Dead Air Redux - A Word, and the Table of Contents

A WORD (from my forthcoming B-sides compilation Dead Air.)

The stories in this book were written between 2004 and 2009, approximately. Some of the poems were written as early as 1990, slightly modified in 2016. I started writing the stories on my Livejournal page in 2004. Some of them have since been modified or blown apart, and have appeared in similar or very different contexts in my books Gateways to Abomination and Creeping Waves. My vision for what Leeds is has changed since these early years, so some of what you see here is not really part of the whole Leeds/WXXT mythos (if you will), not anymore. I include it for the interest of those who might want to know how I fumbled around the ideas and concepts when I began. I hope you find it to be of some value. Thank you for reading. There is a lot more for me to tell. I hope you’ll stick with me on this bloody and disquieting journey.

There are many more broadcasts to come.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

“BLACK MAGIC,” HE TOLD ME: 13 WAYS TO BEGIN AN ESSAY ABOUT WXXT, THE LAST STATION ON EARTH

THE LAST OUTPOST

STEPHEN AND MARY PART 1

I WAS ACQUITTED OF KILLING MY FIRST WIFE IN 1936

MY MOTHER, LUCILLE AXTON

MORE ABOUT WXXT

I WAS A SCRAPPER

KNIVES

THE MANY STUDIOS, PART 6

(PHOTOGRAPH MISSING)

THE BROADCASTS. TRASMISSION 99.

INTOLERANCE, OR FCC COMMISSIONERS I HAVE KNOWN

EVIL IS UNSPECTACULAR AND ALWAYS HUMAN AND SHARES OUR BED AND EATS AT OUR TABLE

IN OUR EFFORT TO BECAOME A VIABLE PRESENCE IN THE PIONEER VALLEY

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT HE WAS GOOD AT THE BEGINNING BUT HE JUST WENT TOO FAR

THE GAPS BETWEEN THE BARS ARE THE SUTURES OF ONE’S OWN SKULL

WXXT’S COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAM

WHAT TOM BROUGHT TO SHOW AND TELL

INTERSTATES

AS TIME IS ENDLESSLY SHOVELED ON MY GRAVE FROM SOMEWHERE MILES ABOVE ME

WE DEARLY NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE

MY BROTHER EARL

APPLE PIE, PART 1

OUR NEW HOME

FCC CHAIRMAN MANGROVE O’HARE GOT OFF EASY

UNCLE ROTTFIELD’S BLACK GLOVES

something large and grey

SUCCUBUS, BY JAMES PEMHIGUS MORPHEW

THE BALLAD OF DONALD BELSON SKRATTE

THE DISQUIETING LEGEND OF JOHNNYPANTS WOLFGANG GORSTED

SOME NIGHTS IT’S BLOODLUST

please stand by

THESE ARE THE PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

THE MIGHTY WALK ON FIELDS STAINED WITH DASHED BRAINS

SITHYL

UNCLE DIGGLE READS TO-DAY’S NEWS

DEAREST MICHELLE

ON A CRISP OCTOBER DAY

DEAD MAN IN MY BED: STEPHEN AND MARY PART 2

MY HALLOWEEN IN 2005

WXXT GOSSIP

SOUP IN WINTER

TUGGING ON YOUR SEAWEED SLEEVES

WXXT ARE ENVIRONMENTALISTS

GOODNIGHT, NURSE

POSTSCRIPT

A WORD

Nightscript Vol. 2

Inexplicably, or perhaps because I wrote it at 5 in the morning, I neglected in my Autumn Update to mention the fact that my story "No Abiding Place on Earth" is in the newly released Nightscript Vol. 2. When I read the first volume, I vowed to write a story for the second, and now I'm thrilled to be in an anthology with this impressive crew:

Michael Griffin, Kristi DeMeester, Christopher Slatsky, J.T. Glover, Eric J. Guignard, Malcolm Devlin, Gwendolyn Kiste, Ralph Robert Moore, Christopher Ropes, Steve Rasnic Tem, Jason A. Wyckoff, Gordon White, Nina Shepardson, Kurt Fawver, Rowley Amato, Charles Wilkinson, H.V. Chao, Daniel Mills, Rebecca J. Allred, and José Cruz.

I can't wait to read the other stories.

Autumn Update

Greetings all. It's been a busy time, in life and in writing, and to top it off, I've been stepping up promotion of my most recent book Creeping Waves.

I had the pleasure recently of being interviewed by Natalia Munoz on the Bill Newman show on WHMP, Northampton, Massachusetts. My stories take place in the fictional city of Leeds, Massachusetts - a thinly (very thinly) veiled Northampton, named after the lovely village of Leeds.  The interview includes a brief reading.  Give it a listen here!

I also did my first video interview on The Lovecraft eZine podcast. It was wonderful to sit down and have a long, interesting conversation with Mike Davis, Pete Rawlik, S.P. Miskowski, Philip Fracassi, Matthew Carpenter, Kelly Young, and Joe Pulver. It's the most wide-ranging interview I've done yet. Click here to watch the video.

I also was interviewed by delightfully cantankerous author J.R. Hamantaschen and Nacho expert Derek Sotak on The Horror of Nachos & Hamantaschen. This interview goes into strange and marvelous places. Get a taste.

Check this out - Jonathan Raab of Muzzleland Press conducted a two-part interview with me on his new podcast Spooklights. I'm now a co-host on the show. Here's Part One and Part Two.

There's yet another new interview up on author Jeff Deck's excellent site. Learn about my new piece in the forthcoming book Three Moves of Doom, a wrestling-themed chapbook from Orford Parish Books. The story is a non-Leeds one, exploring the dark underbelly of the seaside city Hulse, Massachusetts.  Read it here.

Year's Best Weird Fiction, Volume 3 is available! I'm gobsmacked to be right adjacent to Ramsey Campbell in the Table of Contents, and to have my story in the same book as a Robert Aickman tale. The story is "Rangel." The book includes stories by a variety of excellent and talented writers, including Reggie Oliver, Michael Wehunt, Kristi DeMeester, Tim Lebbon, Christopher Slatsky, and more. Check out the full Table of Contents. Click here to purchase. The book is also available in an electronic edition and a gorgeous hardcover. Many thanks to editors Simon Strantzas and Mike Kelly!

Also newly available is Lost Signals from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, edited by Max Booth III and Lori Michele. This radio-themed anthology includes two of my stories, both taking place in Leeds, in very different time periods. It's a great anthology all around. Pick it up here! Also available for the Kindle.

Lastly, but a damn sight far from leastly, my story "The Terrible Old Friend," a Lovecraftian satire, is available in the inaugural issue of Ravenwood Quarterly (from Travis Niesler), along with stories by Jordan Krall, Christopher Ropes, Brian O'Connell, and many more! Grab y'self a copy - only 47 remain as of this writing.

Otherwise, I'm working on several short stories I intend to submit to very interesting anthologies. I'll have another announcement or two shortly.

I nearly forgot. I'm redoing my first, very rare, self-published book Dead Air. This book will contain previously unpublished stories and early versions of stories from Gateways to Abomination and Creeping Waves. Yves Tourigny is doing the interior art, and the gloriously creepy cover is by a young man named Brendan O'Connell. Expect a late October release.

And, of course, The Stay Awake Men and Others, illustrated by Dave Felton, is coming early next year in a limited edition hardcover from Dunham's Manor Press. I'm proud to announce here that World Fantasy Award winning author Scott Nicolay has written a wonderful introduction.

Thanks for reading, as always - from me and the staff of WXXT.


 

Works in Progress

Stories in progress:

1. Bear (no particular market in mind)
2. Untitled Old Lady Narrative (to submit to the New England Folk Horror Anthology)
3. Monica in the Hall of Moths (to submit to Dim Shores, possibly)
4. The Dining Car (to submit to Dim Shores or Strange Aeons, possibly)
5. The Flute Players (Lovecraft satire)
6. Untitled (to submit to A Breath from the Sky) 

This is too many stories to have in progress at one time.