Camillus author creates fun Halloween thriller
BY Jason Gabak
Editor
Jim Horsman has been a life-long musician.
Growing up in Camillus and attending West Genesse High School, Horsman said he played in garage bands in and around the Syracuse area.
Music was always his main artistic outlet.
“I always felt I had something artistic,” Horsman said. “But I always thought that was in music.”
While music may have been his first love in the arts, the idea of writing always lingered somewhere in the back of his mind.
Horsman went on to pursue other endeavors including included ownership of CenterStage Events, which launched several signature events in Syracuse, including the Taste of Syracuse Festival and the Syracuse Chamber Business Show.
Now as a retiree, Horsman has put that dream to paper.
Horsman recently published his first children’s book, “What’s That Spooky Sound: A Halloween Trick or Treat Thriller.”
“It was kind of a bucket list item,” Horsman said. “It was something I had always wanted to do and now that I am retired I have a little more time and it felt like now was the right time to finally do this.”
When considering the subject matter of his first book, Horsman only had to think back to his own childhood growing up in Central New York where Halloween was one of the highlights of the year for young children.
Combining this with Horsman’s love of well known children’s author, Dr. Seuss, and it didn’t take long for Horsman to get his story together.
“Growing up in the Syracuse area, with the fall and the cool weather, Halloween was always a big deal,” Horsman said. “I always had a love to Seussish words and rhymes and that helped inspire me.”
When winter settles in his hometown these days, Horsman spends the less enjoyable months in Florida.
It was here he was able to connect with an illustrator to help bring his words to life with images of the main characters depicted in the book.
Horsman said he is near Sarasota in Florida where the Ringling Bros. organization is headquartered.
In addition to the well known circus, Ringling Bros. is also home to what Horsman called a world class art collection, which in turn has inspired a school for artistic design.
“I went and asked if they might have some students that might be interested in illustrating a children’s book,” Horsman said.
Horsman was connected with Ohenewa Anno, a graduate of the Ringling Bros. program who resides in Ghana.
Working via the internet, Anno, brought Horsman’s characters to life.
“It is amazing to see,” Horsman said. “She is an incredibly talented artist.”
The book is now available on Amazon and Horsman said he has already started to receive some positive feedback.
If the interest is there, Horsman said he has other stories he’d like to tell and may be doing a lot more writing in the future.
“We’ve already had a number of sales,” Horsman said. “We’ve even sold two in Europe. It is exciting. It is exciting to realize something you created is out there and other people are reading it.”
Horsman said an audio recording of the book is also available on YouTube.
To learn more visit facebook.com/Whats-That-Spooky-Sound-A-Halloween-Trick-Or-Treat-Thriller.
