Laird Barron's Blog, page 10

Marc Fitch has written an essay on horror and politics for The Federalist. He mines the opinions of Molly Tanzer, Sarah Langan, Nick Mamatas, and myself, among others.

image via The Federalist

As promised the other day, I have a follow-up to the Coleridge deal announcement wherein I brag about my book editor.

When it comes to publishing, on the positive end of the spectrum there’s good fortune and then there’s outrageously good fortune. Sara Minnich is a senior editor at G.P. Putnam’s Sons (home of Robert B. Parker’s immortal Spenser) and she’s the one who acquired my manuscript.

Here’s a bit from her bio:

Sara Minnich joined Putnam in 2008 as the assistant to Neil Nyren, and in 2016 was promoted to Senior Editor. Her fiction acquisitions include Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich, The Drifter by Nicholas Petrie, and The Second Life of Nick Mason by award-winning, bestselling author Steve Hamilton.  In non-fiction, she’s worked on memoirs such as They Left Us Everything by Plum Johnson and The Good Shufu by Tracy Slater.  Among her other acclaimed authors are #1 New York Times-bestseller Stuart Woods and New York Times-bestseller Felix Francis…

 Bull Mountain? The Drifter? Where All Light Tends to Go? As an author, all you can do is smile when somebody who has shepherded books like these takes on your case.

She’s a heavy hitter and her projects speak volumes to just how safe my novels are in her hands.



           images via Amazon

My agent, Janet Reid, has sold a pair of my crime/noir novels to Sara Minnich at G.P. Putnam’s Sons. A big thank you to Janet and Sara, and extra special thanks to Jessica M for her help and inspiration.

The right editor is an important factor in a situation such as this and I’m lucky to have Sara Minnich in my corner–more on that next week.

Meanwhile, here’s a teaser about the Isaiah Coleridge series:

Isaiah Coleridge is a mob contract killer in Alaska. As you’d expect, he’s pretty tough, seen a lot, dished out more.  But a walrus slaughter proves too much for him, and he puts a stop to it. Too bad the hunter shooting the walruses is a made guy. Isaiah finds himself in the kind of trouble that gets you a bullet behind the ear. That’s not the way it plays out, but only because he’s rescued by the one man he doesn’t want to see: his father.

Saved and exiled to upstate New York, Isaiah begins a new life. A quiet life. A life without gunshots or explosions. Except a young girl disappears and Isaiah being Isaiah isn’t one to let that slip by. And delving into the underworld to track this missing girl will get him exactly the kind of notice he was warned to avoid. Meanwhile, his former comrades in Alaska aren’t in the mood to let sleeping dogs lie or old vendettas go unpursued…

 

 

 

Stephen Graham Jones is among my favorite writers. He’s also among the best in any genre. A good deal of his material falls into dark fantasy and horror, but even then it often contains elements that defy easy categorization. Jones has a knack for character and voice; his work captures the real essence of his subjects. He consistently writes at a level that is rarely achieved.

I haven’t gotten my paws on his latest novel, Mongrels, but all signs point to a fabulous tale. As usual.

 

image via B&N

 

 

 

 

A poem by the late, lamented Mark Strand.

My Mother on an Evening in Late Summer

Writer Scott Nicolay and artist Michael Bukowski have teamed up to produce a series of essays on the classical weird. Their latest (and possibly last) joint covers Campbell and McClusky.

image via Stories from the Borderlands

Behold the ballot for the 2016 Shirley Jackson Awards. Consistently excellent, consistently diverse; in my view, the Jacksons have become the premier awards for horror and dark fantasy. Congratulations to this year’s nominees.

 

The nominees for the 2015 Shirley Jackson Awards are:

 

NOVEL

Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin Press)

Experimental Film, Gemma Files (ChiZine Publications)

The Glittering World, Robert Levy (Gallery)

Lord Byron’s Prophecy, Sean Eads (Lethe Press)

When We Were Animals, Joshua Gaylord (Mulholland Books)

 

NOVELLA

The Box Jumper, Lisa Mannetti (Smart Rhino)

In the Lovecraft Museum, Steve Tem (PS Publishing)

Unusual Concentrations, S.J. Spurrier (Simon Spurrier)

The Visible Filth, Nathan Ballingrud (This Is Horror)

Wylding Hall, Elizabeth Hand (PS Publishing-UK/Open Road Media-US)

 

NOVELETTE

“The Briskwater Mare,” Deborah Kalin (Cherry Crow Children, Twelfth Planet Press)

“The Deepwater Bride,” Tamsyn Muir (Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July-August 2015)

“Even Clean Hands Can Do Damage,” Steve Duffy (Supernatural Tales #30, Autumn)

“Fabulous Beasts,” Priya Sharma (Tor.com, July 2015)

“The Thyme Fiend,” Jeffrey Ford (Tor.com, March 2015)

 

SHORT FICTION

“A Beautiful Memory,” Shannon Peavey (Apex Magazine)

“Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers,” Alyssa Wong (Nightmare)

“Seven Minutes in Heaven,” Nadia Bulkin (Aickman’s Heirs)

“The Dying Season,” Lynda E. Rucker (Aickman’s Heirs)

“Wilderness,” Letitia Trent (Exigencies)

 

SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Stephen King (Scribner)

The End of the End of Everything, Dale Bailey (Arche Press)

Get in Trouble, Kelly Link (Random House)

Gutshot, Amelia Gray (FSG Originals)

The Nameless Dark – A Collection, T.E. Grau (Lethe Press)

You Have Never Been Here, Mary Rickert (Small Beer Press)

 

EDITED ANTHOLOGY

Aickman’s Heirs, edited by Simon Strantzas (Undertow Publications)

Black Wings IV, edited by S.T. Joshi (PS Publishing)

The Doll Collection, edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor)

Exigencies, edited by Richard Thomas (Dark House Press)

Seize the Night, edited by Christopher Golden (Gallery)

Mike Griffin has been on the scene for several years. He does excellent work in the weird fiction genre–quiet, subtle, and occasionally horrific. Griffin’s influence are varied, but at this point in his career he slants toward Peter Straub by way of the Twilight Zone.

Today is release day for his debut collection, The Lure of Devouring Light. Sean Thompson also conducted a brief interview.

image via Word Horde

I’m a fan of Unwinnable. Great feature essays on video games and culture,and interviews with some of the best contemporary genre authors. Check out their latest, Issue 78, Good & Evil.

image via Unwinnable

Not so long ago, I bit the bullet and shelled out a substantial fee to get this done correctly. My wishes for medical treatment and the disposition of my intellectual property are recorded. I didn’t have spare cash lying around, but it was that important. Do yourself (and your loved ones) a favor and take the time to make preparations.

Neil Gaiman talks about estate planning for writers. He provides an inexpensive solution for the cash-strapped among us (synonym for author). Heed his words.