Which is to say, three new stories, “Piano Theif” and “Because My Therapist Asked Me to Tell a Story Using Hamsters,” each over at the July Hobart, and “Close Encounters,” up now at 365 Tomorrows. Also, “Endless Buffets” is in the current Western Humanities Review. And, hitting the shelves at Readercon in a week here, in New Genre 6, “Lonegan’s Luck,” a zombie western — or, a western with zombies. Too, though it’s still a ways away, I’ve got a horror story, “Till the Morning Comes,” to be included in Rare and Different Fictions of the Grateful Dead, and then a science fiction piece, “Heaven,” forthcoming in, of all places, English Language Notes, their “Literature and Pseudoscience” issue. I dig both those stories. In addition, I’m guessing that “Little Lambs” is either current or a day or two away from being current in Iron Horse — “Little Lambs” being one of my favorite stories that I’ve written. Another of my favorites, the title piece from my October 2010 Prime collection The Ones That Almost Got Away (well, cut the ‘almost’ and it’s the title story), it’s in Phantom, from Prime Books (though that site’s being rebuilt right now). Not sure about how available that is yet, though; I have it already, but, I don’t know, maybe I got special treatment there or something. Notice at Prime, though, that Sean Wallace acquired an Ellen Datlow collection. Very excited about this. Too, that “Raphael” story of mine, it’s in Prime’s Horror: the Best of the Year.
And and: Readercon. I’m there, in Boston. My panel’s Friday night at 9:30, looks like, “Exceptions to the Rule,” I think, right before the “Meet the Pro(se)” event, leaving me all day Saturday to hit panels, then Sunday to hit the Shirley Jackson Awards, see how bad I got beat (which, I read all the books in my weight class there, and, yeah, impressed, though of course none of them had giant time-travelling caterpillars, which I consider a prereq for just a lot of things, when you get right down to it).
Too, the studious among you may have noticed: with that ELN story publication, I’ve now got a story in a journal covering every letter of the alphabet. Even Q and X and Z (Quarterly West, X-Connect, Zygote in my Coffee). Haven’t run the letters, either, but I’d guess I’ve got stories published beginning with all the letters too (even Z: “Zombie Sharks with Metal Teeth”). So, I don’t know, maybe now’s the time to go cyrillic, see if I can jam through that character set as well.
Anyway, on the non-story front, I’ve got an essay in a forthcoming photographic book on the Llano Estacado, but, while all the funding’s in place, the four or five other writers tapped, I think the title may still be tentative, so I’ll wait to announce it all the way, along with another anthology thing happening.
And, reading-wise, I can only remember about a week and a half back, but in that time I’ve burned through all but about forty pages of the Twilight books. Reading them at stoplights, in line at the bank, everywhere; pretty hooked. Soon as they’re put away, though, it’s on to Lansdale’s Vanilla Ride and CJ Box’s Below Zero. Very excited about each of them (too, got CJ Box, at a reading at Tattered Cover the other day, to sign my book “To the President of the Miller’s Weasel Fan Club.” which’ll mean something to Box fans). Also have all these big plans for Let the Right One In, which I’ve had sitting by my monitor now for a while. However, it either just went Kindle or I’m just noticing it having went Kindle, so, yeah: I can finally get at it. Happiness*.
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* ( which song, it only brings me back to Alias days. Probably the most fun I’ve ever had watching television, save Arrested Development. and Firefly. and X-Files. Sledgehammer. STNG )
is the NYT bestselling author of 30 or so books, +350 stories, some comic books, and all this stuff here. He lives in Boulder, Colorado, and has a few broken-down old trucks, one PhD, and way too many boots. More