One Year(ish) On...

So it's been about a year since I became a published author.

I'm using the word 'published' in about the most minimal sense it can be used here - my short story Feed The Enemy was published as an ebook by Books To Go Now about a year ago, and another called Home Time was accepted by Morpheus Tales... and I was pleased obviously, but also wondering where I was going with this writing malarkey, given that I was cruising towards my 34th birthday.

And now I'm cruising towards my 35th. So forgive me, I'm in a retrospective mood...

In the last year I've concentrated on self-publishing at the expense of trying to break the more traditional markets, which I don't regret for a second. (I may also have concentrated on it at the expense of the actual writing too, which I do regret.) Like many writers I suffer from quite a lack of confidence in my own talent, and the fact that self-publishing The Other Room and The Shelter has allowed me to get my stories read by so many people so quickly, and that they actually seem to like it is probably the best thing that could happen to me at this stage in my writing 'career'. And whilst it's true I can't stand the MBS practised by some members of the self-publishing community, it's also true that I've met some very talented authors, many of whom have been generous with their time, advice, and just basic friendship. (You know who you are.) That's been great too.

I do hope to get another collection of short stories self-published next year - I have enough. But I also want to return to trying to get some stories published in magazines and the like. Aaron Polson recently wrote a post with a line that summed it up for me: "Rejection is your friend, folks. Really." And it is. I'm glad I had a few years of sending stories out and getting rejections to sharpen and hone me as a writer before self-publishing became a viable option. I don't want to get complacent - just because anything I can write will probably sell a few copies on Amazon doesn't meant that it should. There's a lot of crap being self-published and I don't want to add to that.

I've already had a couple of acceptances for stories for more traditional markets, although the lag between acceptance and actual publication can be slow. Which is why there will be another self-published collection next year - I don't want to lose any momentum I might have gained. But I don't want all my irons in the same fire either...

I'm resorting to cliche so I'd better shut up now. If you've actually read this far, then thanks. Here's to the next year...

The Scattershot Writing Horror Anthology - As Chosen By You...

So I thought it would be interesting to list all the stories suggested in my competition post below - consider this some kind of ultimate Scattershot Writing anthology of goodness:

Robert Aickman: The Cicerones

Clive Barker: In The Hills, The Cities (2 votes)

Clive Barker: Tortured Souls

Algernon Blackwood: The Willows

Ray Bradbury: The Foghorn

Ray Bradbury: Mars Is Heaven

Ray Bradbury: The October Game

Poppy Z Brite: The Sixth Sentinel

Truman Capote: Miriam

Harlan Ellison: Jeffty is Five (2 votes)

Harlan Ellison: Sensible City

Neil Gaiman: Other People

Neil Gaiman: The Price

Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Yellow Wallpaper (2 votes)

Elizabeth Hand: Cleopatra Brimstone

M John Harrison: The Incalling 

Joe Hill: The Cape

WW Jacobs: The Monkey's Paw

Shirley Jackson: The Lottery (2 votes)

MR James: A Warning To The Curious

Kafka: Metamorphosis

Stephen King: Chattery Teeth

Stephen King: Mrs. Todd's Shortcut

Stephen King: Survivor Type

Neil LaBute: Iphigenia in Orem

Fritz Leiber: Smoke Ghost

Robert Leman: There Are Feesters In the Lake

Kelly Link: Louise's Ghost

Kelly Link: The Hortlak (2 votes)

HP Lovecraft: The Colour Out of Space

HP Lovecraft: The Rats In The Walls

HP Lovecraft: Pickman's Model (2 votes)

Arthur Machen: The White People

Richard Matheson: Born Of Man And Woman

Joyce Carol Oates: Family

Joyce Carol Oates: Smother

Edgar Allen Poe: The Pit And The Pendulum (2 votes)

Edgar Allen Poe: The Raven

Edgar Allen Poe: The Tell Tale Heart

Aaron Polson: Tesoro's Magic Bullet

Jim Shepard: The Creature From The Black Lagoon

Michael Marshall Smith: What Happens When You Wake Up In The Night

Margaret St. Clair: Horror Howce

Theodore Sturgeon: It!

F Paul Wilson: The Barrens

Well if it was a real anthology I'd buy it. You guys sure have good taste... I think everyone who contributed managed to list both stories I really love, and some that were new to me. Definitely some ones I will be checking out. Bradbury, King, Lovecraft and Poe were the most popular in terms of numbers of stories nominated.

We'd also have to find room for these less than precise suggestions:


"[Can't remember title*] by Richard Matheson * sure it has a child, locked in a room, and faces painted on the wall with glow in the dark paint, not Born Of."


"A story about people in the arctic purposefully freezing and amputating their limbs that I am sure I read at chizine.com but which I can find no mention of. "

"A lot of Ligotti stories."