Monthly Archives: February 2016

St. Valentine’s Day Horror Con Roundup

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I spent the weekend at C4’s St. Valentine’s Horror Con. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as it was a first year convention, but I had a blast!

Table 1

Here I am after finishing my table set up and waiting for doors to open.

I sold enough books to cover my costs and make a little extra scratch, and considering that horror isn’t primarily what I write, I feel pretty good about that. I’ve even got some ideas to make things go better at my table next year (assuming there is a next year. Fingers crossed!).

The first books to sell were a couple of the anthologies containing my stories. Fungi went first, probably because of that beautifully weird cover. Then The Exile Book of New Canadian Noir. That reader was a fan of Silvia Moreno Garcia’s anthologies with Exile, Fractured and Dead North, so she recognized the brand. I told her about some of the upcoming anthologies they’re doing, and later she came back and bought Thunder Road.

I brought more copies of Beast Within 4: Gears & Growls than I normally do, because steampunk were-creatures! It was one of the most handled books on the table, but didn’t end up moving. Hopefully I at least let some of my readers know to look for it in the future.

Rock n Roll Werewolf 2

At least Rock ‘n’ Roll Werewolf stopped by.

Rock n Roll Werewolf 1

Rock ‘n’ Roll Werewolf won 1st prize in the costume contest, and was awesome every time I saw him.

Kane Hodder was the Guest of Honour, and he was great! Also, if you make Friday the 13th theme music noises when he walks past your table he threatens to kill you. Kane’s Q&A was packed, informative, and often hilarious.

Kane Hodder

Because Kane was there, there were a number of Jason Voorhees costumes.

Jason 1

This guy’s was THE BEST. He even had the walk down. He came in 2nd place in the costume contest, but it’s hard to top Rock ‘n’ Roll Werewolf.

Jason 2

Sometimes Jason would just stand around, motionless, and got mistaken as a statue at least once. Super fun when the gawker realized their mistake!

Zombies 1

Zombies!

Leatherface & Jason

Leatherface and another top-notch Jason.

Conrad 2

Conrad the dinosaur stopped by for a visit!Mummy Wolf

Sweet werewolf mummy!

Monster 1

Anybody recognize this monster?

I was happy to be asked to participate in a writing panel with fellow Winnipeg creatives, A.P. Fuchs and J.H. Moncrieff, ably moderated by Dan Vadaboncoeur from the C4 team.

Panel 1

We had a lot of fun! Once again, I was reminded that everyone’s process is different, and that’s a good thing. Check out A.P. Fuchs’ roundup here, and J.H. Moncrieff’s here. I was happy to see author programming, especially since I immediately sold two complete Thunder Road sets after the panel was done!  Buddy Christ

Buddy Christ!

Zombies 2

At the end of the con, I was tired enough to climb into bed.

Write on!

 

February Goals

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I can’t believe February is half over before I got my goals post up for the month. Sure, it’s a leap year, but still…

How’d I start off the year?

  • Get my WiP done and out to my first readers so I can stop thinking about it and concentrate on other stuff.
  • Finish and submit a short story I’ve been noodling on for an anthology.
  • Finish my next chapter in An Excuse for Whiskey.
  • Finish editing that short story from December and get it out on submission.
  • Get my short stories back out on submission.

Not great in terms of crossing things off the list, sadly, but I’m mostly okay with that. I finished two drafts of the WiP, but the book came in longer than I wanted it to be, so I’m taking another run through to tighten it up before I send it off. That’s almost done.

The short story deadline wasn’t end of January, it was February 7th. I still didn’t hit it. I like the story, it just didn’t have the right ending. There was no punch–or punchline–and it felt like something I’d done before, so I set it aside.

I reread that damned other story but then got sidetracked with more pressing projects, and didn’t actually finish my revisions.

I did keep my short fiction out on submission, as well as finishing another chapter in my collaborative novel.

And goals for February:

  • Horror Con! It’s this weekend! I’m stoked. Come by Booth 502 and say hello!
  • Keep my short stories out on submission
  • Get my WiP done and out to my first readers so I can stop thinking about it and concentrate on other stuff.
  • Finish editing that short story from December and get it out on submission.
  • Work on a new novel pitch.

I always seem to forget how short February is, time to get cracking!

Write on.

Music Monday: “Locked in the Trunk of a Car” By Murder By Death

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My favourite band released a couple albums of cover songs and among those truly excellent covers was one of my favourite songs from my high school days. The more I think on it, the more Tragically Hip songs come to mind that I’d love to hear Murder By Death take a run at recording (38 Years Old, Cordelia, Boots and Hearts, Long Time Running, Highway Girl, I’m looking at you). It’s a shame I can hear them in my head, but I’ll probably never get to listen to them.

In the meantime, enjoy one you can listen to!

Morning broke out the back side of a truck stop
End of a line, a real rainbow likening luck stop
Where you could say I became chronologically fucked up
Put ten bucks in just to get the tank topped off

Then I found a place, it’s dark and it’s rotted
It’s a cool, sweet kind of place where the copters won’t spot it
And I destroyed the map, I even thought I forgot it
However, every day I’m dumping the body

(For the record: I’ve always wondered if it’s more creepy that every day the narrator is dumping THE body, than if every day he’d been dumping A body)

Write on!