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.

Interview with Miskatonic Musings

I recently sat down with Charles, Leeman, and Sean from Miskatonic Musings. We hit upon such topics as Createspace, Joe Frank, Larry, radio, Scrapple, and WKRP in Cincinnati.  Click to listen!

CREEPING WAVES AVAILABLE AGAIN

Creeping Waves is once again available on Amazon in paperback. I thank me for my patience. Such as it was.

CREEPING WAVES TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE ON PAPERBACK ON AMAZON

I've updated the file to eliminate a few typographical errors. Meantime, you can get the book on the Muzzleland Press site, and the electronic version is still available on Amazon. The paperback should be available again on Amazon soon.

Not soon enough for me. Thank you for your patience.

Catching up

A lot has happened since I last updated. I feel like the friend who'd said he'd call, and then a week went by, and then three weeks, and then months, and suddenly it's too late to call. The damage is done. I'm a heel. The friendship is irreparably damaged.

Ah, but that's not really true, is it? Let's catch up. At the end of January I was honored to be one of the readers at the Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Council, along with the estimable Paul Tremblay and John Langan, and others.

Here's the video. I need to lose weight!

Prior to the reading, a bunch of us ate at one of Providence's Korean restaurants (I forget which). During that meal, Sean Thompson said something funny, causing me to spit soup onto him, onto Matthew Warren Richey, and onto John Langan. I'm going to stick with blaming Sean. In any event, the Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Council is my favorite place to read. It's a beautiful shop in America's oldest (and surely prettiest) malls. Would that all malls were like that.

In April I drove down to Krallcon in a terrible rainstorm that followed me down through Massachusetts, into Connecticut, over the goddamned Tappan Zee Bridge, and right into Jersey. I was the guest of honor, which means there were speeches about me. That's weird. If you ever get the opportunity to be a guest of honor at a thing, I suggest you do it.

I met Jordan and his wife (the latter is a masterful player of Words With Friends). I met Nick Cato and Christopher Ropes, lovely chaps. I met Brian O'Connell, a Weird Fiction prodigy and a very good guy. His dad did some filming. Videos from (and shown at) the event:

Jordan Krall - Krall reads Cowan's tribute - Brian O'Connell

Jonathan Raab's video tribute

It was a great trip - I'm glad I went.

Oh, Creeping Waves came out. This is a follow-up to Gateways to Abomination, almost a sequel, though it can be read independently of its predecessor. I've been begging people to buy it; soon I'll switch over to asking for Amazon reviews to put the book in front of more potential readers. The book boasts a gorgeous cover by Nick Gucker and a terrific introduction by Nathan Ballingrud. The publisher is Muzzleland Press, and you can buy the book (fuh cheap!) at the link.

So, what's next? Here's a list, to the best of my Saturday morning hazy recollection:

- In June, two stories, "If He Summons His Herd" and "Where Night Cowers" will be published in the radio-themed anthology Lost Signals from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing.
-Also in June, my story "The Terrible Old Friend," a Lovecraft homage with a wink, will be published in the inaugural issue of Ravenwood Quarterly.
-In the Fall, my story "No Abiding Place on Earth" will appear in Nightscript Vol. 2.
-Also in Fall, and here is something that still wakes me up with happiness in the middle of the night, my story "Rangel," originally published as a chapbook by Dim Shores, will appear in the third volume of Year's Best Weird Fiction.
-Some time in the near future my story "The Rats on LePaul" will be published in Dunhams Destroys Lovecraft. It's a bit of a satire with a touch of bizarro.
-December will see the publication of "The Stay-Awake Men & Others," a limited hardcover from Dunham's Manor Press. This is a more traditional collection of short stories. There will likely be a non-limited version in the future.

Otherwise, I'm still writing stories. That's all for now. It's time for me to shower and head over to the Bluebonnet for my traditional Saturday morning meal: three eggs over medium, cripsy bacon, white toast (or a grilled English Muffin if I'm feeling continental), home fries, cranberry juice, and coffee.