Name:

James Viscosi

Location:

Oceanside, California 92054
United States

E-mail:

jkviscosi@yahoo.com

James Viscosi writes novels and short stories, primarily in the horror and fantasy genres, with the occasional foray into SF, mysteries, westerns, or just general strangeness.

A Flock of Crows is Called a MurderA Flock of Crows is Called a Murder (book)

Print: $29.50

Download: $4.99

A real estate developer's clash with a local eccentric who doesn't want him constructing a new shopping plaza on the site of a mysterious old building escalates into something much more sinister after a dark spectral force is awakened from its sleep.

Dragon StonesDragon Stones (book)

Print: $21.95

Download: $6.25

When mercenaries invade her lair and slaughter her hatchlings, T'Sian the dragon embarks on a quest for revenge that takes her across the continent.

Long Before DawnLong Before Dawn (book)

Print: $19.95

Download: $5.00

An ancient vampire's lust for a human woman triggers a battle between rival undead factions, with a small band of vampire hunters caught in the middle.

James Viscosi's Storefront

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	DRAGON STONES The dragon tasted the corpses of her hatchlings. The bodies were cool, their internal fires stilled. She moved them aside, finding the carcass of a man beneath them. He lay face-down, arms spread wide. She rolled him over; his face had been smashed in, rendered concave and unrecognizable. She peered at the man for some time, considering. The damage had been done with a weapon. He must have come with companions, and they had crushed his head to keep her from taking it, showing it to other men, tracking him by his appearance. "Cursed man," she hissed. She examined the body, turning it this way and that, but he bore nothing that spoke of origin or maker. He looked no different from any other thug who had come into her lair in search of booty; only the torn and broken remains of her young marked him as more remarkable than most. "I could swallow you whole," she told the dead man, "but you are vermin and unworthy of such an honor." She tossed him into the bone pit, hearing him clatter to the bottom and come to rest in the darkness below.
	LONG BEFORE DAWN They came within three feet of him, then stopped. He could see them better now. One was a man, the other a woman. His gaze was drawn to their faintly luminescent eyes, glowing with a sick green light. He tried to get up, to run, but he couldn't. Something held him down. The weight of those eyes. The woman knelt down and took his head in her hands. Slowly, almost gently, she tipped it back, as if she wanted to avoid hurting him. Then she leaned forward and put her lips lightly to his neck, and he noticed two things as her teeth entered him. First, the fear was gone. And second, absurdly, he had a hard-on.
	A FLOCK OF CROWS IS CALLED A MURDER He plowed into her, bore her backwards onto the bed. He was trying to kiss her; his lips, dry and cold and leathery, brushed hers, then mashed against them. She squirmed beneath him, trying to break the contact, but his hands shot up and gripped her head like the edges of a vise. His mouth opened, forcing hers to open, too. She felt the first clammy, sticky bubbles of slime coming out of his throat, dribbling into hers. Salty mucous, gunk. She couldn’t breath; he had gummed up her nose with snot, her mouth was full of it. He wanted her to swallow, that was it. Swallow, and breathe, and be like him ...
	NIGHT WATCHMAN Mrs. Barrett rises. "Be careful. Listen to me! Beware the power of Satan." "Don't worry, ma'am," Nate says. "We're pure of heart and noble of purpose. Right, Frank?" "Maybe you are," Frank says. They go back into the hallway. Mrs. Barrett shuts the door behind them and locks it four different ways as they head for the stairs. "Do you think we need backup?" asks Nate as they ascend the last flight to the rooftop door. "Nah. For a bunch of kids? They got knives, we got guns." "But what about the power of Satan?" Frank points to his groin. "I got the power of Satan right here. Now c'mon, or we'll miss the Black Mass."
	NEW TRADITIONS IN TERROR Featuring James Viscosi's story "The 66th Vampire" He struggled to stand up, but the dogs were on him in seconds, gnashing and biting and howling in triumph. He wrestled with them, grabbing their slick, matted fur, squeezing, twisting. Bones snapped; flesh tore. Some of their howls turned to yelps. But there were a dozen hounds, chosen for size and ferocity, and they were ripping him to pieces. With the cross around his neck, he had no chance. Then their masters arrived, huffing, their flashlight beams searching Connor out beneath the wriggling pile of canine flesh. At a shouted command the dogs released him. The big man took their place, kneeling on Connor's chest, a silver stake in one hand and a wooden mallet in the other. He positioned the stake above Connor's heart. The top of it was shaped like a cross; it hurt Connor's eyes to look at it. "When you get to hell," the man said, "tell the others that Kestrel sends his regards."
	CROSSINGS Featuring James Viscosi's story "Draw" He trudged down the hill to the road. The dry scrub splintered as he bulled through it, scratched at his ankles and shins. His boots raised clouds of powdery earth with every step; these hung in the stillness, slowly settling back to the ground, waiting to coat the clothing of the next traveler. A dry wind kicked up, blowing down out of the mountains to Shill's back, pushing the dust so it clung to him instead of falling back to the ground. He felt it on the bare skin of his neck and hands; he felt the wind suck the moisture out of him. The air smelled like lightning. He thought of lost hair and teeth and gangrenous body parts. Gloves. Next time he came to this miserable place, he would bring gloves. And a scarf. Hell, next time he'd make somebody else come.

James Viscosi's Scribblings

Random Rejection: Doyen Literary Services
2009 Nov 22
Here’s what I consider an example of a form rejection letter done right: It doesn’t offer uselessly general advice, generic statements about what the agent is or is not looking for, lengthy attempts to justify the rejection, or nonspecific critiques. It’s just a simple “no thank you, try again”, which in my opinion [...]
The Early Years: Jim Is A Singing Snitch
2009 Nov 15
I’m not sure if this checklist considers “Tells On Other Children” to be a good thing or a bad thing. And “Participates Freely in Singing”? I find that hard to believe! Fortunately I didn’t go to a rough kindergarten, or I might have gotten shanked with a sharpened miniature wooden ice cream paddle. Incidentally, this is a [...]
Blast from the Past: Response Times
2009 Nov 08
The other day, I was poking around my old web site in The Internet Archive looking for some information, and I happened to notice my “Response Times” link. This was a report that could be spit out by my old Manuscript Tracking database and which I used to upload from time to time just [...]
November Scene-Of-The-Month: The Wolf
2009 Nov 01
The votes are in and once again the winner for “Scene of the Month” is The Wolf. We’re up to about page 24 of about 100, so there’s plenty of werewolf fun still available, but it’s starting to become clear that this will be the first book to be removed from the “Scene of [...]
Random Rejection: Marietta Publishing
2009 Oct 25
This week, I reached into my vast collection of rejection letters and pulled out this double-sider from Marietta Publishing: Side one is a flier advertising Tom Piccirilli’s short story collection The Dog Syndrome. Checking Wikipedia, that places this rejection at around 1997. Side two is the rejection. It’s a very nice rejection, but unfortunately, I have [...]
New Version of “Flock of Crows” Available!
2009 Oct 18
As I mentioned last week, I’ve been working on a new edition of A Flock of Crows is Called a Murder that, among other things, restores the infamous missing epilogue, plus fixes various issues with the layout from the most recent edition, which was a scan produced by BookSurge of the original DarkTales edition of [...]
“Dragon Stones” Now Available On Kindle
2009 Oct 11
The Kindle version of Dragon Stones is now available! There was a slight delay while I satisfied Amazon.com that I am, in fact, the author of and have electronic rights to Dragon Stones; no doubt this process was tightened up somewhat after the 1984 fiasco, when Amazon allowed a publisher without distribution rights to [...]
October Scene-Of-The-Month: “The Wolf”
2009 Oct 04
The votes are in and once again The Wolf is the reader’s choice for scene of the month! Continuing with the way I’ve been doing it, this is the next scene in sequence from the last one, rather than a random scene. Enjoy! The flatbed truck, ironically enough, reminded Greg of the pickup that [...]
Adventures in Kindling
2009 Sep 27
This weekend, I decided to spend a little time formatting one of my books (Dragon Stones, natch) for the Amazon Kindle. The Kindle, of course, is an e-book reader notable for its built-in “Whispernet” wireless client, which allows the user to shop and buy books and have them delivered directly to the device without ever [...]
The Early Years: Zippy Rocket Shoes
2009 Sep 20
From the “Was This Really Homework?” Department: What self-respecting kid wouldn’t want a pair of rocket shoes? Many years later, a similar sort of device would appear in a game of “Paranoia” that I was refereeing. For those who aren’t familiar with it, “Paranoia” was “a role-playing game set in a darkly humorous future”, a dystopian [...]

Jim's Capsule Reviews

Dragonlance - Dragons Of Autumn Twilight: C+
DVD

I had heard some bad things about this animated adaptation of the first Dragonlance book (a D&D tie-in, for those who don't know), so I had low expectations, which were entirely met. This is only for fans of the Dragonlance series, like me, and even I barely liked it.

The biggest problem is the animation, which is more or less of flipbook quality; it makes the old He-Man TV series look like Akira. Also, while everything else is normal (if primitive) animation, the dragons are cheeseball CGI, which has the odd effect of making the thing seem a bit like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as the cartoon characters interact with computer-generated beasties that clearly "aren't there". You kind of have to watch it to get the full effect.

Anyway, aside from the crummy animation, the main problem is that so much of the book is excised that it's unlikely to make a lick of sense if you haven't read it. The voice acting ranges from okay to laughable, and the guy playing the dwarf, Flint, is channelling John Rhys-Davies as Gimli something fierce.

Still, for all these complaints, it is kind of nice to see Caramon, Raistlin, Tanis, and the rest of the gang on screen. Here's hoping they spend a nickel on better animation for the next one.

Star Ocean Till the End of Time: D
For Playstation 2

I could put up with the interminable cut scenes. I could put up with miles and miles of empty dungeon that you have to wander through just to find a chest full of "magical berries". I could put up with the stupid decisions made by the A.I. that controls the characters that the player isn't directly manipulating during battle. I could even put up with the absurd dialog and grade-school-level voice acting. But the final boss battle was total B.S., with spellcasting characters suddenly getting a "miss" on simple healing spells that they've been casting through dozens of earlier battles. Aggravating? Oh yeah. Treat it like the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal and avoid, avoid, avoid.

A Companion to Wolves: B+
by Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear

An enjoyably different fantasy adventure, this novel postulates what appears to be an alternative version of medieval Scandinavia, where men bonded with wolves defend human civilization from marauding trolls. The graphic sex and violence mean this is not a book for children, but others will appreciate the skillful storytelling and vivid battles. The authors have a point to make about what societies value, which becomes clear in the final pages. Worth reading, but keep pen and paper handy to keep track of characters' names.

I Am Legend (Film): A-

A suspenseful post-apocalyptic film with surprising emotional punch and tremendous acting from Will Smith, who conveys more fear, hope, and sadness with one eyelid than most action stars can with a slide show of Meryl Streep's greatest facial expressions. Marred only by some cheeseball CGI and a few continuity holes. Don't go in expecting Matheson's plot, though.

The Golden Compass (Film): C-

An unfortunately botched adaptation, this film jettisons most of what made the novels interesting. Boycotted by Christian groups for anti-religious themes, it should have been boycotted for shallow characterization, stupid coincidences, choppy editing, and sheer muddle-headedness. Read the book instead. Excellent performances, especially from Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra, cannot save the mess of a script. Viewers in search of a good fantasy adaptation should check out Stardust instead.