When Orrin Grey and his co-editor Silvia Moreno-Garcia invited me to submit a tale to an anthology of fungus-themed horror stories they were editing for Innsmouth Free Press, naturally I couldn't resist, being such a fan of fungus...I'm pleased to announce that my story "Goatsbride" will be appearing in FUNGI, an anthology with an absolutely stellar lineup of weird and dark authors. FUNGI will be contaminating brains and bookshelves this autumn.
S.T. Joshi continues to fan the flames of contemporary cosmic horror with, among many other projects, his anthology series BLACK WINGS: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror. The inaugural volume was published in 2010 to well-deserved acclaim. BLACK WINGS II will soon be released by PS Publishing. This second volume includes my story "The Abject".
I'm very proud to say that S.T. has also accepted my tale "The Hag Stone" for BLACK WINGS III, which will be published in 2013. More details on this project in due course.
Work on my collection AT FEAR'S ALTAR continues. I am about to begin the final line edits of the proofs. The font and layout looks absolutely beautiful. Everything is running smoothly towards having this collection out in time for the World Fantasy Convention in Toronto this November.
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The older I get, the more refined or sharpened my focus becomes in regards to the kind of fiction I wish to write. Perhaps it's a symptom of aging, but I find myself less interested in broadening my work. I am, however, keenly interested in deepening it; conveying my favourite effects with even more heft and precision. Since Day One of my writing career I have been known as a "Lovecraftian writer." I've always been proud to bear this moniker. It has never once boxed me in. Quite the opposite in fact. My "Lovecraftian" reputation has opened more doors for me than I ever thought possible. And so I persevere.
I am a writer of what could be called "arcane horror"; stories that have little or nothing to do with physical violence or the miserablist themes so rampant in postmodern fiction. I am, in this sense, a Traditionalist. I write to convey the numinous and the eerie. I often label my work "nightmarish tales" because I strive to create the otherworldly terror we experience in our nightmares. These are interior horrors, oneiric horrors. I do not want to inventory the woes and cruelties of human existence. Rather I hope to take you to the horizons of the human experience.
So, if you are a reader who enjoys what I've always done, there is plenty more to come. If, however, you a reader who has been waiting for me to reach past the esoteric and into something "fresher", alas, I'm sorry to disappoint.
I'm quite content here in the crooked, cobwebbed attic of literature's house and have absolutely no plans to redecorate...
