About Smooth : 


     Beside the still water...the zombies roam.
     A slightly different take on the zombie genre, Smooth asks if  the world be better if we were all neutral and complacent (without violence, greed, hatred, and yes, love and compassion) as parts of our personalities?  The road to absolute peace is filled with more than just bumps and gravel when catt dahman tells it; heads will roll...literally. The town of Cold Springs is about to receive the gift of full serenity and some people intend to fight it (as well as the zombies) all the way to the end! 
     Rain is turning ordinary citizens of the small town into crazed killers and then wiping out their entire personalities. The survivors must avoid the rain, fight the zombish creatures, stay away from the flood waters, and somehow work together as the rising water not only isolates them but also takes their supplies. Can anyone survive? Will they all go smooth?

   

Here is what is about to be released in the next two months.  Z is for Zombie series is now under contract with Severed Press and they are designing some excellent book covers for all of them! Stay tuned for the Severed Press release of those books as well.

http://www.cattd.com  now contains hints about upcoming horror novels. catt dahman continues to make the ordinary quite horrifying as she takes on time travel, Spartan history, the countryside, and family secrets in the next few months. Long awaited novel Smooth is in final editing steps and will be released soon and will chill readers as it pokes at so many phobias we all share: fear of drowning, fear of the dark, and much more. About choices, the novel strips them away and leaves the reader with a frightening emptiness that will thrill S. King fans.

It's interesting how kids and kittens can walk the fine line between being really cute with mischief and being naughty. My kitty, Limmerfer, was in my bathroom and way too quiet; I should have known he was up to something. I found him standing on the seat of the toilet with the sweetest look on his face but around his little body was wrapped toilet paper....over and around all over him. In his innocence, he just looked at me as if he needed someone to save him.   Children and animals can be so funny. They find trouble and can be little pests at times. But seriously, animals don't kill for the sport or pleasure....oh...unless you count  when the cats catch a bird or mouse and play with it, letting it go and then capturing it again? That makes me wonder. What do cats think about then they play with their prey? What do they think when we feed them dry kibble instead of yummy raw meat? 

Of course this leads me to my next thought about cannibals. What you didn't think I would mention cannibals and the fact that people taste like pork? Seriously...they do. Why do cannibals play with their prey? Is it tradition or does the chases and fear lend chemicals and therefore, spice, to the flavor of the meal? Is it a form of "winning"?  The Aztecs used to make war on one another so they could capture other warriors to consume. They did it for many reasons. For one thing, the amount of meat fed the people of a village. Secondly, they felt the blood was a tribute to the gods and the genitals encouraged fertility so there was a religious reason for the consumption of other humans.

I'm not sure how eating humans can be a religious tribute, but in times of hunger, I do see the need for it. (in point, the Donner party who was starving) but my question is how does it get started as a formal ritual? When does it go from a need or happening to a specific cultural norm? Is the okay to do it somehow buried within us? We accept many odd cultural things as okay and never question it or if we do, we still go along. (Overly skinny girls are sometimes unhealthy and we should allow people to be who they are but wow....we sure like those skinny models)

In a culture of cannibals, the one who went vegetarian would really be the outcasts, eh? And wouldn't there be not only food reasons, but societal ones as well? Do we as a society still push religious values and morals? Not always. We are more about letting each person have his own rights and adhering to "live and let live". While that is great for us as individuals, it hurts the societal culture. And it really hurts the push for cannibalism. Eh.....just saying....

As a writer, i get odd questions like....where do my ideas come from and are writers rich and is it hard....and I get asked things like..."Is that me in your book?" On one hand, I am flattered that I have written so well that someone identifies with a character! But to be honest, a character may have a few traits that real people have, but no one character had EVER been someone from real life. Why? Take Alice and Friends..... the antagonists are (sometimes cannibals) kidnapping, sadistic, inbred, brilliant men. Do you think I KNOW anyone like that??? The women in the book are generally good, strong females, but Alice, of the title is a spit fire and doesn't break no matter what she endures, DO you think I know someone  like HER? Trust me....no one is in my books....well...none are major characters. Now there may be a few very small roles that I put people I know in r/l. They always get eaten or worse. If you are someone i seriously dislike, then maybe some of you will be used for  a character, our first name, traits, the way you looks, things you've said,,,,and then i will kill you off in the most brutal ways imaginable. I have a few on my list. But If I like you, you (may) nothing to fear.

     Now is the time we make promises we'll never keep and get ideas to start something or stop it. I think very little stick to a plan. This year, I am not promising myself anything huge. Last year, in 9 months, I managed to get 15 books out that I had in manuscript, handwritten form (2 short story collections, a 9 book series about zombies,2  vampyre/westerns and two horror novels) That is pretty much a big deal to be that prolific! Most are both e-reader form or in paperbacks and the rest are about to go paperbacks as well.
     What do I worry about? Like any writers, I worry and wonder if the next novel is in me. Will I have ideas and get the books written? I have three on the burners right now. I have a good 3-4 in my head as ideas. I may even write another zombie book like my nephew wants me to (he picked the title and ideas so TY to Harrison for his brilliant ideas) I also am helping edit an amazing short story collection by Nic Hatfield and May collaborate with him on an idea he has for a book that is truly the next HUGE book. I worry that I can't do it justice as it is bigger than me by far!
     I plan to release at least 7 books this next year. I am so thankful I am happy to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week doing this.
     I want to pay more attention to the writing of some friends who are amazing writers: Graham Masterton, Joe McKinny, Kealan Patrick Burke, Rhiannon Frater, Bowie Ibarra, and Jason Christie. I promise and resolve I will be as gracious as they are and work as hard as they do.I will thank my copy editor more and praise my agent. I will behave and do as my PR agent says.13 is my number and in 2013, i resolve to be a better writer. And I resolve to try to write something that isn';t splatter punk or cannibalistic (Lord how I try not to go to those themes but do so anyway).
     I resolve to write because it's what I do.
     I hope the rest follows. I don;t need to get rich or famous from writing, but I do need to entertain and scare the pants off all I can!
     Happy New Years!

We are doing everything we can to get Alice and Friends released tomorrow for Halloween, my favorite "holiday". I think it's by far the best book I have released and I bet you agree! For one day only, it will be at a Halloween special price.

My books now go through a professional editor who has a sharp little red pen. My agent also had her fingers in the pie as well. With everyone involved, the pie sure has a lot of fingers poking at it! This benefits readers but it does tie my hands at times as I try to move fast and they slow me down. But never fear, I am a busy writer and I produce the horror. I promise, the upcoming holidays won't slow me down...tons of ideas still blaring at me.

Alice is a highly unusual novel. I somehow touched a few genres. There is a mystery here for sure, a psychological aspect (okay, it's chilling, who are we kidding), blatant horror, a cannibal or two, family ties, a nod to horror master Richard Laymon, a snicker and hint about the Z is for Zombie series (but is not part of the series at all but fans of the series will find a HUGE clue to the series mysteries embedded in this book) and it's a thriller.  I feel this is a book that once you read, you'll want to go back and read again just to see all the clues given all along as to where this was headed. It's a rollercoaster and I never, ever lie, but ummm...well, I may not tell the reader everything up front...hee hee. What is more fun than those first sharp turns and spins on a coaster? It's having them at the end...one after another...wham, wham, wham....blinding speed and plunging falls...and what's at at the end? A slam into an ice cold pool...that's what's fun!

I think you'll enjoy this one. What I wrote is terrifying, but what you will think about after you've read it? Much worse. I think you'll be haunted and have chills every time you see a dark road, a smoke house, family photos, a basement. a fair,.....(you get the idea).

I was sent an e-mail today with pictures of Wal-Mart shoppers that are funny. I know some people will say it is bad to make fun of them. These people also say it is terrible to belittle and make fun of other people in varied situations. I think this...if people didn't put themselves out there in such silly situations (or outfits or looks) then we would not laugh. I don't laugh at fat people for being fat. I laugh if one wears short shorts and has on a halter because that is such a silly display. It's the display that is so funny!

I am a horror writer. So...let's say I drive by a car wreck and see a person decapitated and the head lands atop a post. If some one yells "Heads up", yes, I would laugh. If I knew the person who was killed and saw it happen, I would not laugh and be horrified. It is when the situation is personal that it is no longer humourous and does that not depend on individuals? That's my point.Also, some in some jobs (morticians, cops, doctors, etc.) we have to laugh and find the humour or it drives us crazy to see the horror that man enacts. As a horror writer, death and weirdness is very real to me and yes, I have to find humour or have a pretty strong gut for it. But it is my choice to write what I write as it is a cop's choice to do what he does...so why do it? Demand. There is a demand for what we deliver.

I am to the point in my life that there are many things I have to laugh at. 

I find it funny how people use religion or politics or anything to further their cause. When students wrote papers for the college class in Literature I taught, I warned them to not use the Bible as a reference to "prove" anything as it is interpretation and not scientifically based. The Bible does have some good life lessons and helpful advice and it it aligns with some scientific history, but to say it says "XYZ" is interpretation. Also, as written, each word may have a deeper meaning. In other words, people use it to further their own ideals but it doesn't make them FACT.

There is a part that is about loving thy neighbor. Well, I can be nice to my neighbor, but if they are a child molester, you can bet I don't love them, will laugh if they do funny things, and if they come near my child, I will let them meet Mr. .38 Special!  See how I can take this and make it my own personal take? I say I can do that BUT _____________. Isn't that how we all are? We try to be one way but when things are about us, they change. No matter what the event or situation, we personalize it OR we remove ourselves.

I am beginning to theorize that people who are so about themselves and being such "great people who do no wrong or are forgiven" are really psychologically inept. It just isn't healthy at all and leads to unconscious or conscious acts of very evil deeds. If we think we are "saved" after certain requirements then are we free to act poorly? Some think so and I feel these are the ones behaving the worst. On the other hand, when we act badly based on our own personal evaluations, at least we are honest and acting in a psychologically beneficially manner.

I might giggle at the Wal-Mart people and laugh at people who show themselves as victims (etc) and  I do it aside, not where they could see it and be hurt, but I don't hurt children. I don't destroy marriages, covet, steal, lie, cheat or murder. I am sarcastic, a horror writer, profane in speech, selfish, and vindictive at times. Judge me. I would rather be how I am than be the former, and when anyone says the Bible doesn't distinguish, I say..."use a reference that is accepted and not interpreted" and base your judgement on MY personal mind set.

Until then, I will find the humour in a car wreck or a tree falling on a house or a cannibal. It's how I survive the world....finding the funny parts in horrific tales.