This weekend I wrapped up the final edits for March’s ULT entry, a novella titled SAVING GRANNY FROM THE DEVIL. I’ve been rather silent about this one since its completion last May, although if you were following me back then, then you may remember me mentioning the story’s unexpected turn into personal territory.

Every story is personal to me in some way, but this one deals with some things I’ve held back for a long time. The premise is about a young boy who makes a deal with the Devil to save his grandmother’s life, but on a deeper level, it’s about the woman who helped raise me when I was a kid.

I carry a lot of regrets with me; they’re my badges of idiocy from a childhood of stupid decisions. One of my biggest regrets is for not spending more time with my great-grandmother when I had the chance. I kept that regret buried until I started writing the story last year. I’d actually started working on it in 2011, not long after ALT was re-released, but I wasn’t ready for it then. Funny thing is, I really wasn’t ready for it last year, either. I thought I was writing a supernatural-yet-heartfelt story about a boy confronting the Devil—something like my version of Stephen King’s The Man in the Black Suit—but it quickly turned into something far more personal and revealing.

When I finished the first draft last year, I set it aside and moved on. Revisiting the story for editing purposes was really the first time I’ve looked at it since its completion. This allowed me to look at it with some perspective, to see if the old wounds had finally healed.

I think they have. I hope so, anyway.

SAVING GRANNY FROM THE DEVIL is a departure from my usual style. It’s presented as a “horror memoir,” if such a thing is possible, although I think a more suitable term is “roman á clef.” The final draft is around 15k words. I suspect some of you newer folks probably won’t like it, simply because it’s so different, but for those of you who’ve followed me for a while now—especially those of you from my deviantart days—may find it’s more like what I used to write before I became a straight-up horror guy.

Erica’s in the process of finalizing the cover and I’ll post it once it’s finished along with the official synopsis. In the meantime, I’m moving on to edits of April’s ULT release, a twisted story called THE HARBINGER.

Until next time,

TK