Together Alone Virtual Writing Group

August 30, 2022August 30, 2022Leave a comment

I’m excited to be hosting this week’s Together Alone virtual writing group on Instagram Live! If you’re interested, you can join in for an hour of quiet* writing time Monday through Friday, 1-2 p.m. EDT.

Organized by the wonderful KT Mather and Chris Tebbetts, the Together Alone writing group is a zero-pressure, virtual write-in hosted each week by a different author on Instagram.

Although TA launched in January of this year, I wasn’t well enough to participate until April, while I was recovering from surgery. I’m so grateful KT and Chris have created this series! Together Alone has cultivated an incredibly supportive community and these sessions were instrumental in getting me back into a regular writing routine (and in helping me feel less isolated for those long weeks and months when I was bed/home bound)!

As you know, I generally avoid selfies or the ticktacs or any social format that requires me to be on camera. But for this, I’ve learned (barely) to do a livestream on IG! Old dogs! New (to me!) tricks! I’ve also discovered an unexpected side effect of hosting: a muzzle for my inner critic! While I haven’t fully examined the mechanics behind this yet, I think it’s a combo of not being able to mutter a constant stream of trash talk at myself if I’m responsible for hosting a quiet writing environment, and that my anxiety is diverting all critique resources toward keeping me from making weird faces on camera. No matter the why (gift horses, etc.), it’s been wonderfully helpful and my sessions have been extra productive! If you’re interested in joining in, I’m hosting every day this week, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EDT. Come check it out! And if this week doesn’t work, Chris and KT post the upcoming weekly schedules on their Instagram pages:

https://www.instagram.com/kt.mather/
https://www.instagram.com/christebbetts/

Some additional info about the writing sessions:

Alt text Image 1: Together Alone Virtual Writing Group MONDAY-FRIDAY 1PM-2PM EDT Bullet points: Optional prompt Minimal chat Accountability Writing Simple!

Image credit: Chris Tebbetts

*As I mentioned on my Instagram post on this (conjuring up that fast-talking pharmaceutical side effects voice at the end of ads): “Quiet” in Queens may include, planes taking off, planes landing, sirens, car horns, the ice cream truck that shouts at you, leaf blowers, a garbage truck perpetually backing up, jackhammers, the cement truck that sounds like an electric pig, one or more cats demanding attention, claw drills, the local murder of crows, the red tailed hawk that frequently pisses off the local murder of crows, the neighbor’s karaoke, the neighbor’s dog, the neighbor’s dog singing karaoke…

Part of the milky way from the Trouvelot astronomical drawings (1881-1882) by E. L. Trouvelot (1827-1895)

A Winter Update

March 9, 2021March 9, 2021Leave a comment

The last few months sure have been SOMETHING, haven’t they? I don’t even know where to begin this post. I’ve never been great at small talk–a condition that’s only grown more pronounced this past year. How do you respond to, “How’s it going?” when the inside of your brain is just alarms, Swamps of Sadness, and one long, guttural scream that started sometime in the early 90s? You don’t. Thankfully, Zoom makes it easy for me to briefly embody my favorite emoji (😬) and move on. So let’s just pretend I did the same thing here, with a bonus, “I hope this finds you well…” (because I do).

Lacking any immediate solutions to offer for deadly global pandemics and/or deadly domestic terrorism, I can only (again) urge you to look for ways to help others in your community. Volunteer, donate, signal boost–whatever you can do with the time and resources you have. Small changes are all most of us can offer, but they do add up.

On to the update…

[Art by: Alexis Goble]

Cast of Wonders surprised and delighted me earlier this year, by selecting my story, “The Half-Life of a Broken Heart,” as a 2020 Staff Pick. This story originally appeared in Factor Four Magazine (gone, but never forgotten) and then appeared on Episode 413 of Cast of Wonders in May 2020. You might recall that editor and host, Katherine Inskip, brought me to tears with her gorgeous commentary at that time. Well, Cast of Wonders is two for two now, because host Denise Sudell, the Cast of Wonders Community Manager, did it again with her moving commentary, specially recorded for this Staff Pick reissue. Denise’s analysis captured the heart (pun!) of this story as I originally imagined it and you can’t ask for a better feeling as a writer–or, as a person–than to have your heart be so clearly seen and understood. “The Half-Life of a Broken Heart” is one of my favorite stories and I’m so grateful it found such a wonderful second home…twice! Listen at the link below…

Cast of Wonders 446: The Half-Life of a Broken Heart (Staff Picks 2020)

In February, as part of the Women in Horror Month festivities, I was thrilled to join Nicole Givens Kurtz, Meghan Arcuri, and Kaaron Warren for HWA-NY’s Galactic Terrors reading series. Watch the recorded event here and subscribe to the Galactic Terrors newsletter for info on future readings.

In April and May, I’ll be leading a new slate of workshops for young writers (Spellcasters, Cryptozoolapalooza, and Super Spies & Top-Secret Tech) at The Center for Fiction–read all about it here!

Note: These online sessions sold-out last time, so if you have any young writers (ages 9-12) in your life who might be interested, please don’t wait to register! Also, please help spread the word on Twitter (and anywhere else)!

Finally, I have several exciting new short story publications coming up, but I don’t think I’m supposed to officially announce any of those sales yet. So I’ll just say this: these stories are three of my absolute favorites (which I know I say a lot, but I think I only try to publish the work I love the most), involving (respectively) haunted hotels, nature vengeance, and a taxi driver who transports the dead. More details coming soon!

[Image art by E. L. Trouvelot]

Out Today! Don’t Turn Out the Lights

September 1, 2020September 28, 20202 Comments

Don’t Turn Out the Lights is here! Edited by New York Times bestselling author, Jonathan Maberry, with illustrations by Iris Compiet and cover design by Laura Mock, Don’t Turn Out the Lights is a tribute to the middle grade horror classics, Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

I can’t overstate how influential the Scary Stories books were in developing my reading and writing tastes as a kid (or how influential Stephen Gammell’s original art was in developing my nightmares). So, if it’s not obvious, I’m beyond thrilled to be part of this tribute.

In Don’t Turn Out the Lights, Iris Compiet does an amazing job capturing the spirit (PUN!) of the original books, while creating a whole new canon of nightmare fodder with her illustrations, just as my fellow contributors do with their fantastically creepy stories.

Title page for "Tag, You're It" featuring black and whit illustration (by Iris Compiet) of a creepy baby doll.

Art by Iris Compiet; design by Laura Mock.

Speaking of the authors, it doesn’t get better than this line-up: Linda D. Addison, Courtney Alameda, Jonathan Auxier, Gary A. Braunbeck, Z Brewer, Aric Cushing, John Dixon, Tananarive Due, Jamie Ford, Kami Garcia, Christopher Golden, Tonya Hurley, Catherine Jordan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Alethea Kontis, N.R. Lambert, Laurent Linn, Amy Lukavics, Barry Lyga, D.J. MacHale, Josh Malerman, James A. Moore, Michael Northrop, Micol Ostow, Joanna Parypinksi, Brendan Reichs, Madeleine Roux, R.L. Stine, Margaret Stohl, Gaby Triana, Luis Alberto Urrea, Rosario Urrea, Kim Ventrella, Sheri White, T.J. Wooldridge, and Brenna Yovanoff.

To celebrate the release of Don’t Turn Out the Lights, Jonathan Maberry has organized a series of panels with the authors featured in this anthology. I’ll be joining him today, September 1st, for an event hosted by Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, register here! The full list of events is up on Jonathan Maberry’s site and the previous panels will be posted on his Facebook page.

[UPDATE: Our panel is up on YouTube!]

If you didn’t preorder your copy of Don’t Turn Out the Lights, not to fear! Mysterious Galaxy is selling copies signed* by Jonathan Maberry; my local bookshops, Kew & Willow Books and Astoria Bookshop, will ship most places; and it’s also available at bookstores and online retailers everywhere, including:
HarperCollins
Books-A-Million
IndieBound
B&N
Amazon

UPDATE: I AM NOT GREAT AT THE “NEW” WP EDITOR AND SOMEHOW DELETED MY THANK YOU BOX:
Huge THANK YOU to the Draft Zero writing group (line-up at the time: Frances Rowat, Beth Tanner, Asha Bardon, David Bruns, and Shannon Fay–go read their stuff!), Allison Escoto, Lorraine Escoto, and Doug Peyton for their excellent feedback while I was working on this story. Also, shout outs to everyone at HarperCollins Children’s (especially Alyssa Miele), and the Horror Writers Association** for making this anthology happen. Biggest thank you of all to Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell for scaring the crap out of us.

UPDATE: HarperCollins Children’s talented marketing/PR team posted this awesome trailer gif on Twitter this morning:

*Mysterious Galaxy’s instructions on how to order a signed/personalized Don’t Turn Out the Lights (books will be signed by Jonathan Maberry only, not the other contributing authors): At checkout under “Order Comments” write if you would like a signed or personalized book and to whom it should be personalized. Personalization requests are due one week after the event.

Coming Soon! Events for Don’t Turn Out the Lights!

August 24, 2020August 30, 2020Leave a comment

It’s heeeeeeeere…almost!

As you may have heard me mention, I’m EXTREMELY excited about Don’t Turn Out the Lights: A Tribute to Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which includes stories from a staggering number of my horror writing heroes and–to my eternal glee–one of my stories. It releases on September 1 and we’re doing a bunch of stuff to celebrate that!

Edited by New York Times bestselling author, Jonathan Maberry, with illustrations by Iris Compiet, and cover design by Laura Mock, Don’t Turn Out the Lights releases NEXT WEEK. But it’s not too late to preorder! If you want to be terrorized in a timely manner, I highly recommend reaching out to your local bookshop or library and requesting Don’t Turn Out the Lights, or preordering it from one of these bookstores:
HarperCollins
Books-A-Million
IndieBound
B&N
Amazon

To celebrate the release of Don’t Turn Out the Lights, Jonathan Maberry has organized a series of panels with the authors featured in this anthology. I’ll be joining him on September 1st for an event hosted by Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego! The full list of events is ~~being updated as we speak, but keep an eye on Jonathan’s Facebook and Twitter pages for details~~ up on Jonathan Maberry’s site!