A Scary Encounter

It staggered out of the gloomy doorway with it’s legs twisted and its head hung low on its slumped shoulders. At first I thought it was a man lost to drink by the way he staggered about, his arms stiff at its side – but I was wrong.

It was a black man, dressed in dark jeans splattered with filth and dust. He wore a dress shirt, ripped along its front and the buttons hanging loosely around his neck like dead skin.

He approached my friend, standing next to me.

He grabbed him by the cuff of his shirt, his eyes wide and crazy in their sockets. He growled at him like a rabid animal.

It was then I realized this was no ordinary man. Sure, he was flesh and bone like me, with veins pumping hot blood through his body. Somewhere he had a mother, a father, maybe even siblings who were worried about him, who loved him, and hated him seeing reduced to this wretched state.

But it was worse than that.

He was possessed by a demon. For those of you out there who refused to accept this as nothing more than outdated superstition, I assure you these things are real. And they are everywhere, causing havoc in our daily lives. And this poor bastard had one in him.

I raised my bible and told him to stop in the name of God.

That’s when his head twisted around , his face twisted in agony and a rage so deep, it cut me like a knife. It growled at me like a mad dog…

And I woke up.

I hate to do the dream cliche after that, but it was a dream – or so I think. I hope. I pray. For me, the dream was so real that I couldn’t go back to sleep for the longest time afterward. I kept thinking about the man and the way he snarled at me in the dream. His face.

It was all clear.

Two days later, I still feel its sting.

This is not the first dream or encounter I’ve had with demons. I’ve seen the world end in a dream. I wrote about it in my short story THE FALLEN.

And I’ve seen worse.

I’ve heard the bee-like buzz of Beelzebub one night, while dozing on my coach. This was no dream. The room was quite, just the gentle hum of the air conditioner. And then off to my right, as clear as day, I heard a buzz. It wasn’t an insect, it was something else – something wicked letting me know it was there. Letting me know that it was watching me and my family. The thing radiated fear so strong, I didn’t dare open my eyes until I felt it was gone.

Demons are everywhere and they come in many shapes and sizes, human and inhuman. Like the ghosts I have encountered, I believe sometimes they are drawn to me – and me, like a dumb ass, am drawn to them. I find them just as fascinating as I do terrifying. Like a scientist, I want to study them and learn more about them. And yet, don’t want anything to do with them.

But that dream, though.

Was it their way of reminding me that they were still around, watching me – hating me for finding God once again, and home in church with great people and friends?

I don’t know.

Trigger Warnings in Fiction

I will keep this one short, seeing as my last two postings were a bit long and dragged out. So, this post was inspired by a common thread I see in and around online writing communities, where writers ask if they should include a trigger warning for their prose, especially if their work involves violence, rape, and offensive language.

Have you seen this?

Today, we live in this pathetic police state of self-censorship and hypersensitivity – and its fucking pathetic. This modern day PC culture has invaded the world and should be resisted at all costs. See I’m old, I grew up in the 80’s when a stupid Democratic bitch, the wife Al Gore, Tipper Gore, tried to censor the voices of those she deemed deplorable.

Tipper was a Nazi.

She wanted to censor the world against things SHE didn’t like – she started putting warning labels on albums, went to war with heavy metal music, horror movies, comic books, and a ton of other media because SHE was offended. And when artist rallied against her and her fucking ilk of pricks and assholes, they lost. The artistic community, united in the freedom of speech, beat the bitch and sent her ass packing. But now, these idiots rise up like the living dead from their crypts.

Its pathetic.

And worse.

These days you have these fascist pigs called SJW’s, who want to force their twisted ideologies on the world, and when people fight back they get called misogynist, racist, sexist, Islamophobic, and ton of other things. A strategy straight out of the Marxist playbook mind you – which makes this type of assault all that more terrifying and unnerving.

These pussies, these weak minded jackasses need safe spaces, censor debates and conversations, throw milkshakes on people, and use violence and intimidation against those who refuse to bend the knee to their bullshit philosophies. And I’m one of those proud people that will stand up and fight against the onslaught of censorship.

And so should you.

Trigger warnings before a story? Are you fucking serious? Why? If a person reads my book and gets triggered by it, GOOD! It means I did my job as a writer to strike emotion and a reaction from my reader. And if they can’t take it, don’t buy my work. Don’t recommend my work to your pussy fucking friends, because I don’t want them reading it either. Or God forbid, leave a bad rating for it on Amazon. I don’t care.

Artist should be the ones fighting back against this tide, because if we don’t – nobody will. Art is meant to inspire, stimulate, and challenge. I will never let anyone tell me what I can and can’t say, what I can and can’t write. You tell me not do something, guess what, I’m going to do it just to spite you.

Every creative mind out there, no matter what you your medium is, should be against this. You think when I grew up in the late 80’s and early 90’s people had safe spaces? We got cuts, both physical and mental, and you know what that did to us – made us fucking stronger. After Trump won the election, we had idiots screaming at the sky! When Bush won, a douche back I hated, you know what I did? I voted against him and continued to live my damn life.

Today’s people, these pathetic parasites, are weak of both mind and soul. I implore all you writers, artist, musicians, film makers – to look at these people and tell them proudly, FUCK OFF.

Write want you.

Don’t let anyone hold you back creatively. Nobody.

Racism in a Workshop or Just Another Weak Writer Incapable of Criticism: A Reaction to Rani Neutill

I read an article recently I thought was absolute dog shit. I mean this is the type of writing you don’t want to step in, and when you do, you want to dig it out with a stick.

It was posted over on Long Reads and is written by Rani Neutill. First off, I’ll give credit where credit is due – the piece is well-written. It is clear this writer is talented in the art of the word and spent, a long damn time, writing her article – hence it being crucified over on Long Reads.

But that’s it.

The message is junkie blood splatted on the ceiling of a roach material, rust colored and ripe with Hepatitis C.

The name of the article is, “The Psychiatrist in My Writing Class and His ‘Gift’ of Hate.” And the tag line, I kid you fucking not is – Rani Neutill recalls a literary workshop in which a white man critiqued her ability to write in ‘proper’ English.

What the fuck?!

The first few paragraphs are fantastically written, capturing the writing room with amazing detail. I was hooked. And then she went down the path of no return, going completely woke and racist in a single line. She says, “All my classmates are white.”

BIG FUCKING DEAL!!!

You live in the United States and go to school in New England of all places, what the hell did you expect?

I don’t understand, how in this day and age, calling people out on their race isn’t racism? If I wrote the same article about the horrors of a critique group by proclaiming, “All my classmates were black.”

People would be pissed.

“All my class mates were asshole transgenders.”

The LGBTQ whatever, whatever would hang me from the nearest lamp post by my dick!

The rest of the article is about how this poor, poor woman was discriminated against by a ‘white’ dude because he questioned her grammar and language abilities in a story. Guess what babe, this happens to EVERYONE in a critique group and has nothing to do with racism, but your horrible fucking writing skills.

The way she writes reminds of those stuck up pieces of shit in writing classes that think they’re the next big thing, crafting the mega-masterpieces of this generation. The type of people who can’t stand it when someone points out the issues in their stories without loosing their minds.

I had a class where a Nazi-like Feminist ripped my story apart in front of the entire class for 45 minutes and I didn’t give a fuck. In fact, it made me stronger as a writer, because now I can take anything. This one dude in this class broke this woman like a witch on a medieval torture rack.

She’s still fucking crying about it.

The rest of the article jumps between flashbacks showing where this stuff comes from – turns out she’s a Bengali immigrant and she struggles with her identity and language. So she goes off on this one, poor dude because she’s insecure about herself.

Its sad.

And like I said, there isn’t a writer on this planet whose taken a writer’s workshop who hasn’t been lambasted for poor grammar and horrible writing. That’s why you go so you can grow and improve as a writer. But I guess that slipped past her while attending a fucking class in New England.

Newsflash Rani, not all whites are racist! You clearly are, because you can’t see past neither your ego or the skin color of your classmates.

I swear, she goes off on this dude in her head. Of course, she doesn’t have the spine to stand up for herself in the class, but instead holds it in so she can further fuel the victim fire in her twisted mind. I won’t link to the article, because it is utter trash.

Not in the writing, like I said, it is well written. Very well written if I’m to be honest (better than this rant, that’s for sure). But I don’t support hate speech or racist authors no matter how good they are. You can Google it. You’ll find it.

And if Rani reads this – get a fucking life you clown. Stop seeing everything through the eyes of a victim and be strong.

Do keep writing, because you are very good at it – and if one dude can break you so easily, how will you deal with this or other people hating on your work, because it will happen. And does.

I also hope you can learn to stop being a victim and seeing those around you, who may look differently, as the enemy.

Be happy.

Be proud of yourself and your culture.

And stop being a damn racist.

Religious Zealot at the Gates of Hell

This past Saturday I got a chance to participate at Frisco’s Author Fest 2019 with a ton of other great local artist from the area. And it didn’t bold well for this horror author, who sold absolutely zero books.

As much as I disliked have no sales, what really ruined the event, was a religious nut who thought they were holier-than-thou. I’ll keep the name removed from this post, but if they read this, learn to check your prejudices before transforming into a self-righteous prick in public. You didn’t make a fool of me by your tirade, you made a fool of your damn self.

So here’s what happened.

This person came over to my book table and took one look at the cover of my book and instantly got offended, you know the type – the ones who get instantly triggered. They started tapping their foot like a toddler and twisted their face in disgust. This was not my first time as a horror fan to tango with one of these religious assholes.

Before I get into what happened next, remember – art is subjective. You don’t like my book, cool.

Walk away.

You don’t like the theme or content of my book, cool.

Walk away.

You speak with your wallet by not purchasing it and I can respect that. You don’t stand there in a pathetic war stance trying to attack an author because you got issues.

I asked them, “What? Do you want to know what my book is about?”

The cover of my book is satire of the Satanic Bible. It is graphic, for sure, and designed to let the reader know the book holds no punches and is a bit absurd – I mean there is a big purple dick on the cover, along with donuts, beer, and hot-dogs.

“Sure,” the woman said.

“It’s about the redemption of Lucifer. The themes of the book is about the price of forgiveness and the difficulties in trying to turn away from a life of sin. Lucifer helps to help a group of people seeking redemption for their sins. It’s a horror, dark comedy – similar to Evil Dead 2 or something like From Dusk Til Dawn.”

“Redemption of Lucifer?” she repeated. “He can’t be forgiven.”

Now I’m going to paraphrase a little bit here, because I can’t remember every tiny, little word she said – but this is basically how it went.

“But Jesus,” I replied, “said – through me, all is forgiven.”

“Not everyone. You can go to hell for being blasphemous.”

Your one unforgiving bitch, I thought, who clearly doesn’t know the gospel as much as you think you do if you think Jesus lacks the love or compassion to anyone who comes seeking it. But I understand her, and surprisingly enough, explore this very same idea in my novel.

Oh well.

“Why would you write for him?” she asked. “You know my husband is a pastor and he wrote a book, and on ever page is a miracle. Why can’t you do something like that?”

“Be a boring horror novel for starters. And besides, my book is following darker and deeper paths than your husbands work. Besides, we are aiming at two different audiences. Yours are clearly already on the right path, mine – need a bit of redirection. I don’t preach at them or try and force them to follow my religious ideology. This book is entertain first and foremost, horrify, and get people to think.”

She walked away and went to a new by table. There, they praised and bought the authors works, and did these short video recordings for her Facebook page, where she has a few thousand followers. She did this right in front of me, demonstrating beyond reproach just how shallow and vindictive she is. She told me later she only supports writers, who ideas she agrees with – not knowing (or caring) one person she prompted was a Spiritualist and believed and wrote about witches, demonic presences, and communicating with angels. And her book was a piece of non-fiction!

In the end, religious assholes will never understand horror novels or the powerful messages usually explored in these types of works. The horror genre is the best form of fiction in support of Christian ideologies. This is a theme I will explore later on in my blog, so keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime, show this Christian ass how much you love my book by purchasing a copy of THE WRETCHED over at Amazon, and leave a comment.

Thanks for sticking around for this long read.

Big Story Coming

Its been awhile since my last post, sorry to leave you all hanging like an old man’s ball sack, but I’ve been busy writing, selling, and doing tricks for my Pimp.

Anyway – I got a big story about to drop here, a super long post about a recent book signing I had at the Frisco Library. It was a cool event, with a ton of local authors of various success, all selling their shit.

I didn’t sell any shit.

My books sat, unloved, on the table as a bunch of people walked by without barely any reaction outside of the disgusted variety. But I understand why – this wasn’t my audience! I need horror fans. I need paranormal fans. I need people who are open minded and want a book that doesn’t fit easily into a category and when read, blows your fucking face off!

The highlight or low light, depending on your view point, was an encounter with a holier-than-thou Christian nut case. And boy, oh, boy is it an interesting story! And it will be told, at length, very soon here. I’ve already written a 1000 words on it and need to edit it and fine tune it before publishing it here.

But stay tuned.

I’m also going to be doing a few blogs talking about the state of horror in the literary world and of course all the stigmas that come along with writing horror.

Thanks so much.

Here is a link to my book.

Here is a link to my short story.

Write What You Know

Recently, I’ve been hearing authors trying to tell me that I need to write what I know. By that they mean, since I’m a white, heterosexual male – I need to write stories following white, heterosexual males because I don’t know what its like to be transgender, gay, female, etc.

And to that I say, “Fuck off.”

Why?

First, you don’t tell me – EVER – what I can and cannot write. I hate it when people do this with me concerning my art. It’s mine. I can do what ever I want. If you don’t like it or don’t agree with my view point, fuck off. Don’t read it. Or give me some good, constructive feedback and I’ll improve it – but never, ever tell me that I can’t do something.

Secondly, the idea that people cannot write outside of themselves is absolute bullshit. J.K. Rowling’s main character was a boy named Harry Potter. I think most of those people reading this would agree she did a great job with his character, correct? Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein, a story about a mad MALE scientist and she did a great job with it, right? Anne Rice, the Vampire Chronicles are all male characters written by a woman author – she did okay, right? What about men? Jeffrey Eugendies wrote about a transgender in Middle Sex, Ian McEwan did Atonement, etc.

Truth is, looking back at history, there have been people of different races, genders, and nationalities writing and creating characters way beyond their ‘personal’ knowledge base. Black authors writing about the white experience, whites writing about Latino struggles in LA, and so it goes.

Writers are able to do this and do it successfully. Most writers write stories about people they want to know or understand more about so don’t have an issue researching different cultures and people to write their stories.

Shit, I took a Female Voice writing class in school to learn how women think and act to improve my female characters in my books. You read any of my stuff and you’ll find strong female characters – and gay! In my novel HOLY CRAP AND THE JUDGMENT DAY BLUES, my main character is a homosexual author. To learn more about the gay experience, I interviewed a friend of mine who is gay and got a ton of information. I researched hate crimes and even watched gay porn. It all helped me write I very strong and realistic gay character, and taught me more, as a human, about the gay experience.

Third, don’t restrict your creative freedom! Everyone is out to stop you these days it seems, but as writers, never let them. Write what you like and about who you like no matter the skin color, sexual orientation, or whatever. Once you start self-censoring yourself out of fear your artistic freedom is dead.

So to all those people telling me to write about the white experience ONLY because I’m white – go eat a bag full of fish sticks, because it isn’t going to happen. The people saying this foolishness are people who fail to understand that the human experience is shared and the story we write is unique to the one writing it.

We can all write a story in the Star Wars universe, even using the same characters, and I promise you each and every single one of them (outside of the character names) would be unique.

In the meantime, please go check out my novel THE WRETCHED over on Amazon for those lonely nights where you got nothing to read.

Or get my short story, THE FALLEN, for free until May 11th at the link here.

Thanks

Over the Hill

Hey guys – just a heads up and short update here. This next Tuesday, I’m turning 41. I’m not going to do much of a celebration outside of seeing Endgame and drinking a couple of Guinness while I wonder WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!!!

For those reading this who are young, I’m talking under 25 – enjoy your time. Because there is a moment in your life when God flips this big, mean switch that makes time just shoot past. I mean you blink and you got hair growing out of your ears, a juicy midsection, and saggy fucking balls (if your a dude).

It sucks.

Next year, when I turn 42, I’m going to reward myself with a huge party – because 42 baby. For those who haven’t read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, its a very special number in the book (which is one of my favorites). And if you are one of those people who never read the book – what the fuck is wrong with you. Stop reading this and go get a copy right now, here’s a link.

But there is another reason to celebrate my birthday this year, a giveaway. We all like free shit, right? Well, on May 7th, I will be giving away my short story THE FALLEN away over on Amazon for a very limited time. You can download the book for free for 3 days and 3 days only.

So post it on your calendar so you don’t miss this chance to wet the bed after reading my horrifying, end-of-the-world story full of all that wicked shit you come to love (or hate) from me.

And also, please check out my novel THE WRETCHED. Sorry, but that one isn’t free. I need money to support my hooker habit.