December publishing updates

Well, it’s been a sad time in the horror world with the coming apart of Graveside Press, who had picked up a number of my stories. The entire editorial team has left and the press will, supposedly, continue, but many writers are in the process of pulling their material back.

If you want to learn more, read former managing editor Kelley York’s thread on, uh, Threads.

For me, I had just had my story Apotheosis out in What Lurks, and my epistolary piece Shadows and Smoke was due out in Graveside’s Wichelen collection this month, while my NSFW monster romance Inheritance was to appear in Twisted Trysts in February, followed by a standalone novelette, House of Sorrows (one of my favourite things I’ve ever written) in June.

I’ve decided to leave Shadows and Smoke in that collection, because it’s the last Graveside release Kelley, her wife Hannah, and the rest of the team will be working on. I’ve requested the return of rights to Inheritance and House of Sorrows.

But wait, there’s more! Twisted Trysts will be coming with Kelley and Hannah to their nascent Dead Fox Publishing, so Inheritance will see the light of day after all.

I’m also seeking an end to the one-year exclusivity on Apotheosis and Shadows and Smoke, which means I’ll be able to include them in my next collection.

That one, which I’d hoped Graveside might consider (alas), was to be called The Paths Beyond.

But.

But.

BUT.

If I get House of Sorrows back, I’ll include it in the collection and probably rename it after that.

I will have to change the running order a bit, because I was going to include a couple of stories from my previous two books, but then again I don’t have a deadline for this so plenty of time to put out a few more stories.

Speaking of putting stories out there in the universe, I’m out now in Cloaked Press’s Nightmare Fuel as well as Tales From the Void by Dragon Tome Press. Schlock Webzine is running my grim science fiction Sic transit gloria mundi. And just today my piece Boneyard was accepted for the next Books of Horror community anthology, which is cool. I’ve been looking for a home for that for more than 12 months.

I’m plugging away at my novella for the Emerald City Ghosts December challenge — it’s a tale of curses, immortals, and hauntings. I’m slightly behind due to the day job, though I’m enjoying the writing which is the main thing. If I get this finished by December 31, I’ll have finished three books this year (another curse/ghost novella called Dishevelled in Silhouette, a children’s chapter book called Butterfly Heart, and this unnamed story).