too sore to address directly. Dune (a sci-fi fantasy of the first order) deals with corporate greed in a way that makes readers think, maybe more than something more realistically based (like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle). Lord of the Rings can tell us more about the nature of humanity to embrace power for power's sake than a thousand biographies about famous politicians. 

There's also a great nod to the steadfastness of the writers themselves. After all, any author who can continue through the editing process without stopping and calling it quits is already a champion storyteller. And what process is that? Writing the first draft. Editing it. Finished the final draft to send to the publisher. Changing it yet again for a structural edit. After that, more changes for a story edit. Then a line edit. All through that the author is continuing to go back and redo work. That takes tremendous dedication.

The best way to close this review is with a quote from Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, that sums up the power of the Fantasy story--dreaming has no boundaries. Therefore, neither should dreamers who put these dreams onto paper and into digital devices. 

Urban, High, Low, or Something Else? Writers on Fantasy...

For our newest writer's roundtable, let's look at the fantastic.

Although the genres are blending and the publishing categories seem to shift, what are the key differences between general fantasy, high fantasy, urban fantasy, and magical realism?

John Linwood Grant: Magical realism I'd probably set aside, as more akin to various 'liminal' and 'weird fiction' labels. It's an area where stories can be most strange, but would not be immediately recognizable to many who would describe themselves as 'fantasy fans' Sadly for this question, that's my main area a lot of the time. I might distinguish between secondary world fantasy and historical fantasy - the former not relying directly on certain aspects of human history, biology or geography; the latter being closely linked to re-imaginings of various cultures and societies of the past. With magic. Or dragons. Etc. There's also mock-secondary world fantasy, which relies on stuff we know but pretends to be different and just sticks extra moons in the sky. Urban fantasy is a thing of many faces, from teens with magic fingers to slavering werewolves in Chicago. Hugely variable.

Ian Totten: I suppose it depends on what you're going for when it comes to genre specific fantasy. I always thought of high fantasy as being in the vein of LOTR or The Sword of Truth series. My own series is labeled dark fantasy, but I recently had a reader tell me they thought of it as high fantasy so I guess it's subjective to the individual. As for the other sub-genres, I admit to knowing little about them.

Hilaire Barch: I think the others covered the definition, but I'd like to add that each one has a certain feel to it. The pacing of the story and the rhythm of the prose differs among those. You can blend and mix, etc which changes things, but if it carries the label certain expectations are attached.

High fantasy need not have elves and orcs (think Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series, or the King Arthur stories), but there's often epic games of power, highly descriptive prose, and often much history or lore given to the reader.

Urban fantasy carries a grit to it, with faster-paced action and lore or history thrown in on a need-to-know basis, and as mentioned has a lot of variance.

Magic realism can blend with the others or be it's own thing.

The genre cubby hole matters for marketing. Once upon a time I simply wrote the story. I don't write to the market, but I did become cognizant of that feel/pacing I mentioned. If I want my story to be a high fantasy, even if blended, it needs to feel and read as one.

Do these differences even matter anymore? Why or why not?

John Linwood Grant: Do the labels matter? Yes, for publishers and authors wanting to tap into existing markets. Large chunks of the reading public are conservative in their buying, selecting genres and sub-genres where they anticipate a well-matched return for their bucks, either as comfort reads or as sharing elements with other books in the area which they like. And many of those chunks are loyal to a concept of 'fantasy' or crime' or 'western' - whatever. If they want wild magickal adventures and stirring battles, they don't necessarily want to read about an oppressed kid in Lagos who discovers he can feel the spirits of the trees as he confronts his abusive family. Thought they probably should, for the experience. ;)

Ian Totten: When writing though I tend to enjoy whatever the genre for the story is and will blend them at will. An example would be mixing magic into a real world story. Not enough to make it hokey, but enough to invoke a sense of curiosity and wonder.

Derrick Ferguson: Whenever I hear/read somebody complain about how they don't like labels and they don’t see why anything has to be labeled…tell you what we’re gonna do. We’re going to take all the labels off the canned foods in your local supermarket and let you guess what’s inside those cans the next time you go shopping.

Danielle Procter Piper: Pretty sure the only people really concerned about pigeonholing books into genres are publishers, marketers, and booksellers who seem unable to figure out how to tell people about them otherwise. I don't write for market. I write the stuff I'd like to read. Life isn't a genre, so I'm not going to tweak my stories to fit someone else's idea of what the lives of my characters should be called. It's not my fault if someone who stands to make money off what I do and probably never read any of it can't decide what color carrot to wave before the noses of his or her target audience... if they can even figure out who that target audience is. Many of the greatest things in life defy labels. We see the greatness, the genius, and wonder of things better when they're new, original, fresh, and unexpected. Some desk jockey in marketing can't figure out how to sell that... might explain why he lacks the imagination to be a writer.

John Linwood Grant: I do predict that people will announce high fantasy is dead, that grimdark has had its day, that urban fantasy is written-out and much more. And mainstream authors will write fantasy but insist that it's magical realism or liminal literature. After those shocking revelations, people will go on writing and reading whatever appeals to them.

The Language Barrier -- Tolkien Did It, So It's Okay, Right?

There's a well established literary history of writers making up words and creating new ways of communicating verbally, from the poetry of e.e. cummings and the plays of Shakespeare to the fantasy and sci-fi of classic and contemporary authors. But why and how?

Why create a new language for your story? What's wrong with the existing ones?

H. David Blalock: Precedent. The most successful fantasy stories have all contained "new languages." Tolkien intended to show how a totally new language could be built into a world with its own identity. Before him, men like Lovecraft, Ashton Smith, even Howard had already looked for ways to get around calling their otherworldly heroes and villains something more exotic than "Dave" and "Steve."

Percival Constantine: I personally don't see it as being necessary. When I read Fellowship, I skipped over most of the parts in Elvish (and the songs, and the overly verbose passages—I was not a fan). As a writer, I know I'm going to have to provide a translation for those passages anyway, so I just don't see much of the point. I know there are those who feel it adds some additional flavor to the story, but I'm not one of them.

What are the pitfalls of creating a made-up language for the world of your story?

Percival Constantine: I've done a bit (emphasis on "a bit") of linguistic studying and I think I know enough to say this: if you don't know what you're doing, don't create a whole language. Tolkien was not only proficient in a number of languages but also a professor of linguistics and definitely knew his stuff. Dropping in the occasional word here and there for flavor is one thing, but creating an entire language is something completely different.

H. David Blalock: Invariably, fantastic names will run into pronunciation problems. The readability of the story is often crippled when the main character's name is hobbled with a lack or plethora of vowels, too many hyphens or apostrophes, or is just plain incomprehensible. Likewise for the language. The readers should be able to pronounce the words in their heads even if they get tongue-tied trying them out loud.

How do you go about the process of inventing new words and new ways of speaking? Do you build from existing language or start from scratch?

Jeremy Hicks: I find that it is much easier to adapt an existing language that is not heard commonly. Or seen in most forms of media. Anthropologists and linguists have been assembling extensive dictionaries and translations on most remote, dying, or dead languages, so you might as well put them to use for flavor. But do it systemically and judiciously. And like Perry said, preferably sparingly.

H. David Blalock: I try to use a language already in use as a basis. Not being a philologist, I don't have the expertise or the inclination to go through the agony Tolkien must have endured. My favorites to use are Norse, German, and Chinese. They can be twisted into some wonderfully bizarre, mind-bending names and terms.

Percival Constantine: I personally don't. I'll sometimes have a character who speaks in a manner that's strange (such as Liran in SoulQuest), but for the most part, I think you're better off focusing on the character development first.

NOTE: Here's a particularly helpful guide online to creating your own fictional language.

Planetary Stories is launching a contest!

Each issue of Planetary Stories, Pulp Spirit and Wonderlust will be carrying the winner of that contest.

While making the above statement, I realize there is a chance it won't work out. We might not have enough winners, as there is only a few months before our first deadline, which will be September 15th. However, we will do our best to publicize this contest and make that statement come true.

There are three categories, one for stories 250 words or less, one for stories up to 500 words, and flash fiction up to 1,000 words. ONE WINNER PER CATEGORY. The winner in each category will receive five cents per word, as well as a book from the Featured Author. No duplicate entries are allowed.

Each Featured Author will have a book of his on display, similar to those on either side. Anyone can click on the book to purchase it, but the winner will receive a copy and his check.

Stories should be submitted to planetarystories@gmail.com. Single-spaced and 14 pt Arial or Times New Roman is suggested.

We at Planetary Stories are excited about this new development, and are anxious to see the beginning of the submissions.

A panel of judges will determine the winner.

For more info, visit http://www.planetarystories.com/ContestPage.htm

[Link] On Writing Vampires

by Selah Janel

So my friend and co-conspirator in crime Susan Roddey had a blog post the other day about the popularity of anti-heroes and showcasing “bad” characters in fiction. This got me thinking. This also makes sense because we both have stories in the upcoming anthology The Big Bad, and that’s pretty much the theme.  I have to admit, I had a blast writing the story that’s in that anthology for a variety of reasons. One, it gave me a chance to let the snarky, cursey, gore-happy bad girl side out (For those who know me, no, that is not my usual personality and yes, it does get much worse). Two, I got to write a vampire story…and those who know me know how much I stinkin’ love vampire fiction.

However, because of the theme of the anthology and apparently I go about things in an unconventional way, this got me thinking. What makes a good vampire story? Now I’m not necessarily talking about vampire romance or vampires that just show up as one of a myriad of creatures in urban fantasy. What makes  a good modern vampire story? (Not that I’m assuming mine is brilliant, though John Hartness seems to like it alright, so there!)

For me, you have to know right away what your character’s strengths and weaknesses are. This will set the stage for the whole story. Are you following conventional folklore? If so, how does that affect life in the modern world? If not, can you make the changes make sense or at least feel like they make sense?  In my case, I tend to strike a middle road, and since an anthology submission doesn’t give a lot of room for explanations, I’ve learned to do more showing than telling.

What’s the hierarchy and political structure of vampires in your world, and does it matter? In my story, it very much matters. The two vampire characters are on the run from someone who can very much affect their future in many, many ways – none of them pretty. Where they end up may seem boring for urban fantasy/horror, but it’s a safe place for them to hide. 

How was your vampire turned? This will affect the character’s personalities. For instance, my characters love being vampires, but they have no love of how they were turned. They took a potentially crappy situation and made it suit them. They have no regrets, but they’re still being haunted by something (or someone) that was pressing them into being turned.

Continue reading: http://selahjanel.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/on-writing-vampires/