I just finished revising “Everything Gets Bigger After Nuclear War” for its inclusion in the Rise and Fall anthology. This is the first time I’ve been asked to make major revisions and it was a very enjoyable experience (I suppose I should enjoy it while it lasts; there will no doubt be times when I don’t agree with an editor’s suggestions).

The editor, Ahmed A. Khan, requested only one change and it actually turned out to make the story better. Of course, that’s the job of any good editor, but seeing it in action is quite another thing entirely. Kathryn read the new version this morning, and she agrees the change is a good one.

I hope Mr. Khan will feel the same way.

Update (1:10 p.m.): The edits are good, and the editor has formally accepted the story. The anthology is scheduled to be published in April or May 2007.

• Currently reading: "Blackmailers Don't Shoot," by Raymond Chandler

Man, I don’t think I’m ever going to understand the publishing business.

Less than an hour after I sent “Everything Gets Bigger After Nuclear War” to a new anthology, Rise and Fall, I received an e-mail from the editor saying he wanted it for the book.

Very, very weird.

Not that I’m complaining.

Kathryn’s exact words: “What?… Shut up! See, it was clearly meant to be!”

I think she’s right, too. I was checking out the editor’s online journal, in which he tracks the progress of the antho, and it turns out my story will be appearing alongside others written by the likes of Phyllis Gotlieb, Robert J. Sawyer, and Jay Lake. Very exciting!

It’s a Christmas miracle!

…I’ve always wanted to say that.

• Currently reading: The Unfortunate, by Tim Lebbon

Found out that Guzzolene has been cancelled. This is the second antho to bite the dust at 1018 Press, and I have to say I’m pretty annoyed. Even more so because I had to find out by going to their message board. I didn’t get an e-mail or anything.

Sorry, folks. I was really hoping you’d see this story in the new year. You still might, though, if I can find another mag or antho that’s interested.

• Currently reading: The Unfortunate, by Tim Lebbon

The title of this entry seemed doubly appropriate since it is a postscript to yesterday’s post, and it’s also about how I received a response to an e-mail I sent to Pete Crowther, the man who runs PS Publishing in the UK.

In addition to publishing some very fine books, Crowther also puts out a digest-sized magazine called Postscripts. Like a few of the mags out there, Crowther requires that you send a query before submitting your story for consideration. I did that last night, and he expressed interest in reading “Starlight.”

I like these little go-aheads because they feel like mini-acceptances. Something in the description made him interested enough that he wanted to see the story, and that’s a hell of a lot better than hearing Your idea sounds like crap, and I can only assume the story itself is worse.

It’s leagues away from an actual acceptance, but it’s still a pretty nice feeling.

Also, here’s a little something to bring you all some holiday cheer.

Happy Festivus to all!

• Currently reading: "The Last Good Times," by Tim Lebbon

I had planned to post this last night, but I fell asleep watching “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and that was it for me.

Soooo tired lately. For the last three weeks or so, I’ve been working an extra half hour in the morning and taking only half my lunch so I can make up time for the holidays. As a mere contract employee, I don’t get any vacation days, so I have to make up the time for when city hall is closed next week. You wouldn’t think an extra half an hour in the morning would make a difference, but it really does. I suspect it has to do with having a slightly different sleep schedule, because when it comes to sleep, even the slightest adjustment is enough to throw me off my game.

Annnyway, I’m almost done now. I’ll be heading to Oshawa tomorrow to spend a couple of days with my parents and sister, and then we’ll be back on Christmas Day to celebrate with Kat’s brood. I love them to death, but it’s a bit overwhelming to have the entire fam’ damly around. What I’m really looking forward to is Boxing Day and the days leading up to New Year’s, when I can get some writing done, read some books, and truly relax.

Speaking of writing, I finished a new story the other day.

"Starlight"

4,411 / 4,411 (100.0%)

“Starlight” is the first in a series of stories I plan to write about the ghost towns of Northern Ontario. The creatures that lurk within the dilapidated houses and stalk the empty streets. I have outlines for four more stories and a novella that I’ve actually done quite a bit of work on. I’d like to publish them in different markets and one day release them together in a single collection. That’s the dream, anyway.

If I don’t get a chance to post again, I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays and thank you all again for making this website one of your stops on the Web. I’ll be back soon with my 2006 year-end review.

Until then, drive safe, eat lots of bird, drink plenty of nog, and stay toasty.

• Currently reading: "The Repulsion," by Tim Lebbon

Received an e-mail from the editor of Horror Library – Volume 2 saying the antho is going to launch, coincidentally, at this year’s World Horror Convention in Toronto!

Well, I said, I’m going to be there, so I can pick up my contributors’ copies in person, and I can sign a few extra copies, if you want, because I’m such a popular writer and all.

But seriously, it is pretty neat to have the book drop at the one (and probably only) con I’ll be attending next year.

Also, Naked Snake Press has finally gotten around to updating their website and is now reporting that Salt (featuring my story “Twillingate”) will be released in “early 2007.” I have no idea what that means (January 2007? March 2007?) since I’m not in contact with the editor, but I’m hoping it will be sooner rather than later.

So this is what it feels like to run an actual writer’s website, with like, um, news and stuff to report.

Update: The editor of HL2 just informed me that he is trying to organize a reading at WHC for contributors. So it looks like I might be reading one my stories aloud for the very first time.

• Currently reading: "Well-Connected," by T.E.D. Klein

No person in small press horror has got people talking these days than Joe Hill. He is the author of a multi-award-winning short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts, and the forthcoming novel Heart-Shaped Box.

So, why is everyone talking?

Simple: the guy is a freakin’ talented writer.

Oh, and he’s also the son of Stephen King.

Yeah, that’s right, Stephen King’s son is writing and publishing.

As if I didn’t need any more pressure, right?

Actually, it’s okay. There’s plenty of room for all of us in the publishing game, and Hill really is a great writer. I just finished reading 20th Century Ghosts, and I’m very much looking forward to reading his first novel when it comes out in February.

Having said that, I thought I’d weigh in on the “talk” (which is a much nicer word than “controversy”) about whether or not Hill is getting a fair shake in the oh-so-glorious and oh-so-important world of small press horror.

It all started earlier this year, just before Hill started winning, well, just about every award in the industry for 20th Century Ghosts. On one of the Usenet newsgroups, which are populated by many a belligerent asshole who in person probably wouldn’t say shit if he had a mouthful, some wag came out saying, essentially, that Joe Hill is only getting the attention, the awards, the story acceptances, because he is Stephen King’s son.

This kicked off a whole brouhaha, because that’s what people do best on the web, with people taking sides over whether or not there was any nepotism involved in any part of poor Mr. Hill’s career. Pretty stupid stuff, but to give them credit, most people realized this was nothing more than a text-book case of sour grapes and sided with Hill.

Hell, even I was jealous when I first heard about the guy. Stephen King’s son is writing and publishing and winning awards and he sold his book? All this over the course of one year? Well then, he must be getting special treatment!

But I didn’t really believe that — or rather, I wasn’t going to believe that without actually checking the guy out (this is where I differ from the trolls out there: I look stuff up and find out for myself before developing an opinion). I wasn’t going to judge the guy based on the nattering of a bunch of twits in the small press. I never listened to their prattle before, I sure wasn’t going to listen to it now.

But I was curious.

Even if the guy wasn’t actively swinging his weight, mayyyybe he was getting some special treatment by those impressionable editors and reviewers who thought that by doing so they’d be getting in good with his old man.

So I started seeking out his work. After all, that was the only way I’d be able to tell if he was any good or not. (Strange how it’s that easy, eh?) I picked up 20th Century Ghosts, I threw on a copy of his chapbook Better Than Home on an order I was making to Clarkesworld Books, and I happened upon one of his other stories in an issue of Postscripts that I already owned. I had everything I needed. And the verdict:

Yes, he’s really that good.

He’s actually pretty damned good.

A few short notes on my favourites in his collection:

The kickoff story, “Best New Horror,” nails perfectly the world of small press horror and the freakish world that is the horror/sf convention circuit.

“You Will Hear The Locust Sing” is a nice homage to the big bug films of the 1950s that I love so dearly.

“My Father’s Mask” is… well, some seriously fucked up shit, and I loved it!

After reading his stories, I began researching the man, and I think that’s where some people are encountering the big green-eye monster. Joe Hill, talent aside, is definitely getting a lot of attention. He’s getting a lot of articles and interviews, more than anyone else I can think of in years. Not even Kelly Link, one of the other biggies in the small press, gets this kind of attention. Bev Vincent recently reviewed 20th Century Ghosts in CD, and that is the only thing in this whole silly tale that I think should not have happened. Letting the most popular Stephen King scholar review a book written by the man’s son — he loved it, of course — probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, and it certainly gave more ammunition to the idiots who think Hill is getting a free ride. I completely agree with Vincent’s review, but I don’t think he should have been the one to write it.

But the final judgement on Joe Hill really comes down to two questions.

1. Is he getting special treatment?

Definitely not. Hill shopped his collection around to every major publisher in the U.S. and they all turned him down. That’s why he had to go with PS Publishing, a U.K. company.

Also, even though it’s now public knowledge that Hill is Stephen King’s son (thanks to an article in Variety), he tried to avoid this for as long as he could. Why else is he publishing under a pseudonym if not to make it on his own steam? (In the Variety article, the people who bought the rights to Hill’s book stated they didn’t know he was King’s son when they made the deal, and I believe them.)

Although it appears as if Joe Hill came out of the ether, he’s actually been publishing since 1996, in many of the same small and obscure magazines that you see me talking about on this website. He worked hard for his success and it didn’t happen over night.

2. Is he getting extra attention?

Probably. But he can’t be blamed for that. Journalists and reporters write stories based on angles, and you have to admit, Joe Hill gives them one hell of an angle. So, yes, he is probably going to get more interviews and more articles written about him than most writers. But I’m not bitter about this either (God, this post is starting to sound like one big love-note). I would probably feel otherwise if Hill wasn’t such a great writer. He deserves the attention, and frankly, what’s good for him is good for horror fiction, which in turn is good for me. Stephen King helped propel the interest in horror novels throughout the seventies and eighties. Maybe Hill will do the same for the genre today. It wouldn’t surprise me if he did, and I certainly wouldn’t feel jealous about it. Well, maybe a bit.

Kathryn always manages to provide a refreshingly impartial opinion at times like this. She cares not one iota about the publishing world, big or small, and her distance from it all helps to keep me grounded. I told her about Mr. Hill and the swirl of talk around him, and she said: “Well, he’ll probably get special treatment by some people. But he can’t really be blamed for that. He can’t help being Stephen King’s son, right?”

I managed to dig up only one article, in Publishers Weekly, in which Hill actually comments on all of this.

This would be a much easier argument if Hill’s writing sucked. Then it would be quite obvious that these editors and reviewers are simply sucking up to his daddy by proxy. But that’s not the case. Hill is a good writer, and I strongly recommend you pick up a copy of 20th Century Ghosts, and keep your eyes peel for Heart-Shaped Box next year.

I think this guy’s going to be big.

• Currently reading: "Magic Carpet," T.E.D. Klein

Just finished and sent off the final polish of “Charlotte’s Frequency.” It was the first time I’d read the story in about a year, and I was surprised by how much I still liked it. Not that I expected to hate it, but I thought it would read like an inferior piece compared to some of my more recent stories.

Fortunately, “Charlotte” still reads quite well, and I enjoyed it a great deal. It was almost like reading the story for the first time, and I can understand now why so many writers suggest putting a finished piece in a drawer for a month or more before reviewing it again. Taking that time to distance yourself from the story is crucial. It allows you to look on it with fresh eyes and see things you might not have noticed before.

Usually I’m quick to get the story out after it’s finished, but over time I’ve learned that this is not a race, and taking the extra weeks to let a story simmer can only make it better. Having other people read your story is also important, for much the same reason. If they’re especially observant, and brutally honest, they can provide the most important feedback of all — an impartial opinion.

Kathryn, not just a wonderful wife but a great booster, sent out an e-mail to friends and family telling them about my recent sale. Her parents sent the best reply:

“Wow! What a year! This is what happens when you marry our daughter.”

Ahh, it’s funny because it’s true.

• Currently reading: "Curtains for Nat Crumley," by T.E.D. Klein