award

“A Soliloquy of Tongues” in Shakespeare Unleashed; Dragon Award finalist

I’m a little behind on updating, but I have a couple of cool entries to post!

Shakespeare Unleashed came out near the end of July, an anthology of horror stories and sonnets inspired by works by William Shakespeare. My Hamlet-inspired story, “A Soliloquy of Tongues,” focuses on Queen Gertrude of Denmark and the lengths she’ll go for a little peace and quiet.

Also, in news of last year’s work, No Gods for Drowning is up for a Dragon Award for Best Horror Novel! I’m honored and excited to see it up there with such brilliant work. Winners will be announced in a few weeks at this year’s DragonCon!

Locus Awards; Cruel Angels release date

Award news: It’s an incredible honor to learn my noir horror dark fantasy novel No Gods for Drowning is a 2023 Locus Award Finalist.

No Gods for Drowning released last year from Polis Books, and it appears alongside fantastic novels by Sarah Gailey, Gabino Iglesias, Catriona Ward, Paul Tremblay, Richard Chizmar, Stephen King, Alma Katsu, Christopher Golden, Stephanie Feldman, T. Kingfisher, and Thomas Olde Heuvelt, all nominated for the Locus Award in Best Horror Novel from 2022.

Thank you to everyone who’s supported it! 2023 Locus Awards winners will be announced in mid-June (shortly after StokerCon).

In news a little further into the summer, my upcoming Splatter Western Cruel Angels Past Sundown has a release date: July 25, 2023! The book summary has been released too, and paperback pre-orders are up at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. There’s also a synopsis of the heaven and hell awaiting within:

New Mexico Territory, 1882: She comes to the Klein ranch at sunset, a strange naked pregnant woman dragging a cavalry saber. Annette Klein and her husband have built peace between their marriage and secret relations beyond, but their serenity dies in bloodshed tonight through a cannibalistic demon and a mad preacher.

Annette barely escapes the bloodbath to the nearby town of Low’ s Bend, where she might find safety with a shotgun-toting barkeep, two no-nonsense boarding room ladies, and the gunslinging bounty hunter who’ s captured Annette’ s heart.

But hell is at her heels. If she’ s going to survive until dawn, she’ ll have to forget everything she knows about peace and mercy, and face a hollow malevolence more ancient and ruthless than she’ s ever imagined.

Queen of Teeth audio news; LOHF Awards

Things have been true chaos of late, between novel edits and short story work and the world, so I’m a little behind on site news. Here’s a wonderful piece: after many, many requests, my Bram Stoker Award-winning novel Queen of Teeth will finally be coming to audio! Expect a production and release from Tantor Audio in the future, with the sci-fi horror romance vagina monster story of Yaya, Doc, and Magenta nipping at your ears.

In more recent news, I’m honored to see Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy nominated for the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Collection 2021 and Queen of Teeth nominated for the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Debut 2021, in both cases alongside stunning company.

Bram Stoker Award for Queen of Teeth

So something pretty cool happened this weekend:

At StokerCon 2022, members of the Horror Writers Association honored myself and Queen of Teeth with the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. 2021 was an incredible year for horror, easy to tell both by the ballot and outside it, and every novel nominated beside this one was an outstanding piece of horror. I’m honored to have stood with them and to have received this beautiful award, and I’m grateful to every reader who’s let this weird love story wind its tentacles around them. Thank you.

I can confirm at last that the award is not made of chocolate.

I also have a new story out as of last week, “In Thrall to This Good Earth,” part of the absolutely gorgeous Howls from the Dark Ages anthology of medieval horror. It’s a stellar table of contents and I’m joyful to be part of it.

 

Stoker Award nominations, “Parasites of Silver and Gold” in Cosmic Horror Monthly

I’m proud to share that my debut novel Queen of Teeth and my 2021 novelette “Recitation of the First Feeding” have each been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, in the categories First Novel and Long Fiction respectively!

Honored to appear with these incredible talents on the final ballot, and grateful to all my readers! I’m so very fortunate.

Also, there’s a new story out in the latest issue of Cosmic Horror Monthly! I’m so honored to be featured, with the stellar cover art pertaining to my post-apocalyptic cosmic horror tale, “Parasites of Silver and Gold.”

You can check it out from here!

Queen of Teeth and “Recitation of the First Feeding” make the Stoker Preliminary Ballot

I’m thrilled to share that my novel Queen of Teeth and “Recitation of the First Feeding” (from my collection Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy) have appeared on this year’s Bram Stoker Award Preliminary Ballot! Queen of Teeth appears in the Superior Achievement in a First Novel category, while “Recitation of the First Feeding” appears as a novelette in the Superior Achievement in Long Fiction category.

They appear with a feast of talents in every category, and I’m so proud to be among them. Voting will begin shortly to see which works make the final ballot and become Stoker nominees, but there’s more work to do between now and then, and a cool announcement to come this week. Keep an eye out!

Click here to read the full preliminary ballot!

“Unkindly Girls,” LOHF Awards 2020

So honored to learn that “Unkindly Girls,” my story from last year’s Worst Laid Plans anthology, has won the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award 2020 for Best Short Story. All the nominees are amazing, and I’m truly grateful for this. I owe thanks not only to LOHF, but Grindhouse Press for publishing, Sadie Hartmann for her grand introduction, and most of all the brilliant Samantha Kolesnik, not only the anthology’s editor, but producer behind the Worst Laid Plans motion picture coming from GenreBlast Films, of which “Unkindly Girls” will be a segment.

Representation announcement; The Worm and His Kings audiobook and nomination

This is a busy one, and every piece of is tremendous.

I’m delighted to announce I’m now represented by Karmen Wells at The Rights Factory for Film/TV. Karmen is a joy to work with, and I can’t wait to share what’s ahead.

On April 22, Fireside Horror released the audiobook production for last year’s queer cosmic horror novella The Worm and His Kings. Narrated by Allyson Voller, it’s a beautiful reading perfect both for new readers and those who’ve already joined the Worm’s faithful. Check it out.

And two days later, the final ballot was announced for This Is Horror Awards 2020, with The Worm and His Kings appearing as a nominee for Novella of the Year along with four other stellar titles. I cannot thank people enough for all their enthusiasm toward this weird little beast. Voting goes until May 22.

Best Lesfic Award; Inkheist; “In Subspace, No One Can Hear You Scream” in Mycelia, Issue IV

Today I had the fantastic honor of winning the Best Lesfic of 2020 Award for Best Horror, for my queer cosmic horror novella, The Worm and His Kings! Make horror gay AF!

Also, I had the pleasure of reappearing on the Inkheist podcast to talk about The Worm and His Kings as well as writing process, queer representation, my upcoming 2021 releases Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy and Queen of Teeth, and whether psychic powers fit into supernatural horror or form their own subgenre of psychic horror. Give a listen!

I expect this will be the last update of a long, long year. Ending it with a bang is my erotic horror story, “In Subspace, No One Can Hear You Scream” that appears in Mycelia issue IV. At this club’s show, there’s more happening than meets the eye. Check it out.