This past Valentine Weekend was the first writer’s retreat
for Four Fools Press. This quickly became a tag line since this ill-fated
venture kicked off on Friday the 13th. We found ourselves in a
secluded cabin in the middle of the woods with little cell reception, no
internet to speak of, and we sat directly on the Eastern and Central time zones.
One side of the room was an hour behind the other. You see where this train is
headed right?
Six writers in the woods…. Friday the 13th…. Yup
one anthology of horror and silly homages to the genre and good natured ribbing
at each other.
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| Corey Blakenship and Brannon Hollingsworth |
The actual get together was not as pretentious as it sounds. It was six guys
who love beer, food, and camping. It was deer camp, without rolling out of bed
early to get to the deer stand. But it was also a creative smorgasbord of
ideas, brain storming, and working on individual projects without the
interference of normal life and especially actual jobs. Writing and the end
result: publishing, is hard work. It just doesn’t seem like it when it is fun,
rewarding, and feeds the soul.
The location of course lent itself to the idea and joke that
we were a horror movie waiting to happen. So we decided that a horror anthology
was the answer to this all too obvious situation.
This was not to be an anthology of separate horror tales
with a central theme, like having it all take place in a secluded cabin on
Friday the 13th. No, that is too easy. No, we were going to write
about the same events, happening at the same time, to the same people, from six
perspectives.
The result became The Guest Book.
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| The news paper account of the mysterious events |
It was a Free For All with only a few ground rules for
something that might resemble consistency. I shall not state them here as they
would lead to some spoilers for the actual story. I will only give the List of
Tales to be found within:
Red Rum By John Langley
Running Scared by Corey Blankenship
Firestarter by Brannon Hollingsworth
Boared to Death by Davis Riddle
20 Paces by R.R. Hunsinger
Road Rage by Brannon Hall
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| Brannon Hollingsworth and John Langley |
John Langley and Davis Riddle authored the Prologue and
Epilogue respectively. Brannon Hollingsworth Edited the anthology and Brannon
Hall the art direction.
The events within the anthology, that really clocks in at
about 10,000 words so in essence a collaborative short story, the resemblance
to the actual authors is frighteningly accurate only in caricature.
For a horror story that is part stream of consciousness and
Hat Tip silliness read The Guest Book and let me know what you think.
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| From left to right: Brannon Hall, Brannon Hollingsworth, Davis Riddle, R.R. Hunsinger, John Langley, and Corey Blankenship |
