James Dorr's Blog, page 109

And Speaking of Vampires, or, “Les Filles” Celebrate A New Triumph, Third 2018 Sale

It’s not any pay other than a good word with POETS & WRITERS, but there is an amount of prestige.  ARIEL CHART is dedicated to brevity.  Shorter works don’t get as much attention in the publishing world.  We are also committed to the literary work.  Genre ok.  But no fan fiction, please.  This is an Art journal. . . .  Nevertheless, the New Orleanians Aimée and les filles à les [image error]caissettes were game, urban legend-based though they may be (see March 6 2016, April 28 2015, et al.), and so late on Monday the word came back:  Thank you for submitting to ARIEL CHART.  We enjoyed reading your story, “Casket Girls,” and would like to reprint the piece in the upcoming February issue.  It is a well-written piece of prose that keeps the reader engaged throughout.  And of course, who doesn’t like a good vampire story?  Who doesn’t, indeed!
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“Casket Girls” was first published in DAILY SCIENCE FICTION on April 10 2014 and has since spawned a few other stories as well, about Aimée herself and several others of les filles.  So it may be fitting that she, starring in her original tale, should provide the third story acceptance for a hopefully successful new year.

But the Beat Goes On. . . .

Which is to say, despite yesterday’s “oopsie” at HWA Central, publicity continues on TOMBS:  A CHRONICLE OF LATTER-DAY TIMES OF EARTH having made the preliminary Stoker(R) ballot.  For example, for publisher Elder Signs Press’s Facebook page press here (where, if you then scroll down and down, you’ll also find other posts about TOMBS, including one with a link to an interview by Heidi Angell).  For HWA Active and Lifetime members voting will start tomorrow, I think (with a hopefully corrected list of ballot candidates’ links/contact information), with an announcement of the final ballot early next month.  And for everyone, if you like TOMBS please consider giving it a review for Amazon, Goodreads, and other such fiction lovers’ gathering places.

HWA Members: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the HWA 2017 Bram Stoker Awards(R) Preliminary Ballot with Links to Works

Some days just aren’t one’s day.  Voting members of the Horror Writers Association will have just received, as of about the last hour, a “Special Internet Preliminary Ballot Mailer with Links” listing all books and authors in the various Stoker categories, with direct links or instructions for obtaining reading copies of the works.  As readers may know, one of these in the Fiction Collection category is my mosaic novel TOMBS:  A CHRONI[image error]CLE OF LATTER-DAY TIMES OF EARTH (cf. January 18, below — why a Fiction Collection and not a novel?  That’s how the categories work).  But, oops, one little problem on the links part of this.  When I looked up TOMBS, the link under it is for a different book altogether, Michael Hanson’s poetry collection WHEN THE NIGHT OWL SCREAMS.

So it goes.  I’m assured, however, that an updated list, to be sent Tuesday night after the actual ballots have been sent out, will have the correct information — so any HWA members reading this blog need not despair yet.  Or, better, to run around the system, if you’re a HWA voting member and wish to obtain a PDF copy of TOMBS to read, drop me a note to that effect with an email address to send it to under “comments” here.

Sometimes They’re Real: Campfire Tales Royalty Comes to Two Figures; Contract Received, Returned to Third Flatiron

So still not huge, but enough to purchase a modest dinner with maybe a glass of sweet tea on the side.  Thus, this the announcement from Editor “Mr. Deadman”:  It’s pay day. The royalties for CAMPFIRE TALES BOOK ONE comes to $96.00.  Split between the authors would mean $11.  CAMPFIRE TALES BOOK ONE gets hits every so often, and I’m actively promoting it via social [image error]network and writing groups.  . . .  Thank you all for considering Deadman’s Tome for CAMPFIRE TALES.  It was a different sort of animal, and the way CAMPFIRE TALES came to be was unusual.  I wish to work with you all in the future.

My story in this is “In The Octopus’s Garden” (see July 15, et al.), originally published in 69 FLAVORS OF PARANOIA, March-April 1999, and later lead story in my collection TEARS OF ISIS (for more on which, press its picture in the center column).  Also, for more on CAMPFIRE TALES BOOK ONE (yes, there’s a second book too, but that’s not the one that has my story), press here.

Then in other news, I’ve received the contract for “Got The Wash Day Blues” (see December 28), the tale of a laundry cop and a giant pile of animate dirty clothes, which has been signed and sent back late Thursday afternoon to Third Flatiron Publishing.  It will appear in their Spring anthology MONSTROSITIES to be published in March, more on which as it becomes available.

TOMBS Makes Stoker(R) Preliminary Ballot for Fiction Collection

It’s not an official nominee, that’s the first thing to say, but TOMBS:  A CHRONICLE OF LATTER-DAY TIMES OF EARTH has made the preliminary ballot from which the nominees will be selected.  Also, while TOMBS is a novel-in-stories, the ballot it’s on is for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection, because that’s the way the Horror Writers Association’s Stoker Award(R) rules work.  So big deal — if you’re an Active or a Lifetime Member of HWA, which means you can vote, please vote for it!  And it is a big deal, t[image error]his being the premiere annual award for Horror, equivalent to the Nebula for science fiction or mystery’s Edgar — the Oscar, if one will, for fearsome print.  And while you’re at it, please buy a copy, spread the word, feature TOMBS on your blog (if you have a blog), and, if you think the book is at all worth while, please write a review for Amazon,Goodreads, B&N, et al.

Every bit helps in this, the cutthroat world of publishing, where books routinely disappear without leaving a ripple.  So even making it onto a preliminary ballot is super worth while!

So, here’s part of the official HWA announcement, while I will sit here being quietly proud:

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Preliminary Ballots for the 2017 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see http://www.horror.org ) is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with over 1,300 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see http://horror.org/bram-stoker-awards/#about ).

Works on this ballot are not referred to as “nominees” or “finalists”. Only works appearing on the Final Ballot may be referred to as “nominated works” and their authors as “finalists”.

The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Preliminary Ballot. Notes about the voting process will appear after the ballot listing.

And now you’ve heard it too.

DeadSteam, Re-Possessed Proofs Returned

Just a very, very short entry.  Yesterday saw the arrival of a preliminary proof copy of DEADSTEAM, the steampunkish Victorian anthology of tales centered around the dead, which recently accepted my story “The Re-Possessed (see January 11).  Letting no grass grow under his feet, Editor Bryan Raffle requested corrections, if any, to edits, comments on questions (including in some cases minor rewriting), plus bios and photos, etc.  And so the beat goes on:  I, seeing only a few very minor changes plus really only one comment to address, was able to get the package together and off it went back this afternoon.  Publication to my best knowledge is still scheduled for fall (thus authors who might have been asked for rewrites should have time to complete them) with, among other things, a proposed series of author interviews to be conducted as part of a pre-release publicity campaign — and which I was delighted to agree to!  More to be here as it becomes known.

A Visual Monday Start for the New Week — Faerie Meets the Surreal

And so why not?  Do we remember the post on PHOBOS, the Deep Black Sea issue (and with my Lovecraftian story in it, “The Dark Call of the Sea”)?  Pause for a moment to scroll, below, to January 4.  And do we recall now that strange mermaid cover, reaching down to some tentacled thing beneath?  The artist for that was one Abigail Larson w[image error]ho, through the power today of pure serendipity, we have a chance to meet again.

Or, to quote writer Gwendolyn Nix:  Step back, Disney.  A new artist is in town, one that stays true to the dark truths of our beloved fairytales.  Inside the world of Abigail Larson, monsters lurk in the shadows and melancholy protagonists face what they fear most – their own imagination.  Crafted within a Victorian-era inspired backdrop, Larson’s imagination comes to life on the page, visually ushering in a new era of Tim Burton inspired lines and Edward Gorey aesthetic with skillful application of watercolor, ink, and Photoshop.

The article is “Darker Than Disney:  The Shadowed Imagination of Abigail Larson” and it comes to us via DEARDARKLING.COM — and the art is delicious.  A treat for a snowy, snowy Monday from where I’m writing, for more of which (including the aforementioned mermaid) press here.

The Wind Acceptance for Forbidden Antho, Contract Received from Martinus Publishing

And talking about a good start to the month, another acceptance came in today, also for a reprint originally published in the Spring 2006 DARK WISDOM.   Thank you for sending “The Wind” to the FORBIDDEN anthology.  As usual, you submitted a well written and captivating story.  I really enjoyed this supernatural take on the theme, and I have kept it under consideration for a long time.  Now, after such waiting, I am pleased to accept it to the collection.  I have attached the publishing agreement which you can send back when you have the chance.

FORBIDDEN, to cite the guidelines, is to be an anthology of repression, restriction, and rebellion.  Quoting Editor Martin T. Ingham, [t]hroughout recorded history, there have been rules and regulations, customs and traditions.  Some have been libertine while others oppressive; the morally strict and the sinfully decadent.  There have always been those who impose the law, and those who reject it.  Wherever there is civilization, there are things that are Forbidden!  In the case of “The Wind,” a once religious man has lost his daughter in a freak accident and, instead of accepting it as he should, he questions not law or society about it, but God.

Long-time readers may note this is not the first mention here of Martinus Publishing/Martinus Press, publishers also of the zombie anthology LIFE OF THE DEAD (with my “Girls Gone Dead”) and ALTERED AMERICA (“Avoid Seeing a Mouse”), and while paying in royalties has — especially with ALTERED AMERICA — done so fairly handsomely (cf. July 31 2016, January 20 2015, et al.).  Publication for FORBIDDEN is tentatively set for spring, most likely in May.

DeadSteam Acceptance of Re-Possessed Announced, Contract Received

I want your stories that embrace the traditional horror story-telling of the Victorian penny dreadfuls and gothic mysteries.  Steampunk is certainly welcome here, but I’m more interested in Poe and Mary Shelly than Verne and Wells.  I will happily accept tales that pair the gothic with the steamy mechanical contraptions inherent to steampunk.  Give me the fog-drenched dreadpunk Victoriana.  [and]  Your tale should include at least one dead creature, be it a ghost, a vampire, a zombie, or some [image error]creature of your own invention, and should fit into some alternate version of the Victorian era.

Sounds like fun, yes?  Such was the call last fall from Bryce Raffle for the upcoming DEADSTEAM, an anthology that aims to showcase the dark side of steampunk, the ghoulish and the gothic, tales of gaslamp and dreadpunk that embrace the macabre.  And who was I to resist it? So, the money not much but reprints allowed, off went a story published originally in CEMETERY RIOTS (Elysium Press, 2016), “The Re-Possessed.”  And Thursday the word came back:  Thank you for allowing me to read your story. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and think it will be a great fit for the DeadSteam anthology. Honestly, I got chills reading it!

Also attached was a contract with other information concerning proof copies, payment, and publicity, etc., the former to be sent back Friday. According to the guidelines last fall, the hope is to release the anthology Halloween this year, and, at least from the descriptions above, it sounds like a neat one!  More will be here as details become known.

An Eclectic, and Interesting List About . . . Death

No, the pictured DEATH: A GRAVESIDE COMPANION is not part of the list but, courtesy of ELECTRICLITERATURE.COM, herewith by its editor Joanna Ebenstein “10 Death-Obsessed Books to Satisfy Your [image error]Inner Goth.”  And, did I say eclectic?  How about leading it off with E. B. White’s beloved children’s tale of CHARLOTTE’S WEB in which Wilbur the pig learns that his purpose in life is to be made into bacon — and then adding, at number 6, Oscar Wilde’s SALOMÉ: A TRAGEDY IN ONE ACT, with illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley?  Other entrants include Edward Gorey’s THE GASHLYCRUMB TINIES (number 5), Henry James with THE TURN OF THE SCREW (number 7) George DuMaurier’s TRILBY (number 4), even Anne Rice’s INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (number 9).  So some may be familiar, some maybe not so much, but all can be found by pressing here.