DECEMBER 20, 2017
Publications that contained my work in 2017
Hey folks, welcome to my 2017 Summation / Brag Post. Allow me to digress:
I published my first story in October, 2015. A dark little ditty called MOTHER (Dunhams Manor Press). That same month my movie, GIRL MISSING, premiered on Lifetime Television. So, all in all, a nice month.
MOTHER did okay. People got to know me a little bit, my toe was wet, and the water seemed fine. Ha-ha, right? I dove anyway.
2016 was my first real year producing genre fiction. A rookie. And I made some rookie mistakes. Bumped into some veterans – some of whom offered hard lessons in humility, and others who offered firm handshakes and welcome (and blurbs!). I appreciated all the above. I produced a follow-up story in April called ALTAR (Dunhams Manor Press). It did pretty well, and folks got to know me just a little bit better. I did my first podcast interview with Lovecraft eZine, a blog interview, got a nice feature in Dark Discoveries Magazine, published my first anthology story (Giraffes on the Moon?) and magazine story (Ravenwood Quarterly #2). That same year I made a 3-book deal with JournalStone – two novellas and a collection. The first novella, FRAGILE DREAMS, came out in November 2016, flying gracefully under the radar but sometimes that’s how it goes. I also acquired an agent, so not a bad year.
In 2017, things seemed to hit stride. I was invited to several podcasts, including This Is Horror, Miskatonic Musings, and Spooklights; and did interviews with Ginger Nuts of Horror, Smash Dragons, Gehenna & Hinnom, and Greydog Tales. I also attended my first two conferences ever – Stokercon & Necronomicon. Both were great and I got to meet many, many writers and publishers and readers for the first time, which was amazing. I was also able to meet the amazing Laird Barron and John Langan, as well as some legends: Steve Rasnic Tem, George R.R. Martin, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Dennis Etchison and Peter Straub. Tres cool.
In March, I released my first-ever collection, BEHOLD THE VOID (JournalStone), and was fortunate that Laird Barron was generous enough to write an introduction for it – unthinkable and amazing. Publishing this book was a big-time learning experience for me. It was my first “real” book, and I messed up a lot but I also learned a lot. There are a lot of broken eggs in my wake, believe me, but omelette, etc. Then, in May, I released another novella, SACCULINA.
In June, both the collection and the new novella were written up as part of a Summer Horror piece by Terrence Rafferty in The New York Times Book Review (among other writers such as colleagues Josh Malerman and Bracken MacLeod). This was a tremendous boost across the board – sales, awareness, ego, you name it. And it was pure luck (and luck, I’m realizing, is a big part of any success one has in this business. See, I’m learning). My work also received positive reviews in many publications, including Lit Reactor, Rue Morgue and LOCUS, for which I’m insanely grateful. Lastly, I published a gorgeous limited edition, fine press novella with Mount Abraxas Press called SHILOH. I’m very proud of this one (and word is a more mass-market edition will hit in Spring 2018).
In addition to the books, I was grateful to be included in several anthologies and print publications (If you’ve made it this far, may as well go all the way, right?) Here’s the complete list of my publications in 2017 for you award-voters, “listers”, and – oh yeah – READERS! (click images for more info):
“The Baby Farmer” – short story – Murder Ballads – Egaeus Press (February)
Behold the Void – collection – JournalStone (March)
Sacculina – novella – JournalStone (May)
“King Mob” – short story – All is Full of Hell – Mount Abraxas (May)
“Coffin” – short story – Strange Aeons #21 (June)
“ID” – short story – Walk on the Weird Side – LASC Press (August)
“The Body” – short story – Silence is White – Weirdo Magnet (October)
Shiloh – novella – Mount Abraxas (December)
“Symphony” – short story – The Demons of King Solomon – JournalStone (December)
“The Judge” – short story – Test Patterns – Planet X (December)
Moving forward. In 2018, the Spanish translation of BEHOLD THE VOID will be released by Dilatendo Mentes Editorial, and I will also have stories appearing in several anthologies (all TBA). And if things go perfectly (HAHAHAHA) I’ll be able to, at the least, offer news about a novel, a 2nd collection, and potentially 1-2 screenplay projects in the new year. Fingers crossed!
More importantly, I hope to keep learning and growing as a writer, a professional, and as a colleague within this great community.
So, to wrap-up, a giant Thank You to the editors and publishers who accepted my work this past year, and a wet-eyed, most sincere THANK YOU to all the readers who picked up my books, reviewed my work, liked and shared my millions of promotional posts, and generally said nice things to (and about) me.
It kept me going. It kept my chin up. You guys are the best.
Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year.
See you on the other side.
PF