Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror

I think you have to file this one under bucket-list items you didn’t realize were on your bucket-list:  my story, “The Shallows,” from Darrell Schweitzer’s Cthulhu’s Reign a few years back, will be appearing in Ellen Datlow’s forthcoming survey of recent horror fiction, Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror, which will be out from Tachyon later this year.

Some cover, huh?

The table of contents for this book is humbling:

 

• Shallaballah by Mark Samuels
• Sob in the Silence by Gene Wolfe
• Our Turn Too Will One Day Come by Brian Hodge
• Dead Sea Fruit by Kaaron Warren
• Closet Dreams by Lisa Tuttle
• Spectral Evidence by Gemma Files
• Hushabye by Simon Bestwick
• Very Low-Flying Aircraft by Nicholas Royle
• The Goosle by Margo Lanagan
• The Clay Party by Steve Duffy
• Strappado by Laird Barron
• Lonegan’s Luck by Stephen Graham Jones
• Mr Pigsny by Reggie Oliver
• At Night, When the Demons Come by Ray Cluley
• Was She Wicked? Was She Good? by M. Rickert
• The Shallows by John Langan
• Little Pig by Anna Taborska
• Omphalos by Livia Llewellyn
• How We Escaped Our Certain Fate by Dan Chaon
• That Tiny Flutter of the Heart I Used to Call Love by Robert Shearman
• Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No. 8) by Caitlín R. Kiernan
• Shay Corsham Worsted by Garth Nix
• The Atlas of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud
• Ambitious Boys Like You by Richard Kadrey

Thanks so much to Ellen Datlow for including me in this, and congratulations to everyone else in the book.

 

A Quick Boskone Recap

I had a tooth pulled the day before I drove out to Boston for this year’s Boskone (the 53rd), and I feel like I spent most of the convention telling everyone I met about it.  This may have been due to the pain med I was taking, which, when combined with a beer or two, gave me vivid nightmares in which Billy Bob Thornton’s character from the first season of Fargo was on a murder spree on my side of the Hudson River, and also in which I had to avoid a pair of frighteningly large alligators while trying to swim to my mother’s house.

But I also had the pleasure of staying with Paul Tremblay and his long-suffering family, of meeting up with Brett Cox and JoAnn Cox (who are not related), of hanging out with J.T. Petty and Sarah Langan (who says we’re not related, but come on, really?) and their irrepressible girls, and of seeing Jack Haringa, on the road to recovery from his recent heart surgery and already up to 98% snarkiness.  The lovely Barry Lee Dejasu and Catherine Grant had a bunch of us up to their hotel room for a small party featuring some wonderful beer; Chris Irvin and Errick Nunnally hosted a Noir at the Bar reading on Friday night that I took part in and that went very well; and Erin Underwood launched The Grimm Future, a book of stories inspired by the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, in which I have a steampunkish story inspired by “The Brave Little Tailor.”

 

This convention felt a bit more subdued than past Boskones.  In part, I’m sure this was due to the absence of the recently-deceased David Hartwell.  I wonder, too, if it wasn’t due to memories of last year’s blizzard.  But I had a fine time, got to make the acquaintance of some splendid new folks (Chris Irvin, Errick Nunnally, E.J. Stevens), and managed my annual meals at the L Street Diner, the No-Name Seafood Restaurant, and Maxie’s Diner.  Thanks to Erin Underwood and the other fine folks who made the convention happen.  I’m already looking forward to next year.

 

 

 

Five Minutes’ Worth of Publishing Advice

One of my wife’s former students, now a professor herself, e-mailed me the other day to ask if I’d mind putting together a two to three minute audio interview on my first experiences with professional publication, for a class she’s teaching.  Fiona and I made this short video, which is about twice as long as what her former student asked for, not to mention, it’s a video.  I thought I’d post the link here in case it’s of interest to anyone.

Publishing advice.

Happy Birthday to the Honey Badger

It’s Laird Barron’s birthday today.  As I never tire of saying, Laird’s one of the writers who keeps me honest:  whenever I read his latest story, my admiration is invariably mixed with the thought, “Damn, I’m going to have to do better.”  He’s also one of my closest and dearest friends, and I love him and hope he has a great day.