Category Archives: Paul’s thoughts

900 Words with Me.

Posted on 11/11/2011 | 15 Comments

What’s news?

I received a great new review at Amazon for The Imaginings from author Hunter Shea.  Don’t worry.  I won’t put up every review here that I get, but seeing as I interviewed Hunter (click here for “Seven Questions with Author Hunter Shea”), I thought it was a nice connection.

“The Imaginings is a fun trip through hell on earth! Author Paul Dail does a great job weaving a horror story that will unsettle you. There’s a demon trying hard to gain purchase in our world, and he may have found the perfect human host to wreak havoc. The madness never lets up as everything hurtles to a confrontation for the ages in the Montana wild. Filled with rich, complex characters that will draw you in from the get-go, The Imaginings is a bitchin’ read.”

Thanks so much, Hunter.  And for the rest of you, if you haven’t already, please check out Hunter’s blog where you can find his recently released, Forest of Shadows (he’s getting some pretty great reviews, as well).

What does the future hold?

Speaking of author interviews, I’m excited to announce (or remind you if you read last week’s post) that next Friday, I will be posting “Seven Questions with Author Jonathan D. Allen.”  Continue reading →

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Posted in Guest posts & Author Interviews, Paul's thoughts

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Five tips to beat The Block (Writer’s Block, that is)

Posted on 10/07/2011 | 21 Comments

What’s news?

- I’m pleased to announce that my Flash Fiction piece, Another Oldie but Goodie, is being featured today (Friday, October 7) at Bibliophilic Blather, hosted by author Karen Wojcik Berner.

- I’m also excited to tell you that a new short piece of mine entitled I Spy, With My Little Eye was read live on The Eclectic Artist’s Cave, a radio show on Shark Radio Network.  Joann Hamann Buchanan (from the EAC) hosts a Writer Wednesday (kind of like Friday Flash).  The theme this week was “What’s in the round box?”  I had a great time writing it.  Took sort of a Pulp Fiction (without all the language) meets Hellraiser (without all the gore) approach.  Hope you get a chance to go by and read it.  In fact, if you’re short on time, maybe go by there first. Click here to read I Spy, With My Little Eye.

What does the future hold?

Next Friday I’ll be posting a review of the very popular YA dystopian novel being picked up by many adults as well.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  Is it worth the hype?  From a writer’s point of view, she has done some interesting things, but has she done enough to win me over?  Check back and see.

But without further ado…

Let me start by saying that I believe there are two ideas of what “writer’s block” actually is. Continue reading →

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10 movies that scared the bejeezus out of me

Posted on 09/16/2011 | 59 Comments

What’s News?

It has been a pretty exciting week.

Click here to check out eFiction Magazine

- Found out my Flash Fiction piece, Another Oldie but Goodie, was accepted for the October Halloween issue of eFiction Magazine.  eFiction currently ranks #13 in Amazon’s Arts and Entertainment Kindle eZines, in good company with other publications such as The New Yorker, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

POST NOTE: Because of a production error, my story didn’t make it into the October issue… at least that’s what I was told :(   Still hoping for the November issue.

- I was featured in an interview at Tracy’s Treasure of Books (click here).  Some fun questions.  And I did my best to keep my answers brief, but hopefully still interesting.

- Only two more weeks on The Imaginings September-only .99 e-book sale!  Click here for more information.

What does the future hold?

I’m pleased to say that next Friday, I will be posting another Friday Flash Fiction piece.  I think these are great exercises on really getting down to the essential details and maintaining tension.

Also, two weeks from today (9/30), I’m excited to announce my first author interview.  I will be featuring “Seven questions with Carole Gill.”

But without further ado…

My plan as I sit down to write this is to keep it short.  Or at least shorter than my post, My own Works Cited list: 10 books that have inspired me.  But as many of you are getting to know about me, I can’t just do a list, and brevity isn’t my strong suit.  But I’m going to give it a try. Continue reading →

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Posted in IndieHorror, Paul's thoughts, Reviews

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Slowing Down: On the birth of my daughter… or … A softer side of the horror writer

Posted on 09/09/2011 | 23 Comments

What’s News?

The Imaginings e-book is on sale for the month of September for only .99!  Click here for more information.

What does the future hold?

Next Friday, I’m doing another list.  I’ve had great response to “My Own Works Cited List: 10 books that have inspired me” (if you haven’t commented with your own faves, I hope you do that next) so next Friday, I’m going to talk about “10 movies that scared the bejeezus out of me.”

But without further ado…

Click here for the 10/2010 issue

Unfortunately, I am still waiting on publisher permission to use an excerpt from Kyle Bishop’s book, however, inspired by horror writer Mac Campbell’s touchingly heartfelt post, I’ve decided to finally post the short (just over 500 words) nonfiction piece of mine that Continue reading →

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A Day in the Mind of a Horror Writer… or … Why My Brain is Different From Yours

Posted on 09/01/2011 | 32 Comments

ONLY .99 FOR SEPTEMBER!

NEWS FLASH- The Imaginings will be on sale for September (my birthday month) for only .99!  Spread the word, enjoy the book, and if you get the chance and would be so kind, leave a review when you’re done.

What does the future hold?

Back before zombies started becoming passé (although the true horror fans among us will never stop liking zombies entirely… just as we believe that vampires will once again be scary), my friend and professor Dr. Kyle Bishop wrote a book called American Zombie Gothic: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Walking Dead in Popular Culture.  Next week I’ll be featuring an excerpt.

But without further ado…

(AUTHOR’S NOTE #1: I know and trust most of you who come to my site and read my random thoughts, but for anyone else, I ask that you respect the content of my brain.  My main intent with the following post is to entertain, but there are also seeds of stories scattered throughout the piece.  Let me harvest them.  Thank you.) Continue reading →

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Posted in IndieHorror, Paul's thoughts

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Why you should be reading Cormac McCarthy

Posted on 08/11/2011 | 14 Comments

What does the future hold?

Next Friday, I’ll be featuring a guest post in the form of an interview between Gingernuts of Horror Jim McLeod and Christopher Golden, author of the Borderkind trilogy as well as a series of tie-in books to Joss Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” television series.  I haven’t met Christopher, however, my instructor at one of the Maui Writer’s Retreats was Nancy Holder, who collaborated with Christopher Golden on several of the Buffy tie-ins.  And don’t try pretending you’re not a fan of the Buffy series.  At least not until you’ve watched more than one or two episodes (but more on that next week).

But without further ado…

Cormac McCarthy

I was originally going to write this post simply as a discussion/review of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men (and this post will still end up there), but then I started thinking about the other books of his that I’ve read.  I have to be honest here, “with an unblemished record of staunch heterosexuality,” I’ve developed something of a writer’s man-crush on Cormac McCarthy (my wife is pretty impressed with him as well, but I’m not jealous.  I promise.)

Continue reading →

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White Men Can’t Write… or Rewrite, rather

Posted on 08/05/2011 | 12 Comments

Click for "Another Oldie but Goodie"

PLEASE NOTE: I participated again in Friday Flash Fiction Horror again this week, however, to maintain variety, I haven’t published it here.  You can find Another Oldie but Goodie either on my bookstore website under Free Samples (www.pauldailbooks.com) or at Vamplit Publishing.

What does the future hold?

Next Friday, I’ll be posting my review of the book (NOT THE MOVIE) No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.  If you saw the movie and liked it (if not straight-out loved it), then you have to read the book.  And if you’ve only read McCarthy’s The Road and thought it so bleak you’d never read another of his books, I hope to convince you otherwise.

But without further ado…

Big ideas come in small packages

This last year, as I sat and watched “Of Mice and Men” with my freshmen Language Arts class, I couldn’t help but think (as I had on each of the previous days when we were reading the book) of the absence of two of my students.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Controversy, IndieHorror, Paul's thoughts

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Discussion/review of “The Shack” by Wm. Paul Young

Posted on 07/14/2011 | 29 Comments

What does the future hold?

I had quite a few comments on last week’s posting.  My wife tells me that people like lists, so next Friday I’ll be featuring a guest posting by blogger/writer Jill-Elizabeth.  I met Jill-Elizabeth through Book Blogs (but more on that… and her… next week).  The posting of hers that I will be sharing with you is entitled “Top Ten: Little Books with Big Stories.”

But without further ado…

There have been many stories that set out to give us a different version of God than the big guy in the sky with the white hair and long, flowing beard.  Whether it’s the laid back God from Conversations with God (see My Own Works Cited list) or George Burns (that reference seriously dates me.  I hope some of you are chuckling right now), it seems that we aren’t as content as we used to be with the traditional thinking of who or what “God” is supposed to be and exactly how he/He/she/it is supposed to act. 

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young purports to do just this, give us a new version of God.  Unfortunately, I found the same old God just wearing a different mask (or masks, rather, but we’ll get to that later).

Continue reading →

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My own Works Cited list: 10 books that have inspired me

Posted on 07/07/2011 | 69 Comments

What does the future hold?

One of my top ten influential books you’ll see on this list is Conversations with God.  Not long ago, I finished reading a book that has gathered some critical acclaim (which I’m not so sure it deserves) along similar lines.  Next Friday, I’ll be discussing my thoughts on Wm. Paul Young’s, The Shack.

But without further ado…

In response to last week’s posting, here are ten books that had a major influence on my life, listed alphabetically by author (it’s easier than trying to arrange them by importance).  I always hated having to find all of the information for a true Works Cited page, so this is only really a Works Cited in name.

And just so you know, this is not a discussion of the books so much as why they are significant in my life, kind of a mix between memoir and book report, one of those lists that some of us just scan for familiarity, skipping the rest.  Continue reading →

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To “e,” or Not To “e” (as in “e-publish”)

Posted on 06/23/2011 | 26 Comments

What does the future hold?

Next Friday’s entry will be a rebuttal to this post from my good friend Brandon R. Schrand in the form of an excerpt from his soon-to-be-published second memoir, Works Cited: An Alphabetical Odyssey of Mayhem, Misbehavior & and How a Good Book Can Save Your Life; Or, an Anti-Kindle Memoir

But without further ado…

Am I making Much Ado About Nothing?

As I sit poised on the brink of what I believe to be the completion of my first novel (of course, that assumption could be my first problem), I am faced with a dilemma that has multiple sides to it, ranging from my opinions as a writer to my opinions as a reader.  That dilemma is whether or not to e-publish my book.

Aaaahhh!  Booo!  Hisssss!  Thppt! (picture Bill the Cat for that last one.  And if you don’t know who Bill the Cat is, stop reading this and go pick up a book of Bloom County) Continue reading →

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