Tag Archives: NECON

New Year, New Post, And A Recap

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Hello everyone! Welcome to 2024! I want to talk a little bit about what’s coming up, and also do a rundown of the year that was 2023,

Let’s start with the latter. 2023 was a busy year for me. I launched re-releases of my first two original novels, FIREFLY RAIN and VAPORWARE. I also had my second collection, A MEETING IN THE DEVIL’S HOUSE, published in July by the fine folks at Twisted Publishing. It got kind words from lots of readers – solid five star ranking at Amazon – as well as great reviews from places like HorrorDNA and PseudoPod. New short fiction included two stories at PseudoPod – “Swing Batter Batter” and “Billy’s Garage”. I also managed to get a story in the star-studded SWORDPLAY anthology, which was my first attempt at hard-core sword and sorcery. And I wrote two essays on films I may have seen too many times in this life, ZARDOZ and GREMLINS 2, for Ghost Show Press.

The Official Website of Richard Dansky — Meeting in the Devil's House

 

2023 was also a year of a great deal of conventioneering. Leaving aside the shows I attended for video game work (there were four), I also made it to, among others, AuthorCon II, my very first StokerCon, Necon, and GenCon. And in a late surprise, By Night Studios invited me to join their inaugural Vampire: The Masquerade LARP event in San Antonio, where many people were incredibly effusive with their appreciation for my work at White Wolf and what it had meant to them.

And lest we forget, I also got to give a reading in conjunction with the death metal band Eldritch Horror at Moon Dog Meadery in Durham. That was a thrilling event and I had a ton of fun – thanks to the folks at the Durham Public Library for putting it together! I also gave a reading in Rocky Mount in December, pulling up a story from SNOWBIRD GOTHIC to regale the audience with.

So, from that perspective, a pretty darn good year. And like I said, that’s without mentioning the video game side of things, which is pretty durn important to me – my excellent first year at Crytek after over two decades at Red Storm, multiple trips to Frankfurt wherein my luggage got sucked into a cosmic vortex, the pleasure of joining an exciting panel at LudoNarraCon, many GDC adventures, and of course the hometown fun of ECGC (and the mysterious post-ECGC thing We Do Not Speak Of).

But on to this year. There’s nothing officially in the pipeline for publication, though I have a novel, some short stories, and a card game design in submission to various spaces. Fingers are crossed. I also am looking to wrap up the edits on work in progress NIGHTMARE LOGIC, which has proven surprisingly resistant to finishing. There are at least three short stories I’m working on at the moment that I hope to turn around and submit soon, and I am looking at an exciting new project in a new medium that I can’t talk about quite yet.

And oh yes, I want to write the next novel.

Conventions will hopefully be a little less hectic, but I’ve said that before. Thus far I seem to be going to:

Ret-Con
ConCarolinas
AuthorCon III
Necon
GenCon
StokerCon
GDC

Still debating Carolina Fear Fest and a few others – we shall see how Teddy and Goblin feel about my frequent absences.

I hope to see you somewhere along the way in 2024, whether at a con or online. Here’s hoping you enjoy my work, and please, if you do read something of mine, do me the kindness of leaving a review. It really is a tremendous help in getting the work seen, which is what really matters to me.

 

 

 

Five For Writing – Tony Tremblay

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Tony Tremblay is one of the nicest people in horror fiction. He’s also extremely talented, as evidenced by his novels The Moore House and new title Do Not Weep For Me. An accomplished artisan and the host of The Taco Society show, he was kind enough to sit down for five questions on woodworking, being the house photographer at NECON, and more. Without further ado, here’s Five For Writing with Tony Tremblay.

1-What got you into writing fiction?

I’ve loved reading horror fiction since I was a kid. Authors like Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, and Shirley Jackson made huge impressions on my young mind. As I grew older, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Bentley Little, and Graham Masterton to name a few, led to an obsession with the genre. Since I have been old enough to read, I’ve always wanted to write a horror tale, but I knew I didn’t have the chops. I was in my mid 50’s when I learned our local library had a writer’s group, and I decided to join. I had no illusions of fame or wealth, I simply wanted to write a story that would scare people like my literary heroes had, and hopefully, have it sit next to their works on someone’s shelf.  

2-You’ve got two novels and two short story collections out. What’s next, and which format do you prefer more?

What’s next is a hybrid of the two—a novella. It’s a Halloween story in a collection of novellas which will be released around October. My contribution, Orange Eyes, is the tale of a taxi driver and a woman, unknown to each other, who have had their memories erased. As he and a new friend attempt to piece his history together, it’s eventually revealed that babies, sex, and the destruction of entire towns are connected to his memory loss.

As for a preference, I enjoy both, but short stories are harder to write. In a short story, a reader expects to have an engaging beginning, a non-cluttered and exciting middle, and a satisfying ending, and that’s tough to do in under 5,000 words. I enjoy that challenge. A novel gives me more space to accomplish those things so in a way, it’s easier to write. If pressed, I would pick writing a novel over a short story.

3-You do a lot of woodcraft. How does that compare to writing as a creative outlet? Is there any crossover?

Great question! Many of my ideas when writing a story come to me as I’m doing mundane chores, and I don’t flesh them out until I sit at the computer. Woodcrafts are the opposite, they must be well planned out in advance, keeping the construction and the painting in mind. Only after I’ve figured out how to make a craft, does the work becomes automatic. I use that time to analyze whatever story I’m working on, thinking about plot holes and direction. As for crossover, I normally make non-horror woodcrafts, but I did make a limited series of zombie snowmen once. 

4-You are the unofficial house photographer for NECON. Why and how did you pick up that mantle?

When I went to my first NECON, I took some pictures because I wanted to capture the faces of the horror authors who’s work I enjoyed so much. Later, when I posted them on Facebook, I was surprised by the response. Every year after that, I got to know more people, including other fans, so I took more pictures. At that first NECON, I think I took around 80 pictures, at the last NECON, I took over 650. All the good, and some not so good, pictures get posted to Facebook within days after the con. In my case, it seems to prolong that family feeling we all felt at NECON for a few more days.

5-You’re an avid reader. What do you look for in a horror novel?

I want the beginning of the novel to bowl me over. I’d like it to invoke primal instincts, whether they be fight, flight, sadness, empathy, or fear. In simpler terms, I want the beginning of a tale to put me through an emotional workout. It doesn’t have to be horrific; I only want to feel something worth pursuing before I get to the second chapter. Once I’m involved with the novel, I’d like to read realistic dialog, multiple points of views without repetition, and action scenes that go beyond visceral. What I don’t want in a novel is to have to use a thesaurus every page, and to read endless amounts of internal musing or exposition. 

 

Big thanks to Tony for his time and thoughtfulness! You can find him online at his website. Until next time, when I’ll be talking to Manly Wade Wellman Award winner Michael G. Williams!