I know. I rarely do the blog thing anymore. There are are a few reasons for that. One being I have a newsletter I send out every 3 weeks or so instead. The other is I'd rather be writing fiction when getting creative. So, let's save the blog posts for stuff like this:  My best of list for 2018.

I didn't keep track of all the TV and movies I watched this year so I'll just give you my favorite movie of the year; however, I did keep track of the books so below is the list of my top 10. It's important to note the following books were not necessarily released in 2018. It just happens to be the year I read them.

Top 10 Books (in no particular order):
1. THE HUNGER GAMES - Suzanne Collins
2.  BODY OF CHRIST - Mark Matthews
3.  THE BOULEVARD MONSTER - Jeremy Hepler
4.  MAPPING THE INTERIOR - Stephen Graham Jones
5.  THE MAGIC WAGON - Joe Lansdale
6.  THE SECRET LIFE OF SOULS - Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee
7.  WESTLAKE SOUL - Rio Youers
8.  WOOM - Duncan Ralston
9.  CRAZY FROM THE HEAT - David Lee Roth
10.  BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS - Stephen King

Best movie:  HEREDITARY

Thanks to all the creatives who put out some great stuff this year. What are your top tens?

You're right.  I don't use this blog much anymore.  But I wanted to share with you my favorites of 2017:  Movies, books, TV shows, and music.  Not everything in my lists was released in 2017.  It just happens to be the year I partook.

Books:  According to Goodreads, I read 20 books this year.  Some of those were fairly short, and at least one of them I had started in 2016. Here's my list of favorites I read in 2017.  With the exception of #1, they are in no particular order.

1.  BLACK GUM - J. David Osborne.
2.  20TH CENTURY GHOSTS - Joe Hill (collection)
3.  MONGRELS - Stephen Graham Jones
4.  SPUNGUNION - John Boden
5.  THE WARBLERS - Amber Fallon



Movies & TV Shows:  I don't keep track of these as well as books, so I'll do my best. 
1.  Twin Peaks
2.  Hap & Leonard (season 1).
3.  Gerald's Game
4.  The Void
5.  Weeds (all seasons)
6.  Santa Clarita Diet (Netflix Series)
7.  True Detective (all seasons)
8.  Rainbow Time
9.  The Good Neighbor
10.  Mindhunter (season 1)

Music: 
1.  David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time
2.  Obituary - Obituary
3.  Lazerhawk - Dreamrider
4.  IVERSEN - Arcade
5.  Michael Oakley - California
6.  Pink Fink - self titled
7.  26Hate - Lovely Memories
8.  Kristine - Kristine
9.  Hello Meteor - The Glowing:  Final Cut
10.  LGHTNNG - Nights Change Days

So I bought myself one of these old school word processors.  That the ancient ones with the giant monitor flashing the blinding green text.  This is a Neo2 AlphaSmart.  I bought it to get away from distractions like Facebook (Man, that thing is the devil ain't it?), Blabbermouth, Amazon, Goodreads, Deviantart, YouTube...ya know, sites that tear away from anything productive in my life.  Since owning this little word saver, I've written more in the last month or so than I ever have.  I lug the thing outside, stare out through the trees, and get to work.

My contribution to Pint Bottle Press' Double Barrel Horror collections was released recently featuring my stories "Punk Rock Re-Animator" and "Holes."  You can get that here for only $0.99.  Paperback is coming soon featuring all the authors, including John Boden, author of JEDI SUMMER.

Not much else to report, but I do like to keep my blog here somewhat updated.  I've got some stuff coming out later this year in different anthologies, one of which I'll be sharing the TOC with one of my favorite authors.  And currently I'm finishing up my next book, a novella titled STIRRING THE SHEETS.  It's bleak. It's sad. It's uncomfortable.  In other words, anyone who enjoyed OF FOSTER HOMES & FLIES and WALLFLOWER is gonna love it.  I'll be shopping around for a publisher for this one soon, but there is already some interest in it so we'll see how that goes.

Currently Reading: Behold!:  Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders
Currently Watching:  Season 5 of True Blood, season 1 of True Detective

Hello, reader!

The response I've gotten from WALLFLOWER has been great.  It's nice to see so many people pick up what I'm laying down, and really get it.  When I started writing, I never wanted to be lumped into one category.  Authors like Lansdale and McCammon are great at appeasing their readers no matter the genre.  That's what I wanted to do.  Dark fiction sums it up pretty well for me I guess.

I had a giveaway recently (congratulations Joli and Stubblebag!).  I have them from time to time for those signed up to my reader list.  If interested, you can do that here.  Don't worry, you'll barely hear from me. 

Shadow Work Publishing has a new book out.  Dark Designs:  Tales of Mad Science.  Tons of stories dealing with....well, mad science.  This features my story "Discerning the Adversary."

I've been working on a few stories that had deadlines and then it's back to work on PALE WHITE, which I hope to have out this summer.

Just read: 
Junky - William S. Burroughs

Currently reading: 
Crazy from the Heat - David Lee Roth
20th Century Ghosts - Joe Hill
Most recent issue of Cemetery Dance

“What have you done, Abby?”  
 
The man’s daughter sat beside him, a grin on her face.  The tickle in his ear had been there for days.  It scratched and scraped and clicked like a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle.   
 
“When I asked Mommy about a puppy she said to put a bug in your ear.”
 
“Honey, it’s only an expression.”
 
The man heard the distant groan of his wife, her agony growing louder, closer.
 
“Abby, what did you do to Mommy?”

“Nothing, Daddy.”  The girl’s grin remained.  “Mommy said she’d keep an eye out for a puppy.”  

 

Seeing my own OF FOSTER HOMES AND FLIES on a handful of "best of 2016" lists in the past few weeks has really put a nice cherry on top of an otherwise chaotic year that was full of both blessings and hardships.  Because I love to help spread the word of great authors and their books, I figured I'd make my own list of favorites.  Here it is, a small list of my favorite reads I spent time huddled in a chair or leaning back in bed against my headboard, be it with a print copy or with my Kindle glowing dimly while the wife slept next to me.  Do keep in mind that these are books I read this year, NOT necessarirly books that were released this year.  There are a lot of books out there, and because I never even started reading until my mid 20s--followed by a several-year hiatus of all things fiction--I need to catch up on classics (King's The Stand for example...don't hate me) as well as newer books that are getting a ton of recognition including Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones and Odd Man Out by James Newman, both of which I am proud to say I own in print and have broken the spine on one just the other night.  So, without further delay, and in no particular order, here are my favorite books I read in 2016 along with the Amazon links to purchase them yourself if you so desire.

Tis the season to spook or get spooked.  Starting now until November 1st I'm offering my Double Feature Collection III:  DEATH DEALERS:  AID FROM THE ELDERLY for your Kindle-friendly device for free. 

But wait, there's more....

You can get ALL of the AMERICAN DEMON HUNTERS novellas for FREE during that time as well:

AMERICAN DEMON HUNTERS:  Battle Creek, Michigan by Chad Lutzke
AMERICAN DEMON HUNTERS:  Nashville, Tennessee by Zach Bohannon
AMERICAN DEMON HUNTERS:  Albany, New York by Bettina Melher
AMERICAN DEMON HUNTERS:  Washington D.C. by John L. Monk




Don't forget, you can read these in any order...and that includes the original AMERICAN DEMON HUNTERS novel by J. Thorn

No doubt we've all seen that author who gets all up in your personal space, mercilessly invading your Facebook and Twitter feeds and notifications with the unrelenting plugging of their book.  Yes, we all have to shamelessly plug, but come on, there is a line to be drawn, and often that behavior is an indication of the quality of work being offered.  But then there's the quiet artist whose talent eclipses SO many in the field yet you never hear about them.  That's John Boden--an underrated, gentle soul of a man whose is humble to a fault and one of my favorite authors, not just because of his profoundly deep prose but his original ideas. 

I first met John when we had both entered a writing contest.  I placed third.  He placed first.  Admittedly, instead of being content with placing at all, I was a little bummed I'd not taken first place.  Until I read John's piece.  I then left a comment under the winning announcement and congratulated him, telling him he definitely had the superior piece and deserved the win.  He found me on Facebook and we became friends.  Our diverse taste in music brought us closer together and then we began trading stories back and forth, sharing our work (both published and unpublished) as well as ideas we had.  It started to become clear that our writing had a lot in common; not necessarily our writing styles but the content.  It's not uncommon for either of us to write something that leaves the reader feeling a bit...hollow--melding the horrific with heavy emotional attributes that tap into the inner youngsters in us all. 

Then last fall John sends me an email with an attachment titled "JEDI SUMMER."  The email said:  "This is my coming-of-age novella.  It's all true except for the few things that aren't."  I forwarded it to my Kindle, and one night while in bed I decided to read a few paragraphs.  At first I didn't get it.  It read almost like diary entries but not really.  There were no dates or "Dear Diary."  Nothing like that at all.  They were first-person events, moments in a child's life.  But they were highly entertaining, and I ended up reading much more than the few paragraphs I had set out to peek at.  I stayed up far too late and woke the next day thinking about it.  There was no real order to the book yet it was still heading in a single direction, and taking me with it.  For reasons I couldn't understand, I was compelled to keep reading and enjoying every bit of it, wanting...NEEDING to know what the kid would go through next.  I longed for a certain ending, and the ending delivered.  I've been waiting nine months to tell people about the book so they can partake and here we are.  Come July 22, 2016 "JEDI SUMMER:  With the Magnetic Kid" is being released to the public, and it's already gaining rave reviews.  Well, enough about my thoughts on John Boden, here he is answering a few questions:  

CHAD LUTZKE:  Nearly all of your work is very deep emotionally. Why do you think that is? Would you say writing is therapeutic for you?

JOHN BODEN: I'm not entirely certain. I mean, I don't purposefully set about writing that way. I tend to base most
characters on aspects of myself or people I know and I just paint them honestly, realistically. There are things that have been quite therapeutic for me. I wrote out a great deal of the grief after my Dad passed away. I just tend to write personal, I guess. I was actually quite worried that folks wouldn't like this (JEDI SUMMER). It's written in a very untraditional manner and I worried it wouldn't translate into a good read for others. The overwhelmingly positive response from beta readers let me know I was wrong.

CL:  Is writing something you'd like to make a living doing one day or is it just a hobby for you?

JB: I won't lie, it would be great to make enough money with my writing to tell the day job to piss off and just sleep in a little every day, write for hours and not have to go anywhere. Being a realist, that isn't likely to happen. I'm a middle-aged fellow who has worked since he was 17. I have a family and things that need financial attention and I need that promise of a timely paycheck every week. So I guess, I'd say hobby. I love doing it. I love that people actually care enough to read the things I manage to get published and even like them. I'm very grateful for that.

CL:  You've stated to me that your new book JEDI SUMMER is based heavily on your life and much of it is autobiographical, also your brother plays a significant role in the book. I'm curious what he thinks of it, as well as the rest of your family.

JB: I wrote it as a sort of olive branch/love letter to my little brother. When we were growing up, we fought a lot. There was always a resentment from me, because I was older and our Mom worked so much, I was thrust into an adult role of raising him in a lot of ways. As a teen , it made me mad. I was mean to him, hurtful and shit. I never really thought about it. He let me know once a number of years ago, how that made him feel and all I could do was say I was sorry. I never forgot it. I wrote a short once called "The Magnetic Kid", which was basically a scene that ended up in JEDI SUMMER...but I had not yet planned on expanding...it was just a little story about my brother. Then I decided to make it longer...and more and more truth fell into it and before I knew it JEDI SUMMER was done. My little brother loves it. He was thrilled about it, so does my Mom and my adopted little brother, Mike.

CL:  What is it about the coming-of- age subgenre that you are attracted to?

JB: I have always loved that subgenre. From Bradbury's numerous works that fall under that umbrella to King and McCammon. James Newman wrote one of my faves, Midnight Rain (and gave me a foreword for JEDI SUMMER) Dan Simmons' Summer of Night is a great one. Keene's Ghoul. Joe Lansdale has several books that fall in this territory. Mark Gunnells has a great CoA novella, Summer of Winters.  Kevin Lucia has some good stuff. You, my friend, have a brilliant CoA thing coming out soon! (referring to my novella OF FOSTER HOMES AND FLIES).  It's just an honest area. When you write about kids and growing up, you can tap into a vivid well of memory, it gives you a chance to tap into an honesty that you need to work a helluva lot harder for in "regular" work. That make any sense? Everyone has been a kid, everyone has some level of relating to that.

CL:  Give us some trivia concerning JEDI SUMMER, something that would be found in "author's notes."

JB: I don't wanna ruin anything so I'll be vague. This novella is probably about 92% true. There are some
fictional liberties taken but not many. I also did a really shoddy job of "concealing identities."  I'm pretty sure if anyone from home reads this, they'll know who I based characters on and I can only hope they don't get sore.

CL:  What's coming next for John Boden?

JB:  I'm having the best year for writing so far...I have a story in Borderlands 6 which was edited by Tom Monteleone and his daughter. I have a story in an antho called Bumps In The Road from Black Bed Sheet Books. I wrote an extremely surreal fable-type novella with Mercedes Yardley called Detritus In Love that will see print this fall from Omnium Gatherium Press. The only other thing I have going on is another novella called Spungunion that is currently subbed out and I'm waiting for word on it. I have the follow-up to Dominoes. It's a room-by-room tour of a haunted house. I need to figure out what exactly to do with that. I'd love to make it a pop up book. I have a few things planned to work on or start work on soon. Writing projects and Shock Totem duties. I'll keep busy, don't worry.

Pre-order JEDI SUMMER here.

Here's a little interview I did with Bird Box author, Josh Malerman to help promote the release of Crystal Lake Publishing's Gutted:  Beautiful Horror Stories.  I originally posted the interview on the Horror Novel Reviews website.

If you're an avid reader of horror who regularly ingests and searches for the next big thing, there is no doubt that in the past year you've come across the words "Bird Box" more than once, as you scoured Goodreads, Google, blogs and Facebook for recommendations on what to read next.  If you've already read Josh Malerman's BIRD BOX then you're on that long list of people who share the suggestion of this claustrophobic tale about incomprehensible terror, insanity, and extreme perseverance.

When Josh isn't tirelessly writing fiction he's writing songs for his band The High Strung.  And while he may be sitting on a mountain of manuscripts since the release of BIRD BOX, he promises to give his readers more very soon.  Much more.  One such piece can now be found in Crystal Lake Publishing's new anthology GUTTED:  BEAUTIFUL HORROR STORIES with his story "The One You Live With." 

C.Lutzke:  I read your contribution to GUTTED:  BEAUTIFUL HORROR STORIES last night (The One You Live With).  One of the more nontraditional stories in the collection, and I very much enjoyed the voice.  I'm curious about the genesis of it.  Any cool story that goes along with how you came up with the idea?

 J.Malerman:  It was the idea of a woman being haunted by her own self. Not a possession and definitely not a split personality thing. But to consider your “other” self, the private you, as its own entity... that freaks me out. Because then you’re not alone in there and who knows who is leading who to do what. I do think we all have a private self no matter how open we are. It’s just impossible not to change, to get geared up, when you’re around other people. In this way, I guess it’s a little abstract: a woman’s public persona is haunted by her private one. Or is it the other way around? The real psycho-crack here is... which is the real Dana? And if it’s somewhere between the two... then who is she at all? That’s an identity crisis on a billboard right there. And yet, maybe the freakiest thing about Dana is that, while she’s aware of this (thanks to Mom), she’s somehow managed the balancing act. She gets ugly in front of the mirror as an eighty year old woman, same as she did when she was a kid. I like that about her, that she never tipped all the way in one direction or the other, never declared ‘THIS is me.’ But of course, that’s also what makes her frightening. She’s a kind of living ghost in that way. The only real genesis of the story would be my own worries about maintaining my personality no matter who I’m around. You ever notice that you’re funnier around people who think you’re funny? And I don’t mean that they laugh at the same jokes others don’t laugh at. I mean that your content is actually funnier when you’re around them! Like when you dream in languages you don’t speak. It’s astonishing to me how much of our personalities are guided by the vibes we get from the people around us. If you walk into a room full of people who think you’re a brilliant man, you’re more liable to say something brilliant. This all worries me. Because, ONE why can’t we consistently be our whole selves at all times? And TWO who’s to say you’re around the right people, the people who bring out the good shit? All your life you’ve said, “Oh, it’s not me to be spontaneous.” And yet, would it have been you if a bunch of kids called you spontaneous on the playground, thirty years ago? To me, that’s horror. The alternate yous. The inner yous. All compared to the current you.

 CL:  Based on what Dana's mother says in your story, would you consider Josh the musician and Josh the writer two different yous?  And do you prefer one over the other?

JM:  Great question. I would say they’re different people, yeah, but they’re close. Kinda like how Dana’s mom tells her that her two yous are still close together because she’s just a kid. Writing scary books and little songs have always been a fountain of youth for me. So, while the two are different form one another, they’re both juvenile, together, and close, like young Dana’s two sides. The real “other” me is the guy who freaks the fuck out in the middle of dinner and thinks, “My God... all this time you thought you were an artist... but you’re only a shadow of one.” That guy has got to go. But he doesn’t! As you know, as we all know, he doesn’t. But I’ll tell you what, he’s got a sweet tooth, Superman ice cream, and I found a parlor he likes, and I can distract him for long periods of time.

 CL:  Lyrically, what is one of your favorite songs?

JM:  Check this one out (and it’s somehow fitting with “The One You Live With”):
You think we look pretty good together
You think my shoes are made of leather
But I'm a substitute for another guy
I look pretty tall but my heels are high
The simple things you see are all complicated
I look pretty young, but I'm just back-dated, yeah

Substitute your lies for fact
I can see right through your plastic mac
I look all white, but my dad was black
My fine-looking suit is really made out of sack

I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth
The north side of my town faced east, and the east was facing south
And now you dare to look me in the eye
Those crocodile tears are what you cry
It's a genuine problem, you won't try
To work it out at all you just pass it by, pass it by

Substitute me for him
Substitute my coke for gin
Substitute you for my mum
At least I'll get my washing done

The Who’s “Substitute”

That line, “The north side of my town faced east and the east was facing south.”

And this verse, by my friend Mark Owen, is out of this world:

“Buried in the cellar,
there’s a fortune teller.
One time she read, my palm she said,
‘You’re no Rockefeller.’”

From his song, “Never, Never, No”

So good.

CL:  When I write, the only thing I can listen to in the way of music is instrumentals (usually soundtracks) or I get too distracted.  Is there a genre of music that gets the creative juices flowing for you?

JM:  Soundtracks, for sure. I’ve got one helluva collection of horror movie soundtracks on vinyl. I’d love for you to come over and listen to some right now. I’d love for every reader to hear ‘em. Some of the best are Under the Skin, Creepshow, Troll. Up until recently I would say the same thing you said about songs with lyrics, that they distract me while writing, like I’m listening to Chuck Berry and suddenly one of my characters is riding along in his automobile. But I’d like to give rock n’ roll another chance. I’m gonna try writing the next book to a rock soundtrack and see what comes of it. Let the pace run me. I’m game. I’m ready for that now.

CL:  What scares you?

JM:  Probably being out of control scares me most. Back when my friends were trying LSD I gave it a single go and I made the unutterable mistake of trying to stay rooted in reality while surfing the rings of Saturn. Bad idea. So there you had a situation where a fella (me) got freaked out because he was trying to stay cool at a time when he should’ve been a freak. And yet, the ‘letting go’ was the scariest idea of all. I realize it’s something I gotta work on. I'm not a control freak with my friends or band or lady (Allison), that’s not the kind of control I mean, but I do tend to keep one foot on planet Earth until I start reading or writing. Those are the only times I truly ‘let go.’

CL:  Any weird rituals or practices you do when writing that you wouldn't want us to know about unless put on the spot for an interview?

JM:  Well, as you know, you drop a lot of your good ideas all over town. In the bars and restaurants, on a friend’s couch, in the alley behind the shoe store, and so I gotta go run and pick them up before writing them down. Gotta go scurrying around town, looking for little piles of ideas, bag em up and bring 'em home to the office. Then I dump them all out on the floor. Our new puppy eats one or two. So then I gotta jam my finger down her throat, get her to throw up the story idea about a woman who is stalked by two stalkers (who don’t know about one another) and then I can sit down to write it.

CL:  If there was one writer you wish you could collaborate with, living or dead, who would it be? 

JM:  I would love to write a book with John F.D. Taff. I would love to write a book with D. Alexander Ward. My great friend Mark Owen. My mom. My kid brother Ryan. My older brother Derek.

CL:  You're putting together a four-person supergroup and you have to have at least one female in it...who are your members and what do you call it?

JM:  Let’s put my girl Allison Laakko on vocals. You gotta hear her. Gonna blow your lid. And let’s surround her with Steve Cropper (Booker T and the MGs) on guitar, James Jamerson (Motown) on bass, and someone simple but fun like Doug Clifford (CCR) on drums. Ray Manzarek on organ with them. Ray and Allison would shine like the moon in that band. Let’s call them...

MOON

CL:  What's next for you as far as writing goes?

JM:  Book 2 for ECCO/HarperCollins is done and they’re working on the cover art now. I’m rewriting the first 50 pages or so of books 3, 4, 5 (they’re already written) so that I can show them those. For me, it’s taken way too long between Bird Box and Black Mad Wheel (that’s my next book, book 2, not a sequel, and this is the first time I’ve mentioned the title anywhere) but I’m learning. I think I understand the pace of the publishing industry now and I won’t let a gap like this one happen again. And yet, I’m freakin thrilled about Black Mad Wheel so...  I guess it doesn’t matter how or when it came to be. Sometimes I forget that Bird Box is my first book, and that I’m gonna need to learn some things about the business side. Other good news: A novella in the fantastic collection I Can Taste the Blood comes out August 23rd. Short stories in the Jonathan Maberry edited anthologies Scary Out There and Out of Tune 2. A short story in the Max Booth III and Lori Michelle edited Lost Signals. And a free standing novella (170 pages I think?) coming out later this year with This is Horror called A House at the Bottom of a Lake, which is about two teenagers who discover a helluva clubhouse under water. Also working with Dark Regions Press on a “definitive/illustrated” edition of Bird Box. And a short story in the Michael Bailey edited You, Human. That’s a lot of great stuff. Scripts, too. And a new novel, as yet untitled, about a bitter psychiatrist who sets out to frighten his patient.

CL:  Throw out a link or two for those interested in finding out more about you and your work.

JM:  Facebook is about it for me. My agent, Kristin, has someone working on a website now. I’m very excited about that. But yeah, Facebook is about it right now. I need to stretch out in that way, huh. But like I said... I’m learning.

I also wanted to make sure I said thank you, to you, and to Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward who published my first short story (ever) in Shadows Over Main Street. I love you all, and this is what we’re all living for, excited for, working toward. Writing and reading and the thinking that follows. So, to Doug and D, THANK you for having me with Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories and I see an endless golden literary future for them both.

You can grab Gutted:  Beautiful Horror Stories edited by Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward featuring stories by Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Ramsey Campbell, Paul Trembley, Josh Malerman, and many more, right HERE

Purchase Bird Box here.