A Love of All Things Spooky…As Long As There’s Love Included!

 

 

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents….

 

*loud creaking door*

 

*scary music*

 

“Come it…! Welcome. I’m E.G. Marshall….”

 

And so began a radio show out of its time. That was in the seventies, not the fourties or the earlier. It was an experiment that hit like gold and won awards and went on for 1,399 episodes. The first episode I heard was by mistake. My dad had taken me into the city and on our way back we were flipping through the stations and by total fluke, caught the episode, “Stephanie’s Room.” It was astounding. And I was hooked. Here’s the blurb….

 

A married woman moves back to her birthplace in New York when her husband is posted there for work. She visits the house she grew up in and meets a childless old lady. They bond in a strange, symbiotic manner as mysterious things happen to her childhood quarters.

 

I will tell you what happened! She reverts into the little girl she was when she lived in that house. And the woman who lives there transforms into her mother. This happens over time and it was chilling! I have goose bumps now thinking about it. AND I just found every episode online! I am so excited!

 

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater opened up something in me big time—something that had already been there since at least fourth grade when I saw the Hammer Horror film Horror of Dracula—and that was a love of all things scary, and mysterious, and even bloodcurdling. Soon I was reading horror all the time, especially anything by Stephen King. I’ve been reading him since I was a kid.

 

But to be fair my love of the scary went way, way back. It was just these things that made it blossom. It was The Outer Limits that made me realize I wanted to be a writer. I was in fifth grade and my cousin had come to stay the weekend and we were watching that show and when it was over we started playing that show! LOL! Yes, while other kids played cops and robbers or cowboys and (American) Indians, we played The Outer Limits. And I was the writer and director. It was a bittersweet story and we both actually wept at the end.

 

And I realized I had a power! A power to pull people in and to create stories. I can’t even remember what it was. An alien stranded and then abandoned for good who I think probably died or something. But my cousin encouraged me to write….

 

It took years and years and years before I seriously did so. But what should I write? But romance! But then I do write romance with a twist, often letting in the laughter or the mysterious. Just read Hound Dog & Bean and you’ll see what I mean. You determine if something otherworldly happened or it was all coincidence.

 

And it is cool to note that my very first sale was in response to a “things that go bump in the night” call-for-submissions. That tale was called Soul of the Mummy. I love Egypt and love those old black and white mummy movies, especially because you felt for the mummy. That is what I wrote. A sympathetic character desperate for love.

 

 

See, I liked “horror” stories where you cared about the people in the story. I have never cared for this new path of horror stories where everyone dies at the end. I don’t get it. I hate it in fact. Maybe once or twice, but every single story? Please! Why did everyone have to die in The Ruins, which I loved until the every end. So many horror stories end that way. Give me the stories where the good guys triumph. Did Dracula win in the end? Of course not! Did the shark kill everyone on Amity Island? No! He got blown up!

 

Yes! I love to be chilled. But I want the good guys to win. And best of all is when two people find love….

 

 

And this leads me to say that somehow I was lucky enough to be invited to join the Dreamspinner Press anthology Gothika.

 

The first volume was called Stitch and it was wondrous, had stories by Sue Brown, Jamie Fessenden, Kim Fielding and Eli Easton and I loved it. How could I help it? I am crazy about all four authors. That first volume styled itself after the Frankenstein theme. Such good stories! The only thing better was when I was asked to join. I couldn’t believe it!

 

And now that second volume has been released! This one is called Bones and it focuses on voodoo. Or as I discovered, vodou. I was a little taken aback. Voodoo? Not vampires or werewolves or mummies (which I know well!). But vodou?

 

But then I was shocked to find out that there was a real vodou shop right here in Kansas City, a mile or so from where I live. I went in and told the proprietors what was up and told them that I wanted to write something sympathetic take on their religion. They welcomed me with open arms! I went there several times and asked endless questions—and so was born my story Uninvited.

 

Here is the blurb: When a hot tip leads Kansas City reporter Taylor Dunton to a series of grisly murders, his investigation points to Myles Parry and his vodou shop. Myles wants nothing more than to practice his religion in peace, and he hopes Taylor can help him show the community they have nothing to fear. The problem is all the clues point to Myles as the suspect and only Taylor can help him prove his innocence. However, this case has also caught the attention of the vodou spirits of the Lwa… and they’ve taken an interest in Taylor as well.

 

I am so proud of that story! And so proud to be in the company of Kim Fielding, Eli Easton and Jamie Fessenden. I can’t wait to hold the paperback in my hands.

 

Because this is it! This is full circle! I am writing horror. But the best kind. Where you can root for the heroes, and they win, and they find love. And before you shake your finger at me and shout, “Spoiler! Spoiler!”—just remember. This is romance.

 

And I’m all about happy endings!

 

There is also a happy coincidence. Not only is the 27th of the month my day to guest here at LoveBytes, but it is also the release day of Bones! So I hope you’ll check it out right here: Dreamspinner Press

 

Peace and love,

BG Thomas

 

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B.G. Thomas lives in Kansas City with his husband of more than a decade and their fabulous little dog. He is lucky enough to have a lovely daughter as well as many extraordinary friends. He has a great passion for life.

 

B.G. loves romance, comedies, fantasy, science fiction and even horror—as far as he is concerned, as long as the stories are character driven and entertaining, it doesn’t matter the genre. He has gone to literature conventions his entire adult life where he’s been lucky enough to meet many of his favorite writers. He has made up stories since he was child; it is where he finds his joy.

 

In the nineties, he wrote for gay magazines but stopped because the editors wanted all sex without plot. “The sex is never as important as the characters,” he says. “Who cares what they are doing if we don’t care about them?” Excited about the growing male/male romance market, he began writing again. Gay men are what he knows best, after all—since he grew out of being a “practicing” homosexual long ago. He submitted a story and was thrilled when it was accepted in four days.

 

“Leap, and the net will appear” is his personal philosophy and his message to all. “It is never too late,” he states. “Pursue your dreams. They will come true!”

 

Visit his website and blog at http://bthomaswriter.wordpress.com/ or contact him directly at bgthomaswriter@aol.com.

 

Tonight (Monday, the 27th) you can join all of the authors of the Bones anthology for a chat on the Dreamspinner Press page of Facebook live:
7-8pm Eastern/4-5pm Pacific: Eli Easton
8-9pm Eastern/5-6pm Pacific: Kim Fielding
9-10pm Eastern/6-7pm Pacific: Jamie Fessenden
10-11pm Eastern/7-8pm Pacific: B.G. Thomas