Truths, triumphs, and tragedies of an independent writer.
I’m excited and honored to have a story included in this is new anthology about justice in worlds gone off the rails. My story “Bones of Change,” which you may recall was also in the Halloween bundle, On Hallows Eve, is about the dead coming for some payback. All proceeds from this collection will be donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Human Rights Campaign.
Audrey Brice Audrey Brice writes paranormal thrillers, mysteries, and horror stories where spirits, demons, and occult practitioners are both heroes and villains. As a girl I was terrified of ghosts and physical manifestations of the spirit world after having numerous strange supernatural experiences. By the time I was twelve I set out to explore the unknown. Aside from delving into the occult and participating in ghost hunts, I began writing about those experiences in both fiction and non-fiction in hopes to confront those fears and make sense of them. In fiction, I like to explore the unknown and the dark,
I love the old pulp masters. I grew up reading Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, E.E. “Doc” Smith, H.P. Lovecraft, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, and those authors made an indelible impression on my creative psyche. I devoured those stories, and they stuck in me down deep in the leaf mold. (See my essay “Cultivating the Fungus”.) The trouble is, if I go back and read those stories, I cannot help but do it with a modern eye, through my modern sensibilities. Unfortunately, as much as I loved it as a kid, a lot of that stuff doesn’t read very
E. C. Ambrose wrote Elisha Barber (DAW, 2013) the first of “The Dark Apostle” historical fantasy series about medieval surgery. Other published works include “The Romance of Ruins” in Clarkesworld, and “Custom of the Sea,” winner of the Tenebris Press Flash Fiction Contest 2012. She is also the author of The Singer’s Crown and its sequels, The Eunuch’s Heir, and The Bastard Queen, published as by Elaine Isaak. Elaine quite enjoys her alternate identity, aside from a strong desire to start arguments with herself on social media. TH: What writers are some of your biggest influences? ECA: This is a
Kevin J. Anderson has published 120 books, more than fifty of which have been national or international bestsellers. He has written numerous novels in the Star Wars, X-Files, and Dune universes, as well as a unique steampunk fantasy novel, Clockwork Angels, which is based on the new concept album by legendary rock group Rush. His original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series, the Terra Incognita fantasy trilogy, and his humorous horror series featuring Dan Shamble, Zombie PI. He has edited numerous anthologies, including the Five by Five series. Anderson and his wife Rebecca Moesta are the publishers of
David B. Coe is the Crawford award-winning author of the Lon Tobyn Chronicle, the Winds of the Forelands quintet, the Blood of the Southlands trilogy, and a number of short stories. Writing as D.B. Jackson, he is the author of the Thieftaker Chronicles, a blend of urban fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction. David is also part of the Magical Words group blog, and co-author of How To Write Magical Words: A Writer’s Companion. In 2010 he wrote the novelization of director Ridley Scott’s movie, Robin Hood. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. At DragonCon this
Cat Rambo lives, writes, and teaches by the shores of an eagle-haunted lake in the Pacific Northwest. Her 200+ fiction publications include stories in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Tor.com. Her short story, “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” from her story collection Near + Far (Hydra House Books), was a 2012 Nebula nominee. Her editorship of Fantasy Magazine earned her a World Fantasy Award nomination in 2012. Cat Rambo is as gracious as she is prolific. It’s hard to find an anthology lately that she doesn’t have a story in. And she has the coolest name. We’re
Norman Partridge’s fiction includes horror, suspense, and the fantastic—“sometimes all in one story” says his friend, writer Joe Lansdale. Author of six short story collections, Partridge’s novels include the Jack Baddalach mysteries Saguaro Riptide and The Ten-Ounce Siesta, plus The Crow: Wicked Prayer, which was adapted for film. His novel, Dark Harvest, was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the 100 Best Books of 2006. Partridge’s compact, thrill-a-minute style has been praised by Stephen King and Peter Straub, and his collections and stories have received both the Bram Stoker and IHG awards. We are totally revved up to have
Ken Scholes is the award-winning author of four novels and over forty short stories. His series, The Psalms of Isaak, is being critically acclaimed as “a towering storytelling tour de force” by Publishers Weekly. Ken’s eclectic background includes time spent as a label gun repairman, a sailor who never sailed, a soldier who commanded a desk, a preacher (he got better), a nonprofit executive, a musician and a government procurement analyst. He has a degree in History from Western Washington University and is a winner of France’s Prix Imaginales for best foreign novel and of the Writers of the Future
Mur Lafferty is an author, pioneering podcaster, and Parsec Award-winner. Producer of such podcasting legends as Geek Fu Action Grip and I Should Be Writing, a long-time inspiration of this writer on long dark road trips with the iPod and Mur’s ephemeral voice as his companion, Mur has also been the editor of Escape Pod. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer in 2013. Her book, The Shambling Guide to New York City, is currently on sale from Orbit Books, with The Ghost Train to New Orleans forthcoming. We are delighted to have her with us
Hugo Award-winner Seanan McGuire writes things. Constantly. She cannot be stopped. She will destroy us all. Where is the hero who will save us? Oh. The hero is reading the things she wrote. We are all doomed. To stave off the agony, we recommend reading some of the things Seanan has written, either under her own name, or under the name “Mira Grant.” People seem to like the things she writes, which is nice. Seanan McGuire is the author of eleven novels and dozens of short stories published in places like Lightspeed, Fantasy Magazine, and Apex Magazine. We are thrilled
Nick Mamatas is the author of several novels, including the recent Love is the Law and The Last Weekend. His short fiction has appeared in slicks such as the men’s magazine Razor and the music magazine Spex, in leading SF publications including Asimov’s Science Fiction and Tor.com, and in the 2013 volume of Best American Mystery Stories. I first met Nick at one of the big conventions, World Fantasy I believe, and I was already familiar with his work from horror fiction podcast Pseudopod. His book Starve Better has some good advice for writers chasing the freelance life, and his