News & Blog

The table of contents for PS Publishing’s new anthology, Dark Fusions: Where Monsters Lurk, has been announced on editor Lois Gresh’s blog:

Introduction by Lois H. Gresh

1. The Rest is Noise by Nicholas Kaufmann
2. Beneath Their Shoulders by Norman Prentiss
3. Ignis Fatuus by Scott David Aniolowski and T.E. Grau
4. The Flea Circus by Cody Goodfellow
5. The Corpse Detective by Darrell Schweitzer
6. When the Stars Run Away by Ann K. Schwader
7. Reign by Michael Marano
8. Golden State by Lisa Morton
9. Sidestep by Lynn Spitz
10. Five-Star Review by David Sakmyster
11. Little Bastards by John D. Haefele
12. Gurrl UnDeleted by Nancy Kilpatrick
13. Thirst by James Alan Gardner
14. What Was Called by Nick Cato
15. Faceless by Yvonne Navarro
16. Death Eater by Christopher Fulbright
17. Aunt Paloma by Mark McLaughlin
18. Medieval Metaphysics by Robert M. Price

Dark Fusions: Where Monsters Lurk is scheduled for publication in October. In fact, I think it’s going to launch at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton. The anthology isn’t available for pre-order yet, but I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as it is. I’ll also share the cover art once it’s finalized.

Another Necon, another weekend of not enough sleep. But it’s easy to run entirely on adrenaline at Necon. As someone said during Thursday night’s memorial service for our dear departed friend Rick Hautala — Necon isn’t a convention, it’s a family reunion. And it never felt more that way than this year, with so many long-absent regulars returning. I was particularly happy to see Douglas Winter again — though unfortunately it also meant he would be hosting That Darn Game Show again on Saturday night. But, after the usual fifteen minutes spent describing the rules to everyone, the game went very quickly. I came in 3rd by correctly recognizing the opening line to F. Paul Wilson‘s novel The Tomb. My valuable prize was an alien autopsy play set…with edible pieces!

Rio Youers had his head shaved for charity, raising more than $600 for the Jimmy Fund. The son of a bitch was bald but he still looked magnificent! My panel, Playing in the Other Guy’s Sandbox: Homage, Pastiche, Mythos, and Shared Worlds went well. Panelists C.J. Henderson, Darrell Schweitzer, John Goodrich, and James A. Moore were all game to discuss their experiences writing in universes they didn’t create themselves. The brand new kaffeklatsches on Friday morning, opposite the Necon Olympics mini-golf/bowling, were an enormous success, and judging by the feedback at Sunday’s town hall they’re here to stay. Other good news from the town hall: the Necon website is finally going to be redesigned and more frequent updates are promised!

And then there was the highlight of any Necon: the roast. This year, we roasted Linda Addison, and we got her good! Christopher Golden and I co-hosted. We caught Linda completely off-guard by starting to roast Jose Nieto, and then calling Linda up as our first roaster. Jose, a fine actor, pitched a fake hissy fit fifteen seconds into Linda’s act and stormed back into the audience. Linda was flabbergasted. Chris and I, nowhere near as good at acting as Jose, then pretended to be flummoxed. “Oh no, Chris! What do we do now?” I asked. “Well, we have to roast someone,” Chris replied, taking Linda’s arm. “Yes, we have to roast someone,” I said, taking her other arm. Together, we led her over to the chair, and the real roast began. That’s all I’m going to say about it, because what’s said at the roast stays there. I will, however, admit that some people who seem so nice are actually so beautifully nasty it would make your head spin! Linda stared daggers at Chris and me all through the roast. I bought her a drink afterward to keep her from killing me. No, she was a good sport, and she told me later she was very honored and touched.

But Necon is more about the people than the events, and I had a wonderful time hanging out with Jack Haringa, Brian Keene and Mary SanGiovanni, Dave Thomas, Bev Vincent, John Harvey, S.J. Bagley, Nate Kenyon, Duncan Eagleson, Kealan Patrick Burke and his awesome girlfriend Adrienne Wallace, John McIlveen, Chris Golden, Craig Shaw Gardner, Gordon Linzner, Hildy Silverman, Richard Dansky and Melinda Thielbar, and so many more. I was especially happy to be able to spend some one-on-one time with Bob Booth on Sunday. We only thought he was going to make it to Necon for one night, but miraculously he was able to be there for the entire weekend. His spirits were high and his wit was as sharp as ever.

So that was Necon 33. Oh, and now I can tell you: for Necon 34, I’m one of the Guests of Honor — along with Michael Koryta and Amber Benson! Joining us will be Toastmaster Jack Haringa and Artist Guest of Honor Erik Mohr (who did the cover for my book Chasing the Dragon, as well as so many other great ChiZine Publications covers). If you haven’t been to Necon for a while, or if you’ve never been before, you simply have to come to this one!

Read Entertainment Weekly‘s description below of next year’s major motion picture I, Frankenstein, with Aaron Eckhart as the monster, and see if you can spot exactly the point where my eyes started rolling and never, ever stopped.

[Eckhart] says the [monster] is more akin to the tragic figure in Shelley’s 1818 novel — an intelligent, articulate being with a major identity crisis and “serious daddy issues.” However, unlike Shelley’s literary patchwork man, Eckhart’s monster is caught in an ongoing battle between evil demons and gargoyle sentinels. To aid in this war, he’s mastered the martial-arts skill of Kali stick fighting.

I can’t even.

Necon 33 is this weekend! July is always my busiest month when it comes to conferences. As much as I like World Fantasy and World Horror, I don’t go every year. Often, they’re just too far away. But Readercon and Necon, both held in July and usually only one week apart, are must-attends for me. Luckily, they’re both nearby, too — one in the Boston area and the other near Providence. Amtrak or a Chinatown bus makes it easy enough to attend.

This will be my 13th Necon. I started going in 2000 and only missed it once since, in 2009 when I was ghostwriting two books that summer and just didn’t have the time. The programming at Necon is very different from Readercon. For one thing, there’s only a single track, not multiple tracks, which allows for a looser, more social conference experience. (And napping.) For another thing, the programming schedule is often announced only a few days before the conference — though I’ve been asked to join the programming committee, and we’re working on a new system that would allow for more advance notice so panelists can prepare properly if they want to. So anyway, this is my Necon 33 schedule:

Friday, 3 p.m.
Playing in the Other Guy’s Sandbox: Homage, Pastiche, Mythos, and Shared Worlds
C.J. Henderson, Darrell Schweitzer, John Goodrich, James A. Moore, Nicholas Kaufmann (M)

I just did a panel on this topic at Readercon with John Shirley, so I feel well prepared to moderate this one.

Friday, 8 p.m.
Meet the Authors Party

I’ll have copies of Chasing the Dragon for sale, as well as a small number of ARCs of Dying Is My Business to give out. And of course I’ll sign whatever you want me to. (Except body parts.) (Okay, body parts.)

Saturday, 9 p.m.
The Infamous Necon Roast

This year, Christopher Golden and I are co-hosting. Who’s getting roasted? I’ll never tell!

If you’re coming to Necon, I look forward to seeing you there! If you’ve never been to Necon, I highly recommend it. Consider coming sometime!