Some Reading Material For April 2011…

Mayhem III Auf Deutsch

Admit it, Casket For Sale (Only Used Once) was so awesome that just one language wasn’t enough! Therefore…

New Story Complete!

I’ve just finished a short story called “Scrumptious Bone Bread.” This story was not pre-accepted by the editor to whom it will be sent, which is always a pain because it forces you to try to write something that the editor will consider “good.”

If it does get rejected, which it BETTER NOT, I haven’t yet decided if I’ll take the “cry” approach or the “temper tantrum” approach.

THE MONSTER’S CORNER Lineup

The Monster’s Corner, an anthology edited by the wise and mighty Christopher Golden, comes out in October from St. Martin’s Press. That’s a long time away, unless you’re old and say things like “Is it Christmas already?” but here’s the table of contents:

The Awkward Age by David Liss
Saint John by Jonathan Maberry
Rue by Lauren Groff
Succumb by John McIlveen
Torn Stitches, Shattered Glass by Kevin J. Anderson
Rattler and the Mothman by Sharyn McCrumb
Big Man by David Moody
Rakshasi by Kelley Armstrong
Breeding the Demons by Nate Kenyon
Siren Song by Dana Stabenow
Less of a Girl by Chelsea Cain
The Cruel Thief of Rosy Infants by Tom Piccirilli
The Screaming Room by Sarah Pinborough
Wicked Be by Heather Graham
Specimen 313 by Jeff Strand
The Lake by Tananarive Due
The Other One by Michael Marshall Smith
And You Still Wonder Why Our First Impulse is to Kill You: An Alphabetized Faux-Manifesto transcribed, edited, and annotated (under duress and protest) by
Gary A. Braunbeck
Jesus and Satan Go Jogging in the Desert by Simon R. Green

The Monster’s Corner

This looks kind of cool. I wonder if I know any of the authors in it…?

Not That I’m Annoyed…

…but the degree to which Travelocity SUCKS is almost beyond comprehension.

I’m not sure how I’m going to watch the next season of The Amazing Race without throwing rocks at the TV screen whenever they’re mentioned.

Moment of Senility Averted

So I paid my daily visit to www.addictomatic.com, which puts all of your ego-surfing needs into one convenient location. And I found a blurb from me for a novel called Husk.

My first thought: “I didn’t blurb any book called Husk!”

My second thought: “Did I blurb Husk and just don’t remember it? Has my brain deteriorated to the point where I can offer my personal seal of approval on a novel that I have no memory of ever reading? When the hell did I even read Husk?”

My third thought: “Those bastards are falsely attributing blurbs to me and hoping that I don’t check Addictomatic! I will DESTROY them! NOBODY slaps phony blurbs by me on books I haven’t read! Grrrrrr! Grrrrrr! Grrrrrr!”

(Okay, I didn’t really have a thought like that, but blinding rage makes for more interesting website posts.)

Then, just as I was about to click the “Sue Now” button on my laptop, I realized that I had indeed read and enjoyed Husk–they’d just given the book a different title. Fair enough.

So when Husk by Matt Hults goes up for pre-order from Books of the Dead Press, you may purchase it with the confidence that they weren’t just going “Ha ha ha! Let’s make up a blurb and see if that goober notices!” They are, however, basing a tiny part of their promotion on the idea that people will read the blurb and go “Oooooh!” instead of “Crap! Strand likes it? Remove from cart.” Never a great idea.

 

The Pipeline!

For those of you who are interested, here’s what’s in the ol’ book pipeline…

Fangboy. Horror/comedy novel. Completed. Edited. Final galleys are sitting in my e-mail at this very moment. To be published April 2011 by Delirium Books.

Faint of Heart. Very dark suspense novella. Completed. Edited. Publication date unscheduled, but it’ll be from Sideshow Press, working in conjunction with Chris Hedges of Insidious Publications.

Within. Supernatural thriller. In progress. Primary writing project. Projected Completion Date: Sometime next month. No publisher, no deadline, no stress.

Anything Dangerous. Action/adventure comedy. Three chapters and a synopsis.

 

 

The Top 10 Movies of 2011 (So Far)

Well, we’re two days into the new year, so it’s time to begin my annual countdown of the best films of 2o11. Here they are (ranked in order):

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10. [Blank.]

Obviously, this list will be expanded when I see a movie this year, but for now, I hope you found my choices to be intriguing and perhaps even controversial.

(Doesn’t the movie version of The Smurfs come out this year? If you go see it, you are a bad person.)

Revised New Year’s Resolution #1

Despite talk of resolving to eat healthier, stop drinking so many carbonated beverages, get more exercise, be nice to people, write books of ascending quality, and keep this website updated on a daily basis, my REAL resolution was simple: No more freshly dead hobos in the trunk of my car. The hobo murders are a bad, bad, bad habit, and it’s becoming difficult to keep being snotty about people who smoke.

Unfortunately, that resolution is now “Fewer freshly dead hobos in the trunk of my car.” Dammit.

Oh well, there’s always 2012.