"In the Wardrobe" makes "Best Horror of the Year" reading list

This is a first for me, though it's probably no big deal to a lot of other writers...

Ellen Datlow is one of the biggest, most-respected editors in any of the genre fiction fields. She published the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology from 1988 to 2008, and then immediately started up the next version, entitled The Best Horror of the Year.

"In the Wardrobe," my short story in the A Darke Phantastique anthology was not included in this year's The Best Horror... anthology, I am sorry to say. Nor was any other story from A Darke Phantastique.

However!

Datlow also publishes a recommended reading list each year -- stories that a worthy of notice, but not quite Best.

You got it. "In the Wardrobe" made the recommended reading list, even though it didn't make it into the book.

I'll take it!

One of the things that I am proudest of, however, is the fact that, even though A Darke Phantastique wasn't represented in The Best Horror of the Year, it was represented several times on the reading list. I am delighted to be one of several...

Mike Allen -- "Tardigrade"
Dennis Etchison -- "Breakfast in Tasmania"
Andrew S. Fuller -- "Immigrant"
Lois H. Gresh -- "Old Enough to Drink"
D. T. Kastn -- "Real Live Lobsters"
Erinn L. Kemper -- "The Claim"
Joe R. Lansdale -- "The Case of the Four-Acre Haunt"
Jason Maurer -- "In Your Dark..."
Lucy A. Snyder -- "Kudzu"

Ten of us!

I came up with a term for this that fits how I feel... stupid-proud. That's me... stupid-proud!

An Author Profile... of Me!

I have just experienced my first authorial... profile? interview? Some of each?

And it feels great!

As one of the writers in the anthology, A Darke Phantastique, I've been profiled by Cycatrix Press, and appear on their Nameless Digest website. I'm just going to link to it and let you check out the interview/profile thing over there, and check out everything else good they've got to see.

"A Darke Phantastique" Nominated for Bram Stoker Award

I just learned that the anthology which my short story, "In the Wardrobe" appears in, A Darke Phantastique, is a finalist for a Bram Stoker Award, which is given out by the Horror Writers' Association (HWA).

The category of Superior Achievement in an Anthology...

Qualia Nous (Written Backwards) - edited by Michael Bailey

A Darke Phantastique (Cycatrix Press) - edited by Jason V Brock

Fearful Symmetries (ChiZine Publications) - edited by Ellen Datlow

Burnt Tongues (Medallion Press) - edited by Chuck Palahniuk, Richard Thomas, and Dennis Widmyer

Limbus, Inc., Book II (JournalStone) - edited by Brett J. Talley

What does this mean for my story, "In the Wardrobe?" Not a thing, except that it appears in an awesome, award-winning anthology. On the other hand, I did get a passing mention in a review by Rue Morgue magazine, and I'll take it!

Visit the HWA site for a current list of nominees!

Dinner With All-Stars (In Which I Confess the Reason I Wanted to Write)

Last Sunday, I was extremely fortunate to be part of a large author signing in Seattle for the anthology A Darke Phantastique, which includes my lengthy short story, "In the Wardrobe."

It was awesome! I signed books for the other authors and for customers, and in return I got my copy signed by everyone else. Awesome!

Did I mention it was awesome?

Afterwards, as hard as it may seem to believe, it was even better. Liza and I went to dinner with the group. Almost everyone came out to eat Italian, though we were scattered over two very large tables.

We ended up sitting with Jason V Brock, Sunni K Brock, William F. Nolan, Greg Bear, Astrid Bear, Andrew S. Fuller, and James Beach.

(There were so many extra initials floating around I even thought about picking one our for myself.)

(Second parenthetical -- The other table was full of the rest of the group, who included folks like S. T. Joshi, Willum Pugmire, Samuel Marzioli, and others. I don't want to ignore them, but I ended up spending virtually all my time focusing on the folks I was sitting with.)

Everyone at the table was a writer. Some of them were well-known writers. All of them were talented writers. In addition, Jason and William Nolan were the editors of A Darke Phantastique. Jason and Sunni are the couple behind [nameless] Digest. They are also the filmmakers responsible for The Ackermonster Chronicles.

Nolan, you might known, is one of the authors (along with George Clayton Johnson) of the seminal science fiction novel (and later movie and TV series) Logan's Run. He has written several sequels to the novel, along with about 200 other things.

Fuller is the founder of the online magazine 3-Lobed Burning Eye and Beach is the founder of Dark Discoveries magazine.

And then there was Greg Bear. Bear is the author of Eon, Blood Music, Hull Zero Three, Darwin's Radio, Mariposa, Forge of God, Anvil of Stars, and another 40-odd novels. He has a handful of Nebula and Hugo Awards and a few thousand other nominations. He was also, you might not know, one of the five founders of San Diego Comic-Con.

"A Darke Phantastique" is in Print! (And Along with It, My Short Story, "In the Wardrobe.")

I am delighted! My short story, "In the Wardrobe," is part of this Cycatrix Press anthology, "A Darke Phantastique: Encounters With the Uncanny and Other Magical Things" (forever to be known here just by the first three words).

This is one of the best-looking books I've ever seen, with gilt page edges, tremendous interior artwork, and amazing design. I'm actually a little gobsmacked to be in this massive tome.

The collection of authors is pretty amazing, too.

Featuring a foreword by Ray Bradbury, it is separated into five sections, each of them the size of a lesser collection.

Though it is taking up some space to do so, I really feel a need to share this phenomenal Table of Contents...

"The Beginnings of Imagination" (foreword) / Ray Bradbury
"An Abiding Darkness, A Phantastique Light" (introduction) / Jason V Brock

Section One -- Magical Realities

"Michael the Monster" / Paul Kane
"A Darke Phantastique" / Jason V Brock
"Charles Out of La-La Land" / Bruce Taylor
"The Wisest Stone and the Zoo" / Nathaniel Lee
"Out of the Blue, and Into the Black" / Sunni K Brock
"Lizard Man Dispatches" / Ray Garton
"Real Live Lobsters" / D. T. Kastn
"Bittersweet Bedlam" / Samuel Marzioli
"The Last Witch" / William F. Nolan

Short Story to Appear in "A Darke Phantastique!"

I am happy to announce that one of my short stories, a 7,000-plus word behemoth named "In the Wardrobe," will appear in a massive anthology by Vancouver, Washington-based Cycatrix Press!

The anthology, "A Darke Phantastique: Encounters With the Uncanny and Other Magical Things" is scheduled to be released this October.

The anthology is edited by authors Jason V Brock and William F. Nolan. Nolan was one of the author of the seminal science-fiction novel, "Logan's Run."