TERROR TOWN by James Roy Daley REVIEWED

Terror Town by James Roy Daley

Terror Town is the second novel by horror novelist James Roy Daley that I've read. My review for his novel The Dead Parade is here.

James Roy Daley knows how to write horror. He's really good at what he does. Terror Town delivered the goods in a blood-soaked wrapper. Daley went to film school, and he's a huge lover of Stephen King. (I don't mean to imply that Daley and King are having some sort of illicit affair, but rather Daley knows the works of King well, and incorporates many of King's tactics in his own stories). You can see the influence of both great horror movie film-making and the writings of Stephen King in Daley's Terror Town.

After an initial setup that establishes the small town of Cloven Rock, and many of it's denizens, the book accelerates at a cinematic pacing. We meet Nicholas Nehalem, who is one of the most diabolical characters I've ever met between the covers of a book. I won't give any spoilers. But I will warn Hannibal Lecter that he's a pansy boy.

Then we meet Daniel McGee. Dan finds a tunnel in the floor of his basement that leads deep down into darkness. This scene alone was like reading an exquisitely crafted tale by Edgar Allen Poe. It had me shivering in fear, and nothing bad even happened. It was the expectation of terror that got me.

But have no fear. Daley delivers terror with both fists and a shotgun blast. This book explodes into action. It's equal parts monster-movie madness and serial killer death flick. But more than that, there's an amazing twist that happens about half way through the book. Syd Field's classic Reversal, anyone? I will only say that I was NOT expecting it, and that not only was it freakin' awesome and super original, it gives me hope that the tired old roads trod by many writers still hold buried treasures further down the trail. Or should I say, off the trail, where the bodies are buried. Because that's where James Roy Daley takes you in Terror Town.

If you like hard-hitting, intense horror, the scary kind that makes you triple-check you locked and dead-bolted the front door before going to bed, buy Terror Town. It will scare the crap and vomit out of you.

Buy Terror Town by James Roy Daley on Amazon here.

Analyzing Carrie by Stephen King, Part 1

Years ago I read a memorable anecdote describing one way to learn the craft of writing fiction. The anecdote was in the book Writing the Novel: From Plot to Print by Lawrence Block, and was taken from an interview with novelist Harry Crews that appeared in The New York Times Book Review:

"Steve Oney: For someone who had been exposed to very little literature, how did you actually learn how to write?

"Harry Crews: I guess I really learned, seriously learned, how to write just after I got out of college when I pretty much literally ate Graham Greene's "The End of the Affair." My wife and I were living in a little trailer...in Jacksonville, Fla., where I was teaching seventh grade...I wrote a novel that year and here's how I did it. I took "The End of the Affair," and I pretty much reduced the thing to numbers. I found out how many characters were in it, how much time was in it---and that's hard to do as there is not only present time in a book but past time as well. I found out how many cities were in the book, how many rooms, where the climaxes were and how long it took Greene to get to them.

"And there were a lot of other things I reduced to numbers. I read that book until it was dog-eared and was coming apart in my hands. And then I said, "I'm going to write me a damn novel and do everything he did." I knew I was going to waste---but it wasn't a waste---a year of my time. And I knew that the end result was going to be a mechanical, unreadable novel. But I was trying to find out how in the hell you did it. So I wrote the novel, and it had to have this many rooms, this many transitions, etc. It was the bad novel I knew it would be. But by doing it I learned more about writing fiction and writing a novel and about the importance of time and places---Greene is a freak about time and place---than I had from any class or anything I'd done before. I really, literally, ate that book. And that's how I learned to write."

This anecdote electrified me when I first read it in the 1990s. It has always stuck with me. I often wondered what Crews' results---his numbers---were, but I didn't know where to find them. If he hadn't passed away this year, I would have emailed him and asked him if he remembered or perhaps still had his original notes containing his Graham Greene numbers.

Of course, I think real learning comes from doing, so I have decided to replicate the break-down portion of Crews' process and slice up Carrie by Stephen King into numbers.

To make this process more useful to my fellow authors out there, I will be graphing much of the information so that it is easier to visualize. I will break my analysis down into several blog posts, starting with this one.

Carrie by Stephen King, by the numbers, Part 1:

Number of Pages 245
Number of Words 60,190 (according to Amazon Text Stats)

CLICK TO ENLARGE

In the image above you will see the most basic numbers of Carrie:

Number of Scenes 101
Length of scenes: between 1/4 page and 11 pages.

Rather than give you merely an average of all scene lengths, I encourage you to look at the graph. You may notice all sorts of interesting things.

Some facts:

Half of the scenes in Carrie are 1 page or less in length
Only 1/4 of the scenes are longer than 3 pages
Only 10% of the scenes are longer than 5 pages.

That is a lot of SHORT scenes!

This reminds me of a famous saying in film & television writing: Enter the scene late and leave the scene early. Stephen King has clearly done this. He wastes no time on extraneous action or description.

If you have read Carrie, you will recall that many of the shorter scenes are fictitious newspaper articles about Carrie White, passages from fictitious books about "The White Affair," interviews, courtroom transcripts and AP news wires. These scenes are not filler. They move the story forward, either with pertinent backstory (mostly in the beginning of the book), or with plot development (mostly in the later portions of the book).

Another thing you will notice in the graph is two spikes where overall scene length is longer. One towards the beginning, and a second towards the end. The longish beginning scenes establish who Carrie is and how the town of Chamberlain relates to her. The longish ending scenes correspond to climactic action and high drama.

The more average length scenes in the middle develop the relationships between the supporting characters, the plot to humiliate Carrie at the prom, and Carrie's growing conflict with her mother Margaret.

Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks as I delve into many other aspects of Stephen King's classic novel Carrie, sliced up by the numbers. Did you notice my graph bars are all red?

Pig blood for a pig.

Part 2 of my article will look at the number of characters and locations, with an emphasis on frequency of appearance, and which characters appear together and how often.

Analyzing Plot: diagramming Cujo by Stephen King

As many of you know, I'm a huge Stephen King fan. I'm also a horror novelist. When I was writing the first draft of my debut Novel Night Walk, I decided to re-read Cujo by Stephen King. I hadn't read Cujo in more than 15 years, but I remember that it sucked me right in all those years ago.

This time around was no different. I was amazed by how good Cujo still is. I was hooked before I finished the first page. When I finished, I went back and re-read it two more times. Considering that Dean Koontz claims to have read each book by his favorite author John D. MacDonald four or five times apiece, I figured I should do the same with Stephen King.

The effort was worth it.

I was able to get a deeper sense of Cujo in a way I never had with any other book. Duh. That's obvious, right?

But what came as a complete surprise to me was the diagram you see above. Stephen King's Cujo in triangles. The gist of it popped into my head several months after my fourth reading of Cujo. The more I thought about it, the more I knew I needed to put it down concretely and work out any kinks in my first inspiration. What you see here is the result of thoroughly massaging my original idea.

This analysis in triangles is not an exact, literal duplicate of the book's plot structure. I've cut away some less relevant characters and conflicts in order to emphasize the major triangle patterns I saw emerging.

Triangle 1:
We start in the center with the Trenton family: husband Vic Trenton, wife Donna Trenton, and son Tad Trenton.

Triangle 2:
The Camber family, owners of Cujo: husband Joe Camber, wife Charity Camber, and son Brett Camber.

Triangle 3
Vic Trenton's floundering advertising business, which includes Vic Trenton, his partner Roger Breakstone, and their main client Sharp Cereal Company, without whom their fledgling ad business would fail.

Triangle 4
Donna Trenton's affair with Steve Kemp, a triangle which includes: Vic Trenton, Donna Trenton and Steve Kemp

Triangle 5
The Lottery money that Charity wins which includes: Charity Camber, Joe Camber and Brett Camber

Triangle 6
Cujo and the Camber "men," who are the primary caretakers of the dog: Cujo, Brett Camber and Joe Camber

Triangle 7
The main plot of the book: Cujo's sustained attack on Donna Trenton and Tad Trenton.

Although the entire Trenton family meets the Camber family one year prior to the novel's main action (when the Trentons had driven out to Joe Camber's Garage to have him look at their faltering Jaguar) the two families have little direct interaction throughout the book. Their interactions with Cujo are of a very different nature: Donna and Tad Trenton are assaulted by Cujo while the Cambers main concern is the health of their beloved pet who has been acting strangely; the Camber's know nothing of Cujo's rabid state until the bitter end.

Along with the main plot of the book---Cujo's attack against Donna and Tad---we have the three major subplots. Three points make a triangle of subplots. Is that important? I don't know, but it makes my triangle analogy that much more interesting.

As I endeavored to peel away the layers of Cujo so that I could understand why it worked so damn well, I realized that each of the three sub-plots was in and of itself worthy of any novel.

Subplot 1
Money troubles for the Trenton family. Vic's ad business is on the skids and he must take on a Hero's Journey or Hero's Quest to put it back on track. Coincidentally, this Hero's Journey takes him away from his family, leaving his wife and son vulnerable to the disaster awaiting them in the maw of rabid Cujo.

Subplot 2
Adultery and forgiveness. Donna Trenton, not so happy housewife, has an affair. But she's decided she's now done with it. Steve Kemp, her paramour, doesn't want things to end. And he's a bastard. Steve sends an incriminating note to Vic's office. Vic struggles with the discovery, pondering whether or not to leave his wife while his business is falling apart all around him. Meanwhile, Steve Kemp is preparing to make things even worse for the Trenton family.

Subplot 3
Child Rearing and the domineering husband. The Camber's story could perhaps be considered three subplots, but all three involve the struggle between low-class, low-income Joe Camber and his wife Charity: in one they fight over control of their son, another for control of their marriage, and the final story over the lottery winnings. Joe rules the house with an iron fist. Charity fears Joe's low-brow ways are turning her son into his father, and she doesn't want to see that happen. Amazingly, Charity wins $5,000 in the state lottery (Coincidentally, in the novel McTeague, one of Stephen King's favorite novels by author Frank Norris, Trina Sieppe also wins $5,000 in the San Francisco lottery). This money becomes the central player in the struggle between Joe and Charity as she uses the money to bribe him into permitting her to take their son to meet her sister, who had previously married into a higher social strata and tax bracket.

There you have it. A general breakdown of the Triangle in Cujo, and my diagram to enhance the presentation of the basic ideas.

If you have read Cujo, you will recognize these structures and perhaps my diagram will help you see and remember them in a more cohesive fashion. If you haven't read it, I hope this diagram will still give you some ideas about how to structure a novel with multiple subplots, but to truly appreciate the richness of the many plot threads in Cujo and how they weave together, you should read the book.

If you want to see how Cujo influenced my writing, check out my novel Night Walk. There's even some awful dogs in it. You won't be disappointed. I promise. No seriously, I promise-promise. That's a double promise.  ;-)

And oh yeah, if you don't check out my book, I will sic Cujo and his kindred spirit Chopper on you!

Cujo! Chopper! Sic Balls!

And get off my property!

I'm joking, I'm joking. :-) Seriously, come around here any time you want to discuss writing or Stephen King. Just make sure you wear an athletic cup, or for the ladies, a durable chastity belt or equivalent (they offer great protection against dog bites---try it if you don't believe me).

Real Pictures of Heaven

The infinite tower of paperback heaven

I spent some time in Heaven today. And I mean capital "H" Heaven. Look at that photo above. It almost looks like the Tower of Babel. But it's really a giant tower of paperback books. And we're talking genre paperbacks. The good stuff. Yeah, you readers know what I'm talking about. From James Patterson to Nora Roberts, Stephen King to Dean Koontz, John Jakes to Jeffrey Archer. S. M. Stirling to Bruce Sterling, Debbie Macomber to Danielle Steel. All in one palatial place:

Escape Fiction in Salem, Oregon

Escape Fiction in Salem, Oregon. And I was there. I am a changed man.

Escape Fiction is a magical place that transcends the boundaries of space and time, much like Doctor Who's TARDIS, in several ways.

First, it is larger on the inside than it appears on the outside. I think this is due to the many science fiction and fantasy novels on hand in the store at all times.

The magic inside such books is likely responsible for the warping of space that allows Escape Fiction to defy the normal laws of physics.

Inside the Book Maze

Second, Escape Fiction is also a genuine Maze of Books. I think this is what Jorge Luis Borges had in mind when he envisioned heaven. For all we know, Jorge's spirit may in fact reside inside the winding halls of Escape Fiction. I guarantee that if you have never been to Escape Fiction before, and you explore it without a map, you are likely to get lost. I certainly did. It's better than any hedge maze I've ever been in, and it's even better than the hedge maze in the climactic scene in Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining. The difference is that unlike Jack Nicholson's character Jack Torrance, we all want to be in Escape Fiction's maze of books. Some of you readers, like myself, would be happy to live there forever and ever.

Maria and Scott, proprietors

I don't know if the owners of Escape Fiction, Maria and Scott, would actually want you to move in, but they certainly want you to enjoy the endless ocean of literary peace and comfort that their store provides, seven days a week.

Thirdly, Escape Fiction is a cathedral to the book. It celebrates the physical book, and it asks that we bow our heads reverently in respect for that which came before the eBook.

I have spent many an afternoon lost in Escape Fiction's wilderness of paperbacks, traveling through time along the spines of books I have seen in used bookstores since I was a kid.

I can't explain why used bookstores have this effect on me; I remember seeing many of the books contained in them previously as new books in chain bookstores over the years.

The Big Kahuna: Stephen King

And yet, when I see those same titles wearing cracked spines, sporting yellowing pages and tattered covers, the books somehow become better. There, I've said it. Used books are better. Maybe it's because you know that another human being has worked their way through the pages before you, as if that previous owner is saying "This book is a safe road to travel, friend. I hope you will enjoy it as have I."

Maybe I'm romanticizing. Maybe I'm not.

But the used book is still alive and well in America.

Kindles, iPads, Nooks and their ilk cannot kill the used book. The used book is fighting back and Escape Fiction leads the charge. So the next time you feel assaulted by the threat of the electronic book, head on down to Escape Fiction. You will be safe from ones and zeroes during your stay inside their Hallowed Halls.

Lastly, Escape Fiction is a magical domain of unprecedented proportion for the simple fact that they now stock my newest novel Night Walk.

Night Walk on sale now at Escape Fiction

You can see a fresh copy of Night Walk in the photo to the left. Maria was kind enough to place it there, in a position of prominence, at the front register. Where else would I, as a new author, find such support for my work? Not in a chain store.

I am very grateful to Maria and Scott for their willingness to support a local author like myself. Thanks guys! And I'm not the only local author with my book in their store.

You will note also that Night Walk is placed next to a fire extinguisher. I believe Maria put it there in case my book bursts spontaneously into flame. Night Walk is, after all, an intense, thrilling book which contains high-octane and extremely volatile story content. So placing Night Walk next to a fire extinguisher makes logical sense. It's the safe thing to do.

Smart move, Maria.

Some of you may be raising your hands now to protest: "But Night Walk is not a used book! How can you even consider selling it through a used bookstore?"

A quiet place to delve into good, old books.

The answer is simple: because Escape Fiction also stocks a good selection of new books. The popular kind: thrillers, science fiction & fantasy. Books with lots of zombies and vampires in them. J.D. Robb, Stephen King, Sandra Brown. The storytellers. Books we all like to read.

Remember, every used book is first born as a new book. It takes a dedicated, loving reader like yourself to properly rear and raise a new book until it is fully used, and ready to go out into the world so that it can enter the hands of another faithful book lover. I want my book to begin life in the hands of this sort of caring, loving reader; the kind of reader who frequents used bookstores, the kind of reader who shops at Escape Fiction.

That's why Escape Fiction is the perfect place from which to send my novel Night Walk out into the world.

The next time you are in Salem, Oregon, and need to go to Book Church, stop by Escape Fiction and pay Maria and Scott a visit. Tell them I sent you.

Escape Fiction Books

3240 Triangle Dr. S.E.

Salem, OR 97302

503-588-5865

The TARDIS of used bookstores, Escape Fiction. Bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside.

NIGHT WALK now on Kindle!

NIGHT WALK now available on Kindle

NIGHT WALK
NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE!

Do you like a good scare?

I know I do. Ever since I first read Salem's Lot by Stephen King, I've loved the horror genre above all others.

Night Walk is my first foray into true horror territory. It's an intense, hard-hitting book. If you want to read something that will make your jaw drop, look no further. If you want to read something that you will forget about after a good night's rest, I suggest you move on. Because, after you finish reading Night Walk, you won't be getting a good night's rest for a long, long time.

Night Walk is over 400 pages of high-octane terror.

Buy "NIGHT WALK" now

Only $4.99

Violent Violet Volkswagen

Violent Violet Volkswagen

Have you read The Shining by Stephen King? It's a great book if you haven't.

Recently I re-read it. The first time I read The Shining was years and years ago. I've seen the movie more times than I've read the book, but I love both equally. I've always found it strange that Stephen King didn't like Stanley Kubrick's version. I think Kubrick's version of The Shining is one of the top ten cinematic masterpieces of all time, in my opinion. But then again, I haven't had someone make a movie out of one of my books (yet) so I don't know how I'll feel about it when it does happen.

Anyway, one thing's for sure: the movie is not the book. I take them as separate entities.

One of the things you'll find in the book version of The Shining is the "Violent Violet Volkswagen."
The "Violent Violet Volkswagen" is a toy model kit that Wendy Torrance buys for her son Danny. Jack Torrance is supposed to put it together for Danny when Danny is able to read the entire first Dick and Jane book, as a reward. The "Violent Violet Volkswagen" does not appear in the movie version.

In the book, the model kit is described in the following paragraph:

"Jack took the box from his son. It was a model car, one of the Big Daddy Roth caricatures that Danny had expressed an admiration for in the past. This one was the Violent Violet Volkswagen and the picture on the box showed a huge purple VW with long '59 Cadillac Coupe de Ville taillights burning up a dirt track. The VW had a sunroof, and poking up through it, clawed hands on the wheel down below, was a gigantic warty monster with popping bloodshot eyes, a maniacal grin, and a gigantic English racing cap turned around backward."

-Stephen King, The Shining, p. 130

When I read The Shining all those years ago, I assumed the "Violent Violet Volkswagen" was a real thing. I knew who "Big Daddy" Ed Roth was, and had seen his art around. I always liked his art quite a bit. I seem to recall that model kits featuring such monstrosities as those of "Big Daddy" Ed Roth probably existed, so OF COURSE the one Stephen King mentioned in The Shining HAD to be real, didn't it? And was I going to check the internet to make sure? Nobody had the internet in those days. Yeah, of course the "Violent Violet Volkswagen" was real.

Apparently not.

When I re-read The Shining only a few months ago, I had to look up the "Violent Violet Volkswagen" on Google and see it for myself. Yes, model kits of such dragster-driving monsters by "Big Daddy" Ed Roth DO exist. But the "Violent Violet Volkswagen"? Not that I could find. But I really wanted to see it! I mean, how cool would that be? Very cool!!!

So, the only option I had was to illustrate the darn thing myself. The image above is inspired by the deliciously ridiculous creations of "Big Daddy" Ed Roth, as art directed by Stephen King. I made sure to give it that vintage "yellowed pulp-paper" look, to increase the nostalgia factor to maximum. Don't you love the poor registration of the cyan and magenta plates? So retro.

Now you too can enjoy the "Violent Violet Volkswagen."

Sorry, no model kits available (that I know of).

My thanks to the late "Big Daddy" Ed Roth for making such awesome art for so many years. And equal thanks to Stephen King for doing the same.

NIGHT WALK Cometh

That guy looks PISSED!

People often ask me where I get my ideas from. See that guy in the picture above? I get my ideas from him.

That is a photo of him from the last time I went to visit him. It's pretty hot where he lives. He usually isn't happy to see me. He was like "Aww man, you again?" What would you expect? He doesn't exactly like giving me his ideas. But he doesn't really have a choice. We struck a bargain, you see, a long, long time ago.  But that's is another story...

The latest batch of ideas my friend gave me worked their way into my debut novel NIGHT WALK. As you can imagine, NIGHT WALK is as scary as my pal who gave me the ideas that went into the book. So, if you want to lie awake at night, scared out of your mind, staring at the ceiling while you feel your heart thudding in your chest because of what you read in my novel, then check out NIGHT WALK. It will make you think twice about reading scary books ever again.

Oh, and if you want to meet my buddy in the photo above, let me know. I'll arrange a meeting. He'll be very glad to see you...very glad indeed...

Origins: Salem's Lot by Stephen King

THE book

That's it. Right there in that photo. That's the actual physical book that started it all. That's my totem.

Salem's Lot by Stephen King.

The book that made me want to be a writer more than any other book I had read prior to it.

That's a photo of the very first horror novel I ever bought as a teenager. I took the photo today. I have kept that book for all these years. How could i ever get rid of it?

Salem's Lot kicked my ass.

When I read it, I decided it was the best book ever written. It certainly was the best book I ever read. And I thought I had read some good books up to that point.

Wrong.

The writing of Stephen King did something that no other book had done to me before: it made me believe everything in the book was real. As in, it very possibly could have happened.

You see, I had been a big fan of fantasy novels, Dungeons & Dragons, and comic books up to that point. Anything that was magical or super-human did it for me. But I always knew there were no dragons or wizards or superheroes roaming around the streets of suburbia. Or anywhere else in the world. Not really. No matter how badly I wanted it to be true.

For some reason, everything in Salem's Lot seemed so darned plausible to my teen-aged mind. All the characters were down to earth. They had to drive cars to get from place to place instead of teleporting of leaping over tall buildings. They ate dinner together, they fell in love. They swindled, betrayed, over-promised, and struggled just like real,people. And at the beginning of the novel, there wasn't anything magical about Salem's Lot at all. It was just Regularville, U.S.A. No wizards, no superheroes.

With true genius, Stephen King ever so slowly hinted that strange forces were coming to Salem's Lot. Evil forces. And it took him half the book before any character or even the narrator actually uttered the word "vampire." Because everybody knows there's no such thing as vampires...until the evidence in front of you becomes incontrovertible.

In Salem's Lot, the characters, and me, became convinced that real, actual vampires had come to the Lot. Not Saturday matinee monster movie vampires in black and white. The real thing. And they were evil as hell.

I imagined that if such amazingly strange things could happen in Salem's Lot, they could possibly be happening in my own home town, right under my nose...at least I hoped they were.

Salem's Lot taught me that magical things seem more believable, more actual, in stories that are set in the familiar, everyday world that we all know. Fantasy novels set in strange, faraway places are so alien, they're obviously fake. I mean, the only place I've ever been on this planet that even remotely resembles Xanth is Disneyland. We all know Disneyland is pretty awesome. But it ain't Xanth.

Salem's Lot, on the other hand...hell, I grew up there. You probably did too.

The other thing Salem's Lot did, besides enchanting my fertile young mind with the possibility of the impossible, was make me dream of writing books just like it. Even if I didn't have the skill back then to pull off such a feat. As a teenager, I could barely write four pages, let alone four hundred.

Well, now I'm all grown up, and have managed to write my own fat book about the possibility of the impossible, right in the heart of Suburbia. You may have heard of my novel. It's called NIGHT Walk.

Several of my friends have finished reading NIGHT Walk and they have all raved about it.

Like Salem's Lot, NIGHT Walk deals with weird-ass shit happening to everyday-people in suburbia. Twilight Zone comes to suburbia. My favorite genre.

NIGHT Walk will be officially released this summer.

In the meantime, if you want to dive in and read NIGHT Walk NOW, drop me an email:

davidhudnut AT gmail DOT com.

I'll send you some sample chapters.

And by the way, what's your totem book? Or totem object? What got YOU going, that you still keep with you? Share a comment, if you like.

the HUDNUT IMP, May 5, 2012