Dark Discoveries and other Jiggy Wiggy Hoopla

Nice cover, yeah? I just sent the contract back to Dark Discoveries! My story got bumped up to the next issue (18)! This one! I’m so thrilled. I’m going to buy some extra copies and give one away in a contest after the first contest I have for two of The Bag and The Crow tees(one male, one female) which I’ll be posting about pretty soon. I also need to finish interview questions for Jassen Bailey, the proprietor of The Bag and The Crow (as well as the review site The Crow’s Caw), because he’s a great guy selling great work and damn passionate about the genre and life.

I passed both of my tests for the new job and got my temporary license! I’m stoked. Can’t wait to get the official license in the mail and be a professional whatch-a-ma-call-it! I used to get so frustrated when I couldn’t get what I wanted (but I really, really don’t think I knew what I wanted when I was younger so that could explain it.) Things keep falling into place the last few years. Weird. Lol.

Currently reading Robert Dunbar’s terrifically funny, intelligent and tragic novel WILLY. Next up I’ll be reading and reviewing Mark Gunnell’s collection Tales From the Midnight Shift. Like Shaun Ryan, Kevin Wallis, Ken Wood, Cate Gardner, and Ben Eads, he’s a champ building his name and I think he has a lot of potential.

Also have a review of Tom Piccirilli’s noirella EVERY SHALLOW CUT up on The Crow’s Caw. Loved it (not that I expected any different. He hits deep emotions with his stories; a lot of it how every day failures add up until their combined weight is enough to crush us.) Chizine is publishing a lot of great work. I’m going to approach them about a short story collection at some point (just starting so I gotta wait until I get my rights back on a lot of stuff that recently sold or is forthcoming! Lol.)

I need to get to work on the next guest blog “With the Help of Your Friends,” for my buddy Ben Ead’s website. They’re fun. But time away from the internet is always something I crave. I think it’s the difference between writing a little and writing a lot. If we could monitor all the time we lived online I think it would shock the hell out of us. Plus walking away from the net allows me time to reflect, process things and just be still, which is nice.

NURSERY RHYMES 4 DEAD CHILDREN is going to be in people’s hands before we know it! My debut novel! I remember what Lee Thomas said in one of his columns (A lot of writers think selling that first book is the goal, but it’s only the starting line) and I totally agree with him. What a dream come true even though now the real work begins. It’s a book I’m very proud of, especially since it’s layered and complex (at least for me at the time. I blame Gary Braunbeck.) The sequel that expands and delves deeper into that town, those characters (John McDonnell, Michael Johnston, Red Piccirilli, Frank Gunn, etc) and the mythos I’m creating will be finished by the end of summer! I think they’ll all work well as standalones, but collecting all of them--three novels and four novellas--will be quite the experience. I’m learning/developing my voice a lot this year and it’s been a real eye-opener. I think each book will be better than the last. That’s the goal anyway. I’m lucky I have people who encourage, believe in me, and show their support in so many ways. If I die tomorrow, know I’m touched. I think about how no one owes me anything every day. It’s mind blowing. Thank you for your time, for spreading the word, for spending your hard-earned money, for your time, and faith. I always want to give back but don’t know if I’ll ever be able to give back enough.

Also down to the last two scenes in my new book IMMERSION! This is one wicked ride but like a lot of my favorite work it has some tenderness in there too. And a lot of truth. (But it still gets ugly and brutal.) The opening lines are deceivingly simple, which I like:

I grew up where woods bordered bog, where air was thick and heavy and hot, where bugs were fat and hungry enough to consume recently slaughtered bodies.
My father was a butcher.
My mother was a seamstress.
We shared each other’s troubles.
Blood slakes demon thirst. That’s what the Church of a Thousand Nights professed.
Me and Keri were happy until they murdered her.
This isn’t just a tale of vengeance.
It’s a tale of truth.
Darkness Creeps.
Light is sudden.
Love is Fierce.

2010 in the Rearview/ 2011 Giving Me a Lap Dance…

***
Wow. This was a landmark year for me and the most enjoyable I've had since found stumbling around this mortal coil.

I met the woman of my dreams. Then we learned that a dream is just a dream and a real loving relationship takes work, which turned out to be kinda fun, and well worth the effort on both our parts. We've taught each other things, we've learned to listen, we share so much and give like you wouldn't believe. I was happy before. She makes me happier. I hope I can always do the same for her.

I've come to love limited edition books. They make my blood sing, my fingers tingle, and my hair stand on end. It's amazing the talent and skill that goes into making them, an outer beauty to match the inner glory of the stories. Perfect. I'll do everything I can to support authors and publishers I believe in. Like Steve Clark’s Tasmaniac Publications, Tom and Billie Moran’s Sideshow Press, Shane Ryan Staley’s Delirium Books, Brett Alexander Savory’s Chizine Publications, RJ and Julia Sevin’s Creeping Hemlock Press, as well as Centipede Press, Bloodletting, and Bad Moon Books, as well as magazines like Shock Totem, Dark Discoveries, and a dozen others. And authors they publish: Greg Gifune, Brian Hodge, Tom Piccirilli, Douglas Clegg, Peter Straub, Shaun Jeffrey, Clive Barker, Sam W. Anderson, Erik Williams, John Mantooth, Tim Lebbon, Cate Gardner, Gary Braunbeck, Mark Allan Gunnells, Sheldon Higdon, Ronald Malfi, Brian Knight, and a host more.

I learned that sometimes I need to step away from the Internet, to strip my life down to what matters most—the barest essentials: my relationship, my family, my closest friends, and my work. Energy ebbs and flows. I have to stay in step with it to keep dancing so smoothly. Pretty fly for a white guy, eh?

I learned a lot from writing this year from those who have critted my stories (Shaun Ryan, Kevin Wallis, Kara, Ken Wood, Ben Eads, Wanda Clevenger, Shaun Jeffrey, and Mark Allan Gunnells) and I give them all a big butt smack filled with appreciation to carry them into 2011. Not only are they great critters, they're great people with great butts.

I've met amazing editors who have helped me develop faith in myself that goes beyond the normal, and sometimes tiresome, back-patting you see among writers. So a big thanks to Steve Clark, Tom Moran, Shane Ryan Staley, Ken Wood, Claire Nixon, Michael Louis Dixon, Jassen Bailey, James Beach, and Jason Sizemore. Not to mention their great teams with people like Maggie Jamison, Mercedes Yardley, Nick Contor, John Boden, Jason V. Brock, etc., etc.

I had a blast while helping select stories for Horror Library Volume 4. It's such an excellent collection.

I found some great shows that made me laugh. Spaced; Spartacus: Blood and Sand; Peep Show; and some others that elude me because I'm a dork.

I've read a hundred great books (my top five would be: Greg Gifune’s The Bleeding Season; Tom Piccirilli’s Shadow Season; Sam W. Anderson’s collection Postcards from Purgatory; Douglas Clegg’s Neverland; and Jack Cady’s Street (which I copied the entire novel by hand to learn more. LOl. I am insane.)

I got to see some of my friends sell stories, collections and novels. Outstanding! I expect they'll all sell much more in 2011. I’m excited for them!

I gave my first blurb! (Kevin Wallis’s fantastic collection Beneath the Surface of Things)

I had my first interview! (AJ Brown interviewed me. What fun! And an equally fun second interview performed by Mark Allan Gunnells!)

I had my first professional sale! (Shock Totem issue 4, baby! Where my story “Beneath the Weeping Willow” sits in wait to get its hands on your throat, and maybe your heart.)

Hosted our first Scary Sad Stories Talent Show (We will repeat every Halloween!)

I found a career after a lifetime of living as a hooker and part-time vagabond!

I had my first limited-edition hard cover release! (As I Embrace My Jagged Edges—which was released in digital, is also being released in a limited hardcover run for collector's and features a bonus story! Drop kickin’ a pregnant watermelon.)

I’ve learned that there is more pleasure in having work through publishers I love and having my work among my heroes than the measly satisfaction given by money. A whole lot. But the money is nice because then I can buy people stuff (like breath mints.) :D

I wrote several long pieces (45-90,000 words). Four of them to be exact. Everyone of them was fun—we danced, we laughed, we cried, we collapsed, exhausted! And I am proud of them all. And you'll see some of them released in 2011!

I hope others have had such a wonderful year. It’s overwhelming at times. Surreal. But I'm grateful and looking forward to hitting my stride this next year! Dig it! And the great thing is 2010 is not even over yet and more wonderful news might arrive!