A few days ago, a friend of mine made a passing remark about a substantial event in his life I knew nothing about. He seemed surprised by this and when I asked him why he didn’t tell me, he replied with, “well, I put it on Facebook.”
I didn’t see it. I see almost nothing people put on there because I almost never log onto it anymore. When I’m tagged in posts or approached via messenger, it’s days before I respond. Not because I’m better than your lousy social media platform, but because I just don’t care to check it with any sort of frequency. Whenever I do access it, I’m quickly exhausted by all the negativity. It feels less like a place to start a conversation and more like a platform built specifically for banal thoughts on the current political landscape and whatever show is trending on Netflix.
And if that’s your thing, knock yourself out! I’m just telling you why I’ve done the friendship fade with Facebook and I doubt I’ll be back in full swing anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean I’m going off the grid. You’ll be able to find all my hottest takes on arts and entertainment on Twitter (which is no less negative, I like the “real time” conversation it offers), but I’d encourage you to bookmark this site and check back regularly.
The older I get, the more I feel like curling up in my own digital corner of the world in order to talk about myself and my projects (of which there will be many in 2018). Many of you have signed up for my newsletter and I sincerely appreciate that level of support. That’s always going to be the premiere place for breaking news on upcoming books and appearances, but I’ll use this space for interviews, reviews, and other ramblings. I promise to start populating this space with that kind of stuff almost immediately.
But for now, I wanted to recap a few cool things that happened in the closing months of 2017 that I haven’t had a chance to crow about it.
Dead Bait 4
I was excited to participate in this aquatic horror anthology for editor Cameron Pierce. My story is “Yacht Rock” and it’s what happens to a journeyman movie producer in the 1980s when he sets sail for the Cannes Film Festival with his partner and a duo of B-movie beauties. Now that the book has been published and I’ve had a chance to catch up with some of the other stories in the collection, I can confidently say you shouldn’t miss it.
Feral
A quick thank you to everyone who made Feral: A Novel of Werewolf Horror a huge success this fall. The Black T-Shirt Books edition is my preferred version and its performance on Amazon has exceeded my every expectation. Please continue reading and reviewing. Even a two sentence review helps immeasurably.
Scream Addicts
I was on the year-end episode of Scream Addicts with my partner-in-schlock, Scott “Foywonder” Foy. If you’re really eager to hear us blather on for THREE HOURS about the year in horror, go on and give the episode a listen. And check out the rest of Scream Addicts, as I think Jason “Jinx” Jenkins does a fantastic job at curating thoughtful conversation on the regular.
If you haven’t signed up for my These Dark Woods newsletter yet, consider doing that. I’ll be finishing up a short story that will only be available to those who subscribe.