Monday, September 29, 2014

I Wonz teh Awkward Author Photo Contest

I can finally tell my mom that I'm a winner.

Wild and crazy novelist, screenwriter, blogger, and game designer, Chuck Wendig http://terribleminds.com/ had a very serious and thoughtful contest to solicit the most awkward author photos of all time (well, of at least those readers of his blog who were silly enough to enter).

Here's where he scientifically tallied the votes (complete with snazzy info-graphic)

And here's my winning entry:


Let that sink in.

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And here's my reaction when I found out I'd won this prestigious award:

Hagrid learns he's been accepted to Hogwarts

good times.


Thursday, September 4, 2014

Qualia Nous Released Into the Wild

Ladies and gentlefrogs, my short story “Breathe You in Me” is contained within the pages of QUALIA NOUS.

QUALIA NOUS is a collection of short stories billed as “a literary blend of science fiction and horror.”
I can dig it.

“Breathe You in Me”, was one of those sit-down-with-nothing-in-mind-then-all-of-a-sudden-write-in-a-fury-to-finish-it-in-one-sitting things. Those of you who are writers will have had that elusive experience. It’s a weird form of possession, or so it feels. You’re merely the channel for an idea that must strike the earth like verbose lightning.

It’s the only thing I ever wrote in 2nd person—and only because the narrative demanded it. I managed to combine the sewer city under Las Vegas and the flesh-eating drug Krokodil and fungi.

Yes, there is a sewer city underneath Las Vegas.
As a Las Vegas writer I find that there is no end to potential material here. This place is full of some crazy stories. You just have to listen.

Anyhow, I’m honored to share the QUALIA NOUS table of contents (TOC for us fancypants types) with some amazing writers. Editor Michael Bailey has a real knack for putting together dynamic and potent anthologies—featuring seasoned veterans and up-and-coming authors you need to know about NOW.

And Stephen King’s in it. Even my mom knows who Stephen King is.

So that’s pretty cool.

I’m trying to start the rumor that ole Stevey and I have been having BBQ’s at one another’s summer homes, clinking glasses and toasting to obscure rock’n’roll bands.

My wife suggests that I’m taking the fanboy thing a little too far. The restraining order from Mr. King would tend to support this observation, except I know that only means he wants me to pursue our friendship even more ardently…

;)


 Here's the table of contents. Mucho kudos goes to those who typed and linked all this out. (if it was you, take credit!)

·                                 “The Jaunt” by Stephen King
·                                 “The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family” by Usman Tanveer Malik
·                                 “The Shaking Man” by Gene O’Neill
·                                 “Dyscrasia” by Ashlee Scheuerman
·                                 “The Rondelium Girl of Rue Marseille” by Emily B. Cataneo
·                                 “The Angel Chaser” by Erik T. Johnson
·                                 “Psychic Shock” by Ian Shoebridge
·                                 “Peppermint Tea in Electronic Limbo” by D.J. Cockburn
·                                 “Second Chance” by John R. Little
·                                 “The Effigies of Tamber Square” by Jon Michael Kelley
·                                 “Shades of Naught” by Lori Michelle
·                                 “The Price of Faces” by James Chambers
·                                 “Simulacrum” by Jason V Brock
·                                 “Shutdown” & “Tomorrow’s Femme” (poetry) by Marge Simon
·                                 “Lead Me to Multiplicity” by Peter Hagelslag
·                                 “Cataldo’s Copy” by Christian A. Larsen
·                                 “The Neighborhood Has a Barbecue” by Max Booth III
·                                 “The Jenny Store” by Richard Thomas
·                                 “Night Guard” by Erinn L. Kemper
·                                 “A New Man” by William F. Nolan
·                                 “Voyeur” by John Everson
·                                 “Kilroy Wasn’t There” by Pat R. Steiner
·                                 “In the Nothing-Space, I Am What You Made Me” by Paul Anderson
·                                 “Dura Matter” by Lucy A. Snyder
·                                 “Ruminations” by Rena Mason
·                                 “Good and Faithful Servant” by Thomas F. Monteleone
·                                 “Twelve Kilos” by Patrick Freivald
·                                 “Breathe You In Me” by Mason Ian Bundschuh
·                                 “18P37-C, After Andrea Was Arrested” by Elizabeth Massie
·                                 “No Fixed Address” by Gary A. Braunbeck