/ / / SoulZ at Zer0 / /
/- / 01-95 SaZ Pak /- /
-----THE-DEATH-CERTIFICATE------VOLUME-1-ISSUE-3---------JANUARY--1995-----
Staff: The Stranger, Jack Flack - Editors, Writers.
Black Sunshine - Writer.
* If you are interested in contributing to The Death Certificate
please let one of the editors know.
The Glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the teapot opens
A lane to the land of the dead.
W.H. Auden
+ Table of Contents +
Words from the Editors
Letters to the Editors
SAZ News
Horror News
Article on Natural Born Killers
Reviews
The Writers Block
Final Words
1. Words from the Editors:
Jack Flack:
Hey kids ... I had a great X-mas! I hope you all are enjoying the new
SAZ stuff, some of it is horror, some of it is not, so if you like what
you are seeing or not, please give us some feedback see letters to the
editor. One exciting thing this month is our VIEWER!!! I would like to
spend a special thanks out to the guy who wrote the code and doesnt know
I am using it. If you see this, thanks! The viewer kinda sucks, but it
works, and since no one else has followed up on their promises you know
who you are I had to write a crappy one. Another thing to watch for
is our BEST OF pack, which has some of our older stuff that we liked, and
will probably be coming out in a week or two, as soon as I do the menu for it.
We also have two guest writers this month, Deranged and Destiny, so take
a look at their stuff and tell us what you think as well. If you would
like to be a guest writer, we have a pretty strict policy that consists of
you sending us your poems and basically we will use them, of course there
are exceptions sorry Legion, but the sex with the eye socket was just a
little too much even for us, but keep trying.
Check out the saz.nfo file, it has all of our ld support areas, and also
check the other files through out the pack. Everything should be accessible
from the menu, so please enjoy, and give us some feedback.
-Jack Flack/SAZ
The Stranger:
Hello everyone. I hope all of you are having a wonderful New Year and
I hope you had a great Christmas. As I usually say, thank you for pickingup the new SAZ pack and for looking through it. It really means a lot to
us. As always, if you have any comments or questions, just leave me a
note somewhere and Ill find it.
If youve been with us since the start you might have noticed a little
change in our group. When we started out we considered ourselves a Horror
LIT Group but I think thats changed. Sure we still offer a poem here and
there with designs of scaring you a little. But I think with our December
pack we started to turn a corner, just a little bit, and moved away from
what you might call horror. I mean how many vampire poems can we write?
I think are lit now and hopefully always, will focus on the dark side of
life. I hope that some of our poems continue to have the fantasy and the
elements of what I consider horror. I dont think, and I seriously hope,
you will ever see a typical love poem come out of SAZ. And theres nothing
wrong with a love poem, its just not what we set out to do. Some may say
that some of the poems Ive done for this pack are love poems, but you
may notice that one of my characters always dies.
So the point Im trying to make with this editorial is that we will
always write about the darker side of life, whether that is abuse or monsters
in your closets. Not because other types of poetry are bad, but because
this is what SAZ is all about.
I want to take a second here to thank fellow SAZ member, Black Sunshine
who put a lot more time into the Death Certificate this month then I did.
Just about everything you read in this monthes issue was done by her.
Thanks a lot Ms. Sunshine, I owe you. And folks, if you read nothing else
in this pack, make sure you read her article on the film Natural Born
Killers. Its worth it.
Have a wonderful month and please keep an eye out for the next SAZ pack
coming to you in mid-Febuary. Please drop us a note and tell us what were
doing right and what were doing wrong. Enjoy the pack and stay safe.
The Stranger...
I know death hath ten thousand several doors
For men to take their exit.
John Webster, Duchess Of Malfi
Letters to the Editors
Well kids, we only had one letter or comment to the group, and this month
it was from Buster Friendly, programmer extroidenairre. This comment came
via VDS, which was voted worst BBS in the 405 area by the Brotherhood of
405. :
Jack Flack to Buster Friendly : So, what did you think about the last
soulz at Zero pack?
Buster Friendly to Jack Flack : I read through the pack, and I thought the
whole thing was extremely trite and cliche. I kept expecting the stories
to start with it was a dark and stormy night and I think one of them
actually did.
Thanks for the comment! We appreciate all comments about the group, so
keep them coming!
Soulz At Zero News
Just a few things to note this month. First, we are starting to branch
out more across the country. We have set up a lot of distro sites so that
as many people as possible will be able to find the packs. We want to
thank all the sysops who are allowing us to take up room on their
harddrives. If you run a board and would like to be a distro site or
possible a headquarters, send us a note on any SAZ board.
Our home BBS, Where Shadows Wait, is going pretty good. Weve been
running now for over a month and we are now beginning to become a distro
site for other groups with our first one being fellow LIT artist Reality.
If you would like Where Shadows Wait to be a distro or HQ for your group
just give us a call and let us know.
We are adding something new this month, something we are calling Guest
Writers. The idea is that some people out there would like to see some
of their writing in our packs but dont neccesarily want to meet our
deadlines every month or they just dont want to be a member of a group
right now. This month we have two guest writers, Deranged and Destiny,
who we want to welcome to our SAZ family. If you would like to be a guest
writer or would like to become an official member of SAZ, just leave us
a note on Where Shadows Wait or one of the SAZ sites along with some of
your work in Ascii format zipped up.
Thats the newz for this month. See ya next time.
Horror News by The Stranger:
New in Bookstores:
Christopher Pike attacks the book shelves this month with three
new books. The Cold Ones is his newest hardback, while two paperbacks,
The Listeners and Remember Me 3 are also now out. Pike is an easy
read so check these out if you get the chance.
Dean Koontz has taken another book from his past and turned it into
a number 1 best seller. Its new title is Icebound but he released it
in 1976 under the name of David Axton as Prison of Ice. Be warned, this
is not typical Koontz here. This is an adventure book dealing with Soviet
submarines.
Lucy Taylor comes back with another limited edition short story
collection called Close to the Bone. Taylor writes very nasty, sexual
short stories so check her out if you get the chance. Your not going to
find this book at the local mall though.
Rex Millers new book Butcher is out in paperback. No one writes
like Miller. If you like them quick, violent, and filled with cops, pick
up any Miller book.
Nancy Collins is back with Nameless Sins which is a short story
collection that you will not find in your malls. And this one is going to
run you from 25-65.
John Farris is a british author who has written many horror classics
is back with a new novel this month called Sacrifice.
Dan Simmonss new novel is called Fires of Eden and it seems tobe selling well. Which should be expected since Dan is one of the true
artist of horror literture. Check out his Summer of Night if you get the
chance.
Englands second most famous author after Clive Barker, Ramsey
Campbell releases The Long Lost this month. Campbell seems to release 2
books a month.
Alan Rodgers new novel Pandora is a Ufo conspiracy type novel
about a living girl actually found in the wreckage of a ufo. For those of
you who like a little Sci-Fi in your horror, this should be a great book.
Poppy Z. Brite has a new anthology out called Love in Vein which
has 20 orginal stories by some of the biggest writers around. If you know
short story writers then you will know how great this list is:Norman
Partridge, Wayne Allen Sallee, Steve Tem, Douglass Clegg, David Silva, Brian
Hodge, Nancy Holder and a ton of others. This one will be difficult to find
because of some publishing problems.
In Defense of Natural Born Killers
By Black Sunshine
Recently the Oliver Stone blockbuster release Natural Born
Killers was cited as the worst movie of 1994 by The Daily
Oklahoman. While certainly, it cannot compete with Forrest Gump
or any other the other movies that are making the number one
spot, there is a lot to be said for it. Those who dont agree
are probably trying to judge the movie on levels in which it was
never meant to be judged in the first place.
Here is a list of reasons why the movie deserves more credit
than it got.
MOST LIKEABLE BAD GUYS - Mickey and Mallory Knox will go down on
the books for me as the coolest antagonists in an action movie.
As was said in the movie by an interviewee in a simulated news
report, I respect human life and all, but if I was going to be a
mass murderer, Id be Mickey and Mallory. Well said. One
can also easily develop a love/hate relationship with the sleazy
tabloid talk show reporter going after the couples story. So
what if all the characters are bad? Thats what makes them so
good!
MOST ENVIABLE COUPLE - Hes strong, loyal and stands up for her.
Shes tough, devoted and loving. Women, how many men do you know
that would kill your sexually abusive parents for you? Men, how
many women do you know that could have two men groaning in pain
in 2.5 seconds and use the enie-meanie-minie-mo rhyme to decide
which one you should let live? The two seal their life together
their idea of marriage by standing on a bridge and slashing
their palms, then letting the blood drip down into the river
while they hold hands. Even though they had their share of
problems, I almost got sick over the lovey-dovey talk they used
with each other throughout the movie. Its amazing what mass
murder can do for your love life.
BEST SOUNDTRACK - All kidding aside, this CD plays like a concept
album. There are scenes from the movie even one of my
favorites, see BEST SEX SCENE below included in between, and
even during some of the songs that pull the listener right into
the story. Between the songs and scenes, a total of 27 tracks
retell the movie all over again. Also, there was an extremely
wide variety of music on the album, with songs from L7, Janes
Addiction, Peter Gabriel, Patsy Cline, Leonard Cohen, Cowboy
Junkies, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Nine Inch Nails and others. Speaking
of NIN, the soundtrack is produced by Trent Reznor who IS Nine
Inch Nails according to the 1989 album, False God..haha, so we
get a peek into his brilliant perception of the movie.
BEST SEX SCENE - Okay. Heres the classic scene. Mickey and
Mallory get into a fight, and Mallory drives off in an angry
huff. When she pulls into a gas station and the attendant keeps
eyeing her lustfully, she takes the opportunity to use him to
stroke her, uh.. ego. After seducing him right there on the hood
of her car, she tells him to go down on her. Well, he does. And
too late for him, he realizes who she is Holy shit, youre
Mallory Knox, aint ya?. Her response? Pull out a gun and
shoot him four times. Then, breathing heavily, she shouts, That
was the worst fucking head I ever got in my life! Next time
dont be so fucking eager. I swear, Ive never laughed so hard
in my life.
MOST SURREALISTIC - The movie was full of symbols, most of them
cliches, but still helped propel the movie out of the realm of
the average. Examples: the hundreds of snakes in the desert,
the fireworks in the sky when Mickey and Mallory kiss, the nearly
subliminal images flashed as Mickey tells his story from prison
to the tabloid news program. Of course, I dont know what they
all mean, but they add to the dreamlike quality of the movie and
help set it apart from others, while providing disturbing things
to think about-- which is always a plus.
BEST CAMERA/VIDEO TRICKS - This movie went off the wall with its
video techniques, combining several different types of media,
once again to add to the dreamlike quality of the movie and
manipulate the audience. I find audience manipulation very
impressive. We get it all. We get cartoon scenes, computer
animation, virtual reality. We get a highly lightened or
darkened picture, blurred scenes, quick zoom-ins and
-outs. We get to see it on security cameras, camcorders, TV news
cameras. Rather than stay with one style of shooting, Stone
manages to incorporate them all.
BEST MESSAGE MOVIE - I was just enjoying the movie, wasnt
aware there WAS a message until the last two minutes or so, when
we get quick glimpses of popular media-hyped heroes/villains
in America, such as Oh God, I dont want to have to mention
these names ever again John and Lorena Bobbit, Amy Fisher, Joey
Buttafoaco, Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, and of course, O.J. I
hope I dont have to explain the message that is in the movie.
Some critics argued that by making Natural Born Killers, Stone
had done the very thing that he was reproaching the media for.
But then, so am I just by writing this paragraph.
And most importantly at the risk of using an excessively media-
hyped and highly stereotypical phrase:
BEST GENERATION X MOVIE - All of the above things I listed
combine into one to make this reason the most significant one of
all, and the reason why Natural Born Killers will never be
considered one of the best movies. We get the characters Mickey
and Mallory Knox, the bad guys portrayed as the good guys, the
victims of society. Mallorys father had been raping her for
years, while her mother stood by without saying a word. Mickey
hadnt seen his parents in years. Both are products of extremely
dysfunctional families. But, when it comes down to it, they just
want to be loved. They find each other, and there you have it.
Killing becomes their ultimate aphrodisiac, as they, in their own
way, repay society for the cruel hand they have been dealt, while
they hang desperately on to one another. The whole worlds
coming to an end, Mal, Mickey tells her. Trent Reznor, whos
music has become a voice for a lot of young people of this age,
captures this in his layout of the soundtrack, and in the music
he writes for the movie: This world rejects me/This world threw
me away/This world never gave me a chance/This world gonna have
to pay.
The movie does an excellent job at parodying the irony that
is so present in todays society. It takes this irony to the
extreme, making a movie about a serious subject, while attempting
to be as unserious as possible. We get a new perspective on how
the pressures of the decade are affecting us, and both a humorous
and tragic look at those effects firsthand. We are SUPPOSED to
like Mickey and Mallory and not feel guilty for it because they
are in all of us. For some people, thats hard to swallow. To
name this movie as one of the BEST, would be to take a little
away from its intent. But to fail to give it credit at all for
what it did contribute would be a calamity.
Natural Born Killers-- watch it with someone you love.
The Reviews:
Books:
An Analysis of the best Apocalyptic Horror Novel Ive Ever Read:
The Dead by Mark Rogers 1989, Berkley Books
Reviewed by Black Sunshine
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and
the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the
book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the
lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not
found written in the book of life was cast into
the lake of fire. Revelation 20:12-15
These are the Biblical scriptures used as the premise for
this horror novel, parts of which are quoted on the back of the
book itself. An end-of-the-world novel with the horror aspects
focused on i.e. walking corpses, Hell and its keeper, Legion,
it can most closely be associated with a type of unveiling
apocalyptic literal aspect, with the Bible of course being the
text prophesying the end results. The interpretations taken from
the Bible result in an entire history evolution, in which all
the signs of the Final Judgment are spelled out for the reader
in the first hundred pages. The second hundred involve the
handful of unlikely survivors rehashing the Bible, discussing
different religions and trying to come to terms with what has
happened to the world, and the final three hundred pages revolve
around the characters battles to survive in a world-
turned-hell, which leads up to a final showdown between good and
evil and the answer to the ultimate question for the characters:
what will their final judgment be? Will they go to heaven or to
hell?
When Garys father dies, he and his wife must travel to
his hometown for the funeral. That is when the signs begin.
Gary dreams of his Final Judgment. His dream can be intensely
described as standing naked on a dark plain, while dozens of
corpses rise from the ground beneath him. When he sees a large
light in front of him, he is sure that it is God. He watches as
the corpses around him are either clothed in flesh, or sink to
their knees in defeat, depending on how they are judged. He
hears a voice speak to him that says, You have been weighed in
the balance and found-- Then he awakens to an earthquake that
stops as suddenly as it started. He discovers that his wife has
had the same dream.
The news is full of tragedies the next morning: planes
dropping out of the sky and hundreds dead. When his mother does
not awaken, he enters her room, only to find her missing. After
reporting it to the police, they reveal that they have had
several missing persons reported since early morning. More
planes continue to crash around the country, and airlines begin
grounding their flights. Car wrecks due to mechanical failure
begin to multiply dramatically, as well as a train wreck right in
Garys hometown, and there is an article in the newspaper about
the Final Judgment dream: one thousand people had been selected
at random and ALL had had the dream, only some had been
pronounced guilty. TV networks have reported communication
breakdowns and failed computer systems. There is also reported
fish and wildlife kills and a chill in the are astronomers are
reporting a drop in the suns radiant energy. Gary himself is an
agnostic, and refuses to listen to his wife that all of these odd
circumstances are related.
All of this begins to occur from page one, setting the scene
for the remainder of the novel. Fast-paced and rarely a dull
moment, this novel surprises with both its traditional use of
apocalyptic interpretations and its original plot twists into a
very ancient idea.
This is the thinking mans or womans horror novel.
Garys brother happens to be a type of connoisseur of most modern
religions, and his questions and answers propose a lot of
different insight into the theological question of apocalypse. A
lot of thought went into this area of the novel. Several valid
points are made concerning Biblical apocalypse, many of which I
have never heard of or thought about before myself.
But it IS a horror novel, and it does satisfy. The aspect
most closely focused on, of course, is the walking corpses.
There are moments in the novel where the questions why are the
dead walking again? are left behind for sheer horror. These
scenes read like you are watching a movie, with lots of
description, action and original and vivid settings-- there was a
real fear invoked in me as I read.
An example? The train wreck near Garys home town. No
survivors and over three hundred bodies contend with. The
funeral homes already have their work cut out for them from the
other tragedies, so a decision is made to store the three hundred
bodies in the high school gym overnight. A security guard is
sent to watch over them. Here, Rogers devotes an entire chapter
to the guards demise. It is inevitable that he will die at the
hands of the corpses in the gym. But the way he sets up tension
with a slow, subtle pace makes for a genuinely scary and exciting
scene. In step by step sequence, first is the emphasis placed on
the guards isolation. Then having him hear noises, but not see
anything unusual. Next, having him look in on the bodies again
and see a sheet has moved slightly. He reasons that its kids
wanting to see the dead bodies-- no fear but we know
differently!. Then we get our first look at a corpse and a look
at HIS fear. Next, we get anxious as the guard gets away-- at
first. We get a chase scene. We end up with a situation in
which the guard is unable to leave the building. Helplessness
sets in. I actually felt the panic of the guard when he realized
he wasnt going to get away. Then we get just enough gruesome
details of his death to get us cringing. True terror at its
best.
The book is full of scenes like this. Between these scenes
and those containing the dialogue of the characters as they
discuss their predicament, the novel reads extremely fast. The
end comes almost too quickly and is able to both keep up with and
satisfy the rest of the book. The characters are real enough and
act as youd expect them to in a world gone crazy.
The main thing I liked about this book was the open-
endedness. Rogers took off running with an idea based on Bible
scriptures, and I wasnt quite sure where he would go next. The
possibilities were nearly endless! The rules of the real world
no longer had to apply and the characters were both inhibited by
the mechanical failures and released from normal laws and morals.
This made for fascinating scenarios. The direction Rogers
decided to take the book leaves nothing to be desired.
Speaking of Rogers, though of course, I cant be sure, Id
be willing to bet this is a pen name for a more popular author.
Besides the fact that Mark Rogers an extremely common name,
consider that there have never been any other books written under
the name. The book is just too good for a one-time author. Even
though it never received much fanfare when it was published and
released, it would be only a matter of time before this person
became well known-- IF he kept writing. IF he was real. There
is also a brief mention of Stephen King and his novel, It,
neither the author nor the book are flat-out named, however
which one of the characters in The Dead is reading: The book
was a big fat wad by one of his favorite authors, a man who,
regrettably, seemed to have been losing his mind lately. Jeff
had slogged almost to the end before learning that the menace,
which adopted such less-than-terrifying forms as Michael Landon
in I Was a Teenage Werewolf, could be defeated by belief in
anything. Faith in the Tooth Fairy would work... when it
became clear that the monster was actually a giant shivers!
spider, he tossed the book back in his lunchbox... Not very
flattering words, to say the least. The style of The Dead is
definitely not Kings. A rival author perhaps? Who knows...
If you have not read this novel which you probably
havent, I suggest you find a copy and devour it quickly. If
you think all the end-of-the-world novels are the same, this one
should surprise you. Not to mention scare the hell out of you.
This is a genuine one-of-a-kind book. Despite the fact that its
by a supposedly unknown author, it definitely deserves to be
looked at.
@ 1995 by Black Sunshine
Deus-X by Joseph A. Citro. Twilight Publishing, 1994.
Joseph Citro is a terrific writer. He is one of the most underrated
horror authors around. With Deus-X he puts an end to that. From now
on when other horror authors think of his name they will think of this one
book and just sigh knowing that they themselves could never have written it.
Everyone I talk to who really knows horror always says this is Citros
breakthrough novel, the one that will make him a mainstream author. Well
go ahead and try to find this book near you, I can almost guarantee you
wont be able to find it. This one is only sold at horror bookstores and
its on a limited run and the run has already ran out. Meaning, there not
going to make any more copies of this book available. The book is a great
big hardback that goes for 25 and is worth every penny of that. There is
also a limited which is autographed and I think it goes for 65. Get the
25 version.
Citro is known for his horror novels about Vermont. Whether were
talking about The Unseen, Shadow Child, or Dark Twilight, you can
be sure that when you buy a Citro book your going to be scared and your
going to be entertained. Citro writes very clean and to the point, knowing
when to show character and when to show horror. His stories usually have
a large amount of fantasy mixed in with his horror. And when I think of
moments in books that have really scared me I cant think of many, but I
do easily recall a scene in Shadow Child that gave me chills and made
me put the book right down and try to go to bed.
Deus-X is horror, sortof. Its horror, its fantasy, its Sci-Fi,
its mystery, its everything. Its about UFOs, religion, other worlds,
relationships, children, psychology, you name it, its in there. This is
the biggest book and Im not talking page size since Robert McCammons
Swan Song. There are characters all over the place and things never stop
happening. And for those of you who need to be warned, this book tends to
be very violent at times, but it only last a second. The memory you have
of those events may never go away though.
This book is really what Stephen King wishes he could have done
with Insomnia. And I love King, but he could never have the control over
so much and make it look so easy as Citro does.
This book will probably scare you, it will make you think about
life in a different way, and most of all it will just get to you, make you
think about it on a regular basis. Okay, Im probably praising the book
too much. Lets talk for a moment about what the book is actually about.
The book starts off about people vanishing. People are missing
all over but there are witnesses. And these witnesses see their friends
taken away by bright lights in the sky that turn into the face of God. At
the same time the government is working on studying UFOs and a new member
of the elite government group is having problems with his job. And so he
goes on the run to tell people what the government doesnt want us to know.
Three people meet, all with the interest and the knowledge to find out
what is going on. And if they can keep themselves from being taken by
God or aliens or whatever else is after them, they could save the world.
I know this isnt a good description of the book but this one is
a tough one to talk about because it is about so much. Go to your local
horror store or get a catalog from a good one and see about buying this
book if you have the money. Or hope that someday it comes out in paperback.
But keep an eye out for the name Joseph Citro. He may be big some day.
The Stranger
Computer Games
Horror Computer Game Reviews
By Black Sunshine
The Legacy: Realm of Terror Microprose, 1993
This game was similar to the plot of the 1992 game, Alone
in the Dark. Youre alone in an old house that seems to be
leaden with ghosts and monsters. You dont know exactly why you
are there or what you are looking for. You wander around,
killing the adversaries and finding clues that will help you
figure it out and solve the puzzles as well.
Your playing screen is divided up into at least four
sections: one that displays your character, one that displays
the room you are in, one for text, and one with the directions
you can go. Im not particularly fond of this type of set up.
Id rather devote my entire screen to the room Im in. I dont
need to see my character. But, thats just me. The graphics,
were, however, pretty good and the monsters were, for the most
part, vivid and horrifying, especially with the sound effects.
The game tends to get a bit repetitive at times, and with so
many different windows it takes awhile to learn the commands
for doing everything which I dont like but once I did, the
game then became engrossing. It combines a good mix of adventure
and skill/arcade. Its certainly not the highest quality game or
the most original, for that matter, but it will provide you with
several hours of relief from boredom. I know it sounds like I
didnt like this game very much, but its just that Im spoiled
to CD ROM games now. *grin* Overall, this IS a fairly good game.
Dracula Unleashed CD ROM version, Viacom, 1993
This game uses real actors and over 90 minutes of video to
tell the story. The object is for your character, Alexander, to
discover who is Dracula and destroy him before the end of the
fourth day.
You will visit many places, such as peoples houses, bars,
shops, the post office and a sanitarium. Every time you enter a
new place, you watch the scene on the screen, and therefore meet
new characters, learn of new places, get new ideas about where to
go and what to do.
The acting was pretty good, and I was intrigued by the plot
idea and this new way of playing, however the game was extremely
hard and became tedious when I had to watch the same scenes over
and over and over again. If you dont have the right object from
your inventory in your hand when you visit somewhere, you may end
up with a different outcome, one which is undesirable most
likely. The bad thing is, you never know which item you should
have with you when you go somewhere, if any at all! So you end
up watching the same scenes numerous times, trying to get the
right thing to happen. Theres almost no way to tell what that
right thing is.
I have tried playing this game several times and cannot get
past the second day. As I said, its a very interesting and
well-thought-out game, I just lost interest after having to
repeat scenes and getting nowhere. I hear there is a hint book
out now. Perhaps I should try it again. The sound effects and
video which both play like a movie are well worth that.
@ 1995 by Black Sunshine
The Writers Block By Black Sunshine
How to Sell Your Novel or your novel idea
Okay, youve written a book. Or youre going to. Or you
want to. The plot is so brilliant and original, you know that it
would make the New York Times bestseller list and everyone would
love it-- if only you could get it published.
Sounds easy, right? Send your book or your idea off, then
just sit back and wait. I wish it was that simple. Trying to
sell your novel takes a lot of time, patience and effort-- and
can even become quite costly.
Why is it so hard to get published??? Well, consider the
fact that on the average, over 5,000 novel concepts of novels are
submitted by previously unpublished authors to each publishing
house every year! Most of these will buy only around 50 novels
in that same year the very large ones may publish up to a
hundred. What this means is that only about 1-2 of those being
sent in will get published! The odds are seriously stacked
against you and me. But if youre serious about this, your
book could be THE ONE!
Still want to do this? Okay. Ive put together a
chronological list of things you should do to help the process go
smoother and to maybe even help your novel get noticed. No, I
havent sold a novel, but Im working on it. *grin* The things I
list here are some of the most important and informative
suggestions Ive picked up in various writing classes, seminars
and books. Try some or all of them.
1 Register your book with the US Copyright Office.
Anything you write is automatically copyrighted the minute you
put it down on paper or computer screen. However, that doesnt
save you if someone steals your idea. Unfortunately, there are
publishing companies who can and will try this. Write to:
United States Copyright Office, Washington, D.C. 20599 for more
information and an application to register.
2 Decide if you want to get an agent.
Some people say agents make it easier, some say agents dont
help. Sometimes publishing houses wont look at unrepresented
material, other times agents cant get any farther up the ladder
with your work and you still have to pay them. It really depends
on your personal preference. How much control do you want over
it? Would you mind giving up a percentage of your profits to an
agent? Are you comfortable letting someone else handle this
aspect of the process?
3 Research potential markets.
Whether you are researching agents or publishing houses, you only
want to send to those who are looking for something similar to
what you have or else you are just wasting your time. Where to
look: any writers market book, Writers Digest magazine back
issues. Things to look for: genres accepted, percentage of new
writers accepted, reading dates, WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE WHEN YOU
SUBMIT some only want an outline, some sample chapters, some the
whole book. Go to the library and find books that are similar
to yours in style, genre or technique. Who published it or
represented it? Theres a market.
4 Make your sales pitch.
Whether you are just querying or sending a cover letter with
other items, it is your letter to the editor or agent that will
probably be looked at most especially if it arrives alone. You
have to believe in what you are trying to sell, without being
arrogant or vague. First paragraph should always be specific in
describing the genre, target audience, length and the fact that
you want them to consider buying it. The next paragraph should
be a synopsis, however, dont go into too much detail and dont
give away the ending. Give them just a taste to pique their
interest. Later in the letter, give them actual reasons why YOU
yourself are excited about your book. Relate it to current
events or trends but dont date it by getting TOO trendy. This
will help them see the immediacy of your novel, why its going to
make money. In your letter, you also want to emphasize that you
are flexible as far as editing, revising, etc. Thank them for
their time. Close the letter. Oh, and you want to do all this
as briefly as possible.
5 Put together all the materials.
Depending on what the editor or agent wants to see, this will
vary, however, the most common combination is an outline and
three sample chapters. Your outline may be 20-30 pages long in
itself. Its basically just a VERY condensed form of the novel.
When you send sample chapters, always send consecutive ones. The
first few are best, but not mandatory. Make your submission
appealing. Type the editor or agents name on an envelope, put
your cover letter inside that and paper clip it to the outline.
Put all this in a conservative-colored beige, brown, black,
navy folder before you stick it in the envelope you are going to
mail it in. Always put a self-addressed stamped envelope in as
well, even if you dont want your stuff back. I shouldnt even
have to say this.
6 Go mail it.
Copies and postage so far for one novel alone have run me up into
the 200 range. Sending off a novel proposal packet such as the
one described above costs nearly 3 each time. If you want it
back, theres another 3. Decide whether its cheaper to make
more copies of the same items or to have them returned to you in
the mail for use again. Oh yeah, and even though a lot of agents
and publishing houses will say No simultaneous submissions
which means dont send off to more than one editor or agent at
the same time, do it anyway. Remember the 1-2 acceptance rate?
The chances that two editors would want your book at the same
time are so close to zero, there is nearly the same possibility
of that occurring as if you didnt send your novel out at all.
7 Keep track of your rejection slips.
Yes you will get some. You will get many. You dont have to
keep them-- theyre usually pretty boring anyway. But keep track
of who you have sent off to, when, and what kind of reply you got
back. This may take months. Give an editor or agent three
months before you write a short follow-up letter asking on the
status of your novel ie. why you havent heard any reply yet.
8 Dont give up.
Its hard not to take so much rejection personally. So far, on
my novel, I have received 43 rejection slips. Does that mean my
novel is bad? No! Well, maybe,grin, but not necessarily. A
lot of the rejection slips were not actually rejection of my
work I was told by several publishing houses that their
publishing schedule was full and they could not accept anything
else for x amount of months/years. Nothing you can change about
your book will fix that. It takes persistence and an invincible
drive to succeed. BUT IT CAN BE DONE.
Well... there you have it: the not-so-simple process of trying
to sell a novel. The most important thing to remember however,
is to believe in what you have written. It is yours and it is
worth something. With determination, your book WILL end up in
the right place at the right time, and it wont go unnoticed any
longer. Send me a copy when that happens.
By Black Sunshine @ 1995
Final Words:
Thanks for reading through the Death Certificate. If you have a comment
or would like to see your own work published in here, just let me know.
Thanks once again to all SAZ members, and to all our HQs and Distro sites
out there across the country. I hope you enjoyed the articles and I hope
you enjoyed the LITs in the pack. Feel free to pass this pack around
to friends and love ones. We will see you next month.
Soulz At Zero
Your fingers black from ink as your shaking hands glide
down the page, trying to see if your name is on the death
certificate. The wind screaming against the window, begging to
get in, to get to you. And at last you find the dotted line,
written in blood the letters that form your name. A sudden gasp
caught in your throat, a flicker of the lights until they fade
off completely. The cold touch of fingers as a hand reaches
across the bare skin of your neck. Goosebumps rise from your
neck just as the lights shine on once more. And once again you
are alone. Before you lies the death certificate, your name is
no longer written. You have escaped death, for now.
The Stranger...
C Copyright SAZ 1994.
/- / 01-95 SaZ Pak /- /
-----THE-DEATH-CERTIFICATE------VOLUME-1-ISSUE-3---------JANUARY--1995-----
Staff: The Stranger, Jack Flack - Editors, Writers.
Black Sunshine - Writer.
* If you are interested in contributing to The Death Certificate
please let one of the editors know.
The Glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the teapot opens
A lane to the land of the dead.
W.H. Auden
+ Table of Contents +
Words from the Editors
Letters to the Editors
SAZ News
Horror News
Article on Natural Born Killers
Reviews
The Writers Block
Final Words
1. Words from the Editors:
Jack Flack:
Hey kids ... I had a great X-mas! I hope you all are enjoying the new
SAZ stuff, some of it is horror, some of it is not, so if you like what
you are seeing or not, please give us some feedback see letters to the
editor. One exciting thing this month is our VIEWER!!! I would like to
spend a special thanks out to the guy who wrote the code and doesnt know
I am using it. If you see this, thanks! The viewer kinda sucks, but it
works, and since no one else has followed up on their promises you know
who you are I had to write a crappy one. Another thing to watch for
is our BEST OF pack, which has some of our older stuff that we liked, and
will probably be coming out in a week or two, as soon as I do the menu for it.
We also have two guest writers this month, Deranged and Destiny, so take
a look at their stuff and tell us what you think as well. If you would
like to be a guest writer, we have a pretty strict policy that consists of
you sending us your poems and basically we will use them, of course there
are exceptions sorry Legion, but the sex with the eye socket was just a
little too much even for us, but keep trying.
Check out the saz.nfo file, it has all of our ld support areas, and also
check the other files through out the pack. Everything should be accessible
from the menu, so please enjoy, and give us some feedback.
-Jack Flack/SAZ
The Stranger:
Hello everyone. I hope all of you are having a wonderful New Year and
I hope you had a great Christmas. As I usually say, thank you for pickingup the new SAZ pack and for looking through it. It really means a lot to
us. As always, if you have any comments or questions, just leave me a
note somewhere and Ill find it.
If youve been with us since the start you might have noticed a little
change in our group. When we started out we considered ourselves a Horror
LIT Group but I think thats changed. Sure we still offer a poem here and
there with designs of scaring you a little. But I think with our December
pack we started to turn a corner, just a little bit, and moved away from
what you might call horror. I mean how many vampire poems can we write?
I think are lit now and hopefully always, will focus on the dark side of
life. I hope that some of our poems continue to have the fantasy and the
elements of what I consider horror. I dont think, and I seriously hope,
you will ever see a typical love poem come out of SAZ. And theres nothing
wrong with a love poem, its just not what we set out to do. Some may say
that some of the poems Ive done for this pack are love poems, but you
may notice that one of my characters always dies.
So the point Im trying to make with this editorial is that we will
always write about the darker side of life, whether that is abuse or monsters
in your closets. Not because other types of poetry are bad, but because
this is what SAZ is all about.
I want to take a second here to thank fellow SAZ member, Black Sunshine
who put a lot more time into the Death Certificate this month then I did.
Just about everything you read in this monthes issue was done by her.
Thanks a lot Ms. Sunshine, I owe you. And folks, if you read nothing else
in this pack, make sure you read her article on the film Natural Born
Killers. Its worth it.
Have a wonderful month and please keep an eye out for the next SAZ pack
coming to you in mid-Febuary. Please drop us a note and tell us what were
doing right and what were doing wrong. Enjoy the pack and stay safe.
The Stranger...
I know death hath ten thousand several doors
For men to take their exit.
John Webster, Duchess Of Malfi
Letters to the Editors
Well kids, we only had one letter or comment to the group, and this month
it was from Buster Friendly, programmer extroidenairre. This comment came
via VDS, which was voted worst BBS in the 405 area by the Brotherhood of
405. :
Jack Flack to Buster Friendly : So, what did you think about the last
soulz at Zero pack?
Buster Friendly to Jack Flack : I read through the pack, and I thought the
whole thing was extremely trite and cliche. I kept expecting the stories
to start with it was a dark and stormy night and I think one of them
actually did.
Thanks for the comment! We appreciate all comments about the group, so
keep them coming!
Soulz At Zero News
Just a few things to note this month. First, we are starting to branch
out more across the country. We have set up a lot of distro sites so that
as many people as possible will be able to find the packs. We want to
thank all the sysops who are allowing us to take up room on their
harddrives. If you run a board and would like to be a distro site or
possible a headquarters, send us a note on any SAZ board.
Our home BBS, Where Shadows Wait, is going pretty good. Weve been
running now for over a month and we are now beginning to become a distro
site for other groups with our first one being fellow LIT artist Reality.
If you would like Where Shadows Wait to be a distro or HQ for your group
just give us a call and let us know.
We are adding something new this month, something we are calling Guest
Writers. The idea is that some people out there would like to see some
of their writing in our packs but dont neccesarily want to meet our
deadlines every month or they just dont want to be a member of a group
right now. This month we have two guest writers, Deranged and Destiny,
who we want to welcome to our SAZ family. If you would like to be a guest
writer or would like to become an official member of SAZ, just leave us
a note on Where Shadows Wait or one of the SAZ sites along with some of
your work in Ascii format zipped up.
Thats the newz for this month. See ya next time.
Horror News by The Stranger:
New in Bookstores:
Christopher Pike attacks the book shelves this month with three
new books. The Cold Ones is his newest hardback, while two paperbacks,
The Listeners and Remember Me 3 are also now out. Pike is an easy
read so check these out if you get the chance.
Dean Koontz has taken another book from his past and turned it into
a number 1 best seller. Its new title is Icebound but he released it
in 1976 under the name of David Axton as Prison of Ice. Be warned, this
is not typical Koontz here. This is an adventure book dealing with Soviet
submarines.
Lucy Taylor comes back with another limited edition short story
collection called Close to the Bone. Taylor writes very nasty, sexual
short stories so check her out if you get the chance. Your not going to
find this book at the local mall though.
Rex Millers new book Butcher is out in paperback. No one writes
like Miller. If you like them quick, violent, and filled with cops, pick
up any Miller book.
Nancy Collins is back with Nameless Sins which is a short story
collection that you will not find in your malls. And this one is going to
run you from 25-65.
John Farris is a british author who has written many horror classics
is back with a new novel this month called Sacrifice.
Dan Simmonss new novel is called Fires of Eden and it seems tobe selling well. Which should be expected since Dan is one of the true
artist of horror literture. Check out his Summer of Night if you get the
chance.
Englands second most famous author after Clive Barker, Ramsey
Campbell releases The Long Lost this month. Campbell seems to release 2
books a month.
Alan Rodgers new novel Pandora is a Ufo conspiracy type novel
about a living girl actually found in the wreckage of a ufo. For those of
you who like a little Sci-Fi in your horror, this should be a great book.
Poppy Z. Brite has a new anthology out called Love in Vein which
has 20 orginal stories by some of the biggest writers around. If you know
short story writers then you will know how great this list is:Norman
Partridge, Wayne Allen Sallee, Steve Tem, Douglass Clegg, David Silva, Brian
Hodge, Nancy Holder and a ton of others. This one will be difficult to find
because of some publishing problems.
In Defense of Natural Born Killers
By Black Sunshine
Recently the Oliver Stone blockbuster release Natural Born
Killers was cited as the worst movie of 1994 by The Daily
Oklahoman. While certainly, it cannot compete with Forrest Gump
or any other the other movies that are making the number one
spot, there is a lot to be said for it. Those who dont agree
are probably trying to judge the movie on levels in which it was
never meant to be judged in the first place.
Here is a list of reasons why the movie deserves more credit
than it got.
MOST LIKEABLE BAD GUYS - Mickey and Mallory Knox will go down on
the books for me as the coolest antagonists in an action movie.
As was said in the movie by an interviewee in a simulated news
report, I respect human life and all, but if I was going to be a
mass murderer, Id be Mickey and Mallory. Well said. One
can also easily develop a love/hate relationship with the sleazy
tabloid talk show reporter going after the couples story. So
what if all the characters are bad? Thats what makes them so
good!
MOST ENVIABLE COUPLE - Hes strong, loyal and stands up for her.
Shes tough, devoted and loving. Women, how many men do you know
that would kill your sexually abusive parents for you? Men, how
many women do you know that could have two men groaning in pain
in 2.5 seconds and use the enie-meanie-minie-mo rhyme to decide
which one you should let live? The two seal their life together
their idea of marriage by standing on a bridge and slashing
their palms, then letting the blood drip down into the river
while they hold hands. Even though they had their share of
problems, I almost got sick over the lovey-dovey talk they used
with each other throughout the movie. Its amazing what mass
murder can do for your love life.
BEST SOUNDTRACK - All kidding aside, this CD plays like a concept
album. There are scenes from the movie even one of my
favorites, see BEST SEX SCENE below included in between, and
even during some of the songs that pull the listener right into
the story. Between the songs and scenes, a total of 27 tracks
retell the movie all over again. Also, there was an extremely
wide variety of music on the album, with songs from L7, Janes
Addiction, Peter Gabriel, Patsy Cline, Leonard Cohen, Cowboy
Junkies, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Nine Inch Nails and others. Speaking
of NIN, the soundtrack is produced by Trent Reznor who IS Nine
Inch Nails according to the 1989 album, False God..haha, so we
get a peek into his brilliant perception of the movie.
BEST SEX SCENE - Okay. Heres the classic scene. Mickey and
Mallory get into a fight, and Mallory drives off in an angry
huff. When she pulls into a gas station and the attendant keeps
eyeing her lustfully, she takes the opportunity to use him to
stroke her, uh.. ego. After seducing him right there on the hood
of her car, she tells him to go down on her. Well, he does. And
too late for him, he realizes who she is Holy shit, youre
Mallory Knox, aint ya?. Her response? Pull out a gun and
shoot him four times. Then, breathing heavily, she shouts, That
was the worst fucking head I ever got in my life! Next time
dont be so fucking eager. I swear, Ive never laughed so hard
in my life.
MOST SURREALISTIC - The movie was full of symbols, most of them
cliches, but still helped propel the movie out of the realm of
the average. Examples: the hundreds of snakes in the desert,
the fireworks in the sky when Mickey and Mallory kiss, the nearly
subliminal images flashed as Mickey tells his story from prison
to the tabloid news program. Of course, I dont know what they
all mean, but they add to the dreamlike quality of the movie and
help set it apart from others, while providing disturbing things
to think about-- which is always a plus.
BEST CAMERA/VIDEO TRICKS - This movie went off the wall with its
video techniques, combining several different types of media,
once again to add to the dreamlike quality of the movie and
manipulate the audience. I find audience manipulation very
impressive. We get it all. We get cartoon scenes, computer
animation, virtual reality. We get a highly lightened or
darkened picture, blurred scenes, quick zoom-ins and
-outs. We get to see it on security cameras, camcorders, TV news
cameras. Rather than stay with one style of shooting, Stone
manages to incorporate them all.
BEST MESSAGE MOVIE - I was just enjoying the movie, wasnt
aware there WAS a message until the last two minutes or so, when
we get quick glimpses of popular media-hyped heroes/villains
in America, such as Oh God, I dont want to have to mention
these names ever again John and Lorena Bobbit, Amy Fisher, Joey
Buttafoaco, Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, and of course, O.J. I
hope I dont have to explain the message that is in the movie.
Some critics argued that by making Natural Born Killers, Stone
had done the very thing that he was reproaching the media for.
But then, so am I just by writing this paragraph.
And most importantly at the risk of using an excessively media-
hyped and highly stereotypical phrase:
BEST GENERATION X MOVIE - All of the above things I listed
combine into one to make this reason the most significant one of
all, and the reason why Natural Born Killers will never be
considered one of the best movies. We get the characters Mickey
and Mallory Knox, the bad guys portrayed as the good guys, the
victims of society. Mallorys father had been raping her for
years, while her mother stood by without saying a word. Mickey
hadnt seen his parents in years. Both are products of extremely
dysfunctional families. But, when it comes down to it, they just
want to be loved. They find each other, and there you have it.
Killing becomes their ultimate aphrodisiac, as they, in their own
way, repay society for the cruel hand they have been dealt, while
they hang desperately on to one another. The whole worlds
coming to an end, Mal, Mickey tells her. Trent Reznor, whos
music has become a voice for a lot of young people of this age,
captures this in his layout of the soundtrack, and in the music
he writes for the movie: This world rejects me/This world threw
me away/This world never gave me a chance/This world gonna have
to pay.
The movie does an excellent job at parodying the irony that
is so present in todays society. It takes this irony to the
extreme, making a movie about a serious subject, while attempting
to be as unserious as possible. We get a new perspective on how
the pressures of the decade are affecting us, and both a humorous
and tragic look at those effects firsthand. We are SUPPOSED to
like Mickey and Mallory and not feel guilty for it because they
are in all of us. For some people, thats hard to swallow. To
name this movie as one of the BEST, would be to take a little
away from its intent. But to fail to give it credit at all for
what it did contribute would be a calamity.
Natural Born Killers-- watch it with someone you love.
The Reviews:
Books:
An Analysis of the best Apocalyptic Horror Novel Ive Ever Read:
The Dead by Mark Rogers 1989, Berkley Books
Reviewed by Black Sunshine
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and
the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the
book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the
lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not
found written in the book of life was cast into
the lake of fire. Revelation 20:12-15
These are the Biblical scriptures used as the premise for
this horror novel, parts of which are quoted on the back of the
book itself. An end-of-the-world novel with the horror aspects
focused on i.e. walking corpses, Hell and its keeper, Legion,
it can most closely be associated with a type of unveiling
apocalyptic literal aspect, with the Bible of course being the
text prophesying the end results. The interpretations taken from
the Bible result in an entire history evolution, in which all
the signs of the Final Judgment are spelled out for the reader
in the first hundred pages. The second hundred involve the
handful of unlikely survivors rehashing the Bible, discussing
different religions and trying to come to terms with what has
happened to the world, and the final three hundred pages revolve
around the characters battles to survive in a world-
turned-hell, which leads up to a final showdown between good and
evil and the answer to the ultimate question for the characters:
what will their final judgment be? Will they go to heaven or to
hell?
When Garys father dies, he and his wife must travel to
his hometown for the funeral. That is when the signs begin.
Gary dreams of his Final Judgment. His dream can be intensely
described as standing naked on a dark plain, while dozens of
corpses rise from the ground beneath him. When he sees a large
light in front of him, he is sure that it is God. He watches as
the corpses around him are either clothed in flesh, or sink to
their knees in defeat, depending on how they are judged. He
hears a voice speak to him that says, You have been weighed in
the balance and found-- Then he awakens to an earthquake that
stops as suddenly as it started. He discovers that his wife has
had the same dream.
The news is full of tragedies the next morning: planes
dropping out of the sky and hundreds dead. When his mother does
not awaken, he enters her room, only to find her missing. After
reporting it to the police, they reveal that they have had
several missing persons reported since early morning. More
planes continue to crash around the country, and airlines begin
grounding their flights. Car wrecks due to mechanical failure
begin to multiply dramatically, as well as a train wreck right in
Garys hometown, and there is an article in the newspaper about
the Final Judgment dream: one thousand people had been selected
at random and ALL had had the dream, only some had been
pronounced guilty. TV networks have reported communication
breakdowns and failed computer systems. There is also reported
fish and wildlife kills and a chill in the are astronomers are
reporting a drop in the suns radiant energy. Gary himself is an
agnostic, and refuses to listen to his wife that all of these odd
circumstances are related.
All of this begins to occur from page one, setting the scene
for the remainder of the novel. Fast-paced and rarely a dull
moment, this novel surprises with both its traditional use of
apocalyptic interpretations and its original plot twists into a
very ancient idea.
This is the thinking mans or womans horror novel.
Garys brother happens to be a type of connoisseur of most modern
religions, and his questions and answers propose a lot of
different insight into the theological question of apocalypse. A
lot of thought went into this area of the novel. Several valid
points are made concerning Biblical apocalypse, many of which I
have never heard of or thought about before myself.
But it IS a horror novel, and it does satisfy. The aspect
most closely focused on, of course, is the walking corpses.
There are moments in the novel where the questions why are the
dead walking again? are left behind for sheer horror. These
scenes read like you are watching a movie, with lots of
description, action and original and vivid settings-- there was a
real fear invoked in me as I read.
An example? The train wreck near Garys home town. No
survivors and over three hundred bodies contend with. The
funeral homes already have their work cut out for them from the
other tragedies, so a decision is made to store the three hundred
bodies in the high school gym overnight. A security guard is
sent to watch over them. Here, Rogers devotes an entire chapter
to the guards demise. It is inevitable that he will die at the
hands of the corpses in the gym. But the way he sets up tension
with a slow, subtle pace makes for a genuinely scary and exciting
scene. In step by step sequence, first is the emphasis placed on
the guards isolation. Then having him hear noises, but not see
anything unusual. Next, having him look in on the bodies again
and see a sheet has moved slightly. He reasons that its kids
wanting to see the dead bodies-- no fear but we know
differently!. Then we get our first look at a corpse and a look
at HIS fear. Next, we get anxious as the guard gets away-- at
first. We get a chase scene. We end up with a situation in
which the guard is unable to leave the building. Helplessness
sets in. I actually felt the panic of the guard when he realized
he wasnt going to get away. Then we get just enough gruesome
details of his death to get us cringing. True terror at its
best.
The book is full of scenes like this. Between these scenes
and those containing the dialogue of the characters as they
discuss their predicament, the novel reads extremely fast. The
end comes almost too quickly and is able to both keep up with and
satisfy the rest of the book. The characters are real enough and
act as youd expect them to in a world gone crazy.
The main thing I liked about this book was the open-
endedness. Rogers took off running with an idea based on Bible
scriptures, and I wasnt quite sure where he would go next. The
possibilities were nearly endless! The rules of the real world
no longer had to apply and the characters were both inhibited by
the mechanical failures and released from normal laws and morals.
This made for fascinating scenarios. The direction Rogers
decided to take the book leaves nothing to be desired.
Speaking of Rogers, though of course, I cant be sure, Id
be willing to bet this is a pen name for a more popular author.
Besides the fact that Mark Rogers an extremely common name,
consider that there have never been any other books written under
the name. The book is just too good for a one-time author. Even
though it never received much fanfare when it was published and
released, it would be only a matter of time before this person
became well known-- IF he kept writing. IF he was real. There
is also a brief mention of Stephen King and his novel, It,
neither the author nor the book are flat-out named, however
which one of the characters in The Dead is reading: The book
was a big fat wad by one of his favorite authors, a man who,
regrettably, seemed to have been losing his mind lately. Jeff
had slogged almost to the end before learning that the menace,
which adopted such less-than-terrifying forms as Michael Landon
in I Was a Teenage Werewolf, could be defeated by belief in
anything. Faith in the Tooth Fairy would work... when it
became clear that the monster was actually a giant shivers!
spider, he tossed the book back in his lunchbox... Not very
flattering words, to say the least. The style of The Dead is
definitely not Kings. A rival author perhaps? Who knows...
If you have not read this novel which you probably
havent, I suggest you find a copy and devour it quickly. If
you think all the end-of-the-world novels are the same, this one
should surprise you. Not to mention scare the hell out of you.
This is a genuine one-of-a-kind book. Despite the fact that its
by a supposedly unknown author, it definitely deserves to be
looked at.
@ 1995 by Black Sunshine
Deus-X by Joseph A. Citro. Twilight Publishing, 1994.
Joseph Citro is a terrific writer. He is one of the most underrated
horror authors around. With Deus-X he puts an end to that. From now
on when other horror authors think of his name they will think of this one
book and just sigh knowing that they themselves could never have written it.
Everyone I talk to who really knows horror always says this is Citros
breakthrough novel, the one that will make him a mainstream author. Well
go ahead and try to find this book near you, I can almost guarantee you
wont be able to find it. This one is only sold at horror bookstores and
its on a limited run and the run has already ran out. Meaning, there not
going to make any more copies of this book available. The book is a great
big hardback that goes for 25 and is worth every penny of that. There is
also a limited which is autographed and I think it goes for 65. Get the
25 version.
Citro is known for his horror novels about Vermont. Whether were
talking about The Unseen, Shadow Child, or Dark Twilight, you can
be sure that when you buy a Citro book your going to be scared and your
going to be entertained. Citro writes very clean and to the point, knowing
when to show character and when to show horror. His stories usually have
a large amount of fantasy mixed in with his horror. And when I think of
moments in books that have really scared me I cant think of many, but I
do easily recall a scene in Shadow Child that gave me chills and made
me put the book right down and try to go to bed.
Deus-X is horror, sortof. Its horror, its fantasy, its Sci-Fi,
its mystery, its everything. Its about UFOs, religion, other worlds,
relationships, children, psychology, you name it, its in there. This is
the biggest book and Im not talking page size since Robert McCammons
Swan Song. There are characters all over the place and things never stop
happening. And for those of you who need to be warned, this book tends to
be very violent at times, but it only last a second. The memory you have
of those events may never go away though.
This book is really what Stephen King wishes he could have done
with Insomnia. And I love King, but he could never have the control over
so much and make it look so easy as Citro does.
This book will probably scare you, it will make you think about
life in a different way, and most of all it will just get to you, make you
think about it on a regular basis. Okay, Im probably praising the book
too much. Lets talk for a moment about what the book is actually about.
The book starts off about people vanishing. People are missing
all over but there are witnesses. And these witnesses see their friends
taken away by bright lights in the sky that turn into the face of God. At
the same time the government is working on studying UFOs and a new member
of the elite government group is having problems with his job. And so he
goes on the run to tell people what the government doesnt want us to know.
Three people meet, all with the interest and the knowledge to find out
what is going on. And if they can keep themselves from being taken by
God or aliens or whatever else is after them, they could save the world.
I know this isnt a good description of the book but this one is
a tough one to talk about because it is about so much. Go to your local
horror store or get a catalog from a good one and see about buying this
book if you have the money. Or hope that someday it comes out in paperback.
But keep an eye out for the name Joseph Citro. He may be big some day.
The Stranger
Computer Games
Horror Computer Game Reviews
By Black Sunshine
The Legacy: Realm of Terror Microprose, 1993
This game was similar to the plot of the 1992 game, Alone
in the Dark. Youre alone in an old house that seems to be
leaden with ghosts and monsters. You dont know exactly why you
are there or what you are looking for. You wander around,
killing the adversaries and finding clues that will help you
figure it out and solve the puzzles as well.
Your playing screen is divided up into at least four
sections: one that displays your character, one that displays
the room you are in, one for text, and one with the directions
you can go. Im not particularly fond of this type of set up.
Id rather devote my entire screen to the room Im in. I dont
need to see my character. But, thats just me. The graphics,
were, however, pretty good and the monsters were, for the most
part, vivid and horrifying, especially with the sound effects.
The game tends to get a bit repetitive at times, and with so
many different windows it takes awhile to learn the commands
for doing everything which I dont like but once I did, the
game then became engrossing. It combines a good mix of adventure
and skill/arcade. Its certainly not the highest quality game or
the most original, for that matter, but it will provide you with
several hours of relief from boredom. I know it sounds like I
didnt like this game very much, but its just that Im spoiled
to CD ROM games now. *grin* Overall, this IS a fairly good game.
Dracula Unleashed CD ROM version, Viacom, 1993
This game uses real actors and over 90 minutes of video to
tell the story. The object is for your character, Alexander, to
discover who is Dracula and destroy him before the end of the
fourth day.
You will visit many places, such as peoples houses, bars,
shops, the post office and a sanitarium. Every time you enter a
new place, you watch the scene on the screen, and therefore meet
new characters, learn of new places, get new ideas about where to
go and what to do.
The acting was pretty good, and I was intrigued by the plot
idea and this new way of playing, however the game was extremely
hard and became tedious when I had to watch the same scenes over
and over and over again. If you dont have the right object from
your inventory in your hand when you visit somewhere, you may end
up with a different outcome, one which is undesirable most
likely. The bad thing is, you never know which item you should
have with you when you go somewhere, if any at all! So you end
up watching the same scenes numerous times, trying to get the
right thing to happen. Theres almost no way to tell what that
right thing is.
I have tried playing this game several times and cannot get
past the second day. As I said, its a very interesting and
well-thought-out game, I just lost interest after having to
repeat scenes and getting nowhere. I hear there is a hint book
out now. Perhaps I should try it again. The sound effects and
video which both play like a movie are well worth that.
@ 1995 by Black Sunshine
The Writers Block By Black Sunshine
How to Sell Your Novel or your novel idea
Okay, youve written a book. Or youre going to. Or you
want to. The plot is so brilliant and original, you know that it
would make the New York Times bestseller list and everyone would
love it-- if only you could get it published.
Sounds easy, right? Send your book or your idea off, then
just sit back and wait. I wish it was that simple. Trying to
sell your novel takes a lot of time, patience and effort-- and
can even become quite costly.
Why is it so hard to get published??? Well, consider the
fact that on the average, over 5,000 novel concepts of novels are
submitted by previously unpublished authors to each publishing
house every year! Most of these will buy only around 50 novels
in that same year the very large ones may publish up to a
hundred. What this means is that only about 1-2 of those being
sent in will get published! The odds are seriously stacked
against you and me. But if youre serious about this, your
book could be THE ONE!
Still want to do this? Okay. Ive put together a
chronological list of things you should do to help the process go
smoother and to maybe even help your novel get noticed. No, I
havent sold a novel, but Im working on it. *grin* The things I
list here are some of the most important and informative
suggestions Ive picked up in various writing classes, seminars
and books. Try some or all of them.
1 Register your book with the US Copyright Office.
Anything you write is automatically copyrighted the minute you
put it down on paper or computer screen. However, that doesnt
save you if someone steals your idea. Unfortunately, there are
publishing companies who can and will try this. Write to:
United States Copyright Office, Washington, D.C. 20599 for more
information and an application to register.
2 Decide if you want to get an agent.
Some people say agents make it easier, some say agents dont
help. Sometimes publishing houses wont look at unrepresented
material, other times agents cant get any farther up the ladder
with your work and you still have to pay them. It really depends
on your personal preference. How much control do you want over
it? Would you mind giving up a percentage of your profits to an
agent? Are you comfortable letting someone else handle this
aspect of the process?
3 Research potential markets.
Whether you are researching agents or publishing houses, you only
want to send to those who are looking for something similar to
what you have or else you are just wasting your time. Where to
look: any writers market book, Writers Digest magazine back
issues. Things to look for: genres accepted, percentage of new
writers accepted, reading dates, WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE WHEN YOU
SUBMIT some only want an outline, some sample chapters, some the
whole book. Go to the library and find books that are similar
to yours in style, genre or technique. Who published it or
represented it? Theres a market.
4 Make your sales pitch.
Whether you are just querying or sending a cover letter with
other items, it is your letter to the editor or agent that will
probably be looked at most especially if it arrives alone. You
have to believe in what you are trying to sell, without being
arrogant or vague. First paragraph should always be specific in
describing the genre, target audience, length and the fact that
you want them to consider buying it. The next paragraph should
be a synopsis, however, dont go into too much detail and dont
give away the ending. Give them just a taste to pique their
interest. Later in the letter, give them actual reasons why YOU
yourself are excited about your book. Relate it to current
events or trends but dont date it by getting TOO trendy. This
will help them see the immediacy of your novel, why its going to
make money. In your letter, you also want to emphasize that you
are flexible as far as editing, revising, etc. Thank them for
their time. Close the letter. Oh, and you want to do all this
as briefly as possible.
5 Put together all the materials.
Depending on what the editor or agent wants to see, this will
vary, however, the most common combination is an outline and
three sample chapters. Your outline may be 20-30 pages long in
itself. Its basically just a VERY condensed form of the novel.
When you send sample chapters, always send consecutive ones. The
first few are best, but not mandatory. Make your submission
appealing. Type the editor or agents name on an envelope, put
your cover letter inside that and paper clip it to the outline.
Put all this in a conservative-colored beige, brown, black,
navy folder before you stick it in the envelope you are going to
mail it in. Always put a self-addressed stamped envelope in as
well, even if you dont want your stuff back. I shouldnt even
have to say this.
6 Go mail it.
Copies and postage so far for one novel alone have run me up into
the 200 range. Sending off a novel proposal packet such as the
one described above costs nearly 3 each time. If you want it
back, theres another 3. Decide whether its cheaper to make
more copies of the same items or to have them returned to you in
the mail for use again. Oh yeah, and even though a lot of agents
and publishing houses will say No simultaneous submissions
which means dont send off to more than one editor or agent at
the same time, do it anyway. Remember the 1-2 acceptance rate?
The chances that two editors would want your book at the same
time are so close to zero, there is nearly the same possibility
of that occurring as if you didnt send your novel out at all.
7 Keep track of your rejection slips.
Yes you will get some. You will get many. You dont have to
keep them-- theyre usually pretty boring anyway. But keep track
of who you have sent off to, when, and what kind of reply you got
back. This may take months. Give an editor or agent three
months before you write a short follow-up letter asking on the
status of your novel ie. why you havent heard any reply yet.
8 Dont give up.
Its hard not to take so much rejection personally. So far, on
my novel, I have received 43 rejection slips. Does that mean my
novel is bad? No! Well, maybe,grin, but not necessarily. A
lot of the rejection slips were not actually rejection of my
work I was told by several publishing houses that their
publishing schedule was full and they could not accept anything
else for x amount of months/years. Nothing you can change about
your book will fix that. It takes persistence and an invincible
drive to succeed. BUT IT CAN BE DONE.
Well... there you have it: the not-so-simple process of trying
to sell a novel. The most important thing to remember however,
is to believe in what you have written. It is yours and it is
worth something. With determination, your book WILL end up in
the right place at the right time, and it wont go unnoticed any
longer. Send me a copy when that happens.
By Black Sunshine @ 1995
Final Words:
Thanks for reading through the Death Certificate. If you have a comment
or would like to see your own work published in here, just let me know.
Thanks once again to all SAZ members, and to all our HQs and Distro sites
out there across the country. I hope you enjoyed the articles and I hope
you enjoyed the LITs in the pack. Feel free to pass this pack around
to friends and love ones. We will see you next month.
Soulz At Zero
Your fingers black from ink as your shaking hands glide
down the page, trying to see if your name is on the death
certificate. The wind screaming against the window, begging to
get in, to get to you. And at last you find the dotted line,
written in blood the letters that form your name. A sudden gasp
caught in your throat, a flicker of the lights until they fade
off completely. The cold touch of fingers as a hand reaches
across the bare skin of your neck. Goosebumps rise from your
neck just as the lights shine on once more. And once again you
are alone. Before you lies the death certificate, your name is
no longer written. You have escaped death, for now.
The Stranger...
C Copyright SAZ 1994.
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