The Plural Form of Apocalypse

It's a brand new year, so it's about time for the countdown to begin to my next book.  I've got at least two that will be appearing in the first half of 2010, both of them collections: All Hell's A-Buying Froztees and Machina.  While there's no firm date yet on Froztees (I'm still working on the edits), Machina will definitely be appearing in April.  I'm very excited for this, especially since I've just received the cover and it is great.  Check it out:

Thanks go out to cover artist Dan Galli, who did a great job.  Please keep an eye out here for more information as Machina gets closer.
 

I've had a bunch of stories that have come out in the last several weeks, but I've forgotten to say anything about it here.

First, my holiday-flavored story "The Christmas Machine" is in the latest issue of M-Brane SF.   This one has a lot of personal meaning to me, although you probably wouldn't guess that from reading it.  To actually see my thoughts on it, though, you would have to actually read my author's note in the issue.

Second, PegLeg Publishing's new Kindle book Florilegium contains my story "The Jackal and the Bright One."  This story came into existence when I was thinking about old ideas of spirits and fairy folk, who in times past all seemed to have their own special areas of expertise.  I figured that any such spirits would have new purposes in the modern world, and everything, even playgrounds, would have special spirits that patrolled them.

And most recently, my story "Casts a Demon Shadow" is now up at the Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine.  I love this story so much, and I'm so happy that it's finally out there after several years of not being able to place it. 

I now have the first draft of All Hell's A-Buying Froztees: Tales From the Apocalypse Shift, Vol. 1 done. Here's a rundown of what will be in it, and a preview of the stories that will be appearing on the blog:

-The All-Night, One-Stop Apocalypse Shop- The story that started it all. Caleb and Gloria are night shift clerks at a most unusual convenience store. Just because they're the only ones who can stop the end of the world doesn't mean they can stop doing their jobs.

-The Power Pastry- There's a new item for sale at the OneStop, a cruller of infinite power. Too bad the only customer that wants it is one of the few things in life Caleb is scared of...

-The Part-Timer- The Hill isn't the only place where strange things happen. The rest of the world needs protecting, too. Perpetual slacker Toby has just answered a want-ad looking for a part-time DHR. Nobody told him, however, that DHR stands for Defender of the Human Race...

-What to Get a Zombie For Valentine's Day- Phil is just beginning to realize that the zombie who keeps following him around may be someone special. But really, how do you show your growing love for someone who's been dead for twenty years?

-The Leek Shall Inherit the Earth- The OneStop crew takes it upon themselves to help a refugee they find in their dumpster. The last survivor of a world where vegetables have declared war on humans, Courtney only wants to go about her new life. But something has followed her from her own reality...

-The Devil and Danielle the Fry Cook- The OneStop isn't the only business on the Hill. A student looking for extra cash takes a job at a fast food joint, only to discover that one of the other employees may have made a deal with the Devil, possibly taking the souls of everyone else at the restaurant with her...

-I'm Dreaming of a White Ancient Fertility Rite of Bag-Hosra- Celebrate the holidays with the newest employee of the OneStop. Just remember that in a place where cultists routinely worship the Great Old Ones, the holidays may just be celebrated in more disturbing ways...

-Spazmatic Magic- A college student has just violated the cardinal rule of doing laundry. Now, if she wants to survive the night, she's going to need a little help from her aunt, a certain bar tender/sorceress...

-The Cozy Little Wild Magic Journal of Annabeth Guye- A hundred years before the events of The Apocalypse Shift, the Hill was not the freakshow it is today. It was a well to-do neighborhood for the idle rich, but it still had many secrets. Widowed millionaire Annabeth Guye suspects there is more to her neighborhood than meets the eye, but even she doesn't realize how different it really is, nor does she know the vast number of secrets her husband hid from her. For her husband Jonathan was more powerful and important than anyone suspects... THIS STORY IS GOING TO BE EXCLUSIVE TO THE BOOK AND WILL NOT APPEAR ON THE BLOG!

First, I just want everyone to know that Wolves of War, the new anthology containing my story "And the Streets Will Run Red With the Blood of Bunnies," is now available. For anyone out there who is an Apocalypse Shift fan, this story tells the tale of how Gloria originally met the Senator Park Lunatics, and shows just why everyone in the novel is so scared of were-bunnies. This story will not, however, be showing up on the Tales From the Apocalypse Shift blog, nor will it appear in the first volume of the TFtAS book, so the only place you will be able to read it for now is in this anthology.

Second, I have some more big news. M-Brane SF, the science fiction zine responsible for the wonderful anthology Things We Are Not, has finally announced they will be releasing my upcoming story and novella collection Machina.  All the stories in this collection will center around the loose theme of machines, with my story "Dea Ex Machina," (the story that is being adapted as an opera, if you are new to this blog) as the centerpiece.  It will even include a forward by the opera's producer and librettist Mark Streshinsky.  I'm really excited about this and have been waiting for the announcement for a while now.  As I have pointed out before, Chris Fletcher from M-Brane is a great guy with some amazing thoughts on sci-fi publishing, and I count myself lucky to be able to work with him on this.

The newest post is now up at the Tales From the Apocalypse Shift blog.  This is the first never-before published material on the site, and starts a brand new story.  While the last story tied in with the Apocalypse Shift novel kind of closely, this one takes place outside of the normal setting and group of characters, while still giving a few hints to upcoming events in the universe.  Please go check it out!

Due to various stories from it showing up in other projects very soon, I need to announce that my self-published story collection Things of Loose Reality will no longer be available as of January 1st, 2010. This means that if you don't have a copy then you only have two months to buy one from Lulu. While three of these stories will definitely be reprinted elsewhere and a few others may reappear in the future, most of the others will not be reprinted anytime in the foreseeable future. So this is your last chance. The countdown to ToLR's end begins now.

(Don't forget though that my other self-published book from Lulu, Beliel Rose, will still be available for the time being.)

I've just gotten the permission from my publisher to make a big announcement: Library of Horror Press, the imprint of Library of the Living Dead that published The Apocalypse Shift, will be releasing my next book- All Hell's A-Buying Froztees: Tales From the Apocalypse Shift, Vol. 1!

This new book will collect all the stories appearing on the Tales From the Apocalypse Shift blog, which tell stories from all around the Apocalypse Shift universe. It will also include at least one story that will not appear on the blog, a story exploring the history of the Hill. More details will be released here about the collection as it comes out.

If you want a taste of what the collection will include, you can check out the TFtAS blog.  Right now it features "The All-Night, One-Stop Apocalypse Shop," and next week will see the beginning of a brand new, never-before published story.  I try to update it every Monday, so please remember to stop by and give it a look.

Just dropping in quickly to post (a little late, sorry) that the new Tales From the Apocalypse Shift entry is now up on my other blog.  This one continues the first Apocalypse Shift story, "The All-Night, One-Stop Apocalypse Shop," and it will conclude next week.  After that the blog will be mostly brand-new content.

I already put this up on most of my other social media sites, but I didn't get around to mentioning it here yet: the project I mentioned in yesterday's post is now up and ready for the world to see. It's a new blog called Tales From the Apocalypse Shift, and it will contain supplementary stories from the Apocalypse Shift universe.  There's a more detailed explanation of it in the first post, so go check it out.

Just a few quick things.

First, tomorrow is the official release date for Things We Are Not. If you want to order it, it is already available for pre-order. I highly suggest that you check it out if you can. This is going to be a hell of an anthology.

Second, I've got a few new acceptances. My story "The Jackal and the Bright One" has been accepted to Florilegium, an upcoming e-anthology from the makers of GlassFire Magazine. I'm told that the anthology will be out in a few months. Also, I've had a humorous article accepted for The Moron's Guide to the Inevitable Zombocalypse. In case you can't guess by the title, the whole thing is a parody of the Dummies and Idiots books. I'm not going to say what my piece is about just yet, as I would like it to be a surprise, but I will warn everybody that my article is adults only, and if you can't take a sick sense of humor then you should probably skip it. I, however, am very happy with it.

Third, I was originally intending to do National Novel Writing Month again this year, but I've just had a rather large project fall into my lap, and I will be taking most of my writing time in the near future working on it. I'll actually have the full details on this project later today.

And last, there's a new review of The Apocalypse Shift up at http://alookatabook.blogspot.com.  In addition to the review, reviewer Jessica Brown did an interview with me where we talked about The Apocalypse Shift, Horror Realm, and Rubik's Cubes.  Please check it out!

Today begins the pre-order for M-Brane SF's first anthology Things We Are Not. I've mentioned this anthology a couple other times on my blog, but I've had a lot to say that I've been saving for this specific occasion. Because, while I've been in quite a few anthologies now, I've never been as excited and happy as I am to be in this one. And the main reason for that is the great and wonderful Chris Fletcher.

While I've had the good fortune to work with some wonderful editors on various zines and anthologies in the past, Chris has always stood out as something special from the first moment I heard of him. While perusing Duotrope one day looking for places to send my stories I saw a new listing for something called M-Brane SF, and I clicked on it. I know that some authors are leery of sending their work out to new and unknown markets, but I've found quite a bit of luck with them. Oftentimes I find that the editors of new zines are more enthusiastic, having not been beaten down yet by the grind of producing a publication month after month. Unfortunately, many of these editors give up soon after they discover just how much work this is.

But when I read Chris Fletcher's thoughts and guidelines for M-Brane that first time, I knew I had found something unique. I could try to post an abbreviated version of them here, but it might easier if you looked at them yourself (they're in the column on the left). The first thing that jumped out at me were what he put under "silmu-subs" and "multi-subs:"

"Yeah, sure, who cares?"

Really? Well, most other editors, that's who cares. But I've never really seen why. I'm not going to rag on any other editors' practices, since obviously most other editors have come to a system that works well for them and helps them create damned fine magazines, but this was an interesting attitude. Chris shows a similar attitude with the section for submission format: "Though I don't really care so long as it's readable." He even accepts manuscripts in .docx format. I've NEVER seen an editor accept in .docx format before, even though it would make things easier for me as a writer sometimes.

That was when I first began to see a difference with Chris. He wasn't approaching his new zine in the way an editor would. He was approaching it first and foremost as a reader, as a fan. He didn't really care how the submission came to him, as long as that submission was good.

This attitude is only solidified if you read further down in the guidelines. He says it much better than I can, but the short of it is he doesn't care what sub-genre of sci-fi you send him, or what cliches it may contain, or if it has what other editors consider to be "questionable content." He basically sees sci-fi as something wide open, not confined by any number of editors' personal prejudices. Anything goes, just make it good.

I sent him something, and he accepted. I've sent him other things since then, some of which he's accepted and some he hasn't. But every single correspondence I've had with him has been a treat. This man really loves sci-fi, and he wants to publish the best he can find. Sure, every editor says that, but I've never before run into any that were anywhere near as personable and intense about it as Chris (although I should give credit to both Dr. Pus of Library of the Living Dead Press and Matthew Bey of Space Squid for coming incredibly close). Chris has a lot of ideas about what to do with M-Brane and what should become of sci-fi, and all of them are good. I can't begin to talk about them all here, but you would be wise to take a look at the M-Brane blog and go through some of his past posts.  There is much to think about in there as far as the state of on-line magazine publishing and sci-fi.

And now Chris has gone beyond just the magazine and is trying his hand at actual book publishing with Things We Are Not.  The anthology is a collection of GLBT sci-fi stories, and I have never seen a publisher put this much effort into an anthology before.  Prior to today's pre-order, Chris has been doing everything from running a contest to see which cover to use for it, a fund drive to take care of production costs, and multiple blog entries spotlighting each of the authors.  He has sent emails to the authors updating them of EVERY SINGLE DEVELOPMENT related to the anthology.  This is unheard of.  Some editors accept a story, and then the next time the authors hear from them is when they get their check and contributor copy in the mail.  Chris, however, isn't most editors.  Chris is something truly special, and I fully believe that science fiction will one day hail him as one of the great editors.

So do yourself a favor.  Pre-order a copy of Things We Are Not.  If the anthology is anything like its editor, it will be truly amazing.

I'm a little late on this (as I usually am), but I got back from Horror Realm on Monday and have been in recovery mode for most of the week. I intended to have pictures for this post, but I'm having trouble downloading them from my camera. I'll put them up if I can retrieve them.
 

( Full report below the cut )

 

I'm only a matter of hours away from leaving for Horror Realm in Pittsburgh. My publisher Library of the Living Dead/Library of Horror will have many copies of The Apocalypse Shift and Zombology II, as well as books by all their other great authors. Also appearing at their tables will be Eric S. Brown, Kody Boye, Rhiannon Frater, Paul McConnell, Robert R. Best, Rob Fox, Stephen North, and Scott A. Johnson (and probably some of the authors from the Zombology books, too).  Permuted Press and Joseph Beth Booksellers will also have table with many awesome writers.  Please check out the Horror Realm website for a complete list, as there are just far too many for me to put here.  I'm greatly looking forward to meeting everybody, and I hope that if you are in the area you will come see us.

I'll try to post about the con while I'm there, but I'm not too sure if I will have the time or the internet connection.  If not, then I will be sure to put a detailed con report here when I get back. 

Various tidbits to share:

First, the anthology Zombology II is now available for purchase. It includes my short story "Ashes to Ashes, Pixie Dust to Pixie Dust," as well as twenty-five other tales of zombie goodness. You can get it from the website, or you can get one in Pittsburgh and have it signed by me next week (see the third tidbit bellow).

Second, there is now a webpage up for Machine, the upcoming opera based on my story "Dea ex Machina."  The opera will premiere at the Crucible in Oakland sometime in 2011.  I'm pleased as punch to see this page, since it is the first time I've seen any of the libretto.  It looks so far like it's sticking pretty close to the original story, with a few new touches that I like very much.

And third is the biggest tidbit, at least in terms of how excited I am about it.  The Horror Realm Convention in Pittsburgh is only a week away!  I will be appearing at the convention on September 18th-20th courtesy of Library of the Living Dead/Library of Horror Press and will be signing copies of my novel The Apocalypse Shift.  This is the first time I will be making a convention appearance, so I'm happy and nervous at the same time.  Copies of Zombology II will also be available, along with all the books from LotLD/LoH Press, and I hope that anybody in that area will get a chance to stop by and say hi. 

Today is Outer Alliance Pride Day, and I proudly support it. Some of you reading this might know what that means, but for everyone else here's some background.

Recently within the world of science fiction and fantasy writing there have been a lot of "fails." Issues of race, gender, and sexuality have been very much on the mind of specfic writers, and the heated arguments raging across the Internet over these things usually start with either a careless comment by some well-known writer or some unfortunate choices by editors or some such things. However, at least one professional writer deliberately provoked people who identify themselves as gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender. It makes me sad that in this day and age we still have this kind of thinking. It made other people sad, too, also angry, and they went ahead and did something about it. And hence the Outer Alliance is now born.

The idea of the Outer Alliance is best shown in it's mission statement:

"As a member of the Outer Alliance, I advocate for queer speculative fiction and those who create, publish and support it, whatever their sexual orientation and gender identity. I make sure this is reflected in my actions and my work."

In my own work in the past I have made mistakes involving GLBT issues and I was shown the error of my ways.  I think there's a lot of this out there.  People don't usually mean to be bigots, they're just not educated on the issues.  That's why an organization like the Outer Alliance is so important.  Anyone from any sexual orientation or gender identity can help spread the word and be an agent for positive change if we are willing to reach out.

A lot of the authors participating in Outer Alliance Pride Day have been asked to post excerpts of their work, so I include here a brief piece from my story "As Wide as the Sky, and Twice as Explosive," which will appear soon in the GLBT themed sci-fi anthology Things We Are Not:

     It was ironic that, since he’d been listening to the sky for a month for the tell-tale signs of an approaching giant, Johnny was too lost in his own thoughts to notice that the mech was coming until it was landing right next to him. He dribbled his ball, not even bothering at the moment to take any shots, and thought about what he was going to do about Annette. Now that they’d had sex she was starting to act like the next step was marriage. He wasn’t quite sure how to tell her that he didn’t even like her that much and just because he’d let her go down on him didn’t mean he was ready for a commitment. But he didn’t want to hurt her, either. She may have been annoying but was still at least a good and caring person. She deserved to at least be let down easy, but Johnny didn’t have the slightest clue how to do that.

     Finally he looked up to take a shot at the hoop, and the ball was already out of his hands before he realized that the giant was hovering on the other side of the backboard. He missed the hoop entirely and the ball bounced off the giant’s chest, spinning off to some unknown place to the left. Johnny probably would have been able to find the ball easily if he’d actually been paying any attention to it, but instead he could only stare at the magnificent mech in front of him. He couldn’t be entirely positive at first that it was the same one he’d seen that day at the interstate. What little he’d found among his research suggested that there were as many as nine separate models, each one apparently developed for different military applications. This one looked like the same model, but he hadn’t seen enough of the giant the first time to be certain that the pattern of scoring and damage was the same. Then he looked at the photo receptors it had for eyes. They probably looked exactly the same as the eyes of any other giant, but Johnny thought he could see more in them. He was certain, then, that this was the same one.

     He stood there staring at the giant for several minutes, not moving and not trying to communicate with it. He wasn’t even sure if the giant had anything analogous to ears with which to hear him. It floated there just as quietly, its thrusters burning the grass just below its feet. There was no way it could go unnoticed here for long. People would see the massive mech hovering over the park and come to see it. Cops would probably be called. If Johnny was going to do anything, try to get its attention, maybe ask it questions, now was the time he had to do it. But he didn’t know what to do or what questions to ask. He’d spent so much time hoping a moment like this would happen, but he had never really expected to see the giant again. He heard a shout coming from somewhere across the park. Someone had noticed it. For whatever reason the thing was here, it probably wouldn’t stay for long once people came crowding around it.

     “Hi,” Johnny said. It wasn’t the most brilliant thing to say, but at least he had said something. The giant cocked its head, an oddly human gesture that surprised Johnny, and something from inside the body gave a short, high pitched whir. After several seconds Johnny smiled. That could only be its way of saying hi back.

     Then it rose into the air another hundred feet or so, ignited its thrusters at full power, and shot up into the distant atmosphere. The sonic boom was enough to shatter a few windows in nearby homes, and Johnny heard a few screams from people that had been approaching. But despite the slight pain in his eardrums, Johnny continued to stare up at where it had disappeared with a smile.

Today is the day!  My novel The Apocalypse Shift is now available from Library of Horror Press!  Currently it is available for purchase here:

https://www.createspace.com/3394909

 If you would rather purchase it through Amazon, it will be available there in about two weeks.  If you would prefer to order it from a brick-and-mortar store, then you can make the ordering easier for them by providing the ISBN number- 1448672430.  Please, I really hope for everyone's support.  Thanks!

I'm a few days late on this, but Chris Fletcher, the editor of M-Brane SF, has listed the full table of contents for his upcoming GLBT anthology, which includes my story "As Wide as the Sky, and Twice as Explosive." Originally I posted here that the title of the anthology would be Qspace, but the title has since been changed to Things We Are Not. You can see the full list of stories and contributors by going to the anthology's official website.  While there you should also check out the fund drive to support the antho, as well as the two covers for it and the contest to chose which cover is the best.  I'm really proud of my story in this one, and I hope that people will check it out when it becomes available.

*These are things we are not. Get it? Hello? Is this thing on?

With my first non-self-published book coming out in only a week or two, I've decided that it's high time to write the next one.  I had a couple ideas that I wanted to pursue, and after much waffling I've decided to write a zombie novel called The Reanimation of Edward Schuett.  I think that I've come up with a take on the zombie apocalypse sub-genre that is interesting and hasn't been seen very often, although I expect it to be a very different feel from the light-heartedness of The Apocalypse Shift.  More as a way to keep myself motivated on it that anything else, I will be posting updates on my progress here.  Currently, I'm at about 16 thousand words in what I anticipate will be a 100 thousand word novel.

In the meantime, if you haven't checked out the cover and first chapter of The Apocalypse Shift, it's in the blog post immediately below this one.  Please give it a look, and remember it will be available very soon!

The release of my novel The Apocalypse Shift is only a couple weeks away, so just to give everyone a taste I'm posting the cover here, along with the first chapter.  I hope you enjoy!

 

( Read it after the cut! )

Okay, lessee here, lessee...

The thing about not posting a blog entry as often as I probably should is that when I do post I usually have a lot to report.  So without further delay, here's a whole bunch of writing news.

First off, I have at least three new sales to mention.  My story "As Wide as the Sky, and Twice as Explosive" will be appearing in M-Brane SF's upcoming anthology Qspace (I think that might still be a working title), which focuses on science-fiction with a GLBT twist.  One of the things Chris Fletcher the editor said he was looking for was new science-fictiony ways to be queer beyond the GLBT ways we currently know in our society, and I think my story falls in that category.  Next is my story "The Pyramids of Rock Lake" (anyone reading this who actually lives near me will know that the structures of the title really do exist) in the mummy anthology The Scroll of Anubis.  And last but not least is my campfire story "The Woods Are Dark and Full of Pork Products," which will appear in Baconology, an anthology of bacon-themed horror.

Yes, you just read that correctly.  It is not a joke.  Baconology will really exist.

In other exciting news, the countdown to the release of my first non-self-published novel, The Apocalypse Shift, is moving faster than I anticipated.  It's currently in the editing phase, but I have already seen a mock-up of the cover.  I will post it here once I get the final version.  The actual release date may be in August now rather than September like I originally thought, but it will still get its big debut at September's Horror Realm Convention in Pittsburgh.  While it previously looked like I was not going to make it, I have now decided that making it to the con is a priority and I will hopefully be signing copies of my novel.  Because I'm going to be attending I will now also have a story appear in the Library of the Living Dead's exclusive con-edition chapbook.  It will reprint my story "The Power Pastry," which my long-time readers will no doubt recognize as the first published Apocalypse Shift story.

I'm pretty sure I forgot something, but that's all the writing news I can think of right now.  Pay attention here for more info on the release of The Apocalypse Shift, as I'm sure its grand appearance will sneak up on me out of nowhere.

ETA: Did you know that Livejournal's spellchecker doesn't recognize "blog" but does recognize "lessee?"  Weird.