I’ve been awarded a residency at Writers in the Heartland for this October!
Posted on June 7, 2011 4 Comments
Exciting news. I just confirmed today that I’ll be one of a handful of authors that will be attending a residency at Writers in the Heartland this October. They only take ten authors a year. I’ll have a week in a house out in the middle of Illinois, three square meals a day and nothing but time to write.
Now the hard part, what to write? Do I get a bunch of stories started, play around with some steampunk, neo-noir, edgy lit, horror, magical realism, and aim high with journals and magazines? Or do I start my third novel? I have an idea for the third one (I’m shopping my second, Disintegration right now) that might be steampunkish, in the Stephen King, Dark Tower kind of way, with a tentative title of Incarnate. I was abe to write 40,000 words in one week for Disintegration, over four days, can I keep up that 10k word pace over seven days? Time to do some research and re-read some books that have inspired me in the past.
Whatever I write, don’t worry, it’ll be dark, sexy and strange. In other words, the usual.
Seven Spanish Angels by Stephen Graham Jones and Dzanc Books – Special Offer
Posted on June 6, 2011 Leave a Comment
As you may have heard Dzanc Books signed Stephen Graham Jones to a three book deal, one of which is the long awaited Seven Spanish Angels.
SYNOPSIS: Life isn’t easy in El Paso, Texas. Neither is death. Caught between them is crime-scene tech in-training Marta Villarreal, trying to work a case that may very well be her last. And she’s having to work it without her assigned homicide escort, who’s also kind of her boyfriend, and would look a lot more innocent if he would just come in, answer some questions about all these dead girls. Have the Juarez murders come north of the border now, or is it a copycat? And, why these women, why now? For as long as Marta can remember, the El Paso sun has baked the ground into a hard shell, so the dead can’t climb out. Not this week, though. This week the dead are all over town. And Marta may be among them.
It will be released as an eBook this August but for special fans and friends of Stephen here is a deal direct from the man at the top of Dzanc Books, Dan Wickett:
The July selection for our eBook club is going to be Seven Spanish Angels. And we’re doing two things with it:
a) making it exclusive to the eBook club for that first month—it won’t be for sale anywhere else, including our website, until August 1, so the only way to get it before then is via the eBook Club.
b) setting up a special deal for SGJ fans for the eBook Club. We now have a bunch of different ways you can join, but for this offer in particular, we’ve set up a hidden url.
Where we now have as our basic deal, $55 for one full year, we are chopping that to $50 from this url. So, basically, anybody purchasing this link is getting SSA for free, and getting it July 1 and not having to wait longer for it.
http://www.dzancbooks.org/ssa/
So head over now and snatch that up. If you don’t have a Kindle, now may be the time. But you can also download the Kindle app and read this book on your computer so NO EXCUSES! All of the details are up at the Dzanc site, just follow the link.
My story “Gateway” is up at Dirty Noir
Posted on June 4, 2011 Leave a Comment
My story “Gateway” is up now at Dirty Noir, a new crime, neo-noir, dark fiction, sexy pants webzine. “Gateway” is a bit of hot St. Louis, something I thought of while I was just down there, memories of heading across the Mississippi river to the “East Side” to buy beer in high school (and other things too).
They’re looking for dirty realism + noir of all kinds, under 1000 words. Happy to be up here for the launch issue with Eddy Rathke, McKay Williams, David James Keaton, and Andrez Bergen. Hop on over and give it a peek. If you DARE.
My review of Forecast by Shya Scanlon is now live at The Cult
Posted on May 18, 2011 Leave a Comment
My review of Forecast by Shya Scanlon is now up at The Cult. Vonnegut meets PKD, it’s a fantastic book. I don’t want to repeat everything I said in the review, but following this story from its original publication across dozens of websites as Forecast 42, to its publication by Flatmancrooked (which sadly is closing up shop) to the new release as an eBook, this novel has quite a history. It carries the political and philosophical angst of Vonnegut with the strange, near future visions of Philip K. Dick. This was a wild ride, one that I really enjoyed.
Kind words about Transubstantiate at Barnes and Noble.
Posted on May 17, 2011 Leave a Comment
Some very kind words from Jed Ayers (Noir at the Bar in St. Louis) about Transubstantiate in his Barnes and Noble column today, when talking about The Dewey Decimal System by Nathan Larson (which looks like a great book). I’m honored to be mentioned in the same article as so many fantastic voices. And TDDS looks like my kind of novel. Be sure to check it out. Just follow the link above.
Southern Fried Weirdness: Reconstruction charity anthology is now for sale
Posted on May 15, 2011 Leave a Comment
Southern Fried Weirdness: Reconstruction, edited by T.J. McIntyre is now available at Smashwords. Soon for the Kindle too. This is a charity anthology to benefit victims of the recent Alabama tornadoes. Help if you can. It includes my story “Your Enemies Will Devour You” and many other stories. My friend and Write Club / Velvet author Craig Wallwork is in here too. Big fan of his work. Spanning multiple genres – from science fiction to fantasy, from magic realism to Southern Gothic, from horror to slice-of-life – this eclectic collection presents a selection of pieces sure to please readers of all tastes.
Review of Cowboy Maloney’s Electric City by Michael Bible is now live at The Nervous Breakdown.
Posted on May 9, 2011 Leave a Comment
My review of Cowboy Maloney’s Electric City (Dark Sky Books) by Michael Bible is now live up at The Nervous Breakdown. Great little chapbook, very entertaining, a lush read. Bits of Hunter S. Thompson, a touch of William Burroughs, maybe Denis Johnson if he was lost in the desert, and a sprinkle of Tom Robbins for laughs. Dark Sky is doing some great things. Oh, and Barry Hannah loves this guy too (RIP Barry). Well worth it.
My guest post about Black Tickets by Jayne Anne Phillips is now live at the Emerging Writers Network for Short Story Month.
Posted on May 5, 2011 Leave a Comment
I was recently introduced to Black Tickets by Jayne Anne Phillips by my professor, Dale Ray Phillips (no relation) at Murray State University. I’m getting my MFA down there and he thought the story “Home” might help me with one of my stories for my thesis. I wasn’t expecting this work to resonate with me the way it did. It blew me away. She reminds me a lot of Mary Gaitskill, as well as more contemporary voices like Lindsay Hunter, xTx, Ethel Rohan, Tina May Hall, and Jac Jemc. And that’s a good thing.
Head on over to the Emerging Writers Network to read my thoughts on this collection that was published in 1979 and has fallen off the radar a bit in recent years. Put it back on, people, this is some stunning work.
Review of The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch is live at The Nervous Breakdown.
Posted on April 28, 2011 Leave a Comment
I don’t read a lot of memoirs. But so far this year I’ve read two, and both have blown me away. There was You Don’t Look Like Any I Know, the book about Heather Sellers, and her inability to remember faces and now there is The Chronology of Water (Hawthorne Books) by Lidia Yuknavitch. What do they have in common? They are about two brave women, fearless really, who are downright inspirational, fighting their way through abuse and difficult childhoods to emerge as powerful, generous, gifted authors with a lot to say. And two of the nicest people I’ve ever met or talked to, as well. Head on over to The Nervous Breakdown for the full review, but I’ll say this much: it’s one of the funniest, heart breaking, erotic, and honest books I’ve ever read. Watch out for that opening paragraph, you better be sitting down.
My time at FOCUS On the Arts at Highland Park High School.
Posted on April 28, 2011 2 Comments
Richard Thomas, Emma Van Akkeren
So a couple of weeks ago I went to Highland Park High School to be a part of their FOCUS On the Arts program. I was thrilled to speak to a full room of high school students about writing, publishing, and what the future holds for all of us. In other words, I faked it.
How did this happen? What is FOCUS?
Well, last year I was approached by one of the members of the parent liasons, Jane Roberti. She had read some of my work, and saw my influence over at The Cult as a writer and workshop moderator, and wanted me to come speak to the students. She said that they had a lot of fans of Chuck’s work, and my writing, publishing alongside Stephen King and Peter Straub, my novel Transubstantiate have just come out, all of these things appealed to her and the students. I was thrilled and honored, so of course I said yes.
When I made it to the event, I was greeted by Emma, a very nice, patient and sweet girl who showed me around, and took me to the artist’s lounge. But of course, I was too nervous to eat anything. But what a spread! WOW. We talked about her plans for college, HPHS, the FOCUS program, all kinds of things. Then we went up to the room. The halls were buzzing with teachers, students, parents and artists.
The class was very attentive, they asked a lot of really intelligent questions, seemed very interested in what I had to say, nobody fell asleep, and I even got a handful of laughs. Overall, a great crowd. I held up Shivers VI and Transubstantiate, talked about how I got my work out there, my influences, how the percentage/royalty system works, writing conferences, you name it. I think I lost about five pounds in sweat. The bell went off, they darted out of the room, but a couple kids came up and shook my hand, took some promotional materials and said thanks.
It was a rewarding day. I hope to go back. And who knows, maybe I’ll work with HPHS in the future to help expand their art programs. They need somebody to teach creative writing there, and this group of intelligent, inspired young adults was a great audience.
More about FOCUS: Presented every other year, FOCUS explores the many facets of art; not as distant, esoteric disciplines, but as the day-to-day creativity of truly gifted, diverse people. The goal of FOCUS is to educate and communicate the universal arts language to HPHS students, as well as surrounding communities including Highland Park, Highwood, Fort Sheridan and the entire (underserved) Chicago Metropolitan area. Participating students will experience many forms of art themselves, thus expanding and enriching their lives forever.
- Richard Thomas - 