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The Next Big Thing

My thanks to Lisa Lane for inviting me to be a part of this week’s The Next Big Thing blog posting group.

The Next Big Thing is a meme that is creating an ever growing wave through the blogs of authors who write in a variety of genres, with each participant answering the same questions about either a work in progress or a work currently being marketed.  Each author then chooses five other authors to keep the chain going.  The following is my contribution:

1. What is the title of your book?
The title of my book is the Speed of Dark. It’s an anthology of short horror stories.

2. How did you come by the idea?
I had been working on a personal collection of similar stories (inspired by my oldest son) and came to the realization I wasn’t going to have enough material. Since I’m a publisher as well as an author, I simply invited great authors I know personally to join me. We have gathered about 25 stories at this point, two of them being my own.

3. What genre does your book fall under?
Horror. Strangely different and disturbing horror.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters if it were a movie?
We would need many actors, of course. But I would love to get my hands on Tim Curry: he has played some of the most disturbing fiends I’ve seen—on both the Big Screen and on Television.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Strangely different and disturbing stories by talented authors worldwide.

6. Will your book be self-published or traditional?
I am a small, independent and traditional publisher.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
It took about 2 months to collect and do a primary edit on all of the stories, and I have allowed approximately 5 months for the project.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
The horror in this anthology is so disturbingly different, I can’t think of any other horror collection like it. The theme of our collection, however, comes from the work of one of the fathers of sci-fi/fantasy/horror, Damon Knight. It’s my understanding and my experience that he wrote to disturb. That purpose or meaning was the defining theme of his body of work and it is the defining theme of this anthology.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
My oldest boy, when he was four years old, had been tucked into bed for the night, but his mind had not yet shut down. He came downstairs about ten minutes later, looked at me and asked “What is the Speed of Dark.” Well, I answered his question, but I never forgot the incident, knowing I would one day write a story using that theme. Now, 18 years later, it has become the name of this anthology and the flagship story for the collection.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Readers who enjoy stories that keep them up at night, either reading or thinking about what they have read, would be perfect candidates for this book. They don’t even need to be horror fans, as my definition of horror is a far cry from what people of today generally consider to be horror.

The four authors I’ve chosen to continue the chain on or about December 23rd are…
Tony Richards:  http://raineslanding.blogspot.co.uk
Delinda McCann: http://delindalmccann.weebly.com/blog.html
J. A. Vasquez:  http://www.BooksThatSow.com
Ron Cherry: http://www.rlcherry.com
…but don’t wait that long to visit these interesting blogs of 4 very different writers.

Copyright © 2012, Clayton Clifford Bye