Going Back to "The Well" by Chris F. Holm

The very first item I purchased for my Kindle was 8 Pounds: Eight Tales of Crime, Horror and Suspense by Chris F. Holm, and boy howdy did it deliver! Since then I've devoured all things written by Chris including the available books in his Collector novels, and his latest short story collection Dead Letters: Stories of Murder and Mayhem. His story The Well, found in the Feeding Kate Anthology is beyond creepy creepy... which is exactly why I love it so. Many thanks for lending this little gem of a story to the Feeding Kate antho, Chris. It's perfect... just like you!

Going Back to "The Well"

It’s a funny thing, being asked to write a blog post about an 800-odd word short story. If I’m not careful, my post will wind up longer than the tale itself.

“The Well,” which centers on a particularly scrappy little girl who has the misfortune of falling down the titular aperture, has the dubious distinction of being one of the creepiest things I’ve ever written. In fact, it’s one of two stories (the other being “A Better Life”) that disturbed me so much as I was writing them, I had to ask my wife if they were too distasteful to submit. She said no, and either she was right or you people are way more twisted than I give you credit for, because most folks who’ve read my short fiction cite one or the other as their favorites. And when I gave Laura her choice of stories for FEEDING KATE, she picked “The Well” in no time flat.

I’m not sure what kind of lesson I should take from that.

The idea for “The Well” hit me all at once – and when it did, it wanted out. That’s rare for me; typically, I have to let a story percolate a while before it decides it’s time for me to write it. Unfortunately, I was at work at the time, so over lunch I sent myself a crazy, stream-of-consciousness e-mail, getting as much of the idea and imagery down as I could.

But when I sat down at the computer that weekend to flesh it out (if those who’ve read it will pardon the pun), something wasn’t right. The more detail I added to the story, the less I liked it. It became too explicit – too graphic. I don't mind pushing boundaries every now and again, but I think that when it comes to writing horror, restraint is a virtue, and I didn't want to cross a line as a writer that I wouldn't be willing to cross as a reader.

That’s when I went back to that initial e-mail. When I reread it, I was struck by something -- my notes had what my attempts to flesh it out had lacked. Subtlety. Ambiguity. Restraint. There was no explicit violence or anything overtly objectionable. Just a pervasive, eerie mood that, either in spite of its brevity or because of it, still managed to creep me out. So I decided to try polishing up my notes rather than starting from scratch, and not long after, I had my first (and to this day, only) work of flash fiction. 800-odd words did what 5,000 couldn't. If only my novels would write so easy…

Chris F. Holm was born in Syracuse, New York, the grandson of a cop who passed along his passion for crime fiction. His work has appeared in such publications as Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Needle: A Magazine of Noir, and THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2011. He’s been an Anthony Award nominee, a Derringer Award finalist, and a Spinetingler Award winner. His Collector novels, published by Angry Robot books, recast the battle between heaven and hell as Golden Era crime pulp. He lives on the coast of Maine with his lovely wife and a noisy, noisy cat.

Feeding Kate: A Crime Fiction Anthology is available from Amazon. All proceeds from Feeding Kate benefit the Lupus Foundation of America.

Happy New Year

**  So the winner of the awesome bag of books never came forward. *sadness* I've sent him emails to the only email I could find... one belonging to a blog that hasn't had any activity since 2008. So with that, I've gone ahead and chosen another winner... Mr. Todd Robinson please send me your address. You can either DM me on Twitter or email it to me. And as soon as you contact me I'll get those books in the mail.  Again, many thanks for participating. Enjoy the books, sir.

*This contest is closed.  The winner is James. James, please contact me via email and send me your address. Congratulations! And thank you all for participating! 

I spent my Christmas on Twitter gifting away some of my favorite reads of 2012. I gifted Blackbirds and Mockingbird  by Chuck Wendig, City of the Lost by Stephen Blackmoore, the latest copy of Needle: A Magazine of Noir, two copies of Frank Sinatra in a Blender by Matthew J. McBride, and Dead Harvest and The Wrong Goodbye by Chris F. Holm.

And since I spent Christmas gifting away some of my favorite reads, it makes perfect sense to spend the first day of 2013 gifting away a bag full of books.  

Oh, wait. What does this bag contain, you ask?

City of the Lost by Stephen Blackmoore

Dare Me by Megan Abbott

This Dark Earth by John Hornor Jacobs

Frank Sinatra in a Blender by Matthew J. McBride

Last Call For the Living by Peter Farris

the latest Needle: A Magazine of Noir 

and

SHOTGUN HONEY: BOTH BARRELS

And, remember... even if you've read all these great books and don't think you may need them, you're wrong. Just think of how many birthday gifts you'll have on hand for this year. Plus, if you can't use the books you can always use the lovely Shotgun Honey bag for your gym clothes... or something like that.

Go on, now. What are you waiting for?

To be entered to win just leave a comment below. (US/Canada mailing addresses only.  Sorry.) The contest will run through  midnight MST on January 4th, at which time a winner will be selected via Random.org from all comments left.

Dead Harvest by Chris F. Holm

In college I dated this guy named Sam.  Sam was a pretty cool guy that had a pretty big liking for watermelon. In fact, Sam liked watermelon so much he wrote watermelon poetry. He even wrote me a watermelon poem that highlighted all of the summer nights we spent walking hand-in-hand to the ice shack and eating – you guessed it … watermelon snow cones. “Hey, Hey Little Texas…”

*sigh* I really wish I hadn’t thrown those poems out with the trash.

But like all first loves (okay, maybe he was my… tenth), our nights holding hands and taking long walks while enjoying watermelon flavored ice finally came to an end. It was a difficult departure, one that ended with a broken promise by him, and an English essay written by me…

A Watermelon Love Gone Bad.

Talk about an understatement. I should have known by the little hints that he was giving that things were on the downside; his annoyance when I’d sing to the radio; calling me a second grader when I held him a little too long during a goodbye hug. But it was when he told me he couldn’t go to Homecoming because of his photography assignment for the school paper, and how he encouraged me to go with someone else that was the dead give-away. So I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised when I arrived at the dance with a blind date and saw Sam on the arm of the girl that asked to borrow my car to drive to the city so she could buy a dress for Homecoming, huh?

 *sobs*

Sam was probably the first real love that ripped the ever-loving heart from my chest.  It was an open wound I carried for months. Not even the perfect grade on my watermelon love essay could heal the wound Sam had caused. My sadness, though, eventually turned to bitterness, a deep bitterness for the name Sam that I didn’t even realize I had until I learned the main character’s name in Dead Harvest by Chris F. Holm.

Sam. Sam Thornton… the soul collector.

Suffering from consequences of past mistakes, Sam Thornton has been sentenced to a life of collecting souls marked for eternal damnation, a cold and thoughtless job for the most part. You would think a soul collector would be just as cold as the job he’s been assigned to for the rest of eternity, but Sam… seems different.

“The truth is, there’ve been thousands… Some spend their lives in fear of the moment, and catch my scent a mile away; they beg, they plead, they scream. In the end, it doesn’t matter – I always get what I came for. And I remember each and every one of them. Every face. Every name.”

It was that very paragraph that made me like Sam. It was those words - his thoughts - which made me realize that regardless of his current situation, Sam Thornton… has a conscience. If he didn’t have that, Sam would have no reason to remember every face and every name of every soul he’s collected. But he remembers because he’s been where these people are. He’s had his soul taken himself. And every soul collected is a reminder of the past deeds that put Sam where he is today.

The soul collecting is the consequence of choices made; daily realities so to speak, even a necessity. But the normal day-to-day soul collecting takes a different path for Sam when the soul that he’s been sent to collect blinds him with its pure light. Kate MacNeil may have been marked for damnation, but with the beauty that Sam has just witnessed, he’s certain that the assignment to collect Kate’s soul is a mistake. And it’s a possible mistake that Sam can’t ignore since collecting the soul of an innocent is a serious offense- one that could cause some serious fighting between Heaven and Hell.

But whether or not Kate’s soul was improperly marked for damnation isn’t the only issue standing before Sam. Sure, taking the soul of an innocent might start a war between Heaven and Hell, but not taking that soul will start a more personal war against Sam, since he’s not really in a position to tell the demons that rule that he won’t be following their orders.

But, yet… Sam does just that.

Still a believer in doing what’s right, Sam takes Kate on the run to battle demons, past memories, and a replacement collector to snag Kate’s soul. In the story you’ll read about the murders that marked Kate for damnation, Sam’s struggle with his past as he uncovers the hidden secrets behind Kate’s demise, demon deals and murder, and the extraordinary sacrifice of a creature that was once an angel – before the Fall.

Yeah, Sam might not be the most worthy in the group, but watching Sam turn from being Kate’s soul collector to her soul protector … well, damned or not, I’d let Sam Thornton snatch the soul from my chest any day of the week. And... I'd definitely let him snatch the soul of the guy I dated in college.

BUY NOW with 1-Click!

I was warned by my twitter pal, Spencer Koch, that Amazon had devised this plan to easily suck you dry by letting you save a credit card number in their system so when you wanted to buy a book for your Kindle, like... 8 Pounds by Chris F. Holm, all you had to do was click the button that said, "Buy Now with 1-Click"  and you were done. No address information. No double checking the shipping.  Just a simple click.

I didn't think it would become a problem for me. I mean, really. How many books could there possibly be on Amazon that I would be interested in? 

Click. Click. Click.

Turns out (after pulling a copy of my Kindle Orders),  I click that damn button a good 2-3 times a day. In fact, on November 25, 2010, I clicked that button six times. SIX TIMES!  On December 18, 2010... THREE. February 5, 2011... THREE. February 26, 2011... TWICE.  February 28, 2011... TWICE. April 28, 2011... THREE. 

Last week I clicked the button five times. FIVE TIMES, PEOPLE!  It would have been every work day last week, but according to my purchase order I skipped Wednesday and double clicked on Friday. And today, the day I'm typing this post, I clicked it twice. Back to back thanks to Ron... well, does it really matter who tempted me?

I'd really like to blame other people for my clicking addiction, but that really wouldn't be fair.  All the people that I have come to admire and trust with my book purchasing decisions are part of my wonderful twitter family. They clearly have my best interest at heart when they're innocently suggesting great reads by people that they know and like and have read.  I mean, really. It's hard to go wrong and I can't complain about the incredible mass of books I've accumulated since I first started purchasing Kindle books for my phone app with that "Buy Now with 1-Click" feature on October 18, 2010.

My very first purchase was 8 Pounds: Eight Tales of Crime, Horror & Suspense by Chris F. Holm.  For an unbelievable price of $0.99 you get eight incredible reads that leave you shaking your head in disbelief and thinking horrible, horrible thoughts whenever you hear a noise in the wall.  You know the noises I'm talking about. The ones that always come around in the middle of the night when you're home alone, or when you're the only one awake in the house that can hear them.

My second purchase for my Kindle was Terminal Damage by the gang at Do Some Damage.  While the collection as a whole is excellent, it must be said that this was the collection that introduced me to Oscar Martello. After reading this I collected every collection of short stories that contained an Oscar Martello story.  I mean, honestly. How could I pass them up?  You can find any and all stories about Oscar Martello here.

Would you believe me if I told you I've been putting off my reading of More Sinned Against by Dave White for fear that his main character might take away my possessive feelings for Oscar? It's totally true. It's on my list to read, but after finishing a book this weekend I really think I'm okay with moving on. Not on, on. Just moving on a little. Now would be a good time to release an Oscar Martello short story collection, Mr. Weddle.  It'd be really nice to have Oscar around all the time. All. The. Time. 

My good friend, Elizabeth introduced me to Jeff Strand.  Not only do I plan to collect all of his book books, I'm creating a nice little collection on my Kindle. I know the writing is excellent because I've read about him over at Musings of an All Purpose Monkey, but truth be told... I'm a fan of the cover art.

I was introduced to Dave Zeltserman by reading an expert of Blood Crimes: Book One over at Paul D. Brazil's blog.  It's like a dark urban fantasy, meets crime fighter, meets vampires book. Dark and dirty with vampires, and some really good love scenes, believe it or not. Sounds like my kind of thing. I've recently purchased Zeltserman's Julius Katz Mysteries... again, thanks to Paul.  Well, I should blame Dave, too. He did talk about this character in a blog post and made me curious.  Plus, David Cranmer thinks the guy rocks.  I totally trust David Cranmer.

I've got a pretty good collection of hard-boiled crime by Anthony Neil Smith... some I've accidentally purchased twice (Kindle should really find a way to prevent that from happening).  Word on the street is Anthony should have another book available for my Kindle enjoyment shortly. Can't wait!

Who else... Oh, I bought two books by Brett Battles after reading reviews by Elizabeth White.  And I bought three books by some guy named J.D. Rhoades after someone, who shall remain nameless, retweeted information about the Jack Keller series.  Makes sense that I would buy it.  The books are about some hot guy named Jack... and it's a series. Cute men on repeat seem to be my thing. Can't wait to read these books!

I bought Beautiful, Naked & Dead by Josh Stallings because my friend from Scotland told me to.  She had read it and loved and promised me I wouldn't be disappointed. I wasn't. My review is in the making.  I'm just trying to find the right words to describe hubba-hubba superlicious without it coming across as cheesy.

So why am I telling you about this? Well, I'm hoping if I confess my Kindle  purchases on my blog each week that it might... might help me with my clicking problem.  So I've gone ahead and created a Sabrina's Kindle page for my blog. I'm hoping to update it weekly. Ya, I probably shouldn't be hoping for that since I'm supposed to be curbing my habit. Oh, well. You can find every book you will find on my Kindle listed; minus the freebies you can find on Amazon.

So take a look. If you like any of the books on the list feel free to click on the link and buy them. I haven't added today's purchases just yet. Just as well, since I just noticed on Twitter that that Dave White guy just released Witness to Death on Kindle this evening. Best $0.99 EVER! Thanks, Dave.

May 9, 2011... THREE!

Saying Goodbye to 2010

Here is a list of books I've read this year. You may or may not find them interesting...I'll give a comment on some of them.  I've had a great time the last six months on this little lame book blog. I've read some great books and have been introduced to some new writers thanks to book bloggers that I have found on Twitter.  Amazingly, some of these great people allow me to follow their Twitter feed and some are even following me back. (total pressure...I still have yet to perfect my tweeting skills. One day I'll master it, I'm sure.)

BOOKS FOR 2010

1. The Secret Life of Bees- Sue Monk Kidd

 JR WARD
2. Dark Lover #1
3. Lover Eternal #2
4. Lover Awakened #3
5. Lover Revealed #4
6. Lover Unbound #5
7. Lover Enshrined #6
8. Lover Avenged #7
9. Lover Mine #8
10. Black Dagger Brotherhood Insiders Guide

~This series will be on my reading list each year. Yes...they are that good.  At work we refer to them as vampire porn.  It's a great story about a group of vampire warriors known as the Black Dagger Brotherhood.  These warriors are fighting to save the extinction of their race.  They live in Caldwell, NY- and I have to admit that I was tempted to search out their mansion when I was in NY for that Lee Child book signing this year.  Every night when I would see a flash of light in the NY skyline, I knew the brothers were out slaying Lessers.  This series comes complete with a glossary and....an Insiders Guide.

CHARLAINE HARRIS
11. Dead Until Dark
12. Living Dead in Dallas
13. Club Dead
14. Dead to the World
15. Dead as a Doornail
16. Definitely Dead
17. All Together Dead
18. From Dead to Worse
19. Dead and Gone
20. Dead in the Family

~If I have to tell you anything about this series...something is wrong with ya! I started this set after I finished the BDB series. My coworker had received the series as a gift and I was just starting my love affair with reading.  Did you know Charlaine Harris will be at Bouchercon 2011 next year in St. Louis? If you want to know more about Bouchercon and find out what you need to do to attend, you can find information about it here.

ANNE RICE
21. Interview with a Vampire #1
22. The Vampire Lestat #2
23. Queen of the Damned #3
24. The Tale of the Body Thief #4
25. Memnoch the Devil #5
26. The Vampire Armond #6
27. Merrick #7
28. Blood and Gold #8
29. Blackwood Farm #9
30. Blood Canticle #10
31. Pandora #11
32. Vittorio the Vampire #12

~I know, I know. I was on a vampire kick...who hasn't been at one time or another?  Actually, I borrowed these books from my friend, Vicki and fell in love with the series.  Anne Rice is the only author I know that can write three entire pages about the desert and not make me fall asleep.  In fact, her characters are so well developed that I know they actually exist.  They have to be real! Every once in awhile, you'll find me referencing them on-line in a comment somewhere.  For example, I left this comment when I was trying to win an e-book:

My heart and soul belong to the crime writing community, but...I read just about anything that sounds interesting minus sci-fi. Ya, if I can't pronounce the name of the planet or the moon in some ones world, I pass on the book. I also have a soft spot for vampires. (Marius, did you find the scattered notes I left for you in New York?) See...vampires are real, right?

In all honesty, I love books that have characters I can relate to with story lines that keep me so entertained that I don't mind missing a meal or two. I haven't come across a book I haven't liked but once, and even then, it was probably my own mood that killed it for me. (I won the book!)

DEAN KOONTZ
33. Frankenstein Series
34. Mr. Murder
35. Dark Rivers of the Heart
36. The Husband
37. Intensity
38. The Face

39. Lightland- Kenny Kemp
~this was a great book...until the end when every other page was missing.  Uh-did you find a cure for that virus or not???

40. At First Sight- Nicholas Sparks
41. The Last Song- Nicholas Sparks
42. A Bend in The Road- Nicholas Sparks

43. Change of Heart- Jodi Picoult

44. Love The One You’re With- Emily Giffin

45. Prayers For Sale- Sandra Dallas

46. CRASHERS- Dana Haynes

47. Vanished- Joseph Finder

~I'm in love with Nick Heller...just in case Mr. Finder has any doubts.  Bring on the former flame in the next book. I'm totally ready for her.

48. The Betrayed- David Hosp

JEAN JOHNSON
49. The Sword #1
50. The Wolf #2
51. The Master #3
52. The Song #4
53. The Cat #5
54. The Storm #6
55. The Fire #7
56. The Mage #8
~read these for a friend to see if they were worth reading...they aren't!

ANDREW GRANT
57. EVEN (2)
58. Die Twice

~I have a super soft spot for Mr. Grant and the David Trevellyan series.  The longevity of this series and Mr. Grant's happiness is extremely important to me.  If you buy the series and are not satisfied...contact me at sabrinaogden@gmail.com. I'll refund your money.  The series is that GOOD!

59. Dracula- Bram Stoker

LEE CHILD
60. Killing Floor #1 
61. Die Trying #2
62. Tripwire #3
63. Running Blind #4
64. Echo Burning #5
65. Without Fail #6
66. Persuader #7
67. The Enemy #8
68. One Shot #9
69. The Hard Way #10
70. Bad Luck & Trouble #11
71. Nothing to Lose #12
72. Gone Tomorrow #13
73. 61 Hours #14
74. Worthy Dying For #15

~With this series came my Reacher Worthy Status Chart...the chart where I measure my Reacher worthiness...I might be developing a new chart when I complete the series...just starting book #15, and only having it return when a new book is available.  At this point, in all honesty, I'm not sure if I'm in love with Jack Reacher or Lee Child. 

75. Farm Fresh Murder- Paige Shelton

~I met Paige Shelton at a book signing here in Salt Lake.  I wanted to make sure I was supporting authors that live in my area. We've since become friends and enjoy regular lunch dates.  My review of Farm Fresh Murder-my very first "review"-was so liked by my readers, they actually told me to do more. Go figure!

SUZANNE COLLINS
76. The Hunger Games
77. Catching Fire
78. Mockingjay

79. How To Grow Up and Rule the World- Vordak the Incomprehensible
80. Opposing Energies- J.W. Collier

81. The Great Bridge- David McCullough

82. Terminal Damage- Do Some Damage Gang
83. Eight Pounds- Chris F. Holm

~I lumped these two collections of short stories together because this was my first introduction to short stories. I had no idea people wrote short stories and had them published and available for readers.  I'm not sure why this was so amazing to me, but my readers fell in love with the idea just as much as I did. The idea of being able to pick up a book and read a complete story in a short amount of time was priceless for many of my blog followers that have no free time.  I plan to introduce them to more of these options next year. Oh...I also met a new bad boy that I fell in love with. Yes, Oscar...I'm talking about you!

84. The Stupidest Angel- Christopher Moore

85. A Christmas Carol- Charles Dickens

There ya have it! My end of the year post complete with really weird commentary.  Thanks for reading my blog and I look forward to visiting with you next year...which by the way, is going to ROCK!

KINDLE GOODIES

8 POUNDS: EIGHT TALES OF CRIME, HORROR, & SUSPENSE

This Kindle collection features eight stories including Chris Holm's Spinetingler-Award-winner “Seven Days of Rain,” Derringer finalist “The Big Score,” and his Ellery Queen debut “The World Behind.”     This was a suggested purchase by book reviewer Elizabeth White, so I knew that it would be a good one to have.  There wasn't a story in this collection I didn't like and I wasn't disappointed. You can purchase it for $0.99 at Chris F. Holm's website here: CHRIS F. HOLM.  Seriously, the collection is a steal and is a must have for your Kindle collection.

TERMINAL DAMAGE - A DO SOME DAMAGE COLLECTION

Do Some Damage is a group of eight crime writers that share their wisdom on "reading, writing, plot, voice, and all the sordid junk that goes through a writer's brain."  They've combined their talents of story telling into one great collection that you can purchase on your Kindle for $0.99.  You can purchase the collection here: TERMINAL DAMAGE.  You can also follow them on their blog DO SOME DAMAGE.  I stumbled upon the gang at Do Some Damage by accident while looking for book blogs, and I've been a fan ever since.  They are an impressive group with more than one book in my TBR pile.  I'm hoping to be able to meet them at Bouchercon 2011 in St. Louis...if I had my way I'd pay for them all to come to Salt Lake City. As I've told Russel McLean, our liquor laws aren't as strict as they used to be, and some of us in SLC really do like to read.  You can't beat the price for Terminal Damage, and it should definitely be on your Kindle.