Author April Grey On The Krampusnacht Blog Hop

Welcoming April Grey!

“Todd Nathaniel’s Last Case,” a part of the Hell’s Heart anthology, was published earlier this year. It was originally published in Ephemera by Elektrik Milk Bath Press in 2011.

I wrote “Todd Nathaniel’s Last Case” many years ago because I am keenly aware that characters do come to life in an author’s mind. One time I was shocked to be sitting on the subway with the embodiment of Pascal Guzman from Chasing The Trickster. It wouldn’t surprise me if some authors when under great stress (or just random upset) don’t give in to the impulse to call upon one of their characters much as they would ask for a patron saint’s
help.







April Grey's short stories are collected in The Fairy Cake Bakeshop and in I'll Love You Forever. She is also the author of two urban fantasy novels: Chasing the Trickster and its sequel, St. Nick's Favor.
She edited the anthologies: Hell's Bells: Wicked Tunes, Mad Musicians and Cursed Instruments; Hell's Garden: Mad, Bad and Ghostly Gardeners, Hell's Grannies: Kickass Tales of the Crone; Hell's Kitties and Other Beastly Beasts and most recently Hell’s Heart: Twisted Tales of Love Run Amok.

She and her family live in Hell's Kitchen, NYC in a building next to a bedeviled garden. Gremlins, sprites or pixies, something mischievous, lurks therein. Someday she'll find out. Please visit www.aprilgrey.blogspot for her latest news.

Don't stop now! Hop on over to the other participant's blogs.

April Grey

Amy Grech

Jake TS Wryte 

Phillip T. Stephens 

Alex Binkley 

Hell's Kitties Are Here!

I'm joining in a blog hop with the other authors featured in Hell's Kitties: And Other Beastly Beasts.    The anthology, edited by April Grey, was released yesterday.

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Welcome to Amy Grech, who contributed the story entitled Bruised and Battered Nevermore

What was your inspiration for your story in Hell’s Kitties?

The atmospheric writing of Edgar Allan Poe, especially his narrative poem “The Raven” inspired my tale, “Bruised and Battered Nevermore”. They both feature ravens, albeit my story takes place in modern day New York City…

What projects are you currently working on?

Right now, I’m writing a crime story based on actual events that took place in my neighborhood of Park Slope. A couple of years ago, young women walking home at night during the wee hours of the night were being robbed by young Hispanic man brandishing a pistol. The Police eventually apprehended the treacherous thug.  he young woman in my story has a gun permit and she’s packing heat, a hot pink, leopard print Conceal and Carry Glock she uses to one-up her attacker.

What is the scariest or funniest thing that has ever happened to you?

When I was a little girl gowning up on Long Island, I was enjoying summertime with my friends on a real scorcher of a day, so we were sucking on ice cubes while running around. I choked on mine and blacked out. My friend’s mother had to perform the Heimlich maneuver. To this day, I have an aversion to ice cubes.

Why did you become a writer?

I grew up reading Stephen King’s novels—I got hooked at the age of 13—and started writing seriously in high school. I studied English/Creative Writing at Ithaca College in Update New York.  I started selling my stories to small press magazines while I was still in school—14850 Magazine was my first. 

When I first started writing, rejections didn’t discourage me, especially since I started getting personal responses from Editors early on; their encouragement motivated me find my unique voice and hone my craft, creating complex characters capable of anything.

Amy Grech has sold over 100 stories to various anthologies and magazines including: Apex Magazine, Beat to a Pulp: Hardboiled, Dead Harvest, Detectives of the Fantastic, Volume II, Expiration Date, Fear on Demand, Fright Mare, Funeral Party 2, Inhuman Magazine, Needle Magazine, Reel Dark, Shrieks and Shivers from the Horror Zine, Space & Time, Tales from The Lake Vol. 3, The Horror Within, Under the Bed, and many others. New Pulp Press recently published her book of noir stories, Rage and Redemption in Alphabet City.

She has a story forthcoming in Creepy Campfire Quarterly. Amy is an Active Member of the Horror Writers Association who lives in Brooklyn. Visit her website: http://www.crimsonscreams.com.  Follow Amy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/amy_grech.

Hell's Grannies: Kickass Tales of the Crone

Who can resist a book with a title and cover like this? I sure can't. Got my copy the very first day it was published and it's next in my TBR queue. I only wish I'd had a story to submit for this anthology edited by April Grey.

April, it's easy to understand why you wanted to create this anthology, but how did you find the courage. Most people I know are in total denial about getting older and embracing the changes in their bodies and their lifestyles. I continually have to remind myself I can't do things the way I used to--and it's always hard for me to keep to my resolution to accept it.

Hell’s Grannies was inspired by my own wrangling with the aging process. A few years back at a convention I had put forth the idea of a panel called, “Wearing Purple: women writers of a certain age.”. To my surprise, the topic was controversial -- everyone on the panel (and in the audience) insisted that aging had not affected them or their writing.

I was shocked. I find that as my body ages I have less energy to grouse at the world. I need to save my strength for what is REALLY important. My perspective has changed as has my sexuality. I AM different. A whole new person. Why are my fellow writers denying this? Maybe it’s just me.

Anyhow, I put out the call for short stories citing the old Monty Python sketch, “Hell’s Grannies” and asking my writers to reflect on the poem by Jenny Joseph, “Warning.”

The amazing collection of stories I received from Rayne Hall, Jonathan Broughton, Mark Cassell, Amy Grech, Alp Beck, Phillip T. Stephens, Judith Rook, Annemarie Shiavi Pedersen and Patricia Cochrane completely blew me away. I also snuck in my own story, “Exile.”

There are historical tales, dark fiction and humor. Humorous stories are especially highlighted as aging seems to require a certain crazy wisdom.

Is this book part of a series?

Yes. It’s the second book, the first being Hell’s Garden: Tales of Mad, Bad and Ghostly Gardeners. The third book will be Hell’s Kitties, when I get to it.

It sounds fascinating and fun--and if my experience is correct--there will be people like those who will insist that it's fiction and does not apply to them--but that's the power of writing, especially in the speculative genres.

Thanks so much for sharing with us--and for editing this book. 

April Grey's short stories, published in both print anthologies and on-line, are collected in The Fairy Cake Bakeshop and in I'll Love You Forever. She edited the anthology Hell's Garden: Mad, Bad and Ghostly Gardeners. Her urban fantasy novels Chasing The Trickster and St. Nick’s Favor are available at Amazon.com.

Her dark fantasy novel, Finding Perdita will be published by Damnation Books next year.

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