Alan Baxter's Blog, page 97

Set course for the Mozzarella System

It doesn't need to be said that I'm a complete nerd. I'm proud of it. Here's further proof. My good friend Cat Sparks made me aware of this awesome piece of merchandise and I had to have one:

It's a pizza cutter, Jim, but not as we know it.

Bloody effective too, it cuts a great slice of pizza.

Cat got one too, as did another friend and we're planning to have a pizza party soon where all the pizzas will be sliced by a fleet of Enterprises.

Come on, admit it – you're a little bit jealous.

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Dymocks Southland Bestselling Horror Titles for October 2010

Things like this make me inordinately happy. As you'll know from previous posts, I attended a group signing at Dymocks in Southland on Halloween. Here's the proof that in-store signings are still relevant, as well as a lot of fun. That particular store releases a monthly list of bestselling dark fiction titles. The list for October is out and it looks like this:

1. Sookie Stackhouse (series) – Charlaine Harris

2. Vampire Academy (series) – Richelle Mead

3. Torment (Fallen #2) – Lauren Kate

4. Parasol Protectorate (series) – Gail Carriger

5. The Dead (The Enemy #2) – Charlie Higson

6. Alone (Chasers #1) – James Phelan

7. Twilight (series) – Stephanie Meyer

8. Realmshift – Alan Baxter

9. The Loving Dead – Amelia Beamer

10. Under Stones – Bob Franklin

11. The Zen of Zombie – Scott Kenemore

12. Madigan Mine – Kirstyn McDermott

13. Z – Michael Thomas Ford

14. The Darkness Within – Jason Nahrung

15. Dracula – Bram Stoker

The bolded items at 8, 10, 12 and 14 are four of the five of us that were signing that day. To see my book listed in the top 10 selling horror titles for October is very humbling. Thanks again for a great event, Chuck!

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We've tried three times already

I was driving home this weekend and I saw this. I apologise for the blurry picture, but I had to snap it as I drove by. It did make me laugh:

Fourth Coming Auction

At first I thought that maybe it was a clever way of saying that you'll get a good price, because it's been on the market three times before or something like that. But the fourth (ironically) bullet point say, "1st time offered in 40 years". So there's no excuse.

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ThrillerCast episode 4 – Rick Chesler interview

Episode 4 of the ThrillerCast podcast, hosted by myself and David Wood is up now. This week we interview Rick Chesler, author of Wired Kingdom, a new thriller about a whale fitted with a webcam that accidentally films a murder. All the details here.

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World Fantasy Award winners announced

The World Fantasy Award winners for works published in 2009 have been announced by Locus online. I've copied the list of nominees and bolded the winners.

Novel

* The City & The City, China Miéville (Macmillan UK/ Del Rey) A Hugo and WFA this year. Go China!

* Blood of Ambrose, James Enge (Pyr)

* The Red Tree, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)

* Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland)

* In Great Waters, Kit Whitfield (Jonathan Cape UK/Del Rey)

Novella

* "Sea-Hearts", Margo Lanagan (X6 )  Aussie represent! Buy X6 and read this.

* The Women of Nell Gwynne's, Kage Baker (Subterranean)

* "I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said", Richard Bowes (F&SF 12/09)

* "The Lion's Den", Steve Duffy (Nemonymous Nine: Cern Zoo)

* The Night Cache, Andy Duncan (PS)

* "Everland", Paul Witcover (Everland and Other Stories)

Short Story

* "The Pelican Bar", Karen Joy Fowler (Eclipse Three) 

* "A Journal of Certain Events of Scientific Interest from the First Survey Voyage of the Southern Waters by HMS Ocelot, As Observed by Professor Thaddeus Boswell, DPhil, MSc, or, A Lullaby", Helen Keeble (Strange Horizons 6/09)

* "Singing on a Star", Ellen Klages (Firebirds Soaring)

* "The Persistence of Memory, or This Space for Sale", Paul Park (Postscripts 20/21: Edison's Frankenstein)

* "In Hiding", R.B. Russell (Putting the Pieces in Place)

* "Light on the Water", Genevieve Valentine (Fantasy 10/09)

Anthology

* American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny: From Poe to the Pulps/From the 1940s to Now, Peter Straub, ed. (Library of America)

* Poe, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Solaris)

* Songs of The Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Subterranean/Voyager)

* Exotic Gothic 3: Strange Visitations, Danel Olson, ed. (Ash-Tree)

* Eclipse Three, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade)

* The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology, Gordon Van Gelder, ed. (Tachyon)

Collection (tie)

* There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (Penguin)

* The Very Best of Gene Wolfe/The Best of Gene Wolfe, Gene Wolfe (PS /Tor)

* We Never Talk About My Brother, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon)

* Fugue State, Brian Evenson (Coffee House)

* Northwest Passages, Barbara Roden (Prime)

* Everland and Other Stories, Paul Witcover (PS)

Artist

* Charles Vess 

* John Jude Palencar

* John Picacio

* Jason Zerrillo

* Sam Weber

Special Award – Professional

* Jonathan Strahan for editing anthologies Aussie represent again! 

* Peter & Nicky Crowther for PS Publishing

* Ellen Datlow for editing anthologies

* Hayao Miyazaki for Ponyo

* Barbara & Christopher Roden for Ash-Tree Press

* Jacob & Rina Weisman for Tachyon Publications

Special Award – Non-Professional

* Susan Marie Groppi for Strange Horizons 

* John Berlyne for Powers: Secret Histories

* Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, & Sean Wallace for Clarkesworld

* John Klima for Electric Velocipede

* Bob Colby, B. Diane Martin, David Shaw, and Eric M. Van for Readercon

* Ray Russell & Rosalie Parker for Tartarus Press

Massive congratulations to all the winners and nominees, especially our two Australian winners. Well done everyone.

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Dymocks Halloween Signing, with pics

The group signing this weekend to celebrate Halloween was great fun. Five authors all lined up at tables right in the doorway of Dymocks in Southland, scaring innocent passing shoppers. We had lots of people dropping by, friends coming to say hello, new people introducing themselves and complete strangers happy to have a chat. One guy was chatting to me about dark fantasy, looking very closely at a copy of RealmShift and I thought he was planning to buy a copy. Then he started thumbing through it and said, "Oh, there are rude words in here!"

"Yes," said I, "quite a few actually."

He made a noise of nervous fear, put the book down and hurried away. Very strange. Thank fuck he didn't buy the book and start reading before he'd had a thumb through. Poor fella might have keeled over.

But even so, many books were signed and sold and everyone had a ball. Many thanks to Chuck McKenzie for organising it – we need more people like Chuck in charge of bookshops!

Here are a few pics from the day:

Bob Franklin was running late and missed out on this group photo. In this shot are myself and Jason Nahrung at the back, with Kirstyn McDermott and Bruce Kaplan sitting down in front.

We had a visit from the crime sisters, so this shot is (L to R) Standing: Kylie Fox, Emme Mercer, Amanda Wrangles, Jason Nahrung, Lindy Cameron. Sitting: myself, Kirstyn McDermott, Bruce Kaplan.

Bob did show up, and here's the proof. Myself and Bob Franklin behind piles of books.

Thanks again, Chuck. Let's do it again sometime.

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Halloween HorrorCon reminder

Just a quick reminder that I'll be in Melbourne this weekend, joining in with a group signing at Dymocks in Southland. I'll be sharing the signing table with some truly notable dark fiction writers – Bob Franklin, Kirstyn McDermott, Jason Nahrung and Bruce Kaplan. So come along, buy great books, get them signed, have a Halloween party with us.

12 noon 'til 1pm on Sunday 31st October

Dymocks Southland

Shop 3067/8, Westfield Southland

1239 Nepean Highway

Cheltenham, VIC 3192

Ph: 03 9584 1245

http://www.dymocks.com.au

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Dark Places – a Halloween anthology

The publisher of my novels, Gryphonwood Press, has put together a Halloween special. They're offering an ebook anthology of short fiction from all the Gryphonwood authors, and it's free. This weekend only, you can get it for free at Smashwords, by entering the following code at checkout: AD94N

The anthology contains two reprinted stories of mine, The Night Bus and Cemetery, along with stories from John E. Bailor, Jim Bernheimer, David Debord, Terry W. Ervin II, Ryan A. Span, Sherry Thompson and an introduction by David Wood.

The full Table of Contents is:

Cemetery by Alan Baxter

Skull Face Returns by Terry W. Ervin II

Stupid Pigs by Jim Bernheimer

Sisyphus by Sherry Thompson

The Chosen One by David Debord

The Night Bus by Alan Baxter

A Sailor's Tale by Sherry Thompson

The Scene of My Second Murder by Terry W. Ervin II

Hell on Earth by John E. Bailor

Memory Game by Ryan A. Span

You can get the anthology here. Click through to buy, then enter the code above to reduce the cost the zero. Free books FTW – Enjoy! And tell your friends.

EDIT: I should also mention that you can get Dark Places from Kindle and from B&N (for Nook) but it's not free from these places. You have to pay a whole 0.99c.

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Ironic index

Driving home this evening I passed a fancy convertible driven by a young blonde lady in an expensive looking dress. The number plate read:

BLOOND

Oh, how I laughed.

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ThrillerCast Episode 3

Just a quick heads up that ThrillerCast episode 3 is now up and ready for your ears. In this latest podcast Dave and I talk about novellas, the nature of publishing big fat fantasy and lots of other stuff. There's also a Jackie Chan style out-take after the end credits if you stick it out. Enjoy, and please share the link with anyone that you think might be interested in a weekly 20 minute podcast about thriller writing, reading and publishing – with extra SFF chat as often as possible, because I'm a co-host.

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