Lynette McClenaghan

As well as reviewing dark fiction, I review music, including biographies of iconic musicians. One of my recent blogs reviewed: Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre (Biography of The Doors by Mick Wall)

Watch this space for more reviews, include: Steampunk Erotica and Bram Stokers (stories include alternative endings).

Not to be missed DVD for Doors fans and a worthwhile watch for those who appreciate great music.

This DVD is essential for any Doors fan. Even casual fans should buy it as it may well inspire them to investigate the band’s music further. The restoration of the film of the Doors’ 1968 Hollywood Bowl concert is a triumph of modern technology and a credit to the original cinematographers. The video and audio is now so good that the concert could have been filmed last week. The process of restoration is covered in detail in one of the excellent Extra features on this DVD. The mini-documentaries are well worth watching and there are some bonus television performances included.

The concert itself shows the band at their peak in a live setting. At the time much of their best music was still to come, particularly the albums Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman, but this performance is a good representation of their work up until this point. Later in their career live performances would become often shambolic and unpredictable as Jim’s erratic behaviour took increasing hold over him, and the band. This performance is tight and professional. The richness of their music works well in the live setting where their improvisation and extended versions of songs are developed and explored musically and lyrically. The impression we get watching is of a well-rehearsed band with an intuitive understanding of where each song is going.

The concert takes you back to a time when bands just came on stage and played. Unlike the garish and tacky antics of some modern performers, the Doors grab you and hold you with musicianship and the power of their music. There is not much theatricality, except in The End and The Unknown Soldier. Jim is the brooding presence you’d expect, but with boyish smiles and charm, he is also an engaging frontman, and expressive vocalist. Robby is never less than tasteful and astute in his playing. Like the others, he makes it look easy, until, in one of my favourite shots, we see him close up, breath condensing in the cold night air, sweat pouring down his face. Laid back, but intense. Ray is perpetually smiling, hunched over his keyboards with his head cocked sideways, absorbed in the music, playing brilliantly, giving the band so much of their unique sound. The revelation for me was John Densmore. His work is powerful and expressive, subtle and complex. He is easily the equal of any rock drummer, including Baker, Bonham or Moon (and considerably more sane!)

Great concert, but I was saddened when it finished. Ahead lay trouble with the law, controversy, and for Jim, decline, and a squalid death three years later. That we know how the story ends makes this wonderful concert also quite poignant.

Professor Challenger

I thoroughly enjoyed each of these stories as they are all as well written and dramatic as the best known of the collection, The Lost World. Arthur Conan Doyle’s writing here has stood the test of time; modern readers will find his prose engaging and accessible, not dated or impenetrably dense.

These stories are generically interesting too – fantasy, romance, adventure, thriller mixed in with a kind of early science-fiction. What also struck me was that there is a strong thread of social criticism implicit in some of the stories, most notably in Land of Mist, which I’ll return to in just a moment. Doyle has a social conscience; although it may seem elitist, his decrying of his period’s general scientific ignorance and closed-mindedness is just as relevant today. Another example is in The Disintegration Machine, with its trenchant condemnation of the amoral development and sale of weapons of mass destruction.

Arthur Conan Doyle is sometimes mocked for what some take to be his naïve credulity in matters of the occult. The story in this collection, Land of Mist is criticised by another reviewer as merely an apology for the author’s spiritualist beliefs. Rather, it is a study of how society may ruthlessly crush those it deems heretical, and its focus on institutional authoritarianism, police duplicity, the corruption of the law and the exploitation of the helpless is quite moving. Some of the scenes recall Dickens’ depictions of poverty and squalor.

For the price you cannot go wrong with this collection. Reading these stories has inspired me to seek out other examples of the author’s lesser known works.

I’ve been over-whelmed by the task of undoing the damage an Editor has inflicted on my work. I have self-published a novella and two novels. My next novel a supernatural horror, Who’s Watching Samantha is due for publication in the first quarter of 2015. As I go through this final draft I am finding approximately one error for every hundred words. Some of these are missed proofing errors; others errors the Editor has imposed on my manuscript.

The lesson here is writer beware. It’s a travesty that in the arts the creative person is the beginning of work that flows from them. Unfortunately, the money flows the other way so the artist is the last person to see anything if at all. As part of my research I read prolifically, and am currently reading a biography of The Doors, titled Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre. Even a group as famous and iconic as The Doors often stared poverty in the face.

In the past three years I’ve engaged a number of publishing services. Some have been exceptional, others average and sadly some appalling as with this Editor accredited by Editors Victoria. Regardless of their quality these people have to be paid and it’s the old story of everybody making money before the artist. I accept that these services are necessary, but I am galled by how many self-appointed experts there are in the publishing industry seeking to ride on the writer’s coat-tails. Just as anyone can buy a truck and some tools then call themselves a tradesman, I have discovered that the publishing services industry is replete with those who make claims about their expertise and craft with nothing more than hollow promises. I remain sceptical of any publishing services provider until they prove themselves otherwise.

Beware the Editor

Whether you self publish your work, are preparing a manuscript to send to a publisher or the publisher has your manuscript beware of the sloppy editor. I engaged an editor to do a proofread and light edit of my next novel Who’s Watching Samantha due for publication early 2015. The first 60% percent of the work was properly done; 40% was amateurish revealing many missed proofing errors. More alarming the editing style differed suggesting that the editor had passed the work onto someone else for completion. Doing business with this person was frustrating as she was difficult to communicate with and very touchy. When the work was completed she solicited for further work even though my brief was clear. Beware publishing services providers and treat them as a necessary evil until they prove otherwise – at least this has been my experience. The publishing industry is full of self-appointed experts. For my previous works I engaged a reliable, experience English teacher who provided a much better result.

If you would like more information you can contact me by personal message.

There is too much emphasis on the problems facing Indi authors and their dependence and deference to the Publishing Industry. As an Indi author I’m tired of hearing about how every route to self-publishing takes writers and authors back to the traditional publishing industry’s clutches.
Myth Three
The new paradigm for self-published authors is more lucrative for writers, because of decreased overheads. In fact the writer is required to shell out money for a number of services before the book even appears for sale. Alongside this the Indi writer has to engage in self-promotion and publicity. An acquaintance of mine paid in excess of $12k for his work on a manuscript. The original edit was so badly botched that it had to be redone – this involved more money. For example, there were no spaces after many of the full stops and the book was riddled with punctuation errors. This was a supposedly professional job.

You can’t sell an Ebook without great metadata. If want this task done properly you must do it yourself. This is another time consuming task. I write supernatural and dark fiction and discovered that the metadata was completely incorrect. On one E-Store my titles were categorised as Romance fiction. I had to research metadata then go through the process of getting the right metadata then passing it to a distributor I no longer use. I have since taken control and outsource necessary publishing services. It’s a case of buyer beware.

Nosferatu

November 2014 I presented a workshop at The Victorian Association for the Teachers of English (VATE). The focus of the presentation was as teacher to teacher about creating an Ebook and self-publishing. Within the cohort an academic booked into another workshop jumped ship to attend my presentation. This group were delightful to work with, because most of them wanted to learn more about self-publishing primarily for the benefit of their students. This workshop was pitched to assist teachers to collaboratively publish digital and print anthologies of students’ work. At the close of the session I was given a warm round of applause.

On a sourer note, since self-publishing and beginning this endeavor over four years ago, I have received numerous requests from people who want to pick my brains. They don’t read my work and I suspect don’t read my BLOGS or SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS which give advice based my experience. I return polite emails of either encouragement or useful tips. More irritatingly, I normally receive no thanks. No writer should feel at the mercy of these VAMPIRES. The best was a request from a horror writer who asked me to buy his book and review it. He attempted to flatter me by noting a good review I posted for another writer. I was willing to do this in exchange for him doing the same for me – it wasn’t reciprocated. I bought the book anyway; it wasn’t very good therefore I posted a negative review.

Brilliant read and grossly underrated film

Writer of horror and dark tales

Myth two of five about Publishing

New corporations that have emerged as rivals to the traditional publisher claim that they are committed to their writers. This may be true of some. However, in my experience compared to my husband’s experience with traditional publishers it’s the opposite. The traditional publisher is more supportive of writers and is much more involved in the creation and promotion of their writer’s works. The biggest problem I’ve faced from this new breed of publishers is lack of communication and stated timelines spinning out to the ridiculous. For my last Ebook novel, In Jeopardy, the turn-around for paid publishing services was meant to be one month, but extended to five months; no explanation – only delays.

Of late I share the sentiments of Musician, Scott Grove who lives by the premise, ‘Don’t trust anyone until they prove trustworthy and likeable,’  following a number of experiences dealing with difficult people. The most recent incidents were after placing trust and good faith in a jeweler then a tradesman, both produced sub-standard work. Rather than taking responsibility both engaged in the blame game.

Like one of my favorite writers, Guy de Maupassant, I am a misanthrope and sometimes have a sour take on humanity. This is a feature that permeates throughout my work and partly explains why I write dark fiction rather than romance and fantasy.

Annabelle – Movie review

Horror fans will enjoy this flick. Its cinematic effects and shock factor are dramatic and there are a number of frightening moments in the story. Annabelle will particularly appeal to a teenage audience. We were sitting next to a group of teenage girls who were scared witless and enjoyed themselves. Although the ending was derivative, the storyline didn’t give any clues away and the finale was a genuine surprise. However, Annabelle relied too much on horror film clichés, such as, the kindly priest who comes to the rescue and suffers for his goodness. Some of twists and turns in the plot seem to rely on easy options. The two main protagonist’s reactions are often naïve or foolish and seem to only serve to keep the plot going. After being terrorised by the hideous doll, Mia decides to keep it. The horror potential of some scenes could have been better explored or developed. For example, when the doll rises into the air Mia sees the face of a cartoonish devil which reduces the scare factor. Examples such as this one verge of cheesy. Alongside The Conjuring, the prequel, Annabelle, isn’t in the same class. The Conjuring maintains unrelenting tension where there is no easy escape for the characters.

Writing horror and dark fiction

In my stories characters don’t simply have challenges or problems to overcome, but they are faced with crisis. The initial crisis usually reveals underlying problems which surface and become crisis in their own way. The importance of this approach to writing, particularly relating to dark tales, was confirmed in a critical study of Clint Eastwood’s films which argued that he operates in the same way.

Once again, I cannot overstress the necessity for fiction writers to read widely, both fiction and non-fiction. Writers benefit from engaging in research and their reading material must be serious and not simply a diet of junk. I don’t suffer from writer’s block because as with your health prevention is better than cure and reading widely is an investment in the quality of your work. Likewise, I’ve find that once the manuscript is approaching the final stages the writing isn’t finished. The writer is faced with creating a pitch, blurb, synopsis and a book description. These are unavoidable whether you are self-publishing or sending your manuscript to a publisher. For example, a self-publisher needs to articulate a clear brief that reflects the work so the graphic artist designs not only a striking cover, but one that resonates with your creative aims.

When Publishing Services Fail to Deliver

I am currently reloading my book titles up to kindle after terminating an unsatisfactory distribution agreement with a large Australian distributor.

The publishing services provider I originally engaged to convert my novel from a word document to epub and mobi files has sent me corrupt files. As I am unable to view the text for In Jeopardy and upload it to Kindle the novel is only available as a pre-order on kindle until late October. I am in the process of arranging another provider to convert my original manuscript to a mobi file.  In Jeopardy will appear as a revised version which will also include a new cover. I believe this will more closely evoke the protagonist’s plight and more aptly reflects the grim tone of the story.