Bone Songs

For those who are wondering, Bone Songs, my short story collection, is now scheduled for publication in December, according to Delirium Books. It will be released as a limited edition hardcover and trade paperback.

I'll let you know when it's available for order.

Mailbag

In response to this post from last fall, Tommy inquires about In Laymon's Terms:

Mark,
I preordered this book 3 years ago, and am dying to get my hands on it.Just wondering when you signed the signature sheet. Who are some of the other contributers?

Thanks, Tommy

Tommy,

I scribbled my five-year-old-jacked-up-on-Mountain-Dew signature back in September. Hopefully, we'll see the book sometime this year, but I really don't know. I've heard that part of the delay is that there are a massive number of contributors, both fiction and non-fiction. I haven't seen an official line-up, though I believe Brian Keene and Tom Piccirilli are in it.

Stories, Podcasts and Easter Eggs

Here we are again.

The short story I mentioned last week was accepted. I’ve gone through two rounds of edits already, so I think that’s it. I’m holding off revealing where it will appear until the publisher lets me know which version of the book it will be in. Yep, there’s two versions of this anthology; a hardcover and a trade paperback. The publisher told me my story would be in one or the other. Or maybe both. When I know, I’ll pass it along.

Now that things are slowing down at work, I’m making plans to get Pod of Horror back on track. I’ve also just agreed to a deal to do another podcast. I’ll let the other party make the announcement, but if all goes well it should debut in May.

I went with Norma to our city’s Easter egg hunt this morning. It was generally a fun experience and, at her request, I’ll refrain from highlighting the one negative portion of the event. Let me just say this (and those of you who attend Little League games may agree with me): some parents deserved to be tasered. Okay, let’s move along.

Lost wrapped up the first half of the season with another complex, moving episode. I can’t wait to see what happens when the show resumes in late April. Tonight we watched the first episode of HBO’s excellent John Adams. Paul Giamatti is a great actor. His Adams is the most human depiction yet of one of our founding fathers. Geez, the balls those men had...

Here’s what I’m currently reading:

Does Not Compute

I haven’t been around much lately. I’ve been immersed in radio.

See, our main computer blew up at the station. It was kind of like the way those computers would self destruct in the old Star Trek series, where Kirk would ask them questions that would get the machines so angry and knotted up in logic cramps that they would explode (which always begged the question of why you would load a computer with explosives, but some things are better left unexplained. Don’t get me started on why the chairs on the Enterprise didn’t have seat belts).

Anyway, much time was spent on getting a new system built, having it installed and trying to make my old, tired and, frankly, undersized brain to understand it.

Still working on that last part.

So the last couple of weeks have involved 99 % work and 1% sleep. Hopefully that ratio is slowly swinging back to my normal 80/20 work/sleep ratio.

Hey, I did manage to write a short story this week. I received an invite to an anthology revolving around a character I dearly love. I finished it a few minutes ago and sent it off. I’ll let you know what the deal is when I hear if I made the cut. Meanwhile, I’m celebrating with a Rising Moon Spring Ale from the makers of my current favorite beer, Blue Moon Pale Ale.

The new issue of Horror Fiction Review praises Dead Earth: The Green Dawn, stating in part: “While Dead Earth isn’t the most original idea for a story, Justice and Wilbanks have a knack for doing this the right way. Sure, it’s end-of-the-world-zombie time again, but it’s done very well, and protagonist Jubal Slate is one of those characters you care for and can’t wait to see how he reacts to situations.”

That’s good, right?

(Full disclosure: Nick Cato, publisher of HFR, also published Deadneck Hootenanny. That doesn't mean he automatically likes my writing. Ask him some time about the prolonged negotiations that went on about the language in DH, especially about whether a male organ was more offensive if you called it a "dick" or a "pecker".)

I’m also catching up on TV and movies. Two brief notes: LOST is having it’s best season since the first. And Justice league: The New Frontier is an excellent adaptation of the graphic novel, and an obvious labor of love for all involved.

A Good Writing Weekend

Things have been crazy lately, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

From a writing standpoint, this has been a pretty good weekend. First, I sold a story to an anthology I really wanted to get into. I’ve been asked not to reveal any of the details until the publisher’s official announcement near the end of the month.

Later, I found out that another anthology I’m in is coming back into print. Again, this is an announcement the publisher needs to make. You can be sure I’ll yap about it when it’s time.

Finally, I finished a novelette I’ve been working on for a while. The story threatened to get out of control, but I managed to get it within the word count I was shooting for. This is going to a publisher who had asked for something for me a while back. Wish me luck.

Now it’s back to one of the novels I have underway. After a verbal ass-kicking from a major horror author, I’ve committed to finishing two novels by October. I don’t think I’ll post a word count this time around. It certainly doesn’t motivate me, and I don’t get the feeling that anyone else cares about it (oddly enough, I love to check the blogs of other writers when they’re provided a word count of their work in progress).

And for those who have asked about a sequel to Dead Earth: The Green Dawn, it’s finished and is being revised now. It’s not one of the novels I referred to above.

Now for anyone who wondered what happened to February’s episode of Pod of Horror, here’s the short answer: the studio blew up. I have technical issues out the wazoo. PoH may not be back in March, but will probably return in April. Meanwhile, find another podcast to hold you over. There are a lot of good ones out there. In fact, any podcaster who want a plug, drop me a note and I'll pimp you in a future column.

Coincidentally, I just previewed a podcast from a well-known horror author, one who is legendary for the entertainment value in his live readings. The podcast version of this guy is just as incredible. As soon as it’s available, I’ll let you know.