On Monday, April 12 at 9:46 AM, the headline on Harry Shannon's Facebook status read: "Still 25% off but only for a bit longer..."
Couldn't agree more. How else do you explain his night nurse doing ... well, what she did. I can't say - it's a spoiler. I personally think 25% off is being charitable. My own estimate is 37%, but I'm not a mental health professional like Harry.
Yes, Harry is a psychologist-cum-author. But before that he was a country singer-cum-songwriter. Then an actor-cum-screenwriter. A VP-at-Carolco-cum-Music Supervisor-for-Basic Instinct. Seems Harry has been cuming and going all his life. (Apologies. Yes, I am that witless. And no, I didn't ask him about Sharon Stone.)
"Shannon is a writer who is not afraid to walk into the shadows and drag the things living there kicking and screaming into the light." - Brian Keene, Author
Harry's new book, A Host of Shadows, is a collection of twenty-three kicking and screaming stories, and he walks right into them, dragging the reader along for the ride.
"Short fiction is like the stage when I was acting, it's just my first love. Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Roald Dahl, John Collier, Saki, Poe, I loved all those guys."
"The Night Nurse" is one of those stories, and she has at least one very weird foible. She originated from a couple of hospital visits Harry had in 2009, where he came out minus a body part or two. You might want to read the story to find out if those two issues are connected. And maybe you want to find out which hospital, and avoid it.
But enough of the scary stuff - let's do some country music. Harry - Digging Up Bones.
All right. I was wrong, that was some more scary stuff. Did you see that guy with the sword? And do the Swiss think we all wear tails on our cowboy hats?
Harry's psychology practice involves Hollywood, so you know he has a wealth of inspiration for his tales. I mean, actors and writers and directors and producers on his couch? It must have been entertaining when "three of my clients were on the same television show and no one knew they had me in common."
No wonder he comes up with things like "... Booger's severed head trading wicked barbs with that chain-smoking zombie lady made me cackle."
That's from Dead and Gone, a full-length feature film Harry wrote (Lionsgate, 2008). Yossi Sasson, the director, said "Harry Shannon got a bit carried away writing the last act..." That might be understatement. I asked Harry about screenwriting versus novels and short stories, and he said,
"Screenplays are difficult because there is so little wiggle room, and every word counts. The collaborative process is just a blast once the idea is off the ground and on the page. Which makes it all worth doing."
That, and having your name in a 700-point font of colored light on a screen for millions to see. And, of course, the paycheck.
Screenplays, short stories - let's not forget the novels. There are nine of them, my favorites being the three Mick Callahan thrillers. He's a psychiatrist-cum-radio host-cum-amateur detective who gets sucked into some pretty interesting situations along with a bevy of unusual friends. But horror is really Harry's forte.
"Harry Shannon takes age-old themes and gives them a new and fearsome bite. Vividly realized, his writing is controlled, assured, and filled with the kind of spooky atmosphere that used to make you hide your head under the bedcovers on wind-wracked nights." Tom Piccirilli, Author.
We started this with the assertion that Harry is a little off-center, and I don't think we've seen anything so far to contradict that. But that doesn't mean he's not centered.
"Ego is our curse. It's very crowded here at the center of the universe. A lot of my characters struggle with basic questions of integrity and honor, and how to be present for their lives--because so do I, too. Each and every day."
John Darrin is a consultant on radiological emergency preparedness for homeland security. His work has taken him all over the world, and includes many unique and first-ever projects. A widower, John lives full-time in his RV and travels the country on the Go Places / Meet People / Do Things Tour.
