Thanks to Warren Rochelle for inviting me!
Book Birthday: Welcome THE NECTAR OF NIGHTMARES to the world
What’s it about: A short story about a different type of monster. A kaleidoscopic story, full of dream logic.
It’s also illustrated with Orion Zangara’s beautiful and eerie drawings, and beautiful designed by Dim Shores publisher Sam Cowan.
It’s a limited edition–only 150 copies will be produced.
Where you can get it: Dim Shores Press Webstore
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Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast episode 173: Queers Destroy Horror Panel Discussion.
I’m on this week’s Wired’s Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast(link), along with Shirley Jackson, World Fantasy and Nebula Award finalist author Alyssa Wong and author/editor Wendy N. Wagner, discussing the special Queers Destroy Horror of Nightmare Magazine. Thanks to the host, David Barr Kirtley and producer John Joseph Adams for the opportunity!
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Short Fiction Sunday: “The Litigation Master & the Monkey King” by Ken Liu
I started a new Sunday morning ritual of reading and/or listening to podcasted short fiction.
Last week, I listened to When Your Child Strays from God by Sam J Miller on Clarkesworld. A slipstream story about family drama and homophobia and motherhood. The fantastic elements of the story were closer in spirit to Kelly Link’s work and amplify the psychological journey of the first person narrative. Clever, funny, dark.
This week was The Litigation Master & the Monkey King by Ken Liu on Lightspeed. This historical tale, threaded through with Chinese folklore, starts out light and whimsical, then gets progressively dark. A nimble bit of mood whiplash.
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Listen to me speak about writing on The Outer Dark podcast! And “The Nectar of Nightmares” is up for preorder!
Scott Nicolay interviewed me for The Outer Dark, a podcast about weird, dark and horror fiction. Thanks to Scott for having me on–the conversation was wide ranging and touched on the Negritude movement, surrealism and Rihanna!
Craig Laurance Gidney: Writing the Beautiful Mess
Also, The Nectar of Nightmares is up for preorder!
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Queers Destroy Horror is Out!
I had the tremendous pleasure of assisting editor Wendy N. Wagner in assembling this special issue of Nightmare Magazine, which features works by Chuck Palahniuk (yes, he’s queer), Caitlin R. Kiernan, Lee Thomas and newcomers Alyssa Wong and Matthew Bright. Plus! There’s artwork and nonfiction and poetry, (I read slush for the fiction).
You can buy it here: Queers Destroy Horror
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COVER REVEAL: The Nectar of Nightmares
I’ve shared the image on social media, just not here. I’m doing so now! Wait until you see the interior art….
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BOOK REVIEW: Lyrical Phantasmorgia in “Dreams of Shreds & Tatters” by Amanda Downum
Dreams of Shreds and Tatters by Amanda Downum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An ambitious, if uneven update of the King in Yellow set in modern Vancouver. The plot has echoes of Orpheus and Eurydice, with the ‘underworld’ being the surreal, doomed dreamscape kingdom ruled by an eldritch abomination. Graduate student and lucid dreamer Liz and her boyfriend Alex search for her missing friend, the artist Blake in Vancouver. They find themselves enmeshed in a sinister drug and magic fueled underworld.
Pros: The characters are for the most part, skillfully drawn. Kudos to the portrayal of the sexuality spectrum. Liz is an asexual in a loving, if complicated relationship with her boyfriend. Blake was involved with a male lover. All of these facts are presented in an organic manner. The writing is lovely and full of atmosphere. The nightmarish imagery of the liminal world of Carcosa, with its strange constellations and ruined, sky-piercing towers, is worth the price of admission.
Cons: The plot was a bit muddled, and a couple of characters—particularly the gun toting badass monster killer Lailah—was a bit of a false note. It felt like she belonged to a different story. The novel is short; I would have liked to linger in the author’s world a bit more. The loose ends the author leaves dangling would make an excellent sequel.
Recommended for fans of weird fiction, Caitlin R Kiernan, Shirley Jackson and the music of CocoRosie.
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NECTAR OF NIGHTMARES artwork sneak peek!
The artwork is complete for my illustrated onieromatic weird fiction piece, The Nectar of Nightmares. The publisher, Dim Shores Press, shared this snippet by the uber talented Orion Zangara, who captured one of the images perfectly!
The chapbook should be out in time for Halloween.
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FORTHCOMING: “The Nectar of Nightmares”–an illustrated story
Dim Shores will release limited edition chapbook of a new short story of mine, “The Nectar of Nightmares.” It will be illustrated by the  talented Orion Zangara. It will be out sometime this fall.
The NoN is contemporary dark fantasy, inspired by the “symphonic” technique used by David Mitchell in Ghostwritten, Cloud Atlas and Bone Clocks.
Having an illustrated story is a bucket list dream of mine! Thanks to Sam Cowan of DS and Scott Nicholay for introducing my work to the press.
Craig Laurance Gidney 
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