I hope your spring has been lovely. A few announcements, and I’ll be on my way.

1) I’ll be teaching an online Lit Reactor class on the fundamentals of horror writing with my fellow Shirley Jackson Award founders (F. Brett Cox, John Langan, Paul Tremblay). If you’re interested, sign up. It ought to be good. The details are here.

2) Renowned anthologist John Joseph Adams is starting up a new genre zine called Nightmare Magazine. He’s taking pre-orders for individual issues, annual subscriptions, and the annual print book at Kickstarter. I’m delighted to have written an original story for the debut issue, along with Laird Barron, Jonathan Maberry, and Genevieve Valentine. You can put in a pre-order here.

3) The short story collection Rage Against the Night has so far raised $1,000 for HWA president Rocky Wood, who has ALS. Lots of big names happily contributed to the cause, including Stephen King. You can purchase the book here:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Against-Night-Shane-Jiraiya-Cummings/dp/0980567750/
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1108178635

4) On a personal note, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t published a book in a while. In the last three years, I’ve given birth to two daughters. They are healthy and good. Come September, I’ll have several book-length works finished. With luck, I expect to announce some publication dates by Christmas. Thank you for waiting, and thanks for your letters and e-mails. I intend to make it worth the wait.

Yours sincerely,
Sarah Langan

Great New. Tales from Beyond the Pale is now a ten-episode box set in time for Halloween. It’s gotten love this week from Slate, Entertainment Weekly, and NPR. You can get the collection from Amazon and your local indie, download it for itunes, or get individual episodes directly from the Tales website.  My segment is called “Is This Seat Taken?” Happy Halloween!

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Langan

1) “The Man inside Black Betty” in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011 issue. Bettyis more speculative fiction/ allegory than the horror most readers are accustomed to, but it carries my usual lefty pinko sensibility. If you’re squeamish, this one is for you. Buy it via subscription here,  preview it here, or pick it up at your local bookstore/library.

2) The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, 2011 (ed. Paula Guran, Prime Books, September 2011), is now out. Included is my story, “Are You Trying to Tell Me This is Heaven?” This one’s a well-written zombie story, about a dad in the post apocalypse, searching for his missing daughter in the Baton Rouge county lock-up.  Buy it here. Or at your local bookstore or favorite online dealer.

 3) Halloween (ed. Paula Guran, Prime Books, September, 2011). It’s got my story, “The Great Pumpkin Arrives at Last”– a dark, fast paced chill that takes place on Halloween night. Click here to get it from the publisher, or hit up your usual suspects (B&N, Amazon, Indies).   

4) “The Changeling” has been collected in Creatures: Thirty Years of Monster Stories (ed. Paul Tremblay and John Langan, Prime Books, September, 2011). It delves into the changeling myth, only with oodles more baby stealing.  Get it here!

That’s it for this month. More to come. Until then, don’t get none on you.

-sl

Some news–

In late 2011, I’ve got stories coming out in “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction” (September/October, 2011 issue), and the collected anthologies Halloween (September, 2011, Prime Books), The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, 2011 (August, Prime Books), Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters (September, 2011, Prime Books), Lightspeed: Year One (November, 2011, Prime Books), and All American Horror of the 21st Century: The First Decade (October, Wicker Park Press). Abroad for 2011, I’ve got stories coming out in the UK from PS Publishing in the Western Anthology Gunshot (late 2011); in Italy from Delos Books, “The Lost” will be translated in “H– the Horror Magazine’s Almanac” (July, 2011); and in Poland the story “Independence Day” will be translated in the magazine “Nowa Fantastyka” (late 2011). I think that’s everything!

Also, I’m on the board of the Shirley Jackson Award, and was delighted to attend Readercon, where this year’s winners were announced. In addition, I’m reading for the Stoker short fiction jury, the Edgar MMPB, and teaching creative writing at Gotham.

It’s that time again. The time when nonprofits ask you for money. I’m on the board of this organization, and think it’s worthwhile. The budget is tiny, but necessary for things like web hosting and physical awards. We don’t use if to pay for our time, or the books we often buy, or even travel expenses.

In its short history, the SJA has gained the respect of the literary community. It works with an esteemed rotating jury and board of advisers to select the most outstanding dark fiction of the year. The donation site is secure, and we’d love your support. People are donating from as little as a buck to as much as fifty. Anything works for us.

Donate or just learn more here!

Thanks for reading. Hope you’re all well.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Langan

A few things:

I’m reading at KGB June 15th, 7pm with Glen Hirshberg at the Fantastic Fiction Series, curated by Ellen Datlow and Matt Kressel. Info on the series and directions here.

I’ll be reading a short story, and some of my books will be available for sale. This reading will be my last for a few years, unless you’re attending one of the summer conventions. With my second child due in October, I’ll be taking some time away from public events, though of course I’ll continue to write. Empty Houses is about finished.

Other events:

June 16-19th, Stoker Weekend. I’ll be at the Horror Writer’s Association’s annual convention on Long Island, doing a signing and panel. Details here.

July 14-17th, Readercon Weekend in Boston. The Shirley Jackson Award will be given out, and I’ll be there to cheer. Good luck to all.

July 21-24, NeCon Convention in Rhode Island. I’ll be the guest of honor, which means I get to play lots of pranks on strangers. Watch out! Click here for details on attending.

That’s it! Until my next book comes out, I’ll be on the lowdown, and occasionally teaching fiction at the Gotham Writers’ Workshop.

I’ve got about ten short stories coming out from various places. When they’re out, I’ll drop a line. In the mean time, you can still find my fiction in:

Brave New Worlds

The Living Dead 2

Lightspeed

Unspeakable Horror

Audrey’s Door

The Missing

The Keeper

That’s all, folks!

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/05/herman-wouk-is-still-alive/8451/

Info:

Fear-Mongers at Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street (btn Rivington and Delancey)
NYC
Tickets: $5
For reservations, call: (212) 219-0736
To purchase online: https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/8666535

For more info about Fear Mongers, visit us at:
http://www.dixonplace.org/html/fearmongers.html

Happily, my husband was one of the partially-missing guests. We’d made one last effort to reconcile, only to wind-up arguing so forcefully that he’d slept his last, fateful night in the bathtub.

“How is it you didn’t hear him scream?” Barron asked. He just come back from a fifty-mile hike through the area, and though his interns were resting back at the hotel, he seemed sprightly. The dogs by his side, a pair of Huskies, panted.

“Must have been the quaaludes,” I told him.

Barron was on to me, but he let it go. After all, he was a scientist, not a cop. “Did you know that ants make up 25% of the animal kingdom’s biomass?” he asked. “It seems we’ve contained the problem—it affected several colonies reacting to the same biochemical signals. Cancun should be safe again,” he assured. “Until, of course, the insects attack again.”

Though I was unfamiliar with most things insect, this seemed like good news. There were some things, however, with which I was very familiar: concentrated sulfuric acid eats flesh, leaving only bone. Quaaludes work on grown men. Rogue, man-eating insects that rebel against mankind are very convenient, especially on the night you murder your husband.

“When will they attack again?” I asked.

“Well,” Barron explained, “I’m bringing a colony back with me to Alaska and training them, so probably pretty soon. The west coast, then across the continent. Their neurochemical signals are very strong—you’d be surprised. Ants make hosts of lots of animals, even humans. But don’t worry, they work fast. When your time comes, you won’t feel a thing.

I decided he was joking. So I tried to change the subject. “How come you’re wearing an eye patch?” I asked. “You weren’t wearing it this morning, were you?”

“I poked it out with my own thumb,” he explained, “Because of nosy people. Also, the ants need a place to live.” This seemed like a joke. Apparently, I was wrong.

Nice Mention from Maura McHugh about women in horror: http://www.badreputation.org.uk/2011/03/01/women-in-horror-five-recommended-writers/