Ask the Author: Randy Attwood
Answered Questions (9)
Randy Attwood
Ah, well its five reviews are each five stars on Amazon. And here is what a noted Lovecraft scholar had to say about the story which I've included in the back story to the story. And, as coincidence would have it. I've just given it a new and better cover:
I discovered H.P. Lovecraft when in college and was captivated by his style. While living in a suburb of KC I read in the newspaper about an horrific murder by an adult brother of his adult sister who lived together in a large mansion that was known as the DeSoto House. The man had bludgeoned her to death. There was a news report of him sitting at first appearance in court rocking his body. That night he was found dead in his cell. The autopsy report came back later. "Total system collapse." I had never heard of that cause of death before.
Years later we moved into Kansas City near Loose Park. One of the houses that faces that park is the DeSoto House. When we moved into our house they were draining a small pond at the park to enlarge and improve it.
I had finished up a fiction project and wanted to do something in a completely different style. The Victorian language and tone of Lovecraft appealed to me and "The Strange Case of James Kirkland Pilley" came forth.
Later, I was so proud when I received this note from the noted Lovecraft scholar William E. Hart
"I received your excellent story today, The Strange Case of James Kirkland Pilley, read it, and having found it to be a marvelous tale that touches upon Lovecraftian mood, and events somewhat similar to those in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, with your own original spin on the past haunting the present."
Another reviewer said the story "Out-Lovecrafted Lovecraft."
http://amzn.to/2c5DFzV
9/11/12
From William E. Hart
received your excellent story, read it, and having found it to be a marvelous tale that touches upon #Lovecraftian mood with your own original spin on the past haunting the present.
9/11/12
I discovered H.P. Lovecraft when in college and was captivated by his style. While living in a suburb of KC I read in the newspaper about an horrific murder by an adult brother of his adult sister who lived together in a large mansion style house that was known as the DeSoto House. The man had bludgeoned her to death. There was a news report of him sitting at first appearance in court rocking his body. That night he was found dead in his cell. The autopsy report came back later. "Total system collapse." I had never heard of that cause of death before.
Years later we moved into Kansas City near Loose Park. One of the houses that faces that park is the DeSoto House. When he moved into our house they were draining a small pond at the park to enlarge and improve it.
I had finished up a fiction project and wanted to do something completely different and in a completely different style. The Victorian language and tone of Lovecraft appealed to me and "The Strange Case of James Kirkland Pilley" came forth.
Here's the first sentence:
"Edward Hawthorne had no premonition of the first disturbing and later horrifying consequences that would result from his joining the Friends of Pilley Park Garden Society."
An editor who worked on the novella for inclusion in an anthology thought I had "Out-Lovecrafted Lovecraft." I don't think that's possible, but it's high praise indeed.
The cover image is of a former mental hospital in Topeka, KS., now torn down. I still don't think I have the right art for this story and would welcome suggestions along those lines.
Lovecraft fans may know of William Hart, a recognized Lovecraft specialist who said of the story:
"I received your excellent story today, The Strange Case of James Kirkland Pilley, read it, and having found it to be a marvelous tale that touches upon Lovecraftian mood, and events somewhat similar to those in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, with your own original spin on the past haunting the present; I now also recommend it as a bargain to download in a Kindle format from Amazon."
http://amzn.to/2c5DFzV
I discovered H.P. Lovecraft when in college and was captivated by his style. While living in a suburb of KC I read in the newspaper about an horrific murder by an adult brother of his adult sister who lived together in a large mansion that was known as the DeSoto House. The man had bludgeoned her to death. There was a news report of him sitting at first appearance in court rocking his body. That night he was found dead in his cell. The autopsy report came back later. "Total system collapse." I had never heard of that cause of death before.
Years later we moved into Kansas City near Loose Park. One of the houses that faces that park is the DeSoto House. When we moved into our house they were draining a small pond at the park to enlarge and improve it.
I had finished up a fiction project and wanted to do something in a completely different style. The Victorian language and tone of Lovecraft appealed to me and "The Strange Case of James Kirkland Pilley" came forth.
Later, I was so proud when I received this note from the noted Lovecraft scholar William E. Hart
"I received your excellent story today, The Strange Case of James Kirkland Pilley, read it, and having found it to be a marvelous tale that touches upon Lovecraftian mood, and events somewhat similar to those in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, with your own original spin on the past haunting the present."
Another reviewer said the story "Out-Lovecrafted Lovecraft."
http://amzn.to/2c5DFzV
9/11/12
From William E. Hart
received your excellent story, read it, and having found it to be a marvelous tale that touches upon #Lovecraftian mood with your own original spin on the past haunting the present.
9/11/12
I discovered H.P. Lovecraft when in college and was captivated by his style. While living in a suburb of KC I read in the newspaper about an horrific murder by an adult brother of his adult sister who lived together in a large mansion style house that was known as the DeSoto House. The man had bludgeoned her to death. There was a news report of him sitting at first appearance in court rocking his body. That night he was found dead in his cell. The autopsy report came back later. "Total system collapse." I had never heard of that cause of death before.
Years later we moved into Kansas City near Loose Park. One of the houses that faces that park is the DeSoto House. When he moved into our house they were draining a small pond at the park to enlarge and improve it.
I had finished up a fiction project and wanted to do something completely different and in a completely different style. The Victorian language and tone of Lovecraft appealed to me and "The Strange Case of James Kirkland Pilley" came forth.
Here's the first sentence:
"Edward Hawthorne had no premonition of the first disturbing and later horrifying consequences that would result from his joining the Friends of Pilley Park Garden Society."
An editor who worked on the novella for inclusion in an anthology thought I had "Out-Lovecrafted Lovecraft." I don't think that's possible, but it's high praise indeed.
The cover image is of a former mental hospital in Topeka, KS., now torn down. I still don't think I have the right art for this story and would welcome suggestions along those lines.
Lovecraft fans may know of William Hart, a recognized Lovecraft specialist who said of the story:
"I received your excellent story today, The Strange Case of James Kirkland Pilley, read it, and having found it to be a marvelous tale that touches upon Lovecraftian mood, and events somewhat similar to those in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, with your own original spin on the past haunting the present; I now also recommend it as a bargain to download in a Kindle format from Amazon."
http://amzn.to/2c5DFzV
Randy Attwood
Not sure which book you mean. My most recent novel, a noir mystery, The Fat Cat, was published a couple of months ago. You may be referring to The 41st Sermon, which has only three reviews on Goodreads, but does have seven reviews on Amazon. I consider this book in the literary genre, which is often the kiss of death. But I think it has an engaging story. It has an interesting tale involving Walker Percy that I report at the beginning of the book. He was nice enough to send me a note about the chapters I sent him. Hope you'll check it out, Christy. My fiction is a smorgasbord of genres, but here is what one review said that contain as a commonality: "Each book by Attwood has shared one common thread--his gift for creating a cast of diverse and interesting characters, and then weaving their lives together in a plausible, realistic series of events toward the most unpredictable and so often amazing outcomes."
Randy Attwood
Things brew in my subconscious a long time. Some stories I've been able to complete in very short time, under a month. Others take years. The Novella "One More Victim" took me 30 years to find the last verse of the poem that ends that story. The quickest I've ever written a novel was three months for the political comedy "SPILL" that Curiosity Quills will release later this summer.
Randy Attwood
I find them all equally difficult. Not matter in what genre I find myself I must touch something deep inside myself and try to relate that to the reader. I think that is essential to whatever my "brand" is.
Randy Attwood
Waking up in the morning and realizing I'm still on the right side of the grass usually does it.
Randy Attwood
Patience. The novella "One More Victim" took me 30 years to complete.
Randy Attwood
The sense of creating reality with words. I used to get a little angry when readers asked me how much of a novel was real, as though I were a journalist reporting on things that really happened. Then I realized that asking if what I wrote was real was the highest compliment. It means the words created a reality for the reader. That's my goal.
Randy Attwood
I'm 24,000 words into a noir mystery with a very strong female protagonist. Ellie is the bartender/manager at The Fat Cat, a strip club. She's a former TV newscaster with two things she has run away from. This book has some of the best dialogue I've ever written
Randy Attwood
I first self-published a political comedy called SPILL. Soon the small press Curiosity Quills will release the book this year. I wrote SPILL out of a kind of despair because I wasn't having publishing success and thought that if I could write a piece that would make people laugh you couldn't deny the writing was successful. A fellow bar patron worked as a small package delivery person and told about taking the head of a dog to vet school for rabies testing. That scene ignited an idea in myself. Thus was born Fred Underwood, a failed and fired English teacher who scams the political system and gets the girl, the money and killer video skateboarder game.
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