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

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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!

Bloodbaths, Blessings, and the Great Inferno

The last few weeks have been wonderful and testing, they've brought me joy even as they've flayed me. I don't think it's enough to just soul-search. I find myself peeling back my flesh and inspecting the bad patterns I have, the way I self-sabotage, and slowly I'm learning to take responsibility for the misery I've caused others and myself. Luckily I have a wonderfully beautiful soul in my life who respects me and respects herself, a woman who has enough courage to dig through the layers of muck that have accumulated over both our hearts, and together we've begun to chip away, to understand the things that have driven us and the things that still haunt us.

She sees my best and worst yet still believes in me, still inspires me, gives and gives of her time and talent, showing me the side of humanity that has always given me hope. The selfless side. I'm grateful for her, have been for months as we've shared our greatest dreams and deepest fears, and I'm glad we're learning to understand each other (and ourselves) even if it's rarely easy.

She makes me smile.

Thank you, Kara. I adore all you've done to enrich my life. You make it look easy.

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I had two sales recently.

#1 sold to Jason Sizemore's anthology The Zombie Feed. He was the first editor to ever give me detailed feedback and encourage me to keep at it a couple of years. THIS FINAL DECEMBER DAY is a story about the end of the world (obviously), about regret and love, how sometimes all we can do is cling to those we love, and that's okay, it's enough.

#2 sold to Shock Totem. Like the novella I recently finished and the novel I'm working on now, BENEATH THE WEEPING WILLOW came about as if I'd entered a trance while writing, climbed inside myself and torn down some walls. It's beautiful, sad, and powerful. It has more of my heart in it than any short I'd written before. I'm honored beyond words that ST accepted it.

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Kevin Wallis, a fine writer and editor for Liquid Imagination, just released his collection through Bards and Sages. Here's what Gary Braunbeck said about it:

"An impressive, often unnerving, and always gutsy collection, Beneath the Surface of Things easily marks Kevin Wallis as a writer to Beware of with such stories as Redemption Song and No Monsters Came That Night. Every story showcases Wallis' determination to break through the so-called boundaries of dark fiction and explore disturbing and sometimes even eye-opening new worlds, some without, but most within. You owe it to yourself to look Beneath the Surface of Things."

Cate Gardner also has a wonderful collection up for pre-order and shipping soon. You can buy it here: Strange men in pinstripe suits

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And lastly... time is counting down for the close of The Scary Talent Show (Oct. 7th) See the previous post for your chance to win a one-year subscription to Dark Discoveries, a groovy tee-shirt from The Bag and The Crow, or a sexy novella from the ever popular Tasmaniac Publications. :D

Respect yourselves.

New Short story sale and other news :-)

The wonderful podcast Pseudopod bought my story, Crawl! I'm waiting on the contract and whatever else they need. The hundred bucks is going to buy some limited edition books I've wanted!

My story Mystery's Vast Empty is out now in Morpheus Tales Special Fantasy Femmes!Sweet.

My story Family Curse will be in Morpheus Tales 13 later this year.

I'm working on five new stories. I planned on starting book 2 of my dark fantasy novels on March 1st. But I'm going to have to push it back a week so I can wrap these shorts up. Once I'm in novel writing mode I don't sway into any other writing. Gotta finish them this week.

I hope everyone is doing great!