Interzone 246 and Black Static 34

The May–June issue of Interzone is now out and contains new fiction by Steven J. Dines, Jess Hyslop, Nigel Brown, Aliette de Bodard, Lavie Tidhar, Georgina Bruce, and James White Award winner Shannon Fay. I’m also very happy that it contains  my story “Thesea and Astaurius”.

 The cover art is by Jim Burns, and interior colour illustrations are by Richard Wagner, Martin Hanford, David Gentry, Vincent Sammy, and Wayne Haag. All the usual features are present: Ansible Link by David Langford (news and obits); Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe (film reviews); Laser Fodder by Tony Lee (DVD/Blu-ray reviews); book reviews including an interview with Lauren Beukes conducted by Maureen Kincaid Speller, and the first of Jonathan McCalmont’s new column Future Interrupted.

It looks like it going to be a great issue with the likes of Lavie Tidhar and Aliette de Bodard, but I’ve also got my eye on the Steven J. Dines and Georgina Bruce stories. I’m a big fan of Georgina Bruce’s work and am glad to see her in Interzone.

 

       

The May–June issue of Black Static is alsoout and contains new fiction by Nina Allan, Joel Lane, Andrew Hook, Sean Logan and I’m pleased to see a story by Ilan Lerman in there after his debut in Black Static 32. The  front and back cover art is by Ben Baldwin, and interior illustrations are by Ben again, Martin Hanford, Tara Bush, Joachim Luetke, and Richard Wagner. Comment by Stephen Volk and Lynda E. Rucker; TV reviews by Mike O’Driscoll; DVD/Blu-ray reviews by Tony Lee; book reviews by Peter Tennant, including an in-depth interview with Mark Morris.

Yes, I know I’ve gone a little crackers here but the artwork for these issues is awesome – if you don’t know either of the magazines go and get yourself a copy now!

Arcane II now in print

Arcane II has arrived in print!

It contains my story, “The Beatification of Thomas Small”, and it’s published by Cold Fusion Media and the collection is edited by Nathan Shumate. After a recent technical hitch, their site is now up and running.

Arcane II can be bought at Amazon UK and Amazon US.

 

 

The Old Man And The Sea, Like You've Never Seen It

Reblogged from 101 Books:

This is one of the coolest stop motion animations I've ever seen. It was created by an artist named Marcel Shindler, whose drawing ability is just ridiculously good, and you must watch it.

If you've read one Hemingway, it's probably The Old Man and the Sea. This stop motion animation captures that novel in one of the coolest ways imaginable.

Read more… 3 more words

Check this out!

Making the art for “Rag and Bone” : a blog by John Jude Palencar

 If you’re interested in the process behind this picture, there’s a fascinating post on this by the  artist, John Jude Palencar, including his preliminary sketches at Tor.com

Once Upon a Time

Paula Guran has now annouced the table of contents for “Once Upon a Time “, a collection of new fairy tales that will be available from Prime Books later on this year. I’m really pleased that it includes my short story, “Egg”.

Eighteen extraordinary authors devise all-new fairy tales: imaginative reinterpretations of the familiar, evocative new myths, speculations beyond the traditional realm of “once upon a time.” Often dark, occasionally humorous, always enthralling, these entertaining stories find a certain Puss in a near-future New York, an empress bargaining with a dragon, a princess turned into a raven, a king’s dancing daughters with powerful secrets, great heroism, terrible villainy, sparks of mischief, and a great deal more. Brilliant dreams and dazzling nightmares with meaning for today and tomorrow…

“The Giant In Repose” by Nathan Ballingrud

“Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me” by Christopher Barzak

“Tales That Fairies Tell” by Richard Bowes

“Warrior Dreams” by Cinda Williams Chima

“Blanchefleur” by Theodora Goss

“The Road of Needles” by Caitlín R. Kiernan

“Below the Sun Beneath” by Tanith Lee

“The Coin of Heart’s Desire” by Yoon Ha Lee

“Sleeping Beauty of Elista” by Ekaterina Sedia

“Egg” by Priya Sharma

“Lupine” by Nisi Shawl

“Castle of Masks” by Cory Skerry

“Flight” by Angela Slatter

“The Lenten Rose” by Genevieve Valentine

“The Hush of Feathers, the Clamour of Wings” by A.C. Wise

“Born and Bread” by Kaaron Warren

“The Mirror Tells All” by Erzebet YellowBoy

“The Spinning Wheel’s Tale” by Jane Yolen

 

Rag and Bone at Tor.com

“I leave Gabriel in the yard and go into town, taking my bag with the vials of skin and bone, flesh and blood, my regular delivery to Makin. The Peels are looking for body parts.

I love the grandeur of The Strand. High towers of ornate stone. The road’s packed with wagons and carts. Boats choke the river. The Mersey is the city’s blood and it runs rich. Liverpool lives again.”

My new story, “Rag and Bone”, is now available in full at Tor.com

The beautiful illustration is by John Jude Palencar.

My grateful thanks to Ellen Datlow and the good people at Tor.com for taking this story.

More about how and why I wrote “Rag and Bone” can be found at this page of my blog.

Ellen Datlow’s Honorable Mentions 2012

Ellen Datlow has released her list of Honorable Mentions that will appear in print at the back of The Best Horror of the Year volume V.

I am thrilled to bits that my story,”Pearls”, is included there. This appeared in Bourbon Penn last year.

The list includes horror stalwarts like Ramsay Campbell, Stephen King, Joe Hill, Neil Gaiman, Gary McMahon and Alison Littlewood. There are also some other brilliant stories in there-

“The Pest House” by Carole Johnstone, Black Static 28 (and if you thought  this was good, check out “Signs of the Times” in Black Static 33).

“The Churn” by Simon Bestwick, Black Static 27.

“Cracks” by Jon Ingold, Black Static 28.

“Skein and Bone” by V.H. Leslie, Black Static 31.

“The Little Things” by Jacob Ruby, Black Static 27.

“Eyepennies” by Mike O’Driscoll, TTA Chapbook. I couldn’t find a link to his site, so here’s an interview with him instead.

“The Ballad of the Wayfaring Stranger and the Dead Man’s Whore” by the marvellous Sean Demory.

There are stories that aren’t on this list from 2012 that I thought were superb and if I can be so bold as to make recommendations, they are Ray Cluley‘s “Shark! Shark!”, which appeared in Black Static 29, closely  followed by his story, “All Change” in Black Static 30. Both are very clever stories, in very different ways.

My other news is that I’ve had a couple of stories accepted, about which I’m chuffed-

“After Mary” by Alt Hist magazine, (thanks to editor Mark Lord), and “Thesea and Astaurius” by Interzone (thank you to Andy Cox and Andy Hedgecock).

The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror:2013 and The Best Horror of the Year Volume 5

Paula Guran and Ellen Datlow have now annouced the contents of their annual anthologies.

“Pearls” originally appeared in Issue 4 of Bourbon Penn (April 2012)

“The Ballad Of Boomtown” appeared in Issue 28 of Black Static (April-May 2012)

A huge thank you to Ellen, Paula, Andy Cox (editor of Black Static) and Erik Secker (editor of Bourbon Penn).

The Best Horror of the Year Volume V (Ed. Ellen Datlow) 
Nikishi  by Lucy Taylor
Little America by Dan Chaon
A Natural History of Autumn by Jeffrey Ford
Mantis Wives    by  Kij Johnson
Tender as Teeth by Stephanie Crawford and Duane Swierczynski
The Callers by Ramsey Campbell
Two poems for Hill House by Kevin McCann
Mariner’s Round by  Terry Dowling
Nanny Grey by Gemma Files
The Magician’s Apprentice by Tamsyn Muir
Kill All Monsters   by Gary Mcmahon
The House on Ashley Avenue by Ian Rogers
Dead Song  by Jay Wilburn
Sleeping, I  Was Beauty    by Sandi Leibowitz
Bajazzle  by Margo Lanagan
The Pike by Conrad Williams
This Circus the World  by Amber Sparks
Some Pictures in An Album by Gary McMahon
Wild Acre by Nathan Ballingrud
Final Exam by  Megan Arkenberg
None So Blind   by Stephen Bacon
The Ballad of Boomtown  by Priya Sharma
Pig Thing by Adam Nevill
The Word-Made Flesh by Richard Gavin
Into the Penny Arcade by Claire Massey
Magdala Amygdala  by Lucy Snyder
Frontier Death Song by Laird Barron

The Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: 2013 (Ed. Paula Guran)
Laird Barron, “Hand of Glory” (The Book of Cthulhu 2)
Peter S. Beagle, “Great-Grandmother in the Cellar” (Under My Hat)
Peter Bell, “Glamour of Madness”  (The Ghosts & Scholars Book of Shadows)
Joseph Bruchac, “Down in the Valley” (Postscripts #28/29: Exotic Gothic 4)
Jim Butcher, “Bigfoot on Campus” (Hex Appeal)
Mike Carey, “Iphigenia In Aulis” (An Apple for the Creature)
Terry Dowling, “Nightside Eye” (Cemetery Dance #66)
K. M. Ferebee, “The Bird Country” (Shimmer #15)
Jeffrey Ford, “The Natural History of Autumn” (F&SF, July/August 2012)
Neil Gaiman, “The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury” (The Shadow Show)
Theodora Goss, “England Under the White Witch” (Clarkesworld, Issue 73)
Maria Dahvana Headley, “Game” (Subterranean, Fall 2012)
Robert Hood, “Escena de un Asesinato” (Postscripts #28/29: Exotic Gothic 4)
Stephen Graham Jones, “Welcome to the Reptile House” (Strange Aeons #9)
Caitlín R Kiernan, “Fake Plastic Trees: (After)
Ellen Klages, “The Education of a Witch” (Under My Hat)
Marc Laidlaw, “Forget You” (Lightspeed, June 2012)
John Langan, “Renfrew’s Course” (Lightspeed, April 2012)
Joe R. Lansdale. “The Tall Grass” (Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations)
Tim Lebbon, “Slaughterhouse Blues” (Nothing As It Seems)
Alison Littlewood, “The Eyes of Water (The Eyes of Water)
Good Hunting, Ken Liu  (Strange Horizons, October 2012)
Helen Marshall, “No Ghosts In London” (Hair Side, Flesh Side)
Sarah Monette, “Blue Lace Agate” (Lightspeed, January 2012)
Ekaterina Sedia, “End of White” (Shotguns v Cthulhu)
Priya Sharma, “Pearls” (Bourbon Penn 04)
Robert Shearman, “Bedtime Stories for Yasmin” (Shadows & Tall Trees 4)
John Shirley, “When Death Wakes Me to Myself” (Black Wings II)
Cory Skerry, “Sinking Among Lilies” (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue #92)
Simon Strantzas, “Go Home Again” (Fungi)
Rachel Swirsky, “The Sea of Trees” (The Future Is Japanese)
Melanie Tem, “Dahlias” (Black Wings II)
Karen Tidbeck, “Arvid Pekon” (Jagganath: Stories)
Genevieve Valentine, “Armless Maidens of the American West” (Apex, August 7, 2012)
Brooke Wonders, “Everything Must Go” (Clarkesworld, Issue 74)

The Ballad of Boomtown

My short story ”The Ballad of Boomtown” appeared in Black Static Issue 28 in 2012. I am thrilled to bits that it’s made the Locus’ 2012 Recommended Reading List.
Thanks to Andy Cox of TTA for publishing it and to the lovely people who decided to include it.

There’s some great stuff on the list which includes writers like  Aliette de Bodard, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Catherynne M. Valente, E Catherine Tobler, Lavie Tidhar and  K.J. Parker.

Quite a few stories from TTA Press appeared – I particularly enjoyed Carole Johnstone’s “The Pest House”.

‘‘Beasts’’, Elizabeth Bourne (Interzone 240), novelette  

‘‘The Pest House’’, Carole Johnstone (Black Static 28), novelette

‘‘The Philosophy of Ships’’, Caroline M. Yoachim (Interzone 243), short story

‘‘Twember’’, Steve Rasnic Tem (Interzone 239), short story

I’m also very pleased to see ‘‘The Ballad of the Wayfaring Stranger and the Dead Man’s Whore’’ by Sean Demory is in there. It’s a self published story that’s available for 77p, which is a steal for something that’s so brilliant.

“Breaking the Bow: Stories Inspired by the Ramayana”, Anil Menon & Vandana Singh, eds. (Zubaan Books) was in the original anthology category (congratulations Anil!)

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Night Shade Books) and The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2012 Paula Guran, ed. (Prime Books) both were in the reprint/best of anthology category. I was lucky enough to have stories in both of these (“The Show” in the former and “The Fox Maiden” in the latter). Thanks to both Paula and Ellen for including me.

Arcane II

Arcane II, an anthology of horror, dark fantasy and weird fiction, edited by Nathan Shumate of Cold Fusion Media, is out on Monday 21st January 2013. It contains my story, “The Beatification of Thomas Small”.  The ebook will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.  The print book (which will follow in a couple of weeks) will be on CreateSpace and Amazon.

The cover art is by a French artist, Nihil.

Table of Contents

• Libby Cudmore and Matthew Quinn Martin, “Convention of Ekphrasis”
• Michael Haynes, “In the Paint”
• Milo James Fowler, “Beneath the Surface”
• Andrew Bourelle, “What It Means to Love”
• Priya Sharma, “The Beatification of Thomas Small”
• Craig Pay, “His City”
• Patrick McGinnity, “The Dubious Apotheosis of Baskin Gough”
• Adele Gardner, “Triptych”
• Jean Graham, “Nightcrawlers”
• Nicole M. Taylor, “The Pianist’s Wife”
• Suzanne Sykora, “Palace of Rats”
• Michael R. Fletcher, “Fire and Flesh”
• Steve Toase, “Fate’s Mask”
• Miranda Ciccone, “Orpheus and Eurydice”
• Joanna Parypinski, “Lakeshore Drive”
• Harry Markov, “Hurricane Drunk”
• Brooke Miller, “The Last Laugh”
• Gef Fox, “Tree Hugger”
• Philip Roberts, “90 Day Notice”
• Eric Dimbleby, “The House That Wept Puddin’”