Various Very Nice Things

Here are some good things! Er, to be clear, these are of the selfish self-promotional variety, not the “nice things going on in the world” kind. I apologize, but we writers are locked in an eternal battle against obscurity, and once in a while, I must fire my weapon.

First up: hey, holy crap, Black River Orchard is on the preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards. Which is to say, it is not yet on the final ballot and therefore is not yet a nominee, but it could still jump there if enough people in the HWA love it enough and want it to saunter over to the next round. No matter what happens, it is presently in some most wonderful company; you can see the list here. Congrats to all who are on the preliminary ballot, and further, if you readers out there looking to fill out your reading list, then checking out those candidates will bring you terror-fueled delight. And thank you to whoever helped put this book on the early ballot.

Then: RUSA, the Reference and User Services Association (a division of the American Library Association), put Black River Orchard on the short list for RUSA’s best-of reading list for the year, alongside Grady Hendrix (How to Sell a Haunted House, so good), Tananarive Due (The Reformatory, truly excellent, holy crap), Jordan Peele’s Out There Screaming (I have it but haven’t read it yet don’t hate me), and the top of the list was Carissa Orlando’s September House (also have not read though I hear it’s delightful). Thank you to RUSA! And, as always, fuck yeah, libraries.

Next: New Demons, a horror anthology edited by Joe and Keith Lansdale and Patrick McDonough, is coming soon to Kickstarter — I’m in it, with a dizzying array of excellent writers like Joe Hill, Robin Hobb, SA Cosby, Owen King, Chuck Palahniuk, and more. I’ll pop the link here when it’s live.

Finally: The End of the World as We Know It, a King-approved anthology of stories set in the universe of The Stand. I’m writing a story for it now, and needless to say, it’s fucking awesome. Er, being included. Not the story. Er, hopefully the story! I hope the story is fucking awesome but I don’t feel like I’m the best judge of that I should stop talking now. ANYWAY I’M IN IT. And I’m super fucking excited for it.

As a sidenote, I’ll remind people that if you checked out my books and you liked them, please leave a review somewhere! Carve it into the internet! Scream your book joy at the world with an appropriate star rating! Appease the algorithm! EVERY REVIEW YOU LEAVE ME GRANTS ME ONE MORE DAY OF LIFE probably, or something. Seriously, thank you. Heart eyes.

Also, it snowed, which is great! And I am sick, which is less great! But here is a proof of life photo, plus a couple dogs who look like they’re trying to murder each other but actually they’re having a blast.