Lee Thompson's Blog, page 26

Interview: Tom Piccirilli

It's no secret that Tom Piccirilli is my all-time favorite writer. Why, you may ask, especially if you haven't read him… Here's why: his work is beautiful, expertly crafted, memorable, and haunting. It's stimulating. It's challenging. It's entertaining. I could go on. It's a mystery to me why he isn't on the bestseller's list constantly with some of my other favorite writers (like John Connolly and Dennis Lehane.)

I named one of my characters (Red Piccirilli) from my Division series after him. I've asked Pic questions over the last few years (and have seen him gladly welcome them from others via Facebook every week) and he's always kind, always helpful. What's not to like? Well, if you want a by-the-numbers formulaic story you might not like him, but that's your loss now isn't it?

He has an incredible back catalog, from early horror works at Leisure to amazing offbeat dark fiction from Bantam like A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN, SHADOW SEASON, THE MIDNIGHT ROAD, THE COLD SPOT, THE COLDEST MILE, etc. And an incredible and huge collection FUTILE EFFORTS, featuring short stories, poetry, and the wicked cornerstone novella FUCKIN' LIE DOWN ALREADY. Plus fantastic noirellas now available on Kindle: EVERY SHALLOW CUT, THE NOBODY, FRAYED, THRUST, LOSS, THE LAST DEEP BREATH, and ALL YOU DESPISE, among others. And there's still an iceberg of books buried beneath the water. Tom is one of those writers who have the magic (and the discipline it takes to fine-tune said magic.)

I'm incredibly happy that Pic has agreed to an interview. Enjoy!

Me: Thanks for taking the time to answer questions, Pic!

Tom Piccirilli: My pleasure, Lee, thanks for having me on the blog. As always, I appreciate all your interest. This game is an incredibly difficult one, but having fans like you make it all worthwhile in the end.

Me: My pleasure. Even your crime fiction is beautiful and haunting, where does that stem from?

Tom Piccirilli: From years of honing your craft, finding your narrative voice, and learning how to say what you want to say the way you want to say it. I've always felt that it was important to find the innate beauty of the language as I wrote. I never wanted to be a plain writer, but at the same time you always have to be careful not to write as if each sentence is taking a bow, which I was probably guilty of earlier on in my career. That "haunting" aspect is important to make the reader feel something deep for the work. Like a ghost, I want the story to hover and flit in the audience's mind. I don't want to just entertain them, I want to move them.

Me: Ever plan to update your wonderful writing book WELCOME TO HELL? Possibly with a crime slant? What have you learned since then and can you share it with us if we give you a lot of money?

Tom Piccirilli: Probably not. The more I learn about writing, the more I realize how little I know about it. What makes it work, what drives the narrative, what people take away from my words. It's a magical, mystical process. You find a topic, theme, or concept that matters to you, and then you do your best to communicate that to someone else. You draw them through a world of your own perspective and hope that they see and feel things the same way that you do.

Me: You've kept your voice (which shouldn't come as a shock, I guess, since a writer's voice stems from their soul and perception of themselves and the world around them, right?) What challenges did you face in switching from Horror to Crime fiction?

Tom Piccirilli: Well, a writer's voice, like the writer himself, is always changing to some degree. We're living, breathing things and our narrative voice is organic as well. My worldview has shifted, the motifs and themes that interest me are slightly different now at the age of 46 than they were at 25. I care about things now I didn't understand then. The great fantasy author Jack Cady once told me never to throw any of unfinished fiction out, because somewhere down the line I'd have the skill and control to write about certain things I wasn't capable of writing about at the time, but I also wouldn't have the fire and rawness that I had then. And he was right.

As for challenges: Horror and noir writers are always indulging in their darkest, ugliest fantasies. They're drawn to the awful matters. That's where they find their drama. That's where they find their love. They're tearing into their own scars and making them bleed all over again. And it's off that blood that we make our art. If it's art, in the end. But whatever it is, we create it by invoking anguish and conflict and scenes of blood and wreckage. I've said it before, but it bears repeating. For me, it feels as if the horror genre is a young man's game, whereas noir is for older men. When I was young, I was drawn to Horror because Horror is fantasy that focuses on the fear up around the next corner. Whereas now at 46 I'm drawn to crime and noir, because noir is about the fear that's tailing you, coming up behind you. It's the embodiment of your disappointments and mistakes and regrets.

Me: Where do you see yourself going next? Or are you happy where you are, with what you're writing?

Tom Piccirilli: For the time being I'm happy writing noirish dark crime fiction. One of these days I think I'd like to do a bigger novel that has less concentration on the crime stuff and more on other concerns, whatever they are. Family matters, relationships, and all that other shit that is the focus of so much modern literature. I think I'm finally at that point of my life when I see enough humor and darkness and oddity in the so-called "normal" everyday life that I don't need the storytelling conventions of genre material. The guns, the double-crosses, the heist gone wrong. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to writing that book, and then again maybe not. Part of the fun of being a writer is not knowing what's going to suddenly become of interest to you somewhere down the line. You can't guess at it, you just have to let it persuade you.

Me: I'd love to read that! What have you found most rewarding in your career? What have you found most disappointing?

Tom Piccirilli: The most rewarding aspect is when someone reacts to the work the way I hoped they would. When they're moved and shocked and come to love the characters the way I do, and the writing has a real meaning for them.

The most disappointing aspects–well, I'm as needy and greedy as the next guy. I'd like to make more cash, I'd like to have greater Hollywood interest, bigger sales, more brouhaha made over my work. I don't expect lear jets and stadiums full of screaming readers, but hell, I live in my imagination, so I dream big.

Me: You appear a perpetual student of life and the craft. How important has searching for answers been in your growth as a writer and man? Did you study your favorite writers to see what they were doing right and why you loved it?

Tom Piccirilli: You study the things that matter to you, grab your attention, and hold sway over you. I did study my early favorite authors, which generally means that I began to copy the way they did things in a search for my own voice. They spoke to me, and I wanted to do what they did. I wanted to be a part of the overwhelming grandeur of literature. I wanted to impress myself upon it. Your loves shape who you are and how you come at the world, for better or worse. The same holds true for your hatreds, and your frustrations, and your needs. The more self-aware you are the more aware you are of what goes on in other people too. The truth of what drives them. And as such you can convey that through your work.

Me: Is there any story that you've wanted to write but haven't? If so, why?

Tom Piccirilli: I'd love to tackle a huge, sprawling Science Fiction/Fantasy novel, but I just don't think I have the chops for it. My mind doesn't work in that way, in those patterns. I love reading it, and I can appreciate all the effort and imagination that goes into such works, and I pine to do something like that eventually, but it's just not my strength.

Me: In what ways has writing your stories tested you?

Tom Piccirilli: In every way conceivable. The life of a writer tests your sense of self, your knowledge of the world, your understanding of people. It teaches you how to pay bills with late checks, with no checks, how to call back painful incidents in the most excruciating detail. You wallow in your insecurities because this is such a lonely craft. You crave feedback but you're constantly worried about failing to meet your goals. It's a constant struggle with self. It's so easy to be unsure of who you are because all day long you're slipping in and out of other identities.

Me: I've always thought of you as an original and boundary pusher. Do you purposely shy away from the formulaic?

Tom Piccirilli: I try to keep myself as entertained as I hope the reader will be, and since I'm extremely well-read, I get bored easily. I try to find new ways to say things, and find new things to say as well. The authors who've meant the most to me over the years, the ones that impacted me the most, are the ones who found offbeat, quirky, sometimes surreal ways to say the great truths of their lives. Whether they were telling stories that focused on life, love, death, fear, redemption, heartache, whatever, they found an original and grabbing way to pull the reader in. I try to do the same.

Me: I'd recommend three of your works for new readers to see your range: A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN, THE DEAD LETTERS, and EVERY SHALLOW CUT. Which of your novels would you recommend for new readers to try? Do you have favorites?

Tom Piccirilli: Those three are at the top, so I'd probably recommend them as well. I'm very proud of those particular titles because each one seems to be a slight turning point for me so far as my direction and focus were concerned. My new one THE LAST KIND WORDS is probably my favorite among my crime novels, so I'd promote that one too. I think it's something of a cornerstone among my books. I pushed myself pretty hard to reach new ground, discuss new topics in new ways, and yet also stay in touch with all the other themes and stylistic elements that I think my readers expect from me at this point.

Me: With THE LAST KIND WORDS coming out next, do you feel you've hit a milestone? Can you tell us a little bit about the book?

Tom Piccirilli: It's the story of a young thief named Terrier Rand who returns to his criminal family on the eve of his brother Collie's execution. Collie went mad dog for apparently no reason and went on a killing spree murdering eight people. Now, five years later, Collie swears he only killed seven people, and the eighth was the work of someone else. Terry not only has to deal with an ex-best friend, a former flame, some mob guys, and other assorted badasses, but he's also forced to investigate that night his brother went crazy and find out if Collie is telling the truth. But more than anything, he really wants to know the reason for why his brother went on a spree, in the hopes that Terry himself is never pushed to that kind of edge.

The novel is due out June '12, and I recently turned in the follow-up entitled THE LAST WHISPER IN THE DARK.

Me: Can't wait to read them! Thanks so much for spending time with us, Pic!

Tom Piccirilli: Anytime, man! Thanks for having me!

Tom Piccirilli is the author of more than twenty novels including SHADOW SEASON, THE COLD SPOT, THE COLDEST MILE, and A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN. He's won two International Thriller Awards and four Bram Stoker Awards, as well as having been nominated for the Edgar, the World Fantasy Award, the Macavity, and Le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire.

Tom Piccirilli's website

Tom Piccirilli's blog

Feel free to leave a comment and spread the word! Thanks!

Interview: Robert Dunbar

I'm going to focus on things that are the most important to me this year, and one of those things is pointing out writers who deserve credit based on the sheer talent, intensity and honesty of their work in contrast to those sadass writers who rely on throwing money into getting their names out there or who constantly kiss ass or manipulate to get ahead.

These writers I'm going to interview are Pros in every sense of the word. And they show it where it fucking matters. On the page. In the residue their stories leave behind in your head.

I'm honored that Robert Dunbar is the first. He's the author of THE PINES, THE SHORE, MARTYRS & MONSTERS and WILLY. He's also the publisher/editor for Uninvited Books, a wonderful addition to the genre that is focusing on dark literary work and has released two of my top books of 2011 (Greg Gifune's GARDENS OF NIGHT and Robert's novel WILLY).

WILLY is a wonderful novel full of quiet intensity, beauty and sadness. It was my introduction to Robert, made my top five reads for 2011, and I can't wait to dig into his other work. This is how it goes for me. (It happened when I first read Tom Piccirilli, Douglas Clegg, Peter Straub, Greg Gifune, John Connolly, Dennis Lehane, William Faulkner, Jack Cady, Clive Barker, et al.) I'd stumble onto a book by an author I'd never read and the lightning hits. All of the things I love most about a story are there in spades. Robert Dunbar did that to me too, the bastard. Now I have catching up to do. But it'll be good fun.

Thanks for taking time with me and the readers, Robert!

My pleasure, Lee.

How did you start as a reader? Were you raised in a household where reading was encouraged and respected? Or did you have to sneak books and hope that if you were caught with one that you wouldn't be ridiculed?



Was I raised in a cultured environment? Yes. Yes, I was. Absolutely. In fact, my governess went to great lengths to instill a love of the arts and …

I'm tripping. In our neighborhood, it was more socially acceptable to be caught with syringe than a book. A handgun involved fewer explanations. Something tells me you can relate.

When and how did you cross that line from fan to fan/creator?

I was never a fan. A connoisseur, perhaps. A passionate advocate. Certainly. But a fan?

Me?

Not that there aren't artists I intensely admire.

By the way, that's an amazing list of writers you mentioned, and I'm very conscious of the honor in being included, but I'd like to make it clear that I'm not above 'kissing ass and manipulating' to get ahead. I just suck at it is all.

Who has influenced you, Robert? Did different writers offer different things? (Did you love one for their lyricism and another for depth of character, etc.? Or just soak it all in?)

I can't even enumerate all the crisis points in my life where I've asked myself, "What would Barbara Stanwyck do?" Oddly, I never seem to have a riding crop with me at such moments. Oh, but you probably meant literary influences, didn't you? On that level, I'm easy to please. A book just needs to be brilliant.

You've already touched on a few of my personal heroes, but there've been others.

I admired Poe very much as a child but had already begun to find him rather tedious by the time puberty hit. (Actually, it didn't hit so much as fall on me.) When I was about fourteen, I had the requisite weekend where I found Lovecraft to be intense and hypnotic but by Monday had decided he was jerk. (Don't you hate relationships like that?) It didn't take me long to discover Edith Wharton and Henry James and Willa Cather and E. M. Forster and Saki – wonderful Saki – and Shirley Jackson and Algernon Blackwood and Oliver Onions and Robert Aickman and Fritz Leiber. (Faulkner and Henry Roth and James Baldwin all affected me like heroin.) I don't know what I would have done if not for the public library. Killed myself probably.

How much of your work is mined from real life's joys and sorrows? Are any of your characters a mirror into your soul?

People are always advising me to write about my family. What the hell do they think I've been doing? Making shit up?

(It's probably just as well I don't have that riding crop.)

Yes, my work seems to get more personal all the time. WILLY in particular was a cri de coeur – and very therapeutic too, you know, turning it loose in the world where it could haunt others (instead of me). And a few of the stories in MARTYRS & MONSTERS are more intimate than I'm entirely comfortable with discussing. Some things can only be addressed in fiction.

I know most writers see somebody who has gained some recognition and think that said writer somehow found a magic key (surely that must be it) to appear out of nowhere. What has your journey been like as a writer?

Isn't that hilarious? So few people have any sense of the commitment, the discipline … or what it all demands from you. When most "aspiring writers" ask for advice, what they really want are marketing tips. Actually, it's not hilarious. It's quite sad.

The times we live in…

This particular journey has taken us all to a lot of strange places. Austin Considine had a brilliant piece in the Times a few weeks ago in which he compared living through the AIDS fatalities in the nineties to surviving a war. In 1995 alone, more than 50,000 people died of the disease. New York especially was devastated, but all the big cities were hard hit. People complain all the time about how the arts suffered, but it wasn't just because a big part of an entire generation of painters and musicians and writers and actors were wiped out. It was also because legions of people who appreciated what they were doing were also lost, people who understood the ballet, who attended plays (and I don't mean Spider-Man), who read and discussed books. Good books. Intelligent books. Demanding books. The cultural repercussions are ongoing, and we feel it all too clearly within the genre. Democracy has no place in the arts – the best and brightest should naturally flourish. But somehow the most ordinary have inherited the earth. Or at least the genre.

I was going to say 'don't get me started,' but clearly it's too late.

People are forever asking me what makes a work literary. It's one of those "I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you" situations. I mean, what can you tell them? Obviously, talent is the most essential (and most nebulous) criteria, but intellect is also necessary, as well as passion, seriousness of intent, even courage. (There are "writers" out there who won't have a clue what I'm referring to here.) I think if you look at a lot of what's out there now, the first thing that strikes you is that – pretty much across the board – the component of intellect appears to have been excised. (There are exceptions of course, artists like Gifune or Laird Barron, that Thompson guy, a few others.) The whole culture has been drastically dumbed down. Horror novels, ostensibly intended for an adult readership, these days all seem to have been written for children.

Some of them appear to have been written by children.

What was the question again? Oh. My journey. Right. You're sure you want to hear this? I'll keep it brief. In my twenties, I imagined myself a poet, and my work did get published here and there, mostly in the smallest of avant-garde journals. In retrospect, I can see they weren't very sophisticated poems, but the readings I forever seemed to be giving did attain a certain intensity, I suppose. Actually, I didn't read the pieces so much as perform them, and these gradually evolved into experimental plays. (That's the word people used to describe them. Experimental. Sometimes this was intended kindly.) The astonishing thing was how many of these scripts got produced, mostly at theaters that resembled storefronts or warehouses or garages. In fact, the one thing they never seemed to resemble were theaters. By then I'd started working for so many different newspapers and magazines that I lost count. Mostly, I did reviews and interviews, but these led to my writing similar bits for a couple of radio stations … and eventually to some television work.

It was only when I began to concentrate on my fiction that the true path revealed itself. Why do I suddenly sound like the I Ching?

Lol. What is your proudest moment?

Every night when I look across the bed.

What has surprised you? In the world of publishing? In creating your stories? In building your readership?

Funny you should ask. I wasn't anticipating the impact WILLY has made. And I mean that. I've been shocked and quite moved by the passionate response. I suppose I must have lost faith in the book somehow. Or perhaps it was the genre I'd lost faith in. I certainly never expected much in the way of support. The book is so subtle – I figured horror critics, if they bothered to acknowledge it at all, would simply blast it for being "too literary." As it turned out, I've wound up feeling both humbled and inspired by the number of reviewers who have championed WILLY. Maybe there's hope for the genre after all.

If you could recommend only one of your novels (or the collection) to new readers, which would you choose? Why?

So many people have found me through THE PINES, and I'm always touched by that, even now. But MARTYRS & MONSTERS is the one I'd personally recommend. It's a little hard to explain really – what this book has meant to me, how important it's been in my life. Over the years, I'd grown so frustrated with reviews. A critic would rave that THE PINES was a "masterpiece of genre fiction" or that THE SHORE was "surprisingly good for a horror novel." With MARTYRS & MONSTERS – for the first time – reviewers began to discuss my work purely in terms of merit, without the qualification. And that made all the difference. Writers are such sensitive creatures. Without this level of support, I'm not sure I would have had the courage to attempt a novel as complex as WILLY.

Well, I'm certain many people are glad you had the support that produced the courage. WILLY is fantastic. If you couldn't write (say you lost your hands by poking them into a parallel universe) what would you do to let your creative side breathe?

I've always wanted to be an international jewel thief, like Raffles or Kay Frances in whatever the hell that old movie was called, but no one ever seems to be hiring. I must remember to ask Mannetti how she got started. Friends in low places probably. That may be the problem – I'm overqualified.

Sorry. I don't mean to dodge the question. It's just that I can't even imagine not writing. It's an identity issue, not an occupational one.

Do you have other passions? Do they feed/compliment your stories?

Yes, but you can't get it anymore.

What do you wish the genre had more of? And less of?

More of me. Less of everyone else.

Did I say that out loud?

Seriously, I can't imagine anyone who gets more of a thrill out of a really first rate horror novel than I do. I remember discovering Sarah Water's THE LITTLE STRANGER last year and going into raptures. Then I read an article praising the distinctiveness of a handful of supposedly literary horror novels that had made it to the bestseller list. I rushed to read them all … and was sorely disappointed. It's not that these books were bad exactly. No. Each had been professionally crafted, which was part of the problem. They all had a soulless, manufactured quality.

The genre needs more artists. The world needs more artists.

Amen. I've read three novels that Uninvited Books has published (your own, Gifune's and T. M. Wright's) and to say I'm impressed in quality, story, and craftsmanship would be an understatement. How did Uninvited Books find life? What is your number one goal with opening your own publishing company?

Greg and Terry are both extraordinary. As writers and as people. (Sandy DeLuca just scares me.) There's this cheesy piece of corporate motivational advice I seem to keep stumbling across lately. "Celebrate what you want to see more of." Generally, I abhor such drivel, but a note of truth resonates through the self-help-inspirational-speaker-jargon here … because there are amazing talents like Gifune and Wright out there, even in this godforsaken genre, brilliant writers who are not churning out Zombie Kong or Yeti Massacre but creating intelligent, textured, profoundly satisfying works of dark literature. One doesn't encounter genius so often that one should overlook the need to celebrate it. That's what we're all about. Our first paperback at Uninvited Books was an anthology called SHADOWS, Supernatural Tales by Masters of Modern Literature – conceived as a sort of mission statement. May we never set our sights any lower.

Is there anything else you want to mention?

Just to remind folks to keep an eye out for my new novella – WOOD. It should be out from Uninvited Books quite soon.

Excellent. Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us.

Thanks, Lee. And best of luck with your own work! I hear wonderful things about NURSERY RHYMES 4 DEAD CHILDREN, and my copy just arrived. Can't wait to dive in!

Learn more about Robert Dunbar.

Find out more about Uninvited Books.

What a brilliant man. Feel free to spread the word. Thanks!

Interesting things always happen in threes to me

#1: Have a look at the wraparound cover to my second Frank Gunn novella DOWN HERE IN THE DARK. I dig it.

#2: A wonderful lass named Jennifer at Book Den was the first to review THE DAMPNESS OF MOURNING (the second Division novel). It's available as a Kindle Exclusive right now and the signed/limited hardcovers are up for pre-order. Other digital formats coming out in early March. And she's right, if you read Beneath the Weeping Willow, Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children, Crooked Stick Figures, and Before Leonora Wakes you'll have a richer experience since they tie directly into this novel.

#3: The very cool Peter Schwotzer interviewed me over at Literary Mayhem. Very nice of him. Thanks to those who spread the word about that earlier today as well!

Have a bunch of great things going on here that I'll share in the coming month.

Interviewed on Literary Mayhem

It's a day of working in copyedits, writing a book review for The Crow's Caw, and reading, but wanted to let everybody know that the very kind Peter Schwotzer just interviewed me on Literary Mayhem. You can read my interview Here.

On several "Year's Best" lists

About ready to zip 2011 shut here and happy to see my first three long works on several "Year's Best" lists.

#1- My first novel from Delirium Books,NURSERY RHYMES 4 DEAD CHILDREN, appeared on Brian Keene's top ten books. Also excited that the second Division novel, THE DAMPNESS OF MOURNING, is available as a Kindle Exclusive right now and expect it to get some great reviews and gain me a wider audience. The signed/limited hardcovers are also up for pre-order!

#2- My first novellette AS I EMBRACE MY JAGGED EDGES made Bob Freeman's list on The Occult Detective

#3- My first novella IRON BUTTERFLIES RUST made the top ten list on Literary Mayhem.

#4- Both my first novel and novella made Jassen Bailey's top five list on The Crow's Caw.

It's very cool to see my name and work alongside so many great writers (like Stephen King, Greg Gifune, Robert Dunbar, Dan Simmons, Joe Lansdale, and Lee Thomas.) Thanks to everybody who has taken a chance on me. I know how tight money and time can be.

If anybody has read my work and loved or hated it feel free to write a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Thanks so much!

You're wonderful.

Happy New Year!

My Christmas Present to You

For the next two days you can get my Red Piccirilli YA book BEFORE LEONORA WAKES for free on Smashwords. I think you can get it for Kindle, Nook, all that crap.

Here's the code you'll need at checkout for 100% discount:

Your coupon code is MT57G (not case-sensitive).

Wish I could do more but I spend all my money on drugs.

Some news and Happy Holidays!

I hope everbody is enjoying themselves and relaxing as much as possible right now. I just had a few quick things to mention.

#1: Jassen did his Year in Review for The Crow's Caw. I, Jassen, Jordan Norton, Sheri White, Nick Cato, and Sheldon Higdon turned in our choices for the Top Five books we read this year. Check 'em out!

#2: Susan made some good points (something she does a lot, so I've incorporated them like a wise bunny). I've updated my Goodreads page with blurbs and whathaveyous. If you have any questions about books you can ask on a book's discussion forum (and I'll give answers if I like you.) Each book has one at the bottom of the page, I think. If not, shoot me.

#3: Also updated my Amazon page. If you have any questions about books you can ask on that book's discussion forum (and again, I'll give answers if I like you.)

#4: Bob Freeman (The Occult Detective) included my novella AS I EMBRACE MY JAGGED EDGES as runner-up for best novella of the year. Very cool. Thanks, Bob!

#5: Thanks to Susan and Jassen I finally know what I want for a cover concept for WHEN WE JOIN JESUS IN HELL.

#6: Gef Fox has a great list sharing a couple of my favorite writer's books, plus my favorite mag Shock Totem. Very cool.

#7: If you haven't checked out my 2011 Year in Review take a look. Wow. I am one fortunate motherlicker.

Okay, that was more than a few things.

Peace and joy to all of you.

2011 Year in Review!

Buckle your seatbelt (this was a busy writing year…)

At the beginning of 2011 Ellen Datlow picked three of my stories for Honorable Mention in her Year's Best Horror, volume 3! The first three stories I sold! It was a good start to the year and a nice buzz.

This year I've had stories published alongside some great writers in mags and anthos and webzines I love! Shared space with Joe Lansdale (x2), Lee Thomas, Jack Ketchum, Bentley Little, Jason V. Brock, Ken Wood, Maggie Jamison, Jeffrey Thomas, Michael McBride, Tom Piccirilli, Weston Ochse, James A. Moore, Nick Mamatas, Gene O'Neil, Ronald Malfi, Kevin Wallis, Steve Lowe, Shane McKenzie, etc. in Delirium's Horror Wired anthology (February), Dark Discoveries #18 (May), Apex's Zombie Feed, vol. 1 (June), Shock Totem #4 (July), Literary Mayhem (October), A Hacked-up Holiday Massacre anthology (November).

Delirium Books released my first Division novel NURSERY RHYMES 4 DEAD CHILDREN in signed/limited hardcover, paperback, and Digital in June 2011! A wonderful cover by Dani Serra.

Delirium Books released my first Frank Gunn novella IRON BUTTERFLIES RUST in hardcover and digital in August 2011! Another wonderful cover by Dani Serra!

I sold the second Division novel THE DAMPNESS of MOURNING to Darkfuse Publications on October 19th! (Going to be released in signed/limited hardcover and digital in February 2012 and has a killer cover by Dani Serra. Bam!) This novel also came out early (Dec. 8th 2011) as a Kindle Exclusive. Pretty damn neat.

I sold the second Frank Gunn novella DOWN HERE IN THE DARK to Delirium Books on October 19th! (Going to be released in signed/limited hardcover and digital in April 2012 and has another killer cover by Dani Serra. Bam! I'm knocking things down.)

I sold my standalone novella WHEN WE JOIN JESUS IN HELL to Delirium Books on Dec. 14th (my dad's birthday). It'll come out in 2012 as a signed/limited hardcover and digitally! Another badass cover from Dani Serra! *Dance* This is one of my favorite pieces and was so difficult to write that it made me cry several times. And my hero Tom Piccirilli commented on WHEN WE JOIN JESUS IN HELL when I shared the rough opening on here. It made me extremely happy. Not only is he a badass author, he's encouraging and kind and such a great guy. I'd probably give him a kidney if he needed it. Maybe not mine, but somebody's.

I sold my standalone novella IMMERSION to Thunderstorm Books.

My buddy, Jassen Bailey, bought me a book I'd been searching for forever! Tom Piccirilli's first novel Dark Father! Thanks so much, bro! What a thoughtful, dude!

I wrote reviews for The Crow's Caw which is a great site if you want to know what books are rocking the genre.

I've sported some stylish threads thanks to The Bag & The Crow. I think their tees have gotten me laid a couple times and increased my creativity.

I wrote quite a bit even though I was insanely busy working 60 hours a week at my regular job spring and summer, plus some Sundays at my old job, critting friends' work, studying writing, reading, doing some reviews. Then when worked slowed down in the fall I spent most of my time playing guitar, drawing and painting (which I've never really invested any time in but found it's super fun), and I had a blast talking life and its great mysteries with my buddies Shaun, Jassen, and Susan. I love those guys so much. Those three are like soul mates to me.

I've seen Susan search for truth, dive deep into the waters of her soul, and come back even more incredible, and I'm so proud of her. What a woman.

I've watched Jassen blossom despite slogging through the most challenging year of his life.

I've witnessed my buddy Shaun hone his writing voice and the stories he has to tell to a razor sharp edge. I can't wait until people read his novels.

I've seen these friends suffer and watched them grow while facing adversity, with honesty, heart and dignity. Listened and shared. Lived and loved deeply and more passionately and honestly than I've ever been capable of before (and surprisingly, to me anyway, it had to start with loving myself and letting go of a lot of self-loathing and buried resentments. How weird. LOl).

My buddy and long time critique partner Kevin Wallis finished his first novel! Was a pleasure to read and give him feedback. Can't wait until he sells that bugger!

My publisher, Shane Ryan Staley, built me a sweet website! How awesome is that? I could hug him several times, maybe even rub his feet.

I went to my first convention in October (Rock & Shock). Got to meet up with uber cool Jassen Bailey, sexy kitten Susan Scofield, iron man Ken Wood of Shock Totem, fellow authors Bill Gauthier and Adam Bloomquist, Tom Moran of Sideshow Press, watched Jordan Norton get molested by a big hairy guy and Scott Wieser of Morning Ablaze laugh at him, Andy Royal made me laugh my ass off, Danny Evarts was kind, Matt and Melissa Herron of Corrupt Culture were great and funny in the booth next door, and Kurt Newton and me had a fun talk. Sold out of the paperbacks of Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children (thanks to everybody who bought a copy and spent some time with me!) as well as learned some very valuable lessons. I really enjoyed seeing people picking up my novel, asking questions about it, as well as talking to them and signing copies for them. How fucking neat. Thanks to everyone for such a wonderful time!

I spoke to a 6th grade class (Jassen's daughter Jayda's) about creativity and imagination while on vacation in Maine. It was a total blast even though I'm very introverted. I read them the first chapter of my teen book Before Leonora Wakes, they sent me a very kind thank you, and I sent them a physical copy of the book. Win-win! Looking forward to speaking to more kids about creativity in the near future!

I did a fun and personal guest blog tour (though I did fall way behind on it since writing fiction was my number one priority and I didn't have the energy for both some weeks. Yet the people who allowed me on their sites are beautiful and gracious and so understanding.)

I've had a ton of great reviews on pretty much everything that came out this year. From my first novel Nursery Rhymes for Dead Children to my first novella Iron Butterflies Rust, and garnered some nice mentions on stories that have appeared in magazines and anthologies. Sweet! Thanks to all the book reviewers who have taken the time to give me and my work a chance!

Brian Keene doesn't know me from Adam, but he was kind enough to mention me on his website, which was damn cool of him! Then my buddy Susan sent me a link to Brian Keene's Top Ten Books of 2011 and my first novel, Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children, is on there. So, a big thanks to Brian for taking the time to read it and for sharing it! And thanks to Susan for always letting me know stuff like that is out there because I'm kinda lazy (or focused on writing) when it comes to keeping track of what's going on.

Plus Brian let me use this awesome blurb!

"Thompson's voice is his own — strong, hypnotic, and unsettling. Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children is a bleak fucking book, and therein lies its danger. So beautifully-constructed is Thompson's prose, that the reader is often caught off-guard, mesmerized by a turn of phrase or a descriptive passage, until the book grabs you by the balls and rips them right off, breaking your heart and your psyche in the process."

Thanks Brian!

My favorite short story, Beneath the Weeping Willow, from Shock Totem #4 was recommended for a Bram Stoker Award. This story and the protagonist tie-in directly to the second and third Division novels. I'm very proud of that one so it holds extra special significance to me that other people dug it. Plus it's cool to see my name near Stephen King's. When on vacation at Jassen's in Maine, Jassen took me to his house, too! Thanks, dude! I wish Stevie would have come out and we could have wrestled in his yard, that'd have been fun!

My publisher made me my first book trailer (for the 2nd Division novel The Dampness of Mourning)! I think it turned out great!

I feel like I've grown as a man, a friend, a lover, and a writer. There were a few times when I was utterly exhausted and I thought I might take some steps back—sometimes I probably did, I can get cranky or anti-social when I'm not well-rested or sick—but what a year it's been. I've worked my ass off, but I've also been lucky to have so many amazing people in my corner. Because really there is only two halves of my success… First: I write. Second: I'm fortunate enough to have people as excited about the work as I am. People who give me feedback, a publisher who believes in me, book reviewers and readers, lovers of literature and people full of imagination.

So many, many thanks to everyone who has been my friend, taught me valuable lessons, offered honesty and encouragement, bought the books, reviewed my work, and spread the word!

Let's see how 2012 shapes up next, huh? Perhaps it'll bring some of us diamonds to share with the world.

Two beauties…

Super exhausted but wish I wasn't because I received the contracts for my Delirium novella WHEN WE JOIN JESUS IN HELL and my Thunderstorm novella IMMERSION today. Will work on them tomorrow. After I'm rested.

Hope everybody has a great week!

Some interesting things for you…

Jack Ketchum interview. Great audio interview with one of the masters. I've listened to it several times while doing dishes and had it on in the background while reading. Well worth your time. Plus I'm handcopying his novel Only Child right now to learn some more, so it was good timing.

Greg Gifune interviewed on Darkfuse. Wish I could have been there when it was live, but it's still a blast to read.

And I found this through Susan and have lived my life by most of it without even realizing there was a list. Good stuff.

Cate Gardner's great book "Theatre of Curious Acts" is up for sale! I reviewed it on The Crow's Caw a while back here. And you can buy it here. Go grab it!

Douglas E. Wright has a free story up on The Crypt which I plan to read soon as I take care of a bunch of stuff going on right now. Check it out!

Busy busy here. Hope everybody is rockin'.