Mo*Con V (Indianapolis)
April 30 - May 2

WisCon (Madison, Wisconsin)
May 27-31

InConjunction (Indianapolis)
July 2-4

ReaderCon (Burlington, Massachusetts)
July 8-11

GenCon (Indianapolis)
August 5-8

Context (Columbus, Ohio)
August 27-29

World Fantasy (Columbus, Ohio)
October 28-31

Pick up a gun and write a new psalm with Brian Keene.  Confront the inhumanity of modern society with Gary Braunbeck.  Find magic behind the suburbs of Portland with Jay Lake.  Walk the line between art and desire with Tom Piccirilli.  Through twenty-six stories you will be transported from the rooftops of the twin towers to steps of the Vatican.

Pre-order Dark Faith now and receive the limited edition promotional chapbook, Dark Faith: Last Rites.  Only 500 chapbooks will be produced.

Pre-order Dark Faith and Last Rites from Apex Books Now!

Dark Faith
“The Story of Belief-Non” by Linda D. Addison (poem)
“Ghosts of New York” by Jennifer Pelland
“I Sing a New Psalm” by Brian Keene
“He Who Would Not Bow” by Wrath James White
“Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch’s Damnation” by Douglas F. Warrick
“Go and Tell It on the Mountain” by Kyle S. Johnson
“Different from Other Nights” by Eliyanna Kaiser
“Lilith” by Rain Graves (poem)
“The Last Words of Dutch Schultz Jesus Christ” by Nick Mamatas
“To the Jerusalem Crater” by Lavie Tidhar
“Chimeras & Grotesqueries” by Matt Cardin
“You Dream” by Ekaterina Sedia
“Mother Urban’s Booke of Dayes” by Jay Lake
“The Mad Eyes of the Heron King” by Richard Dansky
“Paint Box, Puzzle Box” by DT Friedman
“A Loss For Words” by John C. Hay
“Scrawl” by Tom Piccirilli
“C{her}ry Carvings” by Jennifer Baumgartner (poem)
“Good Enough” by Kelli Dunlap
“First Communion” by Geoffrey Girard
“The God of Last Moments” by Alethea Kontis
“Ring Road” by Mary Robinette Kowal
“The Unremembered” by Chesya Burke
“Desperata” by Lon Prater (poem)
“The Choir” by Lucien Soulban
“Days of Flaming Motor Cycles” by Catherynne M. Valente
“Miz Ruthie Pays Her Respects” by Lucy A. Snyder
“Paranoia” by Kurt Dinan (poem)
“Hush” by Kelly Barnhill
“Sandboys” by Richard Wright
“For My Next Trick I’ll Need A Volunteer” by Gary A. Braunbeck

Dark Faith:  Last Rites (limited edition bonus)
“Taste of Memories” by Nate Southard
“That Singing Sea” by Toiya Finley
“The Taste of Our Indiscretions” by Robert Ford
“Little Gods” by Sara Genge

Pre-order Dark Faith and Last Rites from Apex Books Now!

Dark Faith - May 2010 (Apex Books)

“The Story of Belief-Non” by Linda D. Addison (poem)
“Ghosts of New York” by Jennifer Pelland
“I Sing a New Psalm” by Brian Keene
“He Who Would Not Bow” by Wrath James White
“Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch’s Damnation” by Douglas F. Warrick
“Go and Tell It on the Mountain” by Kyle S. Johnson
“Different from Other Nights” by Eliyanna Kaiser
“Lilith” by Rain Graves (poem)
“The Last Words of Dutch Schultz Jesus Christ” by Nick Mamatas
“To the Jerusalem Crater” by Lavie Tidhar
“Chimeras & Grotesqueries” by Matt Cardin
“You Dream” by Ekaterina Sedia
“Mother Urban’s Booke of Dayes” by Jay Lake
“The Mad Eyes of the Heron King” by Richard Dansky
“Paint Box, Puzzle Box” by DT Friedman
“A Loss For Words” by John C. Hay
“Scrawl” by Tom Piccirilli
“C{her}ry Carvings” by Jennifer Baumgartner (poem)
“Good Enough” by Kelli Dunlap
“First Communion” by Geoffrey Girard
“The God of Last Moments” by Alethea Kontis
“Ring Road” by Mary Robinette Kowal
“The Unremembered” by Chesya Burke
“Desperata” by Lon Prater (poem)
“The Choir” by Lucien Soulban
“Days of Flaming Motor Cycles” by Catherynne M. Valente
“Miz Ruthie Pays Her Respects” by Lucy A. Snyder
“Paranoia” by Kurt Dinan (poem)
“Hush” by Kelly Barnhill
“Sandboys” by Richard Wright
“In Abstentia” by Gary A. Braunbeck

For those keeping track at home, that makes 5 poems and 26 stories by 17 men and 14 women.

*Barring any issues regarding the dotting of i’s and crossing of t’s. And this isn’t the final, final cover.

Rumors of my “death by slush” are greatly exaggerated. Sure, I was trapped under an avalanche of submissions for the anthology.  And yes, I did technically stop breathing (and posting) for a while, but rumors of an undead editor roaming from house to house to eat the flesh off the bones of authors pitching Zombie Jesus stories…that’s just nonsense. Mostly.

Tomorrow, I’ll post the cover art and table of contents for Dark Faith.  Lots of good news on the way.  It’s going to be a very busy 2010!

Call for Submissions

The “Back from the Dead” edition of Coach’s Midnight Diner is now available from Amazon.  Alongside fiction from Kim Paffenroth and Bob Freeman, you’ll find my future take on the 9th Ward of New Orleans.

The story, written weeks after Hurricane Katrina nearly destroyed the city, follows a young man struggling to survive a supernatural collision of past and present in a rebuilt neighborhood very different from the one he knew as a child.

Mo*Con:  May 15-17
InConjuction:  July 3-5 (tentative)
GenCon:  August 13-16
Context:  August 28-30

Fellow writer/editor/reviewer “Critical” Mick Halpin is adding philanthropist to the list of things his friends call him.  He’s auctioning off some signed review copies to benefit the Alzheimer Society of Ireland.  There are some real gems worth your bid.  And, as Mick says, you’ll be helping “kick this murderous identity thief’s ass.”  The auction is going on now, so what are you waiting for?  Click here and bid.

The release date for The Midnight Diner has officially moved to December.  I’ll post an exact date when I get it from the publisher, but I’m told you can expect to curl up with my tale of past and future New Orleans by Christmas.

The third draft of Severed Dreams has finally emerged from the writing group (insert awe inspiring music here).  While the group was pouring over the novel, I brought in a few unconventional readers to give me an opinion on a very specific question.

The novel was always intended to be an adult venture, a kind of nostalgic space opera for grownups, but the nostalgia and the main character’s journey also lent themselves to a young adult storyline.  The novel had one foot in each market.

So, on the advice of a fellow writer, I decided to test the novel on a few YA readers.  Much to my surprise, it worked incredibly well for them.  So well, in fact, that I’ve decided to spend a few months positioning Severed Dreams for the much stronger YA science fiction market.

The change will push the final draft back a few months but it shouldn’t substantially change the plot.  The YA market has undergone a major transformation in recent years, and I think it’s ready for this kind of book.

I just received word that my short story “9th Ward” has been accepted by The Midnight Diner anthology and will see print this October in a spiffy trade paperback.  The post-Katrina tale follows a hurricane victim trying to survive a supernatural collision of past and future New Orleans.

I just finished principle revisions on the third draft of Severed Dreams. Ten authors contributed to the rewrite, averaging one page of comments for every twenty pages of manuscript. In all, the combined comments added up to just over two hundred pages of emails and transcribed notes.

As you can imagine, it takes a good deal of time to review so many opinions…and even more time to make the agreed upon changes. I missed my February deadline by a few weeks, but hopefully that added effort will show up in the manuscript. I’ll be fine tuning the third draft over the next couple weeks and submitting it to my writing group mid-April.

Yes, rewriting a novel is a bit like rolling a large bolder uphill, but I’ve managed to make steady progress. Hopefully, I’ll get to the top before I look like this guy!

The first act of the third draft is now complete. I’ve tested some of the new material out, and the response has been very positive. The polished opening will now go to my writing group while I work on streamlining the middle of the book. I’m a little behind schedule, but there’s still a good chance I will finish by the end of February.

There are a handful of authors still in the process of reviewing the second draft of Severed Dreams, but the early reviews have come in. Overall, the critiques have been insightful and very positive. Here’s a book blurb-ish sample of early response to the novel…

“Smart and complex.”

“Highly imaginative and visual.”

“Addictive.”

“Very Satisfying.”

“Exciting, touching, and inspirational.”

“Brilliant!”

I have 2-3 month’s worth of work ahead of me as I shape the second draft into final form, but Severed Dreams is close to being a finished project.