The Thin Red Line of Horror

Dear Subscriber,

When I was a kid, I loved James Jones. In my imagination, he wrote From Here to Eternity about my dad, who was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed. What romance! Fraternizing of an officer’s wife and an enlisted man! A bully psychopath Marine in charge of the stockade. Food for a young reader’s (and future writer’s) delight and imagination!

But when I read The Thin Red Line, I got an idea about island warfare by the Army in the Pacific Islands and the contrast of the Native life with the grunt’s life in battle.

Director Terrence Malick, one of my favorite, all-time directors, wrote the screenplay adaptation to Jones’s novel and it’s superb! I love the way he contrasts using Nature, and the inner monologues of the characters, to make you cry and see through the veil of tears and politics that makes war truly a hellscape of emotional pain and deeply felt brotherhood that can last, or that can turn men into perpetual loners, to their families and to themselves.

After a great artistic novel and film, I am able to see my father’s plight in a much clearer light of penetrating wisdom that only a writer who not only experienced the death throes of war, but then had the balls to create his unique “big picture” drama to express its complexities for all to enjoy.

Thanks, James and Terrence!

What’s interesting about writing about war, which I’ve done in both stories and in my Civil War novel Iron Maiden, is that genres can be combined to add depth to meaning and to emotion. This is why I love creative writing. The freedom one has to do anything.

As an author who “made his mark” by crafting a novel about the fictional murder of Edgar Allan Poe, Forevermore, I am more than pleased to be attending this celebration of the author’s death day, October 8, hosted by “Love Letters to Poe.” I plan to enjoy all the festivities, and you can join also if you’re a fan of Poe. Also, I plan to submit a new story to their anthology. Since the theme of the anthology is to honor Poe’s story The Tell-Tale Heart, my story, which I’ve completed, is called Une Affaire de Coeur (An Affair of the Heart), and it takes place in 1848 France, during the first Revolution. If you’ve read my story to be publishing in Strange Horizons, Cousins, then you’ll know that I often mix genres (horror/scifi). In this instance, my story is a mix of romance/horror.

“A Dream within a Dream”

Therefore, if you want to be inspired for Halloween season, visit this free online gathering and learn a lot about why E. A. Poe is one of my main creative inspirations, as well as many other authors and artists. You can also purchase my entire mystery series starring Detective Patrick J. O’Malley, which features the detective who found Poe’s murderer by solving the cold case of 1849.

Actress and fantasy author Leanna Renee Hieber reads from Forevermore.

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful rest of your week!

James Musgrave

EMRE Publishing

San Diego, CA

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