Kill Park

My new short story will be available to purchase as an eBook on April 26. This is another story of mine that takes place in Burghville and is connected to my first novel THE POSTCARD.

Stacking and chopping firewood is nothing new for the Ferguson brothers. It’s a routine they have to endure every fall before winter comes barreling through the Hudson Valley. But on this day, after slicing a short log, they discover something mysterious inside it that will haunt them forever. . . .

Writing this story reminded me of stacking cords of wood for our wood-burning stove, growing up in upstate New York. Unsure why, but I thought . . . what would happen if a character chopped a log in half and found something weird inside it? 

I went with that thought and wrote KILL PARK. I hope you enjoy the story. There will be no paperback version since it is only 40 pages. 

Happy chopping....

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Suburban Tales and The Mansion

Coming soon! Suburban Tales Last year, I wrote a bunch of short stories that focus on the supernatural, fantasy and horror. I picked three stories and thought it would be fun to independently publish them as a book series. The stories are entitled, "The Rock Star," The Piano," and "The Decorator." All three stories focus on Eden Gardens, a fictional neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.

I was surprised to see a number of well-known authors like Joe Hill and Paul Tremblay were publishing short reads and short stories under the Kindle Short Reads category. I wonder how this has impacted print journals that publish short stories. As always with digital technology, there are pluses and minuses.

I also wrote the third book in my Hudson Valley trilogy called The Mansion. I hope to have it ready later in the year. The other two books in the trilogy are The Postcard and The Bells - both available through Amazon.

My academic books, Capturing Digital Media (Bloomsbury Academic) and Cinema of Confinement (Northwestern University Press), are also available for purchase.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @Ivyscobie

www.tomconnellyfiction.com

 

All Out War - Flyers from the Past

I recently found a bunch of flyers when I drummed for All Out War back in the early 1990s. I thought It would be cool to share these and a blurb about the roots of the band - at least what I can remember...

I made this cheesy flyer for our first show in December of 1991. The line up was me (drums), Jim Antonelli (guitar), Sam Carbone (guitar), John Guerriero (bass) and Mike Score (vocals). As you can see, there's no All Out War logo and my handwriting pretty much sucks. And don't bother calling that phone number - The Class no longer exists.

Mike's flyer (above) is way better and visually more interesting!

This flyer is for a show we played in the winter of 1992. Erik Carrillo had replaced John. His previous band was Violent Plague. This was one of the first flyers that featured the All Out War logo, which the band continues to use to this day. It was only a few months later that Sam would be replaced by Chris Chisholm on guitar.

Za Bar was a small place we played in Dutchess county. I'm almost certain it was a pizza parlor. When you're a new band on the scene, you take what you can get. I do remember  we had written a song called "Sum of All Fears" which we played at this show. We later dropped the song.  A few of the parts can be heard in the song "Show of Force. "

This is a video clip of "Show of Force" from QE2s in Albany, NY (summer of 1993). It was one my last shows with the band. We recorded "Show of Force" with other songs in 1993. We never released the demo. The Dying Gods EP comes with a download of some of the songs from the 1993 Demo.

We opened for a lot of national acts at the skate park in Newburgh. We also played a number of show with Dissolve from Dutchess county. They are an incredibly talented band. I am glad they're still playing shows and recording music.

Above is us performing "Stuck Inside" at the skate park in 1992.

I have no recollection of this Halloween show. But I do know that Rock Fantasy in Middletown, NY is one of the coolest and best places for all things metal.

An interview before a show we played at the Bond Street Cafe in the summer of 1993. You can get sense of where the band was at.

This photo was taken of me in December of 1991 at The Class in Middletown, New York. It was our first show. I can't believe how big my drum set was. Did I really need two floor toms? Sometimes visiting the past can be a blast.

The Bells - Now Available

My second novel The Bells is now available on Amazon. For three years (on and off) I've worked on this novel. It is my second book, which focuses on the Hudson Valley, the same setting of my first novel The Postcard. I am planning to write a third book that will also involve characters from The Postcard and The Bells. I never set out to make a trilogy, but I guess I'm heading in that direction.

The last time teenager Mark smoked marijuana, he heard the chime of bells ringing in his head. He promised himself to never smoke again. Tonight, he will break his vow so he can impress his best friend's sister, whom he wants to court. Gabby makes local commercials to fund her documentaries. She's trying to end her affair with Anthony, who's on the verge of a nervous breakdown from running an eco-friendly car wash. But to do it, she must confess the affair to her husband, who's an out of work professor of Chaucer studies.The three are part of a host of characters whose paths mysteriously and ludicrously intersect during Halloween in 2008 in New York's Hudson Valley as they search for meaning and connection.  

Update: August 2019. I am currently writing the third book on the Hudson Valley called The Mansion. I hope to have the book available in 2020.  

The Bells - Coming this spring

I am putting the final touches on my second novel "The Bells" which will be released this summer on Amazon. This is the second book of my Hudson Valley trilogy.

 

The last time teenager Mark smoked marijuana, he heard the chime of bells ringing in his head. He promised himself to never smoke again. Tonight, he will break his vow so he can impress his best friend's sister, whom he wants to court. Gabby makes local commercials to fund her documentaries. She's trying to end her affair with Anthony, who's on the verge of a nervous breakdown from running an eco-friendly car wash. But to do it, she must confess the affair to her husband, who's an out of work professor of Chaucer studies.The three are part of a host of characters whose paths mysteriously and ludicrously intersect during Halloween in 2008 in New York's Hudson Valley as they search for meaning and connection.

Book Reading and Signing of The Postcard

While visiting friends and family in the Hudson Valley this summer, I will be doing a book signing and reading from my novel The Postcard at Merritt Bookstore in Millbrook, NY on July 13 at 4pm.

Set in the summer of 1990, The Postcard tells the story of upstate New York teenager James Bailey's last weekend with his metal head friends before leaving for college in California. The story follows James and his friends from hanging out in a dilapidated strip mall parking lot, to the urban pavement of New York City to see a hardcore matinee show at CBGB. Travelling with James and his entourage is Stacey, an ex-metal chick (now hardcore/punk rocker). James and Stacey share some history: a spontaneous one-night affair-a night seven months ago that continues to silently haunt their friendship.

I self-published my novel in the Fall of 2010.  Busy completing my Ph.D, I did not have the time or opportunity to celebrate the book's publication with my friends and family.

The postcard is available as e-book and paperback on Amazon. 

I am currently completing my second novel tentatively called "Dressed to Kill."  I expect to have the book ready for publication early next year.

All Out War - Sum of All Fears - 1992 Demo Release - Hardcore

Its been almost twenty years since I left All Out War.  Out of nowhere, I found out that a small record label called Organized Crime Records re-released AOW's first album "Truth in the Age of Lies."  And, to my surprise, our first demo "Sum of All Fears," recorded in the summer of 1992, is included with the re-release as bonus tracks.  Also available is a very cool limited 10 inch record of the demo.

All Out War was influenced by both hardcore and thrash bands of the 1980s.  Back then, fusing these musical styles was something quite new, which only a hand full bands attempted. My memories of recording "Sum of All Fears" was hot, sweaty, and brutal.  A garage converted into a studio in Garfield, NJ, all five us packed inside and everything had to happen in one shot.  No digital machines for us!  If you made a mistake, missed a cue...start over.   My only regret was that we did not record the original version of "Witness The End."   We had other songs written during that period as well, including an aborted "Sum of All Fears" which we played a few times in the Hudson Valley in 1992.  One memorable show was at a pizzeria in a mall in Wappingers Falls that booked local bands at night...that's upstate, NY for ya! I also posted some video clips on YouTube from a show we played in Albany, NY in 1993 - sorry for the sound quality.

"Destined to Burn," "Struggle Within," "Fall From Grace," "Stuck Inside," and "Day of Judgement," these five songs are the roots of All Out War. The only one to go through significant changes was "Stuck Inside." I can only speak to this period of time since I had the left the band at the end of the summer of 1993. And there isn't really much I can add to what Mike already wrote on the sleeve for the 10 inch.  One thing I can state is that I believe that our identity was solidified in the extremely slow and grinding riff in "Destined to Burn" that opens the demo.  Hardcore bands often started with fast riffs, we took a different road that is still being explored by the band twenty years later....