Tuesday 20 September 2016

"Oh, the Games People Play..." - Glenn Rolfe


Chasing Ghosts is - for me at least - Glenn Rolfe's most explicit and full-on horror yet, with the darkest ingredients and his storyteller's ability to grab all the senses at once. I'm delighted to welcome him as my guest today. The sinister stage is all yours, Glenn...

When I set out to write my latest piece, Chasing Ghosts (Sinister Grin Press), I just wanted to put a punk rock band out in the woods, playing a show at a cabin, and letting my horror mind bring the pain. That original idea started out titled, The Last Show. After reading through the story for me, Erin, my editor, said, “why don’t you call it Chasing Ghosts?” I loved the title, but worried that readers might come in searching for that paranormal angle. In the end, the new title was too good to pass up. 


Where did it come from?  

At the beginning of the story, three pre-teen boys set out to play a game they call, “Chasing Ghosts.”  The idea is that they go out to the old creepy house in the woods and pretty much dare each other to go in, or get as close as you can without chickening out. Bad things tend to happen when kids mess around with creepy old houses…

Just think back to when you were 8, 10, or 12… What kind of crazy games did you play? For me and my dumb friends, it was “The Russians are Coming.”  We’d wait until dusk and hang out by the road. We had some ditches, some trees, and bushes to hide behind. Whenever a car’s headlights burst on the scene, we’d scramble and hide. If you didn’t get down before it went by, you were captured (and presumed dead!). We played it all year-round (hiding behind snow piles in the winter). I watched a lot of 20/20 with my mom, and had lots of irrational fears involving soviet spies and kidnappers. This was more than a game to me, especially when it got pitch black out and the vehicles that passed put their brake lights on.  Those two demon eyes stopped my heart every time. Of course, they were usually just turning into the trailer park, but my mind went a mile a minute with real life horrors each time. I never ran into any trouble playing this game until, at 14, I decided throwing apples at “The Russians” would up the ante. It sure did. That stopped the moment someone got out and chased my ass into my friend’s house where we locked the door and hid like a bunch of babies until they went away.

Anyways, I brought a small piece of my childhood and a whole bag of Richard Laymon-flavored tricks into Chasing Ghosts. I hope you’ll take a chance on the story and share your thoughts!

Cheers!


 Biography

Glenn Rolfe is an author, singer, songwriter and all around fun loving guy from the haunted woods of New England. He has studied Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University, and continues his education in the world of horror by devouring the novels of Stephen King, Jack Ketchum, Hunter Shea, Brian Moreland and many others. He and his wife, Meghan, have three children, Ruby, Ramona, and Axl. He is grateful to be loved despite his weirdness.
He is the author the novellas, Abram's Bridge, Boom Town, Things We Fear, and the forthcoming, Chasing Ghosts; the short fiction collection, Slush; and the novels, The Haunted Halls and Blood and Rain.
His first novella collection, Where Nightmares Begin, was released in March 2016.
Praise for Glenn Rolfe
Things We Fear is a compulsively readable tale of obsession and dark suspense, with one of the creepiest villains I’ve encountered in recent years.” — Tim Waggoner, author of The Way of All Flesh
“Glenn Rolfe’s new thriller is addictive. A quick, compelling read. Rolfe creates tension with a minimal amount of words. His characters are so well-drawn they come alive (before they die).” — Duncan Ralston, author of Salvage

 “Fast paced and tense, with one of the most interesting monsters I’ve read about in recent times.” — Patrick Lacey, author of A Debt to Be Paid

“Glenn Rolfe is quickly establishing a name for himself as one of a number of excellent new writers to ensure the horror genre is kept alive and well.” — Catherine Cavendish, author of Dark Avenging Angel
“There is a definite old school feel about this novella (Things We Fear). It isn’t an over the top gore fest. Instead, what we have is a tense, psychological thriller that builds steadily towards a fitting climax.” -Adrian Shotbolt, at Ginger Nuts of Horror
 
Purchase Links

Also available in paperback!


2 comments:

  1. Great post. Like that we all played silly games at that age. Thank you for sharing Cat. You know with my love of horror I'll be checking this out x

    ReplyDelete