Witches of Wildwood
Cape May Horror Stories and Other Scary Tales from the Jersey
Shore
A Collection of Contemporary Horror Fiction
by Mark W. Curran
Date of Publication: September 15th 2017
Publisher: NMD Books
Cover Artist: Robert Gonzales
Genre: Horror/Speculative Fiction
BLURB
Werewolves...
vampires... swamp beasts... zombies... even a Jersey Devil... all of these
chilling creatures and more await you in this haunting collection of 11
contemporary horror fiction stories by Mark Wesley Curran.
Uniquely
set 'down the shore' in South Jersey's Cape May County, these scary tales are
sure to terrify and entertain both adult readers as well as young adults.
Excerpt:
There was no doubt among the sisters that the murders were
increasing their power. Each felt the surge of energy that coursed through them
with each kill.
“I feel so alive!” Zoey exclaimed on the morning after they’d tied
Harlan Clemmons to a chair and stabbed him multiple times through the heart,
“like I’m
plugged into some bitchin’ electrical source!” she marveled.
The other girls felt it too. Both Jaz and Ali would lay awake at
night and feel it running through them - bringing them even more vitality and
strength than even their young ages provided.
Author Info
Mark
Wesley Curran is a writer of contemporary fiction, specializing in the horror
and suspense genre. Born and raised in Suburban Philadelphia, he spent many
summers living and working in Wildwood, New Jersey during its heyday. He now
resides in Los Angeles where he enjoys creative pursuits as a writer, filmmaker
and musician.
How would you describe you style of writing to someone
that has never read your work? - I believe my fiction writing to be more contemporary or
speculative fiction in the vein of say, Harlan Ellison, or perhaps Stephen King.
The stories in this collection do contain some horror elements, but they aren't
horror, per se, at least not hardcore horror. I like to use a little humor in
my writing, make it fun for the reader.
What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when
preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just
free writing)? I just sit down and write the same time every
morning as soon as I awake. I have a cup of coffee and just go to it before my
mind becomes engaged in the everyday activities and thinking. I find the more I
prepare for it, the less I get done. I think it has to be sort of automatic,
just do it each day at the same time, whether I feel like it or not.
I don't like writing for long stretches, I
sit down and do twenty, maybe thirty minutes and stop wherever it feels like
it's getting a little stale. I don't know how writers can sit and do it for
hours. I tried that once, I was working on a novel [which I have since thrown
away] and I sat in a rented seafront house in New Jersey and wrote from morning
till night for two weeks during a vacation break.
It was horrible. It took me a long time to
come to the realization that I was just not disciplined or patient enough to
sit and write for long periods. I felt guilty about it. Aren't serious writers
supposed to sit in a room and woodshed for days on end? I was really hung up on
that. I finally accepted the fact I work in short bursts, that I am not a
prolific writer. It got much easier once I accepted that about myself.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture
the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people
watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during
story creation? - I do all of those things, it depends on the
story. Sometimes you just want to not plan it out and just let the characters
do their thing but the less I outline and the less I do backgrounds on the
characters the more there is a risk of losing my way. It's like all things in
life, everything has a trade-off. The spontaneity can deliver some amazing
things but the trade off is often inconsistent character behavior and plot
problems.
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular
character? If so which one(s)? I tend to write smoking hot female characters
and then find I want to go to bed with them but they always reject me.
Do you have a character that you have been working on
that you can't wait to put to paper? I have so many characters and story ideas that
I will never have time to actualize or realize during my lifetime!
If a story or character won't leave me
alone then I'll make a folder up for that story and whenever it starts pulling
at my consciousness I take that folder out and type up/print whatever notes I
want to add to it. Then I'll file it away. Sometimes it will be years before I
go back to that file/story again.
Have you ever felt that there was something inside of you
that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to reach for the
unexperienced? We all have urges that border on the
uncontrollable. I think that's where writing and reading fiction comes in, we
can explore those urges, fears, ambitions and desires in a safe way. Movies are
much the same way. We watch movies to live vicariously through the characters,
to learn from them, to take the journey with them. We're explorers,
goal-seekers, builders of dreams. There is a calling which beckons us all – we
have an innate need to follow it. I
think the main thing is don't let fear of failure or the opinions of others
stop you from your exploring new frontiers and dreams. No artist or creative
person can depend on others to accept, praise, buy or promote their work,
because, aside from family and a few friends, nobody really cares. You do it
because you need to do it for yourself. You hope and want to share it with
others, but all you can do is hang the picture in the gallery and invite them
to look. The rest is up to the universe.
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