"Sarah Langan is one of the bright new hopes of horror— an intelligent, literary, ambitious author capable of scaring the ever-loving crap out of her readers."— Tim Pratt, Locus Magazine, September, 2009
Happy Halloween, everybody!
To celebrate:
An interview with yours truly at Sheepish Fashionista : http://bit.ly/langaniv
The interviewer is a fellow writer and friend whose talent is the real deal.
An article in the Chicago Tribune, along with recommended reading:
http://tinyurl.com/22khyo3
http://tinyurl.com/25yow2
And your Halloween present:
http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html
PS: Boo!
The Events:
1) Tonight, October 26, the hubby talks about horror in the second installment of FEAR-MONGERS: FIRESIDE CHATS ABOUT HORROR MOVIES
The details: Hosted by Clay McLeod Chapman. Featured guests include: Dennis Paoli (screenwriter, Re-Animator), JT Petty (director, S@Man), Douglas Cheek (director, C.H.U.D.), and Jason Zinoman (NY Times critic)!
Hear what films send shivers down the spines of Jason Zinoman (New York Times theater critic), Douglas Cheek (director of 1989 creeptastic creature feature C.H.U.D., and Dennis Paoli (who wrote Re-Animator, the 1985 flick about a med student who brings his dead professor back to life). – Time Out NY (CRITIC’S PICK!)
Tuesday, October 26th at 9 PM (Doors open at 8:30)
at Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street (corner of Delancey)
http://www.dixonplace.org/html/lit_fearmongers.html
FREE to the public. Seating is limited. Please RSVP at: (212) 219-0736
2) Tales from Beyond the Pale should be debuting its first installment, along with poster art.
http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/40557/tales-beyond-pale-debuts-october-26th
The details:
AN ON THE LEDGE by Joe Maggio (BITTER FEAST)
With Vincent D’onofrio (MEN IN BLACK, FULL METAL JACKET)
Buy them individually for $2 a pop, or the whole season for $20.
3) The Chicago Tribune is running a state of horror fiction article on October 30. I was interviewed! http://www.chicagotribune.com/
4) I’m blogging at http://sheepishfashionista.com/
Happy Halloween!
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/hindsight/
Also out this month from “Lightspeed” is astrophysicist Pamela Gay’s article about gravitational anomalies. It’s the Halloween issue, so later in the month Lightspeed will also run stories by Joe Lansdale and Stephen King. You can buy all three stories, as well as accompanying interviews and articles in one shot, or read them as they appear for free, online.
Read up, and plunk some bling down while you’re at it!
Press Release below:
For immediate release:
The October issue of Lightspeed Magazine is now underway. Our first piece of fiction–“Hindsight” by Sarah Langan–and first piece of nonfiction–“When Universes Collide” by Pamela Gay–are both now available.
Lightspeed is serialized throughout the month, for free online, but it is also available directly from Prime Books in DRM-free ePub format, and is also available in Kindle, iBooks, and Mobipocket format from external vendors, or from Fictionwise, which offers a variety of formats. So if you don’t want to wait for the content to be released on the site throughout the month, or you’d just like a handy, downloadable version of the magazine on your favorite handheld electronic reading device, you can buy the ebook edition for just $2.99.
Here’s the schedule for October, with some editorial teasers of the content. The first piece of fiction and nonfiction are available now (see October 5, below).
We’re doing a little something different this month. Because October is Halloween month, and Halloween is a time for scary stories, we thought it would be appropriate to make October “Horror Month” here at Lightspeed. But never fear, we haven’t changed our scope completely—each story in this issue is still science fiction; it’s just that you’ll be getting your daily dose of sensawunda but also a liberal helping of whadafrakwuzzat as well.
Here’s the schedule and teasers for this month:
October 5
In our lead story this month, “Hindsight,” horror author Sarah Langan tells the story of an apocalypse-in-progress, a world in which the laws of physics no longer seem to behave properly, and a mysterious cosmic anomaly called Black Betty. The last remaining survivors have one last hope, but can the technological singularity defeat the threat of a gravitational one?
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/hindsight/
In the related nonfiction, astronomer Dr. Pamela Gay discusses what there was before the Big Bang, gravity, the mediocrity principle, and just what might happen if two universes collided.
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/when-universes-collide/
October 12
In “Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back,” author Joe R. Lansdale tells the tale of a mad scientist and his family who spend twenty long, hard years Down Under waiting for the war to end. By doing so, they manage to survive the end of the world, but when they go back Topside, they find a world very different than the one they remember—a world in which even a rose is supremely dangerous…and not just because of its thorns. (Reprint)
In our feature interview this month, Matt London talks to Marc Laidlaw—creator of Valve Software’s Half-Life series—about video game creation, his literary and gaming influences, and the intersection of SF and horror.
October 19
Imagine you’re awakened early from cryonic stasis aboard a starship traveling to a colony world where tens of thousands of starving colonists will die if you don’t get there to help them. John R. Fultz’s chilling “The Taste of Starlight” explores whether the lives of many outweigh the lives of few, as we experience the lengths the good Doctor Pelops is willing to go to in order to ensure his mission’s success. Would you—should you—be able to do the same thing?
The idea of cryonic suspension has been around nearly as long as science fiction itself, but just how plausible is it? And if it is scientifically viable—would it be a good investment? Scientist (and SF author) Dr. Gregory Benford weighs all the (cold, hard) facts, figures, and probabilities in “Considering Cryonics.”
October 26
There are few authors in the world about whom you can honestly say “he needs no introduction.” But when you’re talking about Stephen King, that’s most certainly the truth. “Beachworld,” one of the horror master’s rare forays into straight-up science fiction, follows the plight of the two survivors of a far-future interstellar spaceflight, who crash land on a harsh and unforgiving planet. (Reprint)
And if you think that place would be a terrible planet to crash land on, well, you’d be right. But, in case you’d like a little variety when choosing your final extraterrestrial resting place, author Genevieve Valentine scoured the cosmos and found “Five Planets that Will Kill You Dead.”
That’s it for our fiction and nonfiction selections, but be sure to also look for our author spotlights, and keep an ear out for the podcasts of “Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back” by Joe R. Lansdale and “The Taste of Starlight” by John R. Fultz.
***
All that, plus author spotlights on Sarah Langan, Joe R. Lansdale, and John R. Fultz, along with podcasts of “Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back” and “The Taste of Starlight.”
A weird thing happened yesterday, that I feel I ought to blog about:
My husband and I had a meeting in midtown, and were rushing to get home in time to relieve the babysitter. After the first train at Times’ Square was too packed to board, we pushed our way onto the second. A guy pushed his way behind me. I hardly noticed him until about five minutes later, when he shoved up against me in a way that literally felt familiar, and I turned to discover that his pants were split open along the crotch, and his hairy unit was peeking out. He seemed proud of this. I did a double take. Then I moved away. The man to the side offered me a seat. By the time my husband looked, my split-panted friend had put the mouse back in the red plaid boxer house.
He moved to the center pole. I said, “His penis was out, I saw it, and he bumped it against me. I’m not sure, but my best guess is, he meant it.”
Nobody on the train wanted to get involved. They were in subway mode, and probably hadn’t noticed. We had our daughter to pick up. The dude was sad, and weird, and wearing thick sunglasses in the middle of the day. We actually laughed right in front of him. Still, my husband followed him off the Brooklyn Bridge stop to alert the police. I kept riding, to pick up our daughter. A train chase ensued, all the way to Union Square. The creep got away. Twenty minutes later, my husband caught up with me back in Brooklyn. Strangely, all felt fine with the world.
Something similar happened to me when I was nineteen. A freak on the Vatican bus from Rome grabbed and grinded me. I bit back the tears, shouted “Scuzzi!” and nobody came to me defense. The guy rode on, like nothing had happened. I carried that event with me for years. A part of me wondered if, because I was heavy-set, an obvious indication of low self-esteem, I’d been an easy mark. Maybe he’d thought I’d wanted it. It was horrible, though I wouldn’t go so far as to call it traumatic.
This time wasn’t like that bus ride in Vatican City. I knew Captain Perv had no personal qualms with me, and felt strangely anthropological about the whole thing. I even pitied him. How weird. How inappropriate. Did he dress like this at home? Did he live in a squalid flea trap? How sad for him, that this was his only form of human contact.
I’m glad I was able to brush it off, and in a way, turn the tables of objectification by laughing at him. It only occurred to me after my husband had left to chase him, that he probably did this ten times a day. After all, he’d tailored an outfit specifically for grinding purposes. What if he’d done this to another nineteen year-old? Or a drunk girl, who hadn’t noticed until she gotten jizzed? Or, crap, a kid? Or worse, what if he had his own little boy or girl waiting for him, at home?
It’s hard to figure out what to do under these circumstances, when you’re in the middle of them. At the time, I wasn’t quite sure it had really happened. I mean—how bold! How totally, bat-shit nuts! I was reassured when he ran from my husband, because it meant it had really happened.
In retrospect, I think I ought to have shouted for the police right then and there. Stopped the train, even. Rush hour be damned. Next time, I guess. And if it happens to you, maybe you ought to shout, too. Because even if you’re unfazed, maybe next time, it’s a twelve year-old girl, or his own child, that he’s pushing around.
The Details:
4 train, around 5pm, September 22.
He got on at Times’ Square, and off at Brooklyn Bridge, where he gave chase. Rode the uptown at Brooklyn Bridge to Union Square, where my husband had arranged to meet the cops, but by then, had disappeared.
Description:
5’8’’, about 240 pounds, black
Wore big, opaque black sunglasses, black parachute pants; red plaid boxers; plaid, dark blue short-sleeved shirt. No bags, nothing, seemingly, in his pockets.
My guess: he rides that 4 train at rush hour every day, to get his jollies.
Excuse the personal nature of this entry. Also, no need to console me; I’m fine.
I’ll be reading tonight from Audrey’s Door at the Brooklyn Public Library, Arlington Branch (203 Arlington Ave) at 6:30pm. All are welcome.
I’ll also be the online guest at the writer’s chat room on October 10, 7-9pm (www.writerschatroom.com).
Last (for now!), I’ll be speaking at the Brooklyn Public Library, Saratoga Branch at 4:30pm.
Hope to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Sarah Langan
Summer Update!
Thanks to everybody who keeps signing up.
A few things: AUDREY’S DOOR got a great review from Black Static Magazine. Check it out if you can.
I’m going to be a guest of honor at two conventions next year (along with some other very cool people it’ll be a pleasure to join):
World Horror Convention, April 28- May 1 in Austin, Texas. If you’re interested, you can register here: http://whc2011.org/registration/
Northeastern Writers’ Conference (NECon), July 21-24, Bristol, RI. Registration is currently for people who’ve attended in the past, but will open up shortly.
Stories, stories, stories:
My story “Independence Day” is available from PS Publishing. It’s one of my favorites.
Thrillers: 100 Must Reads, edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner, is now out. The thriller genre’s biggest authors all contributed essays, and I’ve got one in there about Robert Louis Stevenson.
Glass Eye Pix will be producing a radio play I wrote entitled, “Is This Seat Taken?” As well as dircting his own short play, JT Petty, happily, has agreed to direct “Is This Seat Taken.”
My story “Are You Trying to Tell Me This is Heaven?” is due out in John Joseph Adams’ anthology THE LIVING DEAD 2 is due out from Nightshade books in September. You can preorder it here. Other contributers include: Kelly Armstrong, Max Brooks, Cherie Priest, and David Wellington.
I wrote my first hard science fiction story, and it’s slated for publication in October. More news on that to come.
Finally, my husband JT Petty’s terrifying classic, S&Man, is finally available on DVD. You can preorder it from Amazon.com, complete with director’s commentary, and a cameo from yours truly.
That’s it for now. Hope all is great!
-sl
Congrats to all the SJA Winners, Nominees, and Jurors. Great job.
Congrats also to smart, deserving writer Tom Piccirilli for winning an ITW for best mmpb 2009.
I’m sad I missed so many conventions this year. Been spending time with family, but family should be mobile next year.
Also, I’ve been getting a lot of letters now that my spam filter is off. So, if you sent something in the last year, don’t take it personally. I didn’t get it. Send again!
-sl
I just noticed that a lot of e-mail from fans or unregistered contacts has been going directly to my spam folder, then deleted after a month. Sorry, guys! If you’ve tried to contact me, the message was likely deleted. I changed my filters, so send away, and I’ll get back to you. That goes for anybody who hasn’t heard back from me. It might take a while, but I always reply!
Sincerely,
Sarah Langan
I’ll be speaking about the publishing business at NYU tonight. For more info, go here:
http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=1dd11c1ca7&view=att&th=12927753d59cbd0b&attid=0.1&disp=vah&zw
Everybody!
New guys: thanks for signing up.
The rest of you: more thanks!
The news:
*My review of “Splice” is up at the Tor Books Blog.
*Radio play! I’ll be writing one for Glass Eye Pix. Stay tuned. Bad pun intended.
*I’ve got an essay about Robert Louis Stevenson in Thrillers: 100 Must Reads. I put a lot of thought into it, and discovered that Stevenson lived an heroic life. So if you get it, tell me what you think.
*My story, “Born to Run” in DARKNESS ON THE EDGE: stories inspired by Bruce Springsteen is available from PS Publishing. It’s one of my strongest to date.
*My story “The Agathas” from Dark Scribe’s UNSPEAKABLE HORROR is in hardcover. I have no idea where, though, so I’ll keep you all posted. For now, the trade paperback.
I’ve got a review of “Donnie Darko” coming out in CINEMA FUTURA from PS Publishing in September, 2010, edited by Mark Morris.
*Work on book four, the young adult series, and an all-lady collaboration of awesomeness continues. More news on those fronts to come.
*Finally, my husband, director JT Petty filmed the trailers for Justin Cronin’s THE PASSAGE. They are awesome, obviously. But don’t take my word for it:
Hope you’re all great. Don’t get none on ya.
Sincerely,
Sarah Langan