ALL SMOKE RISES .99 Cent Kindle Countdown Deal Starts Now!

"When there's nothing left to burn, set yourself on fire"

ALL SMOKE RISES  

.99 Cent Kindle Countdown Deal Starts Now!

"Perfectly encapsulates horror as a reflection of real life."
~@Kealan Patrick Burke​, Bram Stoker Award winning author of KIN
(from the introduction)

 "There's no escaping the emotional scars that it will inflict on you. It's unforgettable."
~MICHAEL A. ARNZEN, Four Time Bram Stoker Award Winning Author

"Burning with addiction and desire, a heartbreaking story."
~ Richard Thomas​ author of Disintegration and Breaker and editor of MILK-BLOOD

"This story is probably one of, if not the most harrowing, horrific and thought provoking urban horror stories you will ever read."
Nev Murray​ Confessions of a Review

 "Filled with such dread and depravity that even the most desensitized among us will feel the pain."
~ Jon Bassoff​ author of Corrosion and Factory Town,winner of the DarkFuse​ Readers Choice Award

"Heartbreakingly sad, overwhelmingly disturbing, creepy, violent and poignant. Highly recommended."
~JOHN FD TAFF, Bram Stoker Award Finalist

"Absolutely Stunning,"
 Julie Bennett-Hutchings​, author of Running Home

ALL SMOKE RISES

Who Dies Next on The Walking Dead? (And who, if they do die, I won't really miss)

Last night, The Walking Dead showed more flesh last night than ever, and not the eating kind. The more bad-ass Carol gets, the more she cries, and I love her for that. Darryl was the old, stubborn, 'go against the group's suggestions because my standards are deeper than yours' Darryl. Morgan is still the wise, insightful, spiritual black mana advising the lead white protagonist (Que Jon Coffee, Bagger Vance, Morpheus).

Due in part to its popularity, I think The Walking Dead gets dismissed as too 'pop culture' despite some incredibly deep themes. One need to only look at the 3/13/2016 episode which is worthy of a writing a thesis on. What it means to be a woman and a mother in this world was thrust into our chest, and we were left alive, unable to pull it out, but yep, still living. Reminded me of this lyric:


"They say that the son must bear the burdens of the father.
But it's the daughter, who's left to clean up the mess"
~The Cowboy Junkies.

That said, someone is going soon. Here's an interesting article that postulates who is going to die next. There's a list of potential characters in this article, but a few of them, if they pass, I don't feel much would be lost.


This includes:

Eugene: lucky to be alive after his lies and weakness. He can be kind of sweet, and nice comedic relief, but if he goes, he's already lived longer than he perhaps should have. Sad, but there's not place for him in this kind of world. The afterlife will be more pleasent and accepting.



Father Gabriel: He's redeemed himself somewhat, but it's time for him to meet his maker. The arc of his story is over, his 'angst' gets old. When he does pop on the screen, I can't help but think, "oh,that's right.You're still here."












Spencer: we hardly knew ya, but you're on this list for some reason.



Abraham. (yeah, Abraham.): He's kicked some ass in his time, but he's gone gross, dumping partners who shouldn't have taken him in in the first place, and going to new partners who somehow can stomach him. His struggles do not excite me, his hair and facial hair a bit too Jesus-like perfect for this environment. Eugene and him have made their peace, now lets bury them together

GOOD FRIDAY THOUGHTS

I was raised Catholic and taught to kneel in front of an ancient torture device (the cross) and reinact cannibalism (communion.)

Now, as a metaphysical Christian, Good Friday is perhaps my most revered spiritual holiday and the message resonates. Worth mentioning that the story of Christ, the entire papacy and Christian faith, is based on the world's most powerful horror story ever told.

Being asked to carry your own cross up hill, after being betrayed by those who said they loved you,(the only tenderness coming from a rumored prostitute), to then have nails pounded through your appendages, looking up to the sky through the blood dripping into your eyes from the crown of throwns on your head, asking your father, "why have you forsaken me?"

But this physical suffering releases your soul, as holds true in many spiritual beliefs, that it takes a ravaging of the physical body (or a deprivation of) in order to set our true selves free, to then harrow hell, as Jesus did, for 3 days in order to then ascend.

I have thought of Good Friday more than once as I ran marathons and endured physical pain but felt such spiritual ascendancy and bliss. I have thought of it with the pain I put myself through in my addiction. It happens in large shares and small bits. Today and everyday and all of our days.
It is part (just part) of why teenagers cut.

Cliche to say, but we all have our cross to bear, we will all feel forsaken, and most endure pain in this life with small glimpses that our spirit is meant for something bigger. Enjoy your hell. It's going to be okay.

2016 Horror Writers Convention - AKA Stokercon

I'm incredibly excited to be attending my first Horror Writer's Convention this May in Las Vegas.

I've been to one other writing convention, and found it motivating, life-affirming, friend-building. It's like getting an IV drip of crystal meth creative lubricant. There's a certain comfort in being surrounded by like-minded people. There is sanity in numbers.  

I've long said that Horror Writers have a deep understanding of the fragile human spirit and have the finest hearts around, and I'm expecting to see plenty of smiles.

In golf, they tell you when you play with better golfers, it raises your own game. I'm hoping this happens.  I can't wait to breath the same air as the best in the business, and to meet so many folks who I have only written to.

The schedule has just been released. On Friday night, I'll be part of a panel "The Small Press or Self Publishing: Weighing the Best Options" moderated by Jason Brock.  I'll be alongside a host of other authors: Alex Johnson, Paul Dale Anderson, L. Andrew Cooper, JL Brozek. It's a panel I would have surely been sitting in on had I not been sitting up front. 

On Saturday, I will be doing an open reading alongside of Gary Braunbeck. You heard what I said about golfers? Well, Gary has been nominated for TWO Bram Stokers this year. Damn dude has two works that are Bram Stoker Finalists, and I've been paired up with him. I may have to check to make sure there's not another Mark Matthews attending. I've read both of his nominated works, and he's got incredible talent, and I'm left with a HumbleBrag.

Thanks to Dear Wife for being a single parent for the weekend, while I venture to Vegas. I have promised to have my daughter's copy of Rot & Ruin signed by Jonathan Mayberry, which might have helped me punch my ticket.  I'm going as writer, but doesn't mean I won't fanboy myself all over writers such as Jack Ketchum and Paul Tremblay. I have no shame. 

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by Mark Matthews

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