Speegle, Darren
WORK TITLE: Cries from the Static
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1965
WEBSITE:
CITY: Pran Buri, Prachuap Khiri Khan
STATE:
COUNTRY: Thailand
NATIONALITY:
http://facebook.com/DarrenSpeegle
RESEARCHER NOTES:
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| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n2003028996 |
| HEADING: | Speegle, Darren, 1965- |
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| 046 | __ |f 1965-02-14 |2 edtf |
| 053 | _0 |a PS3619.P439 |
| 100 | 1_ |a Speegle, Darren, |d 1965- |
| 370 | __ |a Birmingham (Ala.) |c United States |e Heidelberg (Germany) |e Iraq |e Pran Buri (Thailand : Amphoe) |e Dunlap (Tenn.) |f Chattanooga (Tenn.) |2 naf |
| 372 | __ |a Fiction |a Materials management |2 lcsh |
| 373 | __ |a United States. Army and Air Force Exchange Service |a KBR (Firm) |a DynCorp |2 naf |
| 374 | __ |a Authors |2 lcsh |
| 374 | __ |a Logistics coordinator |
| 375 | __ |a male |
| 377 | __ |a eng |
| 378 | __ |q John Darren |
| 400 | 1_ |a Speegle, John Darren, |d 1965- |
| 670 | __ |a Speegle, Darren. Gothic wine, 2004: |b CIP t.p. (Darren Speegle) data view (b. Feb. 14, 1965 in Birmingham, Alabama; lives in Germany) |
| 670 | __ |a Speegle, Darren. A haunting in Germany, 2016 : |b title page (Darren Speegle) back jacket flap (author of short stories and novels; ” a widely traveled American,” he often sets his stories in exotic or interesting places where he has lived (Germany, Alaska, Southeast Asia); “between gigs as a federal contractor in the Middle East,” he currently resides in Thailand, where he is working on his third novel) |
| 670 | __ |a Facebook, viewed July 12, 2016 |b (Darren Speegle; lives in Pran Buri, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand) |
| 670 | __ |a Intelius, viewed July 12, 2016 |b (Darren Speegle, 51, address: Dunlap, TN; previous addresses in various places in Alaska, Alababama, Tennessee, and Maryland) |
| 670 | __ |a LinkedIn, viewed July 12, 2016 |b (John Darren Speegle; freelance fiction writer; Chattanooga, Tennessee area; work experience: warehouse manager, AAFES [United States Army and Air Force Exchange Service], November 2006-August 2008, Camp Liberty and Joint Base Balad, Iraq and Heidelberg, Germany; logistics coordinator, KBR, Inc., September 2008-January 2011, Camps Cedar, Adder, and JBB [Joint Base Balad], Iraq; logistics coordinator, DynCorp International, 2011-2013; freelance writer (fiction writing, primarily short stories), January 2011-present, Chattanooga, Tennessee area) |
| 953 | __ |a lh03 |
PERSONAL
Born February 14, 1965 in Birmingham, AL.
ADDRESS
- Home - Chattanooga, TN; Pran Buri, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand.
CAREER
Writer and federal contractor in the Middle East, 2011–. Worked formerly as a warehouse manager for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, 2006-08; logistics coordinator at KBR, Inc., 2008-11; logistics coordinator at DynCorp International, 2011-13.
AVOCATIONS:Hiking and biking.
WRITINGS
- A Dirge for the Temporal, Raw Dog Screaming Press 2004
- Gothic Wine, Aardwolf Publishing (Rockaway, NJ), 2004
- Of Eggs and Elephants, Gallows Press 2013
- A Haunting in Germany, PS Publishing (United Kingdom), 2016
- (Editor, with Michael Bailey) Adam's Ladder, Written Backwards 2017
- The Third Twin: A Dark Psychological Thriller, Crystal Lake Publishing 2017
- A Puddle in the Wilderness: A Varying Distances Short Story, Crystal Lake Publishing 2018
- Varying Distances, Crystal Lake Publishing 2018
- Cries from the Static, Raw Dog Screaming Press 2018
Short fiction contributor to numerous venues, including Subterranean, Cemetery Dance, Postscripts, ChiZine, and Crimewave.
SIDELIGHTS
Darren Speegle is a writer and federal contractor in the Middle East. Speegle was born February 14, 1965 in Birmingham, Alabama. He has travelled widely and has lived in Germany, Alaska, Southeast Asia. He often sets his stories and books in the countries where he has lived. Speegle has worked as a warehouse manager for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service and as a logistics coordinator for KBR, Inc. and DynCorp International.
Speegle is a short fiction contributor to numerous venues, including Subterranean, Cemetery Dance, Postscripts, ChiZine, and Crimewave. When not writing or working, Speegle enjoys hiking and biking. When not traveling, Speegle lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Pran Buri, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand.
A Dirge for the Temporal
A Dirge for the Temporal is a collection of over thirty short stories and poems. The works of surreal fiction range in genre from horror, fantasy, and sci-fi. In reviewing the book in SF Reader Community website, Ray Wallace wrote, “two things you must possess in order to enjoy Darren Speegle’s collection, A Dirge For The Temporal. The first would be a love of language. The second, a hunger for the surreal.”
The first story in the collection sets the tone for the eerie and mysterious stories to follow. In “The Lunatic Mystique,” local newspaper writer Danny Avian finds a beautiful stranger at his door. She explains that she is obsessed with his writing, and insists he must come with her. Before Danny can process what is happening, he has arrived at a small South American village with the woman. There he meets the residents of the village, most of whom are missing their thumbs, and who title him “The Gatherer.”
In “September,” protagonist Galen is on a road trip, traveling from one European city to another. He decides to drive along the backroads to take in the scenery. While driving through what appears to be an abandoned town, he stops at an inn. The inn is run by one woman, seemingly the only resident of the town, but she seems to have been awaiting his arrival. When he inquires about the whereabouts of anyone else, the woman refuses to answer, and he must discover the eerie mystery of the abandoned village on his own.
In “The Call of Morzine,” a group of boys are camping in a cave when a stranger and his pet pay a visit. The pet is a monkey-like creature, and the man explains that the creature is named after a town where a sort of insanity afflicted all of the residents. The man then asks the boys where they live, and inquires for directions to their town. Wary and suspicious, one of the boys speculates about the man’s intentions. He discovers the real story behind the man and uncovers the dark powers of his unusual creature. A contributor to Dark Echo Horror website noted, “Speegle’s stories are eerie rather than extreme and more subtle than splat-filled.”
Adam's Ladder
This anthology, edited by Speegle and Michael Bailey, consists of science fiction short stories, all with a focus on human evolution. A contributor to Publishers Weekly wrote that the anthology “effectively explores the human desire to advance and the hubris that holds us back.”
In Lisa Morton’s “Eyes of the Beholders,” we meet a group of space colonists, sent into the cosmos with hopeful aspirations of space exploration. After their expedition tragically fails, they set out to return to homeland plant Earth. Yet when they return, they find the planet, as well as humankind, unrecognizable. A plot twist leads to a deeper sense of mystery.
Stories such as “Strings,” “I Will Be the Making of You,” and “Swift to Chase” examine the shaky balance between humankind’s desire to advance and the ego-driven pride that often leads to our self-destruction. Tim Lebbon’s “Strings” presents a world in which people believe that evolution has stopped. As a result, they take human progress into their own hands, inciting evolution through the use of nanotechnology. The results of their experiments are frightening. In Rena Mason’s “I Will Be the Making of You,” clones exist amongst humans and space travel has lead to explorations into deep space. Laird Barron’s “Swift to Chase,” the final story in the anthology, tells the tale of a hired hit-woman sent to take the life of a murderous villain. As the dark, action-filled story unfolds, it seems that the female protagonist might not be entirely human. “At its best it’s fantastic, at its worst it strikes the that’s it? chord,” a contributor at Unnerving Magazine website wrote of the book.
The Third Twin
The Third Twin: A Dark Psychological Thriller tells the story of a family experiencing tragedy and horror. Alaska-based Barry and Felicia have recently lost one of their two teenage twin daughters. The remaining twin, Kristen, is fighting for her sanity following this tragic event. As her parents try to help the girl process the death of her sister, Kristen discovers she is pregnant. She has no knowledge of how the pregnancy could have happened. Simultaneously, she begins having terrifying nightmares, in which she sees her dead sister, as well as another menacing figure.
Barry decides to take Kristen with him to a Spider Festival in Brazil. While there, Kristen is attacked by a stranger in an elephant head mask. After the two return home, Barry finds himself compelled to return to Brazil to try to uncover who attacked his daughter, and why. In Brazil, he meets the attacker’s sister, but his interrogation of the woman simply leads to more confusion. While he is away from home, he learns that Kristen has performed a self-inflicted abortion. This event, compounded with everything else that has happened to the family, lead Kristen and Felicia to spiral into near insanity. While the two women try to cope at home, Barry heads off to Germany in hopes of finally coming to the bottom of the dark and eerie mysteries that have been terrorizing his family.
Paula Limbaugh in Horror Novel Reviews website described the book as “an exquisitely done sensory delight,” adding “Speegle’s descriptive prose gets under your skin and you feel as though you are experiencing the tale as it unfolds.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October, 2004, Charles De Lint, review of Gothic Wine, p. 36.
Publishers Weekly, November 6, 2017, review of Adam’s Ladder, p. 65; December 18, 2017, review of Cries from the Static, p. 111.
ONLINE
Banshee Irish Horror Blog, http://bansheeirishhorrorblog.com/ (April 28, 2017), review of The Third Twin: A Dark Psychological Thriller.
Dark Echo Horror, http://www.darkecho.com/ (March 3, 2018), review of A Dirge for the Temporal.
Dread Central, http://www.dreadcentral.com/ (May 2, 2017), Kieran Fisher, review of The Third Twin.
Horror Novel Reviews, https://horrornovelreviews.com/ (April 28, 2017), Paula Limbaugh, review of The Third Twin.
SF Reader Community, http://sfreader.com/ (August 2, 2005), Ray Wallace, A Dirge for the Temporal.
Unnerving Magazine, https://www.unnervingmagazine.com/ (January 29, 2018), review of Adam’s Ladder.
- A Puddle in the Wilderness: A Varying Distances Short Story (Crystal Lake Shorts Book 2 - 2018 Crystal Lake Publishing, https://smile.amazon.com/Puddle-Wilderness-Varying-Distances-Crystal-ebook/dp/B07B22QXJQ/ref=sr_1_11?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1519969081&sr=1-11
- Varying Distances - 2018 Crystal Lake Publishing , https://smile.amazon.com/Varying-Distances-Darren-Speegle-ebook/dp/B079DTBM8B/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1519969081&sr=1-1
- Adam's Ladder - 2017 Written Backwards , https://smile.amazon.com/Adams-Ladder-Laird-Barron/dp/1626412677/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1519969081&sr=1-3
- The Third Twin: A Dark Psychological Thriller - 2017 Crystal Lake Publishing, https://smile.amazon.com/Third-Twin-Dark-Psychological-Thriller/dp/1640074775/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1519969081&sr=1-4
- Of Eggs and Elephants - 2013 Gallows Press, https://www.amazon.com/Eggs-Elephants-Darren-Speegle/dp/0615752500
- A Haunting in Germany - 2016 PS Publishing, https://www.amazon.com/Haunting-Germany-Darren-Speegle/dp/1848639651/ref=la_B001K8ZJ3O_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519970176&sr=1-4
- Amazon - https://smile.amazon.com/Third-Twin-Dark-Psychological-Thriller/dp/1640074775/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1519969081&sr=1-4
Darren Speegle is the author of six books, including his recently released debut novel The Third Twin (Crystal Lake Publishing). His second novel, Artifacts, is due in 2018, while a third, The World Is My Oyster, has recently been completed. The latest of his five short story collections, A Haunting in Germany and Other Stories, was released in 2016 by PS Publishing. His short fiction has appeared in numerous venues, including Subterranean, Cemetery Dance, Clarkesworld, Postscripts, ChiZine, Crimewave, The Third Alternative (now Black Static), Fantasy, Dark Discoveries, and Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy. He has recently become interested in editing, and his human-evolution-themed anthology Adam's Ladder (co-edited with Michael Bailey) will be a late 2017 Dark Regions Press title. A widely traveled American, Darren often sets his stories in exotic or interesting places where he has lived (Germany, Alaska, Southeast Asia) or otherwise explored (broader Europe). Between gigs as a federal contractor in the Middle East, Darren resides in Thailand. When not writing, he enjoys outdoor activities like hiking and biking.
- Darren Speegle - https://darrenspeegle.wordpress.com/about/
Darren Speegle is the author of five short story collections, the latest of which, A Haunting in Germany and Other Stories, was released in February 2016 by PS Publishing. His short fiction has appeared in numerous venues, including Subterranean, Postscripts, Clarkesworld, Crimewave, The Third Alternative (now Black Static), Fantasy, Cemetery Dance, Dark Discoveries, ChiZine, and Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy. His horror novel, The Third Twin, is coming from Crystal Lake Publishing in 2017. He has recently become interested in editing, and his human-evolution-themed anthology Adam’s Ladder (co-edited with Michael Bailey) will be a fall 2017 Dark Regions Press title. A widely traveled American, Darren often sets his stories in interesting or exotic places where he has lived (Germany, Alaska, Southeast Asia) or otherwise explored (broader Europe). Between gigs as a federal contractor in the Middle East, Darren resides in Thailand, where he has recently wrapped up his cross-genre novel The World Is My Oyster.
- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-darren-speegle-7358983b/
John Darren Speegle
John Darren Speegle
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Freelance fiction writer at Self-employed writer
Self-employed Chattanooga, Tennessee Area 104 104 connections
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Two years logistics/movement control experience. Ten years experience in warehouse, receiving and inventorying materials. Solid knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and other applications. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Three tours in Iraq, two as a logistics coordinator on LOGCAP III and IV with KBR and another as a warehouse manager with AAFES.Show less Show less of John Darren’s summary
Experience
Self-employed
Freelance Writer
Company NameSelf-employed
Dates EmployedJan 2011 – Present Employment Duration7 yrs 3 mos
LocationChattanooga, Tennessee Area
Fiction writing, primarily short stories for professional magazines and anthologies. Book-length works include three published collections, with another forthcoming. Responsible for writing, editing, and delivering manuscripts according to deadline.DynCorp International
Logistics Coordinator
Company NameDynCorp International
Dates Employed2011 – 2013 Employment Duration2 yrs
KBR, Inc.
Logistics Coordinator
Company NameKBR, Inc.
Dates EmployedSep 2008 – Jan 2011 Employment Duration2 yrs 5 mos
LocationCamps Cedar, Adder, and JBB, Iraq
Cedar and Joint Base Balad: Responsible for augmenting military in pushing and receiving convoys, including tracking movement on Excel spreadsheet tracker. At Adder, assigned to air cargo, and later, to admin.AAFES
Warehouse Manager
Company NameAAFES
Dates EmployedNov 2006 – Aug 2008 Employment Duration1 yr 10 mos
LocationCamp Liberty and Joint Base Balad, Iraq; Heidelberg, Germany
Responsible for managing a crew of Iraqi nationals while working alongside them in moving and inventorying merchandise in an environment requiring heavy lifting, operating a forklift, multi-tasking, and prompt decision making.
Cries from the Static
Publishers Weekly.
264.52 (Dec. 18, 2017): p111. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Cries from the Static
Darren Speegle. Raw Dog Screaming, $15.95 trade paper (226p) ISBN 978-1-935738-39-8
Speegle explores the darkest corners of the human heart in this uneven collection of 17 reprints, new stories, and poems. The most accessible is "Hexerei," about a man who revisits a German farm where three young girls were hanged when the protagonist was a boy. In "A Lonely Town in Alaska," a driver picks up a lovely hitchhiker whose story of her parents' deaths has shocking connotations. The gothic-flavored tales "Lauren, with the Fall of Night," and "Der Teufelobstgarten," both set in Germany, effectively employ their history-rich setting, creating a strong, sure sense of place and bringing out creeping dread that works its insidious tendrils into the characters. A few pieces don't really resonate, such as the abrupt "Carnival of Events," about ennui and societal breakdown, and "Things That Tend to Disturb," which tries for darkly funny but falls flat. Speegle's work is undeniably eerie, and he displays a firm grasp of the mysteries of human consciousness. His frequently ambiguous style may not appeal to everyone, but his fans and many newcomers will be pleased. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Cries from the Static." Publishers Weekly, 18 Dec. 2017, p. 111. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A520578890/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=8a055e3c. Accessed 2 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A520578890
1 of 4 3/1/18, 11:35 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Adam's Ladder
Publishers Weekly.
264.45 (Nov. 6, 2017): p65. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Adam's Ladder
Edited by Michael Bailey and Darren Speegle. Written Backwards, $15.95 trade paper (306p) ISBN 978-1-62641-267-5
Human evolution, in its many possible forms, is the focus of this gripping anthology of spooky science fiction reprints. In Lisa Morton's "Eyes of the Beholders," a group of space colonists who return to Earth after a failed and tragic mission find the planet, and humankind, profoundly changed. In Damien Angelica Walters's melancholy, devastatingly lovely tale "Filigree, Minotaur, Cyanide, Bloom," a lonely woman who can still speak lives in a world where most humans were rendered mute after a cataclysmic event. Tim Lebbon's eerie "Strings" profiles a group of people who believe that humans have stopped evolving; their experiments with nanotechnology produce frightening results. "I Will Be the Making of You," Rena Mason's atmospheric clone tale set in deep space, is a mind-bending thrill ride. Brian Evenson's "Nameless Citizen" imagines a world, and a survivor, forever changed by an unnamed disaster. Laird Barron's rocket-fueled, noirish gem "Swift to Chase," about a woman (who may be more than human) sent to dispatch a ruthless killer, caps off an anthology that effectively explores the human desire to advance and the hubris that holds us back. This thoughtfully curated anthology will appeal to horror and science fiction fans alike. (Dec.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Adam's Ladder." Publishers Weekly, 6 Nov. 2017, p. 65. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A514056610/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=654c306c. Accessed 2 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A514056610
2 of 4 3/1/18, 11:35 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Gothic Wine
Charles De Lint
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
107.4-5 (October-November 2004): p36. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2004 Spilogale, Inc.
http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/
Full Text:
Gothic Wine, by Darren Speegle, Aardwolf Press, 2004, $14.95.
All art is subjective, but the visual arts are so immediate--most often they wire directly into our brains through our eyes, without reason even getting a chance to consider the impressions we're receiving--that we tend to have strong, impulsive reactions to them. That said, to this reader, Gothic Wine has a truly cheesy cover that in no way conveys the elegance of the prose to be found on the pages inside. If I hadn't read the book in a coverless format, I'd have been hard pressed to actually open it.
I wasn't familiar with Darren Speegle before reading this first collection of his, so if I had let myself judge it by its cover, I would have missed a real treat.
I get the impression that Speegle was born outside of Europe and moved there, specifically to Germany, later in life--perhaps in his twenties or thirties. The reason I bring this up is that the stories here are all in/used with that wonderful enthusiasm for new surroundings--the landscape and people, and their history--with a loving attention to detail that one wouldn't necessarily get from a native writer. Often, we take our home turf too much for granted and only see it with proper respect through a newcomer's eyes.
Or, as in the case of a non-European reader reading Gothic Wine, we get to view a new setting through particularly Romantic eyes.
The wine country in which Speegle sets many of his stories sounds wonderful--except for the dangerous and weird things awaiting the unsuspecting visitor in its shadows. All of which makes for very fine reading. But while this is an exquisite collection of literate and evocative stories-- opening up a window into a fascinating, if eerie, Europe--I suspect that we should only visit these wineries, old churches, and grape fields in the pages of Speegle's collection. That way we stand a better chance of surviving to read his next one.
If your local bookstore doesn't carry this book, you can try ordering it directly from www.aardwolfpress. com.
De Lint, Charles
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
3 of 4 3/1/18, 11:35 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
De Lint, Charles. "Gothic Wine." The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Oct.-Nov. 2004, p. 36. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A121805483 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=286954ed. Accessed 2 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A121805483
4 of 4 3/1/18, 11:35 PM
- Horror Novel Reviews
https://horrornovelreviews.com/2017/04/28/darren-speegle-the-third-twin-review/
Word count: 433Darren Speegle, The Third Twin review
Posted on April 28, 2017 in Authors M-Z, Uncategorized // 2 Comments
1 Vote
Written by Paula Limbaugh
Darren Speegle’s The Third Twin is an exquisitely done sensory delight. A nightmarish tale with waking dreams within. Speegle’s descriptive prose gets under your skin and you feel as though you are experiencing the tale as it unfolds. Throughout time and cultures, multiple births have had mystical myths associated with them. Speegle takes this one step further and weaves a story from beyond the realm of imagination.
Barry, a travel magazine writer, and Felicia are the parents of twins, after tragically losing one daughter they find themselves fighting for the life and sanity of their surviving teenage daughter Kristen. Kristen is pregnant without knowledge of how it happened. She begins to have explicit nightmares giving peeks into what occurred but never actually explaining the why and how. She begins seeing her deceased twin who is but is not her twin in her dreams. All of this comes to a head after a trip to Brazil for the Spider Festival with her father where she is attacked by a mysterious figure with an elephant head mask from her past.
Barry too has been seeing things and decides to return to Brazil to seek answers as to why Kristen was attacked and how her pregnancy ties in with these dreams of his. In Brazil, he tracks down the sister of the attacker and more questions arise rather than answers. In the meantime, the unspeakable has happened back home in Alaska with Kristen’s self-inflicted abortion. With Kristen now fighting for her sanity and Felicia her hers, Barry is more determined than ever to get to the root of these occurrences.
Barry’s quest for answers takes him to Germany where he feels the ties of his Brazilian trip stem from. But, what is found there is not what he was hoping for. And, the answers to his questions are more than he can fathom.
This is truly a dark chilling tale, one that will keep you guessing until the end. I highly recommend checking The Third Twin out if you are into psychological thrillers, it won’t disappoint! Oh, and of course I must give a nod to Ben Baldwin for another outstanding cover. You can pick up a copy HERE!
5/5 The-Third-Twin-659x1024
Ben Baldwin
Crystal Lake Publishing
Darren Speegle
Paula Limbaugh
psychological thriller
The Third Twin - Dread Central
http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/226103/interview-darren-speegle-discusses-new-novel-defense-contacting-future/
Word count: 1151Author Darren Speegle Discusses His New Novel, Defense Contracting, and the Future
Published 10 months ago
on May 2, 2017
By Kieran Fisher
Third TwinCrystal Lake Publishing is one of the premier independent publishers on the market right now for horror and dark fiction, and their latest release, The Third Twin, is bound to go down as a treat with scare aficionados. While the story doesn’t quite adhere to the rules of any particular genre, those with an affinity for the macabre are bound to find it an exhilarating read.
Telling the story of an extreme sportsman named Barry whose family is terrorized by a figure known only as the “Elephant Man,’, The Third Twin follows our protagonist’s investigation as he tries to get to the bottom of a surreal mystery with potentially apocalyptic repercussions.
Recently I had the opportunity to interview the author, Darren Speegle, about his new book and some of the influences that inspire him as a writer.
Dread Central: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background? When did you first start putting your imagination to the page?
Darren Speegle: I grew up in the South and have lived or worked in practically every corner of the world since. Alaska, Germany, the Middle East, Thailand (my current home). That’s the life arc part of it. The writing’s less wild. My parents were avid readers, and my father introduced me at an early age to some of the classics. When he realized I had a particular appetite for the likes of Tolkien, Verne, Wells, Poe, he expanded my horizons in that direction. Asimov, Clarke, Herbert were next.
I’m not sure where his suggestions left off and my own hunger for such material came in, but I was hooked on anything speculative. I started writing young. I think the first thing was a short Western – there had been some pulpier stuff and Louis L’Amour in my reading too – at age twelve maybe? In my teens I wrote a super-long epic fantasy. No idea what happened to that thing. It was in a box, like 1,500 pages of it, bouncing around for years, but somewhere along the way it disappeared.
DC: As a writer, who are some of your main influences and what are some of your favourite books?
DS: Tolkien was certainly one. When you’re young and in that dreamy world of his, if you have the writerly juices, they’re going to start flowing. Poe influenced some of my style early on, even in some of my early published works, before I understood I was living in a different century. Clive Barker introduced me to an even darker side of myself. And his beautiful language. And the fact that he didn’t justify, didn’t feel the need to explain the whys. He turned me to horror, there’s no question. And that’s where I made my mark early on. But I write a lot of science-fiction now as well. I left straight fantasy behind somewhere along the way. I like a range of literary artists, from Steinbeck to LeCarre to McCarthy to Barker to Le Guin to you name it. Le Carre’s A Small Town in Germany might be my favorite book. But with genre stuff, there’s so much good material out there anymore it’s hard to say. I have a deep place for Ramsey Campbell’s The Face that Must Die, Gene O’Neill’s Indigo Man. Laird Barron, Brian Evenson, John Langan, Jeffrey Ford, B.E. Scully, Damien Walters, Paul Meloy. The work being produced now is outstanding. I’m an anthologist, too, and it’s a pretty damn fine crop when you gauge who to solicit.
DC: You’ve had several books published now. Are there any you’re particularly proud of? Furthermore, what would be a good introductory point for new readers?
DS: I’m very proud of my PS Publishing collection, A Haunting in Germany and Other Stories. It’s the fifth of the five collections I’ve had published so far, contains all original material, and I believe represents a peak for me in terms of its literary content for that particular phase in my career. Gothic Wine and A Dirge for the Temporal, my first two, are favorites too.
DC: What can you tell our readers about The Third Twin?
DS: I can tell you it’s probably unlike anything you’ve read before. It’s not exactly horror, not exactly science-fiction, not exactly an occult mystery. It deals with family issues at first, then segues into darker territory, the harrowing suspense of knowing you are being targeted, as a family, by a man in an elephant mask who is looking for something that you don’t understand the meaning, much less allure of. Until the last, that is, when the final revelations prove to be about more than this world, more than the next. The Third Twin, in my mind, is a ladder-like journey into other, transcendental spheres. But what do I know? Brian Evenson, who wrote a brilliant intro for it, would probably know better than me. I wrote the thing working night shift as a defense contractor at a camp gate in Iraq with fireworks all around.
DC: Would you say your background in defense contracting has informed your writing at all?
DS: Absolutely. Especially in the last couple years. It took some time to come to terms with the thing enough to write about it. Not because of shell shock per se, but because war is serious business and should be dealt with accordingly. I always want to speak truth. I say that sometimes to contributors to my anthologies. Truth is more important than anything else. War certainly provides that opportunity, but it’s not easy until you’re completely comfortable with it. But in the last couple of years I’ve written at least three directly war-related pieces, which will be showing up soon.
DC: What projects do you have coming up next?
DS: My human evolution-themed anthology Adam’s Ladder (co-edited with Michael Bailey and featuring Laird Barron, Ramsey Campbell, Damien Angelica Walters, etc.) is due in the fall from Dark Regions Press. DR will also be doing my dark futuristic novel Artifacts. A new collection from Raw Dog Screaming Press, Cries from the Static, is due this year. I have a novella collaboration with Gene O’Neill coming in Chiral Mad 4. Ah, and Michael Bailey and I also have our anthology Prisms coming. Busy but lovely times.
The Third Twin is available to pick up now.
Comments
- Unerving Magazine
https://www.unnervingmagazine.com/single-post/2018/01/29/Review-of-Adams-Ladder-edited-by-Michael-Bailey-and-Darren-Speegle
Word count: 537Review of Adam's Ladder edited by Michael Bailey and Darren Speegle
January 29, 2018
The first portion of this book had me worried. The writing is fantastic and engaging and all kinds of pretty, but when these elements come together, it’s almost become default (from what I’ve come to expect a good chunk of the time with highbrow/literary/wilting flower speculative fiction) that I expect either nothing truly to happen or there to be zero resolution or growth. A story is when the change occurs, a post-apocalyptic world, social media over-consumption shined on humanity, these are the background, the setting, the dressing. Where the story begins (the change), where reaction takes place (the middle), and where characters meet a conclusion and an author makes a decision (the end) is what makes reading worthwhile.
Beauty in prose and setting is the primary objective the brunt of the beginning of this collection. While fantastic in capability to transport and amaze with word use, most missed a critical choice that offered a conclusion of sorts (vague is fine, but don't give me a ticket to anywhere).
It’s around the first-quarter mark where John Langan’s tale starts to change the tone. This is a clipping story, and though these never do as much for me as a steady, clear narrative will, but it was jarring. The first stories often felt similar and this worked where it was in the table to set off where this collection really started kicking for me.
Undersound by Mark Morris is definitely one of the most engaging and entertaining stories, told without any extra fat, but with a clear and reliable arc. Revenge is sweet because we can all relate, we’d all love to see it done to someone who has wronged us. Wholly impressed by this one.
The next great story uses all the flowery prose and all the skill of engagement found in the earlier stories, builds a scene, builds emotion, demands reaction, BUT then throws a wild curve ball that, in its absolute unpredictability, made me smile: Lisa Morton’s Eyes of the Beholders all sorts of fun and original.
The second to last great tale of this bunch was An End to Perpetual Motion by Mark Samuels. It’s a creeping mystery and oddity, a very good story.
The final and grandest in size was Swift to Chase by Laird Barron. This is an odd story that has a what if Tarzan actually got whooped kind of feel to it. The characters are inching toward supernatural (or crossing that line), they’re somewhat absurd in their grand scale of global villainy, and it works. It’s fast, wild, sexy, and suspenseful. A great way to conclude a collection with so many good parts and very few bad (mostly just missing parts).
Science fiction, fantasy, and elements of horror make up this biggish book full of all-star names, at its best it’s fantastic, at its worst it strikes the that’s it? chord.
Tags:
Written Backwards
Michael Bailey
Darren Speegle
- Dark Echo Horror
http://www.darkecho.com/darkecho/reviews/dirge.html
Word count: 288A Dirge for the Temporal
Darren Speegle
Raw Dog Screaming Press/ 208 pages / $14.95
ISBN: 0974503134book cover I plowed through a dozen small press collections from as many less-than-well-established writers before finding this dark gem. There's a good chance I might have missed it altogether -- as I'm sure other reviewers may have -- due to its cover. The cover -- sort of a reddish x-ray of a brooding demonic being -- is not without artistry, but combine it with a publisher that has dubbed itself Raw Dog Screaming Press, an unfamiliar writer, and the first impression is, at worst, "Oh yuck. Another one of those." At best, you would assume it is "extreme horror." Once past mistaken impressions, however, you'll find atmospheric and hallucinatory stories from a writer of considerable poetic power. Speegle's stories are eerie rather than extreme and more subtle than splat-filled. A theme running through many is that of past sins and forgotten transgressions that return to haunt, but even within this category there is considerable variety. The intensity of the entries usually compensate for their brevity, but occasionally Speegle produces a vignette where a complete story would have better displayed his skill and intent. (He could also learn a great deal from studying the meticulous structure underlying masterwriter Thomas Ligotti's work.) The author is relatively new to the field and his evidently prolific output -- this is a second collection and the 34 (!) short selections here have all been published in the last there years �- has been primarily published, so far, in fairly obscure publications. There's a good chance you'll be hearing more about and from him in the future. http://www.darkecho.com/darkecho/reviews/dirge.html
- SF Reader Community
http://sfreader.com/read_review.asp?t=A+Dirge+For+The+Temporal-by+Darren+Speegle&book=635
Word count: 632A Dirge For The Temporal, by Darren Speegle cover imageA Dirge For The Temporal, by Darren Speegle
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Raw Dog Screaming Press
Published: 2004
Review Posted: 8/2/2005
Reviewer Rating:
Reader Rating: Not Rated0
A Dirge For The Temporal, by Darren Speegle
Book Review by Ray Wallace
Have you read this book?
Two things you must possess in order to enjoy Darren Speegle's collection, A Dirge For The Temporal. The first would be a love of language. The second, a hunger for the surreal. This is proven early, with the opening story, in fact, which is entitled "The Lunatic Mystique." Here we meet Danny Avian, long time writer for a local newspaper, who is confronted one day by a beautiful woman at his front door who proclaims her admiration for his reporting. "Because I love your daily column so ferociously," (she tells him) "I've come to collect you from yourself." And quite before he realizes what is happening, Danny is whisked away to a small South American village where he is regarded as "the Gatherer" by the residents, most of whom have lost their thumbs. And so the odd and intriguing tone is set, one that continues throughout the length of the collection."September," the second story, centers around a man named Galen who, while driving between European cities, decides to "wander some of the less traveled roads," to take in some of the scenery, as it were. He comes across an inn run by a lone woman in a seemingly abandoned town he has never before visited but which, somehow, seems to have been awaiting his return. "What has happened here?" he wonders. "Where is everyone?" But the woman does not tell him directly. Some answers he must discover on his own. And they may not be the ones he was hoping to find. Skip ahead a few stories to "Merging Tableaux" which begins with the following sentence: "Everyone has at least one scene that they cannot erase from memory, a fragment of the past that affected them so profoundly it now occupies a permanent place in their consciousness." The narrator of the story has two such scenes and we soon discover how an obsession with the first ultimately, inevitably, led to the other.
Then we come to "Rupture Zone," probably my favorite story of the bunch. A vindictive, gun-toting woman. A man on the run. And a chasm in the earth from which hideous monsters climb to the surface to wreak havoc upon the world of humans. What more could a fan of dark fiction ask for? How about someone with Darren Speegle's obvious talent bringing it all to life. In "The Call of Morzine," a group of young boys are camping in a cave when a man with a monkey-like creature on his shoulder comes to visit. He tells the boys that the creature is named after a town where a strange and terrible lunacy once gripped the citizens there. And then he asks the boys for directions to the town where they live. One boy in particular, Philipe, soon discovers the truth of the creature's power, a discovery that will change the way he sees the world and the way the world sees him.
This wonderful collection is comprised of more than thirty stories and poems which cover all the genres of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi and pretty much every sub-genre in between. And some of the tales are simply unclassifiable. From what he has displayed here, Darren Speegle is obviously a writer to keep an eye on. And A Dirge For The Temporal is a collection that should be on the shelves of dark fiction fans everywhere.
- Banshee Irish Horror Blog
http://bansheeirishhorrorblog.com/tag/book-review/
Word count: 283The Third Twin by Darren Seegle: Book Review
The Third Twin from Darren Speegle is another original horror novel from Crystal Lake Publishing and I was lucky enough to receive a launch day free copy.
Best Read: While planning an Alaskan or Brazilian adventure!!
The Third TwinThe Third Twin is clever, dark and scary. Not things go bump in the night scary, but scary like someone hurting all your nearest and dearest. There are some truly horrible moments in the book, but all are portrayed beautifully. Like all the other Crystal Lake Publishing books I’ve read, this is original and edgy.
The travel scenes are unbelievable – I want to visit Spider festival in Brazil and the Vampire Ball in Germany! I could see and smell each unique landscape in my head. The cover art is also beautiful and evocative.
A trip to the Spider Festival in Brazil for Barry and his daughter Kristin, a couple of years after Kristin’s twin’s death, sparks a horrific and surreal nightmare for the entire family. This is thrilling and mysterious book, with twists and turns throughout.
My only criticism is that the end was maybe a bit too clever? I had re-read the last chapter a few times to try and understand it. Eloquent and well paced, I will definitely be reading more from this author.
To purchase the book: click here.
To find out more about the book click here: click here.
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Posted on April 28, 2017Categories UncategorizedTags book, book review, cover art, Crystal Lake Publishing, Darren Speegle, Horror, The Third Twin8 Comments