About Lee Pletzers (stuff you wanted to know and stuff you didn't)
In Short: Lee Pletzers is a writer who is very active in
the genre world, online and off. Over 40 short stories have found
publication in anthologies and magazines, zines and online.
In September 2009 his
first novel was released by BBS books. Lee is an avid reader and
writes reviews for HarperCollins and Hachette via SFFANZ (Science
Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand). He is also a member
of AHWA (Australian Horror Writers Association) and SpecFicNZ.
He has edited 4 anthologies, worked as editor and reviewer for Sinisteria horror magazine, has translated one novel from Japanese to English and edited several novels for small press authors.
In 2008 he created the popular social site for
horror writers at: http://moh.spurz.com/
You can find him online
at: http://thestoryteller.co.nz
How many here actually KNEW they wanted to be a writer from a
young age? How many here, just kind of fell into it? I always knew
and used to write knock-off Dirty Harry stories, where I was Dirty
Harry and shot people for no reason at all, and they were often
gory. Sometimes they were read, often just a promise to read them
when some free time showed itself. Then when I was 8, I saw a
preview on TV for a Saturday night TV movie: The Omen. I was
forbidden to watch this, my TV was even threatened by loss of the
plug. If I even thought about watching this evil, demented movie
that would drive me crazy, then the wrath of my Aunt — more violent
than the lake of fire filled with burning screaming souls – would
befall me. I watched it. I loved it. I watched the sequels. I read
all 5 of the books (different to the movies). I discovered Hammer
horror movies on Sunday Midnight theater on TV (usually from 12 –
2). My stories suddenly took a turn in direction. I kept the action
and added something TV had taught me. Horror. When I was 10, a short
vampire story got noticed at primary (elementary) school and was
read in front of the class. Mr. Corunkarn (I could never spell his
name) told me how good it was for my age, and read it in front of
class. I have not stopped writing since. I like to think that I was
meant to write these weird stories in my head and they were meant to
be SF-horror suspense. Why else would a horror movie preview grip
the interest of an 8 year old boy?
True Story: On New Years night, 2004, I was in bed a little after 5 AM and I was very close to sleep when I felt someone looking at me (this happened a lot when I lived in Japan). I looked at the darkened room and saw a dark figure and when I concentrated on finding the face to this figure, I saw a demon’s face. It was purple with red zig-zag markings. The eyes were dark and I think he was smiling at me, so I smiled back. There was no fear, which surprised me when I later analyzed it. I rolled over in bed (can’t sleep when I’m being watched), pulled the blankets over my ears and drifted off to sleep. I thought, ‘Who is that?’ And a word popped into my head: Mephistopheles. Several months later, a demon dressed in battle armour hissed in my ear. I rolled away and I felt something tapping my shoulder. I moved house 2 days later.
Some worthless information
Date I screamed into this world from another portal of damnation: December 1971
First published short story: 2000
First book publishing contract: 2003 (canceled 4 years later due to publisher wanting to be a writer)
Second and current publishing contract: 2009 X 2 novels
First published novel: Blood of the Wolf
Four jobs I’ve had
1. Recruiter for training organization
2. Deputy Principal
3. Karate Instructor
4. Courier driver
Ten movies I can watch over and over
1. Highlander 1,2,3,4,5
2. Saw 1,2,3,4,5
3. Rocky Horror Picture Show
4. Slashers (gory b-grade fairly unknown dvd. Love it)
5. Cursed
6. The Deaths of Ian Stone
7. Butterfly Effect
8. Absolon
9. Unknown
10. (My favorite movie of all time) In the Mouth of Madness
Four places I have lived
1. Grew up in West Auckland (Avondale, Henderson)
2. Christchurch
3. Japan
4. Wellington
Ten television shows I love to watch
1. Grand Designs
2. Dr. Who
3. RAW / NXT / Smackdown
4. Supernatural
5. Relocation, Relocation
6. SGU
7. House
8. Boston legal
9. Chuck
10. Terminator
Four places I have been on vacation
1. 90% of North Island NZ
2. England
3. Shanghai
4. Several places in Japan
Five of my favorite dishes
1. Sausages and mashed potatoes
2. rice with beef mine
3. Irish Stew & Japanese white stew
4. Katsu curry (Japanese dish)
5. Okonomiyaki (Japanese dish)
Eleven websites I visit daily
1. Masters of Horror http://horrorwriters.ning.com
2. Gmail
3. http://leepletzers.net
4. Google Wave
5. My Blog: blog.terror.co.nz
6. Trade Me (Auction site)
7. Dompost
8. Stuff.co.nz
9. AHWA
10. goodbook.co.nz — best place to buy books online and to help other in desperate need of assistance
11. Twitter
Four places I would rather be right now
1. I’m happy where I am and I’m glad to see you here as well.
Latest Projects
Lee's active sites
NZ Publisher >BR>
Novel: Last Church
Novel: The Game
Novel: Lykanthropos
Antho: Masters of Horror
Group: Masters of Horror group
Facebook site
Bibilography
The current body of work from the pen of Lee Pletzers. This page is constantly updated. Kind of reads like an online CV. Warning, the below work has been known to cause spontaneous combustion of the eyes and soul … you have been warned. There are two other books not listed here. The first is Night Shadow and the other was a con that got me. Potea press, Crossover (availability unknown).