writing – The Literary Underworld

This is Your Brain on Story

By Kathy L. Brown

The Story of Us

Unless we are some sort of Zen master of mindfulness, for good or ill most of us walk around all day immersed in the story in our head. We converse with ourselves or imaginary people. We react to events, parse their meaning, and fit them into patterns of our own creation. Each of us stars in our own story for an audience of one.

The late neurologist Oliver Sacks has written extensively on the subject. We seem to be hardwired to find patterns and impose sense on this narrative we call life. We unconsciously amend the objective facts to make a “better” story: More dramatic, more interesting, or just to “earn the ending.” Events really can’t be random and meaningless, right? And that pattern-finding instinct comes into play as we see images in random patterns, from clouds to grilled tortillas.

We Love Some Oxytocin

Human brains produce oxytocin, aka “cuddle hormone,” when we feel trusted or receive a kindness. It increases our empathic abilities–insight into other people’s emotional states–and thus makes cooperation more likely. (Fun fact: Oxytocin triggers the let-down reflex for nursing mother’s milk flow.)

Dr. Paul Zak’s brain chemistry research at Claremont Graduate University took blood from test subjects before and after they heard a narrative. Character-driven stories were associated with increased oxytocin levels. And more oxytocin is associated with more cooperation. Researchers have found stories—”experiential products”—provide happiness, just like real-life experiences.

“Collaborate or Die”

Proto- and early humans had to get it together, literally, or die. An individual naked ape had little chance in the wild. One thesis of social development cites the power of empathy—internalizing another creature’s observed experience and reacting to it as one’s own.

This instinct lead to banding together and cooperative behavior. It helped all member of the group get “on the same page,” as it were. Early cave paintings hint at an oral tradition of storytelling that harnessed the group’s experience: A powerful bonding tool.

The Power of Story

As biologist Nathan Lents points out, “We cannot feel empathy for data.” A character-driven, emotional rich narrative is remembered more accurately later and is more likely to change behavior. Marketers and educators tap this aspect of human psychology. When I was in graduate school, I used a case study for a presentation on health behavior principles. My patient had worked hard as a coal miner all his life. He’d played hard, too. He loved the nightlife, beer, and cigarettes. When we meet, he had end-stage lung disease. Medicines were barely helpful, and the disease would slowly but inevitably destroy his lungs, each breath a labored gasp. But then, he was put on the wait list for lung transplant.

See what I did there? This expository piece turned into a story about a poor dude who couldn’t breathe. Maybe it’s a little more interesting now, as the oxytocin-driven empathy kicks in.

Because story links directly with our emotions, the connection is stronger and faster. The facts don’t have to convince us of the superiority of a particular brand of chewing gum: when we see a sweet, one-minute story about a man, his growing daughter, and the bond between them symbolized by a chewing-gum wrapper collection, we not only want gum, we also want the “gum experience” of love and family devotion.

This blog was originally published on 6/7/2019 at The Storytelling Blog.

Kathy L. Brown lives in St. Louis, Mo. and writes speculative fiction with a historical twist. Her hometown and its history inspire her fiction. When she’s not thinking about how haunted everything is, she enjoys hiking, crafts, and cooking for her family. Montag Press published the first novel in her Sean Joye Investigations book series in 2021. Follow her social media platforms: Instagram at kathylbrownwrites, Facebook at kbKathylbrown, and Twitter at KL_Brown. The Storytelling Blog lives at kathylbrown.com.

How art can be a protest

By Alexander Brown

While art is primarily for the artist, it can be a Trojan horse for the audience. Although works produced for commerce can still evoke emotion in the consumer, nothing is as raw as an artist who creates to reflect the horrors of society. As the general public suffers under an administration that only cares for its own well-being, and an audience that screams that the smallest fraction of diversity in entertainment is “woke,” wokeness in art has existed since the dawn of time. Yet, the general public has refused to acknowledge its existence.

To give a popular reference that the majority should be familiar with, there is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This gothic classic deeply resonates with classism, feminism, race, and even queer culture. Consider Frankenstein’s “monster,” who began as docile and only wanted love and acceptance. But rather than having gained that, he was literally feared for no other reason than his identity. Sound familiar?

Another fine example is Toni Morrison’s Beloved. This Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, which takes place shortly after the American Civil War, explores the horrors of slavery and racism through a paranormal lens. And since the ghost serves as a vehicle to remind us of a traumatic past, what better way to focus on these subjects than to present it as a ghost story? To show the impact of this novel, even in 2021, Republicans tried to use it under the guise of propaganda to justify their prejudice against the critical race theory.

Another fine example is Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho. This splatterpunk classic reflects the horrors of the 1980s, where the monster of Corporate America was projected onto the ruthless antagonist, Patrick Bateman. In this shocker, not only did he murder those who were his competition, but he brutalized women, minorities, and those who were underprivileged for an extensive amount of page time. Meanwhile, he continued to financially thrive in a society of Reaganomics. What better way to humanize Corporate America by giving it the traits of a sociopathic narcissist?

Other great examples can be seen in the work of Octavia Butler and her series known as the Xenogenesis trilogy, which focuses on colonization. Then there’s Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, which warns against totalitarianism. Also, we have Poppy Z. Brite’s Exquisite Corpse, which explores the suffering of those in LGBTQ+ community when they are shunned.

Something all of these books have in common, aside from being outstanding literature, is they are all Trojan horses that comment on society in one form or another. For the most part, the general public has accepted them as a form of entertainment and nothing more. Yet, if one were to look harder, they would see that these pieces, and many others, have acted as a protest against a world where movements are few and far between. The reason why one has to look hard for these subjects is that a good artist knows how to show and not tell. In other words, they present without proselytizing or pandering.

If done right, art can be a protest; the artist a protester and documentarian. A source that can act as a creative liver. One that processes vital subjects into a format so its consumers can develop a deeper level of sympathy for those who are different from themselves, or empathy for those who feel alone in their struggles.

To create good art, not only should it entertain, but it should also evoke emotion, whether that emotion be positive or negative. The only way to do that is to produce unforgettable characters in a concept that reflects our own reality. Regardless of what medium one chooses to express themselves in, what better time than now, 2025, to create something that reflects the external horrors of everyday life? Don’t be afraid to be woke with your art; use it as a protest, even if the end result is just as nihilistic as the ending of a Bachman book.

ALEXANDER S. BROWN is a Mississippi author whose first book, Traumatized, was published in 2008 and later re-released by Pro Se Publications. Brown is co-editors/coordinator of the Southern Haunts anthology series published by Seventh Star Press. His horror novel, Syrenthia Falls, was published by Dark Oak Press. His short story collection The Night the Jack O’ Lantern Went Out, published by Pro Se Press, reached bestseller status in three literary categories on Amazon.com upon release. Brown is the author of multiple young-adult steampunk stories found in the Dreams of Steam anthologies, Capes and Clockwork anthologies, and Clockwork Spells and Magical Bells. His more extreme works can be found in the anthology Luna’s Children, published by Dark Oak Press; Reel Dark, published by Seventh Star Press; and State of Horror: Louisiana Vol. 1, published by Charon Coin Press. Brown is also an actor and producer in the short film The Acquired Taste, inspired by a story in Traumatized and directed by Chuck Jett.

ADHD and writing

By Diana Morgan

October is ADHD awareness month and as a writer with ADHD, I’d love to help bring more awareness to how we portray ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions in writing and media. If you’re plugged into any social media lately you’ve probably run into at least one creator whose content revolves around ADHD or autism. It’s a hot topic, thanks to new diagnostic standards and the special community that forms on social media platforms.

Neurodivergent identity has been stigmatized for a long time. Autism, ADHD, bipolar, and other brain differences were hidden or avoided, leaving people with shame and nowhere to look for representation.

But things have changed. From Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory to Abed Nadir in Community, more and more characters are showing up and giving the neurodivergent community the representation it needs.

Authors like Helen Hoang and Talia Hibbert, who are both autistic, have started including autistic characters in their romance novels showing the complexities disability gives to a relationship. In sci-fi authors like Ada Hoffman and Corrine Duyvis are exploring how science and disability rights can affect the future in new ways.

In my Lost Colony series, I have two neurodivergent characters. Jacob Moorland has AudHD (ADHD and autism combined) and in the upcoming sequel, there will be a new character names Henry with autism.

It’s exciting new territory for those of us who grew up in a world where our conditions were often shamed. I was diagnosed as a child and grew up in the 90s when ADHD hadn’t been studied in girls. Growing up, I rarely saw characters with ADHD in the media and when I did, they were highly exaggerated or stereotypical. Boys who were “walking disasters,” running wild and being destructive; non-verbal girls who could only repeat songs they heard on the radio. It gave an inaccurate idea of what ADHD and autism can look like and further stigmatized our differences.

Like any good representation, progress is slow, and mistakes are made, but we must keep trying to improve. If you’re a writer who is interested in writing better, more realistic neurodivergent characters, here are a few tips to get you started.

This is also a good time to say that I am not a medical professional, I’m just a writer who’d lived their whole life with ADHD (diagnosed at 5 years old), raised an autistic ADHD child, and spent a lot of time with the neurodivergent community learning about being an advocate. I’m still learning, but one thing I do know about is writing, and I want to help other writers.

Neurodivergent is NOT just autism and ADHD. It’s also bipolar disorder, Tourette’s, Down’s Syndrome, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, borderline personality disorder, and a host of other brain differences.
Be mindful of what terms you use. A lot of things have changed about how autism and ADHD are diagnosed over the last few decades, as such so have the terms used to describe people with those diagnoses. Terms like ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and Asperger’s are outdated and in some ways offensive. Depending on your story’s setting and time period, you need to be mindful about what terms you use.
This also goes for slang. Like any community, a few slang terms have cropped up in recent years. Words like “neurospicy” and “the ‘tsim” have gotten popular, but people are divided on how they feel about them. Some people think neurospicy is fun and empowering. Others find it infantilizing and demeaning.
Autism/ADHD/disability is a superpower or they have a superpower that “cures” the disability. This is disrespectful at best and can be offensive if done badly. Disability doesn’t need a cure or magic powers, it needs acceptance.
Neurodivergent is not a monolith. Even people who have the same diagnosis will have vastly different presentations and symptoms. Many neurodivergent conditions are also co-morbid. ADHD and autism frequently appear together, they are also often accompanied by dyslexia, dyspraxia, anxiety, and depression.

Good representation takes time and a willingness to learn, but we can all do more to help neurodivergent representation improve. If you are interested in including more characters with autism, ADHD, or other disabilities, do your research, listen to advocates with those disabilities, and whenever possible hire a sensitivity reader.

If you’re interested in more ADHD content and resources, check out the resources page on my website dianamorganauthor.com, or find me on any of my socials @dianamorganauthor

Keep writing and I’ll see you among the stars.

DIANA MORGAN is a superhero by day, writer by night. Okay, not really, but when she’s not writing books, she’s a librarian at a local library, which is kind of a superhero. Her superpowers include always knowing what kids like to read, being able to read more than 10 books at one time, and the ability to eat more pizza than anyone.

Diana has always loved science fiction and fantasy. She grew up watching Quantum Leap, Power Rangers and Star Wars. She can’t remember a time when she wasn’t making up stories.

She was a geek before being a geek was cool, and she loves hanging out with other geeks and sharing her love of all things space and magic and books.

Just a regular bloke

By John McFarland

It was to be the trip of a lifetime. One of those ‘bucket list’ deals that retirees dream of. My wife Cindy’s ex daughter-in-law, Michelle, had always stayed close to Cindy through the years. And after years of hard work, elevating herself to comfortable circumstances, Michelle invited us to join her family on a tour of the UK.

Although Michelle’s family trip was only to encompass the UK, Cindy, always looking at the big picture, saw a larger opportunity. Having two publishers in Germany, Wandler-Verlag and Zagava, and an illustrator in Seville, Spain, she planned that we could get a Europass and see the Continent by rail after our hosts went home. These were exciting prospects, and it occurred to me that there was yet another literature-related possibility open to us before we left England for the train tour.

I had become facebook friends with Ramsey Campbell perhaps three years before. He was always the first person to wish me happy birthday every year, and I enjoyed reading his regular-bloke posts about partying with his friends, cinema, horror, and The Three Stooges. He was and is an avid assembler of 1000 piece picture puzzles and loves a good glass of cheer. We had a sort of connection through the person of the iconic T.E.D. Klein.

The very first fiction I ever wrote was a tale called One Happy Family. Ted was the wunderkind editor of The Twilight Zone Magazine in those days and he accepted that story and published it in October 1983 issue. Subsequent stories I submitted to him didn’t fare so well, but Ted always explain in detail and with much kindness, what he felt was lacking in them. I reconnected with Ted when my first story collection appeared in 2020 and he was graciously supportive and gave me very positive blurbs. He even sent a collection of essays he had recently published, as a gift.

As it turns out, Ted was equally encouraging to Ramsey when he first came on the scene with his novel The Doll Who Ate His Mother, also in the early ‘80’s. They have been friends ever since. Ramsey was impressed when I was honored to be included in a two author chapbook with Ted issued by Wandler-Verlag.

I messaged Ramsey through Facebook that we were going to be in the UK in late August. I asked if he were going to be available then and if we could meet. His response was ‘Let’s have dinner.’ We selected a Turkish restaurant Ramsey and his wife Jenny had wanted to try in Wallasey Village, across the Mersey River from Liverpool. The restaurant was just a few blocks from their home. Ramsey made reservations for four for the evening of August 25.

Cindy has never been a fan of horror. She felt ill-equipped to meet an author whom I had told her was a celebrity. “How famous is he?” she asked me.

“Maybe not quite as well-known as Stephen King, but close to that.”

I told her I was a little apprehensive too. I had never met, face-to-face, a writer in that hierarchy and though I had read three of Ramsey’s novels and many of his short stories, I didn’t consider myself qualified to speak authoritatively about his work.

Cindy and I got to the restaurant first. It was a nice neighborhood place, but completely empty, but for us. We were seated in a booth in the front window. Remembering Ramsey’s love of jigsaw puzzles, I had bought him a gift of a thousand-piece puzzle of horror movie posters over the years. For good measure, I threw in copies of my two story collections.

After about a ten minute wait, an Uber pulled up outside and Ramsey and Jenny made their way out of it. “Here they are,” I told Cindy. I stood to greet them, hoping the coming conversation would not lag and would take on a life of its own.

It took about three seconds to see that Ramsey was the same fellow in person as he is online. His left arm was in a sling. He said he had taken a fall a few weeks before and broken it. “Lucky it wasn’t my writing arm,” he said, as he had just started another new novel. Jenny apologized for looking tired but said she was just preparing for a weekend babysitting her rambunctious grandsons. “But first things first,” Ramsey said. “What are we drinking?”

The first of several bottles of Pinot Grigio was brought to the table and we made short work of it. Cindy need not have been concerned about her conversational skills as we spoke of non-horror books, wines, grandkids, travel, sightseeing (Ramsey and Jenny had just returned from visiting a son in Singapore) and pets. We ordered our food and everyone shared whatever was on their plates. More wine came and Ramsey entertained us with magic tricks and tales of such notables as Robert Aickman and Ted Klein. And always an occasional Three Stooges reference.

I gave Ramsey his gift bag. He was delighted with the puzzle and seemed genuinely grateful for my books. “Did you sign them?” he asked. I had thought he might resent the presumption. But, not at all.

For four hours we talked, ate and drank our wine. Jenny said more than once she was really enjoying herself and she hoped we would stay in touch. I called the waiter over and he took four photos of us together. We had the restaurant to ourselves the entire evening. At ten o’clock I paid the bill and offered to share an Uber with our guests.

I had to help Ramsey to his feet. I think his injury had taken something out of him. The four of us waited on a deserted street for our ride. When it came I helped Ramsey into the car and in five minutes we were at their home on a comfortable, ivy-draped residential street nearby. Everyone hugged everyone and Jenny repeated she wanted to stay in touch. Ramsey seconded this and I could see they had really taken to Cindy. Me too, apparently.

I didn’t initiate this memorable evening with any plot or plan, but as it turns out, Ramsey really did read my books and loved them. He gave me several blurbs to use in the future. More than I ever expected. I just wanted the chance to meet him and talk writing. And, as it turns out, Wandler-Verlag will be publishing another chapbook next year, featuring Ramsey and myself.

I still hear from him regularly. And many of the messages, though not all, begin or end with some reference to The Three Stooges.

JOHN MCFARLAND’S first novel, The Black Garden, was published in 2010, and the story continues with the recent Mother of Centuries. His work has appeared in The Twilight Zone Magazine, Eldritch Tales, National Lampoon, River Styx, Tornado Alley and the anthology A Treasury of American Horror Stories, which also included stories by Stephen King, Richard Matheson and H.P. Lovecraft. He has written extensively on historical and arts-related subjects and has been a guest lecturer in fiction at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a lifelong Bigfoot enthusiast, and Annette: A Big Hairy Mom is his first novel for young readers.

Escape with Bladespell

By Steven L. Shrewsbury

Questions are posed to me often about what I write. I’m pretty approachable, oddly enough. Although many experienced writers have warned me to be a bit more exclusionary, I have a tough time not interacting with folks. Sometimes, that is different, but in this case, I’ll share.

Someone asked me, “Did you set your new novel, Bladespell, in Africa to be trendy?”

First, I doubt that sword & sorcery pre-flood tales set in Africa are a trend. Second, while I get the question, the book wasn’t set there as part of some agenda. “Africa was in the direction our main characters traveled in when they sailed off at the end of Killer of Giants.” S’true.

I do my best to make my novels, be they about Gorias La Gaul, Joel Stuart or in this case, Rogan the Kelt, as single, standalone tales. One can pick up any novel and enjoy it without getting the rest in a series or saga. Hopefully, the reader will want to seek out the others in time. In the past, I’ve been distressed to see a tome that looks very intriguing and then see it’s number 4 in a series. Ugh.

The yarn unfolds in primeval Africa not out of any desire for inclusiveness or whatever political agenda some might have. I told a story. I didn’t check boxes. That’s it. I’m a true believer that fiction should be escapism, a way to get away from the harangues of the media and the insanity of politics. Open the pages of a book and you escape from the drivel online or on the television.

The main character, Rogan, is a swaggering savage from thousands of miles away from where the book is set. How he survives in such a place, and against evil folks, cannibals, forces, demons and time traveling wizards, well, that’s the deal. Never once did I have the thought “THIS will piss folks off” or “Better include THIS class of people.” Just told the tale. If the story jerks a knot in someone’s undies, praise Jesus. Things happen.

Does that sound vanilla? It isn’t. The world, even back then, was made up of all sorts of interesting people, thoughts and stuff. These segue into a story, and I don’t need to consult a chart or give sacrifices to a political ideology to feel swell about myself. Am I dissing folks that do have such agendas? Naw. Do what makes ya feel good. Readers will judge whether to purse their lips, toss the book away, or read more.

Up against all that, Rogan encounters bad folks and good, but that’s life. I weave in some Lovecraftian horrors, the scope of which turns broad towards the end, and yeah, one of the time traveling wizards is Aleister Crowley in the form of shaman Oliver Haddo. What’s he up to in such ancient times? You’ll have to check it out and see.

That is if you want to escape this world of oppressive nonsense and dwell in a place of action, intrigue and wild times.

One can find Bladespell at the Literary Underworld or at Amazon.

STEVEN L. SHREWSBURY lives, works, and writes in rural Illinois. More than 360 of his short stories have appeared in print or electronic media, along with more than 100 poems. Nine of his novels have been released, with more on the way. His books run from sword & sorcery (Overkill, Thrall, Bedlam Unleashed) to historical fantasy (Godforsaken) extreme horror (Hawg, Tormentor, Stronger Than Death) to horror-westerns (Hell Billy, Bad Magick, and the forthcoming Last Man Screaming). He loves books, British TV, guns, movies, politics, sports and hanging out with his sons. He’s frequently outdoors, looking for brightness wherever it may hide.

5 Unique Ways to Show Your Favorite Authors Some Love

By Rachel A. Brune

As the summer grinds on, I’m hard at work on the third volume in the Rick Keller series—available from the Literary Underworld! My secret agent werewolf and his partners are back on another mission, and I’ve been burning through my stash of index cards trying to figure out the twists and turns of middle section of the book.

And so, because I’m supposed to be writing, I’m instead surfing my reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, refreshing my author page, and generally doing lots of things other than writing, including reading a rotating selection of books from the local library.

I picked up my phone to mark my latest book as “read” on Goodreads (gotta make that annual Goodreads challenge!) and dashed off a quick review. And it made me think—will this writer see this review? If I really like the book, should I post something on social media? Should I recommend that book? How can I let people know I really liked it?

After thinking about it—and yes, procrastinating a little more from Rick and friends, I have come up with this list of five different—and maybe somewhat unusual—ways that readers can show some love to their favorite authors.

And hey—they don’t even have to be your favorite authors – if you read their book and liked it, share the love! (I’ve gotta confess—these are all on my writer bucket list.)

Place their work on your body via tattoo art. If you’re into decorating your body with art, use a favorite quote, character, or object from a book as an excuse to get more ink! Not a fan of written quotes and how they look? Take the quote to your favorite tattoo artist (I’m a big fan of James Tuck) and ask them to use it as inspiration for an original piece. (Obviously don’t do this one if you’re not allowed to get a tattoo for parental, legal, health, or religious reasons.) Literary tattoos make great conversation pieces, and you’ll be supporting not just one but two creative people!
Make some fan art. As a reader, I love seeing other people’s takes on a book I’ve read and enjoyed. I especially love it when a writer will post (with permission) pictures of fan art they’ve received. These may range from basic pencil or crayon sketches all the way to professional-level drawings, but the one thing they all have in common is a shared love of the writer’s world that they are expressing authentically. Sometimes the characters depicted in the art look exactly as I’d imagined in my head—and sometimes they don’t. That’s all part of the fun of it!
Pick their book for your book club. Don’t have a book club? Start one! All joking aside, this is a great way to find people with whom you can schmooze about the books you enjoy over a nice snack and beverage. Not only that, but you’re helping an author find a wider audience, and that is a magical thing. If you reach out to them, the author might even be available to attend your book club meeting and answer your questions about their work, either in person or via Zoom. At the very least, they will appreciate the gesture.
Write a poem praising them. The more complicated in terms of meter and rhyme the better! There exists a long literary tradition of praising someone by writing a poem (the technical term is, coincidentally enough, “praise poem”). Channel your inner chaotic good Bard and share your love of a writer’s writing by writing them some writing about their writing!
And of course, give them a review, subscribe to their newsletter, and follow their public platform! Every writer I know spends a lot of time trying to figure out how to communicate with the people who enjoy their work. Whether it’s a website blog, social media account, or newsletter, authors love to hear from the folks who have read and enjoyed their work. Let’s face it—this is a hard business to gain financial fortune; many of us really appreciate the messages from our fans that feed our souls in between royalty checks. And if you’ve followed a single writer online, you already know how much reviews mean to writers (and their publishers!)

So there you have it! Five different ways you can show authors some love. Maybe one of these will be perfect for the book you’re reading now. What’s that? You are in need of a book to read? Not to worry—check out one of the Literary Underworld’s nearly 200 titles—and if you end up getting some new ink, or hosting a book club, or want to send us some fan art, then drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you!

Rachel A. Brune graduated from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts in May 2000, and was immediately plunged into the low-stakes world of entry-level executive assistantship. Her unexpected journey out of that world and into the military is chronicled in her self-published book Echoes and Premonitions. Rachel served five years as a combat journalist, including two tours in Iraq, and a brief stint as a columnist for her hometown newspaper. After her second tour, she attended graduate school at the University at Albany in NY, where she earned her M.A. in political communication, and her commission as a second lieutenant in the military police corps.

Although her day job has taken in her in many strange, often twisted directions, Rachel continues to write and publish short fiction. She released her first novel, Soft Target, in early 2013, and other books have followed. In addition to writing, she is the founder and chief editor at Crone Girls Press and edits the Falstaff Dread line of horror fiction at Falstaff Books.

The structure and writing of Days of Darkness

Days of Darkness proved to be a very interesting project for me in terms of the overall structure and kind of writing necessary to tell this particular story. It is a unique story for several reasons, and as such it brings it into some rarer territory when it comes to the elements typically used in writing novels, or even feature film screenplays.

One thing that readers of the book may be surprised by is that Days of Darkness has no protagonist. Nor is there an anti-hero. In fact, the main character that readers follow the entire story with, Ambrose, is a very despicable individual, and any sense of an arc concentrates merely on the process of personal revelation, as opposed to a fundamental development of character like is seen with main characters in novella/novel-length fiction.

In most other realms of storytelling, it is difficult to tell a tale where the reader is not going to have a strong connection of some kind with the character whose perspective the story is being told through. In most stories, the lack of a main character to bond with is a shortcoming. In Days of Darkness, not only was it not any kind of shortcoming, I found, but rather a strength that was the best route for this tale.

Here, the dynamic of the story from start to finish is that of a steady, dark-edged thrill ride, and it is more the setting and the journey through it that propels the reader through the story, without the typical bond a reader typically has with a more common type of main character. Ambrose’s encounters and interactions with the unfolding world around him, rather than a character arc, are what draws the reader in deeper and creates a hunger to see what comes next.

The nature of this story’s main character also had a strong effect on the overall structure of this story. There are three primary phases in the novel, but they do not fall into any usual kind of three-act structure. The first part of the story takes place in an urban setting, the second in a suburban setting, and the third in a rural setting, after which things come full circle for the climax of the storyline.

Throughout all of these phases, there is a constant escalation of action and scale. It begins with the world as most of us know it, with nothing seeming to be out of the ordinary. Then, things begin to gradually unravel, and as they do, the stakes get bigger in relation to the kinds of entities that begin to manifest and the chaos that breaks out and spreads within this world.

There is not really an ebb and flow, but rather a steady, expanding progression, until the reader arrives at the grand finale, which features an event that exceeds the magnitude of everything that has taken place before that.

The atmosphere, the settings, and the nature of this particular Hellscape drive the story on a continuum as Ambrose is taken along a macabre journey of revelation and ultimate accountability.

Looking back on Days of Darkness, I am confident that readers will find this book engaging, compelling, and intriguing; and even though it may be disturbing at times, there are thought-provoking themes regarding the nature and essence of evil underlying all of it.

To do this without a more typical novel structure, and without any sort of protagonist or anti-hero driving at the core of this story, has marked another stride in my writing and storytelling. It is not the usual horror novel, but it delivers a powerful and unique kind of story that readers of the horror genre are going to love. My wish is that readers come to enjoy it as much as I did writing it!

I am already looking forward to writing the next foray into the Hellscapes, no matter the form it may take!

————————

Stephen Zimmer is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and broadcaster based out of Lexington, Kentucky. His titles as an author include the Rayden Valkyrie Tales (sword and sorcery), the Ragnar Stormbringer Tales (sword and sorcery), the Hongvi Shadow Walker Tales (sword and sorcery) the Faraway Saga (YA dystopian), the Rising Dawn Saga (cross-genre), the Fires in Eden Series (epic fantasy), the Hellscapes short story collections (horror), the Chronicles of Ave short story collections (fantasy), and the Harvey and Solomon Tales (steampunk).

Stephen’s visual work includes the feature film Shadows Light, short films such as The Sirens and Swordbearer, and the Rayden Valkyrie: Saga of a Lionheart TV pilot. Stephen also co-hosts the Star Chamber Show, a weekly live audio podcast on PodBean featuring creative talents from around the world.

Stephen is a proud Kentucky Colonel who also enjoys the realms of music, martial arts, good bourbons, and spending time with family.

Author Links:

Website: www.stephenzimmer.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephenzimmer7
X App (Formerly Twitter): @sgzimmer
Instagram: @stephenzimmer7
Threads: @stephenzimmer7
TikTok: @stephenzimmer7

————————

Days of Darkness

Ambrose awakens to find dense, rolling layers of ash-gray clouds spanning to the far horizon, shrouding the city beneath in a drab pall. He begins his day, thinking it no different from any other.

Though it is in the height of summer, an icy, anomalous chill sifts into the air later that day, until it becomes colder than the depths of winter.

Then, the sun sets, and darkness falls.

The night does not end, as there is no sunrise to follow.

Bizarre and frightening apparitions begin appearing across a city and world shrouded in an inexplicable darkness. It is only the beginning of an unfurling, deepening nightmare, one that will take Ambrose on a terrifying journey of self-discovery and revelation.

For Ambrose, and everyone in the world around him, the Days of Darkness have only just begun.

Print

Ebook

Coming soon to the Literary Underworld store!

Poe’s Dream Mag

By John S. McFarland

I have lived most of my life in or near St. Louis, Mo. And ever since I was old enough to realize that I actually liked being scared and unsettled, I have been a fan of Edgar Allan Poe. I was surprised to learn, in recent years that there was a connection between the city and my literary hero, or at least one was in the making when Poe died. In fact, if Poe had lived another month or so, he very well could have been buried in one of the grand old cemeteries in the city which have been the last resting places of historical and literary figures for nearly 200 years.

When he died in Baltimore on Oct. 7, 1849, Poe was poised to move to St. Louis. There he hoped to realize his greatest ambition: the founding of his own literary magazine.

For many years, beginning in the early 1830s, Poe worked long hours for low pay, editing magazines for others. In addition to squabbles about his pitifully low salary, Poe also had frequent disagreements with his publishers about content, as well as the sporadic “irregularities” that were the result of his terrible alcoholism. Desperate for his own magazine, he issued a prospectus in 1840 for a periodical, solicited contributions from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell and others and began years of futile attempts to raise money and begin publication.

Poe’s greatest friend as an adult was Frederick W. Thomas, a novelist and government bureaucrat who had moved to St. Louis from Baltimore. Thomas encouraged Poe in his dream and agreed to contribute articles. Eventually Thomas began soliciting subscriptions in St. Louis for the magazine, to be called the The Stylus.

Somehow, the needed capital was always just out of reach, and Poe’s plans were further set back by his debilitating bouts of alcoholism and tragic personal life. In 1847, Poe’s young wife, Virginia, died of tuberculosis, as had his mother and foster mother. By 1849, Poe’s health and spirits had greatly deteriorated, and the prospect of his magazine ever coming into being seemed far-fetched. Then, out of nowhere, Poe received a letter from the little northwestern Illinois town of Oquawka that offered him the prospect of realizing his dream.

Edward Patterson was a well-to-do newspaper publisher and admired Poe, and he had heard of the failed plans for The Stylus. Patterson offered to finance the project in Oquawka. Poe responded excitedly, outlining his vision of a lofty literary journal and predicting a circulation of 20,000 within five years.

More letters between the two men followed. Poe convinced Patterson to publish the journal in St. Louis, where Poe had support from Thomas and Joseph Field, editor of the St. Louis Reveille. Patterson agreed and arranged to meet Poe in St. Louis on October 15, 1849, to work out details.

His dream at last in sight, Poe began a lecture tour in the south to raise money and sell subscriptions to the magazine. Unfortunately, after a brief hiatus of sobriety, he resumed drinking and began experiencing paranoia and occasional hallucinations. When his tour brought him to his hometown of Richmond, Virginia, he joined The Sons of Temperance, and became engaged to an old childhood love.

Then he made the mistake of visiting Baltimore, his home for many years, where he again fell off the wagon. It is generally accepted that Poe, who was possibly already intoxicated when he arrived in Baltimore, was plied with liquor by crooked electioneers and sent with other inebriates to vote repeatedly for a Whig candidate in a city election.

He was found delirious near the Fourth Ward Club, and died on Oct. 7, eight days before he was to meet Patterson in St. Louis.

Could Poe have made a success of The Stylus in St. Louis? In Some Words With a Mummy, Poe wrote, probably self-analytically: “The truth is, I am heartily sick of this life, and of the 19^th century in general.” Many biographers doubt that in the 41^st year of a troubled life, Poe would have had enough strength to see the project through. It is likely that The Stylus, like so many women in Poe’s stories, represented to him an idealized and unattainable dream.

*****

JOHN MCFARLAND’S first novel, The Black Garden, was published in 2010, and the story continues with Mother of Centuries. His work has appeared in The Twilight Zone Magazine, Eldritch Tales, National Lampoon, River Styx, Tornado Alley and the anthology A Treasury of American Horror Stories, which also included stories by Stephen King, Richard Matheson and H.P. Lovecraft. He has written extensively on historical and arts-related subjects and has been a guest lecturer in fiction at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a lifelong Bigfoot enthusiast, and Annette: A Big Hairy Mom is his first novel for young readers.

Meet the Underlord: Diana Morgan

I am Diana Morgan. That’s actually a pen name. It comes from two of my favorite characters in literature. Diana is for Wonder Woman’s alias Diana Prince. She was the first superhero I encountered as a kid and I’ve always been obsessed with her. Morgan is from Morgan le Fay of King Arthur legend. Not always portrayed in a positive light, I have still always found her story fascinating and I love some of the more modern takes that cast her as an anti-hero.

In my day life I work as a librarian. I’ve always been passionate about books. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading. I started writing when I was a young kid. In fact, one of my first forays into writing was a summer camp where we pretended to be authors. I still have the first books I “published” there. I love helping people find new books and authors. I specialize in teen fiction but I’m also an expert in science fiction and fantasy, which is what I read and write.

My current book is Alliances. It’s the first in a planned series. It’s about Livia, a space pirate that is attempting to save the last colony of human survivors after they were driven off Earth by killer robots. But she has to contend with the egotistical admiral of the colony, Travs, as well as his assistant who doesn’t trust her and more pirates from her past. The story takes place mostly in space and in a space station. It has a lot of Battlestar Galactica and Firefly vibes. Space opera is one of my favorite genres and getting to play in this world has been huge fun.

I’m currently working on a second book for this series, continuing the adventures of Livia and Travs as they try to keep the colony of Earth survivors alive while dealing with the AI robots pursuing them as well as pirates and even more surprises in deep space.

I have several other projects in the works. I’m not the fastest writer, but I hope to have a lot of new stories out over the next year.

If I’m not working on writing I’m hanging out at the library. Keep reading!

A second chance at a Cold Run

What does it mean when your so-called new book launch is actually a second chance at life?

I’ve been thinking about this lately, especially as I work my way through finishing the book series I contracted last year with Falstaff Books. Cold Run, Book 1 of the Rick Keller Project, is a werewolf secret agent novel that tells the story of Rick Keller, a wolf without a pack, a soldier without a country, a wanderer who searches for someplace to call home.

Falstaff Books released Cold Run on Dec. 8, 2022, but it wasn’t the first time the novel had ever been launched into the world. I’d originally written it for NaNoWriMo in 2011, although the idea for the novel came around even earlier than that.

The book, which I hadn’t even considered expanding into a series at the time I wrote it, grew out of a book, Naming the World. My writing group in Texas was working its way through the various prompts and practical exercises contained in NtW, and I had chosen to write about a dark place on a snowy night off a narrow trail in the wilds of Vermont. As I imagined this place and started concentrating on the details that would bring it to life, I saw a wolf running along the path, pursued by men with silver weapons, sprinting for sanctuary under the full moon.

As the writing exercises evolved into a novel idea, and the idea evolved into an extremely rudimentary outline, and the outline served as the basis for the mad dash that is NaNoWriMo, I began to think about publication. For the next two years after I wrote it, I workshopped, revised, workshopped, and revised again. I continued to grow as a writer, and eventually conceived of an entire trilogy around this character of Rick Keller, secret agent werewolf; his partner, former Army psychological operations officer Karen Willet, Ph.D.; and their run-ins with the agency he used to work for, MONIKER.

When I was finally satisfied with the book, I submitted it to a few agents and editors. A small publishing house by the name of Untold Press picked it up and offered me a chance to get it published. And then I wrote another novel, and a novella and a reader magnet, which they also sent out into the world. I personally made a lot of mistakes and did eventually end up asking for and readily receiving my rights back to the books. However, I don’t regret this experience. I learned a lot from it, and when it came time to decide how I wanted to publish other writing, or to coach others’ in their writing journey, the lessons became that many more tools in my writing and coaching toolbox.

Instead of publishing right away, I decided that I was going to rapid-release them all, and also that Winter Run, the fourth book, would be the last in the series.

Deciding to indie publish is a route that can be fraught with, if not danger, then a lot of frustration and head-desk contact. The stereotype of the writer who drinks is often based in reality. Let me tell you, the writer who is publishing herself, and also running an indie publishing company (because of course, launching an indie horror micropress in the middle of plague times was a great idea! For more on that, check out Crone Girls Press,) that writer/editor/publisher is going to keep the package good store in good standing.

At one point, I ran up against a roadblock that was going to take a good deal of time, effort, and likely money to fix. I headed over to my current writing group, The Writing Tribe, and with sorrow in my heart, I vented my frustration and asked the universe (and my fellow writers) if this was worth it. Not writing, in general. This werewolf secret agent series in particular.

I don’t have an answer yet to that question. And when I do formulate that answer, I’ll be taking my publisher’s concerns into the equation. But I will say this.

When you get a second chance to return to a character, a book, or a series that you have put a lot of yourself into, and that you still believe in, you sometimes just have to take a chance and kick your imposter syndrome to the curb, along with your inner editor who can’t believe that you’re allowing you early writing back out into the world. I did do some updates and revisions to Cold Run, based on my growth as a writer, and my new understanding of craft and how to structure a novel. I have also been working on a series arc in addition to the other novels in the series (four? Ha! It’s going to be five books long now, and I have so many ideas for short stories in the universe.)

The decision to go with a publisher or head down the indie route can be a hard one, especially with a project that you’ve already tried and not quite met with the success you hoped. But it you have a publisher who believes in you, and who says things like, “I can’t wait to have this book on my table” or “Rick Keller reminds me of Joe Ledger,” then it becomes easier to take a leap of faith and get back to writing. (Also, if you sign the contract, you’re obligated to do so, and therefore I should probably wrap this up and get back to work.)

Thanks to John Hartness and Falstaff Books for giving Rick Keller and company a new lease on life, and thanks to the readers, old and new, who have grabbed a copy and are coming along on the ride.

Richard Keller wanted nothing more than to watch the world go by from his isolated home in Vermont. Life on the other hand had other plans. Kidnapped by his former employers, the covert government organization MONIKER. Richard is forced to suit up once more and use his supernatural abilities in an effort to save kidnapped victims.

However, not all is as it seems with MONIKER, and Keller is going to need all of his wits and strength if he is to return to some semblance of his normal life.

The hunter is about to become the hunted.

Rachel A. Brune graduated from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts in May 2000, and was immediately plunged into the low-stakes world of entry-level executive assistant-ship. Her unexpected journey out of that world and into the military is chronicled in her self-published book Echoes and Premonitions. After five years as a combat journalist, including two tours in Iraq, and a brief stint as a columnist for her hometown newspaper, she attended graduate school at the University at Albany in NY, where she earned her MA in Political Communication, and her commission as a second lieutenant in the military police corps. Although her day job has taken in her in many strange, often twisted directions, Rachel continues to write and publish short fiction. She released her first novel in early 2013. She blogs her thoughts about reading and the writing life at http://www.infamous-scribbler.com.

We hope to have Cold Run in the Literary Underworld soon! In the meantime, catch it on Amazon where it is available on Kindle Unlimited.