Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks

Now Available

Eve's got a new site

Stop by and say hi

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shadows

Now Available

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shivers

Now Available

Writing Tips

'Cause Every Writer Has an Opinion

Monday, August 31, 2009

Disney Buys Marvel

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, who would have thought a mouse and a spider could be friends?

And so the news of the day is that Disney has bought Marvel for an estimated $4 billion. Disney's belief, a rather sound one, is that Disney has the market on little girls cornered with Princesses, Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Wizards of Waverly Place and all that, but they have a big hole when it comes to boys. Well that hole has just been stuffed by about 5000 superheroes courtesy of Marvel.

My immediate reaction is that this is great news for both companies. And for those people skeptical about how Disney will handle the Marvel stable of characters, look at Pixar. They've been doing just fine since coming under the Disney umbrella.

So what's your opinion on the buyout, dear reader?

Spider-Man Mickey Mouse Head courtesy of Foxy Man, who also created the picture below. I'm not sure how to comment on it except that it reminds me of a mix between Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and a commercial for some bathroom cleaner.



Later Fiends,


Friday, August 21, 2009

Wolfman Movie

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, go ahead and bark at the moon.


I got all giddy when I saw this trailer for Wolfman. Can't wait to see it.





Later Fiends

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

New Middle Grade Story



Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, welcome to yet another day in the making.

So I've put the brakes on the second book in the Sowen series for now--mostly because I'm waiting for more responses--and I don't see the point in drafting the second book until I get some interest in the first book. I think I'm also a bit burnt on the story, and I need to refresh the ol' creative tank by writing something different.

I started a middle grade book about a family of monsters, something in the realm of The Munsters or The Addams Family, who are forced to move into suburbia. (I was always a bigger fan of the Munsters, by the way. I never liked the Addams family! And I'm talking the original Munsters, not that Munsters Today ... that was crapola.)


Part of the research I was doing was on the word count of middle grade fiction, which seams to be around 20-50K in length, depending on the target age group, a big gap if you ask me. I came across this nifty search engine by Renaissance Learning that lets you, amongst other things, check the word count of middle grade and young adult books. If you know of a book similar to yours, you can can see what the length is, so you'll know if you're on the right track or not.

Later Fiends,

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Leaves Fall in Springtime

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, welcome to the End of Days show ... we'll be wrapping up shortly.

The world is growing a shell, a protective layer that blocks us from humanity's sins. Things that once horrified us are now moderately interesting.

The truth, dear reader, is that one day the world will end ... and no one will care. I wrote a story about this called The Leaves Fall in Springtime. Enjoy!

The Leaves Fall in Springtime

Monday, August 10, 2009

Hugo Winners

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, put your hands together for this year's Hugo winners. And for those of you who didn't win, the stupid thing's probably rigged anyway.

Best Novel: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaim

an

Best Novella: "The Erdmann Nexus" by Nancy Kress

Best Novelette: "Shoggoths in Bloom" by Elizabeth Bear

Best Short Story: "Exhalation" by Ted Chiang

Best Professional Artist: Donato Giancola

Best Graphic Novel: Girl Genius series by Kaja and Phil Foglio

Best Editor, Short F

orm: Ellen Datlow

Best Editor, Long Form: David Hartwell

Best Related Book: Your Hate Mail Will Be Grade

d by John Scalzi

Best Semiprozine: Weird Tales by Ann VanderMeer and Stephen Segal

Best Fan Writer: Cheryl Morgan

Best Fan Magazine: Electric Velocipede (John Klima, editor)

Best Fan Artist: Frank W

u

(John W. Campbell Award goes to: Davi

d Anthony Durham)

Later Fiends,

Thursday, August 6, 2009

2009 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, congratulations to all of the 2009 World Fantasy Award nominees.


Novel

The House of the Stag, Kage Baker (Tor)
The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow)
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury)
Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory (Del Rey)
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin; Knopf)

Novella
"Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel", Peter S. Beagle (Strange Roads)
"If Angels Fight", Richard Bowes (F&SF 2/08)
"The Overseer", Albert Cowdrey (F&SF 3/08)
"Odd and the Frost Giants", Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury; HarperCollins)
"Good Boy", Nisi Shawl (Filter House)

Short Story
"Caverns of Mystery", Kage Baker (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy)
"26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss", Kij Johnson (Asimov's 7/08)
"Pride and Prometheus", John Kessel (F&SF 1/08)
"Our Man in the Sudan", Sarah Pinborough (The Second Humdrumming Book of Horror Stories)
"A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica", Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 5/08)

Anthology
The Living Dead, John Joseph Adams, ed. (Night Shade Books)
The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Del Rey)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-First Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, & Gavin J. Grant, eds. (St. Martin's)
Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy, Ekaterina Sedia, ed. (Senses Five Press)
Steampunk, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Tachyon Publications)

Collection
Strange Roads, Peter S. Beagle (DreamHaven Books)
The Drowned Life, Jeffrey Ford (HarperPerennial)
Pretty Monsters, Kelly Link (Viking)
Filter House, Nisi Shawl (Aqueduct Press)
Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin; Scholastic '09)

Artist
Kinuko Y. Craft
Janet Chui
Stephan Martinière
John Picacio
Shaun Tan

Special Award—Professional
Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant (for Small Beer Press and Big Mouth House)
Farah Mendlesohn (for Rhetorics of Fantasy)
Stephen H. Segal & Ann VanderMeer (for Weird Tales)
Jerad Walters (for A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft)
Jacob Weisman (for Tachyon Publications)

Special Award—Non-professional
Edith L. Crowe (for her work with The Mythopoeic Society)
John Klima (for Electric Velocipede)
Elise Matthesen (for setting out to inspire and for serving as inspiration for works of poetry, fantasy, and SF over the last decade through her jewelry-making and her "artist's challenges.")
Sean Wallace, Neil Clarke, & Nick Mamatas (for Clarkesworld)
Michael Walsh (for Howard Waldrop collections from Old Earth Books)

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Put a Stake in 'Em, They're Done



Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, sharpen your stakes, fill your juice boxes with holy water, and grab your garlic necklaces, dear reader, we're going hunting.


I saw two articles appear on Hellnotes today in regards to vampires that I would like to comment on:

Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan's Op-Ed article in the New York Times Why Vampires Never Die explains why vampires are here to stay, while Neil Gaiman's EW interview Why vampires should go back underground suggests that vampires need a 20-25 year rest.

I have to side with Gaiman on this one. I'm about at the end of my vampire tolerance. A long break to revitalize the genre is needed. Don't get me wrong, vampires have their place, always will, but this huge wave of vampirism is like an encore that won't die. And really, dear reader, how much of it is actually fresh? How many ways can we use the vampire to symbolize sex and desire and forbidden love?

Later Fiends,

Monday, August 3, 2009

Freakish Babies Fused at the Head

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, today's an excellent day to go postal, so grab your guns and have some fun.

Meanwhile, back at the bat cave, things are quiet. I've been polishing up a few short stories I'll be putting up on Scribd soon, and I've been busy mulling over the second book in the Sowen series. I have all these ideas floating in my head, I'm just not sure which order they go in.

<<<<>>>>

And now it's time for freakish baby skeletons fused at the head.

This 17'' replica comes from The Gemini Company. While the price ($800) made my jaw drop, the statue is pretty cool.

Later Fiends,

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Share

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More