Authors Electric

  Saucy Jack! Black Jack! Leather Apron! Oh no, no. One name alone does justice to your deathless razzmatazz. And nothing can do justice to the leap from your brief reign to world-wide Rippermania. It all started on four fog-swept nights... The Facts Scene: The impoverished areas in and around Whitechapel, London. Year: 1888. Five prostitutes--Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly--were murdered between 31 August and 9 November 1888. These women are the "canonical five", believed to have been murdered by a single killer. Three had had internal organs removed with surgical precision. And the fifth kill was the grisliest.  Why Black Magic Beats Mere Numbers Oh, Jack. You might have been only a footnote in the annals of serial killers. The competition today is tremendous: Luis Garavito.  Colombian child-murderer, torture-killer, and rapist known as ”La Bestia”. Confessed to killing 140 children over...

Imagine the impossible: that the publishing industry hasn't changed since the 1980s, when Horror was the red hot thing and anything could sell. Allow for that, then take my word: a well-connected agent could sell a book today about Fat Elvis killing Diana. And he could sell it on spec.  When High Concept is king, the books half-write themselves. You begin with a premise, life-like or absurd, then continue asking questions until you have your story: 1) How could Fat Elvis have murdered the princess when he died almost exactly twenty years before her? 2) Why Fat Elvis instead of Thin Elvis? 3) Should the villain be an Elvis impersonator or the vengeful ghost of Elvis? 4) What possible connection could there have been between Fat Elvis and the princess, who was sixteen years old when he died? 5) How can I handle the whole thing without enraging fans of Diana or the King? 6) What if Fat Elvis didn't really kill her--not the real Diana? What if a, well, manitou* o...