Year in Review
2010 was quite a year.
I figured, since so much had happened that I was having a hard time keeping it all straight, I'd try to do a "year in review" post summarizing all the crazy stuff that happened this last year, to the best of my ability. Of course, probably the biggest thing is that I was contacted by Jason Yarn, an agent with Paradigm after he saw my submission to the Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities call for micro-submissions. He and I have been talking since, and hopefully there'll be some big related news on the horizon.
Three of my stories appeared this year. "Nature vs. Nurture" appeared in the third fiction issue of Innsmouth Free Press, where it also won the readers' poll for best story in that issue. My flash story "Ex Libris" appeared at Everyday Weirdness. And "The Clowder," which I sold years ago, finally appeared in the Cat Tales 2 anthology from Wildside Press.
While "The Worm that Gnaws" was published in 2009, in 2010 it was voted the best Pseudopod of 2009 in an annual forum poll, which made me very proud.
That was it for fiction in 2010, but it was the Year of Nonfiction for me. Back in February I started my column on international horror cinema at Innsmouth Free Press (the latest installment of which is here), and I participated throughout the year in Vampire Awareness Month and Ghost Appreciation Month. This coming February I'll be one of the MCs for Monster Awareness Month, which I am very excited about. I also wrote a piece on Mignola, Wellman, and Modern Myth-Building for IndiePulp. But my proudest nonfiction moment of the year was being asked to write a piece for Strange Horizons on a subject very near and dear to my heart, which you can take a gander at over here, if I've not already pointed at it and jumped up and down enough times.
The end of 2010 saw a fairly unprecedented flurry of short story sales that should all be appearing in 2011 sometime. First "Letters from the Monster Show" sold to the forthcoming YA ezine Scape, then, in rapid succession, I sold three stories to anthologies that should be hitting next year. "Black Hill" will be in Historical Lovecraft, the first anthology from Innsmouth Free Press. "Count Brass" will be in The Burning Maiden from Evil Eye Books. And "The Devil in the Box" will be in Delicate Toxins from Side Real Press. In every one of those I'm in some very august company, and I'll keep you updated about ordering information and such as it becomes available.
A lot of stuff happened in my "real life" this year, too. I got a new job, for starters. My lovely, smart, and talented wife was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, went on short term disability, had to quit her job, and found a new one that suits her much better. Our cat had a brush with death, and we learned that she needs some extensive dental work done. Ups and downs, in other words, but I think we came out of it better than we started, which is good enough.
I could go on and on about things that happened to friends, movies I saw, books I read, but I've mostly talked about those things before, and this is getting long enough. I'll close with a few links to a couple of other fun things I participated in this year: a micro-interview with me at Innsmouth Free Press, Vincent Price Day live-Tweeting with me and Selena Chambers, and my 74* favorite horror movies.
That's the short version of 2010, anyway. (God help you if I'd gone with the long one.) It was an exciting year, if not always a pleasant one, and 2011 is shaping up to be just as exciting and hopefully even more pleasant. See you then!
I figured, since so much had happened that I was having a hard time keeping it all straight, I'd try to do a "year in review" post summarizing all the crazy stuff that happened this last year, to the best of my ability. Of course, probably the biggest thing is that I was contacted by Jason Yarn, an agent with Paradigm after he saw my submission to the Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities call for micro-submissions. He and I have been talking since, and hopefully there'll be some big related news on the horizon.
Three of my stories appeared this year. "Nature vs. Nurture" appeared in the third fiction issue of Innsmouth Free Press, where it also won the readers' poll for best story in that issue. My flash story "Ex Libris" appeared at Everyday Weirdness. And "The Clowder," which I sold years ago, finally appeared in the Cat Tales 2 anthology from Wildside Press.
While "The Worm that Gnaws" was published in 2009, in 2010 it was voted the best Pseudopod of 2009 in an annual forum poll, which made me very proud.
That was it for fiction in 2010, but it was the Year of Nonfiction for me. Back in February I started my column on international horror cinema at Innsmouth Free Press (the latest installment of which is here), and I participated throughout the year in Vampire Awareness Month and Ghost Appreciation Month. This coming February I'll be one of the MCs for Monster Awareness Month, which I am very excited about. I also wrote a piece on Mignola, Wellman, and Modern Myth-Building for IndiePulp. But my proudest nonfiction moment of the year was being asked to write a piece for Strange Horizons on a subject very near and dear to my heart, which you can take a gander at over here, if I've not already pointed at it and jumped up and down enough times.
The end of 2010 saw a fairly unprecedented flurry of short story sales that should all be appearing in 2011 sometime. First "Letters from the Monster Show" sold to the forthcoming YA ezine Scape, then, in rapid succession, I sold three stories to anthologies that should be hitting next year. "Black Hill" will be in Historical Lovecraft, the first anthology from Innsmouth Free Press. "Count Brass" will be in The Burning Maiden from Evil Eye Books. And "The Devil in the Box" will be in Delicate Toxins from Side Real Press. In every one of those I'm in some very august company, and I'll keep you updated about ordering information and such as it becomes available.
A lot of stuff happened in my "real life" this year, too. I got a new job, for starters. My lovely, smart, and talented wife was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, went on short term disability, had to quit her job, and found a new one that suits her much better. Our cat had a brush with death, and we learned that she needs some extensive dental work done. Ups and downs, in other words, but I think we came out of it better than we started, which is good enough.
I could go on and on about things that happened to friends, movies I saw, books I read, but I've mostly talked about those things before, and this is getting long enough. I'll close with a few links to a couple of other fun things I participated in this year: a micro-interview with me at Innsmouth Free Press, Vincent Price Day live-Tweeting with me and Selena Chambers, and my 74* favorite horror movies.
That's the short version of 2010, anyway. (God help you if I'd gone with the long one.) It was an exciting year, if not always a pleasant one, and 2011 is shaping up to be just as exciting and hopefully even more pleasant. See you then!