Big-ass Blog Update: New Anthologies, WHC and HWA, New Novel and W.I.P.s

Posted by D.A. Ward on May 26, 2015 in #mainstreetshadows, blood savages, dak the light, gutted, hwa, nightjar, obscura, shadows over main street volume 2, stokers, the blackguards, Uncategorized | 0 comments

It’s been a while since I posted to this blog. In my defense, I have been very busy. Which means I have a few things to touch on here. Included in this post: Shadows Over Main Street 2, World Horror Con and Stoker Awards, my new position with the HWA, Doug and I at work on a new anthology called GUTTED. Also, another novel coming out from me soon(ish) and a brief update on works in progress.

Shadows Over Main Street, Volume 2

We announced it at WHC to make it official. Hazardous Press will be releasing a second volume of Shadows Over Main Street. The theme will be the same as with the first volume. It is once again being edited by Doug Murano and myself. We are in the process of getting submission agreements from authors, reading submissions, and–this week–we are looking at story pitches. Of course, you never know if a story will work out just because of the author behind it, but I really hope they are all 100% because as far as the invited authors go, we have got one hell of a lineup. No details yet but we expect an early 2016 release for the book.

This is not the cover, but a piece of promo art:

WHC and the Stokers 2015 in ATL

It was my first time as WHC and what can I say? It was an amazing experience. It might discourage the rest of the world if they knew how truly wonderful and generous and considerate horror authors are. For a bunch of folks who spend hours thinking up chilling new ways to prey on our collective fears and inventing nasty ways for fictional people to die, we’re a pretty likeable group of folks. I met lots of new people and made lots of new friends, met some old ones for the first time (Doug) and had an all around blast. I even got to see Doug Murano receive the Richard Laymon award for service to the HWA. I sat at the table with his wife and new baby while he gave a touching acceptance speech, complete with almost losing it up there. It was beautiful.

To sum it up, it was so wonderful to be around creative types of similar mind set that coming back to my day job that following Monday truly sucked. But I am glad for the time we all got to share over that weekend and look forward to the next one!

Speaking of the HWA…

I have volunteered for the position of Verifier at the HWA. This means I help verify the eligibility of works submitted for consideration in certain Stoker categories. I am working with the ever-patient and wise C.W. LaSart and very thankful to have her!

GUTTED: Beautiful Horror Stories

This one has been in the works for a bit. Doug Murano and I will be editing an anthology for Crystal Lake Publishing. It is based on our theme of “beautiful horror stories.” That is, stories that may contain horrible characters or events but which, at the end, offer a glimpse of beauty and hope or at least the promise of it. For a shining example of such a story, I would direct you to Stephen Graham Jones’s story, “Father, Son, Holy Rabbit” in The New Black anthology from Dark House Press. There will be a kickstarter associated with this book and we are, right now, securing submission agreements from a number of authors. So stay tuned! We anticipate a 2016 release for this as well.

Until then, here’s the cover:

New Novel and Works in Progress

I’m happy to announce that I signed with Eldritch Press a few weeks ago to publish my novel, Beneath Ash and Bone. It’s a short novel and kind of an American version of gothic horror/ghost story novels from so many great British authors. It is a period work, set in pre-Civil War Virginia, where a down-to-earth lawman goes to find a missing boy in a winter storm and instead finds himself in the perilous vortex of one wealthy family’s madness and dark deeds.

As far as other things I am working on, I have two to three things going on at the moment. One is a novel with the working title of Nightjar, that I can’t even begin to explain yet.

Another that I will get back to when Nightjar is done is my novel, Obscura, a contemporary horror about cursed objects and cursed people.

And, just recently, I began the second Blackguards book, the sequel to Blood Savages, which will be titled, Dark the Light. I’m pleased with how it’s going so far. We had a bit of good fun on Facebook last week when I mentioned that 15 pages in and already some poor bastard’s face has been flayed, Dixon and Danny have a new car, and Anyika starts things off with a bang by dick-punching and otherwise beating up a neo-Nazi. Now, because of the hilarious input of my many creative friends, there will be a scene involving multiple neo-Nazis, people in dinosaur costumes and more dick-punching than has ever been included in any one book. I do so enjoy writing the Blackguards stuff. It can be a lot of fun.

That’s all for now.

– D.