MARTYRS & MONSTERS

by Robert Dunbar

 “Substantial amounts of panache and poetic insight.”

CEMETERY DANCE

http://www.famousmonstersoffilmland.com/2009/05/19/robert-dunbar-martyrs-monsters/

    “A masterpiece … disturbingly satisfying … not only displays the range and depth of the author’s ability, but brings more literary credibility to the genre. Dunbar is a literary stylist who brings to his writing a deep understanding of human nature and genuine compassion for his characters.”

DARK SCRIBE MAGAZINE

http://www.darkscribemagazine.com/reviews/martyrs-monsters-robert-dunbar.html

“A milestone of modern horror.”

THE BLACK GLOVE

http://the-black-glove.blogspot.com/2009/09/13-questions-with-mymiserys-robert.html

     “Atmospheric, thought provoking and intelligent. Dunbar populates his fictional worlds with prostitutes, paranoids, substance abusers, the forgotten or neglected … those who lurk in forsaken corners or take refuge in the shadows. Vampires, ghosts, sea monsters share these pages with nightmares taken straight from the tabloids.”

HORROR WORLD

http://www.horrorworld.org/june_2009.htm

“Searingly erotic … brilliantly chilling.”

THE EDGE

http://www.edgephiladelphia.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=books&sc2=reviews&sc3=fiction&id=92202

    “Sure to satisfy lovers of both horror and literary fiction. Dunbar is a literary craftsman, a stylist, skilled at drawing meaningful characters and building suspense. A consistent literary voice leads readers into a twisted labyrinth … evoking thoughts of Flannery O'Connor and the classic Stoker narrative. Dunbar is a storyteller with an authentic voice … different and substantial.”

SHROUD MAGAZINE

http://shroudmagazinebookreviews.blogspot.com/search?q=martyrs

”Chilling and entertaining.”

HORROR BOUND 

http://www.horrorbound.com/readarticle.php?article_id=107

     “Unnervingly erotic. The master of quiet horror returns with a superior collection. Carefully cadenced phrasing … imbued with a trademark Southern Gothic sensibility and hauntingly sensual imagery ... touches a primordial fear center … as if Edith Wharton's supernatural fiction met Lovecraft. This is what horror does best.”

HELLNOTES

http://hellnotes.com/martyrs-and-monsters-book-review

“Sinister and macabre ... a scary, compelling ride through madness.”

NIGHTS & WEEKENDS

http://www.nightsandweekends.com/articles/09/NW0900405.php

     “Dark fiction with a soul. Unified themes of love and loss intertwine with the macabre. Relationships have many realities, and Dunbar manipulates those realities with skill to explore the darkest regions of love. The result is a collection of stories you will want to savor again and again.”

BOOKLOVE

http://booklove.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/martyrs-monsters-by-robert-dunbar/

      “Stunning … a Nietzchean nightmare … gripping and innovative … deliciously wicked and beautifully wrought … wildly original and satisfying.”

TOMB OF DARK DELIGHTS

http://www.countgore.com/gore/tomb.htm

     “Not a book to read lightly. If you crave horror, this is your book. If you like stories written beautifully and aimed at the intelligent but quirky reader, this is your book. You won’t forget Martyrs & Monsters.”

RAINBOW REVIEWS

http://rainbow-reviews.com/?p=1746

www.DunbarAuthor.com

http://www.darkhart.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=55

Most people have a favorite author, someone whose books they especially like to curl up with. Frequently, this enthusiasm manifests itself as a kind of quiet affection, loyal and steady, but when one writer develops a passion for the works of another, especially a contemporary, it tends to become a different matter entirely. The intensity can approach religious mania.

I have this thing about Greg F. Gifune.

Okay, so he’s not the only one who incites these feelings in me. There’s Samuel R. Delany and Donna Tartt and Darcey Steinke and Dennis Cooper and, well, a few others.

What? I’m a slut with my reading. So?

In my heart, I’m faithful.

If you don’t know Gifune’s work, you’re in for a treat. Gifune is the author of amazing novels like CHILDREN OF CHAOS, JUDAS GOAT and SAYING UNCLE. Critics have referred to him as ‘one of the best writers of his generation.’ And if one more person asks me, “Gee, why isn’t he more famous?” I may scream.

I mean, isn’t the answer obvious?

He wrecks the curve.

Hacks hate geniuses. Talk about natural enemies. And who do suppose dominates this genre? (Understand, the rule of dumb runs all through the culture really, a trickle-down effect from eight years of George II. The arts were not immune, and it’s going to take more than a couple of months to fix it all. Don’t get me started.) Anyway, never mind – that’s not what I intended to talk about. I meant to talk about my latest book: I had the most amazing stroke of luck in that my favorite writer actually wrote the introduction.

“… as Somerset Maugham once said, “Tradition is a guide and not a jailer.” If there’s a living writer who demonstrates a better understanding of this concept than Robert Dunbar, I have yet to encounter his work.”

~ from Greg F. Gifune’s introduction to MARTYRS & MONSTERS

Can even you imagine how much this meant to me? Few authors inspire me the way Gifune does – his mastery of his craft, the sheer creative drive of the man. Several of the stories in MARTYRS & MONSTERS first saw the light of day at The Edge: Tales of Suspense, a small press magazine Gifune ran for many years. The first story of mine he published? GETTING WET, which begins the collection. He always encouraged me to develop that story into a novel, and though I balked at this (probably because the effort would have landed me in a sanitarium), I did go back and create another story about those characters. As it turns out, these two remain my favorite stories in the collection, and I’m not sure the second would ever have been written if not for his support.

Thanks, Greg. For everything.

Others stories in the collection appeared in places like Cemetery Dance, City Slab: Urban Tales of the Grotesque, Dark Wisdom and Apex Digest of Science Fiction and Horror. Settings for these tales range from the pines to the shore, with occasional detours through Transylvania and outer space, but the heart of the book is gritty and urban, eerie and desperate. (Yeah, yeah, I know – such a stretch for me.) Martyrs & Monsters is currently available at Amazon Books and Barnes & Noble, also at the Horror Mall or directly through DarkHart Press.

http://www.amazon.com/Martyrs-Monsters-Robert-Dunbar/dp/0980100437/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242321843&sr=1-1

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/MARTYRS-and-MONSTERS/Robert-Dunbar/e/9780980100433/?itm=1

http://www.horror-mall.com/MARTYRS-MONSTERS-by-Robert-Dunbar-Trade-Paperback-p-18914.html

http://www.darkhart.com/mm-dunbar.html

In other news, Leisure Books is about to release the first paperback edition of my novel THE SHORE. (Delirium Books previously published a hardbound edition.) Review copies got sent out a few weeks ago, and the advance press has already been pretty sensational. Here are some quotes from my favorite reviews.

“In literary circles, it's often said that “style is the verbal identity of the writer.” Iambic pentameter suggests Shakespeare, lyrical prose evokes Bradbury, pinpoint word economy reveals Carver. In this way, Robert Dunbar's vivid imagery continues to blaze a distinctive trail.”

~ Shroud Magazine

“Dunbar really knows how to scare his readers. THE SHORE is Gothic in many respects … character driven yet filled with action … a terrifying horror thriller.”

~ Alternative Worlds

“Edge-of-your seat suspense ... it'll scare the devil outta ya!"

~ The Horror Fiction Review

"I couldn't put the book down! THE SHORE is a genuinely creepy read . . . a roller coaster ride where everyone is both the hunter and the hunted."

~ Fantasy Book Reviews

“Impeccably crafted, with precise and elegant prose, meticulous attention to detail and pacing, this intense and wholly original novel is one of the best to come out of the horror genre in years."                       

~ Dark Scribe

“A masterpiece … Dunbar charts a new course in contemporary horror.”

~ Dark Wisdom

“Breathtaking eloquence … a tour-de-force that can hold its own among the best work in the genre.”

~ FeoAmante.com

“Every bit as much of a classic as THE PINES. This is the way great horror should be written.”

~ HellNotes

You gotta love that stuff. Well … I gotta anyway. And I do.

THE SHORE is available for pre-order at Amazon Books and Barnes & Noble, also directly from Leisure Books.

http://www.amazon.com/Shore-Leisure-Fiction-Robert-Dunbar/dp/084396166X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242322356&sr=1-1

http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/authordetail.cfm?Author_ID=570

Speaking of Leisure Books, paperback copies of THE PINES are also still available at all the usual places, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

http://www.amazon.com/Pines-Leisure-Fiction-Robert-Dunbar/dp/0843961651/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242322672&sr=1-1

Actually, there’s been a lot of interest in THE PINES since a Jersey Devil segment of MonsterQuest aired on The History Channel recently. And the Sci Fi Channel’s movie “Carny” didn’t hurt either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0J_82euyyc

You know what else hasn’t hurt? All these radio and newspaper and magazine interviews I’ve been doing all over the place. (Watch for a new one, coming soon in Shroud Magazine. Others are online at places like Dark Scribe Magazine and The Horror Fiction Review.) There have even been some new reviews of the book.

“It's a treat to encounter a work that's dark, brooding – downright frightening – and beautifully written. Boasting a vivid, literary voice, Dunbar twists the threads of reality and horror until the two are impeccably entwined. THE PINES is truly an astounding work, a brooding tale told with haunting grace. The mystery is intriguing, and the characters are real people with painful lives. The narrative is rich, full of substance, and literary. This is a work of art, and it only wets the appetite for its sequel."

~ Shroud Magazine

"… tough-minded, smart … poetic … intense … a thoughtful and sophisticated entertainment, closer to the Southern Gothic School of fiction than most traditional horror novels."

~ The Fright Site

“A tableau of honest characters, full of depths, flaws, and the need for redemption, an unswerving buildup of terror, and Dunbar's deft descriptive powers … all make the New Jersey pine barrens come to life. There is an underlying Southern Gothic sensibility to Dunbar's writing, one that speaks volumes about the nature of violence.”

~ Dark Recesses

“After reading THE PINES, I have a new favorite horror writer.”

~ Nights and Weekends

Of course, there’ve also been a host of reviews in the following style: “This book is so stupid, I couldn’t even understand it.”

Sadly, that’s not a paraphrase (though I did fix the spelling). Have I mentioned the sort of people who dominate this genre? And you wonder why I drink. (Well … maybe you don’t.)

It’s fairly unusual for me to have so many projects going at once, and this isn’t even all of it. Depending on a number of variables, I may have another book (or conceivably two) out before the year is over. Let’s not even talk about the stress.

Is it Happy Hour yet?

"Against the disease of writing one must take special precautions, since it is a dangerous and contagious disease."

~ Pierre Abelard

"I see no point in reading."

~ Louis XIV

"The multitude of books is a great evil."

~ Martin Luther

"Books for general reading always smell badly. The odor of common people hangs about them."

~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzche

"The sinister thing about writing is that it starts off seeming so easy and ends up being so hard … as an editor over many years, I met hundreds of writers, and I don’t think I ever met one for whom writing wasn’t a misery. But writing does not cause misery, it is born of misery."

~ L. Rust Hills

"Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of a writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking."

~ Lawrence Clark Powell

"Everything goes by the board: honor, pride, decency … to get the book written. If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is worth any number of old ladies."

~ William Faulkner

"There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein."

~ Red Smith

"Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness."

~ Georges Simenon

"All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book is a horrible exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand."

~ George Orwell

"Every author, however modest, keeps a most outrageous vanity chained like a madman in the padded cell of his breast."

~ Logan Pearsall Smith

"Authors are easy to get along with – if you are fond of children."

~ Michael Joseph

"It is a fact that few novelists enjoy the creative labor, though most seem to enjoy thinking about the creative labor." 

~ Arnold Bennett

"An editor should have a pimp for a brother, so he’d have someone to look up to."

~ Gene Fowler

"You’re not really a writer until you’ve fired your first agent."

~ Nelson Algren

"One of the signs of Napoleon’s greatness is that he once had a publisher shot."

~ Siegfried Unseld

"Booksellers are all cohorts of the devil; there must be a special hell for them somewhere." 

~ Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe

"I could show you all society poisoned by this class of person – a class unknown to the ancients – who, not being able to find any honest occupation, be it manual labor or service, and unluckily knowing how to read and write, become the brokers of literature, live on our works, steal our manuscripts, falsify and sell them."

~ Voltaire

"The dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he’s given the freedom to starve anywhere."

~ S. J. Perelman

"If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that is read by persons who move their lips when they’re reading to themselves."

~ Don Marquis

"Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none."

~ Jules Renard

Sorry.

Sometimes you just have to do these things.

No, really.

Relax though.  It’s not that kind of blog  -- not about my books. More about books in general. Or books specifically.  (I’m not that concerned with who’s buying what, more with who’s reading what.) Of course, I’ve had some provocation.

A discussion at the (often stimulating) Shocklines message board recently drove me crazy. (How many people just thought "short trip"? I’m taking names.) In chatting about that most nebulous of topics "great novels," a number of genre fans dismissed several brilliant works for being too "difficult" or -- horrors! -- too "literary." Yet if I chopped these people up into little bits, I’d get into trouble.

Go figure.

Okay, wait. Deep cleansing breaths.

There. Much better.

Where’s that axe?

I mean, are the lunatics running the asylum? Again?

A glut of indistinguishable titles has already choked the horror genre once and is well on its way to killing it again. (Homogeneity is not a virtue unless we’re talking milk.) Why is this so recurrent a menace? Science Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy -- all have advanced in style and sophistication. That’s what sustains a genre’s growth. Why hasn’t Horror experienced similar development? Could it be that the genre’s essential conservatism -- all those plot arcs about destroying the dreaded "other" -- dictates perpetual mediocrity?

Maybe reactionary art is just too much of an oxymoron?

I had the most dismaying experience a few months ago. I was running a panel when a bunch of twenty-somethings in the audience started denouncing writers whose work they didn’t care for. The list included Hemmingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck -- in short everyone they’d ever heard of who wasn’t a pulp hack. But what I found really disturbing was all the people nodding in agreement. "Hemmingway can’t write at all" struck me as a memorable line. (In his heyday, Papa H may have been the most overestimated writer in the world. How strange that he’s now become the most underestimated.) Yet those kids all think of themselves as writers ... writers who read nothing but junk.

Theres an expression: "garbage in/garbage out."

Hello?

Of course, the dumbing down of pop culture is hardly new. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight it. (Isn’t that what artists do?) I mean, there’s nothing wrong with liking a kazoo; just don’t decry the symphony for being "too musical."

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

Anyway -- mostly just to maintain some tenuous grip -- I started putting together a list of books I consider MUST READ works for anyone with a serious interest in creating literature.

I’d love to get some feedback. How does mine compare with yours?

Wait.

Let me rephrase that.

How does this list compare to your list? (Oh come on, we all have them. It’s just that most sane people don’t write them down.) What gems have I omitted? Make recommendations. Please. I know Ive missed things. (But if you come at me with Dan Brown or Tom Clancy, remember I’ve still got that axe.)

Obviously, I’ve tried to restrict myself to one title per author, just because the list got too unwieldy otherwise. Some are great thundering epics. Others are elegant little volumes that slip in like a knife blade. Criteria? A lot of people might say that a great book is one that changed the world. If that’s the case, all such lists would need to include works by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Sinclair Lewis (and possibly Radclyffe Hall), but in good conscience I can’t do that here. No, a book needs more than good intentions, more even than an important topic. (I added and deleted INVISIBLE MAN three separate times. No, not the Wells book. Sigh.) A truly great novel -- as far as MY list is concerned -- would be one I am personally enraptured by. Awestruck by. Challenged by. Inspired by.

Forget changing society. For the moment, I’m only interested in books that changed me.

All great art is a passionate force for evolution (personal or otherwise). Still with me?

Sometimes you just have to do these things.

Anyway, here’s mine ... in a curious order all its own.

Watch it grow.

DHALGREN -- Samuel R. Delaney

CALL IT SLEEP -- Henry Roth

AS I LAY DYING --William Faulkner

THE GOLEM -- Gustav Meyrink

MOBY DICK -- Herman Melville

MISS MACINTOSH MY DARLING -- Marguerite Young

NADJA -- Andre Breton

THE MASTER AND MARGARITA -- Mikhail Bulgakov

AGAINST NATURE -- J. K. Huysmans

NAKED LUNCH -- William Burroughs

NOSTROMO -- Joseph Conrad

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN -- James Baldwin

TROPIC OF CANCER -- Henry Miller

ON THE ROAD -- Jack Keroac [Truman Capote notwithstanding.]

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT -- Ernest Hemmingway

ULYSSES -- James Joyce

AT SWIM -- TWO-BIRDS -- Flan O’Brien

AT SWIM, TWO BOYS -- Jamie O’Neill

TO THE LIGHTHOUSE -- Virginia Woolf

THE GOOD SOLDIER -- Ford Maddox Ford

THE GOLDEN BOWL -- Henry James

THE MARBLE FAWN -- Nathaniel Hawthorn

THE LONGEST JOURNEY -- E. M. Forster

DIFFICULT DEATH -- Rene Crevel

POINT COUNTER POINT --Aldous Huxley

LOLITA -- Vladimir Nabokov

A HANDFUL OF DUST -- Evelyn Waugh

RAZORS EDGE -- Somerset Maugham

THE MINISTRY OF FEAR -- Graham Greene

SONS AND LOVERS -- D. H. Lawrence

CONFESSIONS OF A MASK -- Yukio Mishima

WUTHERING HEIGHTS -- Emily Bronte

DELTA WEDDING -- Eudora Welty

THE DOLLMAKER -- Harriet Arnow [Okay, I know. People will scratch their heads over this one. But if one test of a great book is that it had a profound effect on the reader at an impressionable age, then this absolutely qualifies. So do TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, THE CATCHER IN THE RYE and THE GRAPES OF WRATH.]

THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK -- Doris Lessing

MIDNIGHTS CHILDREN -- Salman Rushdie

COUSIN BETTE -- Honore de Balzac

IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME -- Marcel Proust

A SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION -- Gustav Flaubert

EXTINCTION -- Thomas Bernhard

DEATH SENTENCE -- Maurice Blanchot

THE BOOK OF DISQUIET -- Fernando Pessoa

THE CASTLE -- Franz Kafka

DELIVERANCE -- James Dickey

THE MAGUS -- John Fowles

CLOSER -- Dennis Cooper

GOING NATIVE -- Stephen Wright

BLOOD MERIDIAN -- Cormac Mccarthy

THE DWARF -- Par Lagerkvist

THE OGRE -- Michel Tournier

A lot of those, especially toward the end there, probably qualify at least on some level as Horror, but genre novels seem like they should have their own category. Does that mean standards of excellence should be relaxed? No, the trick is to maintain standards and not be swayed merely by remembered pleasure. All too often pleasure = entertainment = narcotic reading = the very opposite of what I’m advocating here.

ON WINGS OF SONG -- Thomas Disch

WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE -- Shirley Jackson

THE EDGE OF RUNNING WATER -- William Sloane

CONJURE WIFE -- Fritz Leiber

THE CELL -- David Case [A trio of themed novelettes, I know, but must we quibble?]

THE LITTLE FRIEND -- Donna Tartt

DEEP NIGHT -- Greg F. Gifune

THE MALTESE FALCON -- Dashiel Hammet

THE WORM OUROBORUS -- E. R. Eddison

THE WOOD WIFE -- Terri Windling

MYTHAGO WOOD -- Robert Holdstock

Oh did I mention it was all different genres? Sorry.

Jeez, I’m all out of breath here. The problem with a list like this is ... how do you stop?

Do I not mention Lawrence Durrell? And it seems weird not to include F. Scott Fitzgerald. Or at least Zelda. How about Henry James and Edith Wharton? Iris Murdock or Muriel Spark? Penelope Fitzgerald or Elizabeth Bowen? (Especially Elizabeth Bowen. But it’s not "body of work" I’m looking at here.) How about Paul Bowles and Don DeLillo? Paul Theroux or Robert Creeley? Malcolm Lowry, Saul Bellow, John OHara, John Dos Passos, John Cheever? What about Pynchon? Irving and Updike? Heller? McMurtry? Flannery O’Connor or Willa Cather? (And can I get into trouble for not really liking Toni Morrison all that much?) What about Marge Piercy? Doesn’t it all nourish the inner writer?

Okay, let me just keep going until smoke starts coming out of my ears.

One last push. Top of my head. Bottom of my soul.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez

HOPSCOTCH -- Julio Cortazar

THE MAN WITHOUT QUALITIES -- Robert Musil

THE AGE OF WONDERS -- Aron Appelfeld

DARKNESS AT NOON -- Arthur Keostler

THE WAY OF ALL FLESH -- Samuel Butler

THE MOVIEGOER -- Walker Percy

ANGLE OF REPOSE -- Wallace Stegner

LOVING; LIVING; PARTY GOING -- Henry Green

A BEND IN THE RIVER -- V. A. Naipaul

THE RECOGNITIONS -- William Gaddis

ASK THE DUST -- John Fante

Okay, that’s it for now. No, wait.

THE RETURN OF JEEVES -- P. G. Wodehouse [Because I figure if you’ve read it more than twenty times, it belongs somewhere on your list.]

LUCKY JIM -- Kingsley Amis [See above.]

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES -- Ray Bradbury [And again. In spades.]

Okay at least that’s a start.

For now. In the meantime, additions, anyone? Objections?

But if even one person so much as mentions Danielle Steele ...

www.DunbarAuthor.com

Don’t you hate it when writers send out newsletters about themselves?  It always reminds me of those holiday letters housewives used to mimeograph in the 1950’s.   Junior had a sex change.  Little Sally is on drugs again.  Who cares?  Don’t these people realize it’s all about me?

The new hardbound release of THE PINES is getting a lot of attention, which of course I’m thrilled about.  No one will ever know what it means to me to have people finally see this book the way I wrote it.  I actually wept over the butchered paperback version, though somehow the reviews managed to be astonishingly positive anyway.  ("Not only a superb thriller but also a masterpiece of fiction." ~ Delaware Valley Magazine)  I guess enough of it survived to make an impression.  But I’m even more excited about the sequel -- Delirium Books will be announcing the release date for THE SHORE later this year.

Of course, I’ve been knocking myself out promoting both books.  Having pretty much exhausted the locally produced television market with my last novel -- I was on everything but "Farm Report" -- I’ve only recently made the breakthrough into national television with appearances on ABC’s "Scariest Places on Earth" and The History Channel’s "Weird US."  (Watch for both shows to be rerun.  "Scariest Places" in particular does an annual Halloween marathon.)

"Weird US" was especially wonderful to do -- they had me trampling about in the pine barrens with hosts Mark & Mark.  Great fun except for the swarming insects.  (The real Jersey Devil was probably some sort of mutant mosquito.)  This is the same Mark & Mark who create the successful series of "Weird" books, you know, "Weird Pennsylvania" and "Weird Ohio," et al.  Great books.  Great show.  They also publish a print magazine called -- what else? -- "Weird New Jersey."  (Okay, how many people just thought "What a redundant title"?)  A forthcoming issue features  a wonderful article - part essay about the Jersey Devil in history, legend and literature, part review of THE PINES. ("One of the most finely crafter horror novels of the past thirty years" -- talk about generous.)  Then it turns into an interview with me and a profile of my work.  John Paschetto, the writer, did an incredible job with it. 

This is great advance publicity for THE SHORE.  Also in April, I’ll be doing an interview with Judi Comeau on the Count Gore de Vol site -- a weekly, net-based horror movie show, with a ghoulish host.  My experiences doing a horror movie show in Philly, called Saturday Night Dead, should pay off here.  (The hostess of that show - Stella - and I also did a play together called BATS! -- one of those "title tells all" things.)  And I’m doing a lot of radio, mostly local and NPR, plus World Talk Radio.  Links to all these things can be found at my website: www.DunbarAuthor.com

Current projects?  I’m working on a new novel and -- like everyone else in the world -- a screenplay.  Plus a tarot book (in collaboration with Lisa Mannetti and artist Glenn Chadbourne).  Over the next few months, I have stories appearing at Apex Digest, Bare Bone, City Slab, Dark Wisdom and Inhuman -- fine magazines all.

That’s about it so far.  I promise never to do this again. 

All right.  At least not too often.   

And please do visit my website at http://www.dunbarauthor.com