I’ve always been a writer who emphasizes that it is a mix of experience and imagination that makes a good story. One the one hand, Herman Melville shows us what experience as a sailor can do for making a whale story realistic. One the other, George R.R. Martin, having never been in a real sword-fight in his life (I assume), writes amazing and exciting longsword duels out of shear passion for the subject. I think both types of inspiration play an important role in informing the creation of horror stories. My collection Slash of Crimson and Other Tales, being published by Seventh Star press in the summer of 2017 employs this mixed sort of inspiration. And yet, while most of the stories possess both elements, one of the stories, The Red Path, draws heavily on an image witnessed in real-life at my father’s cabin in the north Maine woods. The picture here, taken on the shores of Junior Lake, shows a pair of rather striking water spiders engaged in a duel to the death. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, nature ain’t always cuddly. In fact, just before this picture was taken, a snake living in the nearby rocks poked his head out hoping for a meal, only to find the dominant spider pause the combat long enough to square off like, “You talkin’ to me?” The snake decided to find its meal elsewhere, and the dominant spider finished off its fellow and made what appeared to be a liquid meal of its carcass. Such wrath left an impression on the cameraman, and when writing The Red Path, ended up being an inspiration. Here’s to hoping the story’s as thrilling to read when the book comes out as it was to write.