Resurrection House

Over the weekend Joe Morey, publisher at Dark Regions Press, sent me the first proofs of Resurrection House. The book is coming together beautifully. Dave Barnett has done an elegant job in designing it, and Jason Whitley's illustrations strike the perfect mood for each story. It's exciting in a unique way to be holding these proofs and going back over these stories. Looking at it now, I think it's a terrific mix of my horror writings. The deluxe limited hardcover edition (which will include two stories not found in the other editions) and the limited hardcover edition are now available for preorder at Horror Mall. Details on the paperback will follow. Awhile back, I promised to post the final cover and table of contents, so here they are.

Mooncat Jack

Trick

Gray Gulls Gyre

Refugees

Resurrection House

The Feeding Things

Last Stand of Black Danny O'Barry

The Tale of the Spanish Prisoner

Vicious Swimmers

Five Points

Swamp Hoppers (deluxe hardcover edition only)
Derelict (deluxe hardcover edition only)

Terminator V. Robot Monster

Caught Terminator Salvation tonight, courtesy of my pal CJ Henderson, movie reviewer and author extraordinaire. Not sure exactly what I think of it yet. So, I'll keep this brief for now and relatively spoiler free. As an action movie, it's tremendous, but as science fiction...well, I'll only say that it has about as much real science in it as Robot Monster. In fact, the whole thing has a sort of Robot Monster feel to it.

Let me explain.

Robot Monster is a much-maligned gem of a B-movie. Often bandied about as a rival to Plan 9 From Outer Space for worst movie ever, it is in actuality only deeply misunderstood. Robot Monster is a clever, science fiction retelling of The Wizard of Oz as if imagined by a fevered 12 year old. Terminator Salvation has that vibe. There are moments of genius in it, but overall the whole thing feels like something a 12 year old might cook up after having seen Terminator and wondering what the war with the machines might look like.

The Terminator franchise has officially become fantasy.

Is that good or bad? How the hell should I know?

All I can say is that there's a giant terminator with a gun for a head, and it shoots terminator motorcycles out of its legs, and it's the coolest damn killer robot ever. Ever.

The Final Files

About twenty-four hours ago I uploaded the final story files and illustrations for Resurrection House. Everything's now in the hands of the publisher and designer, and the book should be listed on Dark Regions' website shortly. This feels very, very good. Later this week, I will post the final table of contents. In the meantime, here's a look at the not-quite-final cover:

BAF2: Just Plain Bad

Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad has been out for about year now. Recently it garnered the 2009 Eppie Award for Best Anthology. A new edition is due soon from Mundania Press, along with a new edition of the first volume in this series, Bad-Ass Faeries. The books are still garnering new fans and picking up attention, and rumblings have sounded about a third book. People have really responded well to the "back-to-their-roots" faeries that appear in each anthology. Being part of this series has been great. Not only has it inspired me to stretch myself as a writer, but it has connected me with a lot of new readers. One brave soul has even undertaken to review all of BAF 2 on her blog...one story at a time. Here's a link to her comments on "Way of the Bone," the first story in the book.