Craig Laurance Gidney's Blog, page 36
October 1, 2015
Queers Destroy Horror is Out!
I had the tremendous pleasure of assisting editor Wendy N. Wagner in assembling this special issue of Nightmare Magazine, which features works by Chuck Palahniuk (yes, he’s queer), Caitlin R. Kiernan, Lee Thomas and newcomers Alyssa Wong and Matthew Bright. Plus! There’s artwork and nonfiction and poetry, (I read slush for the fiction).
You can buy it here: Queers Destroy Horror
Filed under: editing Tagged: nightmare magazine, queers destroy horror!
September 25, 2015
COVER REVEAL: The Nectar of Nightmares
I’ve shared the image on social media, just not here. I’m doing so now! Wait until you see the interior art….
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: cover reveal, nectar of nightmares
September 23, 2015
BOOK REVIEW: Lyrical Phantasmorgia in “Dreams of Shreds & Tatters” by Amanda Downum
Dreams of Shreds and Tatters by Amanda Downum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An ambitious, if uneven update of the King in Yellow set in modern Vancouver. The plot has echoes of Orpheus and Eurydice, with the ‘underworld’ being the surreal, doomed dreamscape kingdom ruled by an eldritch abomination. Graduate student and lucid dreamer Liz and her boyfriend Alex search for her missing friend, the artist Blake in Vancouver. They find themselves enmeshed in a sinister drug and magic fueled underworld.
Pros: The characters are for the most part, skillfully drawn. Kudos to the portrayal of the sexuality spectrum. Liz is an asexual in a loving, if complicated relationship with her boyfriend. Blake was involved with a male lover. All of these facts are presented in an organic manner. The writing is lovely and full of atmosphere. The nightmarish imagery of the liminal world of Carcosa, with its strange constellations and ruined, sky-piercing towers, is worth the price of admission.
Cons: The plot was a bit muddled, and a couple of characters—particularly the gun toting badass monster killer Lailah—was a bit of a false note. It felt like she belonged to a different story. The novel is short; I would have liked to linger in the author’s world a bit more. The loose ends the author leaves dangling would make an excellent sequel.
Recommended for fans of weird fiction, Caitlin R Kiernan, Shirley Jackson and the music of CocoRosie.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: amanda downum, book reviews, horror fiction, weird fiction
September 17, 2015
NECTAR OF NIGHTMARES artwork sneak peek!
The artwork is complete for my illustrated onieromatic weird fiction piece, The Nectar of Nightmares. The publisher, Dim Shores Press, shared this snippet by the uber talented Orion Zangara, who captured one of the images perfectly!
image by Orion Zangara; copyright Dim Shores Press
The chapbook should be out in time for Halloween.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: dim shores press, nectar of nightmares, orion zangara
August 27, 2015
FORTHCOMING: “The Nectar of Nightmares”–an illustrated story
Dim Shores will release limited edition chapbook of a new short story of mine, “The Nectar of Nightmares.” It will be illustrated by the talented Orion Zangara. It will be out sometime this fall.
The NoN is contemporary dark fantasy, inspired by the “symphonic” technique used by David Mitchell in Ghostwritten, Cloud Atlas and Bone Clocks.
Having an illustrated story is a bucket list dream of mine! Thanks to Sam Cowan of DS and Scott Nicholay for introducing my work to the press.
Filed under: Uncategorized
August 21, 2015
“So Fey: Queer Fairy Fiction” is being reissued with a gorgeous new cover!
So Fey: Queer Fairy Fiction, featured my first major sale (“A Bird of Ice”). It was an honor to be place alongside work by Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Rick Bowes and Tom Caradamone. Publisher and editor Steve Berman is reissuing the book with a hot new cover.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: anthologies, Lethe Press, so fey
August 5, 2015
Current Reads: Autopsy of an Eldritch City by James Champagne.
I am turned off by Lovecraft’s fiction because of his lurid and insistent white supremacy. But Lovecraftian fiction, that plays with his tropes, can be philosophical, poetic and beautiful. I am currently reading AUTOPSY OF AN ELDRITCH CITY by James Champagne, a fellow Rebel Satori author, which modernizes and plays with Cosmic Horror tropes. Set in a fictional Rhode Island city, the stories are full of ominous dark fantasy imagery, full of nihilistic angst with a dash of bleak humor.
From the back cover copy:
Every city casts a shadow, some longer than others. And the city of Thundermist, Rhode Island casts one of the longest shadows of all. With a population of 40,000 people, it might not seem like the most populated place on earth, but every citizen there has a story to tell, some more sinister than others. Look past the city’s pious Catholic façade and you shall see dead children floating face down in its sewers, witches corrupting susceptible minds with blasphemous books, and demons capering on the frescos of its haunted churches. It is a city where even the most innocent of objects–a quilt, a video game, a snow globe, a notebook–can act as a key that unlocks the doors to Doom, Delirium, and Death. The city has long since faded away: all that lingers is its nightmares, in the form of these ten testimonials from the damned, tales of strange and unproductive thinking. Will you open these pages and conduct an autopsy of your own on this dead city? But be warned: the scalpel that dissects the shadows is also the scalpel that cuts both ways.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: autopsy of an eldritch city, cosmic horror, james champagne, lovecrafian, rebel satori press
August 3, 2015
I helped destroy Horror!
The TOC of Nightmare Magazine’s Queers Destroy Horror has been announced, and the cover art has been unveiled!* I loved reading the slushpile for this special issue. There were many darkly glittering jewels that didn’t make the cut for one reason or another and I hope those pieces find other homes. And congratulations to those whose work will be included, and props to Wendy Wagner, John Joseph Adams and the rest of the staff/volunteers for all their hard work!
*According to Mr. Adams, this is NOT the cover art…It is just a place holder….
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: nightmare magazine, queers destroy horror!
July 20, 2015
Wilde Stories 2015
My story “Conjuring Shadows” has been reprinted in the 2015 edition of Wilde Stories: The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction (Lethe Press). The story sits along side work by other masters of SF, Horror and Fantasy literature. Here’s the line, assembled by editor Steve Berman:
“The Love of the Emperor Is Divine” by Tom Cardamone
“The Vampire of Xanthos” by Andrew Warburton
“The True Alchemist” by Sonya Taaffe
“The Mortuaries” by Katharine Duckett
“What Glistens Back” by Sunny Moraine
“Passion, Like a Voice—That Buds” by Steve Berman
“True North” by Chaz Brenchley
“The Oily Man” by Alex Jeffers
“Werewolves of Northland” by Patrick Pink
“Notes for ‘The Barn in the Wild’” by Paul Tremblay
“Conjuring Shadows” by Craig L. Gidney
“The God Within” by Damien Kelly
“A Gift in Time” by Maggie Clark
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: anthologies, Lethe Press, wilde stories
July 17, 2015
My interview with Marguerite Reed, author of “Archangel”
My interview with Marguerite Reed, author of the epic eco-feminist-military SF thriller (think there are enough descriptive tags?) Archangel is now up at the Washington Independent Review of Books.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: author interviews, marguerite reed, washington independent review of books
