From the Dusklands available NOW!!

Greetings and salutations! In case you missed it (and you appreciate creepy fiction), my first collection, From the Dusklands, is available now in paperback and Kindle editions. Check it out here.

The collection includes nine previously-published stories, two essays, and an original novella.

Table of Contents
God or Something Like It
Live Surf
Eviction
Worlds
The Animals
Flan
The Word
Bell and Will: True Love Never Dies
An Autographed Poster of Claire Danes
The Glee Sphere
Reflex Arc
Not Delilah

Glimpses:
God or Something Like It: What if you were suddenly granted the knowledge of a deity? How would you use it - for good or for evil?

Live Surf: A horrific discovery on a Florida beach proves to be a source of corruption for two teenagers.

Eviction: A deadbeat roommate takes extreme measures when he can't pay his share of the rent.

Worlds: A man contemplates the universe while contemplating an unthinkable act.

The Animals: PETA has nothing on animal rights when the residents of a Midwestern barnyard turn the tables on their owners.

Flan: Revenge is a dish best served sweet.

The Word: A warrior and a priest debate the existence of a sacred word that may hold the power to destroy the world.

Bell and Will: True Love Never Dies: A retired detective seeks the only unrecovered body hidden by a serial killer except the body finds him first.

An Autographed Poster of Claire Danes: A ruthless businessman discovers a little shop of horrors that holds his greatest desire...and his worst fear.

The Glee Sphere: What would you do if you awoke one morning to find the world completely devoid of life, everyone simply gone?

Reflex Arc: A study in chiroptophobia.

Not Delilah: Visions of the apocalypse lead to terror and, incredibly, hope for humanity.

Coming Soon! Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the ‘Coming Soon’ blog hop (hey, that rhymes!) – the perfect place to find out what's next on my table. Never heard of me? No problem! Now's the perfect chance – the 'blog hop's job is introducing interested readers to upcoming writers.

I want to thank my fellow writer, Rose Blackthorn, for inviting me to answer the following questions about my current projects, the writing process, and what tingles my spine.

• What are you working on right now?

My hard drive bears a mother lode of unfinished short stories, novels, and novellas so each day I pick the one that whines for the most attention and give it lots of love. When I've coddled it enough, I open up the middle-grade mystery novel I wrapped last month and revise it till it's raw.

• How does it differ from other works in its genre?

My central character, Newton McKnight, is a boy genius who solves mysteries around his small Midwestern town. It's a tribute to kid detectives of yore. No, not the Scooby Doo crew. Think more along the lines of Trixie Belden, Encyclopedia Brown, and Lewis Barnavelt. The book is comprised of three interweaving tales in which Newt and his pals Jazz and Addie face off with a "haunted" locker, a bank-robbing "vampire," and a "fiend" on a football field. Aside from entertainment, my goal is to use language that will challenge middle-grade readers to broaden their vocabularies. I don't dumb down anything. If a reader doesn't know the meaning of a word, he or she is encouraged to use context clues to define it. If that fails, it never hurts to pick up a dictionary.

• What experiences have influenced you?

Most of my childhood was spent exploring the woods and fields near my rural lake home with my friends, especially at night. We would get each other worked up by telling ghost stories and old local legends, like the one about the farmer who allegedly drowned his wife in the very lake near my house. Sometimes, it was said, you could hear her spirit wailing out by the dam. I never heard it myself, but it made for a heck of a mystery.

• Why do you write what you do?

I write primarily speculative fiction because it opens a seam in our world, which can often seem mundane, and lets us peak at another world within. By examining this new world through a speculative lens, we can take what we see and apply it to ourselves. I don't just write to entertain. I try to present new ways of looking at things -- and learn from it in the process.

• How does your writing process work?

Almost always a story begins with a single scene, which I then build layers around like a poisonous little pearl. Occasionally, a particular sentence or turn of phrase clicks in my mind and ends up being the catalyst for a 100,000-word novel.

• What is the hardest part about writing?

Finding ample time in which to do it. Being a stay-at-home father of two young children does not foster the ideal conditions for committing to my craft. However, after 8:30PM (aka their bedtime), all bets are off.

• What would you like to try as a writer that you haven’t yet?

A collaboration with another writer I admire would be a fun project. Seeing how your ideas meshed (or didn't), sacrificing, and working together for the good of the story -- that seems like an exciting creative outlet.

• Who are the authors you most admire?

I could spend a lot of time here, divding and subdividing categories and genres, but you can probably guess my favorites are congruent with many other writers of spec fiction. Most recently I've been immersed in Gillian Flynn. I read Sharp Objects and Dark Places back to back then had to find something else to occupy my time until I could get to the store to pick up Gone Girl.

• Who are new authors to watch out for?

A whole new generation of speculative writers are finding their feet. Watch for breakouts from Eric Guignard, Suzanne Robb, and Armand Rosamilia. And of course, the three fantastic writers I have tagged below, as well as Rose Blackthorn who included me.

• What scares you?

I could tell you, but then I'd have to...well, you know.

~~~

 

Now that we're better acquainted, click the links below to read the blogs of three fellow writers, who will be joining me on the ‘Coming Soon’ blog tour next Wednesday.

Rebecca Snow


Bennie Newsome


Mandy DeGeit

From the Dusklands

Hello, all! Just a quick note today to let you know the book trailer for my collection From the Dusklands is now live. Check it out below and please let me know what you think! All comments, compliments and complaints are certainly welcome.

"Little Bone Joey"

Good morning, all! It's been quite some time, no? But for good reason. Your friendly neighborhood blogger has been a busy little bumblebee (watch this space for a big announcement soon!).

For today, I wanted to let you know that my short story "Little Bone Joey," a speculative tale of a little boy with a strange condition, nabbed 2nd place at the quarterly contest (Issue #19) over at On The Premises.

You can read it free by following the above link. Feel free to offer comments/critiques below. Enjoy!

Cold Brood: Year One

Hello, folks. Today marks one year since I launched Cold Brood. Where's the time gone?

It's been a fun little experiment, though I still prefer seeing my words in traditional print venues. Self-publishing is fine, but it's kind of like drawing a picture and hanging it on your own refrigerator. I want to draw a picture you hang on YOUR refrigerator. Or something like that. Poor analogy, but I'm too tired to come up with something better.

Let's talk stats. When I began this little ol' blog, I doubted anyone would bother to read it and the few who did would do so only because they'd stumbled upon it accidentally. Well, thanks to the wonderful and indispensible Google Analytics, I can tell just how often and how long certain regions of the world stick around on this site. I am happy to report that people from every continent dropped in for a gander (except Antarctica -- probably because penguins haven't figured out how to log onto the 'net yet). There are several hot spots who come back again and again -- Belgium, for one. In fact, most of central Europe has paid repeated visits to Cold Brood. Cool! Keep on comin'!

To date, Cold Brood has over 25,000 views. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that. 25,000+? I have no idea where that stands compared to the average blog, but it sounds good to me. As I said, keep on comin'! For whatever reason, the post entitled Game Day has far and away the most views. Not sure why. It's not all that compelling. But, hey, you won't hear me complain. 

Google Analytics got me thinking about checking on the stats for my other writing and I'd like to share some tidbits with my writerly friends (and those of you who may care).

In several years since I began submitting written works to various markets, I have submitted 213 pieces. Of those, 16 have been accepted, 156 rejected, 10 are pending, 5 have been withdrawn (for one reason or another), and 26 remain inconclusive (due to no response from the market or the market going dead). It took 57 attempts before I had a piece accepted for publication. When you break all this down, 7.5% of my total submissions have been accepted and the number climes to greater than 10% when you take out inconclusive and withdrawn subs. That's up from 1.8% from the time of my first submission to when I finally got picked up on the 58th try. Again, not sure where this averages with other writers, but I'm all right with 10%. That number will only get larger if trends are to be trusted. I'll only start worrying when it dips back below 8%. (Note: these numbers do not include the columns I wrote for various newspapers or the articles, interviews, and reviews I wrote for Modern Fix Magazine--these are strictly short story and essay submissions).

Anyway, I'm not a numbers guy so I'm going to quit talking about them before they start getting a big head.

Thanks for reading over the past year. It's appreciated. And it's been fun! Come back anytime.

Dear Editor: Thank You For Your Rejection!

Hello everyone.  A couple months ago, I posted about an obnoxious response I received from an editor after submitting a short story for consideration in an anthology his imprint was publishing.  If you missed it and wish to read its complete lack of professionalism, please do so here.

But for every barb, there is a bouquet. And that came in the form of the absolute best rejection I've received to date. This is a true gem and it was almost better than getting accepted. Here it is:

Dear Aaron,

Unfortunately, your submission, "Little Bone Joey" has not been accepted to be included in the anthology. I really would like to thank you, however, for your consideration to be a part of this project.

I appreciate the amount of time and work that you invested in this story and I am certain that you will be able to find a publisher for this elsewhere.

Technically you have written a nice story and I enjoyed reading it. Please know that I am not rejecting this work due to any flaw of your own ability.

Aaron, I hate to have to pass on this submission. Yours is one of those stories that, if I had more room in the book, would definitely be in. I liked this story a lot and it's been at the top of my consideration list since I received it. I particularly enjoy the uniqueness of your plot - it's thoughtful, intriguing, and told through a powerful voice in your character, Joey. You have a great talent for emotional and descriptive prose.

Unfortunately, I simply received a number of other stories which also held positive attributes of their own. Due to the sheer volume of submissions, I am only able to select a small amount which most closely matches the overall character of the anthology.

I received about 350 submissions for this anthology. The final Table of Contents, though not yet finished, will probably number about 26 - 29 stories.

I learned a new term that was shared with me in a rejection I recently received, and I think it's appropriate for me to share with you. For my anthology, I received an "embarrassment of riches." Meaning, I received SO many fantastic stories from SO many fantastic authors that it is truly embarrassing to have to tell most I cannot accept their writing for this book. This includes friends, peers, and authors such as yourself, whose strength of writing and accomplishments far surpass my own.

Keep writing - You have gained a fan in me, and I look forward to reading more material from you in the future.

Warm regards

Wow. A writer, by default, must have skin thick enough to absorb rejection. They cannot get discouraged. They must persevere if they are to have any measure of success. Reading such a note re-established my faith in the publishing industry. This is the anti-form rejection. It truly made my day. Thank you, dear editor. You rock. That felt like a daub of salve on this thick skin.

A Slap on the Wrist for Trolly!

An open letter to Internet Trolls,

Here at Cold Brood, I always welcome comments and feedback. I eat constructive criticism for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

However, if your goal is to leave disruptive, rude, or otherwise stupid comments please understand they will be deleted. This blog is my face on the Web and if you insist on spitting on it, well, I'll just wipe it off. Yes! Do you hear me? I WILL WIPE IT OFF!

Of course the natural reaction would then be to spit in the face of the offending commenter, but no. Because here on the Web, people can hide themselves under that uber-generic ANONYMOUS. Posting as ANONYMOUS is absolutely welcome as long as it's constructive. I love the comments left by all the lovely ANONYMICE. But if you're just going to post mindless drivel under that moniker, you are nothing short of a coward. Plain and simple.

Here's the thing--if you don't like the content of this blog, don't read it. And if you get some perverse pleasure out of throwaway, uncreative, drive-by commenting in the pre-dawn hours when your life seems meaningless please do yourself a favor and seek out that meaning. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Sniff glue. It won't damage your brain anymore than it already is.
2. Try cordless bungee jumping.
3. Drink a glass of paint thinner. That'll clear up the constipation that's got you in such a mood.
4. Skinny dip in hydrochloric acid.
5. Start your own blog so that I can post comments on it. As myself, not a crawling little grub.
6. If you're still feeling ignorant, read this then feel free to bring it on. With the latest in Google Analytics, it won't be hard to pinpoint your location; those maps are detailed.

Oh, look at you! You took your wrist-slap like a perfect little trolly-angel.

You are dismissed. Go nurse your hangover.