Fearing the Other in 'Other Terrors'

I'm very happy to finally share the exquisite cover for Other Terrors, my forthcoming HWA anthology, co-edited with the talented Rena Mason. The cover artwork was done by Venezuelan graphic designer Pablo Gerardo Camacho, who also did the cover for Marlon James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf. The anthology will be published on July 19, 2022 by Mariner Books (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). 

Even better, after many months of reading and re-reading member submissions and editorial deliberations, we recently revealed the contributors and TOC. Personally, I’m most proud of the fact that although we were slated to select five member submissions, Rena and I worked hard to open up space for ten, doubling the presence of HWA members in our TOC. There are 22 short stories, 2 poems, written by 15 female contributors, 9 male—each bringing a unique perspective to the universal theme of “otherness” from the diversity of their backgrounds and experiences. From the publisher’s website:

An anthology of original new horror stories edited by Bram Stoker Award winners Vince Liaguno and Rena Mason that showcases authors from underrepresented backgrounds telling terrifying tales of what it means to be, or merely to seem, “other.”

Offering original new stories from some of the biggest names in horror as well as some of the hottest up-and-coming talents, Other Terrors will provide the ultimate reading experience for horror fans who want to celebrate fear of “the other.” Be they of a different culture, a different background, a different sexual preference, a different belief system, or a different skin color, some people simply aren’t part of the dominant community—and are perceived as scary. Humans are almost instinctively inclined to fear what’s different, as foolish as that may be, and there are a multitude of individuals who have spent far too long on the outside looking in. And the thing about the outside is . . . it’s much larger than you think.

In Other Terrors, horror writers from a multitude of underrepresented backgrounds will be putting a new, terrifying spin on what it means to be “the other.” People, places, and things once considered normal will suddenly appear different, striking a deeper, much more primal, chord of fear. Are our eyes playing tricks on us, or is there something truly sinister lurking under the surface of what we thought we knew? And who among us who is really of the other, after all?

We are happy to announce that the following HWA members will be included in Other Terrors:

• Holly Walrath with “The Asylum”

• Denise Dumars with “Scrape”

• Annie Neugebauer with “Churn the Unturning Tide”

• Nathan Carson with “Help, I’m a Cop”

• M.E. Bronstein with “The Voice of Nightingales” 

• Shanna Heath with “Miss Infection USA”

• Michael H. Hanson with “Night Shopper”

• Jonathan Lees with “It Comes in Waves”

• Maxwell Ian Gold with “Black Screams, Yellow Stars”

and

• Hailey Piper with “The Turning”

These exceptional stories from our HWA members will join previously announced esteemed contributors:

• Tananarive Due with “Incident at Bear Creek Lodge”

• S.A. Cosby with “What Blood Hath Wrought”

• Alma Katsu with “Waste Not”

• Stephen Graham Jones with “Tiddlywinks”

• Jennifer McMahon with “Idiot Girls”

• Michael Thomas Ford with “Where the Lovelight Gleams”

and

• Ann Dávila Cardinal with “Invasive Species”

Rounding out this outstanding TOC, the following talented authors will also be joining the Other Terrors lineup:

• Usman Malik with “Mud Flappers”

• Gabino Iglesias with “There’s Always Something in the Woods”

• Eugen Bacon with “The Devil Don’t Come with Horns”

• Larissa Glasser with “Kalkriese”

• Tracy A. Cross with “All Not Ready”

• Linda D. Addison with her poem “Illusions of the De-Evolved”

and

• Christina Sng with her poem “Other Fears”

Heartfelt congratulations to all those whose stories made the TOC, and our sincerest thanks to the HWA membership for making our decisions so difficult. The quality of the pool of submissions was impressive! We deeply appreciate your patience as we worked through the long process of bringing this anthology together. Special thanks to Jaime Levine at HMH, whose been a pleasure to work with, HWA's agent Alec Shane, and Lisa Morton, who both recommended me for the gig and had the insight to pair me with a superb co-editor.

Pre-orders are up now. Following the lead of one of our contributors, Jonathan Lees, here are several online retailers from whom you can pre-order Other Terrors:

• Bookshop (a great way to support indie booksellers)
• Barnes and Noble 
• Amazon 
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (straight from the publisher) 

Horrors of the 'Unspeakable' Variety

It's here. It's queer. And it's unspeakable.

In advance of the October 31st release of Unspeakable Horror 2: Abominations of Desire (Evil Jester Press, 2017), the new spiffy trailer from the fine folks at Circle of Seven Productions.

Desire – the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state.

What happens when human desire twists…bends…warps…mutates?

What happens when that desire is fed…or even starved?

In this sequel to the Bram Stoker Award®-winning anthology, Editor Vince Liaguno assembles a literary pantheon from the LGBT and horror communities to explore the dark underbelly of desire.

From unrequited love and repressed lust to consuming grief and the unquenchable thirst of addiction…from unfathomable sexual undergrounds to unspeakable perversions creeping into everyday suburbia, these abominations of desire will leave you gasping for breath and your taste for terror satiated.

Contributors include: Gemma Files, Laird Barron, Stephen Graham Jones, Lee Thomas, Helen Marshall, David Nickle, Lisa Morton, Norman Prentiss, Greg Herren, Tom Cardamone, Erastes, Marshall Moore, Evan J. Peterson, Chad Helder, Brad Hodson, Michael Hacker, R.B. Payne, Martel Sardina, and Martin Rose.

Praise for Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet (Dark Scribe Press, 2008)

“There are plenty of those to be found in Liaguno and Helder’s collection of 23 tales of queer faeries, psychopaths, ghosts of tormented lovers and hapless victims. What impresses me is the sheer literacy of these stories. There are no cheap shocks or Stephen King-like pop culture regurgitations here; only nasty things that bump and shudder the bed as you read.” – Out In Print

“It was inevitable that the narrowing portals of the publishing industry—in this case, the horror side—would yield a bevy of small presses geared at bringing new fear fiction to readers increasingly starved for quality. While books from such outfits can be a bit of a gamble, there is much to praise in Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet, a sharp, new gay-themed anthology. The 24 entries comprise a sophisticated collection of topnotch tales of terror, most of which could appear in any fright anthology without qualification, and suggest the maturing of ‘gay horror’ into a viable and solid genre indeed.”  – Fangoria Magazine

Poetic Death

There are few things I enjoy more than opening a package and finding my contributor copies of a new book featuring my work. Yesterday, I excitedly ripped open an envelope containing a hot-off-the-presses copy of DEATH IN COMMON: POEMS FROM UNLIKELY VICTIMS. My involvement in this project is especially exciting because it marks my professional poetry debut.

Taking his cue from the Edgar Lee Masters' classic SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY, Rich Ristow, the editor of the project, pitched an irresistible concept: a collection of poems told from the viewpoints of the victims of a fictional mass murderer. The collection would begin with a faux news story detailing the gruesome discovery of countless bodies in the basement of one Charles Lee Eaton, a 62-year-old loner. The victims were to vary across a broad demographic range, with no commonality except for wadded up pieces of paper with handwriting stuffed into their mouths. Creepy, right?

So, thanks to Rich's patience and excellent editorial guidance, my two contributions - "Tyro" and "Chatroom Hustler" - sit alongside accomplished, award-winning poets like Michael Arnzen and Marge Simon and Christopher Conlon. In "Tyro", I imagined that Eaton had an apprentice, while "Chatroom Hustler" is told from the point-of-view of a teenage male prostitute who is lured into the mass murderer's den via an Internet chatroom.

In reading the collection last night, I'm impressed by the quality of the poems Rich accepted and how that one unifying faux news story held these wildly divergent poems together so well. If you've never had an interest in poetry but like horror, then DEATH IN COMMON would be an excellent starting point in what could turn out to be a rich and rewarding reading experience for those open to gettings their goosebumps in new ways.

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Ristow (along with new business partner Scott Colbert) went the distance with this collection, rescuing the project from its former publisher who rushed out an earlier (and reportedly inferior) product. Both gents have formed the fledgling Bandersnatch Books, and I'd encourage my readers to support these guys by pre-ordering a copy of DEATH IN COMMON.

"Here's a link to make it easy," he offers, smiling.

Blogging Bits (and Bloody Body Parts)

It’s been quite some time since I’ve ventured out of my slasher closet and explored the wide world of horror blogging. There is so much quality coming out of the blogging community these days, with members of the League of Tana Tea Drinkers leading the charge.

Some recent blogging bits that caught my eye and might interest you as well:

• The persuasive John Skipp (talented author of THE LONG LAST CALL and JAKE’s WAKE) talked me into including the newly-released THE HILLS RUN RED in BUTCHER KNIVES & BODY COUNTS (the forthcoming anthology on slasher films that I’m editing for Dark Scribe Press), so effusive was his praise for this film. Freddy in Space offers some balance to dear Skipp’s unbridled enthusiasm. (Don’t worry, Skipp…the essay is still included!)


• Jeff Allard over at Dinner with Max Jenke offers up a thoughtful retrospective on the merits of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.


• Max over at The Drunken Severed Head gets creepy-crawly with the pontiff.


• My favorite Final Girl Stacie Ponder brings her penchant for movie posters into the public domain.


• Chad Helder explores the stigma of horror poetry over at Unspeakable Horror. Speaking of horror poetry…


• …my own first professional stabs at verse can be found in the new anthology DEATH IN COMMON: POEMS FROM UNLIKELY VICTIMS (Daverana Enterprises). Taking a cue from Edgar Lee Master’s classic SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY, this collection explores unique lives lived and lost, connected only by the shadowy serial killer who murdered them. Among the contributing writers with whom I’m honored to share the table of contents are Michael Arnzen, Wrath James White, Christopher Conlon, Marge Simon, and Steve Vernon. My own contributions – “Tyro” and “Chatroom Hustler” – are the results of working with a patient and supportive editor like Rich Ristow. I hope you’ll read Chad’s blog post and then go right out and pick up a copy of this marvelously macabre collection. Expand your horizons a bit and enter the twisted world of horror poetry – this isn’t your high school poetry reading list, I promise.


• Fascination with Fear’s Christine Hadden offers 10 good reasons you should be watching HBO’s TRUE BLOOD and offers an extended rant on Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN II.


• My Kindertrauma buddies let loose on the latest remake, this time SyFy Channel’s miscast, misguided, and otherwise missed opportunity version of Stephen King’s CHILDREN OF THE CORN. And while I’m with dear Unkle Lancifer on child actor Preston Bailey not having the same fright appeal of the original’s John Franklin as Isaac and the spot-on assessment of Kandyse McClure as a “borderline intolerable one-note harpy”, I’m going to disagree with him on the new and improved Malachi (Daniel Newman). Newman holds his own against Courtney Gains in the original – plus he has better hair. Oh, hell…who am I kidding? I was just hoping he’d turn up shirtless over at Billy Loves Stu…


• …where pal Pax Romano has taken to cataloging the Best Bare Chests in Horror. In the first two installments, he ponders the pec-tacular appeal of such hottie horror hunks as Ryan Reynolds, Jesse Bradford, Christian Bale, and the entire cast of THE COVENANT. I smell a calendar.


• Speaking of Billy Loves Stu’s proprietor, belated thanks for his lovely bequeathing me with a 2009 HOT ZOMBIE AWARD for excellence in horror blogging! Now, I was a shoo-in to win in my category – Best Blog By a Gay Man Obsessed with Jamie Lee Curtis – but it was still a thrill (Miss Jody Watley, if you’re nasty!) to be recognized in such a…unique…way. Somebody get this man off of ZOMBIELAND’s website pronto!


• Writers like good reviews even better than awards, so imagine my happiness over two wonderful reviews for THE LITERARY SIX from Ross Horsley over at the esteemed Retro Slashers and Pax Romano over at Billy Loves Stu – who, I swear, is not paid to be so damn nice to me! Three years after the book’s release, it’s very gratifying to come across reviews like this from folks who’ve enjoyed it. Thanks, gents!


• Speaking of shameless self-promotion, I had the distinct honor of being the guest du jour on The Funky Werepig on September 20th, where I talked for about an hour and a half about writing, editing, slasher films, and some broad named Jamie Lee. Some of my blogging brethren were on hand during the taping including Amanda Reyes of Made-For-TV Mayhem and, yes, Pax Romano from Billy Loves Stu. Special thanks to hosts Greg Hall and Jezzy Wolfe for graciously welcoming me into their playpen, asking great questions, and making me sound far more accomplished than I have any right to sound. An extra special nod, too, to the delightful and wickedly talented Fran Friel who talked me up to great lengths during her own episode!


• Among the newer LOTT D blogs that I’ve enjoyed becoming acquainted with these past few months is the delicious Day of the Woman, the brainchild of the equally yummy (it’s not patronizing when a gay guy says it, so relax, people!) Brittney-Jade Colangelo. Ms. Colangelo is a ferociously fierce blogging ingénue who explores "the feminine side of fear." Her posts are articulate and firmly rooted in the female perspective (which is woefully lacking in the horror genre on all fronts). Interspersed between her thoughtful essays, popular features like “Terrible Poster Tuesday” and “Bitch of the Month”, and the occasional vlog (video blogs), you’ll find my favorite feature, “Woman of the Week”. Past honorees in this DOTW feature include real women like Diablo Cody and Danielle Harris to fictional dames like Sookie Stackhouse. Frequent guest Brian Solomon from The Vault of Horror also adds to this weekly worship of wonderful women, his most recent being a thoughtful tribute to the sublime Sigourney Weaver. Colangelo shows that age is just a number with a maturity that belies her years. Plus, she’s just freaking adorable in a Rumer Willis kind of way. Deserving winner of a 2009 HOT ZOMBIE AWARD for Best Blog Written by a Gay Man Trapped in the Body of a Sexy Young College Co-Ed.

Other notable newbies include:

• Frederick from My Monster Memories explores horrors past in a charmingly retro blog, where you’ll find everything from DARK SHADOWS to DINOSAURS ATTACK, from Fulci to FRANKENSTEIN.


• I Love Horror is another LOTT D newbie. Great reviews and thoughtful debates by Brad McHargue. Particularly good was his take on the importance of horror blogging which landed over at FANGORIA.


• Evil On Two Legs has long been a favorite, and their weekly feature on DVD releases is one of the best on the web. Corey and Jon do an outstanding job coming up with fun features, their decidedly catty “Fashion Of…” segments being among my personal favorites.


• Finally, head on over to the League of Tana Tea Drinkers homepage, where you can learn a little (OK, in some cases way more than you want to) about the talented folks behind your favorite horror blogs. Recent profiles include: John Cozzoli (Zombos Closet of Horror), Ryne Barber (The Moon Is a Dead World), Curt Purcell (Groovy Age of Horror), John Kenneth Muir (Reflections on Film/TV), Chad Helder (Unspeakable Horror), Nate Yapp (Classic Horror), Jeff Allard (Dinner With Max Jenke), Kim Paffenroth (Gospel of the Living Dead), Christine Hadden (Fascination With Fear), and Casey Criswell (Cinema Fromage, among others.

The Stoker Weekend Chronicles, Part 2

Friday morning. My body still hadn’t reset its internal clock, so although I was going to bed at 12:30 am PST, I was still waking up at my hardwired East Coast time of 5:30 am – which somehow also became 5:30 am PST(!). I know…I was confused, too. All I know is that I felt like I was running on fumes for most of my trip.

So, up and off to breakfast with Chad and Mike Hacker, despite a tempting offer from Nanci to join her and Tom Monteleone for breakfast at Denny’s. I don’t remember what the fellas had, but I had the most delicious Cobb omelet – basically everything that gets lumped into a Cobb Salad (minus the lettuce, thankfully) as the omelet filling. Scrumptious! We promised Lisa and John that we’d register early, so off we went to the hotel lobby to retrieve our name badges and goody bags. Great stuff in the bags – books, magazines, bookmarks galore, magnets, and more. Leisure was particularly generous, offering up one of their novels for every bag. I snagged a copy of Nate Kenyon’s THE REACH, which I had already read (great book, BTW), so I was hoping to swap with someone for perhaps something I hadn’t read (had my eye on Wrath James White’s SUCCULENT PREY). Of course, swept up in the whirlwind of Stoker Weekend, I completely forgot.

How amazing to finally meet and spend time with my friend and frequent collaborator Chad Helder. Most people we met couldn’t believe that we’d known each other since 2006, yet had never met until that weekend. Or that we’d managed to put together an entire project like UNSPEAKABLE HORROR using nothing but the Internet and telephone lines to connect when we had to. Chad is everything I’d hoped he’d be and more. Smart, personable, laid-back…he was the perfect weekend companion to share so many firsts. And we had a ball! So lucky am I to call him my flesh-and-blood friend now.

On Friday, I was scheduled to participate in two panels – one on anthology editing, the other on GLBT horror. A quick glance at the program and I saw that the estimable Stephen Jones (the multi-award winning editor of anthology series like THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR, FANTASY TALES, and DARK TERRORS) had been added to the panel that included myself and Chad, the venerable Ellen Datlow, R.J. Cavender, Bill Breedlove, and Kathryn Cramer (of the YEAR’S BEST FANTASY and YEAR’S BEST SF series). Now, I had heard all kinds of rumors and stories about Jones and, frankly, was beginning to lose my nerve. After all, what business did we have on a panel with the likes of him and Ellen Datlow and Kathryn Cramer? Hopefully, we could add something from the newbie’s perspective, but that was about it. To make matters worse, moments before our panel, I found Ellen (who was moderating the panel) in the hotel lobby and, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, asked her to please keep Jones from eviscerating us onstage if he found our presence bothersome. And, just to prove that the higher power has a sense of humor, Mr. Jones was standing right behind me when I said it. Insert foot in mouth as cursory introductions were made, slink away, and nearly die with embarrassment.

So, how’d the panel go, you ask? Considering how I’d set myself up (internally and with Jones), I’d say not bad at all. The veterans on the panel wowed with their vast experience and knowledge, while we newbies spoke when spoken to. Ellen did a fantastic job moderating, and Jones was quite astute and fair in his questions and comments. I think the audience may have winced for us a few times, but we came away from the experience all the better for it. Hey, if we’re going to play with the big fish, then we’d better learn how to swim faster, eh? High point of the panel: The spirited discussion that ensued when Ellen asserted that she reads slush and Kathryn categorically took exception, emphasizing that both Ellen and Stephen read works already published and that by virtue of their published status, these works are already pre-vetted and are thereby not true “slush” in the sense that most think of it. Interesting discussion that kept the audience (and the rest of us on the panel) rapt with attention. Low point of the panel: Jones politely calling Chad and me out for not sending him a copy of UNSPEAKABLE HORROR for consideration in MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR and internally debating whether or not it’d be poor form to correct him and tell him that I did indeed send a copy. In the end, I deferred to better judgment of not correcting him in a public forum and made mental notes to tell him privately at a later point in time (more on how that went later) and to send any future works to him via registered mail.

Next up was the GLBT Horror panel that Chad and I were participating on with the lovely Maria Alexander (whose lyrical “In Her Mirrors, Dimly” we were fortunate enough to have grace the pages of UNSPEAKABLE HORROR) and the effervescent Hal Bodner. Hal, who wrote 2005’s sexy vampire romp BITE CLUB, is the essence of a true character, the lovechild of Harvey Fierstein and Joan Rivers. An entertainment lawyer by trade, Hal now spends his days writing and as the proprietor of an “over-the-top” pet boutique called Heavy Petting. Indeed, everything about Hal is deliciously over-the-top…from his opinions (and there are many) to his warmth. He’s got stories galore with which to regale the willing listener, and he’s got more names to drop than Paris Hilton has handbags.

The panel went exceptionally well – decent attendance during which we met the equally handsome and intellectual Gabriel Novo, a first time writer’s conference attendee who’d wanted to hear more about us after the anthology panel. The questions were fantastic, the discussion lively, and the subject matter stimulating. The audience really seemed to walk away with quite a bit of food for thought, especially on the subject of whether or not the gay community should or needs to own its negative stereotypes in its literature and other artistic mediums. Mutual respect between and among the audience and the panelists for differing viewpoints was the overriding tone of the session. My little gray cells were refreshed, invigorated, and otherwise heightened during this enjoyable (albeit far too brief) hour.

Somewhere in between panels and pitches, Chad and I had the privilege of sitting in on two fantastic author readings. The first was the delightful Rain Graves, who has personality to spare and a fantastically contagious laugh. She read selections from her poetry collection BARFODDER. Stunning imagery and lyrical verse that skimmed across the mental palette with Rain’s rhythmic delivery. The second reading was by Thomas F. Monteleone. Now, if you want to learn about how an author should conduct a reading and fully engage an audience, Monteleone is your guy. He read one of his older stories – title escapes me at the moment – to a spellbound audience. Monteleone becomes his characters when he reads – wide-eyed boy, curmudgeonly grandfather, sinister grim reaper – all with equal skill and believability. Watching him move about the room and lock eyes with audience members as his voice went from a whisper to a hiss, his reading was one of the most unexpected treats of the weekend.

Dinner in the Daily Grill with Chad, Mike Hacker, Reesa Brown and her mother, Deborah. We were joined by Scott Bradley, one of the editors of last year’s pop culture masterpiece BOOK OF LISTS: HORROR. Scott and I became instant Facebook friends a few months prior to Stoker Weekend, so I was really looking forward to meeting him in person. You know, one of the things I liked most about the whole weekend was how real people were. Scott personified this genuineness – just a tall hunk of sweetness and sincerity through and through. My biggest regret is that I didn’t have more of an opportunity to hang out with Scott and his girlfriend Amy Wallace (another of the editors on BOOK OF LISTS: HORROR) – but, hey, there’s an old adage that says when you meet someone you connect with, you’re destined to meet up with them again.

The Gory Ghoul Ball hosted by Heather Graham and Medallion Press was the spectacle it promised to be. There was music and food aplenty, with partygoers decked to the nines in fabulous costumes. Admittedly, the air temperature in the packed ballroom was a bit on the stuffy side, so I moseyed in and out – alternating between watching the Slush Pile Players and sitting outside with Reesa, Chad, and Deborah and enjoying the almost preternaturally consistent Southern California weather. Wiped, I retired for the evening around 11:30 pm.

Saturday was business day. It was time to slap on some casual business attire and prepare for meetings with publishers during the pre-arranged pitch sessions. Chad and I enjoyed a low-key breakfast together while I tried to boil an entire novel down into a succinct logline that would grab the publishers’ interest by the throat until they screamed to read the full manuscript. Met up with Alex Sokoloff near the elevators and the two of us went up to my suite where she was nice enough to hear my pitch and offer some words of encouragement. I seriously adore her – she’s whip smart, an über-talented storyteller, and has the most fabulous mane of blond hair that seems to be its own life force.

The pitch sessions were coordinated by Jeannie Eddy, with help from hubby (and HWA webmaster) Mark Worthen. Pitch sessions, for those of you who’ve never done one, are the literary equivalent of speed dating. You’ve got ten minutes to pitch your novel to an editor or agent – and at Stoker Weekend, you had the added challenge of doing so in a less than optimal setting: the hotel lobby. Imagine sitting there across from an editor from a major New York publishing house with one-sixth of an hour to sell your work while just mere feet away someone’s complaining to the desk clerk that the toilet in room 617 is clogged(!). Talk about disconcerting. But, somehow, Jeannie made it all work. How she tracked whose time was up, moved people up and down the schedule when someone didn’t show, and had those editors and agents spread as comfortably as possible across the hotel lobby, I’ll never know. Anyone who pitched on Saturday owed Jeannie and Mark a debt of gratitude for their generous help and coordination. My own pitch sessions went quite well, with both publishers asking to see THE RENEWED in various configurations – one wanting the entire manuscript, the other the first three chapters and a full synopsis. Both asked about what else I had in the pipeline, with one also asking to see FINAL GIRL when that was done. One even asked that I include the blurbage for THE LITERARY SIX with my submission, so maybe a retooling will be in order for a reprint someday. Fingers firmly crossed as I frantically work on the final rewrites of THE RENEWED.

Business behind me, it was time to get ready for Dark Scribe Press’ “Unspeakable 80’s” pre-Stoker Awards Banquet party and the big event afterward. The hotel staff had the room set-up appropriately (after some last minute reminders on layout), my DJ from Joe Diamond Enterprises showed up on time and with the music I had requested (and he was cute, to boot!), and Chad and Martel Sardina and JT Cummins were on hand to help hand out 200+ feather boas to guests as they arrived. The hour and a half flew by, but I managed to get some great photos. Feather boas really are the ultimate fashion accessory! Haircut 100, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Oingo Boingo, Icicle Works, Dexy’s Midnight Runners…the music just rocked!

On to dinner, yet another wonderfully overstuffed goodie bag, and then…the Stoker Awards. Unbeknownst to me, like a tribe that attracts its own, we ended up having what someone dubbed “The Gay Table.” Chad, Mike Hacker, Matt Schwartz, Derek Clendening, Hal Bodner, and I…with Nanci Kalanta, Maria Alexander, and Martel as our requisite (and quite fetching!) fag hags. Not quite sure how Maria’s dashing gent, Shad Ow, figured into the scheme of things, but let’s just call him “eye candy” for purposes of qualifying everyone’s role. Nerves had taken over by that point, and I honestly couldn’t tell you how my vegetarian lasagna was or what one person said during dinner. I just know Hal was talking.

So, as you know, we won the Stoker Award in our category – Superior Achievement in an Anthology. The moment came upon me like a speeding locomotive, and I wasn’t ready for it. First, the idea that John Skipp and Ellen Datlow presented the award was enough to send me into giddiness. But then, to hear one of the preeminent anthology editors of our time call my name and hand me a Stoker Award, the ensuing cheer from the audience…words fail me. (I grabbed Ellen’s hand the next day and tried to articulate just what it meant to have her present us with the award, but I’m certain words failed me yet again.) I know I spoke, tried not to completely flame-out like Sally Field in her 1985 acceptance speech at the Oscars, and said something about the lights being hot. It’s on tape and will hopefully be available to the viewing public soon. But, what I do remember, was feeling incredibly humbled to be accepting an award in the presence of Bill Breedlove and R.J. Cavender – two incredibly talented anthology editors with whom I had the distinct pleasure of becoming acquainted that weekend and whose works (Breedlove’s LIKE A CHINESE TATTOO, Cavender’s +HORROR LIBRARY: VOLUME 3+) I have the utmost respect for. I remember saying that the award was really for all of us in the anthology field, those of us working within our resources to keep the anthology format alive. And I meant every word of it.

Something else came to me standing on that stage. Earlier, during the anthology panel, Stephen Jones had asked Chad and I why our anthology was “queer horror” and just not “horror”. Wasn’t good horror with gay characters or themes enough without having to add the “queer” qualifier? Thrown a bit by the question, I just sat there like a dunce while Chad did his best to articulate an answer that spoke to easier identification by our intended audience. But there, on the stage standing in front of 250 or so fellow writers and editors, the answer came to me at the oddest moment. As I thanked my partner of 21 years for his unwavering support, I realized that I would be one of only two people that evening who hadn’t thanked a wife or a husband. That the commonplace spousal moniker used so freely by everyone else simply wasn’t mine to use. Not there in a Californian hotel, not back home in New York. The legal distinction between my relationship and that of legally married couples in the room was significant, and that was the reason that our horror had to be queer horror. That was the reason why our politics has to be queer politics, why our artistic expression has to speak to its queer elements. That separate does not mean equal is the horror of the queer experience. That, like much of horror in general, we approach life and those in it as outsiders looking in.

Photos taken, an appearance at the official after party made, champagne consumed, I retired to my hotel suite and clicked on Facebook to find confirmation of my earlier thoughts. Congratulatory messages from literary heroes like Lee Thomas and Michael Rowe and Jameson Currier and Scott Heim, from publishing trailblazers like Greg Herren and Steve Berman, all confirmed that Chad and I and our wonderfully unspeakable contributors did far more than win a Stoker Award that evening. We shattered the pink ceiling by becoming the first distinctly queer horror anthology to ever take home a Stoker in the 22-year history of the awards. Suddenly overwhelmed, humbled, and so completely at a loss for words, emotion overtook me and I sat awash in actual tears staring down at my laptop until sleep beckoned.

Sunday morning arrived, bringing two strange emotions with it. The first was an odd sense of melancholy that the weekend was drawing to a close. The closest thing I could associate with this reaction was the feeling I got as a teenager when a month of sleepaway summer camp was winding down. It was almost a sense of loss…a sense of imminent detachment from some real, newly discovered part of my life. An experience that was one-time only, a fusion of events, circumstances, people, and senses that could never be recreated again in totality. Weird, I know. The second was a sense of surrealism, a sense that something important had happened with which I still hadn’t fully connected. Even as I made my way toward the HWA business meeting – tall cup of Earl Grey in hand – and someone stopped me and asked me to sign his Stoker Weekend Program, I felt like events had powered forward and I was running to catch up with the reality of them.

The HWA Board met as a group for about two hours for its annual business meeting, the first time all four HWA officers – in this case, Deb LeBlanc, Heather Graham, Lisa Morton, and I – were in attendance at a live meeting. Trustees Ellen Datlow, Del Howison, and Rocky Wood, as well as legal counsel Les Klinger, were all on hand for a very productive session. Thankfully, Heather and I had devised a secret plan to leap up onto the table and belt out our version of “Do You Think I’m Sexy?” if things got heated, but that never came to pass. The great part about this Board is that everyone on it is forward-thinking and genuinely considers the membership at large when discussing plans for the organization. I have to credit Deb LeBlanc with this. She truly represents the organization with a sense of class and enthusiasm. Watching her in front of the Board or the membership, she’s truly an inspiration — funny, warm, and always professional. She’s set a tone for the HWA, appointed professional people to the right posts, and worked with a sense of quiet conviction in leading us. As much as Lisa Morton and John Little were responsible for the incredible success of Stoker Weekend, Deb’s leadership is a key reason why the HWA has grown its ranks. Deb gets a bunch of shit from some, legitimate criticism from others, but as I was reflecting on the weekend while writing up this recap, the good she’s done overwhelmingly overshadows any missteps our administration has taken along the way.

The general meeting with membership followed. Well-attended, enthusiastic bunch with terrific questions, concerns, and suggestions. The meeting could have gone on for another hour, but we were reminded by John Little that closing ceremonies were at hand. Chad and I ran into Stephen Jones and the lovely Mandy Slater along the way, Mr. Jones offering us his heartfelt congratulations on our Stoker win. We chatted with him for several minutes, during which I got to apologize for the copy of UNSPEAKABLE HORROR that never reached him. He spoke about WHC 2010 in Brighton, England, hoped we would attend, and mentioned the gay-friendly area in which the convention would be held. As we headed toward the closing ceremonies, that sense of surrealism again: the Stephen Jones just congratulated us on our Stoker win! Following closing ceremonies and a bunch of goodbyes that I’d rather not dwell on, the personable, farm fresh Joel Sutherland (apparently safe from a weekend’s worth of Hal hitting on him!) drove Derek Clendening and I back to Dark Delicacies for a group book signing for Lisa Morton’s new anthology, MIDNIGHT WALK. Most of the anthology’s contributors were there and signed up a storm. Great to meet some of my BUTCHER KNIVES & BODY COUNTS contributors like Mike McCarty and R.B. Payne.

Back to the hotel and an impromptu dinner with Lisa Morton, Scott Edelman, Gabrielle Faust, Joel and Colleen Sutherland, Derek Clendening, Rocky Wood, and my # 1 fan Amanda Reyes and her fiancé, David Cohen. Conversation and drinks flowed, Gabrielle and I picked (and picked and picked) at a delicious Apple-Blueberry Cobbler (a la mode, of course!), and soon it was time for more bittersweet goodbyes. Then, off to pack while half-watching the season premiere of TRUE BLOOD, and off for a few restless hours of sleep before my 7:05 am flight home.

Since my chronicles began with the action and adventure of JetBlue flight #350 nose-diving into the Rockies, I find it only fitting to close with the further thrills and chills of JetBlue flight #355, which hit turbulence somewhere over mid-Nebraska that did not end until we were over Pittsburgh. Yes, there were moments of sheer terror like the aircraft’s plummet and underwater dive beneath the Great Lakes (during which I staunchly clutched my pearls like Olivia de Havilland in AIRPORT ’77), but my recollections will only be challenged by those with far less credible historical recall. Suffice to say that I survived; arriving back home to loving arms and eager dog licks and armed with all the details of a glorious, memorable weekend to share.

Final Girls, Divas, and Nasty Nurses

So the Unspeakable Horror anthology has continued to garner good reviews – most notably from Fangoria (issue #283) and the online Horror Bound Magazine. I’m really thrilled that my first outing as an anthologist has been so well-received, the experience so positive. Honestly, I even enjoyed the submissions process – reading through the slush, responding with what I hope was constructive criticism. So many editors bellyache about this aspect – about how it’s laborious and tedious – but I found it to be equal parts challenging and rewarding. I loved discovering the new voices we selected for the project and thrilled at receiving submissions from writers I greatly admire. The Bram Stoker nomination was pure icing on the cake, and I’m excited to meet up with Chad Helder (co-editor on the project) and some of our contributors – Lisa Morton, Maria Alexander, Michael Hacker – for our group signing at the famed Dark Delicacies in Burbank on June 11th before the Stoker Awards Banquet that weekend.

I received my contributor copy of My Diva: 65 Gay Men and the Women Who Inspire Them a few weeks ago and have been reading through the other contributions with great interest. Editor Michael Montlack really did a stellar job putting this collection together, and the University of Wisconsin Press produced a gorgeous looking book. In a word, this collection is celebratory – a real salute to women of all shapes, sizes, and talents from (primarily) the entertainment industry who have inspired greatness in those who love them. The book is a real revelation, exposing fan worship in a positive light and articulating the gay man’s love of strong, opinionated, sexy – often tragic – female figures. So often fandom gets relegated to the preconceived ghetto of celebrity stalking. This book will smash those misconceptions and really demonstrate the genuine affection we have for our divas. Writing my own contribution on Jamie Lee Curtis – “When the Artist Met His Muse” – was a really cathartic in some ways, a chance to articulate something that’s been part of my persona since the age of ten.

I also received my contributor copy of Malpractice: An Anthology of Bedside Terror (Stygian Publications). This is one of those themed horror anthologies that can sound great in concept but bomb in execution. Since I’ve yet to delve into the book, I can’t yet state with any certainty into which category Malpractice falls. But the few reviews that have appeared online are favorable so prospects seem good. My contribution to the anthology is “The Night Nurse of Cobblestone” which tells the tale of a bedbound nursing home patient who is subjected to terror masquerading as medical care at the hands of his sadistic night nurse. Those who know that I’m a nursing home administrator by profession may be horrified at first by the brutality of the story and wonder aloud if this is based on some true experience. Truth is, this story is a response to the prevailing public image of nursing homes as being horrible places where people lay rotting in their beds amidst squalor and abuse. Having lived and breathed nursing homes for over two decades, nothing could be farther from the truth. So “Night Nurse” is an exaggeration of the public’s collective misconception, as well as an allegory for the internal horrors of growing older and becoming reliant upon the kindness of others.

Lastly, can I just share with you how much fun working on the Butcher Knives & Body Counts project continues to be? For a slasher queen like me, this has been a dream come true. Fun with a capital “T”. We’ve accepted just over 50 essays for the collection to date, and expect to add another 10-20 in the last four weeks of the open call for submissions. There are some truly spectacular essays coming in, really insightful pieces that really celebrate the slasher genre and demonstrate an as-yet-untapped depth. I’m delighted by Adam (Going to Pieces) Rockoff’s commitment to pen the Foreword and director Adam (Hatchet) Green’s introduction.

And I really love the eleventh hour stuff that happens on projects like this – folks who hear about it and want in, ideas that springboard into expansions of the project. Although not officially announced, I can share that we’ve got Don D’Auria (editor extraordinaire from Leisure Books) onboard, have added writers Scott Nicholson and Kim Paffenroth, and have gotten interest from a certain well-known horror entertainment magazine editor in contributing something – we’re hoping for an Afterword. But the best part (and this is a scoop for my loyal blog followers that has not been officially announced anywhere yet) is that we’ve decided to intersperse interviews in between the essays. And with whom might these interviews be? I know what you’re thinking: the usual convention circuit crowd – Savini and Palmer and Soles and Hodder and that sort, right?

Nope.

No, for this project – the ultimate intellectual celebration of the slasher film – we’re digging much deeper than that. We’re tracking down those lost actors and actresses from the slasher films of yore, those victims and villains we loved but never saw again (or infrequently) after their 15 minutes of slasher movie fame. I’m talking about the obscure denizens of the slasher universe here, those whose time with us on the silver screen – brief as it was – nonetheless made an indelible mark. I can hear your frustrated screams: “Stop baiting us and spill already!”

Nope. Not just yet.

But, since I’m not a total tease, I’ll give you some hints. We’ve already chatted with a hapless ice skater, a terrified bride-to-be, a sexy sorority sister, a redhead who runs afoul of rednecks, and a killer who favors public transportation(!).

Caution. Fun stuff ahead...

Super-Cool FANGORIA Review!

File this one under "very cool". In the new issue (#283) of Fangoria, UNSPEAKABLE HORROR gets a rave review.

Like a proud papa sporting pictures of the kids, here's an excerpt:

"It was inevitable that the narrowing portals of the publishing industry – in this case, the horror side – would yield a bevy of small presses geared at bringing new fear fiction to readers increasingly starved for quality. While books from such outfits can be a bit of a gamble, there is much to praise in Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet, a sharp, new gay-themed anthology. The 24 entries comprise a sophisticated collection of topnotch tales of terror, most of which could appear in any fright anthology without qualification, and suggest the maturing of ‘gay horror’ into a viable and solid genre indeed."

The review goes on to single out the stories by Sarah Langan, Jameson Currier, and Lee Thomas, before handing top mentions to Kealan Patrick Burke's "A Letter from Phoenix" (which the reviewer compares to Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"!) and C. Michael Cook's "The Boys of Bald Cave", which the review characterizes as "a superb contribution to the canon of classic American supernatural Gothic fiction...".

Great way to come home to the mailbox indeed!

A Stoker Finalist!

File this one under "humbled" and "grateful" and then color me tickled.

Nominations were announced today for the 2008 Bram Stoker Awards, and I was proud to discover that UNSPEAKABLE HORROR: FROM THE SHADOWS OF THE CLOSET was named a finalist for Superior Achievement in an Anthology. Cloud 9 stuff, for sure.

It may be a cliché, but I'm humbled to be amongst the other nominees in our category — LIKE A CHINESE TATTOO edited by Bill Breedlove (from Dark Arts Books), HORROR LIBRARY, VOL. 3 edited by R. J. Cavender (from Cutting Block Press), and BENEATH THE SURFACE edited by Tim Deal (from Shroud Publishing). Even more cliché (Hey, I'm a freakin' Stoker finalist now — I'm entitled!) is the fact that I think all of us are already winners for helping keep the venerable short story format alive and viable. As editors and publishers, we've contributed something meaningful toward sustaining this literary staple.

An anthology is truly the sum of its parts, and I'd be remiss if I didn't thank Jameson Currier, Lee Thomas, Sarah Langan, Kealan Patrick Burke, Lisa Morton, Rick R. Reed, Scott Nicholson, Livia Llewellyn, LA Fields, C. Michael Cook, Gary McMahon, Reesa Brown, Elissa Malcohn, Erin MacKay, CJ Lines, Jan Vander Laenen, Christopher Fox, Michael Hacker, Maria Alexander, Joy Marchand, Kevin Reardon, Michelle Scalise, and Jude Wright for their unique and absolutely brilliant literary creations. Having these fine writers on our maiden voyage as both a small press and as editors was a blessing.

As for Chad Helder, my co-pilot on this project, what can I say? He's been such a support to me from day one on the scene, and he was instrumental in helping craft and fine-tune this project. My editorial sounding board, my partner in queer horror.

So, now it's off to find just the right evening gown for Burbank, where the Stokers will be handed out in a gala awards banquet on June 13th.

Drop Your Shorts, Then Turn Your Head and Scream...

Tired of waiting for the new book? If so, pick up a copy of the new short story collection Malpractice: An Anthology of Bedside Terror, which features a new original short story by yours truly. “The Night Nurse of Cobblestone” is set in a senior healthcare facility and involves some unpleasantness with bedsores and bad bedside manners. “Cobblestone” is dark, allegorical take on the horrors of aging – with a howling good twist!

Published by Stygian Publications, Malpractice features eighteen original short stories and thirteen 100-word pieces of flash fiction revolving around a fictional hospital. From the back cover copy:

Are you scared about going to the doctor?

Maybe you should be.

From the outside, a hospital is a place of safety and recovery, where the injured go to regain their strength to face the world again. Sadly, within the sterile white walls of Bloom Memorial, evil burns through every room. Every lab. Every corridor. The so-called doctors are impersonators. Lab-coated viruses infecting all they touch, they labor toward their own purpose.

Death.

Be warned. With 18 short stories and 13 100-word bites from some of the best horror writers, this collection of medical terror will cut you to the bones.

Some early praise for Malpractice: An Anthology of Bedside Terror:

“There are no HMOs where you are going. Malpractice is a gut-wrenching and visceral collection of horror stories that feverishly compounds our worst hospital fears. Although I may never be able to visit a hospital again without my knees rattling, I thoroughly enjoyed these well-crafted tales. Thematically, this anthology is a brilliant concept and ultimately flawlessly executed.” – Tim Deal, Shroud Magazine

Order your copy here.

My Diva

The appropriately titled My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them is a forthcoming anthology of essays on, well, gay men and the women who inspire them. Happily, I'm one of the titular number and get to espouse the virtues of (wait for it)...some broad from Halloween named Jamie Lee Curtis.

Edited by poet Michael Montlack, My Diva is slated for release from the University of Wisconsin Press this coming May. Here is the official cover text:

“From Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Midler, and Diana Ross to Queen Elizabeth I, Julia Child, and Princess Leia, these divas have been sister, alter ego, fairy godmother, or model for survival to gay men and the closeted boys they once were. And anyone—straight or gay, young or old, male or female—who ever needed a muse, or found one, will see their own longing mirrored here as well.

These witty and poignant short essays explore reasons for diva-worship as diverse as the writers themselves. My Diva offers both depth and glamour as it pays tribute with joy, intelligence, and fierce, fierce love.”

The collection is getting some terrific advance buzz, too:

“Inspiration is contagious—and inspiration, excitement, and appreciation resonate through these essays. This is a story about how in the worst of times, there are the best of women—women in whom we find our courage and sometimes our heartbroken tenderness. My Diva is an act of love, well deserved and without reservation. Read it in the spirit in which it was made—this act of adoration, awe, and yes, love.”—Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina

“A completely fascinating and lovely book. In every case the diva is a kind of saint—for her suffering, for the emotional warble in her voice, as she sang, as she spoke those classic lines. It’s hard to miss the dovetailing of the gay male writer’s psyche and the voluptuous (much more than her body) voice of the diva. She shines her light on the way. Man, does she ever.”—Eileen Myles, author of Sorry, Tree

Pre-order a copy of what promises to be a fascinating look at diva worship.