TEXAS TERROR ENTERTAINMENT
Necrostein: Firstly, tell the readers where you are from?
Franklin E. Wales: I was born and raised in Albany, NH, but I moved to Florida in 1987.
NS: Tell us a little about your story, EMS911.
FEW: I don’t think I’ve ever actually published a holiday tale before and since I was given December, I thought I’d go for it. I’m really more comfortable with the novel format, but now and again shorts can be fun. I hope your readers have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.
NS: when did you first get into the horror genre?
FEW: The night before I was born, actually. My mother was watching the original Twilight Zone series on television, the episode was “Time Enough at Last,” starring Burgess Meredith. She said I started kicking up a storm through the entire program, so much so that she couldn’t enjoy it. From that moment on, I guess I was marked. As far back as I can remember, I’ve had a love for creepy stories. I blame it on hearing the Twilight Zone in the womb!
NS: So your Mom is the person responsible for you being in this genre today?
FEW: Yes. She always watched the Twilight Zone on television even when I was an infant and I was there too. As I grew to toddler stage she told me I began to know when the program was coming on by what played before it and I’d pitch a fit if I had to go to bed. Back then we didn’t have all the child experts on television telling us how to raise our children. Mom told me it was easier to let me watch it, and deal with me waking up screaming from nightmares, than dealing with the bitch-fit I’d throw if I had to go to bed before it came on. Gotta love her for that.
NS: So why writing? Why not movies or television?
FEW: Growing up we had two television channels and the theater was a good twenty minute drive away, but there were always fiction books around the house and I began to read them for pleasure early on. I read a lot and like a lot of kids, I tried my hand at simple one or two page stories, only I never grew out of it. So I found my love of the written word as a child, both in reading and writing.
NS: To date, what's your favorite project and why?
FEW: My favorite project is always the one I’m working on at any given moment. I have six novels out there and each are like children to me. Picking a favorite is tough, but like having children in life, the newest baby gets all the attention.
NS: Are there any authors whom you haven’t worked with yet that you'd like to?
FEW: Writing is a strange gig. It’s not like being a musician and you can just jam with someone else, you’d really have to share a lot in your styles for it to work. I’ve tried a couple times, and it didn’t jell. I have co-authored a tale with Billie Sue Mosiman called THE UNEASY DEAD, that is under consideration for publication at this time. Our styles flow together seamlessly. Jeffrey Kosh and I have decided to work on something together in the future. Our styles complement each other quite well, I think. When it happens, that tale is going to rock.
NS: How would you feel about some of your tales becoming films? I’ve heard at some point that PURGATORY JUNCTION may be made as a movie, but as far as some of the others such as DEADHEADS: EVOLUTION or EATON FALLS; would you like to see any of those come to fruition?
FEW: There is a guy in Chicago who swears filming PURGATORY JUNCTION is on his bucket list. It came close once, but it’s still in preproduction hell at the moment. DEADHEADS: EVOLUTION has gathered a lot of interest and has gone through two production companies that eventually didn’t work out. It’s currently sitting on the desk of a third company who is considering buying it outright.
NS: Have any been requested?
FEW: I get emails all the time from independent filmmakers for stuff of mine. I just haven't been able to come to terms with the right one yet.
I’ve done some other screenplay work for hire along the way, but nothing you’d recognize. Still hoping to see one of my books make it to the big screen.
NS: What do you think of the bombarding of self published writers?
FEW: Publishing isn’t what it was when I entered this playground. That being said, it is what it is, and it will be what you make it. Today with Publish on Demand, anyone can publish a book. Problem is, not everyone should. Thank God for Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature. It helps the reader decide upfront if the writer has any chops.
It’s not all that much different from when VHS cameras became affordable. When that happened, anyone could make a movie. I was writing for DRACULINA back then and Hugh used to send me these boxes of “shot on video” titles to review. My wife Jacki, God bless her, was subject to watching more crap movies than anyone should be. Again, anyone can make a move now, but not everyone should. Self publishing brings out the best and the worst, but the cream always rises to the top. The hardest part is building your following. If your book is good and people like it, they’ll talk about it and more people will buy a copy. Your next title will sell even more, and bring new readers to check out your older work. If your book sucks like a Hoover vacuum cleaner, people will talk about it, and no one will trust you with their hard earned dollars for entertainment. Word of mouth makes careers, and ends them. Daily slamming your few hundred connections on Social Media to buy your book only serves to make you look desperate.
It’s a new world in publishing, but the old rules still apply: Do your absolute best work and treat your passion for your craft like a business. Just because you can publish NOW, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wait. Sit on the story a few months and come back to it. When the fire of creation has cooled inside you, see if it’s really the BEST you have to offer before putting it out there for the world to see. Be in it for the long haul, because chances are, you won’t catch lighting in a bottle first time out. But if it’s in your soul, in the very fiber of your being, you’ll be in this gig for life. Because not to write doesn’t exist for you. Writing equals ass in chair, and if it’s in your DNA you will find yourself there every day. Never give them less than your best. It’s not only a disservice to your readers; it’s a disservice to your soul.
NS: Where can readers find you and your work?
FEW: You can find me on
My work can be sampled and purchased on Amazon
You can learn more about me at my website
FRANKLIN E. WALES
EMS911
By Franklin E Wales
Working the third shift as a paramedic on Christmas Eve sucked. Training a new guy on Christmas Eve
sucked like a Hoover vacuum cleaner. Such was Ray-Ray’s lot in life. Ho, ho, fucking ho. Ray-Ray had
worked for EMS911, Independent Paramedic Services, for six years under their contract with the city and
had always managed to skate by on the holidays, until now.
His wife wasn’t too happy about his not being home until after seven on Christmas morning, but she knew there was nothing he could do about it. Truth was the other guys had children and to be fair, Ray-Ray knew they needed to be with them. He and his wife would be starting a family next year, and he’d be wanting it off for their kids then. It is what it is, he thought, and if you can’t get out of it you might as well get into it.
“So Josh, what made you decide to be a paramedic?” he asked the new hire as they pre-tripped their vehicle before leaving the yard.
“Since I was a kid,
I wanted to be a First Responder,” Josh answered.
“Right after nine-eleven?”
“Yeah. I was just a kid, but I still remember.”
“Hopefully nothing of that magnitude happens tonight, but we’ll be busy enough.”
“On Christmas Eve?” Josh asked.
“Loneliest night of the year for some folks,” Ray-Ray said.
“One of the busiest for others; last minute shoppers, partiers, drunk drivers and paramedics.”
Closing the hood, Ray-Ray looked at his new partner, “You’re new to the area?”
“Yes. Just moved in from Boston.”Ray-Ray tossed him the keys. “Then you drive.
The streets will empty out soon, and you might as well get the feel for them.”
“Can we play the Christmas music station on the radio?”
Of course he wanted to play Christmas music. Just what Ray-Ray didn’t want to listen to out on the streets while his wife was snuggled down for a long winter’s nap, alone.
“You’re driving, your call.”
It wasn’t the first time Ray-Ray had trained a newbie. He could almost answer all the questions before they were asked.
How long had he been a paramedic?
Six years.
What was the worst thing he’d ever seen?
A five car accident where two children died on site before his eyes.
Had he ever been called to help anyone he knew?
No, but another driver had once been called to a motorcycle accident and found his neighbor
.Did he ever have anyone die in transport?
Yes, unfortunately a lot had over the years.
You are only a paramedic, you’re not God.
At midnight he called his wife to wake her up and say Merry Christmas. She’d been sleepy, almost distant. Who could blame her? By two-thirty it had already been a busy night: Two accidents, one that required transport to the hospital. An attempted suicide overdose, but they got them to the hospital in time. A pedestrian hit crossing the street, lucky to get off with a few broken ribs. And the ever present happy sounds of All Christmas-All Night Long on the radio.
The call came in at three-fifteen. A white female, approximately early thirties, was unresponsive. Call made by a male friend. The apartment was located on the upper side of town, the area Ray-Ray wanted to move to when they could afford it. The man who met them at the door was dressed only in a silk robe. Christmas music played on the radio. It was obvious that he and his woman had been sharing a little holiday cheer before the bottom dropped out.
“Where is she?” Ray-Ray asked.
“In the bedroom,” the man said, already out of breath. “We’d been, you know, partying and she just suddenly grabbed at her chest and went still. I think she’s breathing, but I don’t know…” He looked at Ray-Ray. “What am I going to do?”
“You’re going to stay in the living room and answer some questions from my partner while I try to stabilize her for transport,” Ray-Ray fired back. What was HE going to do? Jesus his woman might already be dead and he was worried about himself. The human race sucked.
Stepping into the room Ray-Ray fought back a gasp. The unresponsive woman on the bed was naked, beautiful, and for the first time in his career, someone he recognized. “Stay with him,” Ray-Ray shouted to Josh. “Keep him out of here!”
Ray-Ray kicked the door shut behind him. Opening his kit bag he pulled out the items he’d need. The woman had a pulse, but barely. Susan, his mind screamed. Her name is Susan. Do not dehumanize her, she has a name and you know it. He looked at the empty ring finger on her left hand. The skin was a shade lighter where she’d removed her wedding band. Cheater Spots, they called them. A look at the nightstand gave him his immediate diagnosis. Heart attack brought on by a combination of drugs and alcohol. Let’s not forget the sex, his mind added.
Pulling the adrenaline syringe out of the bag, Ray-Ray picked his spot, jammed the needle into Susan’s heart and slammed the plunger home. Her eyes opened as her body heaved, gasping for air. Even through her blurred vision Susan saw Ray-Ray remove the syringe and pull the plunger back, filling it with air. The sounds of Bruce Springsteen singing Santa Claus Is Coming to Town drifted through the door and into the room. When the song hit the appropriate mark, Ray-Ray jammed the air filled syringe into Susan in the exact spot he had the adrenaline and pushed the plunger home. “You should have been good for goodness sake,” he whispered as he watched his wife’s body go into seizures. He held her eyes open watching her watch him, until the light in them flickered out.
(END)
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to set and chat with Frank for a bit and ask some of the questions I'd been dying to know for quite sometime. He shed some light on me as I hope he entertained you as well with his story and I hope you enjoy the interview. Be sure to follow the links given at the end of the interview to learn more about Franklin as well as obtaining his body of works.
Below is a link to one of his books I've reviewed. I wish I had more to post as I've read several of his works but time has not been nice to me but rest assured keep an eye out in the coming month while he's in the spotlight for others reviewed to arise.
3 FINGERED JAKE AND THE TRAVELLING ROADSHOW
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