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I woke this morning to an email from Shock Totem's editor-in-chief Ken Wood. It seems "Wanting It" from Shock Totem #3 made Ellen Datlow's list of Honorable Mentions for Best Horror of the Year Volume 4 (2011). I took a gander at the full list, and it seems two other tales of mine, "Molting Season" from Polluto 7 and "Ngiri's Catch" from Historical Lovecraft, also made the list. An honorable mention hat trick.
Thanks, Ms. Datlow. And thanks as well to Ken Wood and the Shock Totem staff, Adam Lowe and Victoria Hooper of Polluto, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles, editors of Historical Lovecraft.
Aimee always told me she wished I could stay home and write full time. I just wanted to tell stories, good stories. I wanted her to be proud, too.
I've made "Wanting It" available to read as a PDF for free. Simply click the link below. It's one of my favorite stories, and one which really strikes at the hurt which has burrowed into my chest.
Download "Wanting It"
I hope you're proud, Ziggs. These are for you, especially "Wanting It"; every night now I feel like I'm alone on the farmhouse floor, waiting for you.
Ken Wood, editor (and writer) extraordinaire, notified me "Wanting It" from
Shock Totem #3 has been recommended for a Stoker. This doesn't mean I'll be adding "Stoker Recommended Author" on any book covers or anything because that would be silly. But it's nice to know somebody likes your work. If you haven't read "Wanting It" or anything from
Shock Totem,
leave this blog immediately and grab a copy.
I promised a contest, and a contest you shall have. This one relates to my recent release of
In the Memory House.
An author can always use a bit of help spreading the word about his/her work, so that's what I'm asking of you, dear readers.
Mention the book in a blog, tweet about it, tuck it into a newsletter, Facebook it (is that a verb now?)... whatever. Just help spread the word.
If you tweet, mention my handle (@aaronpolson). I'll probably stumble across other references on the web, but you can either email me (aaron.polson(at)gmail.com) or drop a line in the comments to make sure I have your entries. And you can enter multiple times.
The contest runs through the end of the month.
What do you win? Half of my proceeds from
In the Memory House through November 30th. Incentive? Yes.
The links:
In the Memory House at Amazon.comIn the Memory House at Amazon.co.ukIn the Memory House at SmashwordsThank you, and happy hunting.
Hellnotes posted a great review of Shock Totem #3, and I'm thrilled to say the reviewer liked my story. "Wanting It" had a long and winding road before acceptance. For example: Ken Wood (editorial genius) and I exchanged several emails about what the narrator would call his butt. Anyway, the reviewer (Dave) had this to say:
"Facing facts leads to an emotional hurt that lyrically lingers in this lovely and haunting story."
Read the rest, here.
I'm working on Borrowed Saints (letting Sons of Chaos and the Desert of the Dead cool before another editing round). Parts of the book are much better than I remember:
She held the razor up to the mirror. The black mouth of the mirror girl opened, anticipating.
Phoebe blinked.
Make it pretty.
So, yes, there's a fair bit of cutting in the book. And voices. And ghosts. Oh my.
Sitting in the garden in 70 degree weather with spring blossom falling about me and reading short stories is a gorgeous start to the Easter holiday. I plowed through two issues of Black Static and Shock Totem 3. If the weather lasts (it won't) I could clear the decks and buy lots...more...books.
Downside: the Easter chocolate is melting.
I wanted to wait until I had this
in hand before I posted about how damn proud I was to have a story in Shock Totem. A big thank you to the brave editors for taking a chance on my little story, "Wanting It". It's one of my favorite tales, if not my very favorite (don't tell my other stories) and never fails to catch me with armor down at the end.
I've already devoured John Skipp's rather delicious (if one can stomach it) entry and a wonderfully sad tale from Jeremy Kelly, "A Birth in the Year of the Miracle Plague". Shock Totem is a mag well worth your support.
You know what to do.
I wish my current WIP was half as pretty.__________
Megan eyed me in study hall. She kept eying me, sneaking glances when I was hunkered over my sketchbook. My doodles grew eyes and arms, reaching out of the paper, grasping for dry land. Sanctuary. Megan’s eyes were black ash.
“Did you know this guy they found in the river?” she asked.
I looked at Stienz. His head was bent toward a book.
“No,” I lied.
“It’s awful sad. Does stuff like this happen often around here?” she asked.
My tongue was a stone, heavy and stubborn. “No,” I lied again.
Pending edits..."Wanting It" will appear in a future issue of Shock Totem.
I'm sure I'll wake from this dream soon and be pissed someone gave my life such a lousy ending, but for now, awesome.
Thanks to Mr. K. Allen Wood and staff for giving the little story that could a chance.
I wonder if my title will draw Glee fans to the blog. I wonder if the large eyeball will send Glee fans screaming away from my blog.
I don't watch Glee. I love musicals and it seemed my kind of thing, but I couldn't take to it. Maybe I didn't give it enough time. Maybe I gave it too much time.
Anyhow... As you've probably guessed from the gorgeous cover art to your left--by artist
Hicham Haddaji-- issue 2 of Shock Totem is almost done. Squeeing, and hoping my squee delights the Glee fans still with us.
I do wish I'd stuck with that show. Or at least watched more than one episode.
Here is the gorgeous TOC for the upcoming issueof
Shock Totem.
* To Be Titled: An editorial, by K. Allen Wood
* The Rat Burner, by Ricardo Bare
* Sole Survivor, by Kurt Newton
* The Spooky Stuff: A conversation with James Newman, by John Boden
* Sweepers, by Leslianne Wilder
* Rainbow Serpent, by Vincent Pendergast
* Strange Goods and Other Oddities (Reviews)
* Abominations: Hide the Sickness: An article by Mercedes M. Yardley
* Pretty Little Ghouls, by Cate Gardner
* Messages From Valerie Polichar, by Grá Linnaea & Sarah Dunn
* Return From Dust, by Nick Bronson
* Leave Me the Way I was Found, by Christian A. Dumais
* Upon My Return, by David Jack Bell
* Howling Through The Keyhole (Author Notes)
Shock Totem are running a writing contest and fools that they are they've put the awesome Mercedes M Yardley in charge. For a full list of the rules check Mercedes blog or the Shock Totem website. It's a delicious the entrants choose the winner deal. You know you want to play.
Time to fire up the laptop.
At the beginning of the year, I compiled a list of markets I'd love to have stories accepted by but which I figured were impossible. That is so not the attitude. Nowhere is impossible, we just have to make sure we're good enough. The latter is a 2010 rule, as I kind of failed in 2009.
On the list of impossible places in 2009 were (and nope, no acceptances at time of going to press):
Weird Tales (subbed twice)
Sybil's Garage (didn't sub at all)
Fantasy Magazine (subbed eight times)
Fantasy and Science Fiction (subbed once)
Black Static (didn't sub)
Interzone (didn't sub)
Lone Star Stories (subbed four times, Eric closed the magazine so I wouldn't sub again - true story)
Beneath Ceaseless Skies (subbed four times - fabulous constructive criticism every time)
Clarkesworld (subbed 6 times - they make it too easy for us)
The New Yorker (didn't sub)
Asimov's (subbed twice)
Cemetery Dance (didn't sub)
Anyhow, I haven't yet compiled my list for next year but I do know that I will be adding at least one new market to my list of 'I so have to get a story accepted by...' And that is,
Shock Totem. One: The first issue was fantastic. Two: They're pro pay. Three: I've grown rather fond of their forum.
Other newbie contenders for the list for 2010 are
Brain Harvest and
Lightspeed. Dream big little ones, dream big.
Somebody Else Saturday just morphed into a whole bunch of people.
The first issue of Shock Totem is a wondrous thing. From K. Allen Wood's editorial, in which we discover the birth of the magazine and the evolution of its name, through the stories, the interviews and the reviews, culminating in Howling Through The Keyhole -the stories behind the stories.
Shock Totem is one of those rare beasts with not a single lacklustre story. T.L. Morganfield's twisted, wonderful mind brings us the dark humour of The Music Box. I challenge you not to laugh out loud at certain points. Not a good story to read in a quiet, echoing room or if you find small things terrifying. Jennifer Pelland brings to the party a very effective micro-piece, while Mercedes M. Yardley tale of two girls with a bloody shovel and a corpse is at times hilarious. I do like my humour dark.
Paranoia powers Don D'Ammassa's Complexity - it's all in the code - I have only one word to review this story: FanFrigginTastic. Below the Surface by Pam L. Wallace is a fantasy tale of two sisters in a far-off land with dark undercurrents that have you shouting, 'run' at the page. I was expecting Slider by David Niall Wilson to be a time travel tale (remember the old TV show 'Sliders'?), I was right in one way and very wrong in another. An intriguing tale of baseball, death and legend. I wouldn't be surprised to see Slider mentioned in a Best of the Year anthology (along with several other 'Shock Totem' stories).
Brian Rappatta brings us zombies (all good magazines should have at least one zombie tale) in The Dead March. Rappatta gives us a unique take on the genre and I'd like to see his protagonist's gifts displayed in a longer work. The final story in the issue, Thirty-Two scenes From a Dead Hooker's Mouth, by Kurt Newton wins the best title award. Newton's tale runs from its end to its beginning, showing us in reverse how a life unravelled. Excellent stuff.
And no review would be complete without a nod to Robert Hoyem's beautiful cover.
You can purchase Shock Totem directly from the publishers or from Amazon.
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Very nice. Congrats. It's also great to see that you're using your stories as a healing mechanism of sorts. All the best with the writing and the healing.
It's the best mechanism I have, Barry. And even as the best, it falls woefully short.
Congratulations, Aaron. Nice recognition.
Awesome news (and well deserved)
Thanks Iain, Cate.
Stories like "Wanting It" make me want to be a better writer. Kudos to you, Aaron.
Congratulations Aaron, so well deserved. You are such a fine writer. And that photo of you and Aimee, your beautiful, beautiful wife, is stunning.
Thanks for sharing the story out, Aaron! I'm afraid until I make my millions my poverty determines my reading material, and sadly small press publications don't always find their way to the library.
You've worked hard for those mentions; let's hope one day I'll be congratulating you on being able to ditch the day job and write full time, eh?
You are right Aaron, Aimee would be so proud. She was always so proud of your writing! Congratulations!