It’s been…a week. Between work and everyday life stress, I’ve barely had enough time to breathe, let alone write. The last few weeks I’ve been able to get this newsletter written by Friday afternoon, but I’m writing this right now on Saturday night at nearly 10 PM and I’m ready to pass out. My day job has quite literally sucking the will to live right out of me, and it’s taking every ounce of strength to even get any words out at all these days.
That being said, I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to talk about this week. I was hoping to have a cover reveal, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. That will have to wait until next week. But I do have a very interesting and sad story to tell you, one I don’t think I’ve told publically (at least not in some time). This is a cautionary tale for writers, so buckle up.
I started writing back in 2007, but I didn’t sell my first short story until 2010. I wasn’t writing a whole lot of short fiction at that time, instead spending my energy working on my first novel The Betrayed. When I did finally start to write short stories, I found it a bit of a struggle. I kind of did it all the ass-backwards way: novel first, then shorts. Most writers cut their teeth on short fiction first, then work their way up, but I didn’t have anyone tell me that at the time. Oh well, I guess. Everyone learns differently.
Anyways, after I finished the first draft of my novel, I went to work on learning how to write short stories. I finished a few, submitted to various magazines and anthologies, and promptly received my obvious rejections. But low and behold, I eventually sold my first short story! Look at that! A ghost story to a ghost themed anthology! Huzzah!
And…the press went under before it even came out.
Back to square one.
About a year later I found another anthology open for submissions, this one without a central theme and looking for Indiana-based writers. Being a native Hoosier, this sounded perfect! By that point I had a short story of mine make the top ten in voting in a contest Cemetery Dance was holding. Unfortunately my story didn’t make it through, but I immediately submitted it to that anthology and was promptly accepted! Look at that! A real published author!
By the time the story was accepted until the time the book came out, I stayed in close contact with the editor. He seemed like a nice guy, easy to talk to, easy to work with. I wanted to be involved with the process as much as possible. Hell, I even worked with him on setting up a mass signing with most of the authors involved in the book. Everything appeared to be going great…
…until it didn’t.
That fall, just as the book was about to come out, I was invited to do a reading at Horrorfind Weekend in Gettysburg, PA. Now, I didn’t have a table, nor did I actually have any books to sign, but we were allowed a small signing slot right after the reading. I was so damn excited. When the anthology came out, I ordered a ton of copies, family and friends ordered some too. This was a huge deal for me.
So imagine my surprise when the book came and I found my story…only to discover my tale had literally been re-written from beginning to end. Seriously. From first line to last line, the whole story had been reimagined and reworded to the editor’s liking. It wasn’t even my story anymore. I was utterly heartbroken and mortified. If you have my short story collection Resisting Madness, then you’ve already read my story “By the Throat”. The story is about a man who has a crippling fear of his neck and throat being touched. His wife is fed up with his phobia and threatens to leave him, and in a last ditch effort to save his marriage he puts her hands around his throat and leaves them there, attempting to break his fear. Obviously, it backfires. I love that story a lot. It’s still to this day one of my favorite ones I’ve written. And what that particular editor did, on top of his rewrites, was add words that didn’t actually exist in the English language and added some ridiculous sex subplot that was never there to begin with. Again, I was horrified by what he did with my story. So I did what every writer is supposed to do.
Go read your contract.
And I confirmed that, yes indeed, what he did was 100% wrong.
Authors, if you take anything away from this story, then let it be this: Read your contracts. Know your contracts. Respect your contracts. Know what rights the publisher is giving you, and know what rights they have with your story. Every contract I’ve ever signed, I’ve read from beginning to end, every single word, even if I can’t understand all the legal jargon. The one thing I can tell you that every contract has in it. At no point can any editor completely change your work. Most will say something along the lines that they have the ability to fix errors and make small grammatical changes, but anything more than that you the author must be notified.
I was never notified.
I spoke to several of my other writer peers, and they agreed that the entire situation was beyond fucked up. They’d never even heard of something like that happening before. They suggested I get in contact with the editor and immediately get the story fixed. When I did email him, he proceeded to tell me how wrong I was and how I could speak to his author friends and they could also tell me I was wrong.
I blew up.
I don’t remember everything I said back to him in that follow-up email, but I exorcized my contractual rights―the rights he wrote out―and I pulled my story from the anthology. It wasn’t until a few years later, after speaking with other writers who knew this gentleman, he had quite a reputation and his local HWA chapter had to create by-laws to specifically kick this man out because of past transgressions. I can laugh about the whole situation now, all these years later, but at the time it was painful and embarrassing.
So, how can you save yourself from the same sort of embarrassment? Read and know your contracts, and study up on potential publishers before you work with them. You could save yourself a ton of heartache by following these few easy steps. Believe me.
My Tales from the Crypt full series re-watch continues…
‘Til Death (S2, E4)
A plantation owner has eyes for a beautiful English socialite and uses a local voodoo woman’s potion to make her his own. Obviously it backfires. I remember as a kid seeing this one on a fairly regular basis during reruns. I’ve always enjoyed this one, despite falling into the typical Tales from the Crypt tropes of sex and desiring what isn’t yours. That’s the one big thing I’m noticing during these episode rewatches. This show is very horny and loves to tell stories about gold diggers. Seriously. As I type this, I’m about halfway through season two and nearly all the episodes are about jealous lovers or someone desperately trying to get someone’s riches. I’m really odd. This episode also shows the first time we see extensive monster makeup, when the woman rapidly dissolves into a horny zombie.
Three’s A Crowd (S2, E5)
An extremely jealous husband with trust issues goes on an anniversary vacation with his wife and his best friend. When he suspects them of cheating, he takes punishment into his own hands. I’ve always loved this episode. It lacks in the supernatural, but it’s very dark and, although you end up seeing the ending coming a mile away, it’s still fairly shocking and effective. Definitely one of the highlights of the season.
The Thing from the Grave (S2, E6)
A photographer and model have a passionate affair after her manager boyfriend gets a bit too handsy. The boyfriend kills said photographer, but he just won’t stay dead. Would you believe it? Another episode about…jealousy! This one was perfectly fine. The monster makeup was pretty solid. I think the best parts were the always sinister Miguel Ferrer (RIP), playing his normal unhinged characters, and a gorgeous young Terri Hatcher. I think this episode suffered from not having enough room to breathe. It moves at such a breakneck pace, there’s barely enough time to learn the character’s names before the story was over. Again, it was just fine.
The Sacrifice (S2, E7)
An insurance salesman murders an obnoxious tycoon to get his seductive wife and his fortune, but later is blackmailed by a rival. Honestly, this episode is a giant nothingburger. It wasn’t interesting or terribly memorable, and by the time it was over, I forgot I even watched it. Seriously, I had to copy and paste the IMDB blurb just to remember what this one even was. Also, what a waste of using Michael Ironside.
For Cryin’ Out Loud (S2, E8)
A shady music club owner decided to steal a million dollars in charity money and skip town, but his conscience has other ideas. This was another one I remember very well from my youth. Probably the funniest of the ones so far, nearly slapstick in tone. Sam Kinison plays the voice in the man’s head, so as you can guess, there’s a ton of obnoxious screaming. Still, the humor was great and the ending reveal was a lot of fun. Katey Sagal makes a brief appearance in this, which had to have been during the early years of Married with Children.
Four-Sided Triangle (S2, E9)
A young woman is being held captive by an old farming couple after she’s caught stealing from them. The old man pines for her, but the young woman is deeply in love with scarecrow in their field. If the term “thirsty” was in the lexicon back in 1990, the old farmer man would have been labeled just that. Jesus Christ, the guy was practically whacking off on the side of his barn as he was watching Patricia Arquette collect eggs. Seriously, this episode was rapey as hell. Despite that, this was a pretty solid one where all the actors played their parts very well. Another of my favorites from the season.
The Ventriloquist’s Dummy (S2, E10)
A young boy wants to grow up to be just like his ventriloquist hero, but when he gets older and visits his idol, he learns the man’s dark secret to success. Man, what a silly episode. I remember seeing this one pretty often as a kid and being severely creeped out, mainly because I detested dummy dolls. Rewatching it now, there’s nothing particularly scary about this one, but I did appreciate the almost Evil Dead 2 severed hand/mutant twin gag. Bobcat Goldthwait and Don Rickles were so great together and really made the absurdity of the concept work.
Currently Reading: The Bleak Season by Lucas Mangum
Currently Watching: Looking forward to seeing the pilot episode of The Last of Us
Currently Listening: The Doughboys podcast
That’s it for this week. Next week is the big cover reveal. Thanks, everyone!