Saluti l’Italia e grazie! Much love and thanks to Matteo Morelli at Antenna Web Radio, Italy, for the promo for Revolution Calling!
–Ray Van Horn, Jr.
Shout Out for “Revolution Calling” at Antenna Web Radio, Italy
Scoring the First Issue of Heavy Metal Magazine
If you REALLY know me or you’ve been astutely reading Roads Lesser Traveled, you know about my longtime fascination with Heavy Metal, the illustrated fantasy, sci-fi and horror magazine geared toward adults that I was reading on the sly from age 11 on up.
Finally having the first issue from April 1977 in my possession bought at a steal with gift money is a surreal moment of my geeky life.
–Ray Van Horn, Jr.
“Last Rose for Breanna,” by Ray Van Horn, Jr. is Now Published Live at Eternal Haunted Summer
Hey there, friends, my horror short story, “Last Rose for Breanna” is running live in the 2023 Winter Solstice issue of Eternal Haunted Summer.
Caveat in advance, the theme is quite dark! As always, thanks for your support!
–Ray Van Horn, Jr.
“Revolution Calling” is On the Move
…aaaaaand this just arrived. Forward, march!
–Ray Van Horn, Jr.
Wordless Wednesday – 1/3/24
Haunted Hellscape: Glenn Dale Hospital, Glenn Dale, Maryland
My final horror short story I wrote for 2023 and just got in under deadline, was for an anthology calling for haunted or creepy locations throughout America. While I chose a different real-life location in Maryland carrying its own infamous history of haunts for my story, I took more than a few minutes to absorb these stark photos of this long abandoned sanitorium, the Glenn Dale Hospital in Glenn Dale, Maryland.
The Glenn Dale Hospital was a tuberculous and isolation hospital spotted in the outskirts of Washington, DC, first built in 1934 and closing its doors in 1981. 23 buildings spread over 213 acres to the center, the facility was shut down due to a mass asbestos breakout, which has given the interior of the adult and children’s facilities an ironically leprous, diseased appearance today.
Rumors of human remains being disposed inside the hospital’s incinerator fueled a growing legend of the premises being haunted. It was later proven the hospital burned waste items instead. A series of tunnels connecting the children’s and adult buildings, each housing their own morgues, only added to the growing curiosity from ghost chasers, graffiti artists and horror freaks about the location’s growing infamy.
What we do know is Glenn Dale’s dilapidated walkways, basements and tunnels are dangerous to traverse with corrosion, garbage broken glass, vine overgrowth and metal hunks originally coated with lead paint are all over the place, along with rats, bats and other wildlife making the grounds their home.
You may have seen something like Glenn Dale Hospital from all over the world on the Travel Channel or History Channel, and I’m sure there are scores of left-for-dead sanitariums and hospitals, each bearing their own reputed terrors and ghost sightings. Here in Maryland and the surrounding DC hubs, Glenn Dale has carried decades’ worth of apparition sightings and inquisitive lookee-loos.
I was more than tempted to choose Glenn Dale Hospital for my story, but I feel like it’s been well-tapped already, even incognito under fictional cover. Assuming my story is chosen for publication, I will reveal the location of my setting at that point.
Still, Glenn Dale gives even a horror buff like myself the willies for its ramshackle negligence alone. It’s been said the facilities will either be demolished, or if kept alive, converted into a senior citizen home. With COVID still a real thing, I have to pause and think about a place like Glenn Dale Hospital being stuffed to the gills in its prime with such a calamity as we’d experienced. They were hardly equipped, space or technology-wise, to take on something of such magnitude.
–Ray Van Horn, Jr.
All photos courtesy of the public domain
More Praise for “Revolution Calling,” by Ray Van Horn, Jr.
Aaaaand, right out the gate, day one of 2024. More praise for “Revolution Calling,” this time from the supremely talented John Boden, author of Snarl and Jedi Summer (both of which I highly recommend). John, I thank YOU, bro. Chest thumps and horns up back atcha!
“Revolution Calling is a memoir, if it tells you it’s not, it’s lying. This is memory captured in words and pages. That same nostalgic bittersweet joy we feel when we watch the old movies and listen to the old albums, Ray caught them, wriggling from the river of memory, and put them here for you. You can enjoy this book if you weren’t a metalhead (or member of another teenage fringe group) BUT it won’t be the same enjoyment. Thanks for this Ray, horn’s up!!”
2023
This will go down as one of the most impactful years of my life, one beginning horridly and later turning magical.
We went through a bit of turmoil in the opening months, forced to move in light of deteriorating and frankly dangerous conditions. We were broken into three times in one week and robbed of possessions and money, the most heartbreaking at the time being our wedding rings. There were more than one teenage thieves, though all were interconnected with each other. Eventually one of the young culprits made a spectacle of himself in the public and social media to the point he was caught, and his family was forced to pay us restitution.
By a miracle of the divine, our stolen rings were recovered and made extra special when fall came and I married my best friend, TJ. We cherish the rings as we do our love, all which felt harder fought for on a downpour of a wedding day. They say rain actually blesses a wedding and it was all we’d hoped for. That night in our honeymoon cottage, the rain continued, and two crickets chirped alllll night long outside our door. Crickets bringing further blessings, so we were informed.
TJ and I began finding success with our writing this year. She killed it in sales at a few book signings for The Healthy Witch and Four Little Witches, while I was thrilled to be at her side, first in a support role, then as a co-seller behind Coming of Rage. A wonderful learning experience at the hip of my true love. It was exquisite and a dream come true.
TJ landed The Healthy Witch, the book and accompanying oracle deck, inside a local Barnes and Noble, an achievement I’m as proud of her for as she is. Meanwhile, my new novel, Revolution Calling, has arrived and is gaining steam in the first couple weeks out with a lot of favorable reviews. I look forward to the new year going all out promoting the book and arranging signing events.
I wrote and submitted 17 short stories this year, 13 in the last four months alone. So far, one acceptance from Eternal Haunted Summer and one turndown. The rest, I remain waiting with bated breath, but any good writer knows it’s best to keep grinding on projects instead of obsessing for an answer over submissions. I feel optimistic for the upcoming year and feel my last three horror stories I wrote were amongst the best I’ve ever written. Hopefully the editors agree.
If one movie captured my heart in 2023 and summarized the knockdown and rise from the ashes theme of our year, it’s Godzilla: Minus One. I keep wanting to call it the greatest Godzilla film ever instead of the best since the original, it really is that passionate in its purpose to bring Godzilla back to his roots as a harbinger of terror instead of a silly kaiju hero of the earth. Better yet, you find yourselves rooting for the humans in Minus One for a change from a beautifully acted, emotionally driven story about survivor’s guilt in the remnants of World War II. Again, arigato, Toho.
I ran a few racing events this year and posted two personal best times, even coming in second amongst males and third overall in the Lock2Lock 10K along the C&O Canal in Maryland. At 53, I consider myself a slow and methodical runner with no worry where I finish in the field. To have such success here and a sixth-place overall finish in a 5K along the Maryland eastern shore, both gave me tremendous gratification.
Though I was forced to replace my car after running it to death with 120,000 miles in the past few years, the consolation prize of being stuck with a car payment I didn’t want means having Sirius XM back in my life. I’m addicted to Liquid Metal, Ozzy’s Boneyard, Hair Nation, Underground Garage, First Wave and Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong Radio. Continuing in the theme of music, I got to two concerts only in 2023 Depeche Mode and Voivod, and grateful for those exquisite shows. The Mode marked my first show attended with TJ, even though I still shake my head at myself; while I was in the music industry, I was covering 10-12 shows a month. Sobering to think upon that.
I had the pleasure of making new friends in writing and across the board in my life. A tremendous thrill getting to meet fellow Marylander and horror master whose work I’ve long respected, Richard Chizmar. This was a year I was able to spend more time with family and friends than I have in a very long time, with many wanting to meet my new bride and the results have created stronger bonds. I look forward to more of this in the upcoming year.
For the upcoming year, I have a lot cooking. My mantra for 2024 is “Go balls out,” as I’m the hungriest I’ve ever been in my life to make my writing dreams come true. I have gained a lot of momentum in the past four months, and the story ideas keep rolling in. I have reunited with my collaborative artist partner, Dominic Valecillo, as we take another crack at re-launching our Metalheads comic. I hope to lock in a freelancing spot with renowned magazine I would be honored to be a part of.
Largely, I’ll be pimping the crap out of Revolution Calling with upcoming interviews I’ve been booked for and hopefully the wonderful jump from the gate translates into something special.
2024 is mine. 2024 is also TJ’s. We flipped the script on a disastrous opening to 2023, proving we are a force together. We look forward to seeing you all while making our passions and hopes as writers come alive.
A most happy and prosperous New Year to you all. See you on the flipside.
–Ray Van Horn, Jr.
“Revolution Calling” Reviewed at Metal Asylum
A mega THANK YOU and double horns up to Jack Mangan from Metal Asylum for this incredible review of Revolution Calling! I never expected to see the revered names of John Hughes and Stephen King mentioned in a review of my work. Yet both are huge influences in my life and writing and I am bouncing all over the joint.
–Ray Van Horn, Jr.
Pushcart Prize Nominations
You might already know, but my short story collection, Coming of Rage and my new novel, Revolution Calling, were nominated for the 2022 and ’23 Pushcart Prize respectively. Coming of Rage is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Nook, Kindle and Lulu. Revolution Calling at Lulu, with the aforementioned outlets arriving in early 2024.
–Ray Van Horn, Jr.
Roads Lesser Traveled 