Michael Bailey's Blog, page 7

PRISMS

Prisms (co-edited by Darren Speegle and yours truly) is now available by PS Publishing. Available in trade hardcover or limited signed / numbered hardback (only 100, signed by all).

Instruments, mirrors, metaphors, gateways humankind must pass through in order to achieve, to overcome, to realize, to become. Contained herein are nineteen transformative tales from some of speculative fiction’s most brilliant minds. So open your eyes and let the light pass through . . .

Table of Contents:

“We Come In Threes” – B.E. Scully
“Encore for an Empty Sky” – Lynda E. Rucker
“The Girl with Black Fingers” – Roberta Lannes
“The Shimmering Wall” – Brian Evenson
“In This, There Is No Sting” – Kristi DeMeester
“The Birth of Venus” – Ian Watson
“Fifty Super-Sad Mad Dog Sui-Homicidal Self-Sibs, All in a Leaky Tin Can Head” – Paul Di Filippo
“Rivergrace” – E. Catherine Tobler
“Saudade” – Richard Thomas
“There Is Nothing Lost” – Erinn L. Kemper
“This Height and Fiery Speed” – A.C. Wise
“The Motel Business” – Michael Marshall Smith
“Everything Beautiful Is Also a Lie” – Damien Angelica Walters
“The Gearbox” – Paul Meloy
“District to Cervix: The Time Before We Were Born” – Tlotlo Tsamaase
“Here Today and Gone Tomorrow” – Chaz Brenchley
“The Secrets of My Prison House – J Lincoln Fenn
“A Luta Continua – Nadia Bulkin
“I Shall But Love Thee Better” – Scott Edelman

Cover art by Ben Baldwin

JOSH MALERMAN TAKES THE STOKER!

A special congratulations to Josh Malerman for winning his first Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction for his story “One Last Transformation” in Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors. This was Josh’s eighth Stoker nomination in only a handful of years, and his first statue of hopefully many. I imagine him having an entire village in the near future. I imagine he’ll write a story about it. I imagine he already has.

Congratulations as well to co-editor Doug Murano, who worked with me tirelessly to bring something completely original to the world of anthologies. The book itself was nominated for Superior Achievement in an Anthology. Doug is an incredible Bram Stoker Award-winning editor and also working his way to a village. Look soon for his next project, The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors, from his new press Bad Hand Books.

The anthology is currently up for Anthology of the Year by This is Horror. Find it here:

Amazon: eBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and a part of Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Noble: trade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!): trade paperback | hardcover

THE IMPOSSIBLE WEIGHT OF LIFE – $0.99

My most recent collection, The Impossible Weight of Life, is on sale for less than a buck on @AmazonKindle in the US and UK. Snag it here: https://amzn.to/2XIuQBA (US), or here: https://amzn.to/2XGiR7F (UK). This is me, flipped upside-down, dissected, and put on display.

An autobiographical collection of speculative fiction and poetry by Michael Bailey. Contains Bram Stoker Award-nominated short stories such as “I Will Be the Reflection Until the End” and “Time Is a Face on the Water,” but also never-before-published mind-benders created during his “highly-medicated” state of recovery, including a story about memory loss called “Fragments of Br_an,” (composed on a typewriter that no longer exists, now ash), “Emergence of the Colorless,” a statement about the beginning of the end of prejudice, and the far future “Oll Korrect,” in which artificial intelligence is used to explore humankind. As for poetry, there are favorites such as “Loosed Earth” and “Shades of Red,” but many new poems to help with balance, including “Hurt People Hurt People,” “Night Rainbows,” and “Paper Earth.”

Amazon: eBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Noble: trade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!): trade paperback | hardcover

FREE HOLIDAY E-BOOKS!

Midnight Dec. 24th through midnight Dec. 28th, the following are available as free downloads for Amazon Kindle. This is a sampling of work by Michael Bailey: short fiction & poetry (including illustrations by Daniele Serra), a composite novel, and themed long fiction. Fill up your Kindle. They’re free!

Trade paperback and hardcover editions are also available.

INKBLOTS AND BLOOD SPOTS, a painfully beautiful collection of short stories and poetry by Michael Bailey that reaches deep into the imagination, breaking hearts and boundaries along the way. Features an introduction by Douglas E. Winter, and illustrations and cover artwork by Daniele Serra;. This book was originally published by Villipede Publications. This second edition is now published by Written Backwards.

Amazon: eBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and a part of Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Noble: trade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!): trade paperback | hardcover

PHOENIX ROSE, a composite novel. Michael Bailey returns to the strange town of Brenden, Washington to expand the events of Palindrome Hannah. A family is torn apart after a horse foaling goes terribly wrong; a sickly man recounts getting mauled by his neighbor’s dog; an undead priest is reborn into the world a hundred-fifty years after his untimely death; two brothers run for their lives through a dead field of wheat. Holding all of this together is a young boy named Todd, whose survival pivots on the balance of life and death, and a deranged mental patient with a burnt rose tattoo, whose reality is paradoxical. Cover artwork by Michael Ian Bateson.

Amazon: eBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and a part of Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Noble: trade paperback | hardcover 

Books-A-Million (BAM!): trade paperback | hardcover

OVERSIGHT, a themed collection of two novelettes and a short story by Michael Bailey. Includes “Darkroom” and “SAD Face” (novelettes), and “Fade to Black” (short story).

Amazon: eBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Noble: trade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!): trade paperback | hardcover

THE IMPOSSIBLE WEIGHT OF E-BOOKS

Starting midnight on Friday the 13th (November 13, 2020) through midnight the 20th, The Impossible Weight of Life eBook is on sale at Amazon for only $1.99 in the US, and £1.99 in the UK. Also available in hardcover and trade paperback.

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AVAILABLE NOW – THE IMPOSSIBLE WEIGHT OF LIFE

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Written Backwards presents The Impossible Weight of Life, a painfully autobiographical collection of speculative fiction and poetry by Michael Bailey, author of previous collections such as Scales and Petals, Inkblots and Blood Spots, and Oversight. Available now wherever books are sold!

Amazon: eBook | trade paperback | hardcover. Also available in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, and Kindle Unlimited where available.

Barnes & Noble: trade paperback | hardcover

Books-A-Million (BAM!): trade paperback | hardcover

Fiction:

Time is a Face on the WaterSpeaking CursiveGhosts of CalistogaMöbiusThe Long White LineHourglassThe Other Side of SemicolonsGaveEssential OilsFragments of Br_anI Will Be the Reflection Until the EndEmergence of the ColorlessOll Korrect

Poetry:

Loosed EarthHurt People Hurt PeopleLife (C)remainsLest We EndPast the PastBlinkSands of TimeShades of RedWho Will Teach Them?The Nocturnal Waking NightmarePaper EarthApanthropyNight Rainbows

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THE IMPOSSIBLE WEIGHT OF LIFE

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Written Backwards presents The Impossible Weight of Life, a painfully autobiographical collection of speculative fiction and poetry by Michael Bailey, author of previous collections such as Scales and Petals, Inkblots and Blood Spots, and Oversight.

Release date: October 13th, 2020.

This time around, after an imbalanced world temporarily destroyed his vestibular system and flipped life upside-down (thanks to an extended bout of a strange condition called Bilateral Loss of Labyrinthine Function), literally burned to the ground during California wildfires, then became threatened after rising from the ashes by acts of school violence, a flood, further fire evacuations, prolonged power outages, multiple uprootings, social injustice, political unrest, and finally a global pandemic, he decided it’s time to bend the boundaries of the written word once more, in case, you know, the world rolls itself off the giant scale that balances life and death to end things once and for all.

This collection contains Bram Stoker Award-nominated short stories such as “I Will Be the Reflection Until the End” and “Time Is a Face on the Water,” but also never-before-published mind-benders created during his “highly-medicated” state of recovery, including a story about memory loss called “Fragments of Br_an,” (composed on a typewriter that no longer exists, now ash), “Emergence of the Colorless,” a statement about the beginning of the end of prejudice, and the far future “Oll Korrect,” in which artificial intelligence is used to explore humankind. As for poetry, there are favorites such as “Loosed Earth” and “Shades of Red,” but many new poems to help with balance, including “Hurt People Hurt People,” “Night Rainbows,” and “Paper Earth.”

Fiction:

Time is a Face on the Water
Speaking Cursive
Ghosts of Calistoga
Möbius
The Long White Line
Hourglass
The Other Side of Semicolons
Gave
Essential Oils
Fragments of Br_an
I Will Be the Reflection Until the End
Emergence of the Colorless
Oll Korrect

Poetry:

Loosed Earth
Hurt People Hurt People
Life (C)remains
Lest We End
Past the Past
Blink
Sands of Time
Shades of Red
Who Will Teach Them?
The Nocturnal Waking Nightmare
Night Rainbows
Cartwheels
Paper Earth

Available for pre-order soon in trade paperback and eBook …  

CHIRAL MAD – ILLUSTRATED! (and final push)

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Thanks to your help, Chiral Mad 5 is happening. We have officially reached the first two goal unlocks, which means the anthology will include at least 100,000 words of fiction and poetry, featuring at least 15 stories and 15 poems, and will have the fiction illustrated throughout.

Seth Brown has been commissioned to create black and white interior artwork for each of the stories within Chiral Mad 5. At least 15, but perhaps more. Some of his most recent work includes cover art for FIYAH Literary Magazine.

But the campaign’s not over yet. We have until midnight tonight to reach our next unlock:

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When the campaign reaches 150% funding, or $7,500, all contributors of underrepresented demographics will receive 8 cents per word for their fiction (instead of 6 cents per word, and likewise a bump for poetry payment) to meet SFWA consideration for professional payment.

After the campaign ends, it will still run for a few months (for additional pre-orders) so additional funds can be collected to hopefully make this final goal happen. So, you are not only helping raise funds for Black Lives Matter (where all profit from this book will go), but you are also helping writers receive professional payment for their work, at rates not only approved by the Horror Writers Association (HWA), but also the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Thank you for your support!

Let’s keep this going …

CHIRAL MAD 5 – UPDATE!

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Chiral Mad 5 is now 115% funded! This means the anthology will include at least 15 stories and 15 poems, or around 90,000 words (but will most likely include more, depending on the success of this campaign, probably closer to 100,000).

But the campaign is not over yet, and is scheduled to end August 4, 2020 at 11:59pm PDT, which means there’s still time to pre-order and help make the book even better. Those who pre-order directly through the campaign will receive the book a few months prior to publication. And if we hit the next stretch goal, which isn’t far off, the anthology will include illustrations.

Chiral Mad 5 will be released in eBook, trade paperback, trade hardcover, and in a special deluxe signed & numbered hardcover limited to only 100 copies (which you can only get through this campaign), so if you want one, get it now by clicking any of the links within this post, or on any of the images, or click here.

When the campaign reaches 130% funding, or $6,500, illustrations will be included. If you’re familiar with previous Written Backwards anthologies, you know the artwork will be incredible, and created by the best in the business.

Here’s an update on the Table of Contents. Please note that some of the invited writers have until the end of the year to turn in their work, so more exciting announcements are on the way in the near future. Basically, if you’ve seen them in the news these last few weeks, it’s most likely them.

Fiction

“Feeling Like a Big Kid at the End of the Beginning” by Paul Michael Anderson
“Tears That Never Stain” by Jessica May Lin
“The Drunken Tree” by Tonya Liburd
“The Queen of Talley’s Corner” by Gary A. Braunbeck
“Sable’s Bestiary for Those Who Remain” by Hailey Piper
“Redstarts in the Last Summer” by Vajra Chandrasekera
“Ancestries” by Sheree Renée Thomas
“Elevator” by Michael Paul Gonzalez
“I’m Not Sam” by Jack Ketchum & Lucky McKee (paperback / hardback only)

Poetry

“Chasing the Serpent” by Marge Simon
“Dark Neighborhood” by Cindy O’Quinn
“Corpuscular” / “Absence” / “Chalk” by Shane Douglas Keene
“The Infinite Lives of the Little Match Girl” by Christina Sng
“Seasonal Meat” by Jamal Hodge
“Asphyxia” by Maxwell I. Gold
“Magmatic” by LH Moore
“Yesterday at 1:53 p.m.” by B.E. Scully
“Spectacular Degeneration” by Zoje Stage
“Colorblind” by Wrath James White

More announcements are on the way.

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CHIRAL MAD 5 – 100% FUNDED!

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Chiral Mad 5 is now 100% funded! The work sought out and also submitted for consideration so far has been incredible, and more work is on the way. The book will include at least 80,000 words of fiction by writers from around the world, as well as poetry and artwork. This will be the most diverse, most powerful anthology Written Backwards has ever created. Thank you for all your support!

If you’re even considering snagging a copy of Chiral Mad 5, I highly suggest pre-ordering a copy through the campaign in one of it’s many formats: eBook, trade paperback, trade hardcover, and in a special deluxe signed & numbered hardcover that is limited to only 100 copies. Pre-order through the campaign, and you will get your copy well before the general public.

Since we reached 100% funding early in the campaign (with about a month and a half to go), we are now releasing unlock goals. Basically, as new funding goals are met from campaign backers, more contributions will be included in the anthology. This means a thicker volume of work for you to enjoy, and the ability to pay more writers of underrepresented demographics professional rates for their work.

So, here’s the next campaign goal, and what that will include:

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When the campaign reaches 115% funding, or $5,750, two more short stories and two more poems will be included in the anthology, or equivalent up to 10,000 words of fiction and two additional poems, thus paying 4 additional contributors professional rates for their work. When Unlock #1 is reached, Unlock #2 will be revealed, so stay tuned …

The Table of Contents so far includes:

“Redstarts in the Last Summer” by Vajra Chandrasekera

“Ancestries” by Sheree Renée Thomas

“Elevator” by Michael Paul Gonzalez

“The Infinite Lives of the Little Match Girl” by Christina Sng

“I’m Not Sam” by Jack Ketchum & Lucky McKee

“Seasonal Meat” by Jamal Hodge

“Asphyxia” by Maxwell I. Gold

“Magmatic” by LH Moore

“Yesterday at 1:53 p.m.” by B.E. Scully

“Spectacular Degeneration” by Zoje Stage

“Colorblind” by Wrath James White

“Seven Symptoms of the End/Beginning/End/Beginning…” by Linda D. Addison

More announcements are on the way.

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