I have two short stories that are eligible for awards consideration this year:

1. “Coriander for the Hidden” – published in Interzone #280, March-April 2019, fantasy, 5400 words.
2. “Spawning Season” – published in the audio-only anthology Come Join Us By the Fire (Tor/Nightfire), edited by Theresa DeLucci,  October 2019, horror/weird fiction, 2600 words (if that matters for audio).

If you’re interested in reading either of them for awards consideration, please email me at nick DOT kaufmann AT gmail DOT com. Or you can listen to “Spawning Season” for free here. Many thanks!

I’m deeply grateful for Monica S. Kuebler’s rave review of 100 Fathoms Below in the November/December issue of Rue Morgue. Here’s a pull-quote:

100 Fathoms Below is great, doing for submarines what Jaws did for sharks and water….The novel succeeds not just for its bloodsuckers, but for its absolutely claustrophobic setting and storytelling….Don’t be surprised if you never want to set foot on a submarine after reading this book.

Don’t forget, 100 FATHOM BELOW is out in paperback now!

Philcon is coming this weekend! It’s my first time attending, and I’m very excited to be a program participant! (Longtime readers know I was supposed to go last year, but my ride’s car was smushed by a falling tree branch the night before.) Here is where you will be able to find me:

Friday, November 8
11:00 PM in Plaza II
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR (3522)

Panelists: Hildy Silverman (mod), Nicholas Kaufmann, April Grey, Carol Gyzander, Jay Smith, William Kennedy

There are many ways to nurture the growth of existential dread. What will keep your reader’s eyes glued to your story even as its causing them to crawl out of their own skin?

(Honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to stay up to 11 PM and still be coherent on this panel. Come and find out?)

Saturday, November 9
3:00 PM in Executive Suite 623
READINGS: TOM PURDOM, BARNA WILLIAM DONOVAN, NICHOLAS KAUFMANN (3731)

(Come hear me read “Spawning Season” from Nightfire’s new audio anthology COME JOIN US BY THE FIRE!)

Sunday, November 10
11:00 AM in Plaza IV
GODZILLA AND THE MONSTERVERSE (3601)

Panelists: Jeffrey A. Carver (mod), Luke Stelmaszek, Nicholas Kaufmann, Eric Parmer, Shaun Mason

With Godzilla: King of the Monsters and the upcoming Godzilla vs Kong in 2020, the franchise is (once again) rising from the depths! Are the movies going somewhere new, or just re-treading old territory? And are we enjoying it?

(I was born to be on this panel!)

Other than that, you’ll find me floating around the hotel. I don’t know if the dealers room will have my books for sale, but I’m happy to sign anything you bring from home. Looking forward to seeing you there!

I have a new article online, written with my 100 Fathoms Below co-author Steven L. Kent, over at CrimeReads. It’s called “The Monsters Among Us Are the Most Terrifying of All,” and it looks at six classic literary characters who could rightfully be called monsters in human skin. Is your favorite literary human monster among them? Click the excerpt below and find out!

Forget about Frankenstein’s Monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, or even Godzilla. The thrills we get from them may be indisputable, but it’s the knock on the door in the middle of the night, the silhouette of a man waiting at the far end of the alley, or the stranger who’s sitting in your living room when you get home that evokes real terror. It’s the monsters among us that we truly fear.

And don’t forget that 100 Fathoms Below is out in paperback now!