“The Ballad of Boomtown”

“The Ballad of Boomtown” is now up in its entirety on the Nightmare website. This was originally published in Black Static magazine in 2012. Read it for free here.

Thanks to both John Joseph Adams of Nightmare and Andy Cox of TTA Press.

The entire issue of Nightmare is available to purchase for just $2.99, and an annual subscription is just $23.88/year.

 

It’s estimated that in 2011 there were 2,881 semi or unoccupied housing developments in Ireland.

There was a time when we put our faith in euros, shares and the sanctity of brick. A time when we bought our books from stores as big as barns and ate strawberries from Andalusia, when only a generation before, they’d been grown on farms up the road.

The wide avenues of Boomtown were named for trees when there was grand optimism for growth. Now nothing booms in Boomtown. It’s bust and broken.

I miss you. You were a lick of cream. I can still taste you.

-The Ballad of Boomtown

Nightmare Magazine

Issue 79 of Nightmare Magazine is now out and includes original fiction from Mari Ness (“The Girl and the House”) and Dennis E. Staples (“The One You Feed”), along with reprints by Stephen Gallagher (“Shepherd’s Business”) and myself (“The Ballad of Boomtown”). There’s also a regular column on horror, “The H Word,” plus author spotlights and a media review from Adam-Troy Castro.

The stories are made available to read online for free, week by week. If you can’t wait,  the whole magazine is available to read now as an ebook. A subscription to this excellent magazine costs $23.88/year. (Purchase links here).

I thoroughly recommend Stephen Gallagher’s “Shepherd’s Business”, which I first read in “New Fears”, Mark Morris’ excellent horror anthology.

My story, “The Ballad of Boomtown”, was originally published in Black Static Issue 28 (2012).

 

Nightmare Magazine Issue 69

Thanks to John Joseph Adams for including a reprint of “The Anatomist’s Mnemonic” in the latest issue of Nightmare. This story originally appeared in Black Static (Issue 32).

In this issue:

Original fiction – “Leviathan Sings to Me in the Deep” by Nibedita Sen and “Red Rain” by Adam-Troy Castro

Reprints- “Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre” by Seth Fried and “The Anatomist’s Mnemonic” by Priya Sharma

Column- The H Word: Body Horror-What’s Really Under Your Skin?

Also- author spotlights and a review of box office monster THE QUIET PLACE.

Nightmare Magazine Issue 56

I am absolutely delighted to be included in Issue 56 of John Joseph Adam’s Nightmare Magazine.

“Pearls” was first published in Issue 4 of Bourbon Penn (2012), and reprinted in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror:2013, Ed.Paula Guran, Prime Books.

 

Contents:

Fiction

• Kiss of the Mouthless Girl by Giovanni De Feo Author spotlight
• Pearls by Priya Sharma (available on 5/10)
• The Sound of by Charles Payseur (available on 5/17)
• The Vault of Heaven by Helen Marshall (available on 5/24)

Nonfiction

• Editorial, May 2017 by John Joseph Adams
• The H Word: Mining Dark Latino Folklore by David Bowles (available on 5/10)
• Fiction Reviews: May 2017 by Terence Taylor (available on 5/24)  

Purchase issue:

Amazon.com Kindle, Amazon.co.uk Kindle,  Weightless Books (ePub/Mobi)

Pseudopod

“The Show” is available as a podcast from the lovely folk at Pseudopod. Listen here.

This short story appeared in Box of Delights, Ed. John Kenny, Aeon Press (2011) and was then reprinted in The Best Horror of the Year 4 (2012), Ed. Ellen Datlow, Night Shade Book. It’s now been reprinted this month as part of Nightmare’s special issue People of Colo(u)r DESTROY Horror! Read along with the story over at their site. Listen to two more stories from this issue over on the Nightmare podcast feed, and add it to your podcatcher while you’re at it!

The narrator for “The Show” is Andrea Richardson.

Pseudopod already pay pro rates for stories. They pay our editorial, production and administrative staff – a unique position in the industry. Now they’re doing a Year 10 Kickstarter Project to raise capital to pay their narrators. Pledge and receive gentle digital hugs, mugs, ebooks and even a short story critique from A.C Wise.

The Show

The camera crew struggled with the twisting, narrow stairs. Their kit was portable, Steadicams being all the rage. They were lucky that the nature of their work did not require more light. Shadows added atmosphere. Dark corners added depth. It was cold down in the cellar. It turned their breath to mist, which gathered in the stark white pools shed by the bare bulbs overhead.

Martha smiled. It was sublime. Television gold.

-“The Show”

This story originally appeared in 2011 a collection called “Box of Delights” edited by John Kenny. It’s been reprinted in Nightmare magazine and you can read the whole thing here.

 

Nightmare Magazine: People of Colour Destroy Horror

This special edition of Nightmare is now available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

I’m delighted to be included with a reprint of my short story, “The Show”. For more about this edition see my previous blog post: here.

 Table of Contents

Original Short Stories (edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia)
◾A Diet of Worms — Valerie Valdes
◾Wish You Were Here — Nadia Bulkin
◾None of This Ever Happened — Gabriela Santiago
◾The Taming of the Tongue — Russell Nichols

Reprint Fiction (selected by Tananarive Due)
◾Cruel Sistah — Nisi Shawl
◾The Show — Priya Sharma
◾Wet Pain — Terence Taylor
◾Monstro — Junot Díaz

Author Spotlights (edited by Arley Sorg)
◾Valerie Valdes
◾Nadia Bulkin
◾Gabriela Santiago
◾Russell Nichols
◾Nisi Shawl
◾Priya Sharma
◾Terence Taylor
◾Junot Díaz

Nonfiction (edited by Maurice Broaddus)
◾The H Word: The Darkest, Truest Mirrors — Alyssa Wong
◾Horror is…Not What You Think or Probably Wish It Is — Chesya Burke
◾Terror, Hope, Fascination, and Fear in Filipino Horror — Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
◾Horror, Inside Out — Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
◾The Thing We have to Fear — Chinelo Onwualu
◾Interview: Victor LaValle — Maurice Broaddus
◾Artists Gallery by Reiko Murakami, Kimberly Wengerd, Maggie Chiang, Saïna Six

Illustrations (art direction by Pablo Defendini)
◾Kimberly Wengerd — “A Diet of Worms” by Valerie Valdes
◾Maggie Chiang — “Wish You Were Here” by Nadia Bulkin
◾Saïna Six — “Cruel Sistah” by Nisi Shawl
◾Reiko Murakami — “The Show” by Priya Sharma (cover story)

People of Colour Destroy Horror

Following on from Nightmare Magazine‘s previous special editions Women Destroy Horror! and Queers Destroy Horror! there will be a People of Colour Destroy Horror! released on the 1st October 2016.

“LIGHTSPEED was founded on the core idea that all science fiction is real science fiction. The whole point of this magazine is that science fiction is vast. It is inclusive. Science fiction is about people and for people—all kinds of people, no matter where they’re from or what they look like.

The People of Colo(u)r Destroy special issues exist to relieve a brokenness in the genre that’s been enabled time and time again by favoring certain voices and portrayals of particular characters. We’re bringing together a mix of all-POC editorial and creative voices from around the globe to present science fiction that is colored by the nuances of culture, race, and history. It’s science fiction for our present time—but most of all, our future.

Funded by another amazingly successful Kickstarter campaign, the People of Colo(u)r Destroy projects are our way of celebrating the work of POC creators in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. Once again, we’re presenting special issues of LIGHTSPEED, NIGHTMARE, and FANTASY magazines entirely edited, written, and illustrated by the best POC minds in the business, including Nalo Hopkinson & Kristine Ong Muslim (Guest Editors, People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction!), Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Guest Editor, People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror!), and Daniel José Older (Guest Editor, People of Colo(u)r Destroy Fantasy!) and dozens of other familiar names.

Enjoy the destruction.”   From http://www.destroysf.com/

The table of contents have now been released and I’d like to say a big thanks to Tananarive Due for including my story, “The Show”, which originally appeared in Box of Delights, Ed. John Kenny, Aeon Press (2011) and was then reprinted in The Best Horror of the Year 4 (2012), Ed. Ellen Datlow, Night Shade Books.

Original Short Stories (edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia)
A Diet of Worms — Valerie Valdes
Wish You Were Here — Nadia Bulkin
None of This Ever Happened — Gabriela Santiago
The Taming of the Tongue — Russell Nichols

Reprint Fiction (selected by Tananarive Due)
Cruel Sistah — Nisi Shawl
The Show — Priya Sharma
Wet Pain — Terence Taylor
Monstro — Junot Díaz

Author Spotlights (edited by Arley Sorg)
Valerie Valdes
Nadia Bulkin
Gabriela Santiago
Russell Nichols
Nisi Shawl
Priya Sharma
Terence Taylor
Junot Díaz

Nonfiction (edited by Maurice Broaddus)
The H Word: The Darkest, Truest Mirrors — Alyssa Wong
Horror is…Not What You Think or Probably Wish It Is — Chesya Burke
Terror, Hope, Fascination, and Fear in Filipino Horror — Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
Horror, Inside Out — Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
The Thing We have to Fear — Chinelo Onwualu
Interview: Victor LaValle — Maurice Broaddus
Artists Gallery by Reiko Murakami, Kimberly Wengerd, Maggie Chiang, Saïna Six

Illustrations (art direction by Pablo Defendini)
Kimberly Wengerd — “A Diet of Worms” by Valerie Valdes
Maggie Chiang — “Wish You Were Here” by Nadia Bulkin
Saïna Six — “Cruel Sistah” by Nisi Shawl
Reiko Murakami — “The Show” by Priya Sharma

 

This issue of Nightmare magazine as well as Lightspeed’s People of Colour Destroy Science Fiction! and Fantasy’s People of Colour Destroy Fantasy!, are all available here.