Cabin Fever

Suffering through a touch of cabin fever since the weather's been less than peachy with snow and wind storms the past few days. But it looks like it'll be rather balmy today. Man, I can use a stroll around the lake or at least a visit to B&N. Anybody else feel like they're going out of their frickin' heads this winter?

But being locked away inside has at least kept me busy working steadily on THE LAST WHISPER IN THE DARK, the tentatively-titled sequel to THE LAST KIND WORDS, my next novel due out from Bantam...some time this year, hopefully. About 20k words in and pleased with the feel and direction of the book.

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The first generous comment has come in for EVERY SHALLOW CUT, via Twitter: "ESC is bloody brilliant. So many emotional wallops in so few pages."--Sarah Weinman, Crime fiction columnist for the LA Times. This noirella is due out from Chizine Publications on March 22.

Comin' at ya this February, a new anthology from Joe R. Lansdale and Tachyon Books. Crucified Dreams looks like another great compilation from Hisownself, and I'm proud to be part of it. Also included are: Stephen King, Harlan Ellison®, Joe Haldeman, Norman Partridge, David Morrell, Charlie Huston, Lewis Shiner, Jonathan Lethem & plenty of other talented folks. This one will feature a reprint of my lengthy piece "Loss."

Also, due out in Oct. from St. Martin's, is The Monster's Corner ed. by Christopher Golden. The theme of this anthology is that all the stories are from the monster's point of view. Included here are: Jonathan Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson, Sharyn McCrumb, David Moody, Kelley Armstrong , Dana Stabenow, Chelsea Cain, Heather Graham, Tananarive Due, Michael Marshall Smith, Gary A. Braunbeck, and Simon R. Green. My own offering is entitled "The Cruel Thief of Rosy Infants."

Critiquing

I've been critiquing the novels of friends and professional colleagues for years, and now I'm going to offer my services to others. $250 for 5-10 single-spaced pages of critique pointing out strengths and weaknesses of narrative voice, characterization, plot, dialogue, and what bestseller Steve Berry calls the "oomph factor." What I won't do: red-pen your ms. where grammar/typos are concerned or help you find an agent or publisher. Depending on what kind of a response I get, the return time could be anything from a couple of hours to a couple of months. If you're interested, drop a line here, on my Facebook, or privately at PicSelf1@aol.com. Keep in mind I've written everything from cozies, noir, occult, horror, dark fantasy, and erotica in my twenty-year career. Don't send me romances. Not because I'm biased against them (I'm not) but I haven't written in the form and so don't feel comfortable offering advice in the genre. Otherwise, have at it.

The Last Deep Breath

My noirella THE LAST DEEP BREATH, which was originally published by Tasmaniac and went out of print in short order, is now available in digital format from Crossroad Press. Only $2.99. You'll find it up on Amazon Kindle in a day or two.