Stories by Ben Loory for day and night but mostly the night

This gifted writer has gone to a twisted and fun place to deliver these tales in STORIES FOR NIGHTTIME AND SOME FOR THE DAY.  The cover of this short story collection is so worth a look and I promise you that once you read the first story THE BOOK you will be hooked.

I often talk about being the slowest reader, but this collection of stories I read in a day.  Loory grabbed my attention and did not let go and just when I thought he must be out of ideas he got a little weirder and more bizarre. But make no mistake, the stories are well crafted and would be perfect for bedtime for young teens to adults but careful cause you might find yourself up until you finish.

I am still pinching myself as I was able to pose some questions to Loory and that he replied:

Q: I love Jonathan Evison’s comment “If Mother Goose and Philip K. Dick had a love child…” What do you think of this comparison and in turn who were some of your influences?

A: Philip K. Dick is probably my favorite writer, so of course
I love that blurb! (I like the Mother Goose part, too, though I’ve always found
nursery rhymes kind of terrifyingly weird.)

I have a lot of influences, I think, which range from
literary (Stephen Crane, Hemingway, Kafka, Wodehouse) to film (Hitchcock,
Lynch, Eisenstein, Howard Hawks) to television (Scooby-Doo, Outer Limits,
Warner Brothers cartoons) to comics (Sandman, The Far Side). I never really
think about influences when I’m writing, but when I’m done, they’re always in
there. I always enjoy reading my stories over and finding the things I love
hiding in them.

Q: In the acknowledgements you say these stories grew out of a class in horror writing, now that is it done and printed what ten words would you use to describe the book to another.

A:  “It’s sort of like Aesop’s Fables meets The Twilight Zone.”

Q: Why the three collections in the book, do the stories fit just that way like a puzzle or are there infinite combinations?

The book has an arc; the stories go in order. You don’t have
to read them that way, but the way is there. That being said, the actual
section breaks are mostly there just to give readers breathing points.

Q: Did you have the big or little screenplay in mind when you were penning these stories?  Is this the next Twilight Zone or Tales From the Crypt?  

A: I never had any screenplays in mind; I’d had enough of writing screenplays– that’s why I wrote the book! (Of course if anyone wants to turn it into something, my door is always open, and I’m listening! 🙂

Q: What three things were the most surprising about the process did you not know about the business of writing before you did this book?

I can only really think of one: I didn’t know it would take so long to publish! I thought someone would buy the book and then, you know, the next day it would be out and in stores! Turned out there was a lot more to the process… this whole thing, you know, “editing” thing.

In thinking about the stories again when I writing this feature I have to say that THE OCTOPUS  might be my favorite for its simplicity and its underwriting message, although I think there are multiple messages here for take away. But it is about an Octopus and its endeavor to have a “normal” human life and then when he is visited by his nephews it calls into question his choices.

I have a copy of STORIES FOR NIGHTTIME AND SOME FOR THE DAY to GIVEAWAY too.  So for anyone who wants to go on a journey of the stories of Ben Loory please leave a comment or send me an email poofbooks@gmail.com. (Winner will be selected randomly on Sunday, August 7th) To find out more about Ben and test drive one of book’s stories, “The Girl in the Storm”, visit his website, http://www.benloory.com/stories_for_nighttime.

Advertisements