Tuesday, March 12, 2019

*Book Tour & Giveaway* That Which Grows Wild by Eric J. Guignard-GUEST POST


That Which Grows Wild
by Eric J. Guignard
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Short Stories

That Which Grows Wild collects sixteen dark and masterful short stories by award-winning author Eric J. Guignard. Equal parts whimsy and weird, horror and heartbreak, this debut collection traverses the darker side of the fantastic through vibrant and harrowing tales that depict monsters and regrets, hope and atonement, and the oddly changing reflection that turns back at you in the mirror.


Discover why Eric J. Guignard has earned praise from masters of the craft such as Ramsey Campbell (“Guignard gives voice to paranoid vision that’s all too believable.”), Rick Hautala (“No other young horror author is better, I think, than Eric J. Guignard.”), and Nancy Holder ( “The defining new voice of horror has arrived, and I stand in awe.”)

Stories include:

• “A Case Study in Natural Selection and How It Applies to Love” - a teen experiences romance, while the world slowly dies from rising temperatures and increasing cases of spontaneous combustion.

• “Dreams of a Little Suicide” - a down-on-his-luck actor unexpectedly finds his dreams and love in Hollywood playing a munchkin during filming of The Wizard of Oz, but soon those dreams begin to darken.

• “The Inveterate Establishment of Daddano & Co.” - an aged undertaker tells the true story behind the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, and of the grime that accumulates beneath our floors.

• “A Journey of Great Waves” - a Japanese girl encounters, years later, the ocean-borne debris of her tsunami-ravaged homeland, and the ghosts that come with it.

• “The House of the Rising Sun, Forever” - a tragic voice gives dire warning against the cycle of opium addiction from which, even after death, there is no escape.

• “Last Days of the Gunslinger, John Amos” - a gunfighter keeps a decimated town’s surviving children safe on a mountaintop from the incursion of ferocious creatures… until a flash flood strikes.

Explore within, and discover a wild range upon which grows the dark, the strange, and the profound.  






Eric J. Guignard is a writer and editor of dark and speculative fiction, operating from the shadowy outskirts of Los Angeles. He's won the Bram Stoker Award, been a finalist for the International Thriller Writers Award, and a multi-nominee of the Pushcart Prize. His stories and non-fiction have appeared in over one hundred genre and literary publications such as "Nightmare Magazine," "Black Static," "Shock Totem," "Buzzy Magazine," and "Dark Discoveries Magazine." Outside the glamorous and jet-setting world of indie fiction, Eric's a technical writer and college professor, and he stumbles home each day to a wife, children, cats, and a terrarium filled with mischievous beetles.



GUEST POST
Have you always wanted to be a writer?

No, but I’ve always wanted to be a creative professional, whether that was involved in creating art, design, or writing. I’ve been driven to create all my life. If I wasn’t writing, I’d be drawing, woodworking, painting, modeling, or any number of other things. The same part that gets me up in the morning is thinking about what I’m going to make next, even if it’s just a design doodle. I happen to enjoy writing most right now, and my preference is toward dark matter, being monsters and thrilling adventures, things that excite, which I’ve also been drawn to all my life. Creating is my catharsis, my escape, and my satisfaction all at once



What are the biggest mistakes new writers make?

False expectations of rapid success and profitability. For 99% of writers, there is neither… but that is offset by intrinsic satisfaction and the joy of releasing a finalized creative product that you have devised.


Do you outline before you write or do you write as you go? Do you have any writing rituals you practice?


I always begin just by “writing as I go,” but if the story becomes complicated or I get burned out, or stuck, then I turn to outlining to figure the proper direction. No other rituals, but that I write when I can! I try to write in the morning after I wake up, the earlier the better. I also, oddly, have a time of greatest focus/ productivity in late afternoon. Our bodies cycle to rhythmic clocks and mine is set to pound out work at about 4:00 p.m. Of course all that also depends on other work, family, and life obligations. I write technical documentation for my day job, and also teach as adjunct U.C. faculty, and have two small children to raise, so it’s easy to let writing take a back seat to everything else, though I force myself to write something creative every single day, even if it’s only fifty words or so.
Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!






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