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2014: The Year in Kaufmannia

I don’t usually do these year-end wrap-ups (except for my annual list of the books I’ve read, which is coming soon), but I thought this year I’d give it a shot. Let’s start with the big stuff: novels!

This year, my novel Die and Stay Dead came out from St. Martin’s/Griffin, the sequel to last year’s Dying Is My Business. The reviews were pretty snazzy, too. The novel garnered me my first starred review in Publishers Weekly and a glowing review in Rue Morgue, which is my favorite magazine ever. This year also saw the re-release of my Gabriel Hunt novel, Hunt at World’s End, by Titan Books. From what I hear, it’s selling a lot better than when Dorchester/Leisure originally released it back in 2009. You can tell Titan actually cares about how well their books do because they’re putting a little PR behind them, while Dorchester…well, they probably already knew that their doors would be closing soon, so they didn’t do squat to promote the series. Now that World’s End is in better hands — and actually has my name on the cover instead of the house name Gabriel Hunt — I saw royalties from it for the first time, and for a pretty hefty amount, too.

This was the year I also tried my hand at e-book self-publishing for the first time, releasing my 2007 Bram Stoker Award-nominated novelette General Slocum’s Gold for a number of different e-book platforms. So far the sales numbers haven’t set the world on fire or anything, but it was an interesting and rewarding experience. I would definitely consider self-publishing more e-books in the future. Maybe even new stuff.

I spent pretty much all of 2014 working on Only the Dead Sleep, the third volume in the trilogy that started with Dying Is My Business, due to its rather epic length, so I didn’t write any short stories. I did have one published, however, which I wrote in 2013: my Rocketeer story “The Mask of the Pharaoh,” which appeared in The Rocketeer: Jet-Pack Adventures from IDW Publishing. I had a lot of fun writing that one and learned a lot about Hollywood history, thanks to editor Jeff Conner’s incredibly detailed notes. I hope Rocketeer fans enjoy it.

I had a lot more non-fiction out there in 2014 than short fiction. My essay “Hardboiled Horror” was published by Nightmare Magazine. I wrote an article about demons titled “Beyond The Exorcist: Demons of a Different Type” for SF Signal. I was interviewed by The Book Plank and Crime Thriller Fella about the re-release of Hunt at World’s End, and by Blood Rose Books as a featured author. I was interviewed by The Big Thrill, the online magazine of the International Thriller Writers, about the release of Die and Stay Dead. I wrote about the story behind Die and Stay Dead for Upcoming4.me and wrote about my favorite bit for Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog.

In April, I launched my own blog feature, “The Scariest Part,” to showcase new works of horror, dark fantasy, dark science fiction, and suspense by authors, filmmakers, comic-book writers, and game creators. It’s still going strong, which is great, but so far it’s been 99.9% authors and .1% comic-book writers. I suppose that’s to be expected, but I’d love to get some filmmakers and game creators in there, too. Perhaps in the coming year. You can see past installments of “The Scariest Part” here.

I did a few readings and signings over the past year. In January, I signed books at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, California, alongside Christopher Golden, Amber Benson, and Jonathan Maberry. In May, I read with Chandler Klang Smith and Karen Heuler at the Hi-Fi Bar in Alphabet City. October was my busiest month for readings (hello, horror writer!): I read at WORD in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with Laird Barron and L.A. Kornetsky; at Writers Read NYC in Alphabet City with Gene Albertelli, Marcia Loughran, and Malcolm McNeill; and at The New York Review of Science Fiction Reading Series in SoHo with John Langan.

I was at Readercon in July, where I hosted my first Kaffeeklatsch, gave a reading, a spoke on a panel about horror for diverse audiences. Also in July, I was a Guest of Honor at NECon, along with Amber Benson and Michael Koryta. There, I was on a panel about non-fiction and a panel about erotic genre fiction, and was interviewed by Toastmaster Jack Haringa. I was also roasted. Ahem. In October, I attended New York Comic Con, which was amazing if utterly overwhelming. In November, I attended the World Fantasy Convention in Washington, DC, where I was on a very fun panel about dragons and saw many, many friends from faraway places.

And that, my friends, was 2014 in a nutshell. Less productive than I would have liked in some respects, but more productive in others. I hope your 2014 was a good one, and that your 2015 will be even better!

What Waits For You On North Brother Island?

Gothamist ran a great article today that has tons of amazing photos taken on North Brother Island, the abandoned island just off the Bronx where the bulk of my Bram Stoker Award-nominated novelette General Slocum’s Gold takes place. In fact, there are some great pictures of the abandoned hospital where Typhoid Mary once lived, and where Sackett and his pals run into supernatural shenanigans in the novelette. Check it out. (It’s odd that the article doesn’t mention the wreck of the General Slocum on North Brother Island’s shores in 1904, though.)

By the way, did you know General Slocum’s Gold is available as a 99¢ e-book that also includes a bonus story? Well, it is!

In other book-related news, there are only three days left to win signed ARCs of Die and Stay Dead and Dying Is My Business. Head on over to Goodreads and enter to win today!

The GENERAL SLOCUM’S GOLD E-book Is Now Only 99¢!

GSG-ebookcover nook

To quote Professor Farnsworth: Good news, everyone! The General Slocum’s Gold e-book is now available for only 99¢! That means you can get my critically acclaimed, Bram Stoker Award-nominated novelette — plus a bonus story — for less than a dollar! If this were a Crazy Eddie commercial, I’d tell you my prices are insane!

This price cut is available across all e-book platforms:

Kindle — 99¢!

Nook — 99¢!

Kobo — 99¢!

iBooks – 99¢!

If you’ve been holding off on buying a copy of General Slocum’s Gold, now’s your chance to nab the novelette Horror World called “a dark thrill ride that will keep you reading frantically until you reach its exciting climax” for cheap!

(Also, if you hate e-books and want a copy of the original chapbook from Burning Effigy Press, they’ve still got a few left.)

GENERAL SLOCUM’S GOLD Now Available on iBooks

GSG-ebookcover nook

The e-book of my Bram Stoker Award-nominated novelette General Slocum’s Gold is now available on iBooks, joining the previously announced Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. (And of course there are a handful of copies of the paperback chapbook still available from Burning Effigy Press, too.) I’m really thrilled that it’s getting a second wind and a wider audience now. It’s the story that pretty much put me on the map, and its success is what convinced me to keep on trucking down the horror-noir highway — a road that led directly to Dying Is My Business and the forthcoming Die and Stay Dead.

 

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