TO ALL HORROR WRITERS
Category: Writing and Poetry

To all horror writers, large and small, big press, small press, even smaller press, self-published, not even published at all:

In my youth, my dad would every once in awhile take me fishing off any given pier in the Pacific Ocean off Southern CA.....Newport, Huntington, a few others.  He'd wake me up super early, we'd salvage enough twinkies and sandwiches to fill an Igloo, get our bait, drive, find a nice spot amongst the other fisher people there doing what we were about to do, and then cast our lines and do it.............sitting there for hours trying to catch something, among countless others doing the same thing, rooting for one of us that brought in something big, wowing over the guy with his little daughter who caught something so tiny they threw it back but nonetheless it was still quite a spectacle....it was all a thrilling experience for me.  A couple of times, we caught a nice one.  Other times, somebody else did, and it was bigger than mine and others took photographs.  Some talked about the big ones that got away, and you could never really know for sure if they were telling the truth.  One time, a fight broke out between two of the fisher people, and I had to move out of their path.  I forgot what happened with that;  either they settled their differences, had to be escorted out, or just stayed away from each other.  I guess it didn't matter....if they didn't cease to exist sometime afterwards, they had to still be fishing, somewhere, eventually, if that's what they love to do.

The way I see it, from within the industry and without, down to the smallest aspiring horror writer, from the Kings to the Keenes to the most noble amongst us down to the guy in Nebraska who's horror's biggest fan but just can't get past chapter number three in his hoped-for debut novel, we're all of us fishing on a pier with a box full of twinkies and some bait we hope will catch us a big one.  Maybe you catched a big one already, maybe you have a long history of award-winning big ones we all love or aspire towards, maybe you're constantly asking those who caught a big one just what bait they used.  We've all had our lines in the water, all sitting at that very long pier doing what we strive to do best, and as far as I'm concerned we're all in this together, trying to do the same goddamn thing.

Write horror.  And hope people like it. 

Maybe you're not serious enough, and you'd just as well take your fishing pole and go home to something more suitable to what you really want, towards a direction in your life just as noteable.  I'm talking to the ones who want to stay, as well as to the ones who have stayed there and done very well for themselves.....

We're all on the same pier, always fishing, fishing for that first one, fishing for more, and it's a long-ass pier.  Let's make this pier the best fucking pier the book industry has ever seen, turn it into the 2-plus bookcase section at Barnes & Noble the horror section well deserves and hasn't seen for a long time, turn the genre on its heels and make the reading public love us.  There's desire for it.  There are many people out there who love horror and just won't read.  Let's change that.   Let's nurture each other for the love of horror and its written word, and embrace each other in this art form and set aside any differences you may have, speak to the public in one loud, clear, decadent voice. 

We will take over.

And who am I?  Nothing really but just another fisherman.  And I embrace all of you others.  I'm a horror writer, and I'm damn proud of being so.  No matter what else I've done, I've been a horror writer all of my life, as fate would have it, and will die being one.  Every last one of you suit my cause and are my kin.

Let's support each other.

Peace.

---Nick

3:04 PM - 90 Comments - 149 Kudos - Add Comment

New Video interview/book review at Creature Feature!

Hey all......

I haven't posted a blog in quite some time, but those of you who know me better know my projects always come first.  But "Count Gore De Val's" Creature Feature site just posted a review of "Everborn" and "Diverse Tales" that made me smile, plus they have a video interview taken from Horrorfind in Baltimore last August.  In the video, I was way hung over by a grand old time with fellow horror fiends and authors, and the interviewer caught me carrying copies of "Wicked Haze" to give away, so that's all I have during the interview.

Don't worry, a brand spanking new newsletter will follow this shortly, for those subscribers or anyone wanting to read it, where I'll talk about my new stuff coming out this year.....

For the video interview, go here:  The Vault at Creature Feature

For the book reviews, go here:   Video interview at Creature Feature

9:28 PM - 9 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

Diverse Compendium Newsletter (Dec '05)
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

11:10 PM - 6 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

Clive Barker (Hellraiser, Candyman) wrote me a letter!

Got a letter today from Clive....."You seem to me---in a way that's entirely admirable----a man out of time. You're writing horror epics when the audience has become increasingly numbed by cinematic hokum and stale ideas. I SALUTE YOU: your ambition, your dedication, your achievments. I have no doubt in my mind that there is much, much more to come from your fertile imagination and blissfully complex imagination, and I'll await the next work with much anticipation!" ---there's more, but that's private. Cool huh?

4:35 PM - 18 Comments - 36 Kudos - Add Comment

Halloweenmovies.com interview up!
Current mood: excited

Tony Masi, the webmaster of the official Halloween (Michael Myers) movie website, did this great feature article/interview with me. The link is on the site updates page at www.halloweenmovies.com. It's the first in-depth interview I've had since my "Diverse Tales" was published last month, and I briefly discuss my upcoming signing tour, my special edition Halloween IV novel, and I hint at my upcoming meeting with producers to write Halloween 9. Way cool!

10:32 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment