6/2/26
Now that the kiddo has graduated, there are parts of me that already seem to be edging towards retirement, while other parts continue with business as usual. Oddly, these two halves seem in sync so far.
Example: Every school day of every year since kindergarten, I’ve woken at 5am, done my exercise, then drove over and made breakfast for him and had coffee with his mother until it was time to go to school. I would then come back home and write until it was time to pick him up from school. When he turned 16 and began driving himself, those afternoon pick-up sessions stopped, and were replaced with either a walk in the woods, more exercise, or reading time. With him now graduated, those five o’clock in the morning wake-ups have edged closer to six in the morning, and now six-thirty. And the only reason I woke at 6:30 this morning was because Gemma Amor messaged me via WhatsApp.
You would think losing that hour impacts productivity, but so far it hasn’t. Indeed, I wrote three drafts of an entire short story yesterday, all before dinner — a level of productivity that I have not enjoyed regularly since 2004 to 2007. And I’ve noticed that I have more time to spend with Mary in the evening, because I’m staying up later than I used to.
It is my hope to continue that productive streak today. As I was telling Laurel Hightower yesterday, if I can continue to do a short story per day, then by the end of the week, I’ll have wrapped up the remaining LOST LEVEL stories that were commissioned by readers, which means that when I get home from the Stokers, I can fully dive into that novel she and I are working on (as it is my turn).
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Speaking of the Stokers — a reminder that I’m only going to accept an award for Chris and I, should we win, accept an award on Joe Hill’s behalf, should he win, and socilize and network. I signed up for no panels or readings or signings. That being said, I am happy to sign your books, if you are coming. Just make sure you bring them from home, because I won’t be bringing any with me.
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Women In Horror Year: Day 49
The Mother Of All Monsters by Paula D. Ashe
In a community shattered by the abduction and murder of three little girls, an Indiana mother makes a grisly discovery about her seemingly upstanding son. Faced with the undeniable truth and overwhelmed with guilt, she must choose between protecting her beloved child or punishing the monster he may have become. Note: This short story contains graphic violence and is not suitable for young readers.
Forty nine days into this, I’ve yet to feature a short story. Everything has been either novel-length or a novella. I break that rule today with this absolute gut-punch of a 15-page banger from Paula D. Ashe — a newer writer whose work I have very much enjoyed so far, and who I strongly suspect has a long and fruitful career ahead of her.
Short stories are harder to write than novels. Don’t argue with me on this. I’ve been making a living at this writing thing for thirty years. Respect the O.G. and don’t talk back to your elders. With a novel, you have maybe 90,000 words to build the plot, the atmosphere, the characters, and create that empathetic connection with the reader. With a short story, you have to do all of that with maybe 3,000 words. And that is a tough thing to do. That’s why my advice to new writers is always to start by writing short stories. Learning to do those well will absolutely improve your novel-writing skills.
Paula’s prose is lean where it needs to be, yet deceptively expansive, and her descriptions and ability to conjure up visuals in the reader’s mind is masterful. I don’t know if she considers what she’s writing Splatterpunk, and in truth, I’m not sure that it is, but she’s adjacent, at the very least. Her work will appeal to fans of Brian Hodge, Peter Atkins, David J. Schow, Eric LaRocca, or R.J. Joseph.
With The Mother Of All Monsters, Paula manages to fully pack a novel’s worth of angst and dread and tension into a standard-sized short story. This is a quick read, but it is a heavy read — possessing an emotional weight that will hit you like a tractor trailer, particularly if you are a mother, or a parent who has successfully guided your kid through infancy, childhood, and their teenage years, and now sent them out into the world.
Suffice to say, without spoilers, this wrecked me. As I said, it’s a short read — perfect for a daily train commute or a Saturday afternoon by the pool or right before bed (if you’e the type of person who wants to be emotionally destroyed right before you go to sleep). Available in eBook on Kindle.
