Ellen Datlow's Blog, page 43

Halloween Movie Picks

Norman Partridge asked me and others connected to the horror field to pick our favorite movies for Halloween night viewing.

Here are the first few entries, with more to come.


So what are your favorites and why?

KGB Fantastic Fiction raffle winners

Here they are Congratulations. We'll be giving the donors your email and mailing addresses over the next couple of days and they should be contacting you soon after.

Signed Books and ARCs from Cemetery Dance Publications (CDP-BOOKS)
Winner 1 of 1
Matt Schwartz of Jersey City, New Jersey, United States
Order ID: 136

Rare Signed Copy of Glen Hirshberg's THE SNOWMAN'S CHILDREN (HIRSHBERG-SNOWMAN)
Winner 1 of 1
Bruce Chrumka of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Order ID: 118

Collectors Ed. of THE AUTOPSY AND OTHER TALES by Michael Shea (SHEA-AUTOPSY)
Winner 1 of 1
David Roberts of Los Altos, California, United States
Order ID: 103

Tuckerization by Richard Bowes (BOWES-TUCKER)
Winner 1 of 1
Mary Robinette Kowal of Portland, Oregon, United States
Order ID: 147

Tuckerization by Lucius Shepard - and a signed copy of the book (SHEPARD-TUCKER)
Winner 1 of 1
Chris McLaren of Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
Order ID: 76

China Mieville Original Drawing from UN LUN DUN (MIEVILLE-DRAWING)
Winner 1 of 1
Christina Hughes of New York, New York, United States
Order ID: 69

Massage from Peter Straub's masseur, Bret Bailey (MASSAGE BY BRET BAILEY)
Winner 1 of 1
Paul Berger of New York, New York, United States
Order ID: 195

Tuckerization by Carol Emshwiller (EMSHWILLER-TUCKER)
Winner 1 of 1
Rock Savage of New York, New York, United States
Order ID: 164

Subscription to THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION (GVG-FSF)
Winner 1 of 1
David J. Batista of Bronx, New York, United States
Order ID: 25

Tuckerization by Laird Barron (BARRON-TUCKER)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Signed ARC and Book: Illyria by Elizabeth Hand (HAND-ILLYRIA)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

John Crowley Annotated Art by Peter Milton (DRUMMOND-PRINTS)
Winner 1 of 1
Anne Sydenham of Northcote, Victoria, Australia
Order ID: 33

Story or novel opening critique by Nancy Kress (KRESS-CRIT)
Winner 1 of 1
Rajan Khanna of Brooklyn, New York, United States
Order ID: 133

Signed DEATHLESS Galley & necklace made by Catherynne M. Valente (VALENTE-DEATHLESS)
Winner 1 of 1
Alison Campbell-Wise of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, United States
Order ID: 95

Session with Ellen Datlow's reflexologist, Ellen Sterman (SHERMAN-REFLEX)
Winner 1 of 1
Risa Karaviotis of Brooklyn, New York, United States
Order ID: 189

Signed Galleys of OLD FLAMES and RIGHT TO LIFE by Jack Ketchum (KETCHUM-GALLEYS)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Leatherbound, Signed CAUSTIC COMEDIES by Robert Shearman (SHEARMAN-CAUSTIC)
Winner 1 of 1
Joel Zakem of Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Order ID: 84

Your Very Own Wormhole by Physicist Michio Kaku (KAKU-WORMHOLE)
Winner 1 of 8
Oliver Irlam of Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
Order ID: 196

Your Very Own Wormhole by Physicist Michio Kaku (KAKU-WORMHOLE)
Winner 2 of 8
Carrie Wright of Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, United States
Order ID: 196

Your Very Own Wormhole by Physicist Michio Kaku (KAKU-WORMHOLE)
Winner 3 of 8
Cecil Castellucci of Los Angeles, California, United States
Order ID: 135

Your Very Own Wormhole by Physicist Michio Kaku (KAKU-WORMHOLE)
Winner 4 of 8
Sarah Deckard of Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Order ID: 135

Your Very Own Wormhole by Physicist Michio Kaku (KAKU-WORMHOLE)
Winner 5 of 8
Brett Kuehner of Old Tappan, New Jersey, United States
Order ID: 129

Your Very Own Wormhole by Physicist Michio Kaku (KAKU-WORMHOLE)
Winner 6 of 8
Gavin Grant of Brighton, Massachusetts, United States
Order ID: 196

Your Very Own Wormhole by Physicist Michio Kaku (KAKU-WORMHOLE)
Winner 7 of 8
Marc Jacobs of Redwood City, California, United States
Order ID: 161

Your Very Own Wormhole by Physicist Michio Kaku (KAKU-WORMHOLE)
Winner 8 of 8
Christina Yi of Fairfax, Virginia, United States
Order ID: 222

Novel query critque by Barry Goldblatt (GOLDBLATT-CRIT)
Winner 1 of 1
Ed Webb of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States
Order ID: 187

Story critique by Shawna McCarthy (MCCARTHY-CRIT)
Winner 1 of 1
David Mercurio Rivera of Bronx, New York, United States
Order ID: 92

Name that Alien by Cecil Castelucci (CASTELUCCI-ALIEN)
Winner 1 of 1
Karlos Laws of Brooklyn, New York, United States
Order ID: 97

THE SKELETON IN THE CLOSET, edited by Stefan Dziemianowicz (SIGNED-BLOCH)
Winner 1 of 1
Karen Ellery of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Order ID: 4

Signed copy of HAUNTED LEGENDS plus an ARC (DATLOW-LEGENDS)
Winner 1 of 1
Monica ORourke of Astoria, New York, United States
Order ID: 16

Story Critique by Cat Rambo (RAMBO-CRIT)
Winner 1 of 1
Stacey Friedberg of Short Hills, New Jersey, United States
Order ID: 29

Short story critique by Mary Robinette Kowal (KOWAL-CRIT)
Winner 1 of 1
Shane Alonso of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Order ID: 70

THE KOSHER GUIDE TO IMAGINARY ANIMALS by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer (VANDERMEER-KOSHER)
Winner 1 of 1
Heidi C Vlach of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Order ID: 6

Bead Creature by Vonda Mcintyre (BEAD-CREATURE)
Winner 1 of 1
Krista Leahy of Brooklyn, New York, United States
Order ID: 75

Neil Gaiman's Used Keyboard (GAIMAN-KEYBOARD)
Winner 1 of 1
Emily Hayes of Decatur, Georgia, United States
Order ID: 182

FIREBIRD Trilogy, edited by Sharyn November (NOVEMBER-FIREBIRD)
Winner 1 of 1
Robert Brouhard of Salem, Oregon, United States
Order ID: 30

Story critique by the Altered Fluid Writing Group (ALTEREDFLUID-CRIT)
Winner 1 of 1
David J. Batista of Bronx, New York, United States
Order ID: 25

A six-pack from Nightshade Books (NIGHTSHADE-6PACK)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Three Unpublished Short Stories by Michael Swanwick (SWANWICK-STORIES)
Winner 1 of 1
Jacob Weisman of San Francisco, California, United States
Order ID: 108

Signed ARC: THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS by N.K. Jemisin (JEMISIN-KINGDOMS)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Signed ARC: FOR THE WIN by Cory Doctorow (DOCTOROW-FTW)
Winner 1 of 1
David J. Batista of Bronx, New York, United States
Order ID: 25

SHIMMER #12, plus electronic editions of all 12 issues. (SHIMMER-BUNDLE)
Winner 1 of 1
Mary Kay Kare of Seattle, Washington, United States
Order ID: 117

3 Signed Titles from George R.R. Martin (MARTIN-BOOKS)
Winner 1 of 1
Arthur Corre of Dayton, Ohio, United States
Order ID: 62

3 Books from Small Beer Press (SMALL-BEER-BOOKS)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Tuckerization by Joe R. Lansdale (LANSDALE-TUCKER)
Winner 1 of 1
Melody Chamlee of New York, New York, United States
Order ID: 112

Signed copy of THE HONEY MONTH by Amal El-Mohtar (PAPAVERIA-HONEY)
Winner 1 of 1
Antonia Townsend of Bristol, South Glos, United Kingdom
Order ID: 34

INTERFICTIONS 1 & 2, Signed by the Editors (IAF-INTERFICTIONS)
Winner 1 of 1
Susan Brown of Rutledge, Missouri, United States
Order ID: 192

Haikasoru Grab-Bag of Three Titles from Nick Mamatas (MAMATAS-HAIKASORU)
Winner 1 of 1
Robert Brouhard of Salem, Oregon, United States
Order ID: 30

Signed ARC: THE WAY OF THE WIZARD (ADAMS-WIZARD)
Winner 1 of 1
Adam Palermo of Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Order ID: 155

Latest Four Issues of ELECRIC VELOCIPEDE (KLIMA-EV)
Winner 1 of 1
Ray Vukcevich of Eugene, Oregon, United States
Order ID: 96

F. Paul Wilson Signed, Limited Edition SIMS Novellas (WILSON-SIMS)
Winner 1 of 1
Shane Alonso of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Order ID: 70

12 Titles by Chizine Press (CHIZINE-CATALOG)
Winner 1 of 1
William Freedman of West Hempstead, New York, United States
Order ID: 148

BRIGHTON SHOCK by PS Publishing (BRIGHTONPS)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Complete First Second (:01) Graphic Novels by Gina Gagliano (GAGLIANO-FIRSTSECOND)
Winner 1 of 1
Rajan Khanna of Brooklyn, New York, United States
Order ID: 133

The Tour of Tor by Liz Gorinsky (GORINSKY-TOR)
Winner 1 of 1
Lexie Cenni of Hamilton, New Jersey, United States
Order ID: 176

Custom Terrarium from Paul Riddell and The Texas Triffid Ranch (RIDDELL-TERRARIUM)
Winner 1 of 1
Tracy Bischoff of Los Angeles, California, United States
Order ID: 193

Two Drawings by Thomas Canty (CANTY-DRAWINGS)
Winner 1 of 1
Rajan Khanna of Brooklyn, New York, United States
Order ID: 133

Prints from the Shining Tarot Deck by Rachel Pollack (POLLACK-TAROT)
Winner 1 of 1
Laurel Lyon of Sesa, Huesca, Spain
Order ID: 24

Art from ZITA THE SPACEGIRL by Ben Hatke & ARC (GAGLIANO-SPACEGIRL)
Winner 1 of 1
Tracy Bischoff of Los Angeles, California, United States
Order ID: 193

Signed drawing by Terri Windling (WINDLING-DRAWING)
Winner 1 of 1
Amal El-Mohtar of Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Order ID: 104

Partial manuscript from William Gibson (GIBSON-MANUSCRIPT)
Winner 1 of 1
Althea Morin of Staten Island, New York, United States
Order ID: 21

Typewritten Short Story by Mary Robinette Kowal (KOWAL-TYPED)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Zoe Van Gelder Art on back of Ray Vukcevich Manuscript (GVG-ZOE)
Winner 1 of 1
Ray Vukcevich of Eugene, Oregon, United States
Order ID: 96

Group of seven ARCs, donated by John Crowley (CROWLEY-7ARCS)
Winner 1 of 1
James Starkey of Horn Lake, Mississippi, United States
Order ID: 94

Signed, Limited Chapbook THE MAN WITH KNIVES by Ellen Kushner (KUSHNER-KNIVES)
Winner 1 of 1
Xavier Van Aubel of Uccle, Brussels, Belgium
Order ID: 119

Signed copy of Jeffrey Ford's first novel VANITAS (FORD-VANITAS)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Tuckerization by Kit Reed (REED-TUCKER)
Winner 1 of 1
Marc Jacobs of Redwood City, California, United States
Order ID: 80

Two books by John Crowley (CROWLEY-BOOKS)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Rare Signed Gregory Frost CRIMSON SPEAR THE BLOOD OF CU CHULAINN (FROST-CRIMSON)
Winner 1 of 1
Alison Campbell-Wise of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, United States
Order ID: 95

Tuckerization by Brett Alexander Savory (SAVORY-TUCKER)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Signed ARC: THE GERMAN by Lee Thomas (THOMAS-GERMAN)
Winner 1 of 1
Ron Breznay of Hanover Township, Pennsylvania, United States
Order ID: 163

PHANTOM Anthology, Signed by Paul Tremblay (TREMBLAY-PHANTOM)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

J.K. POTTER'S EMBRACE THE MUTATION, signed by John Crowley (CROWLEY-EMBRACE)
Winner 1 of 1
Jim Rockhill of Dowagiac, Michigan, United States
Order ID: 169

Signed THE MAGICIANS and Brakebills T-shirt by Lev Grossman (GROSSMAN-MAGICIANS)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Signed copy of KALIFORNIA by Marc Laidlaw (KALIFORNIA - LAIDLAW)
Winner 1 of 1
Matthew London of New York, New York, United States
Order ID: 214

Caitlín R. Kiernan signed copy of THE RED TREE (KIERNAN-REDTREE)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Tuckerization by Caitlín R. Kiernan (KIERNAN-TUCKER)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Signed, Limited edition of Glen Hirshberg's AMERICAN MORONS (HIRSHBERG-MORONS)
Winner 1 of 1
David Roberts of Los Altos, California, United States
Order ID: 199

Signed copy of TOWER OF MIDNIGHT, from the WHEEL OF TIME series (GOLENBOCK-TOWERS)
Winner 1 of 1
Jade Walker of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, United States
Order ID: 126

Signed copy of THE SNOW QUEEN, by Joan Vinge (VINGE -- SNOW QUEEN)
Winner 1 of 1
Gavin Grant of Brighton, Massachusetts, United States
Order ID: 150

Signed 6 CD Audio Book THE LITTLE SLEEP by Paul Tremblay (TREMBLAY-SLEEP)
Winner 1 of 1
Troy Knutson of Collierville, Tennessee, United States
Order ID: 216

Galleys of THE WORLD AND ALICE by L. Timmel Duchamp (DUCHAMP-GALLEYS)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Review of John Banville's THE SEA by John Crowley (CROWLEY-SEA)
Winner 1 of 1
Adam Palermo of Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Order ID: 155

Signed copy of NOISE by Darin Bradley (BRADLEY-NOISE)
Winner 1 of 1
Troy Knutson of Collierville, Tennessee, United States
Order ID: 216

Signed MAFIA by Thomas F. Monteleone (MONTELEONE-MAFIA)
Winner 1 of 1
WILLIAM LINDBLAD of Plano, Texas, United States
Order ID: 206

Dave Roman B&W Illustration from ASTRONAUT ACADEMY plus ARC (GAGLIANO-ASTRONAUT)
Winner 1 of 1
Eugene Myers of New York, New York, United States
Order ID: 212

Haunted Legends reviewed on the Black Glove website

Here's a brand new review of Haunted Legends at The Black Glove.
Just for the record, urban legends are often ghost stories but not always. The "Chucky" story by Ramsey is based on a real life murder of one child by two others. The story by Carrie Laben about the legendary "big bird" is based on sightings of a mysterious winged creature. I have a hard time getting my head around several reviewer complaints that 1) the stories aren't all ghost stories) or 2) the stories are all ghost stories --very odd ;-). In any case, I just hope readers will enjoy the book and find the stories scary--whether ghostly or not.

Work and play

A quickie before I dive back into the copy edit of Naked City--a copy editing query is sooo ignorant that I just came to a stop.

I know there are great copy editors out there and I've worked with some but more often I've had copy editors who have no ear for voice, tone, or the difference among multiple stories in an anthology. I have to say that the CE on NK takes the cake.

She (and I just went back to the front of the ms and discovered it IS a she) queries the phrase "high yellow skin" saying "Not sure what is meant by 'high yellow'--does it mean dark yellow, bright yellow?".

Now even if she is so ignorant of the racial description that she's never heard of it, it's the very first item that comes up on google. She has used googled some of her fact checking (poorly for the most part) throughout the copy edit. I've googled all the addresses/names/brands etc she couldn't find or queried to change through HER googling and 95% of the time I've discovered the author is correct.

The play part is that I had some wonderful lunches and dinners last week with friends--twice at Tea and Sympathy, one of my favorite local restaurants (British) and watched some movies. Finished the fourth season of Dexter last night--thank you S, who gave away a MAJOR spoiler--although it was kind of foreshadowed. (I'm being ironic).

I also watched Waitress, as so-so little movie about a waitress in an abusive relationship (for way too many years) who is a marvel at creating pies. The sad thing is that the writer/director/co-star Adrienne Shelly, was murdered in my neighborhood right before her film was accepted by Sundance, where it won awards.

Spider Forest, a South Korean psychological thriller that I didn't like all that much either. A man wandering in a forest comes across a house where a man and woman are brutally murdered. Before he can escape back to civilization he's attacked by the murderer, left for dead, is hit by a car, and ends up in a coma. Complications ensue. Multiple levels of reality (not as well done as in Inception, although of course those were technologically induced, in this movie it's all brain trauma/memory, etc induced). I found it not only confusing (although I figured out certain things pretty quickly) but full of plot holes. Sorry, whoever recced it to me. It was a bust as far as I'm concerned.

Back to work.

Photos from KGB Fantastic Fiction reading October 20, 2010

Paul Witcover and Adam Golaski read last night.
Paul read from his forthcoming novel. Adam read some of his poetry and several vignettes. We all went out to dinner and a good time was had by all.

Public announcement from WFC programming

I've been asked to spread the word that there will be no mass emails to members of the convention as to their convention schedules. Please go to World Fantasy Convention tentative schedule--and please pass the word.

World Fantasy Convention Schedule

Friday: 8-11:30PM AUTOGRAPH RECEPTION in Regency Ballroom--I'll likely be late because of dinner but I'll be there

I'll be participating in one panel--

Saturday 1 pm Panel A13: Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2010. Kathryn Cramer, Ellen
Datlow, Jonathan Strahan (m), Paula Guran, Gardner Dozois

and along with Nick Mamatas, co-hosting an unofficial Haunted Legends reading
Saturday 4-5pm in the Tor suite (room tba)
featuring
Jeffrey Ford
Laird Barron
Richard Bowes
M.K. Hobson
Gary A. Braunbeck
Catherynne M. Valente



I have a bunch of meetings, but when I'm not at them I'll likely be in the bar.

Bob Guccione, R.I.P.

Without him and the late Kathy Keeton, my career would have gone quite differently.


Bob Guccione, Penthouse Founder, Dies at 79 .

I languished in mainstream trade book publishing as an editorial assistant and assistant editor for over fives years on and off before I got my first job in magazines. That job was as Associate Fiction editor at OMNI Magazine back in 1980. I ending up after about a year an half as Fiction editor and worked in that position for the rest of the magazine and the online magazine's lifetime. A total of seventeen years.

So, although we only interacted about five times in total over the years I worked there, I thank Bob for what he accomplished and am sorry he ended up as he did. Bankrupt, with his mansion and fine art and longtime companion Kathy Keeton gone. I hope in his final few years he found some peace.

Some love for INFERNO

Colin Harvey chooses Inferno as his Desert Island anthology, saying very nice things about it here.

Sunday deadline for raffle donations

For anyone who wants to donate (we've been getting a few offers since the raffle began) this Sunday the 17th is the deadline for donations.