JOHN L. CAMPBELL
AUTHOR
Horror Suspense Thrillers
Science Fiction
Double click here to add text.
Fantasy
Home
Now Available
21 tales presented in the classic tradition of American Horror. RED CIRCUS; A Dark Collection, available now as an eBook for only $2.99
ttp://www.smashwords.cohttp://www.smashwords.com/books/view/96http:/
Also available for iPad, and at Sony, Diesel and Kobo!
"If you don't have time to read, you don't have time to write."
-Stephen King
Mar 10, 2012
Wow, much heavier publishing in February and March than I expected. Very exciting after so many dry spells, times filled with off-center, photocopied rejection letters, no responses at all, or snide comments from junior editors. I don't take it personally, though (...right!)
I want to tell everyone about my cover artist, Keith Haney. Man, this guy is talented! He's just completed the cover designs for four of my upcoming books (at least three to be released this year,) and is now hard at work with the brushes, oils and digital magic to bring these designs to life. Check out examples of his work (under "Matafunda")at www.deviantart.com. My job is to ensure that the writing meets the expectations of these exciting covers!
On a personal note, I'm looking forward to the DVD boxed sets of American Horror Story and The Walking Dead, Season 2. I'm currently working my way through The Hunger Games series, and enjoying it not only as a reader, but as a writer. The direct, economical style keeps up the pace, and allows the reader to participate in the descriptive creativity process. Style elements to incorporate into my own work. Hats off to Suzanne Collins for her literary (and commercial) success!
-JC
Feb 3, 2012
February is shaping up to be a busy publishing month! Two pieces of dark poetry ("Muse" and "Pet Shop Tarantulas") and a short story ("Texas Rising") are already up at assorted ezines...see RECENT PUBLICATIONS...and more is coming up. Three more shorts are scheduled for ezines this month, and a fourth will be appearing in print. In addition, there's some new flash fiction which may be appearing as well. I'll keep you posted!
-JC
Jan 21, 2012
E-books, the new frontier.
I've loved books my whole life, and one is never far from hand; in the car, on the nightstand, the coffee table...I'm also one of those people who has about eight going at the same time, able to jump in and pick up the story right where I left off with little trouble. I like the feel of them, the smell of ink on paper, I'm warmed by shelves full of books - old friends and good memories - and I can become lost in a bookstore, especially a used bookstore, for hours. I was saddened when Borders closed, because I was losing one of my sacred places.
The bookstore assassin was, of course, the e-reader.
Bah! Where's the smell and feel? What can you do if it runs out of juice, or you lose power and can't charge it? I can always light a candle and read my paperback. Very Abraham Lincoln, I thought. But my moment of conversion came one evening when I was lying in bed reading the latest Clancy in hardback. I started having trouble breathing and began to worry, until I realized it was Mr. Clancy's enormous book pressing down on my diaphragm. A few days later my cousin told me he'd gotten a Kindle as a gift, but he wasn't really a reader and knew that I was, so I took it off his hands. An instant love affair; a virtual library and bookstore at my fingertips, and the same size and weight no matter the content. Just have to remember to charge it on occasion, and that's not as bad as I'd imagined.
Now I'm even more hooked because it's where my book is published, and where two more will be this year. But as a writer, here's where the New Frontier comes in. No one really knows how to deal with this. I've spoken with publicity people at Barnes and Noble, looking for author events, and I'm getting head scratches. How do you sign an e-book? How do you promote an e-book? Most importantly, what's in it for them? And there's the rub, because amid all the excitement about the possibilities of e-publishing (from authors and fans) there's genuine worry, and this comes from the publishers, the printers, the agents and the "brick & mortar" book sellers. E-books are threatening to make them obsolete. Even the e-publishers (who alone will survive) only get a small percentage of the sale, and the authors and readers reap the benefits. Authors can now pull in 70% or more of sales (a much higher cut than print sales), and as a result can charge considerably less for their book and still do well, and that's good for the reader's wallet.
Yet no one knows where it's going, only that it's going to be big. Promotion is still an issue, as well as a prevalent atmosphere of scorn and disdain for e-authors. But there's no denying that e-books is where we're heading, and I'm excited to be a part of it at these early stages. I'm one of those coonskin hat authors, hacking the future of books out of the wilderness with my laptop.
Can't wait to see what's beyond the next ridge.
-JC
Jan 6, 2012
Welcome to the New Year!
There's lots of horror ahead in 2012...the bloodthirsty frenzy of a presidential campaign, an ad nauseum media circus over the approaching End of the World in December, renewed seasons of reality shows, and the prospect of frisky Third World leaders with axes to grind.
For me, the new year poses some exciting, self-imposed deadlines and goals; Getting serious about selling the screenplay, completing the novel (half finished, thanks,) completing the next collection of short horror and suspense (also half finished, thanks again,) and taking on the next novel, a Zombie Apocalypse story I've been dying to write. And let us not forget the ongoing process of submissions and contests. Somewhere in all that I'll find the time to read all the terrific stories I have stockpiled in my e-reader. King's tale of time travel is calling to me, and I've downloaded half a dozen "Indie" books from up-and-coming authors that look promising.
It's going to be a great year.
Keep exploring what scares you.
-JC
Dec. 11, 2011
Thanks for stopping by.
I wanted to share some musings, especially about writing. First, is there ever enough time? And when there is, do the distractions end? Like the two-year-old in footie pajamas on my knee as I write this. Don't misunderstand, I'd never trade the simple fact that he wants to be with me for anything. But it can make things challenging. Perhaps it's just advanced training for writing.
Scribbling, scribbling, all the time... in the ever-present journal (who could get by without it), on scraps of paper or the backs of business cards, any surface you won't have to later mail somewhere. Lately, I'm guilty of the Legal Pad-on-the-knee-during-the-long-work-commute process. Admittedly, not a very safe strategy, but two hours in the car is lost time! I'm not writing entire chapters...usually...but ideas and inspirations and phrases and strange thoughts come when they will, and I'm compelled to record them. I'll make sense of it all later.
Before I knock the long hours in the car, however, I have to tip the hat as well. I've dreamed up several good stories while behind the wheel; Giant ticks swarming across stopped traffic, an unsettling case of road rage, dark business on a wooded highway called Barringer Road... And through that windshield I've seen pieces of the world and life that I've worked to describe and incorporate into my writing. The shades of a morning sky, a hundred ways to describe weather, the look of deep woods passing by, and the chill and fog of a lonely rest stop. I've seen some things as well, things that have - or will - appeared on page. The unlikely appearance of a coyote loping across a city street, thousands of miles from territory we normally associate with that animal. And recently, at a Mobil station rest stop, I saw a van filled with federal prisoners being escorted inside one at a time to use the rest room, shackled at the ankles, hands and waist. It's where I stop for morning coffee, and here are these heavily-restrained, hard-looking men shuffling inside. How can something like that not make an appearance in a future writing?
As to the writing of horror itself, and the comments you get from people. It's an old story, the strange, slightly uncomfortable look, followed by the predictable question (it comes in several forms) of, "How can you think of things like that?" If you write horror, you better be prepared with an answer, because you'll get it a lot. At a recent holiday dinner for work, a woman who was reading my book asked the question, along with the raised eyebrow and the nearly imperceptible hesitancy at what the answer might be. My boss was sitting beside her and responded, "He's got a dark side to him." I thought it was a fair enough answer, and let it sit at that. What I didn't go into is that we all do, whether we want to admit it or not. A horror writer faces it, and with his or her work, forces the reader to face it as well.
Write. Read. Never stop taking it all in.
-JC
2012 Publications
"THE WOODSHED" (Print) - Third Wednesday Summer 2011
"TERRITORIAL" (Print) - Storyteller Magazine Summer 2011
"WHITE OUT" (Print) - Bleeding Heart Cadaver 'Best of 2011' Anthology
"JACKBOOT AND MARY" (Print) - 1,000 Words 2011 Prose Collection
SCATTERED THOUGHTS and STRANGER THINGS...
See what's NEW!
"WHITE OUT"
"A SHADE ABOVE NORMAL"
"JACKBOOT AND MARY"
"ALLIGATOR MAGNETS & NUCLEAR WAR"
"ELEPHANT RIDES"
"SOMEPLACE THE WIND BLOWS THROUGH"
"EMBRACING NEPTUNE"
"TAILLIGHTS"
"JACK'S FOLLY"
2011 Publications
Past Publications
"THE GLADES" (Print) - The Scream Factory 1991
About the Author
Campbell is a life-long scribbler and storyteller, the author of several horror and sci-fi novels, and the co-author of the screenplay Silver Arrow. His short fiction has appeared over 40 times in both small-circulation print and online magazines. He has lived all over the country, and currently resides with his family in Connecticut.
"TRAIL OF BREADCRUMBS"
"REJECTION"
"BARRINGER ROAD"
"THE HOUSE ON MOHAWK" - Conceit Magazine (Print) Feb./Mar. 2012
NEW!
NEW!
NEW!
"TIE"
NEW!
NEW!
NEW!
