Hunting Monsters

SHAKING THE SIX DEMON BAG: Six Extremely General Questions With Don Gates

2012-01-27T05:31:00.000-08:00

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT’S YOUR DEAL?

I’m acustomer-service flunky, husband, multiple-pet owner, and hopeful graphicdesigner (just graduated!) who tries his hardest to write pulp adventures inhis spare time.

WHAT’S YOUR CURRENT PROJECT?

CurrentlyI’m working on “Challenger Storm: The Curse of Poseidon”, the follow-up to mydebut novel, “Challenger Storm: The Isle of Blood”, which has been out sinceNovember from Airship 27. In addition tocontinuing the adventures of global adventurer/troubleshooter Clifton“Challenger” Storm, I’m also plotting several other works featuring othercharacters that inhabit the same pulp-universe in the 1930’s (and beyond). These other projects will run the gamut fromespionage and urban-vigilante tales to lost-world, aviation, and possibly evensuper-heroic style tales.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES?

I thinkI’ve been influenced by a little bit of everything. Certainly reading Doc Savage influenced thecreation of Challenger Storm, though I try to stay away from things that mightmake him a pastiche of Doc. I’ll neverforget reading my first Doc: home sick from junior-high school and laying onthe couch... it transported me away and I always loved that about adventurepulps, and any pulp literature, really. It’s just pure, fun escapism.

Besidespulps, I’m influenced by action films, comic books, video games, legends (bothmythological and urban legends... I love that stuff). Pretty much anything that gets my head intoanother world influences my writing.

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOUR STUFF?

Currently,“The Isle of Blood” is available at:

-IndyPlanet.com-http://indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6298

-Amazon.com-http://www.amazon.com/Challenger-Storm-Blood-Don-Gates/dp/1613420234/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321478583&sr=1-1

-Barnes & Noble-http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/challenger-storm-isle-of-blood-don-gates/1107311402.

-The PDF version of the book is is available at Airship 27’sPDF hangar- http://gopulp.info/

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU?

TheChallenger Storm blog is at http://challengerstorm.blogspot.com/,and there’s a Facebook page as well- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Challenger-Storm/114871605204829. I personally can be found- often all day long- on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1032036822 .

INDULGE IN SOME SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION-WHATSHOULD WE BE BUYING OR READING OR WATCHING OR LISTENING TO WITH YOUR NAME ONIT?

Well, youshould definitely go check out my book. WhenI wrote it I set out to tell a fun old-fashioned pulp adventure tale, but Ialso tried to sprinkle a few modern-touches into the mix to keep it from beinga tired old retread. The book’s artworkdoesn’t hurt, either: both the cover and the interiors were illustrated by noneother than comic book legend Michael Wm. Kaluta. The publication of this book is not one buttwo dreams -come-true for me, as I’ve always wanted to be a published authorand have always wanted to work with Mr. Kaluta. The feedback that we’ve received so far has been terrific, and peopleseem to really enjoy what we’ve done here. Give it a shot, and drop me a line to let me know what you think!

Thursday Link Sausage

2012-01-26T10:18:00.000-08:00

Not much to write about today...I'm approaching the 50k mark, and my brain is stuck in an ancient vampire kingdom. So, instead of nattering on, I'll let some other folks do so.

First up, Jim C. Hines gives us a look at his 2011 writing income in a highly informative post. Then, most of Hines' posts are informative, so why not give the rest of them a look when you're done?

After checking that out, you could amble over to Myke Cole's space to look at a similar post, from the perspective of someone just starting out. As with Hines, I encourage you to flip through Cole's blog.

And lastly, here's Nick Mamatas on Ten Bits of Advice Writers Should Stop Giving. Heh.

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow for the next SHAKING THE SIX DEMON BAG interview, with Don Gates! But before we get to that, why not check out last week's interview with Cate Gardner?

Wednesday WIP Right Here, Right Now

2012-01-25T03:59:00.000-08:00

48k is the goal for ToLN today. It's an easy goal, as I'm more than half-way there as I take a break to write this. Tomorrow I should reach the much-ballyhooed 50,000 word mark, which will be quite a relief. I've been at this almost four weeks now.

As a reward, I may take a bit of a break on Friday to work on other projects, most notably the next Nightmare Men essay, centred on Manly Wade Wellman's John Thunstone. I may also try and nudge the word count on "The Hunting of Philip Ackroyd" up a notch or two.

In other news, the release date for Knight of the Blazing Sun is fast approaching. Have you pre-ordered your copy yet? And if so, you'll recall that we have a contest going, so take a look at that.

And that's that for today, I think.

Brian Blessed VS the Shark Gods of Eastern Sharktopia

2012-01-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

February's issue of Hammer & Bolter (issue 17 for those keeping count) is available for pre-order. I mention it because I have a story in said issue, "Stromfels' Teeth". "Stromfels' Teeth" is a sequel to "Dead Calm", which appeared in issue 13 back in the hoary depths of last year. Y'know, just in case you want to catch up, or something.

Anyway, it has sharks in it. And shark monsters. Also shark cultists. And Brian Blessed, or, at least his Warhammer Fantasy equivalent, (hence the pictures).

Because why not, right?

To reiterate:

This guy:

Several of these guys:

Seriously, go buy that. You know you want it.

Monday Agenda of the Speaking Goat

2012-01-23T01:56:00.000-08:00

Several things to mention today, the first of which is-hey! interview. With me. Over at the Black Library Bolthole. You should go read that.

Next up, the tenth issue (and first issue of 2012) of the Lovecraft eZine is out, with it's usual sterling line-up of contributors. Also, me. My story, "Eliza", is a post-apocalyptic, Logan's Run sort of thing, only with goat-girls, robot-spiders-with-sorcerer-brains and certain inhabitants of corkscrew towers, which you can read or listen to for free. Xan Nyfors did a lovely audio-version of the story, and Nick Gucker did some amazing artwork which you can see below:

Thirdly, pal Derrick Ferguson has decided to share some info on our collaborative pulp novel-in-progress, The Vril Agenda over at his (one of many) blog. And in the interest of setting the record straight, a week is plenty of time to write a 30k word novella.

As an aside for those interested in that sort of thing, I crossed well over the 40k mark on Project: Holden, AKA Time of Legends: Neferata this weekend. The halfway mark fast approaches and I am possessed of the inescapable conclusion that 100,000 words simply isn't enough to do all the cool stuff I want to do. So help me God, I will cram as many ninja-vampiric-mummy-dragon-fighting-devil-punching antics into this book as I am able. Because screw subtlety.

That's enough for today, I think. Out you go.

SHAKING THE SIX DEMON BAG: Six Extremely General Questions With Cate Gardner

2012-01-20T03:39:00.000-08:00

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT’S YOUR DEAL?

Goodquestion. By day, I'm a mild-mannered receptionist, and by night, I'm usuallytearing the world apart or removing folk's hearts. What's my deal? Darkness.

WHAT’S YOUR CURRENT PROJECT?

I'mcurrently working on a dystopian fairy tale about orphans and marionettes,provisionally titled Cobwebs Strings ofthe Rotting House.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES?

Tim Burton.Lemony Snicket.

Perhaps notinfluences, but many of my stories contain butterflies, hearts and strange menin pinstripe suits.

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOUR STUFF?

My books(Barbed Wire Hearts, Theatre of Curious Acts, and Strange Men in PinstripeSuits) are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and The Book Depository. Mylatest short story was published in Something Wicked, a South African magazine,and I have a story forthcoming in Dagan Book's Fish anthology.

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU?

I have ablog - www.categardner.net. I'm alsofar too active on twitter - http://twitter.com/categardner- that is I never stop tweeting. I think I have a problem. Okay, I know I havea problem. Tweet me.

INDULGE IN SOME SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION-WHATSHOULD WE BE BUYING OR READING OR WATCHING OR LISTENING TO WITH YOUR NAME ONIT?

I have twonovellas available. Theatre of Curious Acts(Hadley Rille Books), the hero of which, Daniel Cole, is a Great War soldierwho falls in love with Death while battling the Horsewomen of the Apocalypse,dragons and a sinister theatre manager. BarbedWire Hearts (Delirium Books) is the tale of a boy who loses his heart, adead girl whose heart has started beating again, and the goatish man who stealsinto their town.

Thank youfor the interview, Joshua.

Thursday on the Sharp End

2012-01-19T06:48:00.000-08:00

Did I mention that there was an extract from Knight of the Blazing Sun available on the BL website? How about the pre-order contest? Yes? Good.

On to other things...crossed the 35k mark on Time of Legends: Neferata (AKA Project: Holden) yesterday, which was nice. 15k to go to reach the halfway point, hopefully before the first of February. Prayers to whatever dark gods you favour would be appreciated.

The January issue of the Lovecraft eZine should be out soon, and you can find a preview hereabouts, including a look at my story, "Eliza" as well as the rest of the TOC. Good stuff all.

Oh, and if you missed out on 2011's free Christmas tale, "Merry John Mock" in the Pulpwork Christmas Special, fret no more! It's now available as a free Kindle download on Amazon! Why not go download that right now?

Tomorrow will see the next SHAKING THE SIX DEMON BAG interview, with Cate Gardner up at bat. In the meantime, why not catch up on last week's interview with Joel Jenkins?

SOPAdope, the SOPAning

2012-01-18T06:31:00.000-08:00

So, I was planning on talking about other things today, like how there's an extract of Knight of the Blazing Sun up on the BL website, or how there's a preview of my short story, "Eliza" up at the Lovecraft eZine site. Instead, I'm going to talk about SOPA. Because I find bandwagons to occasionally be fun things to hitch a ride on, depending on the band, the wagon and the relationship of either to me.

Feel free to skip right over this post, though.

So, here's SOPA and it's annoying little brother, PIPA. I don't like them. A lot of folks don't like them. EDIT: Folks like John Scalzi, for instance, and Chuck Wendig. Seriously, they say it better than I could.

As a dude whose first novel (which isn't even out yet!) is already available on a number of file sharing sites thanks to some ever-so generous black market file merchants, I can say that, at the moment, I could give two craps about internet piracy.

Stealing my potential money is merely annoying and disheartening. It's when you start stealing my actual money, right out of my wallet, that I get stabby. To me, SOPA is a bit like swatting a hornet with a high-calibre handgun...you'll probably miss the hornet and hit some poor schmuck by accident. It's not the most efficient means of doing the deed in my opinion, is what I'm saying.

Shameless self promotion will resume tomorrow.

Tuesday for Tuppence

2012-01-17T00:43:00.000-08:00

Two ways to start the day off right for a writer-(1) a short story acceptance and (2) a good review (s). I got both of those today, by the way. Firstly, my story "The Briggs Hill Path" will be appearing in the Satyrs anthology from Wicked East Press. "The Briggs Hill Path" features the dynamic duo of Harley Warren and Randolph Carter investigating a certain peculiar statuette from the town of Zoar. A previous story with these fine gentlemen, "The Savage Dreamer", can be found in issue 6 of Innsmouth Magazine, which you can read in it's entirety for free here.

Next up, a great review of Age of Legend, courtesy of Stefan Fergus over at the Civilian Reader blog. A similarly positive review of the book came to my attention this morning, courtesy of the Founding Fields review site. Both had good things to say about my contribution, "The Gods Demand", which is always nice. If you're interested in seeing what all the fuss is about, why not pick up a copy of the book (or even just my story!) for yourself?

Or, you could pick up a completely different book and get the chance to win Age of Legend, among other things.

Because I'm all about choice, folks.

At least when it comes to you giving me money.

The Supernatural Sleuth

2012-01-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

LinCarter’s Anton Zarnak is a man of mystery. With a jagged streak of silverrunning through his black hair from his temple to the base of his skull and hisexotic features and peculiar mannerisms, Zarnak is almost as outré as theenemies he fights. With a startling knowledge and a somewhat sinister history, Zarnakbattled evil in three stories penned by Carter-“Curse of the Black Pharaoh”,“Dead of Night”, and “Perchance to Dream”-as well as in a half dozen or so morecontributed by the likes of Robert M. Price, CJ Henderson, Joseph S. Pulver Sr.And James Chambers. All of these stories, for those interested, are collectedin Lin Carter’s Anton Zarnak:Supernatural Sleuth from Marietta Publishing.

Like thepulp characters Carter based him on, Zarnak is something of a Renaissance man.Educated at a number of prestigious universities, including the Heidelberg(where he studied theology with a certain Anton Phibes, according to “The Caseof the Curiously Competent Conjurer” by James Ambuehl and Simon Bucher-Jones),the Sorbonne and Miskatonic University, he is an accredited physician,musician, theologian and metaphysicist. He speaks eleven languages and has oneof the finest and most complete collections of occult literature in existence.His home drifts like a soap bubble between Half-Moon Street in London, No. 13China Alley in San Francisco and a cursed apartment building in New York;always decorated in oriental splendour, it is filled to bursting with esotericparaphernalia, including a hideously decorated mask of Yama which always hangsin a place of honour above Zarnak’s desk...

TO READ MORE, HEAD OVER TO BLACK GATE MAGAZINE...

SHAKING THE SIX DEMON BAG: Six Extremely General Questions With Joel Jenkins

2012-01-13T04:19:00.000-08:00

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT’S YOUR DEAL?

A sixstring word slinger with a penchant for ginger beer. Stories are revealed to me in strange andmysterious ways and it's my job to put them on paper.

WHAT’S YOUR CURRENT PROJECT?

I'mcurrently in the middle of the Brasilian rain forest fighting devil houndsslipping through the corners of alternate dimensions, and hanging with AmericanIndian gunfighter Lone Crow, a bevy of unfortunate tribe members and a coupleof scholarly types from Miskatonic University.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES?

Pulp, Pulp,and Pulp.

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOUR STUFF?

Most of itis measured out in discreet quantities and sold furtively on street corners,however you can find my novels at PulpWork.com, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.comand other venues of dubious reputation.

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU?

Huddledover a word processor, feverishly typing...or at JoelJenkins.com

INDULGE IN SOME SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION-WHATSHOULD WE BE BUYING OR READING OR WATCHING OR LISTENING TO WITH YOUR NAME ONIT?

For swordand science fiction in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter ofMars check out my Dire Planet series—the fifth book, Lost Tribes of the DirePlanet, will be hitting the stands in March of 2012.

If your bagis heroic fantasy mixed with Lovecraftian and dystopian elements check out Escapefrom Devil's Head and Through the Groaning Earth.

Likevampires, werewolves and hardboiled detective fiction? Try Devil Take theHindmost.

Guns andguitars your thing? Pick up TheNuclear Suitcase and The Gantlet Brothers Greatest Hits.

Want a bookfor your kids? The Pirates of Mirror Land is the ticket.

Or if youlike the weird and way-out with a sci-fi edge feast your eyes on The SeaWitch.

'...Find Destruction Throughout Eternity in the Name of thy Dark Unholy Master...'

2012-01-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

The above is a quote from the film Dracula's Daughter (1936). I mention it because it starred Gloria Holden as the tormented yet vicious Countess Marya Zaleska and Holden is, of course, the 'Holden' of Project: Holden, to which I added another 2000 words today.

Granted, I can probably drop the veil of secrecy (such as it was) about Project: Holden and just give it it's official title-Time of Legends: Neferata. Which is about this lovely lady here, if the title wasn't clue enough. Which means it's an epic story that spans centuries and features vampires doing vampire-y type things. Horrible, horrible things.

Feel free to ask me questions about it here. And be sure to drop by tomorrow for another installment of SHAKING THE SIX DEMON BAG, where it's Joel Jenkins turn on the block! But while you're waiting, why not check out last week's interview with Sarah Cawkwell? It's pyroriffic!

Wednesday WIP Here and Now

2012-01-11T13:03:00.000-08:00

There's a nice excerpt from the forthcoming Gotrek & Felix: The Anthology over at the BL blog, as well as a few words on the dynamic duo themselves. I'm in that one, if you'll recall. You should go check that out post-haste.

Work on Project: Holden continues at an amiable speed. I've topped the 20,000 word mark, which is a bit of a relief. All the major players have been introduced and the story can now proceed to its inevitable, bloody conclusion. If you'd like a hint as to what it's about, I'll simply say that the title is now listed on the Warhammer novels wiki. Also apparently on this message board topic and on Amazon in what is perhaps the earliest ever-lovin' pre-order opportunity ever. So, if you feel like detectorin' as to the true-for-reals-title, rock on with your bad selves.

Other than Project: Holden, I've been noodling about with "Corpse-Light", trying to beat it into shape for when submissions open for IFP's Fungi anthology this weekend. A few more tweaks, perhaps on Saturday, and I think it'll be ready to take that long plunge into the slush pile.

And that's that for this WIP Wednesday, I think.

Tuesday Turnpike

2012-01-10T01:12:00.000-08:00

Interesting take, regardless of whether you like his work or not. Also, his beard is not as impressive as I have been led to believe. Still, one cannot fault a man for not wanting a thicket on his chin. I guess. This time.

Today there was some tentative good news on a submission made at the tail-end of last year. Also, if you'd like to ask me questions, feel free to pop by The Black Library Bolthole where I've now got my own 'Ask the Authors' thread.

Speaking of self-promotion, my pal Percival Constantine has a new book out this month. You should go check that out and maybe treat yourself to a copy.

Regarding my own writing, I'm now roughly 18,000 words into Project: Holden, which is a satisfactory if not altogether excessive number of words. I'm aiming to bust the 30,000 mark by Sunday, but who can say what the future holds? [Editor's Note: Probably mutants. Hungry ones.] Oh, and if you were not aware, I'm running a contest! All you got to do to enter is to pre-order a copy of Knight of the Blazing Sun, and that nets you a shot at one of two awesome anthologies (winner's choice).

And speaking of pre-orders, according the BL site, it looks like there'll be a BL stand at the Warhammer 40k Throne of Skulls tournament on January 28th, where you can pick up an actual physical copy of Knight of the Blazing Sun a whole month and change early!

I think that's enough for Tuesday, don't you?

Monday in MutantLand

2012-01-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

MutantLand from Tippett Studio on Vimeo.

Glommed from SF Signal. Because it's awesome and sort of like being in a Super Wal-Mart on a Saturday night, right down to the naked fat man with a knife.

SHAKING THE SIX DEMON BAG: Six Extremely General Questions With Sarah Cawkwell

2012-01-06T02:26:00.000-08:00

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT’S YOUR DEAL?

I... I washoping you might be able to tell me that. After a ten day break from work forthe Christmas/New Year holidays, I barely even know what day of the week it islet alone who I am.

Seeing asyou've been none-too-helpful on the matter, I'm Sarah Cawkwell. My deal, suchas it is, is that I am a freelance science fiction/fantasy author. I presentlywrite mainly for the Black Library but I have a couple of Other Projects [tm]on the go as well. As well as the Writing Gig, I also work full time for the NHS.Working in a hospital would be much better without the sick people, though. Ilive in the north east of England which is scenic and cringeworthy in equalmeasure and share my home with a husband-shaped creature, a child who appearsto be getting taller than me and two demented cats.

WHAT’S YOUR CURRENT PROJECT?

I amcurrently engaged in something I refer to as Project: Loophole. It's somethingI'm not yet sure I can elaborate on in any great detail, but it's for the BlackLibrary. And it's great fun. I also have a few pitches circling the inside ofmy head like writing vultures begging to gorge themselves on my need to worktoo hard.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES?

ALL of theBlack Library authors have influenced me in one way or the other, but outsideof the stable, I'd count a number of others. Faves include (but are not limitedto) Robin Hobb, David Gemmell, David Eddings, Jim Butcher, Chris Wooding andJames Barclay.

Otherinfluences include the endless stream of pulp sci-fi we seem to feed ourselveswith in terms of visual entertainment in this house.

I am alsoinfluenced by big eyes and pet lips. And kittens. But maybe not all at the sametime.

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOUR STUFF?

EverythingI've written so far can be located on my bibble-o-graffy which is on my bloghere: http://pyroriffic.wordpress.com/about/

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU?

Most of thetime in front of my PC, either writing, procrastinating or playing WoW. Or morelately Star Wars: The Old Republic. I am finally indulging my inner Jedi andit's induced Happy Times.

INDULGE IN SOME SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION-WHATSHOULD WE BE BUYING OR READING OR WATCHING OR LISTENING TO WITH YOUR NAME ONIT?

In print at the moment is The Gildar Rift, my debut novel and a 40k Space Marines Battles novel. It features Silver Skulls Space Marines battling Red Corsair Bad Guys.There are ship battles, boarding actions, ground battles, bike chases and crosswords.

You can also see the other side of my BL writing face with my first Warhammer Fantasy story that's in the Age of Legend anthology. Hey - you're in that, too! This is shamelesscross-pollinating promotion! Bloodraven isa short story featuring Valkia the Bloody, the consort of Khorne and ChaosChampion of the Old World. She really isn't the sort of woman you want toannoy, but she's great, great fun to write about.

Look out for more from herwith my second novel, Valkia the Bloody which is released in July this year. That book explores her origins and her eventualfall to Chaos.

Wind, Fire, All That Kind of Thing

2012-01-05T05:11:00.000-08:00

So, tomorrow will see the first of those interviews I mentioned earlier going up on the blog, featuring a few words from fellow BL author Sarah Cawkwell.

SHAKING THE SIX DEMON BAG will be a weekly micro-interview of six extremely general questions with various writers, artists, poets, etc. Basically, whoever felt like answering the questions. The questions are general for (a) efficiencies sake, (b) I'm lazy and (c) in order to maximise the self-promotional aspects of the thing. I wanted the participants to talk about their stuff...think of it as a less classy version of John Scalzi's BIG IDEA posts. Consider it my good deed for the century, if you will.

Every Friday for the foreseeable future will see a new SSDB post, barring accident, illness, finger-strain or rampant electronic Armageddon. There are interviews lined up with Cate Gardner, Joel Jenkins, and Don Gates among others, with more to come. Too, if you're a writer or artist or podcaster or what have you, and you'd like to be the subject of an SSDB post, feel free to drop me a line, either in the comments or via e-mail.

So, be sure to check back tomorrow for Six Extremely General Questions with Sarah Cawkwell. Oh, and as to the title of this little experiment in shameless self-promotion? I should have thought it would be fairly obvious.

Wednesday WIP Words A-Plenty

2012-01-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

First, let me direct your attention to the first contest of 2012 here. Easy to enter, easy to win.

I'm closing in on the 10,000 word mark on Project: Holden, which is pretty good for three days work, I think. Hopefully I'll be able to talk about it in some more detail in the near future, but I will say it's great fun to write characters who are (a) thoroughly reprehensible and (b) able to uproot a tree. Really frees up the imagination.

I was a bit apprehensive about taking this set of characters on, being relatively unfamiliar with them, but they're starting to grow on me. And given the brief I'm working with, I can paint them with the big, broad strokes they deserve as well. The characters are quite literally larger than life and that's making for some entertaining action sequences. Snapped spines and splintered bones abound.

In what I hope will be a regular occurrence for the year, I don't actually have any other projects which require my attention at the moment. It's nice to be busy, but I could get used to this 3000-words-a-day-and-done thing. I can catch up on my reading, for one thing. I mean, John Julius Norwich's The Normans in Sicily isn't going to read itself, now is it?

Is it?

Anyway, I leave you to rock out to the gentle sea-rhythms of this guitar shaped like Cthulhu.

Tuesday for 25 (Also the First Contest of 2012)

2012-01-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Interesting post here by the ever-irascible Chuck Wendig, regarding '25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing'. I happen to agree with most (well, all) of those points; but then, they're all pretty common-sense sort of things, aren't they? Granted, that's probably why they need to be said. Writers tend to be pie-eyed at the best of times, so a bit of common sense never hurts.

I will say I'm a big fan of diversification (that would be number 16 on the list, for reference...). Write wide or risk falling into a rut. If you don't stretch those literary muscles every once in a while, you'll get a cramp right out of the gate, or something to that effect. That doesn't mean you can't indulge in your favourite genre or resume a relationship with favourite characters, but you probably shouldn't indulge in rabbit to the exclusion of the peas and carrots.

Of course, having said that, I should probably follow my own advice. I'm thinking Regency romance novel. There'll be periwigs and stockings everywhere.

In other news, Friday will see the first of those micro-interviews I was talking about earlier. I'd love to do one a week, but that'll depend on how many folks take me up on the offer. But more on that later. Today is for pointing out that Knight of the Blazing Sun will be out in two short months. Which means you've only got eight weeks to pre-order your copy. Crunch-time.

So, in the interest of drumming up some pre-orders, here's the deal: if you pre-order (or have already pre-ordered) the book send me some form of official notification that you have done so (i.e. forward the confirmation e-mail from whoever you pre-ordered it from) and you will be entered into a random drawing to win a physical copy of either Black Library's Age of Legend or Miskatonic River Press' Horror for the Holidays.

So, to sum up, pre-order Knight of the Blazing Sun and enter a drawing for one of the two kick-ass anthologies named above. Easy-peasy. I mean, you were going to pre-order it anyway, right?

Monday on the Mark

2012-01-02T07:33:00.000-08:00

Today marks the official start to work on Project: Holden (as in 'Gloria' for you film buffs out there). 3000 words in makes for a strong start, especially considering that I didn't get started today until well after I usually do. Here's hoping I can keep that up until I write 'the end'. My goal is to get the book done in five to six weeks, so a steady 3000-a-day word-count is as low a bar as I can set. I am all about the lowered expectations folks, I'm not going to lie.

Over the weekend, I finished my first pass at "Corpse-Light", which is my take on Lovecraft's "The Shunned House" by way of Hodgson's "The Derelict". It came in at almost 5000 words exactly, which makes for a nice change of pace. It's a mood piece, which isn't something I usually indulge in...I know my limits, after all. Still, I think it turned out surprisingly well, though it'll be up to the submissions editors to tell me whether I'm being optimistic in that regard. Here, have a taste:

Therain was falling harder now, causing the grass to bend and sway. They moved asfast as they could up the slope. The house came into view all at once, as if ithad sprung from some hidden bower. Itwas a solid looking thing, with high sharp angles and boarded over windows. Theporch was screened in and covered over with tarps and drop-cloths, likely tokeep the rain out during some long past hurricane. “How are we getting in?”Carter whispered.

"Throughthe door, I imagine,” Warren said, giving the door to the porch a swift kick.It banged open in a flurry of dust and sound and he held it open for Carter.“After you,” he said.

“You’retoo kind,” Carter grunted as he manoeuvred his burdens inside the dark porch. Ashe set the bundles of equipment down, he sneezed. The air was damp and crawlingwith a rusty smell. He reached into his coat and fumbled for the small flash-light he’d brought. He turned it on and bit back a cry of disgust. Theinterior of the porch was covered in a soft bluish down that stirred in thebreeze caused by his movements. “Warren,” he hissed.

“Hello,”Warren said, turning on his own light as the door slammed shut behind him.Above, the rain began to rattle on the tin roof like iron filings. “Oh my,”Warren went on, whistling softly. “That’s a bit more extensive than I was ledto believe, I’ll say that...”

Anyway, that's all for today, I think. I'll leave you with a word from Willie Meikle, "Why I Write About CARNACKI". No reason. Just because.

Station Identification 2012-Who, What, Where

2012-01-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

So, to begin...my name is Josh Reynolds and I am NOT an influential 18th century English painter, despite Amazon.com's claims to the contrary. What I am, however, is a writer, which is sort of like a painter, only completely different. Less messy, for one thing.

I have been writing professionally (i.e. getting paid for it) since 2003, which puts me at 63 in dog years, but in writer years I'm-what?-a toddler? I don't know how that works. It's probably not pertinent. What IS pertinent is that in that time I have written a crap-load of stuff, some of the older examples of which you can even still find, IF you look hard enough. Or if you peruse this handy-dandy list of everything that I've published that doesn't involve gardening, Formula One, or the different kinds of security systems available to upper-middle class suburban families. The list is updated regularly and obsessively, so feel free to check it often.

Despite the name of this blog and the obvious skew in the aforementioned list, I tend to write wide...I'm no more a 'horror author' than I am a 'fantasy author'. I'm more of a generalized literary mercenary. I write what I get paid to write, or what I think will get me paid. Granted, I do have my preferences, but I'll happily write most anything, be it Gothic romance or a media tie-in.

Really, I just enjoy writing. I like it like a mechanic likes messing with cars. I like to pull apart paragraphs and sentences and see how to make them flow smoother or faster or better. I tinker incessantly with older stories and trunk stories and stories-that-never-developed and I try to get those jalopies running and sold, just because. I have written good stories and I have written bad stories, but it's not up to me to tell you which is which.

As far as the blog goes, I'm not much of a raconteur. You generally won't see much in the way of politics, current affairs or religion here, as I can't honestly imagine that you'd want to hear my opinion on any of those topics. If I'm wrong, do feel free to drop me a line and make a request. Occasionally I WILL talk about writing, but it's a rare thing...there's plenty of that sort of thing around, mostly done by better folks than me. I'll even direct you to it every so often, if I think it merits sharing. Too, there's the sad fact that my writing process isn't the most fascinating of topics-honestly, it's quite boring. I do talk about comics sometimes, over at my other blog, but mostly I just put up pictures. No one seems to mind.

Still, I'm going to make more of an effort to liven this space up some in the coming months. Some reviews, some interviews, some excerpts, some contests, that sort of thing. There are some fantastic authors whose acquaintances I've made and, frankly, I think you should make them as well. So I'll be doing what I can to introduce you to them in between bouts of shameless self promotion.

Speaking of which, what's the first post of the year without a bit of the old hem-hem, hey? March will see the release of my first novel for the Black Library, Knight of the Blazing Sun. Feel free to pre-order it. You can also do so on Amazon in all its international iterations, should you wish. If you'd like to prepare for the book by reading a prequel of sorts, grab a copy of issue 6 of Hammer & Bolter, which includes the story "The First Duty". You don't HAVE to read both, but it's encouraged.

Also in March, I'll be appearing as a guest at Black Library Live! 2012, where I'll presumably be doing guest-type things. If you're in Nottingham, you should come by. I'll be the guy in the Miskatonic University t-shirt (go Fightin' Cephalopods!).Fair warning-I'm not a hugger.

If you can't wait that long to read those words what I wrote, you can read a whole entire book, by me, for free, should you wish. And if you liked it, you can buy a copy as well. Or, you could buy this other, entirely different book. Or you could just peruse earlier posts and grab any one of the anthologies or magazines that my short fiction has appeared in. Frankly, you're spoiled for choice.

That's about it really. Until next time, folks.

2011 Annual Clip Episode-Please Insert Clips

2011-12-31T03:12:00.000-08:00

2011 was an interesting year, work-wise. Let's take stock, shall we?

*I wrote two books-Knight of the Blazing Sun (due out March 2012, though the e-book is available now) for Black Library and one I can't mention yet for Gold Eagle, which will be out later next year.

*I sold two other books-the previously mentioned Project: Holden and an as-yet untitled Gotrek & Felix novel, both to Black Library.

*I had one book published-The Mark of Terror-by Airship 27/Cornerstone.

*I sold a novella-"Charnel Congress"-which features the dynamic duo of Gotrek and Felix battling Mannfred Von Carstein, which will be available in February 2012.

*I had twenty-six pieces of short fiction published, with at least one appearing a month.

*I started up a semi-regular series of articles about occult detectives for the Black Gate Magazine blog.

So what's in store for 2012? Well, I'm toying with doing a series of micro-interviews with authors and artists of my acquaintance, where they can spout off about their work ala John Scalzi's 'The Big Idea'. If you're interested in participating, drop me a line.

I have several more essays ready to go for Black Gate Magazine blog, which means I shouldn't fall behind on those (as I did this year). I enjoy doing those, and if you know of an occult detective that needs a write-up, be sure to get in touch.

Too, I'd love to replicate the 'at least one short story published a month' thing I had going on this year, but since that was more a case of extended coincidence than anything of my doing (other than, y'know' writing and selling said stories), I doubt I'll be able to do it again. Still, I intend to give it the old college try.

As noted above, I've also got two books to write (one of them with a fairly looming deadline), which will occupy most of my attention, at least for the first few months of this year.

I'll also be attending a convention as a guest this year, rather than a punter, which is both exciting and a bit disturbing. And possibly more conventions than just this one, which is even more worrisome. Who'd have thunk it?

Basically though, I suppose I'd like next year to be as busy as this year was. Or even busier.

Happy New Year, folks. See you in 2012.

Belated Greetings from the Halls of the Dead

2011-12-27T03:21:00.000-08:00

It's a bit late, but it's here nonetheless...the Christmas issue of Pro Se Presents, which includes my story, "The Jagtooth Lane Horror". It's a festive little story, featuring the Royal Occultist Charles St. Cyprian and his assistant Ebe Gallowglass doing battle with a draugr-the restless, violent demon-ghost of a long-dead viking. Awesome, right? Undead viking. Go get that.

And remember, if you like what you read, you can find further adventures of Charles St. Cyprian here, here, here, here and here.

Also from Pro Se, my pal Derrick Ferguson's new book, The Adventures of Fortune McCall has just been released. Head over here to get a look at what it's all about. I just bought my copy. What about you?

I think that's enough for today. Out you go.

Wednesday WIP Eve

2011-12-21T02:05:00.000-08:00

Despite the looming presence of Christmas, work continues. Because I have an addiction to punctuation, that's why. Also vocabulary and sentence structure.

Well, I say work...mostly I'm just noodling around with several stories for next year's round of submissions. The first up, "The Hunting of Philip Ackroyd", is a strange little werewolf story I'm aiming to submit to Chaosium's Mark of the Beast: New Legends of the Werewolf anthology, edited by Scott David Aniolowski, who's also responsible for Miskatonic River Press' Horror for the Holidays, which is available now, by the by, if you haven't picked that up yet. "The Hunting..." features Charles St. Cyprian, Royal Occultist, facing a werewolf that owes a bit to Algernon Blackwood's "The Camp of the Dog" (which happens to be one of my favourite werewolf stories, btw). Ectoplasmic werewolves are boss, y'all.

I'm also working on a story called "Corpse-Light", for Innsmouth Free Press' forthcoming Fungi anthology. Since I'm in an occult detective sort of mood (when am I not? I mean, just look at the title of this blog...), I figured I'd revisit a pair of characters from earlier in the year, and inflict a bit of mushroom based madness on them. Equal parts Lovecraft's "The Shunned House" and Hodgson's "The Derelict" (another favourite story of mine), it's been enjoyable to write. Hopefully it'll be fun to read as well.

Speaking of Innsmouth Free Press, editor Silvia Moreno-Garcia has made an interesting post that dovetails nicely with Nnedi Okorafor's own, discussing Lovecraft, racism, and the World Fantasy Award statuette, AKA 'the Howard'. These are the kind of deep, thoughtful posts I'd love to write, save that I'm neither deep nor thoughtful. So, instead, I will simply point you in their direction and say 'read that'.

Anywhich, I've also started working on Project: Holden for BL, which is going to be interesting. This book will be more in my wheelhouse, so to speak, than Knight of the Blazing Sun. And them first thousand words was Wuxia as hell...I'm just going to come out and say that. Mix in a little Bava for flavour and I think this is going to be one awesome set of words.

I think that's enough for today, don't you? Oh, and have you gotten a copy of the free 2012 Pulpwork Press Christmas Special yet? You really should.

Now we're done. Out you go.

Five Sleeps 'Til Christmas

2011-12-20T08:40:00.000-08:00

Several bits and bobs of good news today.

First off, my next novel-length project for Black Library, henceforth designated Project: Holden (if you guess what that's in reference to, I'll send you a No-Prize), has been confirmed as go come the new year. Which means I get to start 2012 right, i.e. nose to the grindstone.

Next up, Z7's Headquarters was nice enough to review How the West was Weird: Campfire Tales, which you should check out, and then, maybe, possibly, pick up a copy of the e-book?

Lastly, have you gotten your copy of the 2011 Pulpwork Press Christmas Special yet? No? Why not? It's free, after all. You can download it here in a variety of formats, or you can get in touch with me via the comments section of this here blog, e-mail (argus33 at hotmail dot com) Facebook or Twitter and let me know where to send it. Easy-peasy.

A-Wassailing We Will Go!

2011-12-16T04:41:00.000-08:00

First up for this Friday, check out this review of Age of Legend, courtesy of Graeme's Fantasy Book Review. He liked "The Gods Demand", despite the lack of sympathetic characters and the gruesome violence. If that sounds like your kind of thing, you can check out a sample here. And if you like that, why not pick up a copy for yourself?

Second, and more importantly, this year's free Christmas story is now available! And this year, it comes in a variety of formats-PDF, MOBI or EPUB-for your reading pleasure! But wait, that's not all...this year's story, "Merry John Mock", is accompanied by Joel Jenkins' "The Christmas Eve Killers" and an awesome cover by MD Jackson, as can be seen below!

Look at that. Just puts you in the holiday mood, don't it? And in the true spirit of the holiday, it is ABSOLUTELY FREE (did I mention that already?) until the end of the year! All you have to do to get it is to get in touch with me via the comments section of this here blog, e-mail (argus33 at hotmail dot com) Facebook or Twitter and let me know where to send it. Easy-peasy.

So what are you waiting for? A sample? Why not...here we go, a brief snippet from "Merry John Mock":

The church crouched off to the side, huddling just out of sight like a beaten dog. The doors were open, and candles were in the windows. Despite this, no feeling of welcome emanated from the little building.

Gallowglass hopped into the driver’s seat as St. Cyprian and Jessop climbed out. “Your Bulldog is in the boot,” she said. St. Cyprian retrieved the stubby Webley revolver and thrust it into the pocket of his coat. As soon as he slammed the boot shut, the Crossley was moving.

“Do you believe that will be necessary, Charles?” Jessop said.

“Better to ask, do I believe it will be effective. And I won’t bother to answer because it would only depress you,” St. Cyprian said, looking up at the darkening sky. Lights were coming on throughout Lecach and the smell of woodstoves being kindled was thick on the chilly air. “Let’s go.

“I wasted days searching the hills and shore,” Jessop muttered as they entered the church. “I thought…I don’t know what I thought.”

“We’re all sleuths in hindsight, Jessop,” St. Cyprian said, slapping the other man on the shoulder. “When did you first begin to suspect that someone had taken Georgie?”

“Her letters,” Jessop said at once. They had paused in the entrance. The church, despite being lit, looked unused. There was dust on the pews and a smell of damp clinging to the stones. “The things she wrote about…” He shook his head. “And when they stopped, I knew that something had gone wrong.”

“What did she write about?” St. Cyprian said as they moved down the aisle. He wondered who had lit the candles, and considered calling out, but then thought better of it. He fancied he could feel the rumble of the sea beneath his feet, vibrating up through the stones in the floor. Then he thought of what he’d felt in the pub, and shuddered slightly. If Jessop noticed, he gave no sign.

“The usual thing,” Jessop said, pausing near a pew and swiping at the patina of dust. “Old stories and folk tales; Christmas is a funny thing, she used to say. It’s an umbrella for a number of other older, little holidays that have gotten all jumbled up.” He shook his head. “You can see for yourself, look there,” he continued.

St. Cyprian sank to his haunches and traced the old, rough carvings that marked the end of the pew. He peered close, barely able to make out the image in the flickering candle light. Pudgy shapes crouched on all fours in the waves beneath the watchful gaze of a bulky figure that possessed only the barest resemblance to a man. “What in the name of heaven,” he said, rubbing at the dust with a thumb.

“I think that’s John Mock,” Jessop said.

“And who is that?” St. Cyprian said, trying to clear away enough grime to reveal the face of the figure.

“Merry John Mock,” Jessop said. “You heard the singers, the ones in the pub?”

“I did, more’s the pity.”

“John Mock is the local Father Christmas, or so Georgie said…a sort of friendly swineherd. Lecach was famous for its pigs, once. Its name, in fact, is a corruption of the French for ‘pig’.”

“John Mock, John Mock,” St. Cyprian murmured. The name struck a chord, but he couldn't say why. “A daemon swineherd, by any other name, I suppose.”

“What?” Jessop said.

“Nothing, old fellow…just something I once heard. What happened to them? The pigs I mean?” St. Cyprian said, sitting back on his haunches. No matter how much he rubbed, the face remained indistinct. Perhaps age had worn it smooth. Or maybe there was no face to see.

“John Mock took them,” someone said. The click of a revolver being cocked was loud in the quiet church...

That's enough for today, I think. Out you go.

WIP Wednesday on the Decline

2011-12-14T00:21:00.000-08:00

I had my first real *truly* day off in about six months yesterday. I spent it watching Poirot, Cadfael, Sherlock Holmes and Ironside solve mysteries, which is a pretty good vacation, as far as that goes. Needless to say, it went far too quickly.

This past weekend (and Monday) I completed "Time's Black Gulf", which pits Professor Challenger, Thomas Carnacki and assorted other individuals against, respectively, these guys here, these ones over there and these things, whatever the heck they are. Then I submitted it with something quite like a sigh of relief. "Time's Black Gulf" has been kicking around on my hard-drive, in one form or another, for close to a year now, so it's good to see it wing its way into what will hopefully be a sheltered bower. Fingers crossed.

I also finished "Hell's Hand", my story for The New Adventures of Richard Knight, which pits the ace aviator against the monstrous captain of the Red (air) Ship of the North Sea and a flying devil-pirate-cult. Good times.

Last on the assembly line was "Merry John Mock", which I know I said would be available earlier this week, but my co-author Joel Jenkins decided to make a big 'thing' about it, so now we're getting a cool cover by MD Jackson and such and it'll be available in the next week or so. Having read Joel's contribution, I will say it's well worth the wait. It's like fifty pages of holiday violence and horror, all for free. Cool, right? Still, it's not right to just let you dangle on my hook like that, so, here, have a bit of a gander at last year's free Christmas tale, "Krampusnacht":

Something banged loudly across the roof. Rawdon started, his eyes widening. “It’s here!”

“It’s been here for some time, Ozzy, scampering across my roof and testing the runes on the windows.” St. Cyprian flipped a switch on the generator and the vacuum tubes began to hum and spark. “Stay within the pentacle.”

“Soot,” Gallowglass said, simply.

St. Cyprian turned, loosening his tie and shrugging out of his coat. Soot tumbled down the chimney, and he could hear metal scraping against the brick. He strode swiftly to the fireplace and reached up, taking down the short-bladed sword mounted there.

Roughly two feet in length, and wide, the sword was a xiphos-a weapon that had been in St. Cyprian’s family for centuries, and had purportedly been carried by an ancestor in the Peloponnesian Wars. Unsheathing it, St. Cyprian swung it experimentally. It cut the air with a near-silent hiss and he nodded.

“Rag,” he said.

Gallowglass plucked a rag out of her back pocket and tossed it to him. The fabric was smeared with the juice of the holly bush. St. Cyprian rubbed the blade with it until the former was glistening. He sighted down its length.

The fire coughed and sputtered as chunks of brick and more soot fell into it. He stepped back, rolling up his sleeves. “I trust you took the proper precautions?” he said, glancing at Gallowglass.

“The bullets were prepared according to Alpine tradition.” Gallowglass cocked the pistol. “They should do the trick right enough.”

“Should being the operative word.” St. Cyprian frowned. “We only have to hold it until midnight. Then, it should depart.”

“There’s that word again,” Gallowglass said. St. Cyprian glanced at her. “Should,” she elaborated.

Smoke suddenly billowed out into the room, carrying with it a foul odor, like wet dog and rotten meat. The trio gagged as the smell swept over them.

And then, with a clatter of rusty bells and a shower of sparks, the Krampus erupted from the fireplace, howling like a lonely wind coiling through the Bavarian peaks...

"Krampusnacht" features Charles St. Cyprian, the Royal Occultist, and his assistant, Ebe Gallowglass, battling the eponymous scooper-upper-of-bad-children in all his long-tongued, be-horned infernal glory. It, along with "The Dreaming Dead" (a sample of which can be found here), can be found in Miskatonic River Press' Horror for the Holidays anthology, now available to pre-order for that special someone in your life. "Merry John Mock", this year's Christmas tale, also features the duo, during an earlier Christmas on an isolated Channel Island where they run afoul of mummers, mysterious cults, madwomen and an old enemy of Thomas Carnacki...it's a bit of bleak to give your holiday some extra spice.

As far as today goes, however, I will be working on the next trio in my long-neglected series of 'Nightmare Men' articles. Up on the docket this time: Anton Zarnak, John Kirowan, and John Thunstone.

Sounds like a full day to me. Out you go.

Tuesday Two for Two

2011-12-06T01:46:00.000-08:00

Some good news yesterday; it looks like I sold a story to the Lovecraft e-Zine, more on which later, and Jim Anthony, Super-Detective: The Mark of Terror got a very nice review courtesy of Nick Ahlhelm and the New Pulp site. That book, by the by, is still available to purchase and you can read a sample here.

And speaking of Jim Anthony, did I mention "The Carolingian Stones" yet? I did? Here's a sample anyway. Having just received my comp copy of volume 8 of Tales of the Shadowmen, I can safely say that if you're a fan of literary cross-overs the likes of which to whet the appetite of any Wold Newtonian, you should pick up a copy of this book.

I think that's enough for Tuesday, don't you? Out you go.

Monday at Midnight

2011-12-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

Several things of note for today. First off, Tales of the Shadowmen: Agents Provocateurs is now available, should you be interested in a cacophony of crossovers, including my story, "The Carolingian Stones", which you can read a sample of here. "The Carolingian Stones" features Jim Anthony, the Super-Detective teaming up with Chantecoq, the King of Detectives, to thwart the schemes of the phantom of the Louvre, the masked menace known as Belphegor. It was fun to write and, I hope, fun to read.

Next up, the official announcement of Pulp Obscura, which I suggest that you go read, post-haste. Not least because you'll note my name in the line-up for the first book, The New Adventures of Richard Knight. My story, "Hell's Thunder", pits the ace aviator against an airborne satanic cult. So far, so awesome, right?

Last but not least, have you pre-ordered your copy of Horror for the Holidays yet? You really should. Here, have a sample:

He sat in a state of half-sleep for what felt like hours until the pain in his palm had faded and he heard the distant hum of the past drawing closer. When his eyes opened, he could hear the rattle of a water-cooled machine gun as it filled the air with death. They were still in the room, but not, as the walls faded and returned like persistent hallucinations. The floor became mud, then stone, then wood. The men rose as one from their beds, but remained laying all the same. Ghostly echoes of the men they had been, whole and undamaged, carrying weapons of equal weightlessness. St. Cyprian looked around, recognizing the village of Kemmel on the hill's northern slope. It appeared as it had then, but also as it had been in ages past, as a Frankish pile under siege by implacable Roman expansion. Modern houses burned to wattle huts and dissolved into ectoplasmic smoke, becoming the walls of Bethnal Green Infirmary once more.

The ground seemed to rumble beneath his feet and he looked around slowly. The ground went vague, and he saw what might have been tunnels stretching away into an infinite blackness. He heard men screaming and smelled the acrid tang of blood and gunpowder. Artillery ripped furrows in the ground and he remembered that the Germans had seemed more intent on obliterating the village than taking it. Looking around, he saw gaps in the line. Missing men, left dead on the field the first time and thus were not here for the second go-round. He heard a voice, vaguely familiar, behind him.

"Up and at them lads," someone barked. St. Cyprian pushed through the marching forms of the men of the Bethnal Green Infirmary, moving back towards that voice, despite the tugging sensation that threatened to pull him in the opposite direction. He broke through, pushing past someone he thought might have been Ogden to grab for an extended arm, clad in the sleeve of an officer's great coat. Bullets chopped into the lines and he saw a man stumble and fall, clutching his chest. He jerked the arm's owner around.

Eyes without a face bored into his own and he recoiled instinctively from what he saw within them. "Fight is to the fore, laddie," the voice said, wavering from youthful timbre to a rusty rasp, as if the speaker weren't sure how a man should sound. "The enemy is that way." Inhumanly strong hands-were they hands?-seized him and tried to force him around, but he resisted, trying to see the face past those burning eyes that weren't eyes. Desperately, St. Cyprian reached for the blurred features with his wounded hand and his bloody fingers plunged into a cold wetness. When he ripped it away, the memory went with it and he saw the world as it was. Looking around wildly, he saw cancerous tendrils of globular blackness rising from the skull of each sleeping man in the circle. A burst of pain told him that he was not spared that deformity and, frenzied, he grabbed at the tendril extruding from the top of his head. It burned with slick acidity and he screamed as the flesh on his palms sizzled...

That's from "The Dreaming Dead", by the by. Just one of the two Charles St. Cyprian stories you can read in the book.

And that's that, for today at least. Out you go.

Thursday is the New Monday (Possibly Friday)

2011-12-01T00:26:00.000-08:00

Man, I am a bad blogger, aren't I? I have gone from regular to decaf as far as the bloggage, and, good intentions and the road to Hell aside, that probably won't change. Still, the deed is in the doing, to mangle Shakespeare.

Anyway, news and views...first off, The Trigger Reflex: Legends of the Monster Hunter II from Pill Hill Press is now available for those of you on the prowl for Christmas presents. I'm pleased to say that my story, "Iron Bells", leads things off. Starting position, can't beat that.

Also in the stocking stuffer category, Horror for the Holidays from Miskatonic River Press is now available for pre-order, and, even better, if you pre-order you earn a chance to win a copy of The Strange Dark One: Tales of Nyarlathotep by none other than W. H. Pugmire! If you'll recall, I've got two stories in Horror for the Holidays-"Krampusnacht" and "The Dreaming Dead"-which is, frankly, two more than I expected.

Other things I didn't expect? Getting something published every single month of the past year. Seriously, check that out, because it ain't happening again. In the past year I have had twenty three short stories published; that's almost two a month. Not to mention a book (hem-hem-have-you-bought-that-yet-why-not?)...2011 was really a good year, wasn't it?

Still, why not go out on a high note? So, on December 12th, I'll be offering up my third annual FREE CHRISTMAS STORY! But it won't just be me this year, no sir...third annual requires no less than three authors! That's right...three free Christmas stories for your electronic stocking. But more on that later. My story, if you were wondering, following the amazing reaction to last year's "Krampusnacht", will be another Charles St. Cyprian Yuletide thriller titled "Merry John Mock" and will feature malevolent mummers, isolated pagan townships and ghostly swine.

Because Christmas-time is the spooky time. Just ask M.R. James...

Wednesday Monkey Paws

2011-11-22T02:04:00.000-08:00

So, I got a chance recently to watch Chris Regan's new short horror-comedy film Jenny Ringo and the Monkey's Paw. Long story short? It's good. In fact, it's safe to say that I was pleasantly surprised with it.

The film centres on Jenny Ringo (Rosie Duncan) and her flatmate, Gavin (Lukas Habberton) as they struggle to deal with the latter's wishes-gone-wrong. Duncan is excellent as Jenny, dominating every scene she's in by dint of sheer personality. Even when being loomed over by a demonic house-guest or forced into hand-holding in a circle of Wiccans, she imbues the character with a forceful, four-colour charisma that dominates the screen. Habberton, appropriately for the character of Gavin, is a more placid presence, but the aura of resignation and ambivalence he exudes, especially in his scenes with Duncan, is practically tangible.

Story-wise, Jenny Ringo is one of those films that gets creepier the longer you think about it. The plot is played for laughs (albeit dark ones), but the subtext is disturbing on a number of levels. The idea of wishes-gone-wrong is a pretty standard one as far as horror AND comedy films, but the way Regan combines them here is chilling. Gavin's wishes are, for the most part, appallingly, depressingly pedestrian and the way they backfire is even worse. And the climax is, while obvious if you pay attention to the beginning of the film, appropriately darkly amusing.

By turns funny and creepy, Jenny Ringo is well worth a watch. Despite a short running time of roughly a half hour, Regan and co. have packed the film to the gills with laughs, thrills and chills, as well as created one of the more interesting horror-heroines of recent memory. According to Regan's blog, there might be a sequel in the works, which would suit me just fine.

If you want to know more about the film-and why wouldn't you?-visit the official site and sign up for the mailing list. You can also give it a 'Like' on Facebook or follow Regan's blog.

Lovecraft and Local Bureaucracy are Natural Bedfellows

2011-11-21T00:21:00.000-08:00

Any Number of Interesting Things

2011-11-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

Firstly, the authorial line-up for Black Library Live 2012 (#BLLive2012 on the Tweeter, if you're interested) has been announced. You'll notice that my name is listed among the attendees. Needless to say (but I will anyway) I'm quite excited. I went to last year's and it was a hoot.

In other news, I got (micro) interviewed over at Innsmouth Free Press regarding my contribution to the Gothic anthology, Candle in the Attic Window, which is, coincidentally, available hereabouts.

Speaking of IFP, I reviewed Cate Gardner's Nowhere Hall for them. Reader's Digest version? It's real good and if you missed out, feel free to beat yourself up over it.

And, I'll be contributing to The New Adventures of Richard Knight for Pro Se Press' 'Pulp Obscura' line.

I think that's enough for this particular Friday, don't you?

Friday Follies

2011-11-11T05:59:00.000-08:00

I'm procrastinating today. I know what I need to write (indeed, the three pages of hand-written scrawl sitting on my desk assures me of that), but my brain feels like an overcooked sausage, so the LAST thing I want to do is stare into the pitiless void of a blank Word document. Still, could be worse.

At any rate, this week I finished the first round of edits for Charnel Congress, revised my pitch for Project: Bathory, and began edits for Project: Place-of-Death. Oh, and plugged away at the word count for Project: Shark's-Tooth. Next up is...god only knows.

So let's turn things over to people with more interesting things to say, hmm? First up, the redoubtable Cate Gardner has a new book out-Barbed Wire Hearts-and a contest to go with it! You should go check that out, post haste. And speaking of books, pulper Lee Houston Jr. has a book out as well...Hugh Monn, Private Detective, from Pro Se Press. Science fiction detective stories. Can't beat that.

Speaking of things you can't beat...William King, the gentleman who created the characters who will be paying my bills for the next year or so. Here's a nice interview with him, and here he is discussing the bane of my existence-rewriting.

Also on my list of terrifying older gentlemen? Derrick Ferguson. Here's a great two part interview with the Boss of Brooklyn himself: Part One and Part Two.

That's a good Friday's worth of stuff, I think. Out you go.

It's Monday Again, Isn't It?

2011-11-07T00:42:00.000-08:00

I actually like Mondays, mind. Even Mondays when I'm up to my eyeballs in work. Today, for instance, I'm finishing up the first round of edits on "Charnel Congress", the Gotrek & Felix novella I'm lucky enough to be working on for BL. Since my last exposure to the celebrity antagonist, Mannfred Von Carstein, was when he looked like this as opposed to this, it's been interesting. Satin has been replaced by spikes, languor by lethality, a stylin' widow's peak by bat ears.

Seriously folks, I got two pages of witty vampire banter here that just got cut out. I mean, I'll use it elsewhere (Pro-tip# 27: Never Delete Nothing), but it stings. I like clever, chatty characters (Pro-tip#45: Dialogue Eats Up A Lot Of Word Count), but Mannfred is more the clever, silent-as-the-grave type. Still, he just peeled a dude's skull like a melon, so it's all good.

On to other things. My current stories in progress are legion, unfortunately. I should do something about that. Maybe finish one of them? That sound good? Yeah. I've got two stories-in-progress for BL which will likely occupy the rest of my week. After that, I really need to get back to "Lot No. 250"...Professor Challenger and John Roxton have been on the cusp of battling the horrors of Pnakotus for weeks now. The Flying Polyps are just sort of hovering right now. And after that, it's time to get cracking on my annual free Christmas story.

Speaking of free stuff, remember this? That's still on, btw.

I think that's enough for Monday. Out you go.

The Day After The Night of the Contest of the Living Dead

2011-11-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

So, stuff has been happening. What stuff? Well, for instance, the TOC for Miskatonic River Press' upcoming holiday-themed anthology, Horror for the Holidays, was just revealed, and it just so happens to include two stories by me-"The Dreaming Dead" and "Krampusnacht"-which is a treat, if I may say so.

Both stories feature Charles St. Cyprian, the Royal Occultist and his moxie-laden assistant, Ebe Gallowglass and have them facing, respectively, an entity that eats the souls of traumatized soldiers and the Krampus. The folks who nabbed my annual free Christmas story last year will probably recognize that one.

Next up, have I mentioned that the e-book version of Knight of the Blazing Sun is available a whole five months ahead of schedule, along with the scintillating space marine novella "Accursed Eternity" by Sarah Cawkell? You should purchase one (or both!) of those post-haste. In fact, just to sweeten the deal, here's what I'm going to do...see, I happen to have these two extra contributor copies of the awesomely-awesome Age of Legend anthology (not due out in stores until January) in my hot little hands and I'll happily post them off to the first TWO people to review (and by review, I mean 'talk about' not 'comment on') either my book OR Sarah's novella in a public manner (blog or vlog or flog or what have you) and then shoot me a link to said review. It's that simple.

How's that for starting the month off right?

13 Days of Terror: HORROR EXPRESS (1976)

2011-10-31T05:59:00.000-07:00

I love this damn film. It's got Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Telly Savalas and a host of others. It's got a mummy-ape man-alien-zombie monster. It's got Cossacks, mad monks, detectives, anarchists, and archaeologists. There's even an explosion! It's the perfect Halloween movie, in other words. At least in my humble opinion.

And with that, our thirteen days of terror have been brought to a conclusion...thirteen movies of dubious calibre, for your viewing pleasure. God bless the internet archive and public domain, am I right? Anyway, happy Halloween folks. Don't eat any caramel covered razor blades if you can help it.

13 Days of Terror: BLOOD TIDE (1982)

2011-10-30T02:31:00.000-07:00

Ah, Blood Tide. So close, and yet so far. It's got all of the right ingredients-good cast, great atmosphere, by-the-numbers story, and yet...yeah. The spark's there. But there's no heat. For a monster movie, Blood Tide is a great character study. Still, James Earl Jones versus a Greek sea-monster...if you don't want to watch that, you're devoid of hope and life.

Tomorrow is the big day, folks and that means I'll be hosting my numba-one-stunna, the big kahuna of B-movies, the film where Telly Savalas plays the only bald-headed Cossack in Mother Russia...HORROR EXPRESS!

13 Days of Terror: CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962)

2011-10-29T01:14:00.000-07:00

People generally fall into two camps concerning this film: those who love it and those who haven't seen it yet. It's creepy and cruel and compelling, pulling you in and then spitting you out just when it starts to get interesting. The 1998 remake, needless to say, doesn't do that, substituting blatant gore for the sublimely grotesque. Feh.

Anyway, there's only two days left, so let's make 'em count hunh? Back to the Mediterranean we go, for a sun-soaked little number featuring a younger (and slimmer) James Earl Jones battling a Greek rape-monster in BLOOD-TIDE!

13 Days of Terror: HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959)

2011-10-28T06:31:00.000-07:00

Once again, I'll turn things over to that maestro of movie-magic, Derrick Ferguson. Now, in extra creepy SPOOK-O-VISION! But seriously, Vincent Price. Man was pretty much Halloween Incarnate for me as a kid. I always thought Price would have been the perfect actor to play the part of 'Uncle Einar' from the Ray Bradbury story of the same name, from The October Country collection. Or maybe Moundshroud from The Halloween Tree.

Anyway, enough nostalgia. Be back here tomorrow for the monstrous midway of CARNIVAL OF SOULS!

13 Days of Terror: JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (1966)

2011-10-27T00:50:00.001-07:00

What is there to say about this one except it's a lot like BILLY THE KID MEETS DRACULA...it's basically a western with some weird mixed in. Also? Bad acting. Still, I can't help but love it. I love it so much that I've spent a good deal of time writing weird westerns myself. Just in case you were interested in that kind of thing. Anyway, be back here tomorrow, same spook-time, same spook-channel for another spin-tingler from Vincent Price...THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL!

13 Days of Terror: THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY (1958)

2011-10-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

Flash Fact: The character of Ulrich Popoca, Ameriquetzlan ambassador and amateur detective got his name from this film. Yes, I am that devoid of inspiration. True story. Are the two characters related? I like to think so.

I love mummy movies, by the by. Just the image of an out-of-place bandage wrapped figure staggering down a moonlit country lane is enough to get my creative juices flowing. Mummies are, even more so than vampires, the imposition of a predatory past on the present. The deep, black, bad deeds of the ancients, reinvigorated to ruin lives. It's a very Lovecraftian sort of thing, in its way. Sins of the past and all that.

Speaking of the past, we're going west tomorrow, with the weird western 'classic' JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER!

A Pause for Station Identification

2011-10-26T01:55:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY is still on the schedule. But, I've got writer-ly related stuff to share, so suck it up.

First off, my first novel for the Black Library, Knight of the Blazing Sun, is now available for purchase in electronic format! Still a few months to go on the physical book, but if you're just dying to read it (and why wouldn't you be?) you can.

Speaking of books, did you know that I had another one out? The Mark of Terror, starring Jim Anthony the Super-Detective, is out from Airship 27/Cornerstone Books in both print and electronic format, and there's even a preview available! You should go check that out.

Next up, issue 13 of Hammer & Bolter, which contains my story "Dead Calm". "Dead Calm", it should be said, features characters from Knight of the Blazing Sun, namely the most humble and violent Order of Manann, who are locked in combat with a duo of devilish enemies, including a bloodthirsty (literally) pirate! That's out now as well, for those of you who dig them funky electronic grooves.

Following on from that, Candle in the Attic Window got a nice review from Nick Bronson over at Shock Totem. He even mentions my story, "Elizabeth on the Island", and gives it some kind words. On the subject of Candle...have you been reading the micro-interviews with the authors? No? You should. Here's the latest one, with the skull-faced scribe himself, Orrin Grey.

And, last but not least, Stories from the Hearth: Heartwarming Tales of Appalachia is available, for those interested in some good, old-fashioned, down-home story-telling. My story, "Prodigal Spirits", is a ghost story, but, as the anthology title states, not a terribly grisly one. It's a little tiny book, too. Perfect size for a stocking stuffer, if I might be so bold.

I think that's it. Anyway, be back here later today for our next entry in 13 DAYS OF TERROR: THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY!

13 Days of Terror: WEREWOLF OF WASHINGTON (1973)

2011-10-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, another werewolf movie. Suck it up. I like werewolves. Anyway, I saw this one on Elvira's late night Movie Macabre once upon a time. It is...not good. But funny. Dean Stockwell, of course, gives it a go. If a film's got him in it, you're pretty safe betting on him being the best thing in it. Speaking of best things, tomorrow brings you one of the best things ever with...THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY!

13 Days of Terror: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)

2011-10-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

"They're coming to get you Barbara..." Heh. I like this film, I really do. The sequels, I can take or leave, but this one is good for a lot of reasons. Mostly because, as my good friend Derrick Ferguson says, it's subversive, and not in the obvious ways. Speaking of Derrick, he and Tom Deja host a regular film podcast, BETTER IN THE DARK, and they discussed this film as well as the sequels some time ago. Go give it a listen, after you enjoy the film. And then get your seat for tomorrow, when we'll head to Washington for a hair-raising feature called WEREWOLF OF WASHINGTON!

13 Days of Terror: THE MAN IN THE ATTIC (1953)

2011-10-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

Three words: Young. Jack. Palance. That is all. Anyway, be sure to come back tomorrow for that classic of classics, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD!

13 Days of Terror: WHITE ZOMBIE (1932)

2011-10-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

This film is a bit of an under-appreciated gem as far B&W horror pictures go...Lugosi is quite nasty here as Baron Sangre, even more so than as Dracula, I think. Fun fact: In Jeff Rovin's awesome book, Return of the Wolf-Man, Lugosi's version of the King Bloodsucker has killed Baron Sangre (who apparently survived his certain death in the film) and taken over the island for himself. Tomorrow, we'll leave one island for another, slightly foggier one for THE MAN IN THE ATTIC!

13 Days of Terror: THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964)

2011-10-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, you really ought to. It's pretty much the bible for every post-apocalyptic film or novel that came after it. The kicker is, that the horror of the book comes not from the monsters but from the sheer isolation the protagonist feels. You can see it literally warping him into a monster every bit as savage as the thirsty dead as the book progresses. Good stuff.

The movie here is also good stuff. Better than The Omega Man at any rate, though Heston's swanky survival pad is a damn sight cooler than Price's suburban prison. Be back tomorrow when we kick off the weekend, Caribbean-style, with WHITE ZOMBIE!

13 Days of Terror: BLOODY PIT OF HORROR (1965)

2011-10-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

The first I ever heard of this film was in Kim Newman's novel Judgement of Tears (part of his 'Anno-Dracula' series), where the Crimson Executioner leaps around Rome in his red tights, killing vampires. It's a good book, and, frankly, better than the film it lifts the character from. Still, nobody does weird torture films better than the Italians. Tomorrow we'll be leaving the sun (and blood) drenched shores of the Mediterranean behind to head into the post-apocalyptic wasteland with...THE LAST MAN ON EARTH!

13 Days of Terror: MOON OF THE WOLF (1972)

2011-10-19T05:07:00.000-07:00

Flash Fact: I read the book this was based on before I saw this. It was in a flip book containing two of Leslie H. Whitten's books...Moon of the Wolf and Progeny of the Adder. One werewolf book and one vampire book. Except, y'know, that the monsters aren't strictly monsters, what with their monster-ness being up for debate. Regardless, they were good books and if you spot 'em, snag 'em.

The movie, now, is not quite as good, all in all, despite following the book pretty closely. But for a made-for-tv film, it's pretty entertaining. Tomorrow, we're sticking with color, but leaving cajun-country behind for the sunny Med, with THE BLOODY PIT OF HORROR!

13 Days of Terror: THE WASP WOMAN (1959)

2011-10-18T00:48:00.001-07:00

Ah, Roger Corman. Seriously, that guy...anyway, 1959's THE WASP WOMAN is one of those films that really just sort of stings ya, you know? Ha! Get it? 'Stings'?It's not good (the poster is the best thing about it) but like a lot of Corman films there's a sort of goofy joy in every frame. Be back here tomorrow for a dab of colour and down home cajun fun with...THE MOON OF THE WOLF!

Thirteen Terrible Triggers

2011-10-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

So...much...stuff...to...talk...about. Where to begin, where to begin?

Let's start with the TOC for The Trigger Reflex being announced. And look at that..."Iron Bells" by yours truly is leading the pack. That's a good feeling, that is. "Iron Bells" follows Charles St. Cyprian and Ebe Gallowglass as they investigate a massacre on the London Underground and fall afoul of things that go bump. The story is an homage to a number of writers who've inspired me in my mauling of the English language, including HP Lovecraft and Robert Barbour Johnson, so I'm quite proud to see it getting the lead.

Next up, another TOC, this time for Gotrek & Felix: The Anthology. Coincidentally, this also includes a story by me, in second place this time, which is still pretty good, considering who I'm following. "A Cask of Wynters" is, amusingly enough, NOT about Gotrek & Felix, but about that most metal of slayers, Snorri Nosebiter. It is a story of alcohol, pickled corpses, violence, alcohol, Walt Simonson references, and, most importantly, alcohol.

On that note, yes, Charnel Congress is the name of the novella-project-I-can't-talk-about-yet. Except now I can, I guess. So there you go. Gotrek. Felix. Mannfred Von Carstein. Three heavies for the price of two. February 2012. You're welcome.

And, yeah, I'm writing a G&F book as well. But I can't talk about that yet. Also, other things. But I can't talk about those either. Ain't that always the way?

Anyway, on to other matters. Namely, tomorrow kicks off THIRTEEN DAYS OF TERROR right here, same monster-time, same monster-channel! A new (public domain) full-length horror film to be posted every day until Halloween! Tomorrow we kick things off classy with...THE WASP WOMAN!

Aw yeah...nothin' classier than the queen. Am I right?

Back to the Mountains

2011-10-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

Woodland Press' newest anthology, Stories from the Hearth: Heartwarming Tales of Appalachia is now available for purchase. The table of contents is, as, always impressive, even discounting my own contribution (he said ever so humbly).

My story, "Prodigal Spirits", features John Bass, the Low Country ghost-breaker, in a bit of a new situation: this time he's not not sending spirits packing, but actually summoning them at the behest of a distraught widow!

Too, this is the second time the character has appeared in a Woodland Press anthology, with "Glory Hand" from Mountain Magic: Spellbinding Tales of Appalachia (also still available) being the first.

Stories from the Hearth will see its 'official' release at the West Virginia Book Festival on October 22 and 23, at the Charleston Civic Center. If you're in the area, be sure to stop by a nab a copy.

The Judge

2011-10-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

A man of great height and greater girth, Judge Keith Hilary Pursuivant, after retiring from the bench, devoted his golden years to investigating the occult in the works of North Carolina author, Manly Wade Wellman. Pursuivant, with his broad bulbous nose and protruding, warm eyes, was one of a half-dozen occult investigators created by Wellman over the course of his career, though the Judge has the distinction of being the first, and, in many ways, the most important of the lot.

Pursuivant made his first appearance in Weird Tales in 1938, in the story, “The Hairy Ones Shall Dance”, wherein the Judge faced off against a werewolf. He appeared in Weird Tales three more times from 1938 to 1941, in “The Black Drama”, “The Dreadful Rabbits”, and “The Half-Haunted”, respectively facing off with a vampiric Lord Byron, demon-rabbits and ghosts. All of these stories have been anthologized on a number of occasions, and have all been collected in the 2001 Nightshade Books collection Fearful Rock and Other Precarious Locales.

Besides the aforementioned four tales, Pursuivant appeared as a supporting character in a number of Wellman’s other stories, including his Silver John novel, The Hanging Stones, where he aids John the Balladeer, another of Wellman’s occult investigators, in combating a tribe of inbred, druidic werewolves. And, even if he doesn't appear, Pursuivant is likely mentioned…indeed, the Judge looms over Wellman’s other occult investigators like a guardian angel, wielding knowledge, wit and wisdom in support of humanity’s more active defenders.

Vote Now, Vote Often

2011-10-05T00:39:00.000-07:00

So, it's October, which means it's time for the 2011 Bards and Sages Readers' Choice Awards (which I totally did not know was a thing), and, lo and behold, "The Moorish Sign" by me, is on the ballot (along with every other story published in 2011, natch).

"The Moorish Sign", if you weren't aware, is a short story about Ulrich Popoca and Countess (in-exile) Francesca Felluci investigating the untimely death of Lord Kitchener and it appeared in the January issue of Bards and Sages Quarterly. It's one of them whatchacall 'locked-room' mysteries, and I'm quite proud of it. The solution is 'palm-tree', by the way. Anywhich, if you're a fan of the characters, I encourage you to (a) pick up the issue in question and (b) vote for the story.

And that's that for Wednesday, I think. Off you go.

The Ghost-Seer

2011-10-03T00:33:00.000-07:00

Aylmer Vance, agent of the enigmatic Ghost Circle, made his first appearance on the nightmare stage in 1914. The creation of husband-and-wife writing team Alice and Claude Askew, Vance appeared in eight consecutive issues of The Weekly Tale-Teller between July and August. The stories-“The Invader”, “The Stranger”, “Lady Green-Sleeves”, “The Fire Unquenchable”, “The Vampire”, “The Boy of Blackstock”, “The Indissoluble Bond” and “The Fear”-ranged from grotesque to gentle, and are, by and large, of a slower pace than those featuring Vance’s contemporaries, such as Carnacki. Only one of the stories has been regularly anthologized (“The Vampire”), with the rest languishing in obscurity until the release of recent collections by Ash-Tree Press and Wordsworth Editions respectively.

Like John Silence, Vance inhabits an England of soft spiritual influence, where elementals, ancient memories and ghostly manifestations cling to the unseen corners and visit just long enough to inject the mundane with a booster shot of the strange. Unlike Carnacki’s Outer Monstrosities and Malign Visitors, the apparitions that Vance faces are utterly human in their aspect, if not their motivation. Death is no barrier to the desires of the flesh or the dreams of the determined, and it is when these elements intrude on the hard-won peace of the Edwardian mind that the Ghost-Seer must intervene.

Friday Preorder

2011-09-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hey, look at that awesome thing right there. I got me a story in it, too. "Dead Calm" is about Faustian bargains, weaseling out of debts come due, sea-monsters, vam-pirates and the most unlikely buddy cop team up since Riggs and Starsky. Also, it has nothing to do with Dreadfleet, that's just a happy coincidence. My vam-pirate is cooler though. Just saying.

Anywhich, it'll be out in November, but it's available for preorder now, if you'd like to spend your money early. Which I suggest you do, cause that sucker looks like its got some good stuff in there. Like "Dead Calm".

I think that's enough shilling for today. Off you go.

Wednesday Shilly-Shallying

2011-09-28T07:32:00.000-07:00

First up on the news-ticker, The Mark of Terror is now available in print as well as in electronic format! So, if you've been holding out for the hard copy, now's your chance to get what is essentially the first full-length Jim Anthony novel in over eighty years, give or take a decade. There's even a preview available for those who need such things to make up their mind. So yeah, you should totally buy that.

In other news (not related to me), Cate Gardner has an awesome looking novella, Barbed Wire Hearts, up for pre-order from Dark Fuse. There's a preview available of that as well, which you should give a read post-haste.

Speaking of post-haste, have you ordered a copy of Derrick Ferguson's Four Bullets for Dillon yet? No? Why not? The four novellas it contains are blisteringly good rip-roarers, full of action and adventure. That cover ain't half-bad to look at neither.

On a similar note, for those who like their fantasy like they like their coffee, Nancy Hansen's novel, Fortune's Pawn looks pretty good, I think. I haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but having read several of her short stories I think I can safely say that if you're a fantasy fan, you'll like it. But you won't know until you buy it.

But if books aren't your thing, what about grabbing a copy of the second issue of Pro Se Presents? Seventy-eight pages of pure New Pulp goodness for six bucks. Not a bad deal that.

And that's my promotional budget for the day spent. Off you go.

Post-Games Day Reflections

2011-09-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

So, what did I learn from my first Games Day? One, I still hate crowds. Two, James Swallow looks like an extra from 'The Vikings'. Three, I hate crowds. Four, I hate getting accidentally whacked in the head by a chainsword almost as much as I hate crowds. Five, book a hotel room rather than trust to the good will of National Rail.

All that aside, I enjoyed myself. The enthusiasm was palpable even to an insensitive type such as myself, especially around the Black Library area, but that might have just been the cake. The latter was not, as pop culture would have it, a lie. It was quite moist, in fact.

I was suitably impressed, is what I'm saying. Even if I didn't manage to attend any seminars or panels or whatnot. Or really do anything other than wander through the crowd, getting thwacked by fake weapons, bags, and once, a pair of wings.

But that was Sunday, and as today is Monday, I was back to work come this morning. I started on the novella-project-I-can't-talk-about-yet, which is proving to be as much fun as I hoped. After knocking out a quick 2,000 words I began working on the chapter-by-chapter breakdown for the sequel to Knight of the Blazing Sun and the proposal for a novel-project-that-I-also-can't-talk-about. Fun, fun, fun.

Seriously. I like to work. Don't look at me like that. If you need something to do, go buy my book. I enjoyed writing it and I think you'll enjoy reading it. It has car chases and shoot-outs and such.

And that's that for this post-Games Day Monday, I think. Off you go.

Two Days and Counting...

2011-09-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

Until Games Day UK 2011, that is. Which, being my first such event, is incredibly exciting for me, even if I'm not planning on doing much more than wandering around and gawping at stuff. No cool, professional detachment for me, no sir. Screw that noise, as they say.

Until then, I'll be working on "Lot No. 250", which continues to evolve towards story-hood. Valusia has been discarded in favor of Pnakotus, serpents for polyps and Egypt for a country estate in Sussex. Still, the basic gist of not screwing with strange crystal eggs remains the same.

After that, however, I have to get started on the novella-project-I-can't-talk-about-yet from Black Library, because it has a deadline now, and it's circling in the tall grass, tail lashing. And speaking of Black Library, take a look at this bad boy here. It's got two (count 'em) two stories by me in it, if that makes any difference. Or you could just go buy the individual issues. That's fine too.

And that's enough talking for Friday, I think.

Proud Literary Mercenary

2011-09-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

First off, I'd like to point you to this post over at Inkpunks, by James L. Sutter. Also, I will from this point refer to myself not as a 'writer' but as a 'literary mercenary' because that just sounds like twenty percent more awesome. Like I spend all day stabbing dudes with pens and whatnot, as opposed to staring at a blinking cursor o' doom for six hours and then giving up to go make dinner. Not that I've ever done that, mind. I is a fount of creativity, so I am.

I'm pleased to say that Black Library have okay'd the proposal for the novella-which-I-can't-talk-about-yet, and that I'm actually quite excited to get to work on it, because A) I get to play with some of the coolest toys in the toy-chest and B) It's a prelude to something even bigger, that-I-also-can't-talk-about-yet.

On the subject of Black Library, I'll be at Games Day UK come Sunday, which is a bit thrilling. I've never been to a Games Day, so we'll see how it goes. I'm told there'll be cake. I can dig it.

On other fronts, it's business as usual...my current in-progress,"Lot No. 250" (formerly "The Joyce-Armstrong Fragment") proceeds apace. Professor Challenger and John Roxton battle Egyptian magics, Atlantean technology and a mummified serpent-man. If you don't want to read that, I pity you.

Speaking of pity, have you bought a copy of The Mark of Terror yet? Three bucks gets you the electronic version, which is compatible with the reading device of your choice. Just saying. No pressure. And if that's not your thing, how about picking up a copy of issue 11 of Hammer & Bolter or what about Candle in the Attic Window, the new Gothic anthology from Innsmouth Free Press? All good reading.

I think that's enough shilling for this Tuesday. Go about your business.

The Super-Detective is on the Case!

2011-09-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

It's out! I'm pleased to announce that my novel, The Mark of Terror, is now available for purchase. You can read the official press release here, if you like, or buy the electronic version of the book here.

I'd suggest you do both. Just for completeness' sake.

EDITED TO ADD: Here's a link to the dead-tree version, if you'd rather buy that. Oh, and a preview!

WIP Wednesday on the Tweet

2011-09-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Today's post will be brief, due to me being busy. Very busy. With pitches and proposals and chapter breakdowns and such.

To start with, a word of advice? Never watch the fluctuations of spam followers on Twitter. You'll drive yourself mental wondering how you offended that many people that quickly until you figure it out. Also, to any potential Twits, I don't courtesy follow (or whatever it's called), so unless I want to read about your day or I think you're bottled awesome, I'm not going to follow you. Sorry.

Moving on...I spent the day working on Out of Black Aeons, which means that I mostly spent the day researching ancient Egyptian magic and what exactly constituted an 'unwrapping party' in the early Twentieth Century. Also, worms. So, that was fun. The book isn't exactly humming along, but I think it'll be fun. It's like a cross between The Thin Man, PG Wodehouse and HP Lovecraft, i.e. awesome.

And that's that for this WIP update, I think. Go forth and do no harm.

Friday Terror!

2011-09-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

So, that there is the fancy cover done by Jeff Herndon for my new pulp novel, Mark of Terror, coming soon from Airship 27. Over at the Airship 27 Flight-Log, there's a look into the nuts and bolts of making something so unbelievably cool, which I encourage you to check out post-haste. This book will mark my second time around the block with the Super-Detective, but rest assured there's more coming, including one I've talked about before.

That's a pretty good Friday, I think.

Wednesday Reviews and WIP

2011-09-07T01:59:00.000-07:00

My story, "The Gods Demand", from issue 11 of Hammer & Bolter (which is still available, by the by), got a nice review courtesy of The Founding Fields. Why not pick up the issue and see if you agree?

In other news, I'm pleased to say that my story, "Prodigal Spirits" will be appearing in Woodland Press' new anthology, Stories from the Hearth: Heartwarming Tales of Appalachia, the cover of which you can see here, if you're of a mind.

As far as WIP goes, I just finished up a proposal for a novella-length project-which-shall-not-be-named-at-this-time and turned it over to the editors at Black Library. If it meets with their approval, I'll get to start on that sometime this month.

Other than that, I've been plucking at the strings of a few short stories, among them "The Flesh Engines" and "The Joyce-Armstrong Fragment". The latter is proving difficult to get moving properly, and I may have to dispense with what I've written so far (around 3,000 words or so) and start fresh. That's what I'll be doing today, I think. Exciting, I know.

And that's that for Wednesday, I think.

Monday Tic-TOC

2011-09-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

IFP's newest anthology, Candle in the Attic Window, is now available for pre-order (with a nice 20% discount off the cover price!). I mention this for two reasons...one, it's a good looking book with a stellar TOC, and two, I'm a part of said stellar TOC, as the book includes my story "Elizabeth on the Island". Take a free peek at one of the stories, Alexis Brooks de Vita's "In His Arms, In the Attic" here.

In other news, Trigger Reflex, the follow-up to Leather, Denim and Silver, has announced its TOC, which includes my story, "Iron Bells". And Tales of the Shadowmen, Vol. 8: Agents Provocateurs has finalized its lineup as well, including "The Carolingian Stone", which features the super-detectives of three nations on the eve of WW2.

So, all things considered, that's a pretty good Monday.

The Ghost-Finder

2011-09-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

William Hope Hodgson’s Carnacki outlived his creator with a tenacity that Hodgson, a bantam rooster of a man, would have appreciated. Thomas Carnacki, resident of 472 Cheyne Walk, London, first appeared in a series of five stories (“Gateway of the Monster”, “The House Among the Laurels”, “The Whistling Room”, “The Horse of the Invisible”, and “The Searcher of the End House”) in The Idler Magazine in the January through April, as well as June, issues of 1910. But despite Hodgson’s death in World War I, Carnacki carried on in a further four stories (“The Thing Invisible”, “The Hog”, “The Haunted Jarvee” and “The Find”) retrieved from Hodgson’s papers by his wife. All nine stories are available in a variety of printed, electronic and audio forms.

But that wasn’t the end. Carnacki’s career was further chronicled by other writers, including A. F. Kidd, Andrew Cartmel, Barbara Hambly, Alberto Lopez Aroca, Kim Newman, Willie Meikle and Alan Moore. He battled evil alongside the Second Doctor and Sherlock Holmes, as well as Mina Murray’s League. He appeared on television, played ably by Donald Pleasance. He’s even inspired a concept album! But in each of his incarnations, Carnacki combined ancient sorceries and Edwardian science to face the squealing, swine-faced threats of the Outer Void.

Tuesday Meandering

2011-08-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

My brain has been in neutral for the past few days. Well, the last week, really. Which is understandable, I guess, seeing as I wrote two books and half a dozen short stories in just under six months. I'm still not firing on all cylinders, but I'm regaining speed. Which is good, because I've got work to do.

What work? Well, various short stories, for one thing. It's my annual end of the year push, which means I've started several stories I probably shouldn't have in order not to work on the ones I have yet to finish, if that makes sense. Foremost among these is "The Flesh Engines", about ancient temples lurking beneath the Thames, vivisection cults and squalling protean masses and "The Adventure of the Vesuvius Clay", which will be a new Ulrich Popoca story. Other than those two, I've got about five other stories I'd like to finish before the end of the year as well as a possible novella length project-I-can't-talk-about-yet for Black Library.

That's what I'm working on at the moment. Or what I'm pretending to work on while I read Nowhere Hall.

In other news, have you heard about the change in management over at Weird Tales? Because that was a thing last week, apparently, which I completely missed. I think I'm caught up now though, and my feelings, such as they are, are mixed.

On the one hand, the hard, nasty, mercenary portion of my soul is cheering to beat the band, because the new editor might possibly be more, shall we say, sympathetic to my preferred style of writing. Which means I might actually have a decent shot at getting a story in Weird Tales (WEIRD TALES!) sometime in the future. So there's that.

But then I begin to wonder why the parties involved seem intent on fixing something that ain't exactly broke. I mean, emphasizing the 'weird' in Weird Tales has produced some stunning results as of late, and it was a magazine I truly enjoyed reading. I felt I was getting something different. Something unique. Judging by the comments on the post I linked to, as well as on a few other blogs, I'm not the only one who felt that way.

If the price of a retrogression to a more traditional style is losing that feeling, I'm not entirely certain it's worth it. Then, maybe it will be. Time will tell, I suppose.

State of the Vampire and Other Mea Culpas

2011-08-26T04:15:00.000-07:00

So, lately, I've gotten a few e-mails inquiring after the sequel to last year's Dracula Lives!, Dracula Unbound!, which was due to be released this October. Mostly along the lines of 'is it still coming out?'

And my answer is, well, frankly, probably not. The reason for this is, quite simply, that Dracula Lives! didn't sell anywhere near well enough for me to indulge myself by writing the sequel. Don't get me wrong...it sold better than I expected. Just not well enough to warrant me writing another one. Not right now, at any rate.

For a writer, time correlates to money. You chop time up, dividing your day between deadlines (self-imposed or otherwise), and try to wring the most reward out of each minute that you can. This year, instead of spending my time writing Dracula Unbound!, I spent it working on other, more lucrative projects-Knight of the Blazing Sun, anyone?

Money drives me, likely because I've never had much of it. So when considering what to work on, the financial opportunities (whether tangible or potential) involved almost always take precedence in my decision. It's not pretty, but it works for me.

And if Dracula Unbound! sold twice what Dracula Lives! did, it still wouldn't equal what I could earn writing another novel for Black Library (which I am, by the by, but more on that later). So Dracula Unbound! falls by the wayside. I don't feel guilty about this, mind, as I have a wife, a creaky house and an accident-prone cat to take care of, and that requires money. And money requires time and so on and so forth.

Now, none of this is to say that I won't ever write Dracula Unbound!...it's just not going to happen anytime soon. But, you can still read Dracula Lives! in its entirety, for free, and wonder what might have been.

Monday Mindwipe

2011-08-22T01:19:00.000-07:00

The project-which-shall-not-be-named is finished. Done. Kaputski. 54,000 words in a month, give or take. Not bad, I think. Now, as to whether they're good words or not, I can't say. I think they are, but that'll be up to the editors to decide.

Still, I'm done. Which means I can now get started on some other projects...namely "The Joyce-Armstrong Fragment" and "Way Over Yonder". The latter is an alternate history story I'm working on for Airship 27, which features the events surrounding the first flight of a lighter-than-air vessel in a world where the American Civil War never occurred. Not quite steampunk, but it's close.

Speaking of steampunk, have you downloaded "The Strange Affair of the Sundered Man" yet? No? You really should. And be sure to let the folks at Dunesteef know if you enjoyed it.

And that's that for Monday, I think.

Thursday Sunderings

2011-08-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

The audio version of "The Strange Affair of the Sundered Man" is now live over at Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine, for your listening pleasure. As always, the folks at Dunesteef do a fantastic job with what little I gave them to work with. So, if you're interested in hearing what a Lovecraftian hunting horror or a bifurcated-but-still-functioning lung sounds like, by all means go download that sucker. And be sure to leave a comment or two letting them know what you thought, either on the page itself or on their forums!

Oh, and the free story giveaway is still going on, for those of you looking to score some free-of-charge reading material.

And that's enough for Thursday, I think.

She Has A Thousand Young...

2011-08-16T02:06:00.000-07:00

In lieu of anything remotely resembling content, may I simply point you at this? And, in closing, beware the black goat...

Friday Free Stuff (If You Buy Something)!

2011-08-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

So, Pro Se Press, the good folks who will be publishing my occult detective novel Out of Black Aeons in 2012 (featuring the Royal Occultist Charles St. Cyprian, who also appears here, here, here and here), have revived their popular monthly magazines in the form of Pro Se Presents, the first issue of which just hit the stands this month.

So far, so awesome, right? Right. Six bucks (or two for the electronic version) nets you three stories; eighty pages of concentrated, digest-sized awesome. Not a bad deal. And it's about to get even better (depending on how you define 'better').

I'm offering an additional twenty-five thousand words, free of charge, for a limited time, to anyone who buys (or has bought!) a copy of Pro Se Presents #1 (in either print or electronic format) in the form of three stories-"Sign of the Salamander" (featuring malevolent elementals and Russian spies), "The Jagtooth Lane Horror" (featuring a nightmarish Norse ghost stalking the city of York) and "Krampusnacht" (featuring Santa Claus' sinister sidekick)-starring Charles St. Cyprian, the Royal Occultist and his spunky (but violent) sidekick, Ebe Gallowglass.

This offer will be good from now until the release of the next issue of the magazine, so, just shoot me proof of purchase at argus33-at-hotmail-dot-com between now and then, and I'll send you a PDF containing the three stories. It's that simple. Buy the book, get free stories. What could be better than that, I ask you?

The Diehard

2011-08-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

Shiela Crerar, psychic investigator and adventuress, first burst into public view in the pages of The Blue Magazine in 1920 with “The Eyes of Doom”. The obscure creation of the intriguingly enigmatic Ella Scrymsour, Crerar battled ghosts, werewolves and gibbering ghouls of all types from May of 1920 to October of that same year, appearing in a grand total of six stories which vanished into the literary ether when The Blue Magazine folded not long after. Luckily for aficionados of occult sleuths, Ash Tree Press released a lovely collection in 2006, marking the first time these stories were collected or reprinted in any form.

Beginning with the aforementioned “The Eyes of Doom”, in which Crerar confronted the eponymous vengeful spirit, the series progressed with “The Death Vapour”, “The Room of Fear”, “The Phantom Isle”, “The Werewolf of Rannoch”, and “The Wraith of Fergus McGinty”. Unlike her masculine counterparts in the occult detective business, Crerar is a two-fisted phantom fighter, wading into supernatural situations with little more than guts, brains and a distinct lack of fear bolstered by harsh economic necessity. Not for her the remote recordings of Dr. Hesselius or the psychical solutions of John Silence. Instead she pounced willy-nilly on lycanthropes and luminescent manifestations, sinking her teeth into matters both mundane and malevolent with equal determination.

Say hello to Shiela Crerar, the Scottish terrier of the psychic set...

TO CONTINUE READING, HEAD OVER TO BLACK GATE MAGAZINE...

Monday On Tuesday

2011-08-02T00:22:00.000-07:00

Another week, another project. Or, rather, the same project-which-shall-not-be-named (at-this-point-and-time). I've added the addendum because, well, apparently they do get named, with my name, at a place I'll point you to at the proper time.

In other news, I finished "Dead Calm" last week, as well as a substantial rewrite of "The Gods Demand", due to the fact that the editor and I discovered that what I was writing about had, in fact, already been described elsewhere, in some detail, and thus I had to adapt my work, i.e. completely rewrite it. Which was fun. Or not. I'm easy to amuse and I have a poor short-term memory, so it could go either way. By the way, did you see the cover to Knight of the Blazing Sun?

Regardless, I'm now back into the men's adventure saddle, writing about terrorists and Interpol and such. Which is, funnily enough, not so different from the Warhammer saddle. More guns, less griffons.

That's enough about me, let's hear from some other, more interesting folks, shall we?

Joel Jenkins-blog-buddy, father of multitudes, and musician-has been interviewed on the PULPED! podcast about his new book, Strange Gods of the Dire Planet, which, coincidentally, happens to be out now.

Pro Se Press is bringing back their magazines, in a new format, which is nice to hear. That first issue looks like a good read.

CSE Cooney is looking to raise some funds for a worthy cause. Well, relatively. I think it's worthy anyway, and you probably will as well. Speaking of the lady in question, here, have a podcast.

And speaking of podcasts (third time is the charm, I'm told), Aliette de Bodard gets her interview on with the folks at SPECULATE! So go listen to that.

That's that for this Monday. Tuesday. Whatever.

So, This Is A Thing What I Made

2011-07-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

So that there is my book. Pretty, ain't it? I'm going to see about getting a big ol' copy of that framed, wildly impractical headgear and all. As far as what it's about, here's the blurb:

'The Knights of the Blazing Sun are a noble and venerable order of templars dedicated to the warrior-goddess Myrmidia. The young knight Hector Goetz is sent to the distant island of Svunum to investigate the disappearance of a group of knights. Reunited with his comrades, he battles vicious pirates and bloodthirsty raiders, but from his increasingly disturbing nightmares Goetz realises that there is more to the place than meets the eye. As northern savages lay siege to the island, a deadly secret is revealed that threatens to damn his order for all eternity.'

Sounds neat, right? You should totally go bookmark the page and prepare to get yourself a copy of that come March of next year.

Physician Extraordinary

2011-07-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

‘Rich by accident and a doctor by choice, John Silence took only those cases which interested him.’

The above is from “A Psychical Invasion” (1908), the first of Algernon Blackwood’s stories to feature Dr. John Silence, the ‘psychic doctor’. Blackwood chronicled six of Silence’s cases, though only five appear in the initial collection, John Silence (containing “A Psychical Invasion”, “Ancient Sorceries”, “The Nemesis of Fire”, “Secret Worship”, and “The Camp of the Dog”; “A Victim of Higher Space”, the sixth story, was included in later collections) released in 1908 (then re-issued in 1942). Even if you can’t get your hands on one of the many reprint collections (or on the 1942 re-issue as I was lucky enough to do), you can rest easy...Blackwood’s work is in the public domain and is freely available from a variety of electronic sources.

The stories themselves are in the inimitable Blackwood style, seen at its most effective in “The Wendigo” and “The Willows”. The horrors that Silence faces are nebulous things, at once more vast than the horizon and smaller than the inside of a cupboard. They range from nightmare assaults out of deep time to unrequited yearnings gone impossibly savage, originating in both human action as well as from events far outside of human understanding.Time and space are suggestions at best, and as in the works of Hodgson and Lovecraft, reality itself comes under assault from outside entities which seek to impose themselves on their victims.

Enter John Silence, MD.

TO CONTINUE READING, HEAD OVER TO BLACK GATE MAGAZINE...

The Preview Is In The Beast

2011-07-21T00:24:00.000-07:00

Or something like that, at any rate. First off, Beast Within 2: Predator & Prey from Graveside Books, which contains my steampunk/werewolf/spy story "The Strange Affair of the Viennese Mathematician", is now available for those with money burning a hole in their pocket. In a follow-up to "The Strange Affair of the Martian Engine", we find the Diogenes Club's agent provocateur extraordinaire Francesca Felluci outrunning Wallachian death-dirigibles and femme fatale werewolves in an effort to rescue the eponymous mathematician. Why does this particular mathematician need rescuing? Well, for that you'll need to buy the book to find out.

Secondly, there's a very nice preview of my story "The Slaughter-Flock", which appears in issue 6 of Dark Worlds Magazine, along with a look at the awesome illustration for said story done by Aaron Sidall up over at the Dark Worlds site. So you should definitely go read that. And if it encourages you to pick up a copy of the issue in question well, who am I to argue?

Beyond that, I'm tapped out for Thursday, I think.

Dead Dark Worlds

2011-07-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

Issue 6 of Dark Worlds Magazine, containing my story "The Slaughter-Flock", is out this week, available in both hard copy and handy digital format. It's an all fantasy issue, featuring some great work by writers like Joel Jenkins and artists like MD Jackson.

Today has so far been devoted to another short story-"Dead Calm"-which I just realized needs to be finished relatively quickly to meet a hard deadline. So, plans for finishing the-project-that-shall-not-be-named have been put on brief hiatus. Luckily I have until September to do so, so a day or two won't matter. Which is good, because I also need to give a last once-over to the second installment in 'The Nightmare Men' for the Black Gate Magazine blog (check out the first one here), which will hopefully see the light of day sometime this weekend.

Also got some big news last week, but more on that later, I think. That's enough for Monday, I think.

It's Friday...

2011-07-15T05:46:00.000-07:00

...And I have just written a book review. I think that's enough for today, don't you?

...

Yeah. You do.

Wednesday WIP Line-Edits of the Lost Ark

2011-07-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

I spent yesterday doing close line-edits on Knight of the Blazing Sun, which was not fun but was important so yay, I guess?

Today was spent working on "Dead Calm", which, as I mentioned in a previous post, is about either vampire-pirates or pirates-who-are-vampires. A subtle yet definite distinction, I know. It's also for Black Library, and it'll tie into the book a bit, in that it features some of the side characters from KotBS. So that's fun.

Also spent an hour or so working on notes for the-project-that-shall-not-be-named, which I'm going to try and finish up next week. Yes, I'm going to try and write 25,000 words in a week. I may not succeed. I may even go insane in the attempt. But I'm gonna go for it. That's just 5000 words a day, right? Other authors do that. I can do that easy. Easy-peasy. I can do that.

Yeah.

I mean, granted, I still have to write up that book-review for Innsmouth Free Press, and get cracking on my next essay for Black Gate Magazine...and I have to finish "Dead Calm" as well, of course. Still, I can do it.

Maybe?

A Doctor, Darkly

2011-07-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

I wanted to be a detective when I grew up…no, not just a detective.

I wanted to be an occult detective. I wanted to be Donald Pleasance hunting down the Horse of the Invisible, or Peter Cushing making a cross out of candlesticks and shoving them right all up in Christopher Lee’s fang-y mug. I wanted to be Carl Kolchak, Thomas Carnacki and Dr. Strange. I wanted to bust up eldritch cults, Draculas and devil-worshipping biker gangs.

Unfortunately, my wife won’t let me. So, instead, I scratch the monster-hunting, ghost-busting itch by writing…well, stuff like this. ‘This’, of course, being ‘The Nightmare Men’ (of which this is the first installment, natch), a series of semi-regular essays on the subject of occult detectives; one part introduction, one part analysis, all awesome, all the time. Basically, if you’ve ever wanted a primer on occult detectives, the Nightmare Men is for you. And we begin with the granddaddy of them all…

Sheridan Le Fanu’s Dr. Martin Hesselius.

TO CONTINUE READING, HEAD OVER TO BLACK GATE MAGAZINE...

Friday Running On Fumes

2011-07-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update today...tomorrow or thereabouts should see the first of what will hopefully be many essays by me at the Black Gate Magazine blog dealing with a subject near and dear to my wee black heart, namely occult detectives.

Collectively titled 'The Nightmare Men', this series of essays will be one part introduction and one part analysis to and of individual occult detectives in literature and popular media, beginning with Sheridan Le Fanu's Dr. Hesselius, from the collection In A Glass Darkly. Basically, if you've ever wanted a primer on occult detectives, this is for you.

The essays should run every two weeks, so mark your calendars. Other than that, I've reached the mid-point on the-project-that-shall-not-be-named in record time, which is pretty cool. Two more weeks, give or take, and I'll have the second book of 2011 written, which is impressive however you slice it. Feel free to bow or strew rose petals or some-such.

Of course, what that really means is that I get to start on Out of Black Aeons, the first Charles St. Cyprian novel (speaking of occult detectives...), that much sooner. And then after that the other thing, and then the other-other thing and then so on and so forth ad nauseum because I am a glutton for punishment apparently.

Riding the Trail With Lone Crow

2011-07-07T02:45:00.000-07:00

It might surprise you to know that I'm not just a writer...I'm also a character. At least, I am in "The Shadow Walkers" by Joel Jenkins, which features an alternate Josh Reynolds, who is nothing like me in any way (save most of them). I mean, I don't live in the Old West, do I? No. So nothing alike then.

If you want to read of my-I mean, this other guy's exploits alongside the Native American gunman Lone Crow, pick up a copy of the weird western anthology, Showdown At Midnight.And, even better, if you buy it via Createspace and punch in the code 2BWNDXLZ, you'll get it for twenty percent off!

Speaking of weird westerns though, did you know that How The West Was Weird 2 is now available for purchase? And it also has a story by Joel Jenkins! Though, sadly, not one featuring myself. Though, if it makes you feel better, I DO have a story in it. If you can't have me one way, you certainly can another.

That didn't sound right, did it?

WIP Wednesday is the First Day...

2011-07-06T01:41:00.000-07:00

...of the rest of your (blogging) life. Possibly. Who can say, right? Right.

First off, the book: Knight of the Blazing Sun has passed through the choppy waters of the ocean o'initial edits and is now entering the twilight marina of secondary edits. Suffice to say, however, it's looking like a second book is a distinct possibility, for which there was much rejoicing. I've seen a preliminary version of the cover and it is more shiny than any book has a right to be. Seriously.

I'm also roughly 20,000 words into the-project-that-shall-not-be-named, which means I'm just about half-way finished with it. Which is better than where I expected to be a week into working on it. So far, so awesome on that score.

Other than the above, I've gotten some good news on two other fronts: firstly, I'm proud to say that I'll have a story in the Horror for the Holidays anthology from Miskatonic River Press. The story, "The Dreaming Dead", features Charles St. Cyprian, the Edwardian occult detective who'll also be appearing in Pill Hill Press' anthology The Trigger Reflex, in a story called "Iron Bells", so that's nice. Secondly, it looks as if I'll be the newest contributor to the Black Gate Magazine blog, with a little series of short essays collectively titled 'The Nightmare Men'. More on that later though.

Besides all of that, I'm working on a number of short stories, including a new story for BL called "Dead Calm", which I'll describe in two words...Vampire. Pirates. How does that grab you? Roughly, like a pirate? Or seductively, like a vampire? Is that a bit creepy? I think it is.

You're welcome.

THWIP Or How Thursday Became The New Wednesday

2011-06-23T01:30:00.000-07:00

Work-in-Progress Wednesday, that is.

Time flies when you're busy, don't it? I remember the halcyon days of two months ago when I updated regularly. Now it's all 'I'm too busy' and 'I have to get this done' and such. Feh. Still, I could be 'not busy at all', which would be even worse, at least from my perspective.

On Monday I got the initial round of edits for the book, which I buckled down and finished on Tuesday; I also finished edits on "The Dreaming Dead" and "An Ounce of Prevention", the two short stories I finished on Sunday. They were then submitted posthaste to the appropriate markets, both of which had July 1st deadlines. Cutting it close, I know, but what are you going to do, am I right? I'm right. Needs must and all that jazz.

On Tuesday, 'midst all the editing, I got the contracts for the project-that-shall-not-be-named from fairly-prominent-publishing-company. That's its new name, by the by, as I'm obligated not to talk about it, at least in terms of 'I wrote this'. Still the money is good so, y'know, I think I'll survive.

As far as what I'm working on now, that would be "The Carolingian Stones" for an upcoming volume of Black Coat Press' Tales of the Shadowmen anthology series, a story which features Jim Anthony, Super-Detective and Chantecoq, King of Detectives unraveling the secrets behind the menace of the masked phantasm known as Belphegor within the corridors of the Louvre. There are Rosicrucians, Nazis and alchemical nightmares galore.

Oh, and on the subject of the Super-Detective...have I talked about Mark of Terror? Because that's the book I wrote last year for Airship 27 Productions starring that very character, which should be out later this year. How about that? It features Jim Anthony battling a cult dedicated to terror in the middle of NYC in 1931. There's gun-battles, car chases, and death-defying escapades aplenty. Some of which will be illustrated, so that's nice. And while you're waiting for that to come out, why not peruse Airship 27's online store...I hear Charles Saunders' Damballa is pretty awesome, as is Green Lama Unbound by Adam Garcia.

Speaking of books, have you read Dracula Lives! yet? Why not? After all, you can read the whole-blamed thing for free right here!

And that's that for this Wednesday-but-really-Thursday.

Friday Freeview

2011-06-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm busy, so you ain't getting much of a post today. I will say that I was part of a lively little interview over at the Book Cave, if you're interested in such things. It gets cut off a bit abruptly, but as far as free entertainment goes, you can't beat it.

Other than that, not much to say on this Friday. Go listen to the interview and maybe go pre-order the book.

Happy International Steampunk Day!

2011-06-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's International Steampunk Day! So, to celebrate, how about some free steampunk fiction? In the list below you'll find clockwork men, steam-powered ships, alternate histories and other steampunk-y type things to enjoy on this most special of days...

"Mr. Brass and the 7 Plagues of the Devil" wherein the titular clockwork man joins Abraham Van Helsing and the son of the Devil Doctor to battle seven golden-masked vampires in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

"The Strange Affair of the Skull at the Window" wherein an Ameriquetzlan ambassador-detective and a femme fatale secret agent battle those responsible for the the theft of a giant moth.

"The Strange Affair of the Artisan's Heart" wherein the same duo from "...Skull at the Window" battle a Russian agent and a robot gone murderous.

"The Strange Affair of the Martian Engine" wherein the aforementioned femme fatale goes it alone against a group of thieves intent on stealing the eponymous engine.

Friday Feelgood

2011-06-10T02:09:00.000-07:00

The book has been turned in to the editor. Now comes the waiting for the inevitable revisions, corrections and 'you can't do that' notes to come pouring in. I am filled with both foreboding and fierce pride, as I have written a fantasy novel with cannons, vikings, knights, sex, and plenty of monsters, which is what I was tasked with. I also took several liberties with the intellectual property, which may (or may not) be a bad thing. Time will tell.

Onward and upward, though. Onto the next project, which is, in this case, "The Gods Demand", my contribution to Age of Legend. Savage beast-men, heroic warriors and cowardly nobility...should be able to knock that out in a weekend, right? Right. After that, I need to finish "The Dreaming Dead", a new Charles St. Cyprian story with a bit of a Lovecraftian bent to it. And after THAT, it'll be "The Carolingian Stones", which I'd really like to have done before July, if possible. Theoretically I could get all three done by this time next week if I push myself. It'll keep me from thinking dark thoughts about the book, at any rate.

Feh. As soon as I receive the contract for that thing I mentioned yesterday, I'll get started on that, as well. All in all, it's looking like a busy few months to come. Which is good.

Thursday Double-Pack

2011-06-09T01:14:00.000-07:00

Lots of news today, so buckle up...

First off, Knights of the Blazing Sun is done. All 101,000 words of it. In three months (give or take a week) no less. Add it to your wish lists and bookmark the sell-page for future reference. Come March next year, I expect everyone to buy at least four copies.

In other news, I'm waiting on the contract for another book that I've been commissioned to write, which is both exciting (because I'm being paid) and a bit intimidating (as I have to have it done by September). It's a pretty big deal if you're into a certain long-running men's adventure series, but I don't know whether I'm allowed to say anything else yet, so I won't. Still...it's exciting.

Speaking of books, I've also begun working on the chapter breakdowns for Out of Black Aeons, the first Charles St. Cyprian novel for Pro Se Press. This is going to be a fun little book, especially if you're into Hammer horror-films, steampunk and the works of HP Lovecraft. It is so fun, in fact, that I've already gotten a rough idea for a second book (should the publisher request one) tentatively called The Beasts of Blackheath. Less Lovecraft with that one, though more Val Lewton, so it evens out. And if you get that reference, I'll buy you a beer.

While we're on the subject of books, have you been checking out Dracula Lives!? I've been posting a chapter a week and we'll reach the thrilling conclusion by month's end. Now's a good time to catch up. There'll be news about the sequel in the next week or two, so if you've been enjoying it, you'll want to follow the page or bookmark it or whatever.

Moving on, my pal Percy Constantine has a new book out, which looks like an exciting little thriller if you like lady archaeologists and gun-play and what not. You can read the first chapter for free and there's even a review! He works quick, does Percy.

Cat Gardner's no slouch either...her story "The Forest of Discarded Hearts" is available to read for free over at the Fae Awareness Site. I have no idea what that is, but the story is a damn fine read for fans of fractured fairy tales.

Derrick Ferguson, yet another member of my sinister syndicate, has gotten a review of his novel Dillon and the Voice of Odin from sword and sorcery legend Charles R. Saunders! Go read that and then check out the book, which is being posted for free on Derrick's site!

Hey, you can get BOTH volumes of How The West Was Weird as well as HTWWW: Campfire Tales with free shipping for a one-time price of twenty-five bucks. That's a pretty good deal, even with the current economic crisis. You should buy that.

And that is that for this Thursday, I think.

Wednesday Weird Western WIP

2011-06-01T04:41:00.000-07:00

To start with, I direct your attention to this early (oh so early) review of How The West Was Weird 2, wherein my contribution "Mr. Brass and the Devil's Teeth" got high praise. Nice, right? Book ain't even out yet. Though, it IS available for pre-order, if you're of a mind.

Even better? If you pre-order HTWWW2, you'll receive a copy of HTWWW: Campfire Tales! What's that, you may ask (that's a stupid question, by the by...just saying)? Why, it's an action four-pack containing stories by myself, Russ Anderson, Joel Jenkins and Derrick Ferguson is what it is! My story, "Mr. Brass and the Crimson Skies of Kansas" (which features Mark Twain getting punched by Mr. Hyde) was previously published in A Thousand Faces: The Quarterly Journal of Superhuman Fiction a few years back, but don't let that stop you.

As to what I'm working on now...well, the obvious answer is Knights of the Blazing Sun. The not-so obvious answer? Out of Black Aeons. The answer that is expected? Short stories. Lots of them. I'm working on "The Joyce-Armstrong Fragment" for a Professor Challenger themed anthology, which features Challenger and his fellow cosmonaut of the strange, Charles Hoy Fort, investigating strange atmospheric conditions, cattle mutilations and the manuscript of the title (which is, in itself, a reference to another AC Doyle story, for the eagle-eyed among you...). I'm working on "The Gods Demand" for an upcoming BL anthology, Age of Legends, which has to do with-well-gods demanding...things of...people.

Also working on "The Falcon of Malta" for an 'all-zeppelin' anthology from Airship 27, which is an alternate history action-adventure story featuring Francesca Felluci, Countess-in-Exile, for those who know and/or care about that character. Then there's "The Carolingian Stones" (which I've talked about before at length), "The Dreaming Dead" (a St. Cyprian and Gallowglass adventure) and a few other odds and ends.

And that's that for this Wednesday WIP.

Friday A-Foot (The Game, That Is...)

2011-05-27T00:13:00.000-07:00

Airship 27/Golden Hammer Press have announced the release of the third volume of Sherlock Holmes-Consulting Detective, which includes "The Singular Affair of the Sultan's Tiger" by yours truly. So definitely pick up a copy of that, either in print or in handy-dandy electronic format.

Oh, hey, I interviewed MD Jackson! Why not go check out how that went?

In other news, Nathan Shumate, editor of the new magazine Arcane is offering a free copy of the first issue to one lucky fan, and all for the price of clicking a 'like' button. You should go get up on that this weekend.

I missed Peter Cushing's birthday, but I'll be damned if I do the same for Dr. Phibes! So, in honor of the man, have a video:

Have a good weekend!

Wednesday WIP Redux

2011-05-25T00:00:00.001-07:00

First off, the TOC for Innsmouth Free Press' forthcoming anthology, Candle in the Attic Window has been announced. As to why I mention it, my story "Elizabeth on the Island" is among those listed. How about that? And on the subject of IFP, have you picked up a copy of Historical Lovecraft yet?

Speaking of forthcoming books, I'm given to understand that the third volume of Airship 27's semi-annual anthology series, Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective, which includes my story "The Singular Affair of the Sultan's Tiger", is due out soon. The second volume (also including a story of mine) is still available, by the by.

Following up on April's release of Leather, Denim & Silver: Legends of the Monster Hunter, Pill Hill Press is planning a sequel-Trigger Reflex: Legends of the Monster Hunter II-which I'm pleased to say that I'll have a story in. "Iron Bells" (like "The Artist as Wolf" in LD&S) features the dynamic duo of Charles St. Cyprian, Royal Occultist and his sharp-tongued (and homicidal) assistant Ebe Gallowglass hunting down a brutal murderer whose ghoulish inclinations are the least of their worries as they run afoul of those who live far below...so, if you enjoyed the first volume, be on the lookout for the second! Oh, and just as a reminder, 2012 will see the release of the first St. Cyprian/Gallowglass novel, Out of Black Aeons!

Now that the shameless shilling is out of the way, let's get to why you're all here...the WIP rundown! [wait for applause...wait...crickets...move on! For the love of Jeebus move on!] Knights of the Blazing Sun is still a few thousand words shy of completion, but that's nothing new. With the plot all laid out and THE END written, I'm really just fleshing out the world with all the interesting gribbly bits that really set the BL books apart from other fantasy series.

On the subject of BL, I've gotten an invitation to submit something to the upcoming Age of Legends anthology, so yesterday was spent putting together a duo of pitches for the editor to choose between. Tuesday also saw me finish up my 3000 word bit in a hush-hush New Pulp project, more on which later, I expect.

Apart from these, I'm finishing up a number of short stories...for Black Coat Press, I'm working on "The Carolingian Stones", which sees Jim Anthony, Super-Detective and dogged Inspector Chantecoq investigating the mystery of Belephegor! For Airship 27's forthcoming anthology of Zeppelin stories, I'm working on "The Falcon of Malta", which features airship battles, a demon-worshiping order of knights, and several gratuitous explosions. Along with the aforementioned pitches, these two will occupy my time for the next week or three.

And that's that for this WIP rundown.

Monday Mint-in-Box

2011-05-16T01:53:00.000-07:00

The end of last week saw me starting and finishing up two-no, three-short stories, including submissions for Pill Hill Press' Trigger Reflex anthology and Woodland Press' Detours anthology. Which is quite good, considering that I was working on the book as well. Speaking of the book, I'm counting the days. I've finished the story, but now I need to go back and bump up the word count. So, in a way I'm finished and in another, more correct way, I am not. But really I am. Kind of.

I also got some interesting news at the end of the day on Friday, which I can't talk about yet, but which is exciting. At least for me. Because it involves money. Money which I will be paid. Possibly.

Filed under other things of interest, Miles Booth, editor of Leather, Denim & Silver (which includes my story "The Artist as Wolf" and is available for purchase, by the by) had some nice things to say about my story. Well, one nice thing. I'll take what I can get, honestly. Having received my galley-copy of the book, I can say it's well worth taking a look if you're a fan of fearless (and not so fearless) monster killers.

And here's a few other things to keep you busy on a Monday:

*Check out Derrick Ferguson's photos from Pulp Ark this past weekend. I think I see a few copies of Dracula Lives! in there. Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five and Part Six...

*Dean Wesley Smith gets harsh...

*Michael Stackpole gets even harsher...

*Nick Mamatas laughs at your concept of harsh not once but three times...

And that's that.

Monday, Going into Tuesday

2011-05-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

Knights of the Blazing Sun is almost done. And by almost done, I mean there's around twenty-thousand words left to be added, barring edits and such. The book has taken some odd turns over the past few weeks...I've dispensed entirely with one major character, thus necessitating a re-shuffling of certain plot-points and enlarged the storyline of another to compensate. This, in turn, has resulted in the flowering of a whole slew of sub-plots.

Needless to say, it's going to be interesting when it comes time to whip this disparate motley of scenes into something approaching readability.

Last week I finished "A Cask of Wynters", "The Soda City Matter", and "Eliza"; the latter being my submission to IFP's Future Lovecraft anthology. At the moment I'm working on "Devil's Shoestring", a submission for one of the several Woodland Press anthologies floating around as well as "The Carolingian Stones" for a Black Coat Press anthology.

Also, as you may or may not be aware, I've also sold another book-Out of Black Aeons. Featuring the character of Charles St. Cyprian (whom you may remember from an earlier post), it'll involve rampaging mummies, stumbling zombies, were-jackals and a goodly bit of Lovecraftian madness. It should be out around March 2012, just in time to join Knights of the Blazing Sun. Read the press release here, if you like.

On the subject of St. Cyprian, if you pick up a copy of Leather, Denim and Silver from Pill Hill Press you'll get a chance to read "The Artist as Wolf", featuring the character and his spunky side-kick doing what they do best, i.e. chasing werewolves.

And that's that for Monday, I think.

King of the Katz

2011-05-03T01:47:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the release of Historical Lovecraft last month, everyone involved is going to be celebrating throughout the month of May with a blistering blizzard of blogging beauty. Including me (else why would I be mentioning it, right?). Now, yesterday, Nathaniel Katz was nice enough to kick things off with an interview with yours truly, so today I thought I'd return the favor and make him take HIS turn in the hot-seat. So, here we go...

AN INTERVIEW WITH NATHANIEL KATZ

JR: We’ll start with the basics: Nathaniel Katz, threat or menace?

NK: Menace, of course. Both to my readers' souls and wallets.

JR: Can I call you Katzy? How about Natkat?

NK: Natkat sounds like a kitkat, and chocolate's always a good thing, so – why not?

JR: So, Jim (I’ve decided to call you Jim), big Lovecraft fan or is he merely a distant white ship passing across the audient void of your pop culture consciousness?

NK: Big fan. Lovecraft's the writer that made me realize how important atmosphere is for stories, and, even moving beyond writing, I'd say that Lovecraft's stories and writings had a pretty large impact on how I think about the world.

JR: Are you a necromancer? I’ve heard you’re a necromancer.

NK: Yes, for tax purposes.

JR: What’s a necromancer?

NK: Sorry, that's classified. If you pay a membership fee, though, I'll be sure to give you all the juicy details. Email me, we can set up a paypal transaction.

JR: No one cares about necromancers Jim! Now give us some of your influences-in other words, where do you go for inspiration?

NK: Besides the obvious Lovecraft, I love Thomas Ligotti, George RR Martin, and Jeff VanderMeer, to name a few. For Deus ex Machina, I was pretty much attempting to channel the first person rage of Banville's Book of Evidence into a Lovecraft-esque tale.

JR: Listen Steve (you’re Steve now, by the way), be honest-Nicophon or Telecleides...who’s your favourite playwright?

NK: To be honest, I'm embarrassingly ignorant about plays, especially for someone who just published a story about them. My favourite Greek play would probably have to be Oedipus, predictable answer as that may be.

JR: HA! Wrong. It’s Cleophon. Jerk. Moving on. I understand that “Deus Ex Machina” is your first published story-give us the rundown on it: what’s it about, and, more importantly, how’d it come about?

NK: Deus ex Machina is the first time in my career that I tried to generate a story specifically for an anthology. Historical Lovecraft sounded like an awesome idea, so I set out to go create a Lovecraftian tale with some nifty Roman elements called Cataloguing the Night. It was awful, so bad that I stopped three or four paragraphs from the end and had no will to go on.

I didn't want to give up on the anthology, though, so I tried again the next day, this time with a Greek setting. It was, again, awful. I finished it this time, but the ending was as much a parody as anything else, and the historical aspect boiled down to some cheesy names and an italicized word or two that I couldn't pronounce if my life depended on it.

Giving up, I shut off my laptop and went to bed. About six seconds after turning out the light, it occurred to me that there was one aspect of Greek society that I knew something about: theatre, half religious festival and half art form, in which, in the end, the gods would often descend to inhabit the bodies of actors in order to resolve the actors' problems. Has there even been a more Lovecraftian concept? (Ignoring, for a moment, the dozens that Lovecraft and other more imaginative writers penned...) I got up, fired up the computer, and wrote the story in a single sitting starting at around three in the morning. To my surprise, when I read what I had the next day – which happened to be the day before the deadline – it was actually coherent. Moreover, it even had potential!

JR: What attracted you to the concept of Historical Lovecraft?

NK: So much of my horror fiction is Lovecraft-inspired, but I was never comfortable writing a Lovecraft-esque story for fear of being too derivative. Historical Lovecraft provided me with the twist needed to make the idea fresh. Besides which, the idea of appearing in a book with Lovecraft's name on the cover is just cool.

JR: Now, having read a copy of the book, what’s your favourite (or favourites) story?

NK: My favorite would be either Alter S. Reiss's The Chronicle of Aliyat son of Aliyat or William Meikle's Inquisitor. The former has a great writing style that really suits the story, and the tale feels apocalyptic throughout. Inquisitor was remarkable for the characters and their degradation into the psychological equivalent of shoggoth-savaged, gelatinous mush.

JR: Pop quiz-Nathaniel Katz is to a baboon with a knife as HP Lovecraft is to...?

NK: A much larger, smarter, somewhat racist, reclusive baboon with a bigger, eldritch knife made entirely of non-Euclidean angels and unearthly materials, all crafted in the horrible and unmentionable city beneath the depths of the Arctic.

JR: Wrong again, Phil. The answer is the Sixth Duke of Carlyle. You disappoint me. What’s your writing process like?

NK: Phil? Now this has gone too far. Jim I may be. Natkat, even, perhaps. But Phil? No, I shall never be Phil!

As for my writing process, I don't think it's anything all that special. I sit down and slap my laptop around till it spits out some words. I think my stories really develop their personality in editing, where I print them out, read them aloud, and cut at least thirty words per double spaced page. Then I realize I have to go put all the pen and paper edits onto my word document and weep at the tedium of it.

JR: Describe a day in the life of Nathaniel Katz, Jim (we’re back to Jim now).

NK: Alright, Jim's cool. I can do Jim. Far as I, Jim, can tell, Nathaniel doesn't do much besides read, write, read about writing, and write about reading. He also listens to music and beats people up in Tae Kwon Do.

JR: Indulge in some shameless self-promotion. Shill, man shill! What’s next and where can we buy it?

NK: Hmm. I came here with my shilling-voice ready, but I'm sadly bereft of good shill-worthy subjects. When a shill-worthy item does appear, I shall, have no fear, shout about it from the rooftops (or the blog-page, as it were), and it shall be totally glorious.

***

Now that that's done, I'd like to thank Nathaniel for putting up with my particular interview style (AKA 'the batsh*t crazy school of journalism') and while he didn't mention it, I'd encourage you to head over to his site and give a read to his many, MANY reviews. They're a thought-provoking bunch, and he's gotten me personally interested in a few books I'd never even heard of.

I'd also encourage you to pick up a copy of Historical Lovecraft, which contains both Nathaniel's story "Deus Ex Machina" and my own "The Far Deep" as well as a host of other wonderful (yet horrible) stories. GO GET A COPY.

Thursday is For Talking

2011-04-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a good day, as such things go. I finished "A Cask of Wynters", my submission for BL's forthcoming Gotrek & Felix anthology. The story settled in at 10,000 words or so. It'll need a few edits before I can send it off into the wild aether, but I think it's a good 'un. Drunken knights, berserk dwarfs and cunning goblins. The protagonist is this handsome fellow, if you were interested.

I spent today working on "The Soda City Matter", my contribution to an upcoming anthology from Moonstone Books. If all goes well, I'll be able to finish that one this week as well.

Enough about me, however. Here's a few links to take you into your weekend...

*First off, there's a new genre in town and it's called NEW PULP...

*Secondly, want to win a copy of How The West Was Weird 2? Read on and find out how.

*Pals Percival Constantine and Derrick Ferguson discuss the latter's character DILLON and the role race plays in his story...

*This one's for all you writers out there. You should probably be keeping those old papers...

Tuesday 'Taker

2011-04-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

The Backwater Gospel from The Animation Workshop on Vimeo.

Thursday is Dark Worlds Day

2011-04-21T08:58:00.000-07:00

GW Thomas, editor of Dark Worlds, has unveiled the cover for the forthcoming Summer 2011 issue, which includes my story, "The Slaughter-Flock", in its contents. It's being billed as an 'all-fantasy' issue, for those who choose their purchases based on genre. Considering the other authors with whom I'm sharing the TOC, even if fantasy isn't your thing you might still might want to pick it up. All of these guys are great writers.

For those who're interested, my story is about a Viking and a Thulian fighting proto-Aztecs in Dark Ages North America. You know, if that's the sort of story that appeals to you.

Tuesday on Tuesday

2011-04-19T04:15:00.000-07:00

Couple of announcements for your Tuesday...first up: Leather, Denim and Silver: Legends of the Monster Hunter is now available from Pill Hill Press should you wish to purchase it. It includes my story, "The Artist as Wolf" as well as a whopping twenty-nine other stories of monster-hunting madness! So, you should pick that up.

Next, the final TOC for How The West Was Weird, Volume 2 has been announced. I'm in good company in this one, and that cover is a work of art. Just saying.

Thirdly, the opportunity to save twenty percent off on Historical Lovecraft is almost over, so if you haven't taken the opportunity to drop a bit of cash on that, today is the day.

And that's my shilling for the day done and gone.