Johann Thorsson
I recently made a vow to myself to read more books by women, in part to overcome my own bias towards books by white guys (which is, I fear, the default setting for too many of us). In the process I read a whole heap of great books and wanted to share some stories that… Continue reading 5 Weird and Wonderful Short Stories from 5 Outstanding Collections by Women.
It's Pirates of the Caribbean in Hell. It's the best horror story of the year for me so far, possibly one of my favorite horror stories ever. It has Hell-monks with iron boxes locked over their heads forever, pirate ships, cannibal cults and last and definitely not least, flying, ship-destroying angel-possessed giant squid. I am,… Continue reading This is the Best Pirate-themed Horror Story You’ll Read All Year
I subscribed to Tin House this year. Tin House is a publication that puts out the very best of short fiction and poetry, and getting published there is a sing that you've "got it". The stories are all of the highest quality. Each print issue is also a precious item in it's own right, and… Continue reading Four Tin House Covers
How do you describe a book like Her Body and Other Parties to people? The book is a collection of long short stories and the collection as a whole is perhaps best summed up by the two quotes Carmen Maria Machado puts at the beginning of the book. My body is a haunted house that… Continue reading Book Review – Her Body and Other Parties
Check. This. Out. Garden of Fiends is an anthology of addiction-themed horror stories from some of the genre's best and most promising writers (only slightly marred by including a story of mine). It's out in ten days but there's a discount offer available for pre-orders (or so the publisher tells me). Authors in the anthology… Continue reading Coming in Eight Days…
I don't remember what the first story I read by Michael Swanwick is. But I do remember the feeling I got as I read it. It's the same feeling I got when I first read stories by Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link and Lucius Shepard. That amazing, wow-this-is-talent feeling. Michael Swanwick is one of many authors… Continue reading The Wonderful World of Michael Swanwick
Nightmare Magazine is one of the better things you can infect your Kindle with every month. This month was no exception. In the current issue of Nightmare Magazine, there are four stories; two reprints and two originals. The originals are The Old Horror Writer by Adam-Troy Castro and Sawing by Lisa Goldstein. The reprints are… Continue reading Nightmares by Subscription – A Review of Nightmare Magazine Issue 44
While I thought that widespread Kindle ownership would lead to more people reading short stories I'm not sure it has. Do you, for example, (if you own a Kindle that is) read more short stories? Whether you do or not, here are three recent short stories that are simple excellent and I highly recommend. (They… Continue reading 3 Awesome Recent Short Stories
When was the last time you read something truly disturbing? Well, I have a story in an anthology out in a few days from Bloodshot Books, Not Your Average Monster 2, that I think is the creepiest thing I've ever written. The anthology is a collection of monster short stories, but without vampires, werewolves and ghosts.… Continue reading Monsters, Monsters Everywhere.
Richard Thomas is starting a new magazine. It's ambitious. The current state of publishing, for those of you who may not be in the trenches daily, is that most magazines pay about 1 cent per word for short stories. The good ones pay 5 to 6. Gamut, the magazine Richard Thomas is kicking up funds… Continue reading 10 Stories Richard Thomas is Soooo Tired of Reading
On Books and Writing 