About Curses: Chronicles of Darkness
There are all types of curses._____
Cursed places, cursed items, cursed people, cursed families.
Curses that last throughout time. Curses which can't be broken. Curses which are brought upon ourselves. Curses that will kill you and those that will only make you wish you were dead.
Eleven tantalizing tales of curses and the cursed. Includes stories by Kaye Lynne Booth, Molly Ertel, C.R. Johansson, Robert White, Joseph Carrabis, Paul Kane, Danaeka Scrimshaw, Abe Margel, and Denise Aparo.
Introduction
Welcome, this autumn we have two blog tours. The first is Curses: Chronicles of Darkness anthology of horror stories. Undawnted's author interview for the narrative, Joseph Carrabis, It’s a Man’s World & Grafton’s Ghost-Child.
Please welcome her to Undawnted with our warm and graciously haunting hospitality.
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Interview with Joseph Carrabis
What is it about a Curse that inspires your imagination?
Curses occur when someone has negative emotions towards some person, place, or thing. I can understand being mistreated by someone, feeling powerless to act socially or physically, hence resorting to a curse, but being mistreated by a place or thing? That implies agency, which means the place or thing has intelligence of some kind, which then implies intention.
The inspiration comes from asking "What interaction between the individual and the place/thing instigated the need to curse?"
Do you use mortal, paranormal, or supernatural means to render a Curse in your creative imagination?
The rendering agent depends on the delivery method and the desired effect. My stories here rely of preternatural phenomena (aliens) because (I hope) aliens are wiser than us.
Which type of Curse or progenitor of a Curse enticed you to write your story?
In both my stories, the progenitor was man- or human-kind's stupidity. Considering women haven't had dominant or even equal social power in thousands of years, let's go simply with mankind's stupidity.
Do you believe that in order for a Curse to work that the target of that Curse has to believe in it?
Heavens, no! I think the best curses are when the recipient has no idea they've been cursed. Their lack of knowledge means they have no explanation for what's happening to them hence have no method of acting against the Cursor. Now the recipient is double cursed (a "twice the fun at half the cost" kind of thing).
Anything else that you would like to add about yourself, your story, or books?
I tell people I write autobiography and its true. This tends to make people nervous. My sister often asks me if we were raised in the same house. I will offer that everything I write is based on something I experienced. I hope part of the fun for my readers is figuring out what, in the story, is the seed experience which gave the story life.
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About Joseph Carrabis
Joseph Carrabis is a master storyteller with a sharp sense of humor and deep linguistic expertise. Hailing from New Hampshire, USA, his passion for writing began at the age of seven while washing dishes with his older sister, Sandra. She’d read Mission to the Heart Stars’ for a book report and shared her fascination and excitement over the story. Joseph, a plate in one hand and a dish towel in the other decided, “I want to give that joy in the written word to people.” With a career deeply embedded in evolving technologies, Joseph served as Chief Research Officer, Chief Neuroscience Officer, and Senior Research Fellow at several institutions and agencies while earning numerous awards for his journalism and trade technical writing. Joseph refers to himself as boring - something loudly debunked by his readers and peers - and weaves wildly imaginative stories that dance on the boundary of the known and unknown sciences where natural, preternatural and supernatural intersect. Fans’ comments regularly mention Carrabis’ ability to bring together advanced mathematics, quantum physics, cybernetics, and neuroscience with believable multi-dimension characters and spellbinding future technology. Joseph has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, recommended for a Nebula Award, and received an honorable mention in ‘Writers of the Future’.
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*Giveaway*
This
tour, we’re giving away digital copies of Curses: to 5 lucky winners. Follow the tour and comment at each
stop, so we’ll know you were there. You’ll be entered for another chance
in the giveaway at each stop. Winners are chosen through a random
drawing by WordCrafter Press. We’ll be watching for your name.
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Support Great Artists
Writers of the stories in this dark fiction anthology deserve your support!
Make a purchase and keep creativity alive during this Halloween season.
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Tour Schedule
Day 1Stop 1 – Writing to be Read – About the Curses Anthology & Meet Denise Aparo
Stop 1 – Robbie’s Inspiration – Kaye Lynne Booth & Joseph Carrabis with Readings of “It’s a Man’s World” & “Grafton’s Ghost-Child”
Stop 1 – Poetry by Mich – Meet Abe Margel & Paul Kane with a guest post about the inspiration of his story “The Weeping Man”
Stop 1 – Roberta Writes – Meet C.R. Johansson & Robert White with a guest post about the inspiration for “The Longspeth Curse”
Stop 1 – Writing to be Read – Meet Kaye Lynne Booth, Danaeka Scrimshaw & Molly Ertel with Inspiration Video about “Clover’s Mirror Box”
Stop 2 – Undawnted – DL Mullan interviews Danaeka Scrimshaw
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