First Review of 2008

Here's a great way to kick off 2008, with a nice review of the anthology, Dark Furies, which includes my story "Gray Gulls Gyre." Thanks to Jeff Edwards for the kind comments. Dark Furies has been out for awhile, now, but it's definitely worth hunting down a copy. Happy New Year!

Season's Greetings

New Story Online at SpaceWesterns.com

The aptly named SpaceWesterns.com has posted my tale, "The Law of the Kuzzi," set in the Byanntia universe created by Bruce Gehweiller. Originally published in No Longer Dreams, it is represented here as part of the Byanntia sequence, with other stories written by CJ Henderson and Mr. Gehweiller.

Byanntia is a frontier world where human colonists struggle for survival against a harsh environment and strange, native lifeforms. "The Law of the Kuzzi" tells the story of an early encounter between Kuzzi (Byanntia's intelligent natives), the colonists, and a band of illegal hunters. Read it here.

Many thanks to Nathan Lilly for his excellent work on the site and his enthusiasm for Byanntia.

BAF Review from The Harrow

A new and rather favorable review of Bad-Ass Faeries is in at The Harrow. It's nice to see some comments about the anthology, which appears to be off to a strong start and is gathering a nice audience, thanks, in large part, to the tireless efforts of editor Danielle Ackley-McPhail.

Altered Review Posted / Zombies Rise

My "guest review" of Altered has been posted, not yet at DVD Late Show, but at Kevin Smith's pop culture web site, Quick Stop Entertainment. You see, Chris Mills, who runs DVD Late Show is also a columnist for Quick Stop, and he graciously included my comments about the alien abduction flick in his most recent update. Thanks, Amigo.

And now, the previoulsy promised cover for The Dead Walk Again...

Art by Stephen Blickenstaff, edited by Vincent Sneed, published by Padwolf, full details are posted on my web site, and an Amazon link will be forthcoming.

Summer's Here & Altered

Summer doesn't officially arrive for a few more days, but it's hot here this week. Not blistering, sweat-fountain, eyeball-melting hot, but hot enough early enough in the season to have me wondering if our recent string of relatively mild summers might be at an end. Time will tell.

In the meantime, go watch Altered.

I'm not usually one to push a movie on folks, but I've become downright evangelical about this flick, hawking it's virtues to all my genre-lovin' friends. Don't look for it in theaters, though; it went straight to DVD. And, apparently, that's a good sign these days, because Altered is light years better than most of the horror movies that have hit the big screen in the last few years.

Long story short, it's a horror/sci-fi hybrid about an alien encounter gone incredibly wrong...and incredibly strange. It's directed by Eduardo Sanchez, one of the creators of The Blair Witch Project, who amply proves he's got the chops to tell an actual story this time around. It's a smart, character driven piece that pulls no punches (and its not for the squeamish).


I spun a lengthier review for my buddy Chris Mill's DVD review website, DVD Late Show, and I'll be posting a link to it here just as soon as Chris gets the piece posted over there. (For now, feel free to check out Chris' bank of previous reviews of B movies and other genre fare; click on Guest Reviews to read some of my reviews.)

And, though, it's been quiet around here for a few weeks, I expect to be posting a bit more frequently, starting with a glimpse of the fantastic cover for The Dead Walk Again later this week...

Bad-Ass Faeries

It was one of those stories that started out as a headscratcher, a theme well outside my usual literary stomping grounds. What could I write about faeries? It was exactly the kind of challenge I love best. I don't write a lot of fantasy stories, which made the project even more demanding (and which is probably why I wound up throwing in an edge of horror). So, I sat down to write, and the result became "Sally Smiles," a twisted tale from the world of the Midnight Hour, a dark glimpse of love, romance, demons, and childhood fixations.

That was many moons ago, and until now the only public airing of "Sally Smiles" was a well-received reading I gave at Lunacon back in March. So I am extremely pleased to say that I now have the official word that Bad-Ass Faeries has rolled off the presses and is available, featuring "Sally Smiles" and eighteen other ventures into the faerie wilds.



The book can be ordered from Amazon or the publisher, Marietta Publishing. Cover art is by Amy Brown. To celebrate its release, there will be a launch event at Balticon at the end of the month. And the editors and publishers have cooked up some really cool contests, giving readers a shot at winning an autographed Amy Brown collectible figurine and a one-of-a-kind set of handcrafted faerie wings. If you're going to be in Baltimore on Memorial Day weekend, stop by the con to meet the editors, a whole a herd of the authors, and check out the book.