Fantastic Folk Friday - The Swap (Plus a Giveaway)

I shall try not to squee too much, but I received two fabulous books in the mail this week. The Ultimate perVERSEities by Kurt Newton and Cthulhurotica edited by Carrie Cuinn.

And both were born of swaps... I sent Kurt and Carrie 'Strange Men' and they sent me their books. Swaps rock. This is my second swap with Kurt. I traded my novelette Olive Lemon for his Black Butterflies last year. This could become a habit. (And he wrote the nicest, quirkiest inscription inside).

And Cthulhurotica is double the goodness, not only is it edited by Carrie, but it also includes a KV Taylor story, Transfigured Night. Katey gets into all the best books. The anthology also includes stories and essays by Jennifer Brozek, Cody Goodfellow, Mae Empson, Nathan Crowder, Don Pizarro, Silvia Moreno-Garcia and many others.

Now onto the giveaway. Carrie sent me two copies of Cthulhurotica and I want to give one away to you. So what do you have to do to enter... Leave a comment saying you'd like to be entered in the draw.

And if you don't win you can find more information about Cthulhurotica and Dagan Books next anthology In Situ at their website. Actually, you can find out more info even if you do win. I'm generous like that. Closing date is Friday 18th February 2011, midnight (your time). And if you haven't yet picked up a copy of Strange Men let me know and I'll throw in a copy of that book too.

Let's Keep This Short

The first three days of this mighty year were so productive, I spent the following week shining my writers medal and it took until late last week to realise that I'd only read 10 short stories for the year (and most of them in those glorious three days). Wrists slapped.

To rectify, I flipped open my kindle and read this month's Apex Magazine. You'll find the review here.

And to entice you all to read a flash story today. How about a story by Kurt Newton (Soft Whispers in a Dead Man's Ear) over at Leodegraunce. Its lifespan online is short and Kurt is always good value for money. And as this story is free, he's extra good value.

Pretty Little Totem

The second issue of Shock Totem is now on sale (insert several woots! here) and contains my story Pretty Little Ghouls.

You can purchase the magazine at the Shock Totem site or on Amazon.

It also contains delights from Kurt Newton, Vincent Pendergast, John Boden and Mercedes M Yardley amongst others.

Cover Art Glee: Shock Totem

I wonder if my title will draw Glee fans to the blog. I wonder if the large eyeball will send Glee fans screaming away from my blog.

I don't watch Glee. I love musicals and it seemed my kind of thing, but I couldn't take to it. Maybe I didn't give it enough time. Maybe I gave it too much time.

Anyhow... As you've probably guessed from the gorgeous cover art to your left--by artist Hicham Haddaji-- issue 2 of Shock Totem is almost done. Squeeing, and hoping my squee delights the Glee fans still with us.

I do wish I'd stuck with that show. Or at least watched more than one episode.




Here is the gorgeous TOC for the upcoming issueof Shock Totem.

* To Be Titled: An editorial, by K. Allen Wood
* The Rat Burner, by Ricardo Bare
* Sole Survivor, by Kurt Newton
* The Spooky Stuff: A conversation with James Newman, by John Boden
* Sweepers, by Leslianne Wilder
* Rainbow Serpent, by Vincent Pendergast
* Strange Goods and Other Oddities (Reviews)
* Abominations: Hide the Sickness: An article by Mercedes M. Yardley
* Pretty Little Ghouls, by Cate Gardner
* Messages From Valerie Polichar, by Grá Linnaea & Sarah Dunn
* Return From Dust, by Nick Bronson
* Leave Me the Way I was Found, by Christian A. Dumais
* Upon My Return, by David Jack Bell
* Howling Through The Keyhole (Author Notes)

Theatre of Ideas

Five thousand word day for the win. I could have made it to six thousand but my need to declare it to the world via twitter led me to the main pc and it trapped me there for several hours. I swear, I've been hammering at the monitor but no one would let me out.

The rewrite of Theatre of Curious Acts is going well, the publisher didn't like the first fifty or so pages of the book and I've slashed them down to about ten, removed two characters, reduced the other two characters to bit parts and pulled my main MC from the rest of the book to the front (don't ask, the original version of Theatre had a complicated layout as it was set out as four novellas/novelettes and one short that all tied in together) and now the story starts in the trenches of The Great War with some nasty trench rats. The positive thing is, I've fallen in love with the story and am eternally grateful for this kick up the ass that will hopefully help me build a much better book.

In other news, the wonderful Kurt Newton has reviewed Olive Lemon on his blog. Happy, happy, happy. Plus, whilst panicking that I wouldn't have a story for the Cafe Doom competition this year and that I wouldn't have any flash stories to send to 52 Stitches when it reopens, I played with some words hoping to make an inspiring title. I found my title, I found my character, and they fit neither of the above. Oh, but it does have butterflies flying about my insides. Either that, or I have gas.

Black Butterflies

In what should have been a case of 'you snooze, you lose', I almost missed out on getting a copy of Kurt Newton's chapbook, Black Butterflies. I headed to Horror Mall to buy a copy and saw the most wonderful (for the author) and the most hideous (for the reader) words, 'SOLD OUT'.

Luckily, with the help of Olive Lemon, I managed to swap a copy of my chapbook for Kurt's and it's a beautiful thing. A glossy cover, signed, limited to 100 copies, with interior illustrations. A definite collector's item. It's published by Sideshow Press for their Black Ink Chapbook Series and I recommend checking out their other books (that's a note not just for you, but for me as well).

Black Butterflies is a deliciously odd tale. Timothy Radley sees peoples thoughts, they float above their heads like black butterflies and sometimes he feels the urge to help them. And sometimes he doesn't. A dark vein runs through this sweet tale of loneliness and love, and Newton's writing just sweeps you along with no dull moments. You may no longer be able to buy this little book, but I recommend looking out for his next.