Laird Barron's Blog, page 15
October 29, 2015
Interview at Electric Literature
Adrian Van Young talked with me at Electric Literature. Cosmic horror, humanity’s minuteness, Satan…You know, the usual.
images via Electric Literature and JD Busch
The New Yorker covers Ligotti
Peter Bebergal talks about Thomas Ligotti. And if you haven’t snapped up the Penguin Classics reissue of Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe, c’mon already!
image via The New Yorker
October 28, 2015
Dead Dreamers
I will be at Word Bookstore in Brooklyn tonight at 7pm to participate in Undead Dreamers: A Celebration of Weird Fiction. I’m reading from the Penguin Classics release of Ray Russell’s The Case Against Satan. Hosted by Alex Houstoun. Ryan Britt, Tobias Carroll, Livia Llewellyn, and John Langan are on the slate to read from various works. Come on out and see us.
Per the event description:
Undead Dreamers: A Celebration of Weird Fiction
Celebrate Allhallowe’en with some weird stories containing disturbing philosophical connotations and a cast of fiendish friends including:
Ryan Britt (Luke Skywalker Can’t Read: And Other Geeky Truths)
Tobias Carroll (Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and the forthcoming collection, Transitory)
Livia Llewellyn (Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors)
Laird Barron (The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All)
John Langan (The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies)
Ryan Britt will discuss a creepy selection from the New York Review of Books; Toby Carroll will read and discuss work by Thomas Ligotti; Laird Barron reads from The Case Against Satan; John Langan and Livia Llewellyn will be sharing original works of cosmic dread.
image via Word Bookstore
October 27, 2015
Haunted Houses in Literature
Adrian Van Young has written a brief survey of haunted houses in literature over at Electric Lit. The piece takes a look at work by Sarah waters, Michael Rowe, Victor LaValle, and others.
art by John Kenn
October 26, 2015
Swift to Chase to be Published by JournalStone
I am proud to announce that JournalStone is bringing out my next collection. Swift to Chase will arrive in the fall of 2016. No ordering information quite yet, however I’ll update as news comes in. For the moment, here’s a preview of the table of contents which includes an original novella, Tomahawk Park Survivors Raffle. This is the first book in what I informally consider the “Alaska trilogy.”
Thank you to the editors who originally selected and published these stories; and extra thanks to my agent Janet Reid and publisher Christopher Payne for putting this deal together. Finally, thank you to my readers for your support. More news soon.
SWIFT TO CHASE
Screaming Elk, MT: The further adventures of Jessica Mace. This time she’s mixed up with a cursed carnival.
LD50: Jessica Mace, a young woman famous for surviving a massacre, investigates a serial killer of dogs in the badlands of Eastern Washington
Termination Dust: All hell breaks loose in a massive apartment complex when a modern day Jack the Ripper strikes under cover of a blizzard.
Andy Kaufman Creeping through the Trees: Cheer-leading captain Julie Vellum is having a bad year. Her dad is dying of cancer. She sprained her neck on the trampoline. Rival Jessica Mace plans to do her more bodily harm. Worst of all, she’s hired an old pal to impersonate Tony Clifton for a private show. Totally worst idea, ever.
Ardor: While tracking a missing B-movie actor, a team of man hunters crashes in the Yukon Delta.
the worms crawl in,: Elmer’s deranged plot to murder his wife’s lover goes awry during a camping trip.
(Little Miss) Queen of Darkness: Following an occult initiation ritual, a man is stalked by a psychopathic sorority girl and her team of horrifically disfigured henchmen
Ears Prick Up: Rex, an atomic-powered cyborg war dog, loyally assists his master in the overthrow of a far-future dystopian empire.
Slave Arm: Monstrously disfigured psychopaths attack young party-goers in what may be part of a global conspiracy, or a prelude to an extinction level event.
Black Dog: A nameless couple embarks upon a fateful first-date on All Hallows Eve.
Frontier Death Song: A broken-down outdoorsman and his loyal hound are pursued along the US interstate by the Wild Hunt.
Tomahawk Park Survivors Raffle: A rich lunatic invites several high school classmates to his mansion for a night of sex, drugs, and CIA-funded black ops experiments.
October 25, 2015
October 23, 2015
X’s for Eyes: Cover by Revert
JournalStone in association with Bizarro Pulp Press is publishing my novella, X’s for Eyes this December to coincide with The Gods Of H.P. Lovecraft.
Set in the 1950s, X’s for Eyes follows the pulp-cosmic horror misadventures of Macbeth (14) and Drederick Tooms (12), scions of a Machiavellian corporate family.
The novella is around 24k and will be available in softcover and electronically. Please note that the first part of this novella will also be available as a standalone story called “We Smoke the Northern Lights” in The Gods of HP Lovecraft.
Preorder information coming soon. Meanwhile, have a gander at the cover art by Matthew Revert. The man is amazing.
Art by Matthew Revert
October 16, 2015
The Wall Street Journal on Ray Russell
Michael Calia has done a series of exemplary essays on weird fiction and cinema this past year or two, from his True Detective coverage to the resurgence of Thomas Ligotti, and now a piece on Penguin Classics reissue of Ray Russell’s The Case Against Satan.
I’m gratified to be alive at a time when the weird and the macabre are so celebrated by the mainstream. Long may the trend continue.
image via Speakeasy
October 15, 2015
–30– Rolling
Production continues on the film adaptation of –30–. Philip Gelatt wrote the screenplay and is directing. Will Battersby and Reno Productions are producing. The film has been in the works for about a year at this point and the crew is down to the last week or so of principal photography
The Kirkus (John DeNardo) description is one of the best I’ve seen:
…It’s about a pair of research scientists who are studying animal behavior and the effects of environmental changes in the isolated badlands where a murderous cult committed their atrocities. As the relationship between the researchers—wildlife biologists and former lovers—deteriorates, primeval forces are unleashed that even their high tech setup cannot stop.
The shoot is taking place in the hills outside Salem, New York. John Langan and I drove up from Rifton yesterday and spent a few hours with the crew. We did not take pictures for various reasons, but you can follow “–30–” progress via its Instagram feed.
This was my first visit to a set and I had a wonderful time thanks to the crew, Philip Gelatt, and Will Battersby. Philip and Will took time out of a hectic schedule to chat with us and discuss the film’s progress. Special thanks to Will for walking me through the intricacies of shoot protocol and nomenclature, and for providing anecdotes about the cursed land where the movie is taking place as well as several incidents related to set-up. I’m grateful Philip and Will permitted us access–thank you guys.
The team has gone through a lot to make this project a reality. It was fascinating to observe the process and the meticulous approach cast and crew are taking. I’m grateful that Sean Kirby is in charge of cinematography–you might recognize him for his work on numerous films and documentaries, including Cthulhu. I’ve read the script, which deviates slightly from the source material, but only insomuch as was necessary to translate to the screen; and we discussed intriguing thematic directions the film is headed. The actors (William Jackson Harper and Rebecca Henderson) are theater-trained and from the footage I witnessed, utterly immersed in the claustrophobic wilderness reality of “–30–.”
There are stages of wishful thinking in regard to adaptations–1. someone please adapt my work; 2. It got optioned, now I hope it gets made; 3. It’s getting made, please let it be good.
From what I’ve seen, I don’t merely dare hope it’ll be good; I dare hope they are putting together something special.
More news down the line as post production gets underway. There has been other nice Hollywood-related activity–in addition to “–30–” I’ve had a couple of major stories optioned recently. An official announcement is in the works.
October 14, 2015
Scrivener Soapbox Interview
John Langan and I went upstate to visit the movie set of “–30–” this afternoon. More on that tomorrow. Meanwhile, here’s recording of an interview I recently did with Tj Redig of Scrivener Soapbox.
