Best Of Necrotic Tissue Out, and Other News

I felt a real twinge when R Scott McCoy's crazy baby bit the dust.  Because although the word gets flung about a lot in genre circles, there aren't many 'zines around that are really willing to go down the pulp route, and there was something deliriously pulpy about Necrotic Tissue.  From its lurid covers to its blood-splattered interiors to the recklessly grotesque tales it filled those fourteen issues with, NT went places no one else was going.  Even just Googling it brought up  disturbing results.

I don't know that something as weird as Caretaker in the Garden of Dreams could have fit so nicely anywhere else.  And I was very glad when Scott saw fit to pick it for his Best Of Anthology ... which, if you happen to be in the market for a good horror collection, you can pick it up at Amazon here.

Also, while I remember, I discovered recently that someone's written a poem based on Zachary Hunt's fantastic illustration for Caretaker, which appeared alongside the Shadowcast podcast.  Does that count as fan fiction?  Will the fact that it doesn't stop me from pretending it does?

As for that other news... 

First up, not only has Adrian Tchaikovsky been saying nice things about Giant Thief, he's gone and written an article that takes it and Damasco as examples to talk about the changing role of the thief archetype in fantasy literature.  Which, obviously, is a subject close to my heart.  I had definite ways in mind that I wanted to make Damasco stand out from what I saw as the traditional fantasy thief ... but looking back, I wasn't necessarily basing those ideas on a whole lot.  So in a way, Adrian's article reads like the research I should have done before I started.  Now I'm going to have to go read all those other books he mentions!  Except it's probably not going to happen any time soon, because I've just started Adrian's own much-adored Shadows of the Apt series, and I'm sucked in enough that I suspect I might have to plow on till the end now.  Which is currently about five thousand pages away!

Couple more things, a bit rushed because it's way past my tea time ... the TOC is up for the Dark Tales of Lost Civilisations collection, to be published early next year by Dark Moon Books.  I've had high hopes for this one for a while now, and some of those story titles have built them up even further.

And there on the right, badly photographed on the floor of my lovely new house, is my first ARC.  When Lee told me it was going in the post, I had images of zapping Nazi's with freaky Angel of Death powers, Indy style, but it turns out ARC in this context stands for Advanced Review Copy.

Still.  Neat, huh?

Some Short Story Acceptances for 2011, All at Once

Not that I've any right to moan, what with the book deal and all, but it's been a rubbish few months for short fiction sales.  And not just rubbish but shockingly and confusingly rubbish, since asides from a couple of random slow patches, I was shifting work on a fairly regular basis for quite a while there.  Since July of last year, however, I've sold one tale - and that was to the now defunct Northern Frights Fallen anthology.  When you've got, on average, twenty pieces out at any given time, that's not such a great track record.

Well now I really haven't got any right to moan.

The good news started with new pro-rate market Digital Science Fiction picking up my story Black Sun, a bleak and vicious bit of Lovecraftian sci-fi / horror.  Actually, I say Lovecraftian, because that was the obvious jumping off point, but the biggest influence on this one was M. John Harrison - an undeniably great writer who blows me away and irritates the hell out of me by turns.  Black Sun was basically, "What if M. John Harrison wrote a Lovecraftian sci-fi horror story and left at home all the bits of his style that really wind me up, and then what if instead of it being M. John Harrison it was actually me?"

Now, obviously I'm no more capable of writing as well as M. John Harrison as I am of writing as well as H. P. Lovecraft - and less obviously, I don't think anyone would even realise I'd tried if I didn't tell them.  Still, it was worth a go, and I'm plenty happy with the results, even if they only read like David Tallerman.

Anyway.  It's always a bit dicey taking a chance on a new market, pro-rate or no.  But I've been stupidly lucky on this front in the past, what with Flash Fiction Online, Lightspeed and Bull Spec all picking up my work when they were barely out of diapers, and everything I've seen of Digital Science Fiction makes me think they'll be around for a long time to come.  They've been brilliantly professional in their dealings with me, and the developments on their website suggest they're putting together a quality product that'll make the world of sci-fi a wee bit more sexy and exciting.

Just as I was calming down from that one, I got another e-mail to say that Shadowcast are going to produce my story Caretaker in the Garden of Dreams, as previously published in the recently closed print magazine Necrotic Tissue.  And that was great, because I like Shadowcast, I always get a bit giddy about having stuff podcast, and it's nice to have things out in a format people can access for free, because it's not like anyone's got any money these days.

Then - and this was the point where it all got a bit silly - I got another e-mail from R. Scott McCoy, former editor of Necrotic Tissue, to say he's putting together a best-of anthology and would I be okay with Caretaker being a part of it?  Having never been in a best-of anything before, it's probably not even worth pointing out that I said yes.  And then maybe did a little dance in my writing chair.

So maybe where I've been going wrong for ten months is trying to sell any story other than Caretaker in the Garden of Dreams?  It's a lesson learned, all right.

Gug-Shabeth Even Uglier in Colour

In a dramatic break from tradition, I'm showing off a cover to a magazine that I'm not actually in.  The reason?  That weird guy on the cover is Gug-Shabeth, monstrous hero and titular lackey of my tale Caretaker in the Garden of Dreams.  I know this because the illustration appeared in smaller, black and white form to accompany Caretaker in the previous issue.

It's fantastic to see the artwork done full justice like this, and also I can't help thinking that it's nice for poor Gug-Shabeth, who definitely gets the less savoury end of the stick as protagonists go.  Much thanks to the artist, whoever they may be (I can't seem to find a credit anywhere.)

Both the current issue, #10, and issue #9 with my story as editor's choice and a wealth of other disturbing goodness, can be purchased from Amazon and the Necrotic Tissue website.

News, Reviews, Odds and Sods

Just a few bits and pieces I wanted to mention while I remember...

First up, I finally have my copy of Necrotic Tissue #9 - with my Caretaker in the Garden of Dreams as editor's pick - and am currently wearing my entirely stylish Necrotic Tissue T-shirt, which by the way I fully intend to wear to FantasyCon if I manage to make it this year.  Anyway ... I can't recommend these guys enough.  NT is gloriously lurid and pulpy in design, and I'm looking forward to digging into it.  Also, Caretaker got a fantastic accompanying illustration, and I've mentioned before how excited I get by being fantastically illustrated.

As a tenuous tie-in, NT #9's cover is by the hugely talented Nick Rose, who was recently interviewed on Diabolical Plots, which is fifty-percent the home of David Steffen, who recently commented here at Writing on the Moon and mentioned that he'd listed Stockholm Syndrome in his top ten of Pseudopod.  Which is quite an honour, really, given how much great stuff Pseudopod have put out.  You can see the full list here.

Last up, I found a review of the Zombonauts anthology, and while it doesn't mention my Fear of a Blue Goo Planet I thought I'd post it to back up my comments from a couple of posts ago.  I think Jay's review is spot on, and although I'm only about half way through I'd pick out Amanda C. Davis's Two Things as a favourite too - some lovely, witty writing there, and a slyly understated ending.

Necrotic Tissue #9 Out to Buy

Since I can't come up with an interesting title, I've pretty much summed this post up already, but let's try and drag it out just a little longer, eh? Necrotic Tissue issue #9, featuring my story Caretaker in the Garden of Dreams as one of the 'editor's picks', is out to buy from the Necrotic Tissue website. If you squint, you can possibly make out my name there on the cover. I'm choosing to believe that this is the correct version of the cover, by the way, since the one in the shop spells my surname as Tellerman. Man, I hope I'm not going to have to get it changed by deadpoll...

Caretaker is a very weird, very nasty little tale that came to me in the same bout of half-awake delirium that produced the idea for my first novel, (which is extremely close to being finished by the way). I can't say too much without giving away the story, so instead I'll just mention what a pleasant experience it was working with the guys at Necrotic Tissue, who not only paid me more than I was expecting but did so before the issue came out, and even threw in a damnably stylish T-shirt.

Also, I now have my copy of the Zombonauts anthology, and I'm glad to say that it's a really nice looking book. I haven't actually read any of yet, (I'm still working my way through my copy of Theaker's Quarterly Fiction), but if you can't judge a book by its cover then what can you judge it by?

End of August News: Part 1

So much news this week that it requires - okay, can justify - being split into two posts. Here goes for part one!

The Things Aren't What They Seem anthology from From the Asylum Books is going to press, which presumably means it will be out very soon. I'm buzzed about this one mainly because - if From the Asylum was anything to go by - editor Kate Sanger has a keen eye for strong, unusual stories, and it should be a genuinely interesting collection.

I found another review of Murky Depths #8, this one from SFRevu, and it has this to say about Peachy:

"The fiction in the issue begins with "Peachy" by David Tallerman. In this one pager, Peachy is the cat of our unnamed narrator and the cat seems in a strange mood. Why that's the case becomes clear at the end of this perfect little story."

I like that, "...perfect little story." Follow the link above for the rest of the review.

Finally: my tale Caretaker in the Garden of Dreams was picked up a while ago by Necrotic Tissue, which was neat in and of itself. But I found out a couple of day ago that it will be the editor's choice for the Jan 2010 issue - which means I get to wear a special, extra-shiny 'editor's choice' hat and, perhaps even more importantly, I get five times as many pennies. Writers being a primarily coin-operated form of entertainment, this is good news indeed.

More back-end-of-August news tomorrow!

Resistance to Mythica

After a quiet few months, the news is coming in so fast that I'm going to have to split it into multiple posts. Not that I'm complaining, mind!

First things first - and following hot on the heels of last month's sale to Necrotic Tissue - Mythica Publishing have accepted my story Passive Resistance for their forthcoming Another Time, Another Place anthology, to be edited by award-winning author Brian L Porter. The details are towards the bottom of the page, so scroll down to see the awesome cover art - or watch the promotional video for a sneak peek.

Another Time, Another Place will be a collection of futuristic thrillers, including seven authors besides myself. Passive Resistance is a near-future manhunt tale, and an attempt to do something interesting with cyberpunk; namely, to avoid the hypercompetent protagonists of classics like Neuromancer and to replace them with a middle-aged technophobe. It's a fun story, and Mythica are an immensely promising publisher, so hopefully this should be a good'un.

In addition, I was approached this morning about reprints rights for one of my more well-received tales. I won't say any more until I get definite confirmation, but if it comes off then this could be a great year for anthology sales.

Necrotic Tissue

Perhaps the universe rewards people who ackowledge their bad reviews as well as their good ones, because soon after the last post went up I received an e-mail from once-web, now-print magazine Necrotic Tissue, accepting my story Caretaker in the Garden of the Dreams.

Caretaker is a surrealistic slice of dark fantasy, one of the few times I've managed to turn one of those demented ideas that sometimes hit you when you're trying to get off to sleep into something like a workable piece of fiction; for anyone who's read Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, a member of my last writer's group summed it up perfectly as "Merv Pumpkinhead in hell".

Not only were Necrotic Tissue good enough to accept it and proffer cash money for it, I'm promised my very own Necrotic Tissue T-shirt. Just the thing for if I ever get invited for dinner by The Queen!