MythosCon 2011

Friday, July 16, 2010

mythoscon.jpg

I'm proud to announce that I've been invited to join the program this January for the inaugural MythosCon convention, a major new convention pertaining to the works of H. P. Lovecraft. The subject of the panel I'll be part of, etc., shall remain a mystery for the time being, but please follow the link to the official website to see all the events that have been planned, and the roster of top-name guests one can rub shoulders with (incidentally, if my name is not yet there, do not fret; it will be soon). Frankly, I'd urge any of you with even the slightest interest in the "old gentleman" to attend MythosCon, as I think this convention will be one of the highlights of the year. Plus, being at the beginning of January, most of us could use a few days in sunny Arizona. Just don't forget your papers, as I hear their immigration laws have become pretty strict lately.

Read more...

ReaderCon 21

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

It occurs to me that I haven't yet made public my plans to attend ReaderCon in Burlington, Massachusetts this coming July 8th through 11th. As last year, I'll be attending the convention with my good friends and fellow scribes Richard Gavin and Ian Rogers, but also hope to run into more of our Canadian brethren there in the aisles of the bookstore or on the couches of the foyer. I know there is a strong influx of Canuck talent up for a Shirley Jackson award (the winners of which will be announced at the convention) so it should be a fun time. Last year's event was universally hailed (by Gavin, Rogers, and I, at least) as one of the most effectual conventions ever attended, so we're hopeful this year's results are ever better.

All this is a prelude to suggesting that should you be close by, or can find a way to be close by, it's in your best interest to attend the convention and rub noses with some of the brightest voices in speculative fiction. And, while you're there, why not say hello to the three of us as well? Lord knows we'd appreciate the attention. Any attention, really.

Read more...

Richard Gavin's OMENS: a review

Saturday, June 05, 2010

omens.jpg
Published by Mythos Books, 2007
Canada exists in that hazy place where England and America meet, and is constantly pulled by both of those powers — its nationality tied to the former, its geography tied to the latter. It is therefore somehow appropriate that Richard Gavin is Canadian, as his fictional world explores interstitial places, only his are blurred places between darkness and light, between wakefulness and sleep. Places where, for a brief moment, one might catch a glimpse past the mask of this world to the darkness that seethes beneath it.

These two worlds — the surface and the hidden, the reality and the sub-reality — exist at once, yet the nightmare landscape has no direct roots to any single place. Thus, though many of the tales included in OMENS take place ostensibly around Toronto, Canada, they in fact happen anywhere and everywhere. The real world signposts are merely decorative; the truth lies somewhere else.

This book marks Richard Gavin's second collection. The first, CHARNEL WINE, from Rainfall Books, was a sampling of the best of his early work, and though that volume was well-received, it still bore the marks of a voice still maturing, one still trying to pull itself out from beneath the shadow of its influences. OMENS, by contrast, is a much stronger, and much more cohesive, collection.

Gavin dedicates the book to J. P. Drapeau and Errol Undercliffe. If these names sound familiar to weird fiction aficionados, they should. The first is the name of the mysterious figure in Thomas Ligotti's "The Journal of J. P. Drapeau", the second, the writer who perishes in Ramsey Campbell's "The Franklyn Paragraphs". Right away, by suggesting the two greatest influences upon his work, Richard Gavin acknowledges his origins and his intentions to move past them. But these names specifically seem to have another meaning, one more in keeping with the themes central to OMENS: "There is a solitary truth," Ligotti's Drapeau narrates, "which, whether for good or ill I don't know, cannot yet be expressed on this earth." And Campbell's Undercliffe espouses a similar view when he leaves this life with the following: "No longer could I trust the surface of the world." In each case, we are shown the basic premise of Gavin's collection: that beneath this world lies another, truer, world. A world we might only see if we are extremely lucky . . . or, as is so often the case, extremely unlucky. (read more)

Read more...

Shadows & Tall Trees

Sunday, May 30, 2010

More good news today. My short story "Everything Floats" is scheduled to appear in the inaugraul issue of SHADOWS & TALL TREES, the new literary journal of the weird from Michael Kelly, author extraordinaire and editor of no small talent. His latest anthology, APPARITIONS, has been nominated for no less than the Shirley Jackson Award. I anticipate great things for the journal, filling a much needed hole in contemporary strange fiction.

Read more...

Best New Horror 21

Pleased to announce the addition of my tale, "Cold to the Touch", to this year's contents for THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR (volume 21) edited by the incomparable Stephen Jones. What makes this an even more exciting treat is I get to share the pages with fellow Canadians Barbara Roden and Michael Kelly (who managed to sneak two pieces into the book). I say bravo to all!

Read more...

Chilling Tales

Friday, May 07, 2010

I'm pleased to mention that my tale "The Deafening Sound of Slumber" has been selected to appear in CHILLING TALES, an upcoming anthology of Canadian horror fiction edited by Michael Kelly (editor of this year's Jackson-nominated anthology APPARITIONS). I'd like to take this opportunity to say how honoured I am to share pages with many of my Canadian contemporaries.

Read more...

Recent Comments

Followers

  Modified version of Writer's Blog