Welcome back! So it’s now been three weeks since my debut collection, And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, was unleashed upon the world, and let me just be honest: I’m still every bit as thrilled and honored and ineffably giddy about it as ever. You’d think the enthusiasm might wane with the weeks, but nope. Not at all. Not even a little. After all, a writer only gets a first book once, and I’ve been savoring every moment of it.
The paperback copies of And Her Smile are still arriving, so if you’ve ordered one and haven’t gotten yours yet, fear not! They are on their way. Also, I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll say it again for good measure: if you have a copy of the collection, I would love it if you shared a picture of it! It brings this writer’s heart a tremendous amount of joy to see the book out in the wild with readers!
So what’s new in these parts? Plenty! My podcast interview with the awesome guys at Miskatonic Musings is now available; it was a super fun and wide-ranging episode that covered everything from Ava Gardner to Amish Romance. I was also recently spotlighted over at Unnerving Magazine in a very lively interview with editor Eddie Generous. We talk outsiders, Shirley Jackson, and The Berenstain Bears, though not necessarily in that order. And finally, a fantastic new review at Hex Libris says the stories in And Her Smile “show a familiar world with deep currents of bizarre beauty, pain, and sheer anomaly running through it that create a tapestry of weird horror unlike anything I’ve read before.” Big thanks to Aaron Besson for those incredibly humbling words!
Starting next week on this blog, I’ll be highlighting each of the brand-new stories in the collection. It will be great to talk more about those tales, since all five of them are quite near-and-dear to my macabre little soul. That means if you like my posts about the behind-the-scenes development of my fiction, then you’re in luck! And if you don’t like those posts, consider yourself warned!
Also, speaking of updates, now is the perfect time to announce that I’m currently a guest judge at Bracken Magazine! That’s right: I’ll be at the helm for the flash fiction contest! The theme is home, and I’ll be looking for beautiful and devastating stories of magic, forests, and faraway places. If this sounds up your alley, then please find all the details here!
So that’s my month so far! A couple big writing announcements are forthcoming (even though I’m bursting at the seams to announce them now!), and I’m also working on a spotlight on my favorite recent releases from a host of talented speculative fiction writers. So head on back here soon for more fiction-loving goodness!
Happy reading!