Writing

The Roots Run Deep is Here!

/ Christian Laforet / 1 Comment

The Evil Grows.

A young couple, enjoying a day in paradise, make a horrifying discovery on the beach after a terrible storm. A cable repairman must descend into the very earth itself to answer a call he may never come back from. A single dad loses his child in the neon guts of a fast food playland. The midnight shift at a county greenhouse turns violent thanks to some especially aggressive moths. A criminal from Detroit tries to rob the wrong donut shop. Children on their way to summer camp find a new mother in the unforgiving woods. A woman, lost in her own grief, must face her sorrow before it devours her. Fifteen stories of horror, fear, and dread that proves the roots of evil run deep.

“The Roots Run Deep is a hard-hitting collection of cosmic, weird, and fresh short horror fiction. C.M. Forest really brings it with one—a welcome sucker-punch of a book I never saw coming.”

CALEB STEPHENS

Award-winning author of

The Girls in the Cabin and Feeders

“I’m not sure I’ve ever read a collection that taps into such sheer variety of fears. He showed his talent with Infested, and it’s clear he’s taking his writing to the next level. Forest is one of the most imaginative writers in horror today.”

DREW STARLING

Bestselling author of

Sentinel, Nothus, and After

“The Roots Run Deep is a horror snack in all the best ways, Bite-sized, incredibly addictive short stories that’ll have you promising yourself that you’ll only indulge in one, only to find you’ve devoured the whole thing in a single sitting. Each tale was unique, engaging, and deliciously twisted. Not only that, they showed Forest’s evolution into the fantastic horror author he’s become. This collection was a treat.”

SHELLY CAMPBELL

Author of

Gulf and Breach

“This collection is an unsettling and evocative cornucopia of fears, some familiar, along with many brand new. Thanks to these stories, I have added quite a few items to my list of “hell no” places, creatures, and occurrences. The most noteworthy: moths, donut glaze, disappearing from existence, black slime covering the earth, and McDonald’s playland. If you’re looking for something refreshing in horror, just in time for spooky season, add this one to the TBR.”

BEN YOUNG

Author of Stuck

The Roots Run Deep is available now!

Amazon.com

Amazon.ca

Driving Through Time

/ Christian Laforet / 2 Comments

By Christian Laforet

Grant hammered the gas pedal. Thankfully, there wasn’t much traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway heading towards Manitoba. The broken yellow line stretched out in front of him like an endless snake—a beast with no head. Aware of the cell phone sitting on the passenger seat, every few seconds he would tap the screen with his finger. The time appeared in bold—7:46 p.m., EST. That was not set in stone though. Soon he would pass into the Central Standard Time Zone and the numbers on his phone would flip back exactly one hour.

The sweat, breaking out along his forehead for the last thirty minutes, felt cold and abrasive on his skin. He wiped it away with his sleeve, but knew it would come back.

Flying past a sign announcing the upcoming border, Grant reminisced again about what his Grandpa told him when he was a kid. Continue reading →

Hey, I’m Writing a Novel! (pt. 1)

/ Christian Laforet / 3 Comments

“The night was…sultry?”

For anybody who’s seen the amazing black comedy, Throw Momma from the Train, you know how hard it can be for a writer to get the first line of a story just right. In the movie, Larry Donner (played by Billy Crystal) can’t get past that single sentence.

Now that several projects are behind me (The Space Between Houses, which is available now, and the horror/sci-fi collection with fellow writer, Ben Van Dongen ( https://benwltp.wordpress.com/ ), is coming soon), I can finally get back to that pesky novel I’ve been planning.

Last year at this time I was committed to writing it. I even went so far as to line up some volunteers to read over each chapter as I finished them (never turn down free edits). But ultimately, due to time constraints, the novel was shelved.

In the year since I last attempted writing it, a lot has changed for me. Besides those above mentioned projects, I’ve met tons of really talented writers and have learned a lot about the craft from them. With this new found knowledge tucked away in my pocket, I’m once again climbing out onto the ledge of novel writing and hoping like hell I don’t fall off.

The time away from the book hasn’t been wasted though, I did manage to keep the story in my head and spent the time further developing it. It’s safe to say that at this point I’ve planned, plotted and researched everything I possibly can to get this thing going.

Now I’m at that crucial moment of committing those ever important opening lines to the screen. Unlike Larry from Throw Mamma however, I’m not nearly as hung-up on that first sentence. In fact, the moment I’ve been anticipating writing the most since last year has been the first chapter. Being a big fan of the hook, I think I have a doozy of one to open my story with. Hopefully I’m right. Only time will tell though.

Over the next year, I’m going to keep you guys posted on my progress (hopefully bi-weekly updates). This includes the ups and downs and all the in-betweens of the novel writing process. If all goes according to plan, you’ll get an inside look at the entire shebang. From the first draft to the final edits and beyond.

Novel: Untitled (I got lots of time to come up with something)

Words so far: 0 (Although I’m shooting for a nice number between 60 and 70 thousand)

Chapters so far: 0 (I’m thinking about 60 when all is said and done)

 

007: Updates

/ Christian Laforet / 3 Comments

When I started this blog all the way back in the very distant past (January of this year) I laid out a list of work that was in the pipeline. I figured, it being about mid-year, now would be a very good time to go back to those things.

I had mentioned four specific projects that I was toiling away on and even went so far to give a few tentative release dates for some of them. Well, as time does its annoying march, some of those projects have hit a snag and others are rolling along nicely.

Let me begin with Adventure Worlds. Not much has changed on this front, except that the site has gotten bigger. It’s because of this growth that I feel myself pulling back a bit from working on it. Now, that doesn’t mean I’m leaving it behind, quite the contrary, I’m more dedicated than ever. What it means though, is that since we are starting to get submissions more often from other writers, there isn’t a huge need for me to always have a story ready for posting. I love the site and will keep pushing it for as long as I can, but it has already somewhat served its purpose and it’s time for me to look ahead at other things.

space coverNext, I spoke about two different projects. The short story collection and the comic mini-series. Since I already talked about the former last month in pretty great detail, I’ll jump right to the comic book. Continue reading →