The Gates of Chaos Anthology

  I first became involved in what later named The Gates of Chaos when Will Jacques first proposed the idea to group.   I recall my reasoning to join the project was to work with writers whose work I had read and enjoyed. I knew from the get-go it was a great opportunity to present my work and hopefully have readers enjoy my tales of macabre. ~ My approach to writing is three-four hours a day. The first story (“Lockdown and Macabre”) was one for which I could clearly see the beginning and the ending. As it is a massive homage to the Tell-Tale Heart and splatterpunk, I read two to three poems by Poe and Richard Laymon before each writing session. I am pantser, as I enjoy letting the story take me by surprise, and this quality was a huge benefit to the story. “Samhain” was a more plot driven story, so I was writing for two hours in the morning and four hours at night. There was a lot of research involved plus the editing process was longer. Scott Beallis (Scott Dyson) was i...

  At the beginning of the pandemic I lost two important influences in my life, my dog Molly, and my father. My father was the one who inspired my love of words and books. We were interested in the same authors, we bought each other books, and we discussed writing. He died before my dream of becoming a published author was realized. Our birthdays are approaching. His is on April 19 th , mine is on April 20 th . This will be the first year we won’t celebrate together. I struggled. I struggled writing, focusing, and I had a hard time concentrating, not just on pages, or paragraphs, but some days on single words. At unexpected times, sadness would overwhelm, and tears would fill my eyes. Most days words wouldn’t flow. I quit querying my novel because the rejections bit too hard. However, like most of my life when times were tough, I could count on books. Books provided a place where I could disappear into and find solace. I have a great writing support group. My wife, my daughter, and ...

  What is sanity? That is the question posed in 'Equilibrium.' what is sanity, as opposed to insanity. As an author, my writing initially examined emotion as a fine line between health and illness. This question, combined with a personal love of the horror genre, guided my work into the realms of horror and all of its sub-genres. I could discuss this further, but this anthology relates directly to life during the pandemic. Rather than examine the horrors of the pandemic, I would rather tell an uplifting story in this blog. Let's shift the bleak moods of late to a genuine fairytale. Writing, for me, is more than a career; it is a vocation. As such I produce work across multiple media platforms. My primary genre, as discussed, is horror. In April 2020, one month after lockdown, my largest work; a book called 'Horrotica' was released and subsequently became an international best-seller. During the month of May I was engaged in book promotions across most social media. ...

  Out of all the books I own, the ones I've read the most, the ones I cherish and will never, ever part with, are a stack of beaten and dusty horror anthologies. Some of the covers are well done, stylish pieces, professionally illustrated with pictures of werewolves, ghouls and witches. Sharp graphics that juxtapose against the murky depths of the deep blacks. Others are cheap and garish things, leering clowns and vibrant blood. It's quite a collection, there's stories by Shirley Jackson, Robert Bloch, essays on the werewolf trials and a hundred others bits and pieces that I read when I was a kid in Benalla. That's where I first read most of them, in books I borrowed from the small catholic school library and later from the larger one in the town, books I'd read and return, one or two of the stories would stick, sometimes I thought I'd imagined them when I recalled them, but years later I'd find a horror anthology in a second hand place, read through, it...

When I first saw the call for this anthology in the Horror Writers' Net group, I wasn't interested.  I didn't want to write a new short story for it.  I didn't have any ideas.  I was pretty busy with life, having college kids getting ready to return to campus and a practice that was still figuring out how to handle COVID.  So how, one might ask, did I then end up contributing a story and being the primary driving force behind actually getting it published?   I thought about it.  Yeah, even though I had decided that I wasn't interested in writing a story for it, I couldn't get the theme out of my head.  I was part of an anthology called QUANTUM ZOO back in 2014 (or thereabouts) and we were given the theme of writing a story about zoos.  And I had one I hadn't finished that I called (for lack of a better title) "The Zoo Planet."  Yeah, it was science fiction. But it came to mind as I read the call, and so I finished it and submitted it....

  The pandemic ended a decade long hiatus on writing. After almost finishing a BFA in creative writing, I suffered burnout and when a career opportunity presented itself, I stopped attending school and stopped writing. Furloughed, and suddenly realizing that my current job isn’t as fulfilling as I wanted it to be, I kicked into a storm writing stories non-stop throughout all my free time. I’d been devouring all resources on writing and even now am back at work finishing my degree. That’s when I came across some advice from an odd source— The titular character in an Archer episode says that language is all idioms. “Time Out in the Long Weekend in the Long Year” started with only two goals: Set the story in Texas and create a strong character who spoke in idioms.  Another goal I try to achieve- and often fail- is taking some mundane task and make it menacing. Even the best, most well-behaved and innocent children end up in time out. Thus the average, everyday action of a parent ...

  I'm going to take a minute to discuss the most recent character that I've written about. He appears in the new publication I've been promoting, The Gates of Chaos . Some of you wonder how a guy like me, married, a father of seven, who has renovated an old school house, and seeking every dream, creates such evil. First off, you should know that “Vasectomus” was me writing as Jim Falcon. Let me explain. I've often struggled with crossing that fine line in horror (most of you are shaking your head, NO YOU HAVEN'T! ). Instead of using blunt words I'd soften them. For example I'd use "privates'' instead of "dick" when referring to male genitalia.  Jim Falcon doesn't hesitate to jump into the taboo, to write the rawness that can chill someone and disturb on a level that I'm (Tim Eagle) still working on in my horror. When I put Jim's name on something I'm still giving readers the quality, without the softened blows. Writing ...