Leo X. Robertson's Blog, page 18
November 16, 2016
November 10, 2016
The end of Creepy Campfire Quarterly
I woke up to sad news today. (Today’s sad
news, not yesterday’s.) An indie horror magazine brave enough to take a chance
on “emerging writers” like myself, is ending.
My story, “Cool Kids”, will appear in a condensed
version of CCQ, #6 and the last, in August next year. It’s one of my favourite things that I
wrote this year, and when I was sending it out to magazines, some of them
hinted that there was something fundamentally wrong with it and it needed a
complete rewrite if not complete delete. This can drive a person nuts. But CCQ
saw what I saw and ensured that a story, which myself and a number of its early
readers enjoyed, was not condemned to the nether regions of my hard drive.
And this news following a series of tweets
about Amazon’s deliberate oppression of CCQ sales, since CCQs were in the bestseller
lists, the night before “Big Five’s” "Commercial Tuesday”
releases? I’d never heard of such a thing. But sure enough I tried to buy a
copy and found that the paperback “wasn’t currently available” for a day or
two, and then it was again. Talk about creepy.
Amazon is not the indie utopia it pretends
to be, and indie publishers need your help more than ever. From my
investigations into these magazines I am certainly of the opinion that they are
publishing the most interesting contemporary work out there and sticking their
neck out for those risk-taking writers that so many other institutions only
claim to want. You can tell from my review of this Paris Review anthology that I’m
not pleased how duped everyone is when they’re told that the must-reads of the
year all happen to be books published by authors discovered by The Paris Review?
I say this as a reader: they’re not all all that!
But I’m heartened by my Goodreads friends and
fellow contrarians who hate being told what to do in any respect. I think you
can survive your entire life by shunning even the best advice, and not only
that, but it might be the most desirable life available to you. Maybe the only
people who don’t believe this are the ones desperate for you to take their
advice—what losers! Why don’t they take their own advice? Why are you telling
me what to you? Physician: sort out thyself’s own hot fucking mess!
I went off track but you get my point.
There’s a wealth of indie authors and publishers out there: get digging and
become one of those music hipsters, but, like, for cool new stories and authors.
Use the time you would’ve spent to read those execrable, turgid 600+pg
bestellers on, say, 8 pages from 75+ different writers whose stories are often available
to you for free. I’ll do my best to find and promote the people I like and
please send me your favourites too.
November 2, 2016
Books & Booze for Bonespin Slipspace!
Hello again!
Today on The Next Best Book Blog, I tell you what the characters of Bonespin Slipspace are drinking :)
Oh what’s that seamless segue about Bonespin? It’s my horror novella that Psychedelic Horror Press brought out yesterday and is now available here!
I do hope you’ll order it and show this new indie press some love :)
Bonespin is getting some great early reviews, like this one from Danger Slater (I’m a huge fan of his novel Puppet Skin!)
That’s all for now. Cheers for the support!! :)
October 21, 2016
Twisted50 now available!!
Hey everyone!
It’s been about five minutes since you heard anything about me and my writing, so here’s another announcement:
Twisted50 is now available on Amazon! (Goodreads page here.)
Twisted50 is an awesome collection of horror short stories (I read many already during the submission process) from a bunch of emerging writers amongst which I’m proud to number. My story was one of five awarded a Twisted50 Award, and you can read the story behind my story here!
The physical book itself will be made available at a later date, and there’s gonna be a party and everything, and I’m going to get literary-drunk and slur to strangers about “what the writer’s job is.” #TooMuchFun
(Did you guys also know I have this novella, “Bonespin Slipspace”, brought out by Psychedelic Horror Press this Halloween but you can pre-order it here? Giveaway here? Goodreads page here? Review by Unnerving Magazine here? Good!)
October 20, 2016
Review of Bonespin Slipspace by Unnerving Magazine!
Hello again!
New today is a review of “Bonespin Slipspace” by Unnerving Magazine! Check it out here :)
This mag has been well good to me and I was the first to contribute to their book recommendations feature, so if you’re a reader please show your support, and if you’re a writer, do submit something to them!
Hey now you have pre-ordered “Bonespin Slipspace”, right? You’re a supporter of Psychedelic Horror Press? Just in case, the link to pre-order the book is here :)
Did you know the object itself, the book, is going to be so pretty, what with cover by Marc Molino and interior illustrations by Thuy Vi Pham? I’m so jealous of you as well by the way because I don’t have a copy and stuff takes ages to get to Norway, so you’ll probably have one before I do! Don’t you feel like rubbing that in my face? :D
Thanks for checking out this post/ my links anyways. I’ve written more stuff for other sites recently too, so I’ll be back posting something here asap!!
Ciao!!
The Story Behind My Twisted50 Story
Hello again!
#Twisted50 were looking for stories behind the stories in the upcoming Twisted vol 1 anthology (which should be available SO soon!) Here is the story behind my award-winning story “The Audition Altar” :)
Hope you enjoy!
October 19, 2016
New interview!!
Hey!!
I reached out to The Scary Reviews and they interviewed me and you can read it here!
Ciao until next time!!
(Guys don’t know if you know but I have this book coming out called “Bonespin Slipspace”? Psychedelic Horror Press? And you can totally pre-order here? And the giveaway is here? I know: just checking :D)
October 12, 2016
New Feature for Unnerving Magazine!
Hello all!
As part of my search for great litmags and promotion of my new horror novella “Bonespin Slipspace” (published by Psychedelic Horror Press, available Halloween but I know you’ve already clicked HERE to preorder!) I wrote about some favourite books of mine for Unnerving Magazine! Click here to read :)
Given that they’re about all things creepy, I recommended my creepiest, most of which were inspiration for Bonespin. If you’re new to me or curious about the novella or insatiably searching for new reading matter, I’m sure it’ll be worth your while :D
ENJOY!
October 6, 2016
Cover revealed!Here is the cover for my new novella, “Bonespin...
Cover revealed!
Here is the cover for my new novella, “Bonespin Slipspace”, to be published by Psychedelic Horror Press this Halloween! Pre-order available NOW: http://psychedelichorror.storenvy.com/products/18095684-bonespin-slipspace-by-leo-x-robertson
This has been a super exciting collaboration between myself, the good people at PHP, Marc Molino (cover artist) and Thuy Vi Pam (interior illustrations), ever since the story was accepted in FEBRUARY.
I’ll be contacting you good friends of mine with an ARC, but please don’t hesitate to get in touch :)
Can’t wait until this one is in your hands!!
- Leo
September 26, 2016
Schlock! Bi-Monthly Vol 2., Issue 8Copies of the mag in which my...
Schlock! Bi-Monthly Vol 2., Issue 8
Copies of the mag in which my first-ever in-print story arrived today! Such a cool feeling. The mag looks great!! Many thanks to Rogue Planet Press :)
Get your own here, and if you’re a writer, do consider submitting to Schlock! Webzine. It’s so cool to know that there are author-friendly zines out there actively looking to find and promote new people!
