Kaaron Warren's Blog, page 14

Marlyn Morny

I remembered that I had included Marlyn Morny, very briefly, in Mistification! The novel not only carries lots of footnotes, but lots of mini stories, as well. Here is one of them. I still have the idea to use, I think, because I really only touch on it here.

The Myth of the Holy Goddess

Every year, on this day, they go to this place, with roses grown individually and at great expense. These they lay down on the Square, the place from where the Goddess is said to rise.

From her martyrdom many hundreds of years before this place had been blessed; those who come to pray are given life, are given this gift of birth. The Great Goddess of Sex, Marlyn Morny, provides.

 

Slights

In other news, I saw a book of mine for the first time at a second-hand book sale. Does this mean I’ve made it to the next level? It did feel a bit sad to see it there, but the stall owners assured me it was because someone wanted to share it with others. Weren’t they kind? I signed it and told them to ask for twice the price.

At the stall I bought “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” and the Batman series “A Death in the Family.” So I did celebrate free comics day, but I paid for the comics, because it was for a very good cause: http://www.pegasusact.com.au/ It’s a riding school for the disabled and is a gorgeous place.

I hope they sold the rejected Slights for heaps of money.

Inspirational Sayings

No, not that kind.

Marvo has a fascination with the origins of the saying “Raining cats and dogs”, and this interest in origins is something I have, also. It leads me to story ideas, it plants images, and it adds layers to a story.

“Lick into shape” comes from the old belief that bear cubs were born shapeless masses and were licked into shape by their mother. What an amazing image. What if you lick wrong?

“Earmarked” is said of a ‘servant’ (read ‘slave’). In the Bible it says “…his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.” Cruel and awful. Forever? And are children earmarked at birth?

One story I’ll probably never write is called “Flowers for Marlyn Morny”. I’m also fascinated in the origins of laws and beliefs. Where did they start? And how will the small things we celebrate or believe be considered in the future?

The idea comes from the fact that Joe Di Maggio has arranged for flowers to be delivered to Marilyn Monroe’s grave ‘forever’. What will people think, 300 years from now, when flowers are delivered for a person who is far out of the public memory. Would it take on a mystical meaning?

With four stories to write, I have lots of thoughts and ideas running around in my head. I love this stage of creation.

Why won’t I write the Marilyn Monroe story? I just don’t know where to take it, what to do with it. I’ll let it sit for a while, you never know, but the idea has sat for over a decade, I think! If someone else wants to use it, please do!

Ditmar Awards

I’m very happy to announce that my novel Mistification has been nominated in the Best Novel category of the Ditmar Awards, and my short story All You Can Do is Breathe in the Short Story category.

Some incredible work on the shortlist; what a strong year for Australian short fiction. The rest of the short list is here.

Both Mistification and Jo Anderton’s Debris, also nominated, are still on special at the Angry Robot ebook store.

The Ditmar Awards will be held at the Australian National Convention, which is in Melbourne this year. Kelly Link is the Guest of Honour!

In the lead up to the awards, I thought I’d post some teasers from Mistification. The book is full of footnotes and appedices. I’m going to post a footnote every couple of days, and I might even post a recipe or two.

Here’s the first!

 

1. Raining Cats and Dogs. As his first foolish saying, Marvo investigated its meaning. He discovered that the saying came from Norse legend, where dogs were symbolic of wind, and cats were believed to be able to conjure up storms. Marvo, on discovering this, went out to the alleys of his city and found the right cat. Storm and mist, together. He also learnt that at times it had indeed rained some odd things; fish, coins, frozen faeces and frogs. He found out all sorts of odd things about frogs; he found a frog which gave birth from its back.

Shirley Jackson Awards

I’m very happy to post the shortlist for the Shirley Jackson Awards. What an amazing six months of reading and discovery. I’m very happy with the shortlist. It was an incredibly strong year for fiction across all categories, and I’ll post about some of my discoveries (new authors, new books) once the winners are announced and I officially become an ordinary reader again!

Many thanks to the dedicated and rather brilliant organisers of the Awards, especially Paul Tremblay and JoAnn Cox. Thanks also to the other jurors; Maura McHugh, Laird Barron, Gary K. Wolfe and Matt Cheney.  it was fun to share thoughts, both negative and positive with you.

 

NOVEL

The Devil All the Time, Donald Ray Pollock (Doubleday)
The Dracula Papers, Reggie Oliver (Chômu Press)
The Great Lover, Michael Cisco (Chômu Press)
Knock Knock, S. P. Miskowski (Omnium Gatherum Media)
The Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan (Canongate Books, Ltd.)
Witches on the Road Tonight, Sheri Holman (Grove Press)

NOVELLA

“And the Dead Shall Outnumber the Living,” Deborah Biancotti (Ishtar, Gilgamesh Press)
“A Child’s Problem,” Reggie Oliver (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
“Displacement,” Michael Marano (Stories from the Plague Years, Cemetery Dance Publications)
The Men Upstairs, Tim Waggoner (Delirium Books)
“Near Zennor,” Elizabeth Hand (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
“Rose Street Attractors,” Lucius Shepard (Ghosts by Gaslight, Harper Voyager)

NOVELETTE

“The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine,” Peter Straub (Conjunctions 56)
“Ditch Witch,” Lucius Shepard (Supernatural Noir, Dark Horse)
“The Last Triangle,” Jeffrey Ford (Supernatural Noir, Dark Horse)
“Omphalos,” Livia Llewellyn (Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors, Lethe Press)
“The Summer People,” Kelly Link (Tin House 49/Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories, Candlewick Press)

SHORT FICTION

“Absolute Zero,” Nadia Bulkin (Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters, Prime Books)
“The Corpse Painter’s Masterpiece,” M. Rickert (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sept/Oct, 2011)
“Hair,” Joan Aiken (The Monkey’s Wedding and Other Stories, Small Beer Press/ The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July/Aug, 2011)
“Max,” Jason Ockert (The Iowa Review 41/1)
“Sunbleached,” Nathan Ballingrud (Teeth, HarperCollins)
“Things to Know About Being Dead,” Genevieve Valentine (Teeth, HarperCollins)

SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION

After the Apocalypse: Stories, Maureen F. McHugh (Small Beer Press)
The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares, Joyce Carol Oates (Mysterious Press)
Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors, Livia Llewellyn (Lethe Press)
The Janus Tree, Glen Hirshberg (Subterranean Press)
Red Gloves, Christopher Fowler (PS Publishing)
What Wolves Know, Kit Reed (PS Publishing)

EDITED ANTHOLOGY

Blood and Other Cravings, edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor)
A Book of Horrors, edited by Stephen Jones (Jo Fletcher Books)
Ghosts by Gaslight, edited by Jack Dann and Nick Gevers (Harper Voyager)
Supernatural Noir, edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse)
Teeth, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (HarperCollins)
The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (Harper Voyager)

Ditmar Awards

The Ditmar Award nomination period has opened, and Angry Robot Books are offering their three Australian novels for half-price in the electronic form. This is a great way to catch up on Jo Anderton's Debris, Trent Jamieson's Roil and my Mistification, if you are thinking about casting a vote in the novel section.

I read Debris in MS form and provided a blurb, so you know I love it. I'll be buying Roil, because I love Trent's work. Jo is eligible for Best New Talent. Having read a number of her stories when I acted as her mentor, I think she's a remarkable writer with a huge future.

My other eligible work:

Novella

"The Five Loves of Ishtar", from Gilgamesh Press' Ishtar . This book also contains the brilliant novellas "And the Dead Shall Outnumber the Living" (nominated for an Aurealis Award) by Deborah Biancotti and 'The Sleeping and the Dead' by Cat Sparks.

The book itself is eligible for the collected works Ditmar, and is nominated for the Aurealis Award.

Short Story

"All You Can Do is Breathe" from Ellen Datlow's "Blood and Other Cravings". This story is nominated for a Bram Stoker award (she says casually) and will be reprinted in Prime's Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror.

"The List of Definite Endings" from Ellen Datlow's "Teeth".

 

If you are a voter who would like to read either of these stories, contact me and I'll email a copy.

 

You can cast your votes here

A list of most eligible works is here

 

 

Updates

A very business-like update.

Reviews

Niall Alexander, at the Speculative Scotsman, reviews "The Grinding House" Novella from 40K Books. The publisher is running a poll on Goodreads with a number of their other novellas, to decide which one will be offered for 99 cents in April.
Dead Sea Fruit reviewed by Guy Salvidge at Asif.

Interviews, guest blogs, podcasts

I'll be appearing via Skype at Schuler Books (Lansing, Michigan) to talk about Slights with the Fanged Fiction Book Group. Here, I revisit some of the books I talk about in Slights.
I talk about writing, short stories and covers at David McDonald's blog. He has some lovely guest posts there.
My Friday Five, over at PornoKitsch, will appear this Friday. Can't wait to see what Jared and Anne come up with!
This is very cool indeed! The podcast Tales To Terrify is playing all six of the Stoker Award Nominated short stories over the next two episodes. My story appears here, alongside Adam Troy Castro and Gene O'Neill. Next is Stephen King, George Saunders and Ken Lillie-Paetz.
I went to the wonderful Electric Shadows bookshop to hear Marion Halligan read. I love her work. It's filled with humour and a sharp observation of human behaviour. Here we are in City News trying to hide our wine!
Abbey's Bookshop in Sydney has posted a list of women writer's to watch for. Very pleased to see my name there!

Publications out now

My story "The Five Loves of Ishtar" appears in the Aurealis-nominated Ishtar (edited by Amanda Pillar and K.V. Taylor), alongside Cat Sparks and Deb Biancotti.
, my Zombies vs Robots story, is out now.

Publications upcoming

"The Lighthouse Keeper's Club", in Exotic Gothic 4,  edited by Danel Olson, from PS Publishing.
"The History Thief", in Visions Fading Fast, edited by Gary McMahon, from Pendragon Press.
"Blame the Neighbours", in Slices of Flesh, edited by Stan Swanson, from Dark Moon Books.
"All You Can Do Is Breathe reprint", in The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, 2012, edited by Paula Guran, from Prime Books.
"The Pickwick Syndrome", in Pandemonium: Stories of the Smoke, edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin. That's the illustration for my story!
"The Unwanted Women of Surrey", in Queen Victoria's Book of Spells, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, from Tor Books.
Through Splintered Walls, my short story collection, edited by Alisa Krasnostein, from Twelfth Planet Press.

Insights

I had a bit of an epiphany over at Lisa Hannett's blog!

Stoker Awards

I'm stunned, stoked, thrilled, blown away, to post that All You Can Do is Breathe is on the ballot for the Stoker Awards. On the short fiction list also are two of my absolute favourite authors, Stephen King and George Saunders.

The second announcement is that I'm on the Graphic Novel Jury for works published in 2012! I'm really excited about this.

Here's the full list of nominees:

"For immediate release February 18, 2012

Contact Lisa Morton, HWA Bram Stoker Awards Event Organizer

lisa@lisamorton.com

Horror Writers Association announces

2011 Bram Stoker Award™ Nominees

Each year, the Horror Writers Association presents the Bram Stoker Awards™ for Superior Achievement in the field of horror writing, named in honor of Bram Stoker, author of the seminal horror work Dracula. Since 1987, the approximately 700 members of the HWA have recommended, nominated and voted on the greatest works of horror and dark fantasy of the previous calendar year, making the Bram Stoker Awards the most prestigious award in the field of horror literature. For the first time in 2011, half the nominees were chosen by juries.

The awards are presented in eleven categories: Novel, First Novel, Young Adult Novel, Graphic Novel, Long Fiction, Short Fiction, Screenplay, Fiction Collection, Anthology, Non-fiction, and Poetry Collection. The organization's Active and Lifetime members will select the winners from this list of nominees; and the Awards will be presented at a gala banquet on Saturday evening, March 31, at the World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.

This year's nominees in each category are:

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVEL

A Matrix Of Angels by Christopher Conlon (Creative Guy Publishing)

Cosmic Forces by Greg Lamberson (Medallion Press)

Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi (Medallion Press / Thunderstorm Books)

Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney (Pinnacle Books)

Not Fade Away by Gene O'Neill (Bad Moon Books)

The German by Lee Thomas (Lethe Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FIRST NOVEL

Isis Unbound by Allyson Bird (Dark Regions Press)

Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs (Night Shade Books)

The Lamplighters by Frazer Lee (Samhain Horror)

The Panama Laugh by Thomas Roche (Night Shade Books)

That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley (JournalStone)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Ghosts of Coronado Bay, A Maya Blair Mystery by J. G. Faherty (JournalStone)

The Screaming Season by Nancy Holder (Razorbill)

Rotters by Daniel Kraus (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)

Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Candlewick / Walker)

This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel (Simon & Schuster / David Fickling Books)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A GRAPHIC NOVEL

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol (First Second) Locke & Key Volume 4 by Joe Hill (IDW Publishing)

Green River Killer by Jeff Jensen (Dark Horse)

Marvel Universe vs. Wolverine by Jonathan Maberry (Marvel)

Baltimore Volume I: The Plague Ships by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden (Dark Horse)

Neonomicon by Alan Moore (Avatar Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN LONG FICTION

7 Brains by Michael Louis Calvillo (Burning Effigy Press)

"Roots and All" by Brian Hodge (A Book of Horrors)

"The Colliers' Venus (1893)" by Caitlin R. Kiernan (Naked City: New Tales of Urban Fantasy)

Ursa Major by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)

Rusting Chickens by Gene O'Neill (Dark Regions Press)

"The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine" by Peter Straub (Conjunctions: 56)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT FICTION

"Her Husband's Hands" by Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine, October 2011)

"Herman Wouk Is Still Alive" by Stephen King (The Atlantic Magazine, May 2011)

"Graffiti Sonata" by Gene O'Neill (Dark Discoveries #18)

"X is for Xyx" by John Palisano (M is for Monster)

"Home" by George Saunders (The New Yorker Magazine, June 13, 2011)

"All You Can Do Is Breathe" by Kaaron Warren (Blood and Other Cravings)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A SCREENPLAY

True Blood, episode #44: "Spellbound" by Alan Ball (HBO)

The Walking Dead, episode #13: "Pretty Much Dead Already" by Scott M. Gimple (AMC)

The Walking Dead, episode #9: "Save the Last One" by Scott M. Gimple (AMC)

Priest by Cory Goodman (Screen Gems)

The Adjustment Bureau by George Nolfi (Universal Pictures)

American Horror Story, episode #12: "Afterbirth" by Jessica Sharzer (20th Century Fox Television)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FICTION COLLECTION

Voices: Tales of Horror by Lawrence C. Connolly (Fantasist Enterprises)

Red Gloves by Christopher Fowler (PS Publishing)

Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan(Volume One)by Caitlin R. Kiernan (Subterranean)

Monsters of L.A. by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)

The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates(Mysterious Press)

Multiplex Fandango by Weston Ochse (Dark Regions Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN AN ANTHOLOGY (EDITING)

NEHW Presents: Epitaphs edited by Tracy L. Carbone (NEHW)

Ghosts By Gaslight edited by Jack Dann and Nick Gevers (Harper Voyager)

Blood And Other Cravings edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor Books)

Supernatural Noir edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse)

Tattered Souls 2 edited by Frank J. Hutton (Cutting Block Press)

Demons: Encounters with the Devil and his Minions, Fallen

Angels and the Possessed edited by John Skipp (Black Dog and Leventhal)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN NON-FICTION

Halloween Nation: Behind the Scenes of America's

Fright Night by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne (Pelican Publishing)

Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu edited by Gary

William Crawford, Jim Rockhill and Brian J. Showers (Hippocampus Press)

Starve Better by Nick Mamatas (Apex Publications)

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies by Matt Mogk(Gallery Books)

The Gothic Imagination by John C. Tibbetts (Palgrave Macmillan)

Stephen King: A Literary Companion by Rocky Wood (McFarland & Company,

Inc., Publishers)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A POETRY COLLECTION

How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend by Linda Addison(Necon Ebooks)

At Louche Ends: Poetry for the Decadent, the Damned & the

Absinthe-Minded by Maria Alexander (Burning Effigy Press)

Surrealities by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions Press)

Shroud of Night by G. O. Clark (Dark Regions Press)

The Mad Hattery by Marge Simon (Elektrik Milk Bath Press)

Unearthly Delights by Marge Simon (Sam's Dot)

Locus Recommended Reading

Thrilled to see "Mistification" and "All You Can Do is Breathe" on the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2011!

All You Can Do is Breathe

"All You Can Do is Breathe", from Ellen Datlow's Blood and Other Cravings, is doing rather well.

 

It's made the preliminary list for the Stoker Awards, and Paula Guran has just announced the Table of Contents for her Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror. My story is amongst the other gems! Am thrilled to be in this book.

Here's the full TOC:

 

• "Hair" by Joan Aiken (The Monkey's Wedding & Other Stories / F&SF July/August)

• "Rakshashi" by Kelley Armstrong (The Monster's Corner: Through Inhuman Eyes)

• "Walls of Paper, Soft as Skin" by Adam Callaway (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue #73, July 14, 2011)

• "The Lake" by Tananarive Due (The Monster's Corner: Through Inhuman Eyes)

• "Tell Me I'll See You Again" by Dennis Etchison (A Book of Horrors)

• "King Death" Paul Finch (King Death)

• "The Last Triangle" by Jeffrey Ford (Supernatural Noir)

• Near Zennor by Elizabeth Hand (A Book of Horrors)

• "Crossroads" by Laura Anne Gilman (Fantasy, Aug 2011)

• "After-Words" by Glen Hirshberg (The Janus Tree and Other Stories)

• "Rocket Man" by Stephen Graham Jones (Stymie, Vol. 4. Issue 1, Spring & Summer 2011)

• "The Colliers' Venus (1893)" by Caitlin R. Kiernan (Naked City: New Tales of Urban Fantasy)

• "Catastrophic Disruption of the Head" by Margo Lanagan (The Wilful Eye: Tales from the Tower, Vol. 1)

• "The Bleeding Shadow" by Joe R. Lansdale (Down These Strange Streets)

• "Why Light?" by Tanith Lee (Teeth)

• "Conservation of Shadows" by Yoon Ha Lee (Clarkesworld, August 2011)

• A Tangle of Green Men, Charles de Lint (Welcome to Bordertown)

• "After the Apocalypse" by Maureen McHugh (After the Apocalypse)

• "Lord Dunsany's Teapot" Naomi Novak (The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities)

• "Mysteries of the Old Quarter" by Paul Park (Ghosts by Gaslight)

• Vampire Lake, by Norman Partridge (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2)

• "A Journey of Only Two Paces" by Tim Powers (The Bible Repairman and Other Stories)

• "Four Legs in the Morning" by Norman Prentiss (Four Legs in the Morning)

• "The Fox Maiden" by Priya Sharma (On Spec, Summer 2011)

• "Time and Tide" by Alan Peter Ryan (F&SF, Sept/Oct 2011)

• "Sun Falls" by Angela Slatter (Dead Red Heart)

• "Still" by Tia V. Travis (Portents)

• "Objects in Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear" by Lisa Tuttle (House of Fear)

• "The Bread We Eat in Dreams" by Catherynne M. Valente (Apex Magazine, Issue 30, November 2011)

• "All You Can Do Is Breathe" Kaaron Warren (Blood & Other Cravings)

• "Josh" by Gene Wolfe (Portents)