"Writing is my favorite thing to do, " Mary Hazel says. "I knew
I wanted to be a writer when I was six years old, and first learned
how to write. Even before that I made up stories about an imaginary
world called Bubbleland, inhabited by living soap bubbles, to
entertain myself and my playmates. When I learned how to write, I
printed my 'Bubbleland' stories on lined paper and drew pictures to
illustrate them."Mary Hazel had written nine novels, that were all rejected by the Establishment publishers, when she finally got her "lucky break". She had an article published in SMALL BUSINESS NEWS back in spring of 1996. She didn't even write the article. Ann Stevenson, the publisher, had ghosted it from information Mary Hazel sent to her for an article to advertise the mail-order business Mary Hazel was attempting to start. James Wellstood wrote to her offering to trade ad space for her articles to help her advertise her mail-order publishing business. He also helped her make catalogs on disk for her business. Jim was publishing a mail-order e-zine called JAMIE'S CLASSIFIER. He has over twenty years experience as a publisher.
Mary Hazel quickly learned that she didn't like publishing, that all she wants to do is write. So when Jim offered to publish and promote all her books, putting them on computer disk for her, she quickly agreed. He promised to make her as rich and famous as Stephen King.
"He offered to publish all my books for me, sight unseen, " Mary Hazel explains. "And he never tells me what to write, or asks me to change my stories. Without him, all my stories would still just be unpublished manuscripts lying in a drawer, unread by anyone except me. Even if I'd been 'lucky' enough to eventually interest the Establishment press in my books, they would have wanted to tell me what to write, and limit how many books I could write."
Jim is now Mary Hazel's publisher, agent, and business manager. "All my stories, past, present, and future are half his now. I owe him a debt of gratitude I can never repay."
Mary Hazel and Jim are now checking into some of the new print on demand book publishers that publish one book at a time as ordered.
"We want to have hard copy books too, " she explains.
Mary Hazel's second lucky break came when Earon Barnes took an interest in her stories, and decided to help her by making a place on his and Lewis Sanders's Web site, PRINCE RENGA'S MISS LUCY WESTENRA SOCIETY OF THE UNDEAD, just for her. She had known Lewis for sometime, and had written vampire stories for him, and had met Earon through Lewis. Earon is now making another Web page just for her.
"I can't believe how much my friends do for me, without me even asking them to, " Mary Hazel says. "I owe them a lot, and hope I will be able to repay the favors someday."
Mary Hazel has lived in the tiny town of Wheeling, Indiana since 1980. Wheeling is about a dozen houses on both sides of Highway 29 in Carroll County. This is farming country, where the corn grows tall. It is a nice, quiet place to live.
She spent last winter in Florida. She lived there before she was married, and hadn't been back for about thirty years. She found the places slightly changed, but mostly as she remembered them. Mary Hazel, of course, can write anywhere. And she will use all the new places she saw as settings for her stories. Right now she is working on a vampire novel called RETURN TO SUNSET COVE set in the fictionalized town of Arcadia, Florida. All of the locations in her stories are based on real places. She fictionalizes them and changes the names so that she can use whatever details she wants to. Many of the same locations and characters are reused in new stories.
Many of Mary Hazel's characters are based on real people also. Usually minor characters are made up.
"I always get to be the heroine in my stories, " she says. "When I write it's like the characters are telling me the story, and I just write down what they tell me. Usually I have a basic plot, some characters, and a location in mind before I start, but usually I'm as surprised as the readers at some of the plot developments. The only difference is, I get to read the story first!"
Mary Hazel never worries about writer's block. "Writer's block is just an excuse amateurs use to take the day off, " she laughs. "Anyway, one of my characters, Mariette Rodgers, has become more than just another character to me. I guess you could call her my Muse. I know she helps me write everything now. Whenever I tackle a difficult writing project, I ask her to help me write it, and she always does. She helps me remember things I want to write about too. I always picture her writing it down in a notebook, and then when I want the information back, she gives it to me. I do keep a plot book of ideas actually written down, but I don't really have to. I know Mariette is remembering it all for me. A few of my other characters have become almost that real to me, but Mariette is my favorite character."
"I suppose to people who aren't writers, that may sound crazy, but I've done a little studying in the field of psychology too. I learned that writers do the same things crazy people do, only writers get paid for their fantasies, and crazy people just get locked up for them."
Mary Hazel enjoys writing genre fiction, but not literary fiction.
"I don't want to write boring, depressing stories about everyday life, " she says firmly. "That's why I write, to escape to my own private fantasy world for a little while. I really write for myself, not the readers, although I'm glad if they like the stories too. I don't think a fiction writer can be really good if he doesn't write first and always for himself. Nonfiction you can do for the readers first, or just for the money. I like to write nonfiction too, but no matter how good it turns out, I still consider it as 'throwaway writing.' My fiction I write for myself. That's why Stephen King is so good, and why he has the fame and money he deserves. He always writes his stories for himself."
Most of Mary Hazel's novels also have a romance subplot, and the heroines are all young, never past their late twenties.
Mary Hazel's birthday is August 6, 1946.
"I don't feel a day over twenty-one, and don't ever expect to, " Mary Hazel laughs. "So I definitely don't want to write about old people. That's not part of my fantasy."
Mary Hazel's office has been located in a variety of places. Her present office is two computer centers in a large extra room added to the mobile home. The room also contains guest sleeping quarters.
"I get on the Internet with the new computer, but I prefer to write with the MS-DOS text editor, and to use Windows 3.1 on the old computer, " she explains.
Mary Hazel's favorite office was in an old house that was on the Wheeling property. It was too far gone to renovate, so it was eventually torn down and replaced with a mobile home. Before the house was torn down, though, Mary Hazel used one room of it for an office and library for a couple years. She could only work there in the daytime in the summer, as there was no heat or electricity. She used to write ghost stories and scare herself sometimes.
"Even in the daytime, in the hot part of the summer, it was cool in the old house. The old-fashioned narrow windows always made what light came in look gray. It looked just like a haunted house. I don't think it was really haunted. I looked for ghosts every time I went over there to write and never saw any. Maybe they were there, though. I don't think ghosts let people who really want to, see them."
Once Mary Hazel was writing in the old house, and was sure that she heard ghostly footsteps in the attic. She ran back to the mobile home to get a tape recorder. By the time she got back, the "ghost" was silent. To her disappointment, the "ghost" turned out to be a ground hog that had climbed up to the attic through the walls.
Mary Hazel grew up in Clarksville, Indiana. Her mother, Hazel Fern Henson, still lives in the house that Mary Hazel's father, Claude, built. Claude died in November of 1998. Mary Hazel has one brother, Charles, who is married. Charles, and his wife, Anna Marie, live in Memphis, Indiana.
Mary Hazel's favorite authors are Stephen King and J.G. Ballard. Just about everybody knows who Stephen King is. Only a few dedicated science fiction fans know who J.G. Ballard is. He is very popular with his fans, who appreciate his writing style, but he never achieved the "super star" fame and recognition he deserves.
"Stephen King is my hero, " Mary Hazel says. "But I read J.G. Ballard long before I read Stephen King. My favorite book by him is THE CRYSTAL WORLD. In this book, space and time are blending into one, and the whole world is slowly crystalizing. This is a beautifully written book. It is strange and haunting like all of his stories. Both J.G. Ballard and Stephen King have influenced my writing."
Her favorite Stephen King book is SALEM'S LOT. Her favorite book of all time, and the one she thinks is the scariest is Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE.
Her favorite movie, and the one she thinks is the scariest is the original black and white version of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. "I watched that movie by myself on TV one Halloween night, " she recalls. "I got so scared I turned all the lights in the house on, and left them on until morning, but I still finished watching all of the movie."
Mary Hazel likes a little of a lot of different kinds of music, but her favorite kind is old rock music from the sixties. Some of her favorites are The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Credence Clearwater Revival. Her favorite song is The Beatles's recording of YESTERDAY.
Mary Hazel has worked at a number of jobs, but writing is the only job she's ever really cared about. Usually all of her experiences end up in one of her stories, though. She lived in Ft. Myers, Florida for six years before she was married. She worked as a nurse's aide at Lee Memorial Hospital in Ft. Myers. From 1985 to 1988 she worked at the State Hospital in Logansport, Indiana. She got lots of material from that job. Some of her stories are set in the fictional state hospital called Arcadia. There is a real state hospital in Florida in Arcadia, but the one in her stories is based on Logansport State Hospital.
"That was one of my most interesting jobs, " Mary Hazel says. "That's when I got interested in studying psychology and mental illness. It's also when I realized that the only difference between the patients and us was that we had the keys. Insanity, like everything else, is relative. I've got notes for a long novel called SCHIZOPHRENIA that I'll write someday. The basic plot is that the attendants begin having hallucinations about the hospital's past, and even going back into the hospital's past, when some of the old hospital buildings begin being torn down. I'll have to do some research about the history of the state hospital system and also the various kinds of mental disorders before I start that one."
Recently, Mary Hazel has worked in a greenhouse, selling and caring for the flowers and plants. She expects to get a story out of that seasonal job too, and even has the title and most of the plot. It will be called THE DARK TREES, and will be a horror novel for teenage girls.
Her most recent job was working at Maramart, frying chicken. Even that job provided her with a story plot. The short story, called "The Corn Moon" will eventually be published on the Web site Earon plans for her.
In her spare time Mary Hazel likes to read, anything and everything. She likes to do research, almost as much as she likes to write. She especially likes to do research on the Internet, which she compares to having access to millions of the world's libraries that never close. She loves to shop, especially at garage sales and at Wal-Mart. She is a good cook, and likes to try new recipes. Lately she hasn't had much time to cook. She is planning to write a story cookbook eventually, with recipes after each chapter, and is looking forward to getting to develop new recipes for it.
"Mostly I like to write, though, " Mary Hazel says. "I observe everything, and eventually use it in one of my stories."
Mary Hazel has more completed stories and a thick notebook of ideas for even more stories.
"I'll never run out of ideas, " Mary Hazel says. "I won't live long enough to write all the books I have ideas for now. And Jim has kindly offered to publish and promote all the books I can write! He has given me what I have always wanted most, to be able to write my books and have them published. I couldn't ask for anything more!"
NOTE FROM MARY HAZEL UPTON
This biography, requested by Earon Barnes for the special Web page he made for me on the Miss Lucy site, was written under the pen name of Mariette Rodgers. I thought you would enjoy this biography, written like an article, more than you would just a dull relating of the facts of my personal history.
Mariette is the heroine of the brand-new series of horror novels in the NIGHTMARE HOUSE series. I am currently writing the first novel, NIGHTMARE HOUSE, for this series. The setting is the old house mentioned in this article, and in my story it is haunted. Mariette is my "alter ego", who inspires me to write. She looks just like me, except younger and several pounds lighter than me, and she doesn't have to wear glasses. She looks just like I did when I was twenty-one, except she has blond hair, my favorite hair color. (My hair is plain brown, but if I can't have real blond hair, than I'll just keep my own hair color!) Mariette will be twenty-one forever in this series, the age I would stay forever if I could.
NIGHTMARE HOUSE will be a ghost story, unlike any you've ever read, with a shocking surprise ending. Mariette and her husband, Curt, will live and prosper in this new series forever, though. No way I'm going to have anything bad happen to my heroines, especially not when they're my fantasy selves!
The entire NIGHTMARE HOUSE series will be serialized and free for you to read on my Web site, JAMIE'S AND MARY HAZEL'S NIGHTMARE BOOKSTORE, that Earon is making for me. He expects to have it completed for me sometime in 2000. Look for information about it on this Web site. As the books are completed, e-books will be for sale from my publisher, Jim Wellstood, if you want a copy for your own library.
If you want to read some of my short stories and get the latest information on my other books, which will only be available from Jim, check out Prince Renga's Miss Lucy Westenra Society Of The Undead Web site, listed in the links on this site. Many other fine authors are featured there, and this site, created lovingly by Earon, is truly a work of art.
COPYRIGHT © 1999 JAMES WELLSTOOD AND MARY HAZEL UPTON
HOW TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR
If you want information about Mary Hazel's books, please write to:
James Wellstood
P.O. Box 365
Medford, NY 11763-0365
and please send a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Or e-mail him at: jcwezine@aol.com
If you just want to chat, my snail-mail address is:
Mary Hazel Upton
1356 N SR 29
Flora, Indiana 46929.
I will try to answer all letters, but please include a SASE.
My e-mail address is: marietta@carlnet.org
Please remember that I will be vacationing in Florida in the winter, but you may write to me in the spring, summer, and fall, if you wish. Thanks for reading my articles and biography!