All the new growth

Is it too early for spring growth? Not when things have been in process for awhile, and then suddenly find their way to the surface. My spring growth, in no order and all fun, is here:

A Bram Stoker nomination for VELOCITIES, which was a surprise and a thrill. This year’s ballot is particularly strong!

The Cipher was chosen to be part of this year’s Summer Scares program, that works each year to introduce librarians to notable titles in horror lit. Another immensely strong group of books I’m delighted to join, among them Alma Katsu’s The Hunger and Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad.

This year’s summer commission is already well underway: our theme is “4Seasons.” Due to Covid, the performances will be all filmed - the winter segment has already wrapped, and spring (a time lapse animation with ambient sounds) and summer (“La Vie en Rose” sung in a bespoke Sun King mask) are in progress.

SMOLfair welcomed over 160 indie presses, a perfect way to showcase a lot of cool, diverse indie writers, and I had a lot of fun with my keynote talk/conversation with Tricia Reeks of Meerkat Press. And the first public reading of DARK FACTORY! #goSMOLorgohome

My LitReactor Immersive Fiction class is on the horizon for April. The students learn a lot from each other, and I read and critique all students’ work, which means I get to hear new voices, some at the beginning of their writing life, some already on the path. If you’re a writer who wants to make it real, come and join us.

I’ll be appearing with one of my favorite writers ever, the brilliant Maryse Meijer, as part of the University of Pittsburgh’s Horror Studies program. She and I are going to discuss mentorship and the horror canon, then read from each other’s work, but neither of us knows which piece the other has chosen . . .

Welcome spring, in with the new!