Windham Author Publishes First Horror Novel

From the first time that Gordon Bean saw the movie "Alien," he has always been hooked on horror.

Simply put, Bean says you can't get any better than a haunted house monster movie in space, which is why Ridley Scott's 1979 film struck a cord.

The 46-year-old Windham resident, who grew up in Canada north of Montreal, Quebec, has been training practically his whole life to write his own horror.

"Horror in it's basest form is something very primal that affects us on a physiological, psychological and emotional level," Bean said. "There is something about reading a dark and creepy tale while sitting in a darkened room by the fireplace."

Bean sits and reads all the time. In fact, he thumbs through three books a week, and he used to buy nearly a dozen books from Barnes & Noble at a time.

He was drawn to English writer Michael Moorcock for his "brilliant, speculative" fantasy and sci-fi. New Jersey native Richard Matheson created tales of suspense and endings which lingered in the mind. Another Englishman, Clive Barker removed horror from safe territory and made it unique and dangerous. William Nolan of developed shocking worlds and H.P. Lovecraft stepped outside the lines of convention.

Bean now hopes that fans of horror fiction will be drawn to a new novel, one with his name on the top.

Six months of writing over a 12- to 18-month span, including a major rewrite, has created "Dawn of Broken Glass," Bean's debut novel.

The story begins with a chilling reminder of World War II atrocities, with a man's family being brutally killed during Kristallnacht.

Year's later in an unknown corner of Maine, Bean's main character seeks revenge using the Golem, a creature from Jewish folklore.

"It's been to the point where I just haven't had anything that I've really liked enough to say OK, let me see if I can share this with people. This idea – it just hit me. I said 'oh my God, this is a cool story.'"

Bean notes that the Golem hasn't been done in horror fiction before.

To bring the creature to life, Bean wrote tirelessly over several nights and weekends, all the while focusing on his day job as a finance director at an online company based in New Hampshire.

"It's kind of funny, like 'gee, a boring numbers guy does horror," he said.

But Bean knows there isn't a million dollars in what he's doing. He recognizes that those who write should do so because they love it. 

While the novel (complete with a crisp illustration from Toronto's Emma Dolan) is pretty cool, Bean and a friend since elementary school are going even further.

The two launched their own publishing company – Guardian of Forever Publishing –  to create a middle ground for writers who can't crack the big New York publishing houses but want something better than the "publish on demand" route.

"Realistically, we wanted to do something to the effect of fostering the unpublished or the barely published writer," he said.

Guardian of Forever, started two months ago, features professional editors and illustrators. Bean's partner is a librarian who has access to ISBN numbers along with access to get books through the Library of Congress.

"You want the book to have the right feel, the right statistics effectively to get it into a store, and we're offering that."

Another goal is to make an Internet request for submissions to a horror anthology, which will celebrate quality stories of any length and subject matter.

Bean is working on his second novel, "Bloodlines," which will stay in the Maine setting and exist in the same universe as "Dawn of Broken Glass."

He noted other famous authors who have created major universes to hold their stories, including J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkein, Stephen King and George R.R. Martin.

While all of those authors have sold millions of books and have each had their work adapted to the silver screen, Bean is just happy for any positive feedback, and says that four digits for book sales would be fantastic.

The 274-page book is available on Amazon, along with a description of the story and a preview of the novel's prologue.

Bean has also published two short stories – 'From a Whisper to a Dream' in the Sinister Landscapes anthology by Pixie Dust Press and 'Out of the Corner of His Eye' in the Beyond the Grave Anthology by Grinning Skull Press. He is also a member of the New England Horror Writers Association.