I recently did my 2014 wrap-up (you can see it here); it was a fantastic year, and now let’s look ahead at what’s in store for 2015:
January – As I write this, I’m a week away from closing escrow on a gorgeous house in Granada Hills, so if all goes well, this time next month I’ll be writing these posts from my (first ever) office in my (first ever) home, while in the garage my (first ever) washer and dryer do my laundry, my (first ever) dishwaster washes my dishes, I’m properly heated by my (first ever) central heat, and outside my (first ever) garden is taking shape. I occasionally think, Oh my God, I sound so first-world bourgeois…but damn, I’m not getting any younger and I am ready for a little comfortable living.
April – I’ll be working with HWA’s L.A. chapter at our booth at the LA Times Festival of Books. This is a fabulous event for book-lovers.
May – My entry on Halloween will appear in the The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. I’m really thrilled with this, because the idea of being part of something published by the legendary Oxford University Press is kind of mind-blowing.
May – From May 7 to the 10th, I’ll be in Atlanta for the Bram Stoker Awards Weekend and the 25th Anniversary World Horror Convention. I expect this to be frankly difficult, since it will my first HWA event as the organization’s President, but I’ve never been to Atlanta, and I can’t wait to see everyone.
Fall – My new non-fiction book Ghosts will be out from Reaktion Books. Here’s the back-cover description:
There are few constants in the supernatural history of the world more prevalent than the belief in ghosts. From the earliest recorded writings (Gilgamesh), up to the twenty-first century ghost-hunting reality television shows, ghosts are part of almost every time and every culture…and yet there’s little evidence to support their existence.
Ghosts offers a historical and global exploration of these mysterious apparitions, asking first: What exactly is a ghost? Are poltergeists, wraiths, and revenants technically ghosts? How does “ghost” relate to “soul”? How many different kinds of ghosts are there? What are “elementals” and “fetches”? What were the Roman larvae and manes? The spirits of the classical world are visited, from the Egyptian five-part soul to the first haunted house comedy play (The Haunted House by Plautus). The frightening phantoms of the Middle Ages – who might incinerate priests or devour children – are discussed, and the nineteenth-century rise of Spiritualism – essentially a religion devoted to ghosts – is analyzed. India’s Bh?ta, the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival, and Mexico’s La Llorona are described, as are American spectres like the Bell Witch and Britain’s “most haunted house”, Borley Rectory.
Lastly, Ghosts delves into the history of the spirit on page and screen. How does Horace Walpole’s 1764 Gothic classic The Castle of Otranto lead to the 2007 hit film Paranormal Activity? The ghost story’s classics, from Ann Radcliffe’s works to the chilling short stories of M. R. James to Stephen King’s The Shining, reveal how the real meaning of ghosts has shifted over the centuries.
And… There’ll be lots of new short fiction throughout the year. Here’s a list of stories that should be out in 2015 (this list is not complete – there are several more that are still in the works):
- “A Girl’s Life“, INNSMOUTH NIGHTMARES, PS Publishing
- “Union Day“, OCCUPIED EARTH, Polis Books
- “Daddy’s Girl”, SHRIEKS AND SHIVERS FROM THE HORROR ZINE, Imajin Publishing
- “The New War“, Untitled Anthology, Random House/Cemetery Dance
- “Bitter Shadows”, MADNESS ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, Chaosium
- “The Ogre”, SHADOWS OVER MAIN STREET, Hazardous Press
- “Cognition“, MADHOUSE, Dark Regions Press
- “Sexy Pirate Girl“, OCTOBER DREAMS 2, Cemetery Dance
- “Ofrenda“, UNSPEAKABLE HORROR 2: ABOMINATIONS OF DESIRE, Evil Jester Press
- “High Desert“, THE FORSAKEN, 23 House Publishing
- “The End of the World Man“, SHOCKLINES, Cemetery Dance
Longer fiction? Well, there’s an e-book coming that I’m completely thrilled about, and will be able to announce soon.
There should be another novel from JournalStone.
There’s one finished novella in the pipeline.
There’s a chapter in a major coffee table book coming.
There may be a collection of non-fiction essays.
And my Bram Stoker Award-nominated and Black Quill Award-winning anthology Midnight Walk will be available for the first time in e-book.
As HWA’s President, I know I’m going to enjoy creating new projects and working with a lot of fantastic people to bring them to fruition. We’ve already got at least one major surprise announcement coming in January, and I look forward to expanding our membership, revving up our chapters, and investigating lots of new opportunities to promote the genre, literacy, and our members.
As for the rest…who knows? If you’d told me this time a year ago that I’d be flying to London in September to see Kate Bush live, I would’ve called you daft. Here’s hoping 2015 holds nothing but good surprises for all of us.