ANKOR SABAT

"King" now available at Pseudopod

2011-12-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

The flash story "King" is now available over at Pseudopod! Again, they have done a great job producing the story. Much thanks to V. O. Bloodfrost for the excellent reading. The story is part of a flash fiction collection titled "It's War!" and is collected along with the stories "Number 21 Rue le Sueur" by Edward McDermott and "War" by Aaron Ashley Garrison.

Listen to the stories HERE.

"The High Priest" Nominated for a Parsec!

2011-05-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

Recently I was notified that some sufficiently ghoulish, yet certainly awesome, person (or creature...) has nominated "The High Priest" for a Parsec Award for best audio fiction in short form! Thanks to Barry Northern, R. E. Chambliss, Abigail Hilton, Bob Eccles and Nox Arcana for all their effort in producing this amazing episode!

Fingers (and tentacles) crossed that it will win!

"The High Priest" and Modern Lit

2011-03-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

For anyone who is interested, I thought I might write a little about "The High Priest" regarding my thoughts while writing it and a little bit of response to some of the comments it has generated.

I wrote "The High Priest" in a deliberately ornamented style in honor of - or perhaps less generously, poor imitation of - Clark Ashton Smith. It's a style I enjoy affecting and, these days, I hardly write anything in a different mode. Renee Chambliss, the amazing narrator of the story, mentioned that she normally enjoys "transparent" prose which lets the "story shine through" without obscuring it. However, she did say that she really enjoyed the way "The High Priest" was written and enjoyed narrating it. For this I am eternally grateful - Renee did a fantastic job! I will be first to admit that "The High Priest" is a challenging piece to narrate - especially whilst holding the listener's attention as powerfully as she did.

Perhaps this is a subject too large to tackle here, but I will go into it briefly: essentially I believe that the school of "the writing should never obscure the story" has waxed too powerful in recent years. It is essentially the dictum of the modern school and comprises the totality of all "Creative Writing 101" courses. This is to the detriment of young authors everywhere. I for one despise most "modern lit" - the "clear and invisible" prose has become a powerful homogenizing force, in short: all modern stories sound alike - sound "bookish." I am always happy when someone reads a piece written in a deliberatly oblique style and enjoys it.

But on to "The High Priest" itself...

I was inspired by the work of Nox Arcana - particularly their song "The Awakening" from the album Necronomicon. But much of the imagery of the story was inspired by the music video for "Ov Fire and the Void" by Behemoth. Particularly the sequence of the girl holding out the baby to the enthroned lead singer Nergal, clad in a terrifying mask and clearly a representation of Satan.

This sort of imagery connects with something deep in the human psyche. The image of the titan on the throne instantly draws us in, makes us feel a sort of primal awe. Just why this is, I cannot say - why do towering megaliths or spirals carved in the ground immediatly feel mystical to us? Perhaps its some bizarre evolutionary byproduct of our intelligent minds. Perhaps something else entirely - I don't know. It's something for the ivory-tower ensconced philosophers to dwell on.

It was for this reason that I made the Death Clan deliberately Satanic. They are goats, bulls, pigs, ravens and wolves. Horned and fanged animals which we connect with dark forests and barbaric gods. But Satanism is a lazy image to create - the horned devil of today comes from a rich history of pagan gods altogether more complex and deeply rooted in our collective minds than any goateed man in a red suit with a pitchfork.

The children of Dionysus are satyrs and fauns. The symbols of Appollo are wolves and birds. These images are not coincidental - the melding of the human form and certain animals is, well, scary. Ardan could have very well been the wolf who asked Little Red Riding Hood whereto she was heading, and Caleb would be equally at home at the center of a labyrinth in Crete. My point here is that we, as humans, relate certain animals with a sinister portion of our evolutionary process. There is a reason we all get tense when confronted with a dark forest. I am convinced that some part of us all is deadly certain that somewhere, deep in the forest's black heart, there lies in wait the Death Clan - or creatures very similar to them.

One of the female voice actors for "The High Priest" mentioned that the story was like the Greek myth of Medea but with "Lovecraft and faeries." (We'll ignore the fact that she forgot to mention .50cals and locomotives.) I was originally a little put off. The Lovecraft connection is obvious: the High Priest himself is reminiscent of any number of eldritch horrors and Xethogga could be replaced by any number of Lovecraftian or Ashtonian elder gods. But faeries? Did she mean the Death Clan? The Dionysian, half-human monsters which lurked within the dark places of both forest and soul? Surely not.

Then I realized she had paid me the greatest compliment imaginable. I hadn't seen it, but the connection to Kournos, forest spirits and the fae in general was obvious. I was reminded that not all faeries are happy little Tinker-Bells - many are dark and amoral creatures (the changeling legends come to mind) subservient to equally brutish gods. I was charmed by the connection to faeries.

Why I was so charmed brings me to my final point. I deliberately write my fantasies as "mythic" as possible. That is to say, I invoke the images and create the characters without explaination. In other words, I bring the Death Clan and the High Priest to the reader without bothering with the whys and wherefores. Today's writing is crammed full of exasperated world-building and extensive, extensive construction of "canon" and "rules" - coupled with a fanatical adherance to invented dogma.

Christopher Paolini, for example, creates several fantastic cultures in his Inheritance "Cycle" then explains, in excruciating detail, every single aspect and rule part thereof. From the method by which elves smith their swords, to the manner by which humans tamed dragons, to the intricate construction of a dwarven lamp. Many people enjoy, it seems, this sort of overexplaination - where everything is explained right down to the complex (and often unecessary) rules of magic. People extort for hours the virtues of the Wheel of Time magic "system" described by Robert Jordan against that used by Terry Goodkind in his tiresome fantasy "epics." It seems the goal of many young writers is to have a wiki created just for their works and the ridiculously overdescribed cultures and systems they conjure up.

"The High Priest" - and "Ankor Sabat" - are in part deliberate rebellions against this trend. Robert E. Howard did not describe just exactly how his sorcerers combined words in some invented language to create magic, his sorcerers simply were. Lovecraft's Cthulhu was only slain when August Derleth overexamined him, made him concrete, gave him rules, shrunk him down to an entry in the Dungeons & Dragons Monstrous Manual. Cthulhu works best under his own power. He cannot be explained - he can only be presented. He just is.

In this way, the Death Clan and the monstrous High Priest are simply presented to the reader with no strings attached. They are not over-analyzed, nor their method of existence justified. It is my hope that they confront the reader with the vigorous and fearfully direct nature of a legend, a myth, a fable. When Ardan speaks, I hope the reader accepts his fearsome presence with the same childlike terror they accepted the Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. I hope that the reader accepts the unspeakable High Priest as swiftly as they accepted the existence of any number of evil kings in the fairy-tales of yore.

I hope that the Death Clan is scary because, on some level, we all know that faeries are real.

And some of them, the dark ones, are waiting to devour us.

High Priest Artwork

2011-03-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

Barry was kind enough to use the rather amaturish piece I drew for "The High Priest" depicting Ardan St. Cygnus and Bethany Eves. His computerized sorcery has made it pleasant to look at, but here's the full piece in its undilluted glory for those who wish to see it.

Fullcast of "The High Priest" at Cast Macabre

2011-03-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Tremble in fear, mortals! Castmacabre has produced a piece of audio sorcery so black that your sanity will be shattered with each hypnotic syllable.

With all seriousness, this is the most amazing podcast I have ever heard. I am absolutely blown away by Barry's unspeakably amazing production of this piece. The narration is beyond description. I usually squirm a little when listening to my own work being read, but for this one I was literally held spellbound. R.E. Chambliss' narration was spot on - cruel, enrapturing and seductive. Abigail Hilton of Cowry Catchers fame nails Bethany's blind hatred - and Bob Eccles IS Ardan!

Music has once again been kindly provided by none other than Nox Arcana.

Words fail me when describing this production, so listen to it yourself HERE.

Issue #1 of Bete Noire out now!

2011-02-16T18:10:00.000-08:00

In case anyone desires to read "What they Consumed" by the most loathsome Helmut Finch, it is available in print in issue #1 of Bete Noire. You can also listen to Castmacabre's amazing audio production of the story here.

New Story "Cloven Hooves" Available in Print!

2011-02-01T19:04:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought it was safe: the latest tale of horror emerges from the shadows. It will make you scream and - if you're sick enough - it might just make you laugh.

My new short story "Cloven Hooves" is available in print in issue #6 of Title Goes Here Magazine. You can purchase the issue HERE.

"What they Consumed" Available in Print!

2010-09-17T00:07:00.001-07:00

That's right! The darkness continues to spread into every corner of the mortal soul. "What they Consumed" will soon be available in print thanks to the fine people over at Bete Noire magazine who have accepted it for issue #1!

"What they Consumed" by Helmut Finch

2010-08-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

Recently, in a misguided attempt at real estate speculation, I purchased a farmhouse outside of Chippewa Falls Wisconsin. During renovation, I discovered a wooden box concealed within the walls. Inside this box was a short story written by none other than Helmut Finch. Along with this story were certain letters and notes written by the man - the contents of which I feel are best to be kept from the public at large. I had the manuscript independantly verified by both Dr. Rudolph Gentz of Benediction University and Mr. Torrek Bestlonic, editor of the Helmut Finch United Press Association and both men assured me that it is an authentic Finch story. I submitted the story on Mr. Finch's behalf to Cast Macabre and it has been produced as an audio episode! And, for those of you who have been missing their Pseudopod fix, the episode is narrated by none other than Mr. Alasdair Stuart! AND it has music provided by no less than Nox Arcana!

The story, "What they Consumed," can be found HERE.

I'd like to conclude by reiterating that I am only the discoverer of this manuscript. Certain rumors have clustered around me as of late and certain unscrupulous individuals have claimed that I, and not Mr. Helmut Finch, am the author. This is, of course, utter nonsense. Beyond being recognized for the historical import of discovering a previously lost manuscript of his, I want nothing to do with that Wisconsin hack.

Prepare yourself... "The Joining" is at Hand

2010-08-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

My flash fiction story "The Joining" has been accepted over at Cast Macabre! It is now available as an excellently produced podcast episode for your listening pleasure here. If you enjoy (or hated!) the episode, please leave a comment on Cast Macabre's message boards.

Pseudopod Top 10

2010-06-02T16:43:00.000-07:00

I recently started back-tracking through all the podcasts available on Psuedopod. Since David Steffen (author of the wonderful "The Disconnected") has produced a Top 10 list, I thought "why not?" So I have decided to do the same. Here they are, in order:

1. The Worm that Gnaws by Orrin Grey.
2. Love like Thunder by Jim Bihyeh
3. Linda's Appointment by Mike Norris
4. Napier's Bones by Stephen Gaskell
5. The Mother and the Worm by Tim W. Burke
6. The Disconnected by David Steffen
7. Acceptable Losses by Simon Wood
8. Blood, Gridlock and PEZ by Kevin Anderson
9. Reservation Monsters by Jim Bihyeh
10. Break the Vessel by Vylar Kaftan

Listen to: Ankor Sabat

2010-03-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Listen to the harrowing tale itself.

Know, O mortal, that ye will encounter the greatest monster of all: thyself.

The End

2010-02-11T10:30:00.000-08:00

Behold mortals, the wrath of ancient days is upon you all. Over the tundra of vitrified bone and glass and rust the name of the All-Mother echoes as a clarion call; echoes and reverberates from the six-angled ziggurat wherein resides the unlimited loathsomeness of the High Priest. His vengeance upon you; his vengeance upon the very stones of the earth; his vengeance upon eternity itself!

Uuah! Uuah! Xethogga!
It is done!