Richard Gowin did an excellent job of interviewing me over at his blog, The Slaughterhouse. We talked about publishing, ebooks, influences, my second book Disintegration, identity, sadism, reality, schizophrenia, and much more. I had a great time. Richard is also a fantastic author himself, be sure to check out his work.

Look, I made the cover! Looks like Chicago’s own Curbside Splendor #3 is now up for ordering. My story “Divining” is in here. It involves tarot cards and bad women. I’ve been trying to get more involved with local artists, and this is one place I wanted to publish. Thanks, Victor David Giron for the support. Out soon.

These guys at Cemetery Dance are promoting, publishing and discovering some of the best names in horror. Do whatever you can to support them. They gave me a big break, accepting my story “Stillness” in Shivers VI (with Stephen King and Peter Straub) and I’ll be eternally grateful for that support. I’ve bought their books for years.

They have a contest going, check it out:

http://bit.ly/CDFreeBooks

$200 in FREE BOOKS!

My review of the debut novel THREATS by Amelia Gray is now live up at The Nervous Breakdown. This is a sly, subtle, unsettling and touching novel.

I remember the first time I heard Amelia read, at Blake Butler’s Scorch Atlas release party here in Chicago. It was the first time I’d met her, or Blake, or Zach Dodson, Sam Pink, lots of people. She read one of my favorite stories of hers, ever, “Go For It and Raise Hell.” And that was when I became a fan. I ended up reading with her and Blake, Lindsay Hunter and Aaron Burch the following night, if memory serves me correctly. Lots of talent, really set the bar pretty high. I think Amelia read her snippets of threats that next night, that or another Quickies! a year or so later, but either way, those threats really stayed with me—upsetting, but funny, dark and yet with a hint of love at the center. Much of that applies to THREATS. Head on over for the full review. It’s a great book.

Thank you Richard, for hosting me today on my tour. We are coming down to the wire, and I would like thank EVERYONE for being a part of this tour. You all have been wonderful and amazing, and I couldn’t be happier with the tour results. That being said, welcome back to all who are returning, and hello and thank you for stopping by to the first timers. For those who don’t know me, my name is Beth Ann Masarik. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Richard through Otherworld Publications. I’ve been following and reading about your successes, Richard, and I have to say that it is an honor and true pleasure to be a guest on your blog today!

Richard asked me:

Who are the top ten authors that have influenced me the most, and why?

To be perfectly honest, this was a very difficult question for me to answer. I mean, to come up with a top ten? I could come up with a top five easy peasey, but a top ten was quite difficult. What was even more difficult was coming up with a reason WHY each of these authors have influenced me. Now, without further ado, I give you my list. I am going to start from #10 and work my way up to the author who has had the most influence on me. If you are listed on here, and are toward the “bottom” of the list, please keep in mind that it’s not so much as where you are on the list, as it’s the fact that you’ve influenced me at all that should be the focus. I put you on this list because I regard you highly in some way or another.

10) Stephenie Meyer. I know what you’re thinking, “Beth, how could you put her here? What has she ever done for you?” I’ll tell you what she’s done for me…she’s helped me realize that I wanted to write a novel BETTER than hers. She’s helped me realize that I don’t like vampires that sparkle. She’s also helped me realize that I don’t like “Mary-Sue” type characters.

9) Bilinda Ni Siodicain. Her writing is fantastic, and she is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about the writing field. We met through Twitter, and she is always one of the first people to point me in the right direction if I’m doing something wrong, or if I don’t know what I’m doing. I am very grateful for her help, support, and advice!

8) Adam Wright. He is another very influential person, for the same reasons as Bilinda. I’ve also had the pleasure of getting to know Adam through Twitter, and am also grateful for his advice and support with my career as an author.

7) Cambria Hebert. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Cambria through our publisher, Otherworld Publications. She signed with them shortly after I did, and wow! She is one amazing person. She makes me want to be a better author, and her books are AMAZING!

6) Erin Danzer. Aka my “twin.” This woman and I are so much alike, it’s not even funny. She is an amazing writer, and the world’s best cheerleader. I honestly don’t know how she manages being a full-time mom, her other job, AND being a writer. I know she always says she wants to be like me, but in reality, I want to be like HER!

5) Stacia Kane. While I have not read any of her books, Stacia is one awesome person. I love following her tweets, and I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing her for one of the first few issues of Literary Lunes Magazine. I love how open and honest she is.

4) L.J. Smith. I absolutely LOVE her books, especially her Nightworld Series. I love the way she writes, and how detailed oriented she is.

3) Richelle Mead. She is just an all-around great person and very talented author. I am always amazed at how whenever she releases a new book, it always seems to make the NY Times best sellers list right away. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her twice at two of her book signings, and she was just lovely. I actually met Erin Danzer through a thread on Richelle’s facebook wall.

2) J.K. Rowling. I know, I know. You saw this one coming didn’t you? She’s the author that made me realize that I actually wanted to get back into writing books, and gave me the drive to write the first draft of The World Among Us. I think she is very talented, and I hope someday to be as famous as she is.

And last, but certainly not least my number 1 is Lynn Calvert. Not only is she the most influential, but she is someone that I aspire to be like. She’s patient, and a self-starter. You have to be in order to be successful in this field. I seem to be following in her footsteps, sometimes not even meaning to be. I am happy to be a part of the Otherworld Publications family, even with some of the bumps we’ve had. It’s been a great experience, and am thankful to have Lynn to help guide me with opening up my own company.

Well, there you have it folks! That’s my top ten list. Please feel free to weigh in and comment on some of these authors. I am curious to what you all have to say!

Now, I am giving away some pretty epic things today. So please take a look, and I hope you will enter the contest J. A winner will be announced over the weekend.

THE GIVEAWAY & SCAVENGER HUNT:

I am offering:

An ebook of The World Among Us: Prince of Darkness
A bookmark
An autographed poster
A pin

THE SCAVENGER HUNT:

The last time I had you tell me who your favorite character was in any mythology legend. Now, I want you to FIND ME A PICTURE of your favorite character/god/creature in any mythology legend. Please send your entries to contests@bethannmasarik.com by February 29. If you do, you will be entered to win a gift pack valued at about $100 dollars. This prize pack included: an autographed copy of The World Among Us: Prince of Darkness by me and the illustrator, a never before seen picture of Selene & Damien, a totebag, a personalized mug, & a keychain, plus the stuff listed above. Pretty sweet huh? The winner of the scavenger hunt will be announced on March 4^th. GOOD LUCK!

About The World Among Us:

In The World Among Us, Hades, the god of the Underworld, plots to take over the world, and remove Gaia, the head Deity, from power. In order to do so, he plots against his own son, Damien, and cons him into killing his soul mate, the beautiful goddess of the moon, Selene. Hades does so, because Gaia is his natural enemy, and Selene is her favorite grandchild. He thinks that by killing off Gaia’s favorite grandchild, he will weaken her. With Selene out of the way, Hades then moves in on the Creatures of the Night. He wants to kill off their leader, Jason Aysel. Jason is the go-between person between worlds, and another person that Gaia highly regards. Hades manipulates and cons Jason’s best friend, Leon Greene, into murdering him, by offering him Jason’s position as his reward. Because of these actions, a war is to take place on earth between the gods and other Creatures of the Night. During this time, Selene is reincarnated, and kept hidden as a secret weapon to win the war against Hades. In order to win the war of wars, the gods and some of the demons will have to fight together, and learn to co-operate with each other. Will the Titans and Olympians be able to set aside their differences, and take back the world from Hades? Or is the world as we know it, doomed to fall under Dark Shadows, forever?

To learn more about Beth Ann Masarik and her books, please visit her website which is www.bethannmasarik.com or her blog which is www.bahbammymusings.wordpress.com for more info on Literary Lunes Magazine & Literary Lunes Publications, please go to, www.literarylunes.com and www.literarylunespublications.com

Thank you all for stopping by!

I know you all are just waiting for me to release my schedule for the exciting 2012 Chicago AWP. So, here you go. Tentative, of course.

Wednesday, 2/29
8:00 pm   Kick-Off Party @ The Empty Bottle (1035 N. Western Ave.)
Readings by xTx, Jesus Angel Garcia, Ben Tanzer , Mary Miller, Lindsay Hunter, Sam Pink, Amber Sparks. Live music from Guided by Voices vocalist Robert Pollard.

Thursday, 3/1
8:00 pm    The Wrong Kind of Reading @ The Galway Arms (2442 N. Clark St.)
Plots with Guns. Readings by Anthony Neal Smith, Kyle Minor, Seth Harwood, etc.

Friday, 3/2
7:00 pm   Beautiful, Words @ Beauty Bar (1444 W. Chicago)
Sponsored by The Nervous Breakdown, Bookslut, Dzanc Books, Curbside Splendor et. al. Live music by Rob Roberge.

Saturday, 3/3
9 am Hilton S104. Midwest Gothic: Dark Fiction of the Heartland (Dan Chaon)
10:30 am Palmer S143. Vampire by Vampire: Genre Writing and the Creative Writing Workshop (Alissa Nutting)
12-3 Lunch and bookfair
3 pm Palmer S215. Men from Venus, Women from Mars: Writing from the Perspective of the Opposite Sex (Kyle Minor)
3 pm Hilton S195. An MFA, huh? What Are You Going to Do With That?
4:30 pm Hilton S233. The Art of the Short Story Collection. (Richard Bausch, Laura van den Berg)

6:00 pm   Ear Eater #13: The Impossible, The Extraordinary @ Beef & Brandy (127 S. State St.)
Readings by Amelia Gray, Kevin Sampsell et. al.

SEE YOU THERE!

OUT SOON! At the World Horror Convention on March 29th. Very excited.
My story “Rudy Jenkins Buries His Fears” is in here.

Linda Addison
Janice Gable Bashman
Erin Bender
Laura Benedict
Max Booth III
Chantal Boudreau
Gary Braunbeck
Kevin James Breaux J
ason V. Brock
Reesa Brown
Jennifer Brozek
Ramsey Campbell
Tom Cardamone
Stewart Carrick
Sierra Christman
Simon Clark
Sandy DeLuca
Christopher DiLeo
James Dorr
David Dunwoody
Ed Erdelac
J G Faherty
Charlie Fish
Fran Friel
Sephera Giron
Charles Gramlich
Amy Grech
Eric J. Guignard
Bryan Hall
Rick Hautala
David Hayes
Brad Hodson
Nancy Holder
Del Howison
Robert Jackson
Lee F Jordan
Paul Kane
Brian Keene
Nate Kenyon
Jack Ketchum
Nancy Kilpatrick
C. W. LaSart
Tim Lebbon
Adrian Ludens
Graham Masterton
Araminta Star Matthews
Kevin McClintock
Joe McKinney
Michelle Mellon
Lori Michelle
William F Nolan
Marie O’Regan
Michael O’Neal
Monica O’Rourke
J F Palma
Susan Palwick
J R Parks
R. B. Payne
Anne Petty
Aaron Polson
Lon Prater
Timothy Remp
Roy Robbins
Jacob Ruby
Lawrence Santoro
J W Schnarr
M R Sellars
Lorelei Shannon
Jeremy C. Shipp
Lance Shoeman
Wayne Simmons
Marge Simon
Douglas Smith
D L Snell
Simon Strantzas
Stan Swanson
David Tallerman
Richard Thomas
Peter Timony
Shelley Towne
Stephen Volk
Jeremy Wagner
Matthew Warner
Kaaron Warren
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Fred Wiehe Connie Wilson
Jennifer Word

“The Paperhanger” is one of my favorite stories ever. If you haven’t read his work, do so now. We’ve lost a good one today. I’m very sad. My friend Heather Foster just went to a reading and signing he did, and he had a little stroke, but was okay. He signed a few of my books. I was hoping to meet him some day. Sigh.