Paul Tremblay's Blog, page 14
July 13, 2011
July appearances
This latter half of July I emerge from my cocoon (not the Steve Guttenberg/Wilford Brimley Cocoon, but a cocoon all the same) to make some public appearances.
July 14-17 Readercon. Burlington, MA
Friday night:
7:00 PM F "I'm (No Longer) Shocked, Shocked!" Gemma Files, Jim Freund (leader), Charles Platt, Joan Slonczewski, Paul Tremblay. There are many good reasons for writers to try to shock readers: to make them reconsider ideas, to evoke or heighten strong emotions, to add to the atmosphere of a horror novel or dystopia. The drawback is that the daring and transgressive can almost overnight turn into the boring or bewildering. When writers actively try to shock contemporary readers, are they also putting an expiration date on their work? Or are there shocks that can transcend the trends of the moment?
Saturday night:
6:30 pm: I'm reading in the New Hampshire room (from a novel in progress. Progress!)
9:00 PM NH Supernatural Noir group reading. Ellen Datlow, Caitlín R. Kiernan, John Langan, Barry N. Malzberg, Paul Tremblay. Contributors to Supernatural Noir read selections from their work.
Sunday:
11:00 AM G The Shirley Jackson Awards. F. Brett Cox, Ellen Datlow, Peter Dubé, Scott Edelman, Gemma Files, Caitlín R. Kiernan, John Langan, Sarah Langan, Victor LaValle (moderator). In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson's writing, and with permission of the author's estate, the Shirley Jackson Awards have been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, "The Lottery." Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work. The awards given in her name have been voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics, with input from a Board of Advisors, for the best work published in the calendar year of 2010 in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.
The following week, we have two CAPE COD NOIR appearances.
–Wed., July 20, 10:00am – 12:00pm
The Brewster Bookstore
2648 Main St.
BREWSTER, MA
Book signing featuring David L. Ulin, Paul Tremblay, Dave Zeltserman, William Hastings, and Dana Cameron
–Thurs., July 21, 1pm
Falmouth Public Library
300 Main St.
Falmouth, MA
Featuring editor David L. Ulin and author Paul Tremblay
And a SUPERNATURAL NOIR appearance:
Readings from Supernatural Noir at KGB Bar Friday July 22 7-9pm. KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street (just off 2nd Ave, upstairs.)
Hosted by editor Ellen Datlow and with the following contributors reading from their stories:
Paul G. Tremblay
Paul Tremblay is the author of the novels The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland, and his short fiction has been collected in In the Mean Time and Compositions for the Young and Old.
Jeffrey Ford
Jeffrey Ford is the author of the novels The Physiognomy, Memoranda, The Beyond, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, The Girl in the Glass, and The Shadow Year. His short fiction has been published in three collections. His fiction has won The World Fantasy Award, The Nebula Award, The Edgar Allan Poe Award, and Gran Prix de l'Imaginaire.
Richard Bowes
Richard Bowes has written five novels, two short fiction collections and fifty short stories. He has won two World Fantasy Awards and the Lambda, International Horror Guild, and Million Writers Awards. His novel-in-progress is Dust Devil: My Life in Speculative Fiction
Gregory Frost
Gregory Frost latest work is the fantasy duology, Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet His earlier novels include Fitcher's Brides, a World Fantasy Award and International Horror Guild Award finalist for Best Novel; Tain, Lyrec, and Nebula-nominated sf work The Pure Cold Light. His short story collection, Attack of the Jazz Giants & Other Stories was called by Publishers Weekly "one of the best fantasy collections of the year."
John Langan
John Langan is the author of the novel House of Windows and the collection of stories Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters. His stories have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.
Books will be for sale by Bluestockings
June 22, 2011
Shirley Jackson Awards fundraiser. Please help!
With the help of indiegogo, we're running a fundraiser for the award.
Details!
In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson's writing, and with permission of the author's estate, the Shirley Jackson Awards were established in 2008 for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.
Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, "The Lottery." Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work. National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novelist Jonathan Lethem has called Jackson "one of this century's most luminous and strange American writers," and multiple generations of authors would agree.
The Shirley Jackson Awards were founded by a group of writers who felt that the time was right for a peer-juried award that wold recognize the variety and vitality of contemporary psychological suspense, horror, and dark fantasy fiction.
For this fundraising effort, our goal is $800. Six hundred of that will go toward funding the award itself for the next year, and the remaining two hundred will go towards the cost of our incorporation. Of course we would be more than happy to exceed our fundraising goal, and take another step towards insuring the award's future.
Please consider helping us achieve our goal! Click HERE.
May 10, 2011
Two Reprints (and a Mean Time review) now on-line
As a part of Chizine's Mega-God Issue, one of my first attempts at weird noir/crime fiction, "The Dilky Never Landed," is now up on the chizine interwebs. This story takes place in Jeffrey Thomas's brilliant Punktown universe, and was originally published in the anthology, Punktown: Third Eye (2004).
And while you're there, be sure to donate some money to the Chizine folks. The Mega-Issue is part of their fund-drive, now that Dorchester Publishing hasn't paid them (just like they haven't paid their authors) their owed advertizing fees. Help keep one of the longest-running and best fiction webzines running!
–Elsewhere, WeAreVespertine posted a cool review of IN THE MEAN TIME:
They who are verspertine also posted the collection's anchor novelette, "We Will Never Live in the Castle."
May 3, 2011
World Horror: the con report
(This will be full of annoying half-anecdotes, in-jokes, and other hobnobbery. If I left out your name, I didn't mean to. I'm still very tired and I'm old)
Friday:
I landed in Austin at 12:30ish, jumped in a cab, watched him circle the city at least five times before dropping me at the hotel. Once there, I forced Jordan Hamessley, Chesya Burke, and John Langan to have a late lunch with me. Despite my "pickles are cucumbers soaked in evil" tee shirt that no one has ever seen me wear before, the waiter ignored my query of "is there anything on the sliders?" and brought me a plate full of pickles. I swore and threw the offending gherkins on the table. There was much laughter at my expense for the rest of the weekend.
I attended the horror in the academy panel (horror lit and critical analysis), which was very well done despite my having pickles on my lunch plate. Helen Marshall talked of the horror of the manlette (man-omlette). Liv Llewellyn then threw one on my face.
Later I met all of my Canadian friends. They spoke with words like "colour" and "centre" all the time. Simon Strantzas and Ian Rogers were wearing parkas and wool hats even though we were in Texas. Brett Savory's beardthulu was impressive and inappropriately prehensile.
At the WHC carnival were blue free drink tickets and the kind folks of Snutch lab planning unspeakable things with Crisco.
Later was the Chizine party, which was fantastic. I gave everyone (including a very grateful Peter Straub) orange peanut butter crackers, and everyone loved me and my pickle tee shirt.
Saturday
I crashed breakfast and watched Brian Keene, Mary SanGiovanni, and Nick Mamatas eat. Then I watched rommie John Langan wait for oatmeal and Jordan eat breakfast tacos. Then, friend M. Thomas stuffed myself, Mamatas, Langan, and Kurt Dinan in her compact car and took us into Austin for lunch, an indie-bookstore, and a quick drive-by tour.
I attended my Genre mash-up panel (which might have set the record for number of panelists). It went pretty well, though I would've prefered we spend more time talking about genre-bending/mixing than the tired +zombies mash-up stuff. Nick Kaufmann yelled at me during the panel. I showed him what's what by stealing some of his lifeforce when he wasn't looking.
After haunting the dealer's room for a bit, it was dinner with John, Jordan, Gemma Files and hubby, Stephen Graham Jones (who heroically crutched around the con despite wild hallucinations), and Liv at a seafood place. Liv still threw manlettes on my face. No pickles. Jordan hated her salad and everyone knew about it.
Saturday night was more subdued (no handing out of the crackers) with the big mass signing and various hotel room parties. Plus an unexpected second round at the seafood place with Steve Niles, Orin Grey, Joe Hill, Langan, Jordan, and Selena Chambers. We agreed that marsupial Howling is underrated.
Sunday:
Lots of folks split early so I spent most of the day with the usual crew, haunting the dealer's room, sitting at the Chizine table, and the like. As the day wound down, Stephen and I watched some NBA playoffs at the seafood place and then at the airport before leaving.
The short version: had a blast and it was very cool getting to meet so many folks that I've only known online. Let's do it again soon!
*because Paul is a tool addendum*
Biggest thanks must go to Lee Thomas, Nate Southard, and the rest of the con organizers. Nary a complaint from the crowd, and Lee and Nate made time to chat with whomever wanted to do so. I was watching them. Okay, I was stalking them.
April 27, 2011
World Horror Con, this weekend in Austin, TX
I'm landing in Austin around noon on Friday. I'm guessing it'll be hot there…
I'll be on the genre mixing panel. Mix those genres!
Genre Mash-Ups
2:00 PM Saturday, April 30 – Dezavala
Nicholas Kaufmann, Cathy Clamp, (M), Sandra Kasturi, C. Cameron Pierce, Robert Boyczuk, Paul Tremblay
Horror is a genre of tone and emotional response, and as such it can be found virtually anywhere: in literary fiction, romance, crime, science fiction, and even experimental fiction. Find out how best to get the peanut butter in your chocolate (chocolate in your peanut butter?) with some of the field's favorite genrebenders.
April 22, 2011
A Slew of Little Reviews
My two-bits on what I've read the last month-plus, in no particular order:
THERE IS NO YEAR, Blake Butler: Harper Perennial is putting out daring, fantastic fiction, and this first novel (Scorch Atlas is a novel in stories, I suppose, but let's stick with the first novel thing here) from the talented Butler is no exception. Bleak and visionary, the avalanche of dark, surrealistic imagery doesn't stop. And this book about a family moving into a house occupied by a copy-family goes onto to further flights of bizarre fancy from there. Clearly inspired by my favorite novel, HOUSE OF LEAVES (as Butler's house is expansive, though in a more introverted way) it's hard not to compare the two books. My only complaint–a small one–is that I was too often aware of HoL while reading. Regardless, recommended for readers of dark/weird.
CAPE COD NOIR, edited by David J. Ulin: Full disclosure, I have one story in this ("19 Snapshots of Dennisport"). I loved the variety of takes on what noir can be. Many of the tales dwell on class/cultural clashes with the summer help, year 'rounders, and well off tourists, with William Hastings's "Ten Year Plan" as the perfect opener. I suspect noir purists may not like the genre bending/stretching of some of the stories, but I found it to be refreshing. Push them boundaries!
EMILY, ALONE, by Stewart O'Nan: O'Nan further cements his status as one of our greatest living novelists. The story follows widowed, 80 year-old Emily Maxwell (the matriarch of his earlier novel, WISH YOU WERE HERE) through a year in her life, living alone in Pittsburgh. So moving without being sentimental. I had the somewhat weird experience of split personality while reading this. For much of the book, I was so inside Emily's head, but there were other times when I was one of her kids (wanting to argue with her about politics and such, like I've done so many times with my own family).The book is subtle and human and should be up for every award possible.
KNOCKEMSTIFF, Donald Ray Pollock: These are truly short stories of the down and out. Sick, funny, and really sad too. Almost hard to take all at once, but then again, that's how I read them. Every story takes place in and around the crumbling Midwestern American town. Any writer interested on how to mine empathy from ugly, damaged (but in their own way, beautiful) characters should read this book. Looking forward to Pollock's novel coming later this summer.
SWAMPLANDIA!, Karen Russell: This novel has garnered considerable buzz, and I'm happy to say the buzz is warranted. Swamplandia is an alligator-wrestling theme park run by the Bigtree family. Ava, the 13 year old daughter, tells most of the tale, as the park and her family disintegrates around her. The writing is simply stunning, and while the ending doesn't quite work, Ava, the park, and her Bigtree family are unforgettable.
YOU THINK THAT'S BAD, Jim Shepard: Another amazing collection of shorts from the brilliant Shepard. The stories here are often set to meticulously detailed historical backdrops (as in the story about the origin of the first Godzilla movie, a Polish team's winter climb of Everest, an Alpine researcher pining for his brother's girlfriend, after the brother died in an avalanche he may or may not have caused). Shepard's genius is in the details; how he gives enough to the reader–never overwhelms us with info–to breathe life into his amazing characters.
THE ENTERPRISE OF DEATH, Jesse Bullington: Another book, steeped in meticulous research, Jesse uses historical fact and his ravenous intelligence to bring to life his unique brand of magic and mayhem mixed with the harsh realities of a time gone by. Spanish-Inquisition/Renaissance Europe is the backdrop. The novel opens with a young African slave (Awa) is rescued (well, not really) by a necromancer, and forced to be his apprentice. Darkly funny, and often gruesome, Bullington's story telling talent is all over every page.
THE MARBURY LENS, Andrew Smith: To be fair, I gave up after 40 pages, so I cannot speak much to the plot, or his world-building with Marbury. I gave up because the first 40 pages were unrelentingly homophobic, in my opinion. 16 year old Jack gets drunk and is kidnapped by a male doctor who ties him up and is about rape Jack, before Jack manages to escape. Despite the loving details of the near sexual assault played for chills, I kept reading. Then Jack's friend calls him a "fag" a bunch of times, and the very next adult male encountered in this book–unbelievably and ridiculously–tries to molest Jack while sitting next him on the plane. Um, yeah. So I stopped reading. Horror and it's unfortunate history of gay males being represented solely as predatory is alive and well here.
April 14, 2011
2010 Shirley Jackson Awards Nominees Announced
Boston, MA (April 2011) — In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson's writing, and with permission of the author's estate, The Shirley Jackson Awards, Inc. has been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.
The Shirley Jackson Awards are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics, with input from a Board of Advisors. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.
The nominees for the 2010 Shirley Jackson Awards are:
NOVEL
Dark Matter, Michelle Paver (Orion)
A Dark Matter, Peter Straub (Doubleday)
Feed, Mira Grant (Orbit)
Mr. Shivers, Robert Jackson Bennett (Orbit)
The Reapers Are the Angels, Alden Bell (Holt)
The Silent Land, Graham Joyce (Gollancz)
NOVELLA
The Broken Man, Michael Byers (PS Publishing)
Chasing the Dragon, Nicholas Kaufmann, (ChiZine Publications)
"Mysterium Tremendum," Laird Barron (Occultation, Night Shade)
One Bloody Thing After Another, Joey Comeau (ECW Press)
Subtle Bodies, Peter Dubé (Lethe Press)
The Thief of Broken Toys, Tim Lebbon (ChiZine Publications)
NOVELETTE
"–30–," Laird Barron (Occultation, Night Shade)
"The Broadsword," Laird Barron, (Black Wings, PS Publishing)
"Holderhaven," Richard Butner, (Crimewave 11: Ghosts)
"The Redfield Girls," Laird Barron (Haunted Legends, Tor)
"Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains," Neil Gaiman (Stories: All-New Tales, William Morrow)
SHORT STORY
"As Red as Red," Caitlin R. Kiernan (Haunted Legends, Tor)
"Booth's Ghost," Karen Joy Fowler (What I Didn't See, Small Beer Press)
"The Foxes," Lily Hoang (Haunted Legends, Tor)
"six six six," Laird Barron (Occultation, Night Shade)
"The Things," Peter Watts (Clarkesworld, Issue 40)
SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION
Occultation, Laird Barron (Night Shade)
The Ones That Got Away, Stephen Graham Jones (Prime Books)
The Third Bear, Jeff VanderMeer (Tachyon)
What I Didn't See, Karen Joy Fowler (Small Beer Press)
What Will Come After, Scott Edelman (PS Publishing)
EDITED ANTHOLOGY
Black Wings: Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, edited by S. T. Joshi (PS Publications)
Haunted Legends, edited by Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas (Tor)
My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales, edited by Kate Bernheimer (Penguin)
Stories: All-New Tales, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio (William Morrow)
Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders (Eos)
Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, "The Lottery." Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work.
The 2010 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented on Sunday, July 17th at Readercon 22, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Burlington, Massachusetts.
Websites: ShirleyJacksonAwards.org Readercon.org
Media representatives who are seeking further information or interviews should contact JoAnn F. Cox.
An overdue update/ramble with parentheticals
I've been neglecting my bloggery duty. And I feel shame.
Basically I've been hunkered in the bunker, getting the co-written novel edits finally done (which they are!), starting a new novel (barely started, but it's a start), coaching little league baseball (therein lies madness), and helping behind the scenes with the Shirley Jackson Awards (the new ballot is coming soon), and picking ticks off my dog (lousy tick medicine doesn't exactly work).
Monday-ish look for a semi-large "what I've been reading/watching and liking (and not liking)" kind of post.
March 24, 2011
Boycott Dorchester – Leisure
The short of it is Dorchester – Leisure are publishing author's ebooks without their permission, on top of other authors not being paid.
All the details you could want are at Brian Keene's blog today. If you are someone who purchases Dorchester – Leisure titles, I hope you'll strongly consider not doing so anymore.
From Brian's blog:
March 16, 2011
Excerpt from the Secret Life of Laird Barron
*The following was transcribed from a pile of yellowed notes purportedly found at the desk of Paul Tremblay; the identity of the transcriber is sexy unknown*
August 17th, 2010
Dear Diary,
Sorry that I've been gone for a week or so, but oh diary, what a week it was!
On the 10th I was notified that my first novel the greatest book evah! was to be—gasp!—remaindered. The indignities of black dotted remainder marks and listing at bookcloseout.com were too much for me to face. I'm embarrassed to admit that I fell apart, into a million little James Frey what a tool pieces, even. First, I hit the bottle. After smacking the bottle around good, I took a break and listened to Lady Gaga while reading the collected works of Mona Bangs and other .99 cent ebooks that had received starred reviews. Then, after untold hours of that madness, I huffed cans of Bactine and blacked out, and woke up on a fishing vessel; its name: D'ass Boat. The crew informed me that I had joined them in New Bedford after winning a Gaga karaoke contest. Lucky me. The crew also called me, "Sardine" because of how I looked with my shirt off for reasons that were unclear to me. We were to be at sea for six months! I took all of this news about as well as I took the remaindering news. So I called my agent somehow, but he ignored my call. Then I started smacking around bottles again. The crew took umbrage at my serial bottle abuse, and some of the men were threatening me with science violence! The Sardine was crying in the corner prepared to give 'em hell, when the knuckle-cracking crew's inexorable advance was stopped by the one they called "The Stranger" (the crew was lousy with nicknames). The Stranger bravely shielded me with his body. He wore a raincoat with a hood pulled up over his face. When the crew stopped, he laughed and revealed we all already knew it was Laird Laird! My dear friend! I don't know how to explain how or why he was magically on a boat in the Atlantic instead of in Washington State all right? how he managed to stay under that rubber hood for so long! It must've made his face dreadfully hot and sweaty. Laird shouted, "Come on, Sardine Paul," and led me out of the galley and onto the deck. We counted to five, held our noses, and jumped overboard, much like Goldie Hawn in Overboard. The next thing I knew, Laird was dragging my limp manly body onto the beach of some remote island. Only the island wasn't very remote. It was hell on earth! People everywhere wearing boat shoes, designer sunglasses, and listening to James Taylor and Jimmy Buffet. Laird and I, of course, could not abide, could not stay. We tore a plank of wood off of James Taylor's fence, and Laird fashioned a floating sled with the wood and his Technicolor raincoat. Laird cupped his hands around his mighty maw, issuing forth a barbaric yawp, and called his animal friends; dolphins, assorted gulls and albatrosses, and crabs. The crabs were too pinchy no help and were summarily eaten dismissed. Laird hooked the floating sled to the dolphins and birds, and we were off, traipsing across the rollicking sea. To earn my keep on the aqua-sled trip, Laird threatened insisted that I feed his loyal dolphins and birds. The worst was feeding the birds as I had to eat a bunch of fish heads and then regurgitate it all up for those winged freaks. Eventually, we made it to mainland Massachusetts. Over a Del's lemonade slush, Laird and I discussed my perfectly reasonable reaction to the remaindering. He listened and then said, simply if not cryptically, "Paul, more is more." Then he rode his dolphin/bird sled back across America, and none were more the wiser about either of our prior whereabouts because we didn't include this thrilling yarn in any facebook status updates. Well, Laird did post something about a sardine regurgitating fish heads but you all thought he was being writerly and poetic. Regardless, I am and in all ways forever grateful to Laird, and the lesson I learned is that I will never again go to Nantucket.
(Further adventures concerning Laird Barron are being collected and posted at John Langan's livejournal. Or will be when he gets off his duff: http://jplangan.livejournal.com/)
