"Inheritance" is Live!

Got a new story up on the very awesome Lovecraft e-zine! Lovecraftian fiction is hard to write (I know; I did three stories before "Inheritance", and it's the first one I thought was halfway decent. But somehow editor Mike Davis attracts amazing writers who can really write some mythos-tic stuff; I'm halfway through Issue 11 and am sad I have to go to bed and finish it tomorrow!

http://lovecraftzine.com/issues/inheritance-by-patricia-correll/

"Inheritance", like a lot of my stories, started out as one thing and became something else. It was intended to be straight-up horror with mythos elements; by the final type-up it was a noir-ish romantic tragedy with mythos elements and (I think) some pretty deep characters.

At any rate, it's free to read or listen to (!), unless you want it for your Kindle/Nook/iPhone/whatever, then it's a whopping 99 cents- well worth every one of those 99 pennies, I might add. And if you read my story, leave a comment please, no matter what you thought of it. I can take it!

Love Stories

I am no good at writing love stories.

In nearly all my love stories, at least one half of the couple ends up dead or turned into a monster.

It's not that I don't like happy endings. Actually, it is. I hate happy endings. At best I want my endings to be bittersweet. Happy endings make me want to puke a little. I don't know why. I can't stand romantic comedy films either; I've never ever seen a single one I liked. I guess I was absent the day God handed out girly genes or something. Although I am happily married, I don't like to see other people happy.

I like love stories though, as long as they end tragically. Even better, I like stories about people who are in love but can't be together for whatever reason. When the torment is palpable, I'm in Heaven.

Take my favorite TV show, The X-Files. For 8 years Mulder and Scully solved mysteries and chased aliens and gazed at each other longingly, and everyone loved it. Then they hooked up, even though they didn't tell the audience about it right away, and the show went down the toilet. I didn't even watch the final season, it was so bad (I admit I dragged my husband to see the movie that came out a few years back. It was awful, except for AD Skinner, who showed up near the end and did something sort of badass that I can't entirely remember).

I've already mentioned a couple of my favorite love stories in my "A Few of My Favorite Things" posts: The Persian Boy (dead) and Shogun (also dead). I'll also add Kazuo Ishiguro's novel The Remains of the Day (and the excellent movie adaptation). It's of the 'tormented, unadmitted love' variety, and is an elegant, heartwrenching read.

I'm not exactly a Jack/Sam fangirl (Stargate SG-1), simply because I haven't watched the series religiously, but I always liked their understated relationship. I especially loved when the writers included an episode where Sam realizes, with no doubt, that nothing can ever happen between them; then, in the very next episode, Sam is hurt and Jack puts his arm around her. So not only did the writers crush the fangirls'/boys' hopes, they then taunted them about it.

Then there's Ghost in the Shell. It's one of my favorite anime franchises, and both the movies and television series give a nod to the unspoken affection between the kickass female main character and her almost-as-kickass right hand man. But they also make it clear it's never going to happen, which lends just enough anguish to make me happy.

Speaking of anime, I lied about hating happy endings. The manga and anime of Emma: A Victorian Romance, is happy. SHUT UP I'M STILL A GIRL. Even if I hate rom-coms.

Tonight the husband and I will do what we always do for Valentine's Day: sit on the couch, eat junk food, and watch the goriest, most violent movie we can find on Netflix. Happy Valentine's Day.

Short Stories II

1.) Lovecraft eZine just accepted one of my stories, 'Inheritance' for a future issue. I am not sure when it will be out. It's one of my favorite stories; it has sex and slime, what more could you want?

It's the only Lovecraftian story I've ever written that was any good (I've written 3 or 4 at this point). It's hard to write good Lovecraft.

Lovecraft eZine also has a bunch of audio versions of Lovecraft stories available for free listening, so if you want to be turned into a cowering heap of insanity while at the office or something, check it out: http://lovecraftzine.com/

2.) I am working on a prequel novella to a novella I have already completed. While writing I was surprised to discover my main character from the original novella (very upstanding, precise, a rule-follower- pretty much Cyclops from The X-Men, but not as much of a dick) was a total brat as a child. I was amused. I love it when they surprise you.

3.) Everyone must see the Werner Herzog film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. It's Herzog, so it'spretty surreal, and stars Nicolas Cage as a cop whose back injury leads him to be addicted to every drug there is. He even hangs outside of clubs so he can pick up clubbers as they are leaving, and steal their drugs. Here is a clip that shows the bonkers, hallucinatory nature of the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXNfHb9b6Y0&feature=related

You probably don't want to watch it if you are offended by...anything, really, because this movie has it all. Nasty sex, crack smoking, excessive violence, profanity out the ass and iguanas. Lots and lots of iguanas.