Big week last week, though the glacier started calving the week before, really. From there, it was a matter of just watching those giant glittering sheets shear off the mother ice and listen to them slam into the water, generating frequencies that are both beautiful and horrible, ineffable and of the body so much that you feel them echo in your bones. I probably shouldn't even discuss this, but nobody's reading this blog, right? And even if they were, what are you going to do, go to LOCUS and shout that I've announced the outline of the next seven or so years of my work? That's nutso. I mean, flat crazy. We may not even be here in seven years, but I'm willing to make that bet. It's not like
So here's a podcast worth listening to, and I don't usually say that so very often. https://lovecraftezine.libsyn.com/a-conversation-with-laird-barron-and-john-langan It's between John Langan and Laird Barron (and the Lovecraft Ezine Podcast crew). And it covers a lot of ground: survival, kinship, owning influences, validation, the permeability of genre. But one thing I wanted to touch on, particularly as a feral writer myself, was the whole idea of "the triumph of competence" in writing workshops et al. I'll let this dovetail into my whole writing advice vs success advice hobby horse that I occasionally trot out. You know, when people ask for (or more often give unsolicited) advice on writi
Spoilers for FRAILTY (2001) follow. Minor, oblique spoilers for PHANTASM too, I suppose. Ah, the lone crusader for justice and truth. He alone can see the tormentors of society and humanity, those who feed on our very souls. They are elevated and cursed, able to see through the polite constructions of law and those who clothe themselves in pretended morality. This crusader is a purifying flame, cutting out the blackened and corrupted flesh of evil from the body that is the world. They carry out god's judgment here on earth, driven by visions and simply a knowledge of what is right and wrong. How much of heroic fantasy fiction rests on this foundation? Well, a bit. But SUPERNATURAL, which see
If you can recall the song without looking it up, I'll be impressed. Likely it's not one you've heard. Unless you were paying attention to the debris of the Paisley Underground exploding in Los Angeles circa the early ending of the eighties. That's okay. Maybe you had to be there. EVENT RELATED ECHO, which I think I announced last week or was it the week before (time has become shallow and flexible as opposed to geologic and deep) continues apace. Introduction is in and I just need to make sure that I can post one of the stories that's slated for inclusion in it. I'm half-tempted to go ahead and do it anyways. It's not like I'm preventing it from appearing in other places, and the licensing
Pretty sure I've used that title before. That's okay. There's folks who go their entire careers just recycling their own work or the work of others. They do okay. But sometimes they end up trapped by it. Look at JK Rowling. A monumental, titanic success and all she's ever going to do is Harry Potterverse stuff for the rest of her life. Sure, she may write other books but relatively speaking, ain't nobody gonna care. Same with Stephanie Meyer and for that matter E.L. James. Rewriting books they've already written (that were certainly not technically good -- but that just goes to show that technique is vastly overpraised as a thing to reach for -- entertainment is where it's at.) But still, th
No, there's no hyphen. Sure, that's not grammatically correct. That's fair. It's also the title of a collection of short stories of mine that will be coming out, hopefully around the middle of October. I'm waiting to hear back on the foreword and rights reversions of one of the stories (which shouldn't be an issue, but I'm just crossing the i's and dotting the t's.) As usual, it covers the science fiction and horror territory (and horror's nothing but fantasy tilted towards darkness, soooo...) Here's the cover. (Yes, that is not a joke. That's the actual cover.) Here's a list of stories that'll be found within. The Black Mass Variations Through the Limbs Ballgame Ringer The Stars So Broken C
