Guest Post: Glenn Rolfe - Tracks: The Making of Land of Bones

Tracks: The Making of Land of Bones

I put out my first short story collection in October of 2014. That was a book called, SLUSH. Within six months, I wanted to do it again. I set a date, threw out a tentative title (The World Comes Down), and started piecing stories together that I was excited about. I can’t recall all the dates I threw out to my readers and followers, but I remember February of 2016 was one of them, maybe the first.

What happened?

Well, for one thing, I started being published by Samhain Publishing. I wrote three novellas and two novels for them (one that never came out due to their closing up shop). Like most, I kept on writing and writing and writing. Another novella, another novel (one for Sinister Grin Press, one self-published), until I turned my eye back to the piles of short stories I was gathering.

Last summer, I finally decided on a new set of stories and ended up with a new title for the collection, Land of Bones. Yeah, that’s a pretty cool title. I started the work of rifling through had 14 “tracks” that I thought would do the trick and went to work touching them up and sending them to my editor.

Somewhere along the line, I decided 14 was the right number of tracks. I also knew that I wanted to include a new novella. I had two that were in the works to choose from, Bring Me to Life and Too Much of a Dead Thing. I chose the latter due to the characters. I had a bunch of stories I knew I wanted to be included, “Death Lights” (which I had to get permission to use-thanks Grinning Skull Press and Northern Frights!), “The Rooster”, “Welcome to Paradise”, “Wish”, “The Fixer” (which I had written at one point for Michael Baily), “The Land of Bones”, “Simon” and “Charley Sings the World Away”. A lot of those were shorter pieces which is part of the reason I wanted a novella included.

I also planned on putting a number of alien horror stories in here, but once my editor went through the few batches of stories, she pointed out the theme. That of loss. While the alien ones touched on that theme, I had already been there and done that with my short collection Out of Range. I needed to dig up some more…bones (sorry, I couldn’t resist).

I went deep. I went to old back up files from a laptop I had in 2014-2015. I picked out the ones I remember liking, “Fire”, and another alien one, “Hollowed”, and I also found an unfinished one that I remember liking a lot, “Ghosts of Spears Corner.” For me, this one really stuck out. I remember loving it while I was working on it, but pushing it aside when I didn’t meet the deadline for the submission call it was intended for. I was more than happy to rediscover my love for this one, specifically the tone and the voice of the story. Every author has a voice, but sometimes you discover another style or tone you can pull off. Like James Hetfield discovering he could sing “, Nothing Else Matters”, sure there was “Welcome Home” and “Fade to Black” before that, but “Nothing Else Matters” was a next-level, emotionally-packed delivery. I felt like I had another range I could sing in, if you will.

And that brings us to the one that was in and out and in and out like a pervert and his sexbot, “Avenging Kitten.” I loved it, another odd style, another odd character and tale, but was it good? I don’t subscribe to the “different is good” saying when it comes to stories. I prefer “good is good”. This story of a man and his cat, and an owl and some environmental dudes….it just wanted to be included so badly.

In the end, I decided on ten that had to be in and then asked my editor to help me select the final four spots. If you pick up a copy of Land of Bones and find yourself excited by “Fire”,
“Avenging Kitten”, “The Rooster” (she asked me to try re-writing that piece, which I did, and it turned out so much better), and “Little Bunny”, send a thanks her way.

We’ve got the tracks, but anybody who has been in a band and recorded a record knows that the sequencing, the order of the songs is a part of telling the full story and telling it in a way that keeps you invested and wanting to go on.

My editor offered up another great Foreword, and I knew “The Land of Bones” had to kick off the album, right? It was originally going to be a long story about ghosts in the graveyard, but by the time I had those first few paragraphs, I felt it was perfect as is. Sort of “In the Beginning” for those of you familiar with Motley Crue’s Shout at the Devil album. Obviously, the next track had to punch you in the face. I felt “Ghosts of Spears Corner” fit the bill. Follow it up with a short piece (“Simon”), then another bigger piece that I loved, “Not Kansas Anymore”, a vampire tale that made me think of Ronald Malfi’s fantastic novel, The Narrows, only much, much shorter. “Fire” offers up a quick breather ala “God Bless the Children of the Beast” 9another Shout reference) before the triple threat of “Welcome to Paradise”, “Wish”, and “Avenging Kitten”. Three very different tales before “Charley Sings the World Away” brings the calm.

The last five tracks have no intentions of letting you up for air or letting you go.

“The Fixer” starts with a moment of pain before taking you on a ride you know isn’t what it seems. I was kind enough to throw the most emotional piece I’ve ever written next. “The Rooster” chronicles the loss of my big brother to the monster we call cancer. I cried re-writing this one. That is followed by a story that is a bit more fun, but hopefully, just as gripping, the novella, Too Much of a Dead Thing. A deadly outbreak is causing death and panic; the three characters in here made it all feel real and relevant to me. Hope it does the same for you. “Little Bunny” is a suicidal trip through wonderland that really hit home with some friends. And we close out with my favorite in the bunch, “Death Lights”. While not as grandiose as Springsteen’s “Jungleland” (the best album closer of all-time), “Death Lights” features the return of one of my favorite characters, Lee Buhl, the demon-fighting, urban shaman from my novel, The Haunted Halls. While closing the door to Land of Bones, “Death Lights” also opens things up for another adventure with our friend, Lee.

Jason Lynch provided another amazing cover, channeling the Goonies, making the package complete.
I tried to get to this book so much sooner than I should have, but everything has its own time. I hope you’ll enjoy your time spent with me, these stories, these sorrows, here in the Land of Bones.

From the author's bio - "A vital part of this generation." - Brian Keene, author of The Complex and The Rising.

Glenn Rolfe is an author/singer/songwriter from the haunted woods of New England. He has studied

Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University and continues his education in the world of horror by devouring the novels of Stephen King, Ronald Malfi, Jack Ketchum, and many others. He and his wife, Meghan, have three children, Ruby, Ramona, and Axl. He is grateful to be loved despite his weirdness.

He is the author of Becoming, Blood and Rain, The Haunted Halls, Chasing Ghosts, Abram's Bridge, Things We Fear, and the collections, Out of Range, Slush. and Land of Bones.

He is hard at work on many more. Stay tuned!