Year's Best, Haunts, Gutshot

As well as my own collection, Rumours of the Marvellous, about which you're doubtless sick of hearing by now, I also pop up in a few other books this fall/winter season and I'm sure you're dying to hear about them. Your wish, my blemish, is, as ever, my command.

First, I'm lucky enough to appear for the second year running in Paula Guran's Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror from Prime Books. The lovely Ms. G selected my "Frumpy Little Beat Girl" (who first appeared in Curtain Call, last year's Rolling Darkness Revue chapbook from Earthling Publications) and got her all dressed up to be presented to a larger audience. Most grateful, ma'am. There are many great stories in this value-for-money doorstop of a book, but I want to give a particular shout-out to "The Broadsword" by Laird Barron, for one specific reason: Little fucker managed to scare me -- which, for a raddled old pro like me, is an increasingly rare pleasure.

Steve Jones -- master anthologist of his (or any other) generation -- has been kind enough to his old mate Pete to reprint "The Mystery", which was originally published in 2008's Spook City (edited by Angus McKenzie, from PS Publishing), in his new anthology from Ulysses Press. Haunts is a mix of reprints and new stories and -- as we'd expect from young Jonesy -- features a stellar line-up of authors and stories.  

In a previous post, I mentioned Conrad Williams' excellent 'weird western' anthology, Gutshot, and I'm delighted to say it has now been published by those old gunslingers at PS Publishing. Among its wonders, it includes the first appearance of my story "All Our Hearts are Ghosts" but, as I said before, don't let that dissuade you.

All three of these books are available from the usual online retailers and, if you're lucky enough to still have one, your friendly neighborhood brick and mortar. Christmas is coming, kids. Just sayin'.