I’m so excited to be here in the Authors’ Lounge to discuss my new book, “Tales from Mr. Macabre.” Before we get into what the book is about, I wanted to give a brief overview of how I started writing because every great journey has a beginning.
When I was a kid, I had a vivid imagination and loved running around outside and acting out those wild tales of wonder that my mind came up with. I also loved reading. I began with comic books and moved on to fantasy stories like The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. What really tantalized my senses were scary stories. I read anything I could get my hands on, even if I wasn’t quite old enough to gaze at the gilded pages.
It never occurred to me to write stories until I got older and had a family of my own. I found a site called Reedsy, which is a wonderful community of writers, and began to write short stories based on a series of prompts they had every week. After that first story, I was hooked. I wrote in every genre, but the one that clicked with me the best was horror.
Since that fateful day in December 2020, I have immersed myself in learning everything I could to become a better writer. I was learning on the run and have since written over 100 short stories and created some really amazing series.
It became clear to me that with some of those series, the short story format was no longer big enough to contain my creativity. So, I decided to write a novel and what better way to start than to create a book of short stories, which I loved?
Tales from Mr. Macabre is a short story collection with an overall narrative. It’s a book for horror lovers, but it’s not so over the top to scare you silly because I injected my witty sense of humor throughout. I believe it gives the book a different flavor than anything else I’ve encountered in the genre. Each story has a lesson that readers can see play out in real time, and Mr. Macabre himself will be there to share his thoughts.
Where did I get the idea for the overall story? That’s a good question. I suppose I’ll start at the beginning. One day I was sitting at my computer, ready to bang out another story, but I found myself staring at a blank screen. Every writer’s nightmare. I kept thinking about all the writing rules that we writers have to follow, and out of frustration, I started writing those negative thoughts down about what I liked and didn’t like about the writing process.
I took a break, and when I returned to the screen, I read what I had written, and it seemed like I was arguing with myself. I focused on the negative sentences and thought, “Wow, what if I could take that energy and turn it into something?” I let that idea sizzle in my brain, and out of the blue, I came up with an idea. “What if an ancient spirit who liked to tell scary stories invaded my mind to write his kind of tales?” And thus, Mr. Macabre was born.
The novel begins when I sit down to write a story, and then Mr. Macabre invades my mind out of nowhere. He is an evil spirit who loves to tell horror stories but no longer has the ability to write. Through me, Mr. Macabre uses my storytelling talent to write his unique brand of scary tales. All the while, I try to fight back to save my mind.
“Tales from Mr. Macabre” features 24 chapters of devilish delight. Will Daniel R. Hayes be strong enough to cleanse his mind from the sinister Mr. Macabre, or will he be forever lost to madness?
One thing that surprises me every time is when someone tells me they hate scary stories, but when they read mine, they love them. It always brings a smile to my face.
As I look to the future, I see a plethora of stories crying out for me to write them. My next novel is based on one of my most popular short stories called “Hot Head.” Also, I already have enough stories to write “Tales from Mr. Macabre Volume 2,” which I hope to work on soon.
