Me, Interviewed

There's a new micro interview up at Innsmouth Free Press. This one, though, is a bit different. I am no longer the interviewer. Instead, I got interviewed. If you want to know a bit more about my interest in publishing (and me in general), you should head on over and check it out.

Innsmouth Free Press Issue 12 Interviews

I've posted about Innsmouth Free Press' twelfth and newest issue before. Suffice to say, it's damn good Weird Fiction, and you should read it. Since, I've been doing a series of interviews with the contributors to the issue. As interviews with Weird Fiction authors clearly fall under this blog's purview, I figured I'd link those of you here to them:

Allen Griffin
KL Pereira
Steve Toase
E. Catherine Tobler

Of course, that's not the full roster of contributors yet. The rest should be up in the next few weeks, and I'll post again once they are.

In other IFP news, it's worth pointing out that the Swords and Mythos table of contents is out now and that there is a forthcoming collection of Mythos fiction from Nick Mamatas. The biggest change, though, is that the IFP magazine will no longer be free to read. That's sad news. The silver lining, though, is that, in addition to paid ebooks, print editions will be available. Being as big a fan of print fiction as I am, I can't regard this as all bad news.

Innsmouth Free Press, Twelfth Issue

The twelfth issue of Innsmouth Free Press' online magazine came out on the eighteenth of February. I want to post about it for two reasons. First, I am an Editorial Assistant over at that fine press, so I would obviously like as many people to read the issue as possible. But, were that my only interest in the matter, I would have mentioned it on the eighteenth.

The other reason, and the dominant of the two, is that the issue contains some really excellent Weird fiction that any reader of this blog would do very well to check out. Just the other day I had my first chance to read each of the stories, and I am bursting with great things to say about them. I won't be doing a formal review of the issue, as reviewing something a Press I am affiliated with put out seems more than a tad questionable. But direct your attention towards it? Most certainly.

Of particular note to longtime readers may be the piece by Leslianne Wilder in it. I loved her story in the second issue of Shock Totem and was thrilled to see more of the work. It's all high quality stuff, though, and it's even free to read. Check it out.

As a final cool note on the issue, I will mention that I am now in the process of conducting interviews with the contributors for Innsmouth. I'll throw up some links when those go live.

Sylvia Shults - Price of Admission

My review of Sylvia Shults' paranormal romance, Price of Admission, is now up at Innsmouth Free Press. I can't say I was a fan.

Publications and News

I have a few announcements I've been meaning to make, some of them for a damn sight longer than I should have. So making today's post a nice spewing of them seemed like a nice Christmas present to get my To Do list.

The first category is publications. Since I've last discussed the matter, I've had two stories accepted. The first is "Defiance and Darkness," a Horror piece that has been snapped up by Space and Time Magazine. "Defiance and Darkness" represents a curious dead end for me. It was the first story I ever wrote intending to submit once it was done, and I wrote it in a style unlike that which I used for anything before or after. I quite like how it turned out. One of my close friends, and the fellow who's read more of my work than anyone else, considered it his favorite for a long while.

In the last few days, "Defiance and Darkness" was joined on its perch by "Solo." "Solo" is a Science Fiction tale that lies somewhere between quirky and Lovecraftian. This one is to appear in Interstellar Fiction.

Of the other two that have been slotted for publication for quite a few months now (which is to say, "Painting Nothing" and "Hope Immortal"), I can confirm that movement is indeed being had on both fronts. The two should be out for you to read before all that much longer.

Then there's the matter of Fungi, an anthology that I have nothing in but that, in my role as an Editorial Assistant over at Innsmouth Free Press, I did do some promotion towards. The book's got stories by a list of contributors that boasts VanderMeer, Mamatas, Bairron, Strantzas, Tobler, Pugmire, Tidhar, and more. If your tastes match up even vaguely with mine, I'd say that's a list that simply cannot miss.

Finally, I would like to direct everyone's attention over to The Arkham Digest. Its author, Justin, contacted me before going live and, though I did fire off a response or two, he has no doubt realized how absolutely atrocious I can be with emails sometimes. I apologize once more for that, Justin. Hopefully you'll forgive me if I tell all those folks reading this that The Arkham Digest has been posting varied, enjoyable, and insightful commentary since it debuted. He even has a Fungi review!

News: Editorial Assistant, Publication v9, and the Kenyon Collegian

Though I’ve been horrifically dilatory about finally mentioning it on here, I’ve spent the last few weeks as an Editorial Assistant over at Innsmouth Free Press. In that time, I’ve begun a column about upcoming Horror releases, contacted reviewers for the upcoming anthology Fungi, and participated in numerous dark rituals. Wait, scratch that last part. You aren’t supposed to know about that yet.

Anyway, it’s a rather exciting position that involves working with some great people and on some great books. As for what it means round these parts, the answer is, at least for the moment: not a great deal. Reviews shall continue as they have been. I will, though, link future new release columns up so any interested readers can hop on over and take a look. The one that just passed is here. If you are a Horror writer with a book coming out, feel free to email me for inclusion, but know that I would strongly prefer you do so only a week or two before release date. If you are a Horror reviewer and would like a crack at Fungi, email me about that too.

In other news (which is to say, the news that tripped this news post from “I’ve really to to get on that” to “this delay is just getting embarrassing”), the good folks over at Plasma Frequency Magazine are to publish my short story “A Game of Distance” in their third issue, scheduled for release on December 5^th.

Finally, the Kenyon Collegian (which is to say, the newspaper of Kenyon College, that college at which I’ve been reading books for degrees and then relaxing by reading more for fun for some time now) has featured me in an article entitled "Existential Themes and Swordfights." Exciting stuff!

Cameron Pierce - Cthulhu Comes to the Vampire Kingdom

Last week, Innsmouth Free Press published my review of Cameron Pierce's Cthulhu Comes to the Vampire Kingdom. In case you were wondering, the book is just as bizarre as the title makes it sound. You can read the review here.

Daniel Kraus - Rotters

My review of Rotters is up at Innsmouth Free Press. If you need a reason to click over, know that: 1. Rotters was a great read, and 2. that there may or may not be candy at the end of the review.

Historical Lovecraft Preorders

Are you interested in a book of Lovecraft-inspired horror stories stretching back throughout history? A book that happens to contain stories by E. Catherine Tobler, Josh Reynolds, William Meikle, Jesse Bullington, and quite a few more fantastic authors, all gathered to present you excellent tales of supernatural misfortune, disaster, and woe? A list of authors that would not, of course, be complete without good ol' me? 

Of course you're interested. The question we face today is not do you want to read some great fiction? because that's obvious (you do, in case you're wondering). The question we must face is: do you want to read great fiction while shaving twenty percent off the cover price? If you answered yes, you'll be glad to know that Historical Lovecraft is now available for preorders. Buy as many as you want. I promise I won't get mad if you get a copy for everyone you know.