A Glimpse of the Ghostly: Michael Picco

The Black Beacon Book of Ghosts will send shivers up your spine this Halloween. The Kindle version is already available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and you can add the anthology to your Goodreads "want to read" list today. The anthology will be officially released on the 11th of October 2024. To get you in the mood and give you a little insight into the workings of their minds, our contributing authors are sharing their own haunting experiences with you. Read on, if you're not fainthearted!

I was living in Lakewood, Colorado when I had my first encounter with the paranormal. Not a ghost, per se, but ghost adjacent, I suppose. 

I had just turned thirty when I encountered one of the “shadow people” (albeit, referring to them as “people” seems a bit of a stretch). They are better characterized as “specters” — dark, shadow-ridden creatures, grotesquely deformed with only vaguely human characteristics.

The years have done little to scour the memory away. The overwhelming and paralyzing fear still seems uncomfortably close-at-hand — even now, some twenty-five years later. This particular “visitation” occurred on a frigid and stormy February night, when the sleet-coated aspens pawed and scratched ceaselessly at my bedroom window. 

I recall being stirred from a restless sleep by an odd sort of static discharge — some kind of peculiar crackling sound. Half asleep, my mind registered it vaguely, but what woke me completely was the odd odor that accompanied it. The scent is difficult to describe. The room stank of burnt ozone, and something not unlike rusted metal, left to scorch and radiate in the summer sun. It’s had a strange, almost palpable pall to it, like the air itself was corroding. Not wanting to disturb my wife, I peeled open one eye to survey the room. There, hovering at the foot of our bed was a specter — a shadow person — an entity I would later refer to in Scenes From The Carnival Lounge as "The Sceadu.” 

The apparition was at least eight feet tall and impossibly thin, possessing a vaguely humanoid shape, but completely bereft of any discernible features — that is, beyond two amorphous and ever-shifting reddish-purple orbs where its eyes should have been. These peered malevolently from beneath the brim of an oddly-shaped hat (like a belled top hat, but oddly disproportionate). The apparition was blacker than black — a shadow of darkness so deep and that the light around it seemed to bend and dim. A sickly purple glow outlined it against the darkness of our bedroom. I watched, utterly paralyzed, as a sickly elongated limb protracted out from its body — a dreadful and stilted sort of gesture, reminiscent of the stutter of a film spool gone off track. 

A misty skeletal hand reached out for me… and I found out then that even a hardened horror writer can know terror.

www.michaelpicco.com

www.amazon.com/author/michaelpicco

https://denverhorror.com/michael-picco/

A Post-Apocalyptic Interview with Michael Picco

Our next anthology, Tales from the Ruins, is going to be a cataclysmic one! It will be released on the 25th of February but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just 99c instead of $3.99. To celebrate the imminent publication of the first Black Beacon Books anthology exclusively dedicated to post-apocalyptic fiction, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Behold the maniacal workings of their troubled minds!

Hi Michael,

Let’s make the first question a lighthearted one...hmm...okay, got it! Is your story simply an entertaining piece of fiction or are you giving us a peek at the terrifying fate tomorrow will unleash upon us? 

The idea of writing about a pandemic occurred to me before the emergence of COVID-19, but I believe that a super infection could happen in the next one hundred years. I chose a hemorrhagic fever simply because of the gruesome symptoms associated with that variety of virus, but there are plenty of bugs out there.

What is it that makes post-apocalyptic fiction so appealing? Would the world be better off if more people read this genre? 

I think post-apocalyptic fiction, like most of horror, gives voice to our darkest thoughts and musings. There is a visceral and hard-boiled quality to most apocalyptic narratives. I think all of us believe that we could survive in that kind of world, but I suspect that the majority of us would quickly succumb to any number of deprivations : hunger, disease, cold, heat, thirst, injury (or fall prey to whatever else roams the post apocalyptic landscapes). We are very insulated in our modern living, and quite over-confident in our ability to survive in any number of adversity. There is a cockiness to our thinking that I believe will lead to our undoing.

Do you have a favourite post-apocalyptic author? 

I enjoyed Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut and There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury. I also found World War Z (Max Brooks) particularly entertaining. I enjoyed A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. even if I found it to be a little long-winded.

Some people like to listen to music while reading. Which song can you imagine providing the soundtrack to your story? 

Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. ;-)

If you woke up in your story tomorrow, what would you do? 

Probably suffer the same fate as my protagonist. I’d survive the apocalypse only to be killed by something dumb and mundane.

There are no firearms or ammunition. You have to choose an everyday object from the home or garden as your weapon of choice — what’s in your hands?

Great question! Again, like my protagonist, I have a really large crowbar that could probably crush the skull of a grizzly bear (if I managed to get close enough to one without getting mauled in the process). The one I describe in my story is exactly like the one I have: it’s ugly and covered in scratches. The paint is missing off of most of it; it’s speckled with rust; and the pry bar at the end is dented and notched. It’s at least fifty years old and has seen a lot of use. I would imagine that it would be quite handy when fighting off mutants or zombies.

Time to get more personal. Tell us three interesting facts about yourself. 

I love to paint and draw. I find that both inform my writing but, I am constantly torn between my two muses.

What do you aim to give your readers? 

I try to give my readers something that they aren’t expecting or haven’t seen before. Horror readers (like myself) tend to be very jaded and easily bored. When I am writing, I try to keep the reader guessing.

What are you working on now? 

I am steadily putting together my third collection of short stories, titled These Wretched Bones. This collection will feature some extended versions of previously published work as well as some new material. I hope to have this collection released by 2024.

Where can we find you online? 

www.michaelpicco.com
www.amazon.com/author/michaelpicco

Thanks for playing along. Good luck in the wastelands!

Murder and Machinery: An Interview with Michael Picco

Michael Picco's tale "The Wheel" is just one of the mad mechanical tales featured in Murder and Machinery. Out April the 3rd. Kindle pre-orders available now.

Tell us three interesting facts about yourself:

1. I am a germaphobe. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this neurotic and annoying behaviour. (Editor’s note: smart man)

2. I like to eat my pancakes from the inside out. That way, there’s always a tiny pool of syrup to dip my pancakes into without them getting all soggy. It’s a mouth feel thing. Don’t judge me. (Editor’s note: smart man again)

3. I used to be an avid spelunker. Too many injuries prevent me from doing that now though, I am sad to say. I actually got stuck in a cave once and I am still trying to work that awful experience into a narrative. (Editor’s note: hmm…not so smart man)

What drew you to this particular theme? 

There’s something dreadful and diabolical about the efficiency of machines. They are relentless. They move with a tireless monotony that I find deeply disturbing. In writing The Wheel, I didn’t want to write about a machine that was designed to kill, I wanted to write a story about something that is normally innocuous… something safe. I wanted to write about something that would normally be calming or soothing to see in operation. I wanted to write about a machine that was designed to bring life to a community but instead killed its most vulnerable.

What’s the most frightening machine for you personally?

The increasingly short-circuiting, gear-slipping clockworks between my ears. Stupid brain… (Editor’s note: keep it well-oiled with whisky…NB. I’m neither a doctor nor a mechanic.)

Which short story authors or authors in the horror genre inspire you? 

I love Tim Curran’s work! He’s a great new voice in the genre! John Skipp and Craig Spector remain two of my absolute favourites in the field and have been a HUGE influence on my work. I also enjoy Erinn Kemper’s work (and wish that I wrote more like her).

Do you have a favourite story about machines, other than The Pit and the Pendulum?

Burning Chrome, by William Gibson; The Karma Machine, by Michael Davidson, Fred Saberhagen’s The Berserker War Series and, as unpopular as this book may be: Tommyknockers, by Stephen King.

What does your editing process look like? 

Oh, you mean besides a lot of drinking, swearing and slamming my face onto the keyboard? (Editor just burst out laughing…spraying expensive scotch over cheap laptop) Chuckle… I usually roll my edits as I am composing. The previous day’s work gets at least two rounds of edits before the whole story gets edited.

Do you write everything and then edit or do you meticulously plan before you write? 

My process is fairly organic. Usually this method results in a LOT of rewrites, but seems to yield the best results for me.

What are you working on now?

I just released my second collection of short stories (Corpse Honey, A Banquet of Gruesome Tales), so I am taking a little bit of a break from writing and focusing on promotion instead. I hope to start work on The Lost City of Brass (the long-awaited sequel to Fraser, The Disappearance of Michael Pitts) this summer.

Where can we find you online?

http://michaelpiccoauthor.blogspot.com

amazon.com/author/michaelpicco

Thanks, Michael!