Dear Reader. Sometime in 2025, I started to seriously think about retirement. My wife, Margie, pressed me on what I would retire too. “You can’t sit around all day watching TV.” She knows me too well. In retirement, two of my colleagues at the University of Georgia started writing. One friend Larry Shimkets wrote a political thriller, Malice in the Palace, the other, Harry Dailey a Sci-Fi graphic novel, Salad Days. The interesting thing about this is neither one are English nor Literature professors. They’re microbiologists. I’m a microbiologist. I thought, “I’ll write fiction in retirement.”
Now, I had a plan. I pronounced it to Margie. Told my friend at work, Dave, “I’m going to be a writer in retirement.” They said, “Stop talking about it and do it.”
What would I write? Not a clue, except I love horror. “Maybe, I’ll write horror stories.”
Here’s the real problem, I didn’t know where to begin. I recall a horror convention I attended in Raleigh, North Carolina: “Carolina Fear Fest.” There were several authors there selling their wares. At the time, I was only interested in finding the next scary read. Except, I remember talking to Tony Bowman, author of Nine Fingers, about something more than his novels. Our discussion was about writing, writing as a profession. Before then, I had never asked about the process. We chatted about his inspiration, what he does for a living, plans in retirement. It was then the seeds of what I will do in retirement were planted. He was so generous with his time. I bought both his novels, Nine Fingers, and Nine Fingers: Beast of Bray Road. Great werewolf novels. You can find his novels on Amazon.
April 2025 rolls around and I saw an advertisement in Facebook for a horror convention in my old stomping grounds, Athens, Georgia, “April Ghouls”. I decided to make the trip from Blacksburg to attend this convention. My intention was to talk to writers about writing and publishing. I remember talking to Justin Sexton and Juliet Rose. They have a joint publishing business, “Above the Rain Collective.” The authors were generous telling me the “ins and outs” of publishing. Their enthusiasm about story telling was “infectious.” I bought two of their novels, Mirror Island and Through the Surface, both enjoyable reads.
I returned home and started writing my first novel, Enter Infernum. I wrote a general outline. I had a general idea of a plot. Everything else just came to me as I wrote. The novel is a police procedural, twelve headless bodies are discovered Halloween night in an abandoned mansion. A mural with concentric mouths is spraypainted on the wall. Was it ritualistic murder or does someone want the police to believe so? My novel is written as a story within a story. The main narrative is the investigation of the murders. The secondary story is the manuscript describing this case is haunted, blurring the line between dreams and reality for the editors. It’s a horror novel mixed with fantasy.
My inspiration? Kolchak the Night Stalker. If you are unfamiliar with the show, it was a 1970s TV show produced by Dan Curtis, the man behind Dark Shadows. The concept of the show was that a newspaper reporter, Karl Kolchak, investigated bizarre cases. As each episode unfolded, the reporter was at odds with the police. Kolchak discovered the truth, the murder was a vampire, a werewolf, a , fill in the blank. In the end, no one believed him and Kolchak’s story is buried.
In my novel, the protagonist is Paul Randolph who works for the coroner’s office and assists with the forensics in murder cases. Like Kolchak, Paul believes the murders are tied to the supernatural. This puts him at odds with the lead homicide detective, Ian O’Brien.
So, I had a story. I banged out eighty thousand words. I watched many DIY YouTube videos on writing and used their tips to edit the novel. But did I have a story worth reading? I turned to friends who love horror, another who is a writer, and some who were just avid readers. Their input was invaluable. Back I went to editing my novel, perfecting it. When it was all done, I thought, “what do I do next?” I was alone. It was about this time that I had joined a book club. Remember, what will I do in retirement? It came to me, surely there is a community of writers in the New River Valley.
I searched for a local writers’ group and joined two, New River Writers’ Group and Blacksburg Newcomers Writers’ Group. The members vary from writers who are traditionally published, self-published or people like me, newbies. These writers have been so generous with their time and expertise. I’ve learned so much from them, which brings me to here.
Enter Infernum will be published by Vanguard Press. I’m hoping before Halloween. We’ve been through the cover design, editing, and formatting of the book. As I wait on the next step in the publishing process, I’ve finished my first draft of the sequel, Infernum Found, and started writing the third novel in the Infernum series.
I have found my bliss in retirement. I love writing and telling stories. I’m now engaged in finding an audience. Hopefully soon, I’ll be releasing the publication date for Enter Infernum. In the meantime, I’ll continue to write, blog, and share a short story or two with you, dear reader. Until next time.