December 9, 2024
Another turbulent, exhausting, but overall successful year is in the books (pun intended).
Overall, a lot of really good stuff happened. I read a bunch of great books (but wish I could have read more). On the writing side, I feel good about what I accomplished, but there was also some frustration.
Let’s get into it.
WRITING RECAP
On the writing front, 2024 was the Year of the Rewrite.
It was CRAZY how much of my time this past year was devoted to rewriting stuff instead of writing new stuff. To be honest, it was incredibly frustrating to look back on the time spent this year reworking stories instead of the much funner job of creating new ones.
Welcome to publishing, right?
That said, I was able to complete a new horror novel called THE AUTUMN SPRINGS RETIREMENT HOME MASSACRE, which will be coming out on September 30, 2025 from my friends at Tor Nightfire in the US and Orbit Books in the UK.
On the short story front, I was only able to eke out a handful of new work, all of which was first offered to my awesome Patreon members. I was lucky to sell the few stories I did have time to write, and one in particular will be appearing as a standalone novella from Shortwave Publishing in May of next year. That one’s called D7.
But as I stated above, the theme of 2024 was rewrites. For at least half of the year, I was editing or rewriting three different novels: Sarafina, The Third Rule of Time Travel, and The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre, all of which were under tight deadlines.
Sarafina was released this past October in a beautiful limited edition from Earthling Publications. That particular edition is Sold Out, but there’s a handful banging around from secondary market dealers. (Note: The trade edition of this novel will be out from CLASH Books in April 2026).
The Third Rule of Time Travel will release from Orbit US & UK on March 18, 2025.
The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre, as mentioned, will be out in the fall of next year.
Now that these three books are all cozily tucked away in their editing beds, I should have more time in the new year to write original material. My hope is to knock out another novel and 8-10 short stories. #goals
As far as publishing goes, I had a lot of great stuff come out in 2024 that I’m really proud of.
A brand-new story collection, NO ONE IS SAFE!, was released by Lethe Press in April, and received Starred Reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist.
Deluxe editions of two novels were released: A Child Alone with Strangers, from Lividian Publications, and the aforementioned Sarafina from Earthling.
A beautiful deluxe edition of my newest story collection, NO ONE IS SAFE!, came out from Thunderstorm Books in November.
I also had stories appear in a couple anthologies and a magazine, and I produced two original chapbooks for my Patreon members under my Altar Publishing imprint: I Think My Treehouse is Haunted and Point Oh One.
I always like to take a family photo of each year’s publications. Below are the kids from 2024.
2024 Publications
Lastly, I have to mention how exciting it is that one of my stories - ALTAR - was produced by movie studio A24, with Will Soodik writing the script and Egor Abramenko directing. I had a blast visiting the set for a week, and hopefully the movie will be out next summer (along with a brand new edition of the story from A24). More details HERE.
I think that pretty much wraps up the year for writing and publishing.
If interested in more info on my books, click HERE.
Now, let’s talk about what I read.
READING RECAP
As I mentioned, this was a down year for my reading. I read more for blurbs than I ever have, and because of the extensive novel rewrites I just didn’t have a lot of free time. In addition, I read a few chonkers that were well over 1000 pages, so that lowered the overall quantity.
That said, I always like to mention some books that I did read over the year, and recommend some of the ones I enjoyed the most. I’ve noted where the books have not yet been released.
Of the 50+ books I read, this is a list of titles I’d recommend you pick up:
When the Wolf Comes Home - Nat Cassidy (releases April 2025)
Lone Women - Victor LaValle
The House of Last Resort - Christopher Golden
The Swarm - Andy Marino
Night Watching - Tracy Sierra
How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive - Craig DiLouie
Not a Speck of Light - Laird Barron
Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan
Horror Movie - Paul Tremblay
Incidents Around the House - Josh Malerman
Small Town Horror - Ronald Malfi
The God of the Woods - Liz Moore
The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson
The Bang-Bang Sisters - Rio Youers
Lost Man’s Lane - Scott Carson
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
The Ferryman - Justin Cronin
The Passage - Justin Cronin
Night of the Long Knives - Tyler Jones
The Insatiable Volt Sisters - Rachel Eve Moulton
Presumed Innocent - Scott Turow
Nobody’s Fool - Richard Russo
White Line Fever - KC Jones (releases March 2025)
We Used to Live Here - Marcus Kliewer
Of all the books I read this past year that were new or upcoming releases, my favorite was probably When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy. I had a lot of fun reading this novel and thought Cassidy took the story some super interesting directions I was not prepared for. Crunch that preorder button!
Looking into next year, when I glance at my TBR stack for 2025, I’ve got sneak peek books from Christopher Golden, Eric LaRocca, and Ronald Malfi, plus titles such as The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, James by Percival Everett, Flint Kill Creek by Joyce Carol Oates, All Fours by Miranda July, American Rapture by CJ Leede, and The City and its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami… just to name a few sitting next to my reading chair.
I hope to get a lot more time in that reading chair in 2025, but we’ll just have to wait and see how the new year plays out. There’s a lot going on and a lot of work to do, so time will tell.
Anyway, that’s my big wrap up! So Happy Holidays, my friends and, as always, keep reading, stay healthy, and remember to be good to each other, and to yourselves.
PF
(Header Artwork by Chris Nurse, for Sarafina)