Sales and Re-Sales

So now it can be told: My story "Hell Friend" will appear in Clockwork Phoenix 3, which makes two years in a row. Coincidentally, So now it can be told, Part Deux: Ellen Datlow has accepted "each thing i show you is a piece of my death", from Clockwork Phoenix 2, for reprint in Year's Best Horror #2. My co-author/husband Stephen J. Barringer and I are both far beyond pleased; it's the sort of peer recognition which means an incredible amount, and a wonderful way to cap off 2009 proper. Crazy, amazing year, especially given where I was this time in 2008.

Meanwhile, I'm also chuffed as hell to note that (as promised) asakiyume has written up a very flattering preview of A Book of Tongues in her LJ, hoping to aid in the general push to get more people ordering copies. You can find it here (http://asakiyume.livejournal.com/330688.html#cutid1). So thank you very, very much, Francesca; you've made me blush. Which is also a pretty damn good way to feel, first thing on a cold Toronto morning.;)

The Emperor's Old Podcast

Last year, I sold a website called Spoken Ink--which specializes in short stories read by solid British actors--the rights to adapt "The Emperor's Old Bones" for podcast/download. And now, just in time for Christmas, you can listen to a sample and/or download the rest here:

http://www.spokenink.co.uk/catalog?genre=3#174

The actor playing Tim is named Martin Ball, and I like his quality a lot--he definitely gets the innate dark humor of the piece, as well as the sadness Tim himself seems no longer completely able to feel. I'd love to hear the rest of it, sometime.

Update, Plus New Story Post

Hi, all. If you've wondered where I've been, I'm now almost two weeks past having gotten a much-needed breast reduction, so it's all been about itchy, itchy recuperation 'round my place, lately. However, there have been a few new developments in departments unrelated to my boob-size, too:

First off, it's decided...I'm going to Brighton for World Horror Con 2010! This means I'll be physically present for the official releases of both A Book of Tongues and EVolVe, Nancy Kilpatrick's latest vampire-themed anthology, which contains my Renfield-centric short story "When I'm Armoring my Belly". As this marks only my third trip to England since birth (I was born within the sound of Bow Bells, making me an unofficial Cockney), I'm naturally extremely excited.

Meanwhile, the next Dark is Better post is finally up: "Heart's Hole", in its "Time, the Revelator Remix" version, which restores almost 2,000 words' worth of subplot and character development I had to cut before it was first published (in Tightrope Books' In the Dark anthology). Follow the link through, or go straight to it by cutting and pasting this (https://sites.google.com/site/heartshole/). Enjoy!

New Story Post: "Jack-Knife"

"Jack-Knife: A Melodrama Inspired from Life, in Fourteen Vocal Tableaux" is the second of my uncollected stories to be hosted through Dark is Better. First published in Shivers IV (Cemetery Dance), it owes a great deal to my entirely predictable adolescent interest in Ripperiana; I wrote it initially wit the idea of submitting it to the Canadian Broadcasting Company as a radio play, inspired by my mother's participation in sound-horror series like Nightfall...but strangely enough, they proved none too keen. I wonder why?

Dark is Better: "Dead Voices on Air"

The first uncollected story to be officially posted at Dark is Better is "Dead Voices on Air (A Landscape with Maps & Legends); check the sidebar to click on through, then click on the story's title in that site's "Table of Contents". This piece was directly influenced by web-based storytelling like "The Dionaea House", as well as my own longstanding love of folk music and fairytales. It also introduces a bunch of my Five-Family Coven characters, who have since permeated my burgeoning Toronto the Weird universe. Enjoy!

New Post, New Offers

On Wednesday, I finished Draft Zero of A Book of Tongues; today was mainly spent editing it, and tomorrow it gets sent off to my ChiZine publisher/editors (along with others), who hopefully will have advice for me on where best to cut 20,000 words out. Seems like a lot, but as my husband points out, that's basically just 1,000 words per each of the novel's 22 chapters.

Meanwhile, I've also been busy trying to shore up my professional 'Net-presence, something that's fallen woefully behind because of my tight writing schedule this year. One of the first things I've done, aside from spruce this place up a bit, is to post the entire text of my IHG award-winning story "The Emperor's Old Bones" (see sidebar, or cut and paste to access it directly here http://sites.google.com/site/theemperorsoldbones/) as a sort of combination calling card and standards/practices demonstration model for the typical Gemma Files (tm) product: If you find this isn't the sort of thing you like, you may very well want to avoid the rest of my stuff on principle. In other words, folks, this may be triggery...but then again, what'd you expect? It's horror.

Finally, you'll note that the same sidebar provides handy links for ordering my collections, the latest anthologies I've appeared in, and both seasons of The Hunger TV series on DVD. There's also a new site, Dark is Better, where I'll be archiving my uncollected fiction and even posting brand-new stuff. More as this evolves.

For now, thanks for stopping by. I intend to be here a lot more often, from now on.

An Alternative

With Livejournal possibly on the way out, I've decided to move at least some of my action over here. We'll see what it amounts to--possibly just a place to park my stuff, or something distinct from my established presence. As you were.