Horror Anthology: David Schembri

The Black Beacon Book of Horror will be released on Friday the 13th of October; the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and you can add the anthology to your Goodreads list today. To get you in the mood for a particularly spooky Halloween this year, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. The first Black Beacon Book of Horror is bound to give you the creeps!

Hi David,

Why do you write horror?

It’s all about having my own voice in the genre. I do love reading horror more than watching it on screen. When I read the genre, I have fun when it’s a captivating tale that provides goosebumps, and I enjoy taking on the challenge in the hope that others have that same experience when reading my work. We are all unique and have something to share, and my mind is always ticking away at, ‘how could I tell that story with my own spin?’. Horror has always been a genre I love reading, so in turn, I love writing it.

Is there a story behind your story in this anthology?

When I choose to take up the task of creating a short story, my mind goes into ‘gather mode’. What this means to me, is that I hunt for something, be it a spark, a light, a trumpet noise in my ear. Something that instantly grabs my interest and puts up in lights, ‘You’ve never written about this before, it’s new to you. This will be fun so let’s dive in !’ Such an instance happened to me during my son’s 14th birthday. We’d taken a trip for the weekend to Phillip Island. Whilst there, we visited the Amaze’n Things Theme Park. This was a glorious place, and I’m a kid at heart, so I was having a ball with all of the mazes and puzzles. After lunch, we ventured further into the park, when suddenly, after walking into the Illusions at Magic Manor, it hit me. I wanted to write about an illusionist. I was so inspired by the old style posters of Kellar and Thurston that I grabbed the first opportunity I got when I returned home to get stuck into reading about that period. This also weaved me through old movies of the 1940s, showcasing Illusionists and magicians of the time. This also lead me down the path of pursuing another untouched subject : The Gangsters of New York, and how I could combine the two worlds into the story. How demons, cults and dogs came into the mix, well, just put that down to my weird, creative lunacy, and there you have it : My story behind the story.

Do you have an all-time favourite horror tale?

Misery by Stephen King, hands down, that book scared me silly, and I’d read it again.

What books did you grow up reading?

I wasn’t much of reader when I was young. I was too obsessed with playing with toys and creating my own scenarios with my figurines. The Choose Your Own Adventure Series was a favourite, as this enabled me to contribute something to the direction of the story. I know I wasn’t the writer, but those books did empower me with some sort of control upon my own destiny when reading them. As a young and developing creative, it took me some time to surrender myself fully to reading a book, rather than creating tales of my own, and I quickly discovered, that reading was something I was missing dearly. Reading opened the floodgates that would’ve remained closed had I’d not taken the plunge, and I had never looked back. This all came under the advice of my English teacher. He’d read a lot of my writing and noticed that I lacked inspiration. He directed me the library and said, ‘Read what interests you, not only what the school wants you to read.’ That’s when I walked around the shelves, picked up a Richard Laymon book, and couldn’t put it down.

Do you have any writing rituals?

Oh yes. It’s all about keeping quiet for me. If there is music playing, then it needs to be instrumental and carry the ambience of the story I am attempting to write. In the case of The Great Invacation, I had old, instrumental, Broadway Theatre music playing, which helped me remain in the period. As long as I’m comfortable, my research with me and my characters profiled, I can write away and see what unfolds.

Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?

I enjoy keeping up my fitness. It’s great for the soul and mental health. With the common challenges that life can through at you, there is nothing like doing a good exercise session to do your body and mind some good. I always have a great writing session after knowing that in the morning, I’d been active.

Where can we find you online?

You can find me online at davidschembri.net, or look me up on my author page on Facebook. Tap me a message and share what you think of my work, I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for answering our questions.

David Schembri Interview

David Schembri is the artist who so kindly provided our new logo last year. The dramatic black beacon logo has already replaced the old logo online and will make its début in print later this year when we release "The Black Beacon Book of Mystery", a 400-page anthology of original and previously published locked-room mysteries, noir escapades, armchair detective puzzles, tales of psychological profiling, and police investigations. David's logo design perfectly reflects the mood and style you'll find in our books. We wanted to share a little more about David Schembri's work and upcoming projects with you, and there's no better way to do that than to ask the man himself.

1) What were the highlights of 2019 for you, apart from designing our spectacular new logo, of course?

The past year was very exciting. I was able to support and assist my son in the creation of his first short film. It was wonderful to see him work hard on a project and go through the process of entering it into a competition. His little film was accepted into a small session of shorts, which was screened at a local cinema. I am very proud of him.

My daughter had independently entered into a dance competition, which required entrants to create their own dance and perform it. It was very special to see her on stage again, but performing her own dance. She’d even advanced into the grand final of the event, which was an added bonus. So, a very proud parent year.

On the writing front, Beneath the Ferny Tree (my second collection of horror stories and artwork, published by Close Up Books) continued its marketing journey. The book had been nominated for Best Collected Work at the Australian Shadows Awards, which was a thrill, and was placed in a few bookshops in Victoria, Canberra and Adelaide.

The time then came to travel. I had taken up an invitation to speak at a writing workshop in Canberra. This was offered to me by Suzanne Kiraly from Aussie Writers, who had enjoyed Beneath the Ferny Tree. This was a fantastic experience, as I was able to meet with authors and publishers, and attend some wonderful lectures. I was also able to speak about my books and horror writing to an audience, and was asked some great questions and give some insight into the genre. I also had gained some design projects, so the networking aspect of the trip worked on all levels. I travelled by train, so I was gifted with many hours of writing time.

2) What should we expect from David Schembri Studios this year, or from David Schembri, the writer?

My studio was graced with a much-needed upgrade, so this year will bring many new projects. Along with continuing to support my ongoing customers, I hope to offer new products, such as product photography, web design and support, product film making and comic book illustration. Illustration projects are popular at the moment and I am already in talks to start a few projects, so an exciting start.

As for my writing, there is a lot on the desk. I have a new horror novella near completion, so I will be hunting for home for that one soon. I have a fantasy novel to redraft before sending it through to an interested party, along with a bevy of artwork. Furthermore, I have a few exciting collaboration projects that will be keeping me very inspired and busy. In the back ground, I have been planning a graphic novel for some time, so I would love to get that progressing a little this year.

3) On the subject of works of art, we see you love classic cars. What can you tell us about that?

Not many people know, but I own a small classic car. It’s a lovely Austin A30. I love all sorts of cars, but my connection to this particular marque comes from my father working at the Austin factory in South Melbourne back in 1955-56. It was his first job when immigrating to Australia, so when learning of this, I just had to own one. Having this car has exposed me to the wonderful classic car community, and of course, to the A30 Club of Australia (to which I am now the editor of their magazine). This year, I was involved in an interstate rally, where along with my son, we travelled 500 miles to Adelaide with the car club. We attended Austins’ Over Australia, a massive car rally and show in the Barossa Valley. It was a wonderful week away, and my son had taken lots of film footage to make a small documentary of the experience. Another great highlight of 2019.

4) "Beneath the Ferny Tree", your second short story collection, was released in 2018. Do you have a personal favourite from it? What's the story behind that story?

My personal favourite would be Atlantica. This was written exclusively for the collection upon request from the publisher. They wanted something else to assist the other stories, but something different, so I chose a period story based on a point in history I hadn’t studied previously. I love researching for stories, and I always get an insight to the strange turns of humanity. This story in particular, deals with the Atlantic slave trade, so it was hard to read and learn about the horrors that innocent people had to endure, and the wickedness of humanity when seduced by greed. This story had lingered in my head for a while, so there was a strong sense of accomplishment when submitting the story and having it accepted for inclusion into the book. It’s one of the main horror stories of the collection and I do hope horror lovers out there give it a read, and to also let me know what they think.

5) If editors or authors would like to use your services, how should they contact you?

Feel welcome to send me an email at dschembristudios@gmail.com, find me on facebook or instagram (@dschembristudios) or go to my website at davidschembhttps://www.davidschembri.netri.net

Thank you for the chat!

No, David. Thank you!

Logo Vote

David Schembri has so very kindly offered to give an independent publisher a helping hand by donating a brand new logo. We asked that the letter B be an integral part of the design and suggested that a lighthouse would reflect the atmosphere of mystery and suspense that envelops us. We've managed to narrow it down to two finalists, but we need you to choose which will become our official logo. It's all happening on Facebook. If you have an account, hop over there and vote. If you don't, which is perfectly understandably, ask a friend to cast a vote for you: Logo 1 or Logo 2. The more votes we get, the better. There's also an ebook to win, or a print book if we reach 100 votes.