ESPblog

Author Interview with C.J. Henderson

2010-04-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

C.J. began weaving tales when he was very young as his family moved about the Midwest before settling in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. He submitted his first story for publication sometime around 1973 to no success; however, the second piece succeeded and he’s been churning out work ever since.

Always seeking an opportunity to express his ideas, C.J. works across several genres. He has written nearly 60 novels and appeared in innumerable anthologies, collections, and magazines. C.J. has seen his work turned into comics and audio books. Besides genre pieces, he branched out to writing movie reviews and non-fiction pieces such as “The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies.”

C.J. Lives in Brooklyn, New York. He’s married to fashion designer Grace Tin Lo. They have a daughter, Erica, and two cats, Tyco and Tiger.

For more information about C.J. and his writing, please visit him at his website: The London Agency.

ESP: Many of your works feature detectives of the hard-boiled and/or supernatural variety. What draws you to this genre?

I started writing hardboiled detective fiction early on because the voice required for this kind of work was the closest to my own. I’m a pretty hardboiled guy. I grew up in a no-nonsense household that was completely dominated by a Depression-era mentality. I’m a firm believer in the idea that you get what you pay for, that the world is writ in black and white, that you have to take responsibility for your actions, et cetera. Supernatural or not, it just comes naturally to me.

ESP: Lovecraftian elements infuse the Teddy London books. When did you discover The Old Gent and what is it about his writings that you find so appealing?

I was 14 when my mother gave me a coverless paperback collection of HPL stories. They froze my brain because, as you might guess, back in the early 60s when I was 14 there was nothing else like them to read. What I found appealing was that they made me think. I like doing that.

ESP: In “The Sleep that Rescues,” Teddy London and crew face a menace that may destroy reality itself. What can you tell us about this book?

Like all my fiction, the important story is what happens between the characters more than the “big menace.” This volume is overwhelmingly important to understanding the relationship between London and Lisa.

ESP: Why did you choose to place “The Sleep that Rescues” between books two and three in the Teddy London series?

It’s the relationship thing again. A lot of readers weren’t getting what it is that keeps London and Lisa together. Also, I’d always wanted to throw another female into the mix, a darker character to try and steal London away, to see if it were possible for his eye to be turned from Lisa. The only place that could happen if it were to happen at all would be at this point.

ESP: There has been a great escalation of Teddy London’s personal powers since the inception of the series. Do you worry that having to top his abilities from previous works might make him too powerful?

Not in the least. Some readers wonder why London doesn’t just snap his fingers and set things right? These are the immature readers. Yes, London can tap into the power of a god. Absolutely. But, can’t we all just pick up a gun and solve our problems? Need money, get a gun, rob a bank? Tired of the neighbors, get a gun. Power does not equal the right to use it. Also, the more times he uses such power, the more used to using it he will get. He knows this, and he recognizes the indifference that sets in when beings do so.

London is in love. He wants to stay in love. Thus he doesn’t use his abilities any more than he has to. And, as we see in “The Sleep That Rescues,” having powers and knowing how to use them competently don’t always go hand in hand.

ESP: Teddy uses a dimension called the “dreamplane” to access his powers and travel to other locales. This dimension seems to combine bits of Lovecraft’s Dreamlands and Lumley’s Mobius Continuum. What can you tell us about it?

Well, don’t know from Lumley, but yes, it is tied into the Dreamlands. The dreamplane is where we all go when we sleep. Most of us just use it to manufacture dreams. Some few can actually walk it, however. These are the folks who die in their sleep because they died in their dream. Then, there are the very few who can walk the dreamplane, and know they are doing so. They are the ones like London, or Lai Wan, who can manipulate the fabric of time and space.

This is the area between realities from where all gods, demons, wizards, et cetera, draw their power. The power available is unlimited. One simply has to be in sync with the universe to make use of it.

ESP: You’ve speculated that Lai Wan, the psychometrist from the Teddy London series, is your favorite character of your own creation. Could you explain why?

She’s very near to my heart. She has suffered great pain and overcome it, only to be handed more pain on top of that. She could live comfortably, but to do so she has to cut herself off from human contact. She has great abilities to help (or to hurt, actually), but to do so costs her greatly. She is, in many ways, the most powerful, most giving, most human character I have ever created. I love her dearly. I feel sorry for her for the amount of crap life has handed her, but I admire her for always being able to overcome.

ESP: Are you working on more London fiction? Where do you see his adventures taking him?

There are seven London novels that have seen print. There is one completed novel waiting to see print. I envision a total of twelve London novels minimum. There are several more important moments in his life I’d like to depict. There is a definite end to the series, though, and I hope I get to write all the books. If there ever are twelve, that will be all of them.

ESP: What is a typical day like for C.J. Henderson?

Stuffing my face, procrastinating over doing anything more strenuous, napping to rest up from the stuffing and procrastinating …

Everyone thinks I write 24/7 because of the amount of work I produce, but really I feel as if I hardly ever work. Considering all that, I’m not actually sure when I get the writing done. During drunken stupors, I guess.

ESP: You are known for your extensive convention schedule. Could you share with us the funniest/oddest thing you’ve experienced at a con?

I was behind my table at one of Jeff Mach’s terrific Wicked Faire events. A performer (NYC’s living institution, Captain Zorak) was singing and playing guitar on stage when a woman began to heckle him. He started heckling her back, and then, the two got into a wrestling match which ended with him hog-tying her, then standing on her back while he finished his number. Now, yes, of course, it was all staged. But, none of us knew that for most of the performance. It was great fun.

ESP: There is an art to self-promotion that every writer should learn. Do you have any tips to share?

The most important thing I believe is that writers should remember that the product you’re selling isn’t any individual book … it’s yourself. You the artist is what you are promoting. You’re selling what it is you have to offer, either as an entertainer, a guru, an avenue of escape, whathaveyou. First, figure out what it is you actually have to offer, and then offer that … not just individual book titles.

ESP: After writing nearly 60 books, plus various short stories, reviews, etc, how do you keep coming back to the writing with fresh ideas? Do you ever worry that there might be a time when you run out of things to say?

Yes. I always think (and this goes back twenty years) that I don’t have anything else to say, but somehow new things come. How I do it, I don’t know. Sometimes I think a thing I’ve written has nothing new to offer, and then the readers tell me otherwise. I try not to question things like this because when I do, I usually end up losing the ability simply because I’ve come to understand how I do it.

ESP: You’ve written a collection of humorous short stories called: “But Seriously, Folks: the Off-Kilter Comedy of CJ Henderson.” Could you tell us a funny joke?

Three women are at their club, in the locker room, getting ready to go out for a round of golf. Suddenly, a naked man with a bag over his head runs through the locker room waving his arms and shouting. The first woman stares, then says in a relieved voice;

“Well, thank goodness that wasn’t my husband.” The second woman breaks off staring, adding:

“I know, I’m so glad that wasn’t my boyfriend.” To which the third woman adds;

“Oh please, that wasn’t even a member of this club.”

ESP: Where would you point a first-time C.J. Henderson reader seeking the best example of who you are as a writer?

Well, for pure hardboiled, “What You Pay For,” the short stories of my PI Jack Hagee, available from Marietta. For horror, “Degrees of Fear,” a best of collection put out by Dark Regions. But, for novels, and for my personal favorite, that would be the first Teddy London novel, “The Things That Are Not There” still available from Elder Signs Press.

ESP: How much would you say you draw from real life experiences when creating plots, characters and locations in your work?

Close to 100% I’m either a really lazy writer, or one who firmly believes in the old adage, “write what you know.”

ESP: Please explain the creative process that goes into co-writing a project.

The only way I will co-write these days is to have the other writer write something, and then I go in and do the second draft. I urge my partners not to try very hard, because I’m probably going to change everything anyway. What I want from a co-writer is a good solid skeleton on which to hang meat. Not everyone has sufficient ego to be able to tolerate working with me.

ESP: You’ve written for several comics, including “Kolchak the Night Stalker.” How is the process different from writing books?

Comics are much more formalized. If you’re going to do a good job you have to work with an outline. Novels you can just write until you’re done. Comics need careful pacing, and thus must be looked at in a much more technical fashion.

ESP: Of the various outlets you’ve utilized to tell your tales (novels, anthologies, magazines, comics, audio, etc), which do enjoy working with the most and why?

I’m asked this question a lot, and all I can say is, honestly, whatever I’m doing at the time is usually what I like best. I just enjoy story-telling, and probably I’m happiest when I’m actually doing a reading for an audience.

ESP: You’ve worked with William Shatner a great deal, first in novels and most recently in a series of comic books. What can you tell us about this team-up?

Shatner is the greatest guy in the world. He is easy to work with, filled with great ideas, he has an ear for dialogue that is second to no one but me (he said modestly). He is generous to a fault. He cares about projects. He doesn’t just slap his name on stuff. He’d be easier to work with if he did, because the writer could have their way on everything. No way with Bill. He knows what he wants, he knows how to explain what he’s asking for, he knows what the public wants. I’ve worked with other people in film, some in politics, et cetera. Because of confidentiality agreements, I can’t name any names, but it doesn’t matter … no one compares to Shatner. He’s the greatest.

ESP: Congratulations on your contract with Tor/Forge. How did that come about and could you give us a hint about that that project?

A wonderful editor/packager by the name of Brian Thomson thought my work was great and spent years finding outlets for me. He set up the deal, edited the first book, and then tragically he died far too young. We knew he was ill, but it was a complete and devastating surprise when it happened.

Brian sold Tor a two book deal for me for which I shall be grateful unto the end of my days. “Brooklyn Knight,” the first book in the series, introduces the world to Piers Knight, a curator at the Brooklyn Museum. He’s no Harry Potter when it comes to casting spells, but he is sitting on 10,000 years of human history. Somewhere in his museum are samples of every magical shield or weapon ever made by any culture. When things go wrong, he’s got the goods.

The thing about Knight is, he’s much more like us. He doesn’t want to get involved in adventures. He’d much rather just do his job. But … sometimes … duty calls, and well, you know …

ESP: Thank you for your time C.J. Is there anything you’d like to add?

Well, all you folks who slogged your way through all of this, if you’d like some samples, just head over to http://www.cjhenderson.com/. There are always free short stories there to read. Try some, and then tell me what you think. And, if you want to pick up an autographed copy of something, why … imagine my surprise … there’s a store right there to handle all your reading needs.

Pardon my blatant commercialism, folks, but it’s 2010 in America, and if you’ve ever thought it would be easy to support a family as an entertainer, all I can say is, try it sometime. It looks sweet from the outside, but brother, what it really boils down to is being willing to dance like a monkey for a nickel.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a good dancer, and I like money, but sometimes you just wish they’d stick a couple new records in the juke box.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end.

yer pal;

ESP's revised submission guidelines

2010-04-20T03:38:00.000-07:00

ESP Books

Elder Signs Press (ESP Books) is a publisher of quality genre fiction. It publishes 8-10 books a year. ESP is a Qualifying Professional Market for SFWA membership. When submitting please use the standard submission format — submissions that do not use this format will be destroyed. Proper formatting tips can be found at: http://www.sfwa.org/category/manuscript-formatting/ Please be sure to read the guidelines before submitting. ESP Books is the primary book line for Elder Signs Press. For other genres, consider our imprint: Dimensions Books

Fiction

Strong characters with developed personalities that motivate them are important to the story. Intriguing plots or the unexpected are also essential. Exploration of the human condition and the unknown are works that make ideal candidates for publication.

Genre:

Dark Fantasy

Dark Fiction Thrillers

Horror

Mystery

Dark Science Fiction

Supernatural Thrillers

Submission Method

Submit:

• Proposal package

• Synopsis

• First 3 chapters

• Cover letter with publication history or specific knowledge/history

Tips:

Presently we are overstocked on collections. We are looking for novels only. Remember to use the genre as a “metaphor.” There needs to be more than a formula in the work.

Average Length:

This can vary for the genre, but 80,000-90,000 words is a good average.

Response Times:

Responds in 1-3 month to queries.

Responds in 3-6 months to proposals.

Responds in 6-9 months to manuscripts.

Queries:

mail to: acquisitionseditor@eldersignspress.com

Electronic Submissions Only:

Do not submit complete manuscripts unless requested. Send submissions in RTF or Word format to: submissions@eldersignspress.com

Penguicon

2010-04-19T02:46:00.000-07:00

The Elder Signs Press team will be (quietly and in a dignified fashion) storming the gates of Penguicon April 30th-May 2nd. We will have a booth in the dealers’ room well stocked with books, Dark Wisdom magazines and freebies. There will also be ESP writers stopping by to give autographs. We hope to see you there.

Award nomination for The Best of All Fleash

2010-04-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

Elder Signs Press is pleased to announce that James Lowder's zombie anthology The Best of All Flesh has been nominated for an Origin Award in the category of Game-Related Book. Best of luck to James and all the other nominees

Review of The Anthology of Dark Wisdom: The Best of Dark Fiction

2010-04-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

Go to review here.

Thank you David and everyone at Monster Librarian.

Two Books Shipped to Stores

2009-09-02T18:39:00.001-07:00

In the last ten days, two ESP titles have shipped to bookstores. Most notably, Barnes and Noble will soon have John Shirley's novel Black Glass, and Tim Curran's novel Hive on their shelves. Keep an eye out for them.

Black Glass is a remarkable "lost cyberpunk novel." As cited by Locus Magazine, it is far more than that. John returns to the cyberpunk setting, and updates the sub-genre as well. This is a modern novel about timeless conflicts. But there is enough nostalgia to please cyberpunk fans, and enough dark science fiction to delight new readers.

For those who are fans of Tim Curran, Hive is well known. A reprinting of the title is shipping to the stores, and with it comes the news of Tim's second novel in the series --. For the moment, the name won't be mentioned, but I'm certain a peek at Tim's blog would reveal it. Once the title is listed with distributors, ESP will make an official announcement it. But the manuscript is in house, and the book is slated for a 2010 release.

There are a few more new titles on their way to press. News of those will appear here shortly.

High Seas Cthulhu Release Party!

2007-09-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

The High Seas Cthulhu release party is a go! The celebration is Saturday October 13 at the ConClave 32 Science Fiction convention in Romulus, Michigan, which is held October 12-14. Right now the tentative time is 3:00-5:00, but once that's firmed up I'll post the official time here.

There will be a drawing for free copies High Seas, as a chance to meet several of the contributors, a panel, giveaways, and more!

Here's the official link to ConClave's website: http://www.conclavesf.org/
Stop by and say hello, we look forward to seeing you there!

Ahoy! Discounts abound!

2007-09-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

Arrrr! It be Talk Like a Pirate day. To celebrate this and our new release High Seas Cthulhu, we'll offer up some treasure. Between now & Sunday, use coupon code ESP_PIRATE to be gettin' yer 10% off any order of $10.00 or more. Avast!

High Seas Ahoy!

2007-09-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

As I write this, our latest release, High Seas Cthulhu, is shipping to distributors and retailers around the world. Our advance order customers and retailers should already have their copies by now.

I suspect that High Seas will be showing up in Borders in the next couple of weeks, so if you haven't picked up your copy yet, well then Ahoy, Borders awaits!

So we're going to try to celebrate all this fun High Seas Cthulhu goodness with a High Seas Release Party in October. I don't have the exact details for the release party yet, but as soon as I do, they will be posted in this blog, and I do hope to see you there. Ahoy!

Long time, no post.

2007-08-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I haven't been great about updating this blog. Thing is, we've been quite busy over the summer working on a few new releases, such as Dark Wisdom issue #11 and High Seas Cthulhu. We're quite proud of issue #11, which is our second full-color release of the magazine.

We've received a quantity advance copies of High Seas, which are currently shipping to pre-order customers (High Seas will not officially be in stores and on the bookshelves until October 1).

I hear there may be a special "below the decks" glimpse into the making of High Seas Cthulhu, courtesy of editor William Jones, on his blog, featuring insights on how the anthology came together, as well as input from some of the contributors. Keep an eye on his blog over the next few weeks: http://williamsramblings.blogspot.com/

Stay tuned, more updates to come soon. I mean that, this time.

You're releasing what... when?

2007-01-25T20:03:00.000-08:00

It' s been awhile, hasn't it? We're still busy attending to the distributor hand-over, as well as getting a few new books ready for press.

Speaking of distributor hand-over. You may have wandered by Amazon or the like and attempted to purchase one of our books, say Harboiled Cthulhu. Maybe you had one on order. And all of the sudden, after it's been steadily available since its release date, you notice that all of the sudden it's got a release date of April 15, 2007, and it's listed as a pre-order!

In addition, for existing customers, you may have received a notification that the book was not yet available.

Well, that's not true. The book, as with all of our others, is available, don't let them tell you otherwise. As part of the change-over, all of our books were re-listed with our new distributor as the provider, which caused the change in release date. This will soon show up correctly in Amazon's system again, and if you received a notice that the book won't be available until April, I assure you that any restocks are on their way to Amazon as I type this.

They've arrived (part III): All's well that ends well.

2006-12-18T10:01:00.000-08:00

Aforementioned misplaced signed Chronicles paperbacks: located by the fine folks in our warehouse, as we had hoped, so the space-time vortex transport will not be necessary.

They've arrived (part II).... but there's always a catch, isn't there?

2006-12-15T19:33:00.000-08:00

Well, we can't expect everything to go perfectly, now can we? Especially when we're dealing with so many variables, and so many products, all arriving in the same week.

So here's the good news: Dark Wisdom's in-house in all its glory, as promised. From what I've seen, it looks even better than the advance copies I was sent. I'm quite pleased.

Now for the limited edition hardcovers of Twice Dead Things and Chronicles of the Apocalypse: looks like they're present and accounted for as well, as well as the trade paperback versions.

So that's pretty much everything, right? You might wonder what I'm fussing about.

Well... with each book we had a set of signed limited editions for not only the hardcovers, one of which I joyfully hold in my hand (okay, I set it down, being that I'm typing and all), but also a limited quantity of the paperbacks as well.

And while Twice Dead Things went according to plan, and I also hold a signed copy in my other hand (okay, all right, I set that down too), the signed Chronicles paperbacks are another story.

They may be at the warehouse... then again , they could also exist in an alternate universe, or they just might have been sucked into a space-time vortex.

You see, the boxes for these special paperbacks are labeled exactly the same as our un-signed trade paperbacks, which was not supposed to happen. Twice Dead Things was saved from this unfortunate fate because it was labeled correctly.

Since all of our books are currently packaged into what I deem teeny tiny boxes, I mean REALLY teeny tiny boxes in comparison to Chronicles' size (it's quite a hefty book), and based on the quantity of Chronicles that are in that warehouse awaiting shipment to our distributor... well, finding the mis-labeled, signed copies of Chronicles is like finding a needle... in a stack of needles.

Fear not! The warehouse is on the case, everything else will go out as planned, and we hope to have signed copies in-house at soon, even if we have to use the space-time vortex to transport Michael McBride to the warehouse with a stack of pens. From what I understand it's quite a comfy way to travel.

Looks like I have some books on my desk I have to pick back up again.

They've arrived!

2006-12-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

Received a call from the warehouse today, who reports that issue #10, the first full-color issue of Dark Wisdom, has arrived.

In addition, the books Twice Dead Things and Chronicles of the Apocalypse are now in-warehouse as well! It is a most wonderful day.

So now the books and magazine go to our distributors, and we should see our own copies arriving on Friday. Limited edition hardcovers and all pre-orders will be filled as soon as possible. So if you pre-ordered anything, keep an eye on your mailbox!

Paperwork and long waits

2006-11-30T09:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, we're still waiting on Dark Wisdom.... but I do know that it has shipped from the printer, and I hope to hear good news from our warehouse very soon.

Right now, we are in the intense coordination process of getting our books set up with our distributor, which involves a great deal of paperwork, cataloguing, shipping, warehousing, and re-warehousing. It is an intense effort that will certainly be worthwhile. So if it seems like you haven't heard from ESP for awhile, either on the boards or in e-mail, that may be why.

Until next time...

From Russia with Spam

2006-11-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

A few interesting facts on the ESP message boards (well, I find them interesting, anyway).

Of the hundreds of user requests we receive in any given period, approximately 95% of them are spam accounts.

Of these accounts, around 40% use Russian e-mail addresses, 20% use German addresses, and I do believe that that close to 100% are fake e-mail accounts.

Although about 75% of these are actual spam e-mails, 25% seem to be about nothing in particular. People spamming just for the sake of it...?

And all this spam is wasted spam. These days, you can't post on the ESP boards until you're approved, and due to the rash of users created called TexasHoldEm or the like, your account can't even be seen by other users until an administrator approves it.

Since I do most of the approving, I am pretty much the only person who gets hit with ads for online poker, the once-a-month recurring user named JohnTravolta777, and users with German e-mail addresses who create accounts for the sole purpose of proclaiming joy over the U.S. election results. Odd.

With the new enhancements we have in place, it's quite easy to sift through and delete users as necessary, so it doesn't cause me any grief, if this is the spammers' purpose. Sorry spammers.

But I do know that it affects the new users, the real users, the ones who want to discuss books or horror movies. Nowadays, once you create an account, you have to wait for an administrator to approve it, and if you choose a name like, say, JohnTravolta777, well, you're probably going to be mistaken for spam, and get deleted.

So to all the real JohnTravolta777s of the world, I do apologize if your account ends up in the virtual trash can...

Where's Issue #10?

2006-11-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

Naturally, this is a question that has been asked plenty as of late, as the premiere color issue of Dark Wisdom has not, as of yet, materialized in bookstores and in the hands of subscribers. I wanted to get the remaining items worked out so that I could answer the question definitively.

As mentioned, with issue #10, we have switched to a full color format. Unfortunately, switching to color meant we had to use a new printer. The process usually takes some tweaking, and it can be more difficult the first time.

Unfortunately, in our case, things were even more difficult than usual - due to a few issues on the printer's end, the entire magazine had to be re-printed.

But there is good news. I now hold in my hand an advance copy of Dark Wisdom, sent to us for approval, and the advance copy is up to spec. So the printer should be wrapping up soon, and then copies will be shipped to distributors (just in time, unfortunately, to hit holiday shipping traffic, but it can't be avoided).

With issue #10, we pick up a new distributor. There's a lot of that going around at ESP lately, but more on that in another post. Disticor will now be distributing Dark Wisdom to chains and independent booksellers throughout Canada. We are quite excited and look forward to this new relationship with Disticor.

Some of you may recall that we had a misprint problem that occured with issue #3 as well, and that we did manage to acquire of a few of the misprints, which are only available in the Dark Wisdom Anniversary Collection (at no extra charge for the misprint itelf). I'm afraid that we were not able to do the same with #10, so you will have to enjoy Dark Wisdom in the full-color non-misprinted glory in which it was originally intended.

-Deborah Jones
Elder Signs Press

Welcome!

2006-11-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the brand-new espBlog, where we will be posting details about Dark Wisdom, ESP publications, and other various items.