So excited to be in here with my story “The Jenny Store.” This is a beautiful book. Inspired by photographs taken around the Los Angeles area, the book features short stories from 26 authors. Each author was asked to select a photograph from a collection taken by the editor and write a story of precisely 1,000 words inspired by what they saw – no more, no less. The result is quintessential Los Angeles: Dreams, Drugs, Hallucinations, Romance, Life and Death, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Redemption. Like the city itself, the book is multifaceted, hard to label and even harder to put down.

CONTENTS

Ryan Wilson – “American Trash”
Stuart Gibbel – “Break on Through”
Craig Clevenger – “Obsolescence”
Nik Korpon – “South of Thirteen”
Dennis Cruz – “Smile Now, Cry Later”
Pela Via – “Bathhouse”
Stephen Conley – “Don’t Feed the Animals”
Grigori Black – “This Was Heaven”
Doc O’Donnell – “Your Personal Apocalypse”
Nikki Guerlain – “Sick Ticket”
Patrick Verhagen – “Swim”
Craig Wallwork – “El Bordello Alexandra”
Nicholas Merlin Karpuk – “Ahm’s Bay”
Nik Houser – “Subtitles for a Silent Film”
H.R. Tardiff – “Walls in the Sand”
Richard Thomas – “The Jenny Store”
Bob Pastorella – “Alexandra”
Simon West-Bulford – “Project Asmodeus”
Jay Slayton-Joslin – “The Fantasy of California vs. The Reality of London”
Amanda Gowin – “Gilded Bones”
Chris Deal – “Padre Nuestro”
Boden Steiner – “Here”
Gordon Highland – “Fry Girl”
edward j rathke – “All the Dreams You Dreamt Retold”
Michael Paul Gonzalez – “Tidal”
Victor Bengtsson – “Venice, Forever”

I’m thrilled to announce that my twist on the classic vampire tale, “Transmogrify” is now available in a new anthology from Dark Moon Books. They’ve done a few themed issues, such as ghosts and zombies, so of course, vampires is up next. They’re doing great things over at DMB, and I’ll have another story coming out with them in a really cool flash fiction collection called Slices of Flesh, which will have some big names in it, like Jack Ketchum, Ramsay Campbell, and many more.

Here’s more about this book, as well as a tables of contents. I’m familiar with C.W. LaSart and Kenneth W. Cain, who are really excellent dark fiction authors.

SYNOPSIS: It’s true that few of us would choose the life of a zombie, mindlessly consuming every moving thing in sight as we rot and shrivel with decay. It’s also true that few of us would choose to become a ghost, dolefully watching the comings and goings of the living, unable to touch, to breathe, to feel them in a physical way. But, if given the chance to become a vampire, I think most of us would bite. Vampires make our pulses quicken: whether they are the velveteen figures of Anne Rice or Bram Stoker, or the violent monsters of Stephen King, we don’t care. Not the hunters. Not the hopefuls. The real, blood-drinking, neck-biting fiends. Vampires are timeless because they are immortal. And the vampires in these pages may just come back to bite you in the end. These are stories you can really sink your teeth into. Promise.

TOC:

Voices Carry (TOM WORTMAN)
Fountain of Flesh (NICKY PEACOCK)
Dawn Hunter (EARL PARRISH)
Green Eyes and Chili Dogs (KEVIN DAVID ANDERSON)
Cosmina (CHRISTOPHER LEPPEK & EMANUEL ISLER)
Rite of Passage (LORI MICHELLE)
7 Hours (MAX BOOTH III)
Liquid Blue (DREW WILCOX)
Ordering Out (KENNETH W. CAIN)
To The Last Drop (ERIC GRAWE)
Sekhmet’s Daughters (C. W. LaSART)
Entangled (JENNIFER LEFSYK)
The Spy Who Bit Me (LORELEI BELL)
An Unusual Occurrence at Pointe Laurent (MARYKATHRYN GELISSE)
Tough Love (DAVID THOMAS)
The Taste of Love (RENEE PAWLISH)
State of Grace (TARA FOX HALL)
Transmogrify (RICHARD THOMAS)
The Key to Happiness (PENELOPE CROWE)

The Noir at the Bar anthology to benefit Subterranean Books, one of the coolest bookstores in Chicago, is now out. You can only get it at Subterranean Books. $12. Who is in it? Oh man, what a list:

“Come on in and please grab yourself a drink or two before we start, you’ll want to brace yourself for these stories of crime and transgression from the scourge of St. Louis’s literate.”
—Noir at the Bar

WARM REACTIONS TO N@B FROM PILLARS OF THE CRIME FICTION COMMUNITY:

“I’ve told you repeatedly that I do not give blurbs and in any event, I wouldn’t dream of giving one for this piece of crap. Don’t even think of using my name or any words of mine to promote this drivel.”
—Lawrence Block, author of A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF

“I’m not sure what offends me more about this morally and intellectually bankrupt venture—the waste of good booze, or the complete lack of entertainment value? Fuck these guys. Fuck them in their nostrils.”
—Duane Swierczynski, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of POLE POSITION: A MEMOIR

“Short of climbing into a wringer box during a live magic act staged by Leopold and Loeb, it is hard to imagine a venue in which I’d less like to appear. And yet I’ve never been asked.”
—Megan Abbott, author of THE END OF EVERYTHING

“Noir at the Bar is to crime fiction what Michael Jordan was…to crime fiction.”
—Todd Robinson, editor of THUGLIT

“A collection of drunken scribbles lifted from beer coasters and restroom walls. Dark days indeed when barflies from flyover country are the keepers of the noir flame.”
—Roger Smith, author of DUST DEVILS

“I hear that lost of fighting and fucking goes on at these things. Or there would, if anybody gave a shit enough to invite me. Stay classy, bitches.”
—Tom Piccirilli, author of THE COLD SPOT

“Been hearing about these goings-on in St. Louis. I live a cool thousand miles away. And I’m thinking maybe that’s too close.”
—Stephen Graham Jones, author of THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY

“Like…it…full of…Good…”
—Sara Gran, author of CLAIRE DEWITT AND THE CITY OF THE DEAD

NOTE: ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF THIS BOOK WILL GO TO BENEFIT SUBTERRANEAN BOOKS IN ST. LOUIS. BOOK CAN ONLY BE BOUGHT FROM THEIR SITE. OUT NOW.

Warmed and Bound is out. And for a LIMITED TIME, until 7/30 it is 38% off at Barnes and Noble ONLY. Amazon and eBooks will be out later. So it’s only $9.74 right now! Buy two or three!

Table of Contents

Intro: Steve Erickson
Death Juggler by Axel Taiari
Click-Clack by Caleb J Ross
The World Was Clocks by Amanda Gowin
Mantodea by Matt Bell
All the Acid in the World by Gavin Pate
Crazy Love by Cameron Pierce
Chance the Dick by Paul G Tremblay
Soccer Moms and Pro Wrestler Dads by Bradley Sands
Take Arms Against a Sea by Mark Jaskowski
This Will All End Well by Nik Korpon
Midnight Souls by Christopher J Dwyer
The Tree of Life by Edward J Rathke
The Killer by Brian Evenson
Headshot by Gordon Highland
Inside Out by Sean Ferguson
Laws of Virulence by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Bruised Flesh by Craig Wallwork
Bad, Bad, Bad Bad Men by Craig Davidson
Three Theories on the Murder of John Wily by by J David Osborne
The Road Lester Took by Stephen Graham Jones
My German Daughter by Nic Young
What Was There Inside the Child by Blake Butler
Seed by Gayle Towell
They Take You by Kyle Minor
The Redemption of Garvey Flint by Vincent Louis Carrella
Blood Atonement by DeLeon DeMicoli
The Liberation of Edward Kellor by Anthony David Jacques
Act of Contrition by Craig Clevenger
Say Yes to Pleasure by Richard Thomas
The Weight of Consciousness by Tim Beverstock
If You Love Me by Doc O’Donnell
Touch by Pela Via
Love by JR Harlan
Practice by Bob Pastorella
Fading Glory by Brandon Tietz
Little Deaths by Gary Paul Libero
We Sing the Bawdy Electric by Rob Parker
In Exile by Chris Deal

Warmed and Bound. Still very early, don’t have a release date, and no cover art yet, but look at this list! Honored to be a part of it. So awesome:

Table of Contents

Death Juggler by Axel Taiari
Click-Clack by Caleb J Ross
The World Was Clocks by Amanda Gowin
Mantodea by Matt Bell
All the Acid in the World by Gavin Pate
Crazy Love by Cameron Pierce
Chance the Dick by Paul G Tremblay
Soccer Moms and Pro Wrestler Dads by Bradley Sands
Take Arms Against a Sea by Mark Jaskowski
This Will All End Well by Nik Korpon
Midnight Souls by Christopher J Dwyer
The Tree of Life by Edward J Rathke
The Killer by Brian Evenson
Headshot by Gordon Highland
Inside Out by Sean Ferguson
Laws of Virulence by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Bruised Flesh by Craig Wallwork
Bad, Bad, Bad Bad Men by Craig Davidson
Three Theories on the Murder of John Wily by by J David Osborne
The Road Lester Took by Stephen Graham Jones
My German Daughter by Nic Young
What Was There Inside the Child by Blake Butler
Seed by Gayle Towell
They Take You by Kyle Minor
The Redemption of Garvey Flint by Vincent Louis Carrella
Blood Atonement by DeLeon DeMicoli
The Liberation of Edward Kellor by Anthony David Jacques
Act of Contrition by Craig Clevenger
Say Yes to Pleasure by Richard Thomas
The Weight of Consciousness by Tim Beverstock
If You Love Me by Doc O’Donnell
Touch by Pela Via
Love by JR Harlan
Practice by Bob Pastorella
Fading Glory by Brandon Tietz
Little Deaths by Gary Paul Libero
We Sing the Bawdy Electric by Rob Parker
In Exile by Chris Deal

Shivers VI

That line there “…other 18 stories” oh yeah, that’s right, that’s me. My story “Stillness”. HA. Hard to stand out amongst these giants, but nice to see the press anyway. Congrats Cemetery Dance.

I know all of you talented authors out there probably have dozens of nominations, but I just got my first Pushcart nomination, for my story “Terrapin Station” in Pear Noir! #5. Very excited and honored. Thanks PN and Daniel for the support. PN5 is OOP but there are a few copies up at Rhythmplex, if you want to snatch one up.

This is a story that I wrote in my MFA program at Murray State University. And while my Pulitzer nominated professor wasn’t particularly in love with it, I always liked it. Partly because it was a sweet story, different then my usual darkness, and partly because it is set here in Chicago, where I’ve lived since 1990, and depicted parts of the city that I really love.

So, wish me luck. It’s a long shot to make the anthology, and even longer to win, of course, but hey, it’s all a long shot, yeah?

“You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?”

That’s right. JSJ is talkin’ to me about my debut novel, Transubstantiate, my story “Stillness” in Shivers VI with Stephen King, Peter Straub, Brian Keene, and so many others talented authors, my next book, Disintegration, and what the hell neo-noir fiction is anyway.

Thanks, Jay for the support. Had a blast doing this.

GRANT SPANIER is the 1000th person to join my Facebook Fan Page! He is the winner of a signed copy of Shivers VI, with my story “Stillness” as well as great work by Stephen King, Peter Straub and so many others. Congratulations to Grant, and thanks to everyone that joined this past week, and over the past year. I couldn’t do this without your support.

I’m still giving away one more copy over at Goodreads.com, so head over there if you want to.