Things of the Week 9th October 2020: Roth-Steyr author copies, first After Sundown review, Hannah's Bookshelf, Back to Work, Omnium Gatherum Online Panel

It's been an eventful week or three.

My author copies of Roth-Steyr have arrived. They are things of beauty and you should all want one of your own. :) (Cate took the accompanying picture of Your Humble Scribe with his books and posted them to the Twitter dot com... with the caption 'Proud boy with his books.' Which could have been better phrased and timed. But what the heck.) 

The first review of Mark Morris' anthology After Sundown is up at Booklist: "This rich and masterful collection of horror highlights both up-and-coming and established authors in an interesting twist on the standard anthology [...] Highly recommended for longstanding horror fans and those readers who may not think horror is for them. There is something for everyone in this one."

I'm being interviewed by the delightful Hannah Kate on Hannah's Bookshelf tomorrow (Saturday 10th October) between 2 and 4 pm (UK time.) I'll be talking about Roth-Steyr, as you probably guessed. It'll be available to stream at a later date, so I'll post a link when available.

I'll also be flapping my gums tomorrow on Zoom, where I'll be recording as part of a live panel for Omnium Gatherum Books, to mark the launch of new novellas by Mark Kirkbride and Tom Johnstone. The three of us will be joined by Omnium Gatherum (OG?) supremo Kate Jonez and the fantabulous Lynda E. Rucker. Watch this space for further details.

I went back to work at my day job this month, after months off sick. So far it's actually been quite all right, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much of it I remembered or came back.

In other news, my beloved friend Vicky Morris has won first place in the Aurora Prize for Poetry!  Vicky's a lovely person who has done an incalculable amount of work to encourage and develop young writers in South Yorkshire, and it's wonderful to see her getting some much-deserved recognition for her own work. Love and hugs to you, Vic! x

And my even more beloved Cate Gardner had a new short story, 'Liesel', published in Not One Of Us, a fiction market she's been trying to crack for years. Love you and proud of you, babe.

Angels of the Silences: pre-order for 99p ($1.44)

The new edition of Angels Of The Silences will be released THIS Friday,  January 15th by Omnium Gatherum, and the ebook is now available for pre-order at 99p ($1.44 in the US.)

The low price is only valid till the release date, after which the ebook will be £3.99 ($5.80)

So snap Angels up for a song here! Or here, if you're in the US.

The Lowdown with... Kate Jonez

Kate Jonez writes dark fantasy fiction. Ceremony of Flies published by DarkFuse is a 2015 Shirley Jackson Award finalist. Her Bram Stoker (R) Award nominated novel Candy House is available at Amazon in print and ebook. She is also chief editor at Omnium Gatherum a small press dedicated to publishing unique dark fantasy, weird fiction and horror in print and ebook. Several Omnium Gatherum books have been nominated for awards. Watch for Simon Bestwick's Angels of the Silences available Jan. 2016.

1. Tell us three things about yourself. 
I have a completely useless form of synesthesia. When I'm working on a repetitive physical task like painting a wall or laying stones along a garden path, whatever I'm listening to at the time gets stuck in the fabric of what I'm working on. I remember the words when I touch the thing. For example when I reframed a sketch I did years ago, snippets of CSI dialog came back to me when I touched the paper. This sounds like it could be useful but it's really not. I have audiobooks and TV shows stuck to all sort of things in my house I have to be careful what I touch or I'll go down a rabbit hole.
I like the outdoors but I don't want to get any on me.
I enjoy a nice spreadsheet list.

2. What was the first thing you had published? 
My first sale was a tale of otherworldly poker playing sold to a one of those magazines you get free in casinos. I made a ton of money and was sure, in no time, I'd be rich from short story writing. I was wrong.

3. Which piece of writing are you proudest of? 

It would probably be easier to choose my favorite child. I prefer the one who cleans up around the house and isn't always pestering me for money. If I had to pick just one piece of writing I'd have to pick my short story "Poor Me and Ted". When I reread stories after I've been away for them for a while to reprint them or do a reading I almost always want to fix them. I've never felt that way about this one, so it must be the best. An audio version performed by the fabulous Tatiana Gomberg is available on Pseudopod. 

4. ...and which makes you cringe? 
I wrote this screenplay once about angsty lesbian vampires... I called it Deep Red because nothing has ever been titled that before, right?

5. What's a normal writing day like? 
I try to get 2 or more hours of writing done before noon. I always seem to have a long list of other things I'm supposed to be doing, so many days this is a challenge. I also try to devote 5 days a month just to writing. On a full day of writing I've learned I have to just unplug the wireless so I won't be tempted by the lovely, lovely internet.

6. Which piece of writing should someone who's never read you before pick up first? 
I'd recommend Ceremony of Flies published by DarkFuse. It moves along at a nice pace and Emily and her social commentary is a lot of fun to spend time with.

7. What are you working on now? 
I've just finished Swamp Logic, a modern day gothic tale. Because of a series unusual, perhaps supernatural, events a vintage loving LA fashonista finds herself and her precocious 13-year-old son in the once grand mansion of her husband's eccentric family deep in the Louisiana bayou. She's cut off from modern conveniences and communication and must find the strength to survive in a world where magic is not only real but deadly. This was a lot of fun to write. I especially enjoyed studying up on Cajun expressions. Laissez les bon temps roulez!