The horrors persist, but so do I: Friday Update
News:
So I shared yesterday that Masque has been acquired by Quill & Crow Publishing House, which is the most amazing news that I’ve been sitting on (for only a few days, fortunately). I’ve published with them before: poems in their Crow Call anthologies, short stories in their zine and anthologies. It’s been a hope of mine to get a novella or novel on their backlist. I didn’t write Masque for them, but I thought while I was writing it that it would be perfect for their particular brand, and I wanted it ready for the next time they opened submissions.
I’m really excited for what the future holds for the final manuscript, but we’ll have to be patient. It’s slated for publication in 2027, with the final draft completed by this time next year. My experience with Q&C editors has been excellent thus far; I’m looking forward to rigorous edits. I’ll keep you abreast of what’s going on as it develops.
Works in Progress:
I finished the fix and final edits on May Cooler Heads Prevail, so it’s ready for when I can build up enough savings for a professional edit (I’m already on her schedule for October). I’m simply incapable of determining what genre it is, which makes it very difficult to figure out where to try submitting it. But it’s a fun, relevant little novella, and I wanted something to drop before the end of the year. I already have a delightful cover for it from Don Noble of Rooster Republic Press.
I’m waiting on an acceptance or rejection of poems presently in A Nightmare for All Seasons, so it’s nice to have something more definite on the docket. And I’m still trying to figure out if I want to try to find my Dracula reimagining a home or self-publish. I’m also mulling over a short Halloween collection of short stories and a psychosexual gothic collection of novellas/novelettes that are too horror-y for my spicy name but too spicy for horror presses (it’s my curse), but that may be for next year.
Books I’m Reading:
The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Texas Bigfoot by Lyle Blackburn
Things I’m Listening To:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Score album
Songs from the Valley by Sandra McCracken
Storybook by Linda Eder
The Strange Case of… by Halestorm
Suicide Squad album
Svrcina by Svrcina
Things I’m Watching:
The Quiet Place: Day One
Copycat
Red Notice
The Last Witch Hunter
Van Helsing
CSI: NY series
Doctor Odyssey series (finished)
WandaVision series
9-1-1 series
Found series
Say Yes to the Dress: Tan France series
Say Yes to the Dress series (finished)
America’s Got Talent series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
Poem of the Week:
the parlor room stinks, stuffy and close.
the family lies in the living room
where blood dries tacky on the upholstery
and television blares reflections onto
wide unfocused eyes. have you heard
of the troubles? do they haunt you?
