I’m sighing because I don’t like to think about art as a competition. Awards and nominations are delightful and affirming. I mention mine for publicity and to combat the occasional bout of imposter syndrome. I celebrate friends who receive awards, cheer for their nominations, and prod them to shout about well-deserved attention of any kind.
But here’s the thing: awards are always to some degree a popularity contest, a measure of consensus more than quality. Good writing may take many forms and I can’t stress enough that there are as many good ways to write as there are good ways to make music. Brian Eno and NIN and Mozart and Millions of Dead Cops all sound very different from each other, but they all speak clearly and powerfully to their fans.
I’m okay with being the Autechre of horror fiction. People who like my writing seem to like it a LOT. People who don’t often really hate it and complain they can’t understand anything. I’m fine with that. I’m not out to please everybody.
I’m fortunate to get my share of nominations and reading list spots. This year I won a Brave New Weird Award for last year’s “Blood Calumny” from my collection Convulsive.
My cursed chapbook The Shipwreck of the Cerberus came out this year, but as a limited edition that’s sold out and not easily accessible, I’m not including it on this list. At least two more stories, possibly four, are due out before the end of 2023, but delays prevent me from listing them.
So, despite writing my ass off, this doesn’t look like much of a list! If you loved one of these works, nominate it to get more eyes on it, or better yet, let me know in a message or write a review or share it with friends. Those personal responses mean the world to me.
Horror Fiction
Cry Handsome in “Les Petites Morts”
By Their Bones Ye Shall Know Them in “Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic”
Armingraaber in “Never Wake”
A Scream Lights Up The Sky in “Bound In Flesh”
Eggman Sceptic Colony in “His Soul’s Still Dancing”
Once You See It in “A Compendium of Creeps”
Paranoid Cancers of a Demented Eros in “Feral Architecture: Ballardian Horrors”
Schroedinger’s Head in “Thank You for Joining the Algorithm”
Oh Holy Night, the Stars in Death Knell Press
Given in Shortwave Magazine
Interrupt Me in ergot.
Horror Poetry
Dirt Teaching in Eye To The Telescope
The King’s Two Bodies in Old Moon Quarterly, Issue 5
Nonfiction
Must I Wear This Corpse For You? for Deep Cuts In A Lovecraftian Vein
Thank you for reading! If you enjoy my writing, please follow. I only post when I have new work to share and news of upcoming releases or events.
Contact
Books
Online Fiction
Print Anthologies and Journals
Guest Posts: Writing About Writing
Pre-order INVAGINIES coming June 2024
Invaginies is an invasion, it is a perception that is bodily and transcendent creating holes, paths, or pockets of alternate truth—and not always voluntary—enlightenment.
Horrorsong 