Dead Souls Rising

The horror anthology Dead Souls is now available for pre-order at MorriganBooks.com.

The book is edited by Mark S. Deniz and is scheduled for an early September release. It contains 25 tales, including my story "Dry Places". And the cover creeps me out.

Table of Contents:
Bernie Mojzes - "The Collector"
T. A. Moore - "Licwiglunga"
Carole Johnstone - "The Blind Man"
Tom English - "Dry Places"
Sharon Irwin - "Begin with Water"
Robert Holt - "In the Name"
William Ward - "When they Come to Murder Me"
Chris Johnstone - "The Unbedreamed"
Elizabeth Barrette - "Goldenthread"
Catherine J. Gardner - "When the Cloak Falls"
Anna M. Lowther - "The Price of Peace"
James R. Stratton - "Your Duty to your Lord"
Kenneth C. Goldman - "Mercy Hathaway is a Witch"
Lisa Kessler - "Immortal Beloved"
Lisa Kessler - "Subito Piano"
Michael Stone - "The Migrant"
Robert Hood - "Sandcrawlers"
Reece Notley - "Tatsu"
L. J. Hayward - "Wayang Kulit"
Rebecca Lloyd - "Contaminator"
Ramsey Campbell - "The Dead Must Die"
Stephanie Campisi - "The Ringing Sound of Death on the Water Tank"
Paul Finch - "June"
Gary McMahon - "A Shade of Yellow"
Kaaron Warren - "The Blue Stream"

Writer's Quote:

"I try to leave out the parts that people skip." --Elmore Leonard

Charles Tan recently interviewed me about my Shirley Jackson Award-nominated anthology Bound for Evil. The interview is now posted on the Shirley Jackson Awards blog.

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Writer's Quote:

"Be obscure clearly." --E.B. White

My Bags Are Packed and I'm Ready to GO!

I'll be heading for Readercon 20 (The Conference on Imaginative Literature) in Burlington, MA, on Thursday the 9th! Excited? Oh yeah! I'll be driving up with my pal and fellow Virginian Todd Treichel. Todd hopes to keep me from toppling over, should my legs go all wobbly at The Shirley Jackson Awards ceremony! And I hope to keep Todd from over-indulging in the convention bookshop! (If you see me with a blackened eye, you'll know the books got the best of my friend and -- well, it's never wise to come between a bibliophile and his books!)

If you're attending, please stop by and chat. Chances are good you can catch me at the Dark Hollow Books section of the Dealers Room. Bill Morrison of DHB will be selling copies of my Shirley Jackson Award-nominated anthology Bound for Evil, and I'll be stopping by Bill's tables frequently to talk to readers and sign copies of BfE. Joining me there will be three more BfE contributors, Simon Strantzas, Ian Rogers, and Orrin Grey, all of who will be signing. Bill will also have copies of a special Dead Letter Press story card featuring a 100-word story, "Lepidoptera Vampiridae", written by me and illustrated by Allen Koszowski. The card is limited to 250 pieces.

The Shirley Jackson Awards ceremony is on Sunday, July 12th, at 11 am. Hope to see you there!

Writer's Quote: "There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." ---Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith

The Dark Legacy of Evil Books

The subject of ancient grimoires continues to fascinate both readers and writers of the classic weird tale. A few of the anthology shows that proliferated the airwaves during the fifties and sixties adapted stories featuring evil books. The Twilight Zone gave us Manly Wade Wellman's "Still Valley" (based on "The Valley Was Still") in 1961. Boris Karloff's Thriller presented August Derleth's "The Return of Andrew Bentley" and John Tomerlin's Lovecraftian episode "Dark Legacy", both in 1961. Here's the complete video of "Dark Legacy" starring Harry Townes and Henry Silva. (Look for a pre-Batman Alan Napier, too.)

My Shirley Jackson Award-nominated anthology Bound for Evil contains 67 fantastic stories featuring diabolical books and ancient libraries, crazed collectors and loony librarians, reckless readers and doomed writers!

Writer's Quote:

"The business of the poet and novelist is to show the sorriness underlying the grandest things, and the grandeur underlying the sorriest things." --Ray Bradbury

"Time Enough At Last" -- A TWILIGHT ZONE Tale of Some Books Gone Bad

Here's a classic episode of Rod Serling's THE TWILIGHT ZONE about ... what else? ... books. My anthology, Bound for Evil: Curious Tales of Books Gone Bad contains 67 such tales; horror, SF, fantasy, and mystery stories that probe the darker side of books. Enjoy this video while there's still time -- before the books have the last laugh!



Remember:

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."   ---Mark Twain

BOUND FOR EVIL nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award!

My anthology, Bound for Evil: Curious Tales of Books Gone Bad, has been nominated for the prestigious Shirley Jackson Award. The winners will be announced on July 12, 2009, at ReaderCon 20 in Burlington, MA.

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go!

This is only the 2nd year of the Awards. And I think ReaderCon is the perfect place to introduce Bound for Evil to a wider audience. When I conceived of the anthology my great desire was to remind would-be readers of the power and the mystique of books. Wonderful books, magical and mysterious. Sometimes even dangerous.
And now my fat little antho is headed for ReaderCon, a celebration of books and writers, editors and publishers, and the glory of the written word.

Sigh! Valhalla awaits!

Writer's Quote:
"Easy reading is damn hard writing." ---Nathaniel Hawthorne

...a book I could get my teeth into

Just wrapped up my introduction for the chapbook The Kiss of Judas. The book should be available at several on-line bookseller sites soon. This is the 22nd volume (or is it the 23rd, I've lost count) in the Literary Vampire Series, each title of which has had a print run of only 26 copies (collectors rejoice). So, I am prolific,  but my scribbling has not proliferated.

My intro discusses a somewhat overlooked facet of vampire folklore, which is now seeping (yes, like blood) into pop culture.

Writer's Quote:

My stories run up and bite me on the leg.  I respond by writing them down -- everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off.  ---A.A. Milne