The link for my new collection of fiction went live a day early. It slid in under the radar and sat quietly in the nosebleed seats while everyone was watching the show. Then one person turned around and said, 'Hey, look!'
And it went from there. The sales started coming in, folks started to share the link, and my stomach did a barrel roll. You see, I figured after some word of mouth that the curious few would discover my writing. I don't do a lot of promotion. This release was a bit different, however. First, it's got this incredible cover by Robert W. Cook of NOROT fame.
So what does this new cover look like? Check it out. --->
I know, pretty awesome, right?
What's also pretty damned awesome is the lineup in this collection.
There's a bunch of stories of mine, such as:
Scarred Enoch’s Devil Dead Gods Dreaming Angels from the Ashes of a Human Fire Samedi Fury The End of Love The Four Goldfish of the Apocalypse Dreaming of Artaud The Stonehenge Man Incident Beautiful Doll and The Demon’s Tale
A story by James Glass titled ‘The Monster Under the Bed’
And finally The Preachings of Mr. Ministry. What does that mean? It means some crazy free verse and rantings for your head-scratching reading pleasure.
Some are flash fiction pieces, some are short stories, and still others are novella length (as in the case of The Lazarus Stone (Conspiracy Edit).
To celebrate the Summer Solstice and the Supermoon of 2013, the electronic edition is available now. The print version will be available next week, along with the ability to request autographed copies!
It's not every day I get to talk to a zombie, but with big love and extra special thanks to my friend Doree Anne, I not only got to chat with one, but I got to interview an actual, live (or, well, you get the idea) walker from The Walking Dead!
Specifically, William Sibley Hart aka the ankle biter in the season 3 premier of The Walking Dead (shown in the clip above, thank you, YouTube!). Being a former media chick in a not-too-distant past, I'm always fascinated by the process and the actors involved. Not only is William Sibley Hart an awesome guy, but he's deliriously interesting to chat with, so without further ado I turn it over to him!
What drew you to the part initially?
A
few years back I was working for a large coffee company, yeah probably
the one that just popped into your head. The Walking Dead was still
shooting Season 1 and was filming nearby. As an avid book fan, I have
read books on Cold Reading (think John Edwards), when a bunch of people
came in talking enthusiastically about the zombie shoot, I picked up on a
trend. Eventually Melissa McBride saunters in, sporting dog tags that
said zombie #1 or something. I connected the dots and said something to
the effect of “You must be with that movie shoot I keep hearing about,
the zombie one.” She was of course taken aback, as I don’t believe we
had even gotten to her order yet. This gets us chatting very quickly. She is really a very lovely woman. She suggested that I try to find my
way onto the set. Well of course this piques my interest so I hunted out
the show and immediately got sucked in and fell in love. Fast forward a
year later, my philosophy teacher is incredibly hung over and just
having us do a little reading quiz, then go. This was actually really
fortunate, 'cause I had run into him while out at the bar, and I don’t think
either of us were in good shape. With my new-found time off, I got on
Facebook. I know, shocking, a college student on Facebook. I saw the
rush call on Facebook, sent in my picture, and took a nap outside my
next class. I’m sure I looked like a freaking hobo to people passing in
the hall. Literally as soon as my professor started lecturing my phone
went off. I yelled out a whoop, he was NOT impressed, showed him the
email and bolted. I may have come back once, during the next two weeks.
Season 2 finale was a lot of work, we were all out there 18+ hours a
day, to over run the farm.
What were some ways you prepared yourself to play a walker?
To
be honest, I totally bolted out the door, bag in hand before I even
considered that. I was on set, after having to pause and wait for a herd
of ~90 zombies, in full makeup and wardrobe tromp past. On set I
befriended the people around me, who gave me the zombie school run down,
AKA cheap condensation of the “official” zombie school. Seriously,
don’t play me in cards, I have a wicked luck streak. That was the first
time I had prepped, I think being hung over helped for the first day. I
am fortunate enough to be an autodidactic learner (I learn better from
self-study than from teachers) so being in the environment allowed me to
adapt fairly quickly. Basically the same principle for how an immersion
language course works. For myself, quite possibly due to the hangover I
had during my first day on set, I kinda recreate, physically, a state
of being really drunk. I find it helps create some disjointed movements
in my gait, no particular pattern, speed, etc. For biting Hershel, this
of course came to no use. As we shot it in segments, ending with the
actual tendon pulling, I already had my contacts in by the time I was
getting direction from Greg. this posed a unique problem as I couldn’t
see much more than a general outline and bright patterns on clothing. A PA stepping in front of the light that was trained at me was what made
getting direction possible. I spent 6 hours mostly blind, unless I knew
the person by voice, I have no clue who I was talking to, all day. This
was literally during angle change for the bite itself. What you saw in
episode 3 had been declared to me as “rehearsal,” Kevin said he was
gonna wait for the full run to pump blood, etc. With all the prosthetics
on my face, I didn’t feel the gush I only noticed after I was “dead.”
Did you enjoy it?
Cacatne
ursus in silvis? This is the latin phrase, does a bear shit in the
woods. OMG, super 8000000x geekgasm. Words cannot begin to describe how
amazing it has been to get paid to go have a blast on set. Sure the day
may be painful, long, tiring, frustrating or any number of adjectives,
but that is momentary discomfort and very fleeting. As an adrenaline
junkie, the experience of having lots of guns fired at me (S2 finale),
put in a burning building (inside the barn) etc is totally a dream come
true. Honestly, I was shooting for a stunt upgrade, I told them they
could totally light my jeans on fire, just let me drop my thermal undies
first (it was 25 degrees out that night, I wore two sets). I’m a boy,
you better believe that some of my stupid fire related shenanigans (read
alot, most intentionally) got me light on fire. Really it’s a miracle I
made it to 18, I think my folks lost money on a bet because of it.
As I may have mentioned before, my name is Will and I’m an adrenaline
junkie. That doesn’t make me smart, it just means I accept that I will
die when it is my time and not a moment before. I choose to grab life by
the balls and make it my.... Well you get the idea. I try to live with
no regrets, if you always ask yourself what if.... it eventually turns
in to what could have been. I think we can all agree that regrets suck, I
prefer not regretting having tried it, and having learned a lesson from
the pain (And no, i’m not a super scared up guy). I could literally
write forever on this subject, it is worth every second of pain, every
scratch, nick, burn, destroyed bed stuffs (the ears can literally hold
makeup for weeks). If I never take an acting career further (I have a
golden ticket, that doesn’t mean that the box I trade it for won’t be
shit), or even if it blossoms into something, my experience will stick
with me, I am still in awe that I have had the chance to be a part of
it. Yup, that folks was another geekgasm. *lights cig*
What was your favorite experience on the set?
I
get this question a lot, you’d think it would be easy to answer by now.
Hard to pick a favorite moment from all the wonderful experiences I
have had, and people I have met. Yup, this one gonna get me all
geekgasmy again.
This question is like asking which one of your toes
will you let me cut off and then trying to pick one. To be able to work
with such legendary and talented folks is beyond an honor and leaves me
dumbfounded and excited and giddy like a damn school girl. That being
said, there are a few moments that stand out, predominately.
Folks, I
don’t recommend not sleeping for two weeks and working almost non-stop.
If you survive, you will have a myriad of memories, feelings, etc. As I
mentioned before, it was really cold (I know we’re sissies in Atlanta,
lived in a ski town for years. Big shout out to Flagstaff friends, y'all
are family and I miss you), no one was prepared for the cold. I swear it
was 25 in November, but tee shirt weather the rest of the damned
winter. The first night of filming was arduous, especially for the lady
zombies. I got jeans a shirt and a flannel shirt, many of them were in
lady clothes, skirts, dresses, etc. The intensity of the cold surprised
everyone, many of the girls were icicles. In between takes, Chandler’s
(Carl) PA runs out to bring him a jacket and some hand warmers. Without
missing a beat, this 11 year old boy turns to the closest shivering
zombie, puts his jacket around her shoulders, and gives her the hand
warmers. I don’t know about you, or your readers, but at that age I
woulda put the jacket on, pulled out my gameboy (80’s baby represent)
and ignored humanity till I had to do something. Ok, so maybe I was a
brat and had a lot to learn, my mother is OCD down to the point that
friends were basically chosen for me. Seriously, keep watch on that kid,
he’s going to go far.
What was your least favorite experience on the set?
Honestly,
the aches and discomforts and pain experienced become a proud badge.
Ok, so sometimes the day gets long and frustrating, but holy shit...
Come on... It’s THE WALKING MOTHER FUCKING DEAD *yeah my geekgasms are
getting intense, this is a fun interview* It all boils down to being a
fan that got to go and play Hollywood. Every time I step on to the set,
even through the next half of Season 3 (you MAY see me in 12) I feel
like the most popular girl in school cried and pleaded to have me as her
date for prom. Every moment after is just the next best moment of my
life.
How do you feel when you see yourself as a walker on TV?
I
now know roughly what it would look like to be burned alive (inside the
barn S2 Finale), shot from a distance and up close, execution style.
While I may know what the scene looks like from my view (which if I’m
lensed is highly lacking to non-existent), I don’t know where it’s
coming, when, or how it looked on the monitor. The first time I saw the
footage of biting Scott (Hershel. Pretty sure I nicked his calf in one
of the sequential takes before the prosthetic, sorry dude) was as it
aired. I figured that it would be towards the end of the episode, based
off the amazingly, awesome prosthetic Kevin Wasner built (yes that man
truly earned his Emmy), but had no clue it was their cliffhanger/shocker moment at the very end. Since I know a lot of the
zombies, watching the show has become a recognize the zombie game.
Seriously, it’s really hard, however, when posed as a drinking game, yell
the name out and drink, none of the other zombies will play. I have
posed this at several zombie get-togethers at bars and or houses for
viewing parties. Speaking of which, if you live in Atlanta and plan on
doing Diesel Filling Station, any premier or finale, buy your entry ASAP
or go down before 3, they hit capacity at like 4:30.
When you're not a walker, what else do you like to do?
Everything
and anything, I am a a student of life and live by the philosophy of I
cannot make a decision without having some knowledge to base my opinion
about. I don’t fear the unknown for I cannot fear something that I do
not know if I would enjoy or not. I stick to fearing things I know suck.
Lately, I have been doing what I call an absorb phase. Through my role
on the show, life has blown up. Bite a guy on the leg on TV and the
rules change. Like G.I. Joe said, 'Knowing is half the battle'. I like to
at least have a little something known before I just hand out my Golden
ticket to any old scammer. The Google Fu is strong with me, as is my
thirst for knowledge. If I lived in the Garden of Eden, I would have
eaten all the damned apples in the entire place. Anyone (from my
experience) denying the gift knowledge, has something to hide that I’m
going to find out. Seriously, I went to boarding school for 2 years, I
read almost the entire library. Absorb phases can be freaking ridiculous
if I have the time to let go and soak in. Most of what I have been
doing lately is drinking down books, suggested to me by Dave Vescio. If
you saw the movie Hick, you watched him play the creepy pool shark in
the bathroom (deliberately vague, I hate knowing spoilers and won't give
any and ruin your fun). I have recently discovered the value of Twitter
and have been enjoying chatting with fans worldwide, follow me
@whart31, I try to reply to every comment, but it can be difficult.
Social dynamics absolutely fascinate me, frankly, I think anyone that
has to relate with another human being should have an interest in it.
Ego is a really powerful thing, especially male ego, we can be
bullheaded and stubborn but the day that is bad enough to smash the ego
and send you into the self help section, will change the way you view
the world. I have devoured books on topics ranging from body language,
cold reading (mentioned prior), to just regular interactions, on top of
people-watching in all environments. Funny story, my Anthropology
professor, also was a people-watcher and not as subtle as he thought he
was at 6’+ with huge Oakely sunglasses, wearing a very nice suit
(different daily), walking around the Georgia State courtyard. I pulled
him, second week of class, and asked him about it. He suggest I become
an anthropologist. Frankly, there is too much to do and too little time
to master it all, I am content with eating up as much info as I can
about things that interest me. In another life I can pick just one and
play with that, for now I am like a vampire, always thirsty for more.
Any additional comments?
Thanks
for having me be part of the blog. I really dig the questions, got me deeply into my
passion and even ripped more than a few geekgasms outta me. *lights
another smoke* I really gotta quit these things, anyone got suggestions
for what helped them and wants to be a part of my team fuck (can I say
that here?) being a slave to tobacco/save me lots of money by changing
my tobbacco to none, hit me @whart31 or on my fan page at www.facebook.com/WilliamSibleyHart
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