The Best Horror of the Year 2 and sundry
Ellen has taken my short story ”Strappado” for her Best Horror of the Year 2 anthology due from Night Shade Books this March. “Strappado” originally appeared in Ellen’s Poe anthology around this time last year. Thank you, Ellen.
A quick rundown of stories I have coming out in 2010:
“The Broadsword,” Black Wings, ed S.T. Joshi PS Publishing
“Vastation,” Cthulhu’s Reign, ed. Darrell Schweitzer DAW
“Gula de Saturnus,” Nostradamus’ Fate, ed Joe Morey Dark Regions
“The Redfield Girls,” Haunted Legends, eds Ellen Datlow & Nick Mamatas Tor
“Mysterium Tremendum,” Occultation, ed Jeremy Lassen Night Shade
“–30–,” Occultation, ed Jeremy Lassen Night Shade
Reprints: “Strappado” will appear in Ellen’s anthology and Steve Berman’s Wllde Stories.
I have several other pieces scheduled for this year, but am waiting on permission to announce them. More later.
Didn’t ‘Vastation’ first appear in Interzone or some other British mag some years ago? I remember reading it and liking it then, before I even knew there was a Laird Barron…
Hi! I’ve never heard of that Interzone story, but I’m sure the title has been used prior to my own appropriation. I actually decided to name a story “Vastation” upon attending a panel at a convention where the critic John Clute discussed the term.
Thanks for dropping by.
Well, I went back and looked for it. Turns out that the magazine was The Third Alternative and the piece was ‘We Must An Anguish Pay’ by Steve Mohn; “the vastation” was a phenomenon within the story. Assumed at the time that it was a coinage, but after consulting the OED I now know that the the first recorded use of the word was in 1545, just 460 years earlier than I’d thought.
Happy anyway that when Occultation comes out I’ll get to read a new story rather than one I know already.
I’ve read your stuff in F&SF (possibly the first story being Old Virginia)and just reread Strappado in the Best new Horror. I originally read it in Poe and I’m not a young guy (56) but that story haunts me more than almost anything I’ve read. I completely believe in those characters, their life styles, and the real possibility of those events happening in this world. I pass no judgement on those choosing the doors… You’ve certainly lived a life, and seen the extremes, which makes your fiction rich. I look forward to buying your collections.
Thank you, Chris. I appreciate the kind word–and thanks for dropping by.