Paul Tremblay's Blog, page 26

Guest blog post at the Stiletto Gang

Go forth to read "My Deep Dark Confession and Zombies".  It's even better than a regular blog post with zombies just like, added.  For real.

Box o' Wonderland and a Zeltserman blurb

So yeah, No Sleep till Wonderland hits February 2nd, and I'll try to keep the obnoxious spam posts to a minimum level of obnoxiousness.

–For those on twitter, I'm posting one line from the new book per day until the book comes out.  You can search #markgenevich to see them all.

–Very cool words from the talented Dave Zeltserman:

"Like The Little Sleep, this one plays it straight. There's no gimmickry with Genevich's narcolepsy, and there's no condescension with his character. The writing sings...

Documentary: The Lost Son of Havana

The Lost Son of Havana documents Luis Tiant's return trip to Cuba after 46 years of exile.  Luis was a baseball player who in 1961 was playing in Mexico when the Bay of Pigs and the counter-revolution happened.  Castro gave an ultimatum to all Cubans playing baseball in North America: come back to Cuba and play amateur baseball or don't come home at all.  Luis left his family behind and stayed in America, determined to play in the major leagues, unlike his father, "Lefty" Tiant who had...

Two Phantom Reviews

First from the tireless Charles Tan:

What is "literary horror," at least according to editors Paul Tremblay and Sean Wallace? The answer is Phantom, a compact anthology featuring fourteen unconventional horror stories.

The second from Jesse Lawrence over at The Velvet: Cassavetes once said "you have to give the audience what they need, not what they think they like." Well, horror fans, horror hounds, I'll tell you. You may not think you like literary horror, but you need it. And you will like...

Graphic novels from Jeff Lemire and Kevin Baker

The Nobody by Jeff Lemire:  I walked into a Newbury Comics, having not heard of the comic, and bought it on the strength of the cover.  I got lucky,  because this stark, forlorn, beautiful graphic novel takes the invisible man, David Lynch, a dab of noir, and mixes it with believable small-town angst and desperation.  Here, the nobody reflects the crushing loneliness of all the characters and there are stretches of wordless panels that simply take your breath away. 

So, after The Nobody, I...

Obligatory end-o-2009, holy-hamsandwich-it's-2010 post, and my steroid scandal apology, finally

Last night it kind of just ran over me that it's 2010.   I mean, I usually don't wax nostalgic (or wax on, or wax off for that matter) at the end of years, but 2010?  Man.  Seems like yesterday that I was listening to Bad Religion's "Ten in 2010″ ("fifteen years we'll think of a solution…")  And it was only ten years ago I was stocking up on water for y2K.  I drank all those old jugs  yesterday in celebration.  Today I've been peeing a lot.

Suffice to say, my life has changed quite a bit in...

Obligatory end-o-2009, holy hamsandwich its 2010 post, and my steriod scandal apology, finally

Last night it kind of just ran over me that it's 2010.   I mean, I usually don't wax nostalgic (or wax on, or wax off for that matter) at the end of years, but 2010?  Man.  Seems like yesterday that I was listening to Bad Religion's "Ten in 2010″ ("fifteen years we'll think of a solution…")  And it was only ten years ago I was stocking up on water for y2K.  I drank all those old jugs  yesterday in celebration.  Today I've been peeing a lot.

Suffice to say, my life has changed quite a bit in...

TLS on some end-o-year lists

Thank you google alerts, and to the good folks who put THE LITTLE SLEEP on their lists, of course!

Author Brian Keene's Top Ten Books of 2009

Author Brendan Halpin My Favorite Books of 2009

Bookgasm: Top Crime in 2009 (Honorable Mention)

Rude Cactus Blog: The yearlies 2009

Blogger/Librarian Andy Wolverton's Best Books of 2009: Mystery and Suspense

Kurt Newton on submitting to spec fic short fiction markets, big and small

Earlier this week, I linked to Kurt when I disagreed with him vehemently.  So it's only fair that I link back to Kurt's new post that is full of insight and value, particularly to newer horror writers.

Read for a very honest take on submitting, rejection, and career path.

Quotation Mark Agita

(link via Simon Strantzas)

Laura Miller at Salon.com writes about authors of literary fiction abandoning quotation marks, for as intimated, no other reason than affectation.  Read here.

I agree that eschewing the quotation marks for no reason is a useless affectation, and I'm disappointed by the lack of defense of the practice attributed to E L Doctorow and Cormac McCarthy (his, If you write properly, you shouldn't have to punctuate is kind of weak, to be honest.  But he wrote Blood Meridian...