YBF&H Mention

My flist has been flooded with people reporting mentions in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21. I hadn't heard anything myself but thought I'd pop over to Amazon for a peek. I was surprised and thrilled to find Fried! Fast Food, Slow Deaths is briefly discussed on page 13, and they said that it's "wonderfully illustrated" by Steve Lines, Stephen Blundell and others. Way to go, gents! Also, the stories are called "pulpy", which is precisely what we were going for (I know -- that's a real shocker, with the title of the book being what it is). A small thrill, but a thrill nonetheless.

This past weekend was absolutely packed. I worked all day Saturday, went straight from there to the HWA dinner on Saturday, got home late and crashed, then headed back into Toronto early Sunday morning for Word on the Street, which lasted all day. I'm wiped. Many cool people deserve shout-outs, and I promise I'll talk more about these two events in the days to come. But first I need to go to work and later catch up on sleep. Here's hoping I wake up.

Also, I'll have more news about Frozen Blood asap. It was supposed to go up for pre-order yesterday but has yet to appear. As soon as it does, y'all will be the first to know. I've got some cool things in the works for this book, and I'm looking forward to sharing them.

8:49 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day!

And I almost forgot! That's right, me, the guy who dressed like this last year:



The guy who had a pirate story (The Death of Captain Eugene Bloodcake and the Fall of the Horrid Whore) published in a pirate book not too long ago.

The guy who once renamed himself Cap'n Suthersea and made new friends (then promptly lost them) by speaking like a pirate for a week.

The guy who played Lucas Arts' Monkey Island computer games for countless hours as a young boy. Have you ever played any of the four games? They're brilliant. I love this old school television ad for the first game in the series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0yCkiNhZqM

Mr Serious Narrator Voice Man isn't lying -- there were some darn "complex conversations" in that game!

Oh, and I almost forgot (again): Yarr!

9:18 PM - 1 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

Abaculus II

Leucrota Press is a small (and relatively new) publisher that is producing some quality books. I'm glad I stumbled upon them in time to submit a story to their upcoming anthology of horror, science fiction and fantasy. My story 'Bark and Bite' will appear in Abaculus II (formerly titled Abaculus 2008) later this year. The cover art has just been released, and although they're still tweaking it (the text is temporary, I've heard) I think it's pretty stunning, and stunningly pretty.

I wonder if the artist was working while watching Phelps and Bolt this summer?

12:09 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

I don’t care what he says -- I’m excited!

From George R R Martin's blog (grrm ):

"I have some exciting news to share.

(But please, guys and gals, don't get TOO excited. This is what it is, and so far that's all it is, so don't make any assumptions).

HBO has just exercised its option, and purchased the television rights to A GAME OF THRONES.

For those of you who don't know Hollywood, an option gives a production company the right to buy a property (a book, a screenplay, whatever) at a certain agreed-upon price for a certain period of time (a year, six months, whatever). When that time runs out, they can let the option lapse, renew the option, or exercise the option and buy the property. The last is what HBO has just done.

What they have NOT done is greenlight the project. A GAME OF THRONES remains in development. They're still budgeting, still looking at locations (Spain and the Czech Republic at present, I hear). No decision has been reached, so any celebration would be premature. In Hollywood it is always best not to assume something is going to happen until it actually happens.

Even so... this is a very encouraging sign, and one that suggests a continued high level of enthusiasm and commitment for A GAME OF THRONES at HBO.

So keep your fingers crossed."

Fingers crossed, George. Fingers crossed.

4:29 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Success!

Turns out I needed to step away from editing for a couple of days to figure out a narrative problem that had been plaguing me the past couple of weeks. Early Saturday morning, while enjoying a coffee at my friend's cottage near Peterborough, the solution struck me like greased lightning while I was thinking about, well, nothing. I love those moments.

Although it rained a little more than would have been preferred, it was a beautiful weekend. Beer, board games, card games, reading, swimming, a campfire, signing, ghost stories, food, hiking, Withnail and I, and more pop culture debates than you could shake a light sabre at, it was all good.

Now, back to work. Deadlines approacheth!

p.s. I was also introduced to Powerthirst this weekend, the new energy drink for men. It contains menergy! Hilarious. (Warning: clip contains one swear word, so may not be workplace friendly.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs

4:27 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Quiet times and interviews

My roundup of The Festival of Fear -- the first horror convention I ever attended -- is now ridiculously late. I've not only been busy with all sorts of work, but my mind has been elsewhere these past couple of weeks. First, I was the victim of credit card fraud (all sorted out now, but it created a lot of stress), and second, I got a call from my dad in Calgary, telling me my mother had broken her ankle severely, requiring surgery. It wasn't life threatening, but it was a serious break, and it was upsetting that she was so far from home and we couldn't go visit her. I just got off the phone with them and she's doing much better now, so that's a relief. She will be flying home on Monday, and although it's unfortunate that their trip was hijacked, we'll all be happy to have them home.

Mark Deniz of Morrigan Books has kindly interviewed me as part of his Stars of Speculative Fiction series. The interview can be read here, if you're interested.

It would be nice to finally catch up and post about FOF, but Colleen and I are heading up to a friend's cottage tonight after work for the weekend. One last summer hurrah. It will be nice to sit back next to a fire, drink a couple of cold ones, and switch the ol' mind off for a couple of days. Let's hope on Monday it switches back on.

Next week should be (hopefully) much more low key.

9:48 AM - 2 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

The kindness of others

The very talented Jezzy Wolfe made me a banner for Frozen Blood! And I didn't even ask her, although I have a feeling Greg Hall had something to do with it -- he's skilled at the art of coercion. Reader beware.

Jezzy and Greg, along with Jim Kelley and Tuck Wells, have recently created a new website promoting horror, Choate Road. It's a pretty cool place, and they've asked me to be the Spotlight Scribe for the month of December. I was honoured and obviously accepted the invitation!

Here's the new banner:



Ain't it purty? 

(Okay, it's a little small and I don't know why, but with my compooter skills I'm happy to have been able to post it at all.)

When I find some time during the next couple of days I'll post about Festival of Fear, which was a blast.

5:03 PM - 4 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Beware the Library Policeman!

"A Wisconsin woman has been arrested and booked for failing to pay her library fines."

3:20 PM - 6 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

Festival of Fear

I'm getting pretty excited about going to Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear this Saturday in Toronto. It will be, shockingly, my first horror convention. It's about time I broke the ice. I'm really looking forward to meeting some people I've talked with online, and seeing a few familiar faces.

5:48 PM - 2 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

What up?

It's been a week since my last post, but don't worry, I haven't been slacking. Over the past seven days I've finished off another course for my Masters, written a story during my work breaks, and worked my badonkadonk (did I just spell 'badonkadonk' correctly? Seriously? What's become of me?) off on rewrites for FROZEN BLOOD. I'm making sure that when it's released to the world, it stands up to the most critical of eyes. With Louise's tireless work and intelligent suggestions as my editor, I have no doubt that this will be accomplished.

I wrote 2,000 words today, but not until after I got back from The Pineapple Express. 

-- Can I just pause here for a moment and say I hate cell phones? Good, that feels better, thanks. Can't stand the little buggers with their glowing blue screens. Back to the movie. -- 

It was very enjoyable, particularly James Franco's performance and the genuinely touching bond between him and Seth Rogen's character, played up for laughs. Definitely a fun movie, despite it's implausibility.

I think I had something else to say here, but I'm too tired and have forgotten it. I'm sure it was witty, poignant, or both, a perfect conclusion to this post. Oh well. G'night!

8:03 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment