F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

authors

“Blondie’s” – An Audio Story!

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I was trying to get an actor-friend of mine, Paul Neal Rohrer, interested in doing the reading of a couple of my short stories for an upcoming interview (September 1st), when Paul sent me this audio file of one of the stories he was to read. Damn, but how it breathed LIFE into the story! To see a story on paper is one thing…to hear yourself read it aloud…but to hear it performed is quite another! Paul did such an incredible job!

I’d met Paul a couple of years ago when he’d interviewed me for ERO, on his internet radio show, The Roaring Success Radio Hour. He’s a published author (Listen, Feel, Respond An Actor’s Workbook, published by Players Press, Inc., and Acting on Camera: A Workbook and Guide are both available through Amazon), and has been a SAG/AFTRA member since 1986. He’s a veteran actor of film, television, and stage, since 1971, and is the founder of the Roaring Success Workshops (1986). Some of his alumni include Naomi Grossman, Anna Sophia Robb, and Caitlin McCarthy.

Paul has done numerous voice gigs and has studied and worked with some of the most recognized and successful leaders of the film and television industry: Richard Dreyfuss, Chris Cooper, Tony Barr, Lynn Stalmaster, Marvin Paige, Mike Fenton, and Dabney Coleman, to drop a few names….

And as if all this isn’t enough, Paul also trains Law Enforcement in Crisis Intervention.

Anyway, I’d brought Paul in on this at the suggestion of a mutual friend of ours, Jan C J Jones. Paul and I hadn’t heard from each other for a bit (I’d thought he’d been abducted by aliens), so it was great reconnecting. I’d been contacted by Eric Singer, of The Gazette, who’d asked me if I’d be interested in doing a new gig of his, called Take 10. And when Eric mentioned that the readings needed to be dramatic, Paul was the first person that’d come to mind. I’d sent him my Do The Dead Dream? manuscript and mentioned a couple of stories for him to look at, and he said “Blondie’s” really grabbed him, so he did up a promo reading and sent it to me—this is that promo reading.

Hope you are as drawn into this recording as I was! To read some background on “Blondie’s,” see my original posting.

As things currently stand, we’ll be on Eric Singer’s Take 10 segment, Friday, September 1, at noon MT. More on this as it develops!

Paul Neal Rohrer’s Contact Information:

Web Site: www.roaringsuccess.org

Acting Workshop Web Site: http://roaringsuccess.org/rohrering-success-acting-workshop

E-mail: pnr1@mac.com

Best Reads…

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Best Reads In A Long Time! (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, 2017)
Best Reads In A Long Time! (Photo © F. P. Dorchak, 2017)

…in a long time!

I had started reading these four books about a year ago—and last week had finally finished them all. I think I’d started around September. They’re all anthologies. They all have the element of The Weird in them. The stories run the gamut from pretty much mainstream to the out-and-out horror. It’s so funny—and interesting—that in the past few years I have not been happy with nearly every novel I’ve picked up and [tried to] read. Either the story or something about the story/writing just didn’t grab me. But this last year, during all the author events I’d participated in (local and distant library gigs to Denver’s Comic Con), I’d come across these books. Many of my writer friends are in these books, and that’s how I found them: they were selling them at these events. And I must tell you that—hands down—wow. I was so impressed with these works! I loved all of these books—maybe not every story, but the en masse entirety of the collections. The quality of the writing…even if I didn’t like a particular story, man, they were all well-written! I really appreciated the writing, since the past couple of years I have not appreciated much of the writing I’ve read or tried to read.

This is important, becaaause….

I’d begun to wonder if I’d become jaded as a writer-reader. That nothing I read was ever going to be “any good” any more…is this how editors and agents feel?

And I’d worried that perhaps it wasn’t that the works I read were actually bad…but that perhaps in my mind’s eye nothing I read would ever measure up to some insane and wholly arbitrary ego-constructed measure. Yes, I was a little bit worried I was becoming that angry non-selling author sitting on that front porch with a double-barreled shotgun yelling out at all the authors out there to get the hell off my lawn!, while I fired some well-placed buckshot into their collective literary asses.

Open, pop em, reload.

But having read these books reassured me that I was fine. I don’t know what my major malfunction is, but having read these books showed me that there still is great writing out there—great reading. I’m not into pure horror fiction anymore, but I still love well-written “dark fiction” pieces with elements of The Weird in it, however defined. And that’s another thing—seeing The Weird defined by other writers. How they look at the world and suitably warp the hell out of it. I’m more into the psychologically, the metaphysically bent stories, not the gore…but love “weird.”

It was also fun as hell to see what my writer friends had written!

So often we run into each other at these promotional gigs (well, when I go to them, that is, and 2016 was a banner year for me attending them…) and talk and stuff, look at each others books, but to buy everyone‘s books…all the time…becomes prohibitive. I know too many writers and I only have so much income and wall space—as I’m sure is the same for every other writer out there. I always feel terrible that I have to put a friend’s book back down and somehow slink away with my tail between my legs because I haven’t bought anything—but hey, I wish you the best!

Ga, I hate having to do that!

But, this time I made an active attempt to better support those friends I haven’t read anything from and find something of theirs of interest and buy one or two books per gig…annnd read them! These four books I’d bought around the same time so they all “went together” in my head. The two books on the right (The Deep Dark Woods and Nightmares Unhinged) are straight horror and dark fiction and have some outright startling stories in that vein (pun intended). Tick Tock and Found are not really “dark fiction” per se, but have some elements in some of the stories, and they are stories that involve the element of their titles (i.e., stories about something found and the element of time). Really well-written stuff!

I’m not going to call any one writer out, here. That wouldn’t be fair without commenting on all of them, and that would get long…and to be honest, I’m not known for my memory, so that would involve a bit more rereading and note taking and I don’t want this post to be a book report on authors. I just wanted to say that if any of you have any interesting whatsoever in dark fiction—weird fiction—stories about something found or that involve the element of time in them…well-written short stories…give these anthologies a try!

And to all my writer friends who wrote this stuff–outstanding effort! I really am impressed and look forward to reading more of your work!

 

Edward Bryant, Jr.—A Tribute

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Ed Bryant on Far Right, on MILEHICON48 Panel, Oct 30, 2016 (© F. P. Dorchak)
Ed Bryant on Far Right, on MILEHICON48 Panel, Oct 30, 2016 (© F. P. Dorchak)

“I have such wonders to show you….”

I learned this last Sunday that Ed Bryant, Jr. had passed on from this life.

Wow.

The above quote is from Ed’s short story “Marginal Ha’nts,” in Hex Publishers Nightmare Unhinged. You have to read this story–especially now–the ending will give you chills. I read this story in October, but I just went back over the ending and it was…well, weird.

Ed and I were not drinking buddies, or anything, but we were writer friends. It all started (good, Lord, how the time flies!) some 25 years ago? He and John Stith were running a critique group at UCCS, in Colorado Springs. I can’t remember if I’d heard it from John or from Ed himself. I think I’d learned this at a local writers’ conference I used to attend/work at where I’d run into one or both of these gentlemen. Anyway, the critique group was by invitation only, so I threw my name into the hat…and waited. Well, low-and-behold, an opening was had, and I was invited. I joined.

It was a medium-sized group and Ed and/or John would helm the meeting. I don’t remember the specifics, but the group had been going around talking about a writer’s efforts (I don’t think it was mine), and “opinions” were made, let’s just say. Some…pretty narrow-minded and limiting.

Then it got to Ed. It was his turn to talk.

At first, he just sat there…you could see the gears turning in his head. He paused a little longer…then out came his words in that deep, warm, radio-voice of his—and he blew me away. Ed’s conversational cadence only knew it’s own time, but the advice and comments he gave to that writer’s work were grounded and worldly. It was exactly the sort of thing you’d expect to come out of the mouth of an individual of his caliber. And though he totally contradicted and “put in place” all the other “exalted and ebullient opinions and ravings” that had been previously expressed by some in the group…he was never (as one writer put it in a tribute to him) cruel. He was tactful…thoughtful…and kind. He just stated how it was…and that, well, there’s more than one way to get there from here.

Man, how I really wished I could recall his words! I was really blown away by the guy!

That was the beginning of my interaction with the man. I’d run into him from time to time, e-mail him. Once, even ran into him while standing in line a-couple-people-away-from-each-other to attend a Stephen King presentation at a high school down here. Then we lost touch for many years, plus-or-minus an email or FB exchange or three. Then I got back into the promotion game and began to attend author gigs, and ran into Ed at the last three MILEHICONs and 2016’s Denver Comic Con (DCC). We were on a panel together (might it have been about short stories?)…he was moderating. As the moderator he’d compiled blurbs about each of us and introduced us. I’d been so impressed that he’d taken the time to do that. Most of the panels I’ve been on, we’d all intro ourselves (not that I mind that, but it goes to show you how classy Ed was…and I’m going to try my hand at this next time I moderate panels…). And when he came to me he mentioned how when he’d run across on my website that “weird things happened to me,” he was so amused! Got a kick out of that. But, yeah, weird things do happen to me, and I try to detail them as much as possible on my other site, Reality Check. That was my first DCC.

Every time over the past three years, when we’d see each other at MILEHICON we’d come talk with each other. He was always glad to see me and when we’d depart he’d always say something about how it was too bad we didn’t get to see each other more often. That always surprised me! That he would say something like that to someone he didn’t know all that well, you know, compared to his actual “drinking buddies.” I always liked Ed…he was fun to talk with…like others who knew him better would say, he had a dry wit…and was never at a loss for things to say. And his conversations were never rushed. He never seemed in a hurry to leave you, once engaged. I also wasn’t always sure what he’d say! It was that incredible mind of his, you just never seemed to know what thoughts he would voice! But those words he would voice were always thoughtful and considerate, again, with a splash of that dry Edward Bryant wit. In the end, it didn’t really matter what he had to say…it was fun just listening to that baritone voice!

I ran into him multiple times at last year’s (2016) MILEHICON. We spent two of those time in lengthy conversations. The first was in the open second-floor rotunda of the Hyatt Regency, and we partly talked and joked about getting used to the various issues befalling our respective decades-in-life.

How telling that conversation had proven itself to be.

But the second looong conversation we had was after the large en masse book signing. I saw Ed making his way around to all his friends, chatting them up, and as things wrapped up and we were all breaking down, Ed came over to me and spend the entire time I was packing things up, chatting. I had just read his short story, “Marginal Ha’nts,” in Hex Publishing’s Nightmares Unhinged (a great anthology, by the way, y’all need to buy it if you’re at all into dark fiction), and it was either Dean Wyant or Josh Viola who told me to go ask Ed about the inspiration for that short story of his. I wish I could remember all of what Ed had told me, dammit, but from what I recall, Ed had actually fallen down some stairs just like in the story, and I remembered seeing him in a torso support (and neck brace, I think…) in the 2014 or 2015 MILEHICON. But in any event, pardon the pun, we had a great conversation together as he walked me out. As much as I really enjoyed his time and talking with him, even then, I thought the multiple, lengthy encounters…weird. Something just felt…strange…about them….

Then last weekend happened.

Wow.

I flipped back to his “Marginal Ha’nts” story in Nightmares Unhinged and reread the ending.

Holy (Excusez mon français…) shit. The ending…well, it seemed as if…well, you really have to read this story! I really want to quote some lines from the end of that story, but I don’t want to spoil it for you all, but I can’t emphasize enough to go read this story!

(Damn it, I’m beside myself, hopping up and down at my keyboard wanting to quote passages from this story that are so damned creepy and—yea, foretelling?–of what Ed’s probably doing right now!)

So drop what you’re doing and go read that short NOW. It’s chilling given his passing. Suffice it to say that the passage that begins with “Boo? Screw that.” is a passage I’d love to point out, among others….

So, Ed…you—marginal?

Hardly. Again, that dry wit of his.

Wherever you are, Ed…this is how I’m preferring to think of you…there, in your Twilight Zone existence…with all your new peers:

“I have such wonders to show you….”

Edward Winslow Bryant Jr., August 27, 1945 – February 10, 2017

Thank you, Ed, for everything.

Ed Bryant "Marginal Ha'nts" Autograph (© F. P. Dorchak)
Ed Bryant “Marginal Ha’nts” Autograph (© F. P. Dorchak)

Do The Dead Dream? Status

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Do The Dead Dream? (Image by Jan C J Jones, Freelancer Ink, © July 1, 2016)
Do The Dead Dream? (Image by Jan C J Jones, Freelancer Ink, © July 1, 2016)

I am working toward the completion and release of my short story collection, but timelines have shifted to the right a bit. When I first envisioned releasing this collection, I’d thought maybe Valentine’s Day might make a good release date…then as things didn’t progress as quickly as expected, and I’d attended my first Comic Con, I thought having it to release the end of June at the 2017 Denver Comic Con would also be a really cool release date. But other issues came up and I’m now realistically looking at a Hallowe’en release date.

I also have a new editor, Joyce Combs. She did my Psychic novel. She’s a retired editor, among other things. I thank my previous editor/proofer for all she’d done–she’d done a great job!–but we just had scheduling issues. I wish her well!

But while I’ve been working along on this project, I have written a couple new short stories! I’ve written “A Beautiful Summer’s Day” (takes place in the Wild West) and “Behind Things” (takes place in a gym). And while reworking some of these stories I found myself getting unexpectedly emotional. “Dark Was The Hour” was one where I just couldn’t keep from getting emotional as I reread it.

Anyway, this will be my last book for a couple years as I work on writing my next novel, so I want to do this as “right” as possible. As I get most of the stories into the manuscript from Joyce’s efforts, I will offer free copies to any who want to review it. I’ve never done this before, but want to try it. I will let y’all know closer I get to that stage….

Short Story Links

Links to all my posted short stories are here.

F. P. Dorchak Colorado Author Interview Circle (CAIC) Interview

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This is an interview I did a year ago. It was my first ever YouTube/video interview and it was such a blast hanging out with these two guys! Cody I’d just met for the interview, but Aaron Michael Ritchey I’ve known for bit and he’s always a trip. Always. And every time I meet him he’s grown another inch. Because he’s tall. And charming. And…he’s Aaron Michael Ritchey.

Thank you, Aaron and Cody, for including me in your CAIC interview circuit! You two are great dudes, and I had fun!

So.

Here it is.

Short Stories–What Have I Learned?

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Upon Reflection.... (Photo © F. P. Dorchak and Jan C J Jones, 2016)
Upon Reflection…. (Photo © F. P. Dorchak and Jan C J Jones, 2016)

After spending the past year going back over all my short stories, what have I learned?

I’ve learned I was a young testosteroned-fueled writer, writing about sex and violence and all-things-weird. There are definitely some things that are going to remain hidden, but those I’ve released and will release 2017 in my short story collection are the best of my efforts.

I’ve learned that all is not all as it seems.

That the veil between our present and the past (and for that matter, the future…) is far thinner than many realize. Well, I already knew this, but as I ventured back and relived my stories—hell, my life—though I may not have remembered writing some of these things, wow, I was instantly transported to and reliving my twenty-something, thirty-something selves! My teenager self! It was weird. In a very real way…my stories are a reflection of my life. Who I was…what I wrote about. How I wrote. How I felt. It’s like I remembered everything, and was as easy as sliding on a well-worn, “experienced” glove.

Isn’t aging fascinating?

There are different perspectives to the decades of our lives. If you’re in your twenties and thirties, wait until you hit your fifties. If you’re in your forties and fifties, wait until you hit your seventies and eighties. Perhaps “wait” is a bad term to use…do not “wait” for anything—live. Live your life to its fullest. And that doesn’t mean becoming an extreme sportster, never sleeping, or being impatient with people and things. It just means being the best person you can be and being in the moment. Discover and understand who you are…and be true to that. Internalize it. Then do what you’re made to do. Discover and explore your hidden little talents…do you secretly like to dance? Do photography? Visit with the elderly? If so, then be that person. Be fully aware of your present moment.

Perhaps others have other derogatory terms for aging, but I do find “the process” fascinating. The shell of our body shows age first…but the soft, chewy center also shows changes—if you admit to it. I don’t believe it’s so much about “staying young at heart,” as it is to be who you are…and you should change as you age. You should wisen…but also keep your sense of wonder, your sense of adventure about you! Retain your elements of joy and fun! It should not just be six and twenty-year-olds who remain physically and imaginatively active and alive! If you’re “not like that,” then try to develop a sense of adventure and curiosity, if you have any interest in doing so at all. But to place so much importance on youth…of being a person you were in the past…is assigning all the power of who you are to the past and dismissing who you are in the present.

If we were meant to be twenty forever we would forever be twenty.

And, no, I would not want to do it all over again. I had a fun and exiting journey…a truly wonderful life…but I am ready to move into my present’s future. To find new adventures, new perspectives. Though elements of that Past Me remain, I am not that me any longer…and some of those short stories (two immediately come to mind) are actually kinda hard to read because of the events that inspired them. But most…most were wonderful with which to reacquaint myself!

I learned (perhaps “re-experienced” is a better term) that I’d taken chances writing my stories. I learned that just because someone tells you to “Do these 12 steps to get published!” does not mean you will get published. That just because you do anything will get you more of anything. It’s a little trickier and fickle-r than that…and metaphysical….

I learned that I am not above incorporating “awkward topics” (e.g., sex) into my work for the proper telling of a good story. Or a little violence…if it’s absolutely necessary. I don’t like writing about violence, especially for extended periods of time, which was why I left writing straight-horror (I call my current work “paranormal fiction”). But all good stories involve elements of conflict…some romantic and emotional…some physical and violent. I’ve written in both arenas.

I have to be true to the stories I decide to write.

A corollary to this is that I am not my stories or their characters. I have a vivid imagination. Period. I read, I observe, I learn. I try to portray things as realistically as possible, so that readers can walk away and think, “Yeah, that really could happen!” If I am compelled enough to write something up, I sometimes have to go places I don’t like to go. Just like all of us out there in our daily lives and jobs sometimes you have to do things we don’t particularly like doing.

And you just can’t please everybody.

I learned that I had not read all my short stories out loud, which I learned later in my writing career to do. It could have saved me some embarrassingly obvious issues! #OMG

I learned (it was actually pointed out to me by Mandy, my copy editor) that I use car wrecks a lot in my stories to off characters. Huh. No shit. I really do? Never realized that!

I also learned that in my short stories I used the name “Phil” a lot. It was a placeholder for a name. “Philip” is my middle name. Not an ego thing, it just kept me from having to “think hard” for character names at the moment.

So, my retro/introspective complete, I’m moving forward! I have new work I’ve started, new stories to tell…and I do have to get this short story collection out there (which will have some brand new stories in it, like “A Beautiful Summer’s Afternoon,” a new story I’m currently working)….

Thank you all for your support, and have an outstanding “Holiday Season”!

Short Story Links

Links to all my posted short stories are here.

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