from Nate Kenyon

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=64989&id=59256739661#/notes.php?id=1609961



Bram Stoker Award Final Ballot



Superior Achievement in a Novel (2008)

COFFIN COUNTY by Gary Braunbeck (Leisure Books)
THE REACH by Nate Kenyon (Leisure Books)
DUMA KEY by Stephen King (Scribner)
JOHNNY GRUESOME by Gregory Lamberson (Bad Moon Books/Medallion Press)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

MIDNIGHT ON MOURN STREET by Christopher Conlon (Earthling Publications)
THE GENTLING BOX by Lisa Mannetti (Dark Hart Press)
MONSTER BEHIND THE WHEEL by Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin (Delirium Books)
THE SUICIDE COLLECTORS by David Oppegaard (St. Martin's Press)
FROZEN BLOOD by Joel A. Sutherland (Lachesis Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

THE SHALLOW END OF THE POOL by Adam-Troy Castro (Creeping Hemlock Press)
MIRANDA by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)
REDEMPTION ROADSHOW by Weston Ochse (Burning Effigy Press)
THE CONFESSIONS OF ST. ZACH by Gene O'Neill (Bad Moon Books)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

PETRIFIED by Scott Edelman (Desolate Souls)
THE LOST by Sarah Langan (Cemetery Dance Publications)
THE DUDE WHO COLLECTED LOVECRAFT by Nick Mamatas, and Tim Pratt (Chizine)
EVIDENCE OF LOVE IN A CASE OF ABANDONMENT by M. Rickert (Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
TURTLE by Lee Thomas (Doorways)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

LIKE A CHINESE TATTOO edited by Bill Breedlove (Dark Arts Books)
HORROR LIBRARY, VOL. 3 edited by R. J. Cavender (Cutting Block Press)
BENEATH THE SURFACE edited by Tim Deal (Shroud Publishing)
UNSPEAKABLE HORROR edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Chad Helder (Dark Scribe Press)

Superior Achievement in a Collection

THE NUMBER 121 TO PENNSYLVANIA by Kealan Patrick Burke (Cemetery Dance Publications)
MAMA’S BOY and Other Dark Tales by Fran Friel (Apex Publications)
JUST AFTER SUNSET by Stephen King (Scribner)
MR. GAUNT AND OTHER UNEASY ENCOUNTERS by John Langan (Prime Books)
GLEEFULLY MACABRE TALES by Jeff Strand (Delirium Books)

Superior Achievement in Nonfiction

CHEAP SCARES by Gregory Lamberson (McFarland)
ZOMBIE CSU by Jonathan Maberry (Citadel Press)
A HALLOWE'EN ANTHOLOGY by Lisa Morton (McFarland)
THE BOOK OF LISTS: HORROR by Amy Wallace, Del Howison, and Scott Bradley (HarperCollins)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

THE NIGHTMARE COLLECTION by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions Press)
THE PHANTOM WORLD by Gary William Crawford (Sam's Dot Publishing)
VIRGIN OF THE APOCALYPSE by Corrine De Winter (Sam's Dot Publishing)
ATTACK OF THE TWO-HEADED POETRY MONSTER by Mark McLaughlin and Michael McCarty (Skullvines Press)

fictionwise

http://www.locusmag.com/News/2009/03/barnes-and-noble-buys-fictionwise.htmlLocus reports that barnes and nobles has bought fictionwise

J.A. Konrath

http://www.jakonrath.com/phpBB3/ forum


In 2003 I signed a three book deal with Hyperion for the Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels thriller series. Since then I've sold over fifty articles and short stories. I also wrote the horror novel Afraid under the name Jack Kilborn. There's a word for a writer who never gives up... published.


My name is JA Konrath. I'm the writer of six thrillers in the Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels series, all of them named after drinks, the newest, Cherry Bomb, comes out July '09 from Hyperion. I'm currently on a blog tour, appearing on different blogs every day in March, to promote my new horror novel, Afraid, which was written under my pen name, Jack Kilborn. It's being released March 31, from Grand Central.


On my blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, I talk a lot about the writing biz. A question I get asked a lot is: Should I submit my book to a small press?

Before I respond, you need to know a bit about my background. Before I sold my first novel in 2003, I'd gotten over 500 rejections, and had written nine books that never sold. The rejection were from agents, and publishers. Big publishers.

My two current publishers, Hyperion and Grand Central, are both big publishers.


I chose to only submit to big publishers for two reasons.


1. Big publishers pay more.
2. Big publishers have wider distribution.


As you may know, the money you're paid when you sign a publishing contract is called an advance. It's money the publisher gives you, assuming you'll sell a certain number of books to cover the amount.

For example, an advance of $10,000 means your hardcover publisher hopes you'll sell at least 3333 copies. A $24 hardcover at a 12.5% royalty rate means each book sold earns $3 for the author. If you sell 3334 copies, or more, you've then earned out your advance, and each book you sell earns you another $3.

If you received a $10,000 advance for a mass-market paperback, your publisher hopes you'll sell at least 15625 copies. A $7.99 paperback at an 8% royalty rate means each book sold earns 64 cents for the author.

In each of these cases, you're going to have to sell a lot of books in order to break even. That means libraries have to buy a lot of copies, and as many bookstores as possible need to stock you on their shelves.

Big presses are very good at selling to libraries, and to bookstores. They have large marketing and sales departments, they make deals with large distributors, and they offer bookstores discounts and coop for ordering their titles.

In short, a large publisher gets your book out there, meaning you have the potential to sell a lot of copies.


But does that mean you should always go with a large press? Aren't there also disadvantages?


It's said that sometimes large presses are more hands-off in regard to authors. This hasn't been my experience, but we've all heard stories about authors who are picked up by a large press and then lost in the shuffle. Large presses publish a lot of books, and they might not spend a great deal of time or money promoting yours, or nurturing you as an author.

Small presses, on the other hand, often have a rep for being very involved with their author's careers. Calls and emails are immediately answered. Less money is involved, but a small press has higher stakes in a book succeeding, so there tends to be more communication, more collaboration.

Or not. Any press, no matter the size, can be terrific to work with, or a nightmare. And this is often on a case-by-case basis, as one author can love a particular press, while another loathes it.

Ultimately, because this is a business, it comes down to numbers.


Are there excellent small presses? Yes. I edited an anthology called These Guns For Hire, and it was published by Bleak House. They have a lot of clout in the mystery genre, and their distribution is good enough to get their books into the bookstores. The experience was great for me.

But there was a smaller print run, and a smaller marketing budget, which meant fewer sales.

If both a big press and a small press want your work, it's a no brainer. Go with the big press. You'll sell more books.

Are there exceptions? Sure. But do you want to base your career on exceptions, or go with the average rule?

I write horror. I love the small press horror market. I wrote a novella with Jeff Strand called Suckers for Delirium Books, and they're a great publisher to work with. I recently had a novella in Like a Chinese Tattoo, for Dark Arts Books. I've got a Jack Daniels novella, co-written with Henry Perez, in the Echelon Press anthology Missing.

I'd be happy to work with any of these publishers again. Not only that, but as a fan, I've got a few hundred small press novels on my bookshelf. I love small presses.

But ask any small press author what their dream is, and it's usually to be picked up by a large press, so they can get that large print run. After all, writers want to be read by as many people as possible. A limited print run of 500 is great, and nothing to look down your nose at. But a print run of 60,000 is better.

That's why agents always start by submitting to the largest publishers first. That's why some agents don't even bother submitting to small presses. This isn't snobbery. It's a numbers game. If an author's first book is sold to a small press, who prints 1000 copies, those numbers will forever be associated with that author. So when the agent tries to sell book #2 to a big press, that press will look at the author's prior sales figures, see small numbers, and take a pass.

Unfortunate, but true.


Leisure Books is an exception here. They take a lot of small press horror, and give it the big press treatment. But Leisure published only a few dozen books a year, many of them reprints from known authors. Your small press book getting picked up by Leisure has even longer odds than submitting to big presses in the first place.

So if you're an author, what should you do? Is it better to go with a small press, or not publish at all?

It comes down to your goals.


If your goal is to see your book in print, have a cult following, and be on some panels at writing conferences, then submit to a small press. Many of them are terrific, they'll do their best to sell your book, and you'll be a legitimately published author. You won't make a lot of money, but it is tremendously satisfying, and a lot of fun.

If you want to get into chain bookstores, or even better, non-bookstore outlets like Wal-Mart (non-bookstore outlets sell as many as 50% of all books), and perhaps make a living as a writer, then hold out for a big publisher. You'll sell more books.

Of course, I recommend listening to your agent (if your book is good enough to find a publisher, you should be able to find an agent.) I also recommend asking a lot of questions before signing any contract with any publisher. At the very least, talk to a writer who is with that publisher and pick their brain.

In the meantime, I'm heading over to www.horror-mall.com and checking out some small press horror novels, because a lot of them rock.



Joe


http://www.jakonrath.com/phpBB3/ forum
http://www.JAKonrath.com
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/jakonrath

love this!!!

see more dog and puppy pictures

great review

Review of Abandoned Towers Magazine



"Abandoned Towers head honcho Crystalwizard writes that there has been a total redesign of the website. The reason for the redesign were that a lot of the areas were not being visited..."

of Abyss' and Apex's

Rejectomancy in Haiku
wonderful!! an editorial by Wendy S. Delmater, Managing Editor of Abyss & Apex




read a review of Abyss & Apex in the article "Into The Abyss"
by Robert J. Santa" on SFReader.com


Firebrand Fiction



An excellent site, btw.

Sympathy for the Forgotten

Sympathy of the Forgotten, by Angeline Hawkes, is available at amazon



Symphony for the Forgotten is a devilish dish of delectable tales of historical horror. The stories run the gamut from the time of David and Goliath to near future twists on reality. Angeline Hawkes is an exciting new writer and accomplished storyteller. Read her now, because in a few years, everyone else will be. – Brian Keene, author of Terminal and City of the Dead.


# Paperback: 104 pages
# Publisher: Daverana Enterprises (December 18, 2008)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0981662617
# ISBN-13: 978-0981662619
# Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.2 inches

Morrígan Books announces the official line up and cover for The Phantom Queen Awakes.
Release Date is 31 October 2009



Official Table of Contents
Rising Tide: Ruth Shelton
Kiss of the Morrígan: Anya Bast
I Guard Your Death: Lynne Lumsden Green
Gifts of the Morrígan: Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
Cairn Dancer: C. E. Murphy
Washerwoman: Jennifer Lawrence
The Raven's Curse: Sharon Kae Reamer
Ravens: Mari Ness
The Lass from Far Away: Katharine Kerr
The Trinket: Peter Bell
The Dying Gaul: Michael Bailey
The Children of Badb Catha: James Lecky
Plain of Pillars: L. J. Hayward
The Silver Branch: Linda Donahue
The Good and Faithful Servant: Martyn Taylor
White Heifer: T. A. Moore
She Who is Becoming: Elaine Cunningham

Extreme Sheepherding

Introducing Haxon

by Kenneth Mark Hoover

Do you night-walk? The people of Haxan do! Find out how in FIVE days!

http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/

this is too pathetic

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

moar lolcats

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

lolcats

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

The Mcpike Mansion

courtesy of Andrea Allison
at http://paranormalstories.blogspot.com

http://paranormalstories.blogspot.com/2009/03/mcpike-mansion.html
Wonderfully creepy

lolcats!

more animals






more animals





more animals

Straigh From Hel

Today I'm interviewing Helen Ginger, Author, Editor and Ex-Mermaid.


If you weren't a writer, what would you do?

I used to teach public speaking at San Antonio College and also taught at Incarnate Word College. I really enjoyed teaching, but quit a month before my first child. So, if I weren't writing, I'd probably go back to teaching at the college level.


Where do you like to go to do your best work?

I have to have quiet so I work in my office and sometimes have to close the door to block out voices in the house. I spent four weeks at the Vermont Studio Center on a writing fellowship I received from the Brown Foundation. I had my own room with writing table and my meals were served in a communal setting with other artists. All I had to do was write. That was an amazing experience and my most productive stretch ever.

Do you listen to music or prefer silence?

Silence, although I can write with soft music in the background, but no words. If there are words in the song, I start to listen to it and sing it in my head. Then I can't hear my thoughts or the characters' voices.

What kind of research do you do for a project?

Depends on the project. I do a lot of Internet research. I check out or get books on certain subjects. Sometimes I look for travel books if I'm writing about an area too far away to physically visit. If it's a nonfiction project, I might travel to do interviews or other research.

What resources do you find most helpful?

Clearly the Internet. What did we ever do without it? Not just for looking up information, but for making a connection with people who can answer questions.

Which character you've created would you say is most like you?

There's a bit of me in all of them. The character I'm writing now may be most like me. Not in age – this is my first attempt at a young adult book. But she's like me in that she has a single parent and works hard to keep his trust and respect. She's stronger than I was at that age, though, and more adventuresome.


What are some of your hobbies?

Reading, definitely. Cross stitch. I tried knitting, but just could not loosen up. No matter how I tried or how big the needles were, my stitches were so tight I couldn't get the needles through. I used to do ceramics, even had my own kiln. Now I seem to sit my rear at the computer and not get up until I have to quit.

How does your family feel about your writing career?

My husband is very supportive. He always has been.

What is the hardest kind of scene for you to write?

Humor. I can write from the viewpoint of the serial killer as he's killing. I can write scenes that make even me bawl. But funny? That's difficult.
If there was one thing you could change about your work, what would it be?
A bigger desk and more time in the day. Honestly, I need a bigger desk and it's not like my desk is tiny. It's just covered and I need more room. And more time, of course. I have my own writing, my blog and another which is a co-op blog of editors, and my newsletter. Then there's networking online which takes up a chunk of each day. As a freelance editor, I edit for authors. Each manuscript takes time since I work through it at least three times. I'm also on call for two different companies to do edit and marketing work.


Do you have a website or blog? Tell us about it.

I have both.

My website is http://helenginger.com. A lot of it is information about me, but it also lets readers know about the free weekly e-newsletter, Doing It Write, I've been writing for 9 years now. I also have a page about the editing work I do for other writers.

Then I have two pages for writers, one listing contests and one listing events. Then there are several pages of Writers Resources. Two of the websites pages have nothing to do with writing. I've belonged to a Bunco group for over twenty years. Those pages tell about our group then give recipes gathered from the group – really delicious recipes, I might add.

My blog is called Straight From Hel. It, like my site, is geared toward writers. Almost every post is about writing, the publishing business or writing events. Occasionally I'll get tagged and write something about myself, but probably 95% of the blog is about writing. You can find Straight From Hel at http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com

What's the biggest mistake that new authors make?

Not spending more time editing before they start querying and not spending time prepping to promote as they write the book.
Edit, edit, edit. Vet it through a critique group or trusted readers. Let it sit after you've written it, then go back and read it again. If you can afford it, send it to a freelance editor like me.
Thanks for stopping by, Helen. It’s been a blast.

And, don’t miss a chance to read Helen’s blog, Straight From Hel at http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com

Straigh From Hel

Helen Ginger is an intelligent, caring, versatile person who keeps busy with her writing career. She pens the blog, "Straight from Hel" with insight and humor. From her web site:

I’m a freelance editor, book consultant, and writer. I teach public speaking as well as writing and marketing workshops.

In addition, my free ezine, Doing It Write!, http://helenginger.com/diw.htm, which goes out to subscribers around the globe, is now in its ninth year of publication.

I'm also an Owner/Partner and the Women’s Marketing Director for Legends In Our Own Minds®. http://www.legendsinourownminds.com/

Of course, what I get asked about most often are my three years as a mermaid at Aquarena Springs. Swimming with a shimmery tail, picnicking underwater, performing synchronized ballet, blowing air bubbles ... all year round, even in the winter.

I'm actively involved in the writing community. I was the Executive Director of the Writers' League of Texas from 2003 - 2005. Currently, I serve as a Committee Chair for the Texas Book Festival, and volunteer as a gift wrapper for the Bess Whitehead Scott Scholarship fund.

Stop by her web page at http://helenginger.com/

Stop by tomorrow and hear her talk about her career, with advice on editing your work, and what every new author should look out for.

Woot! I'm being Interviewed!

Helen Gingeris interviewing me on her blog, Straight From Hel.

You gotta lve that name.

SFReader has new material on site. :D

http://www.sfreader.com/

Subject: new reviews

Cthulhu Australis, Volume Two
by David Conyers
Reviewed by Jeff Edwards

Space Wolf
by William King
Reviewed by Kevin Lumley

DS9: Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers
by James Swallow
Reviewed by David Roy

Sirens of Titan
by Kurt Vonnegut
Reviewed by Ron Sanders

Black Tattoo
by Sam Enthoven
Reviewed by Jennifer Hairfield

Victory Conditions
by Elizabeth Moon
Reviewed by S. J. Higbee
——————–

tagged

I've been tagged by Danni Greer, of http://blogbooktours.blogspot.com/

Her twitter link is

http://twitter.com/blogbooktours

1. Ooo, random. okay, I love dogs. Especially chuahuahuas.

2. Cussedness, my very good friend, is the owner/publisher of Davrana Enterprises, and handles all of my novels. Cool, huh?

3. I have been putting off updating my web site for almost a year. Bad ghost.

4. I love lolcats, and try to post them in my blogs at least once a week.

5. I love the work of indy writers and small press mags, and intervew them of review their work as often as I can.

6. I love to play sim video games like pikman, harvest moon, ect., where you can build or solve puzzles.


And now I'm tagging these friends who may either post six random things about anything at their own blogs, or post here and relate their comments to reading and writing, or both. ;)
We all know you can crosspost.;)

Here are my six.

You can follow these people on http://www.twitter.com/.

@MorganMandel
@chrisredding
@chicklitgurrl
@wildchildeditor
@ljsellers
@maryannwrites

The rules to play are easy and you should copy them to your blog…

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on the blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag sixish people at the end of your post.

5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged.

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.