Happy Book Birthday to ‘The Nectar of Nightmares’

The book came together quickly, at the request of the editor Darin Bradley (who’s an author in his own right). It collects my most recent publishing credits. The book is dedicated to the memory of a friend of mine, Eric Mueller, who suddenly died in 2020. I am proud of this little book of stories.

Below, I’ll share some brief non-spoiler notes.

Beneath the Briar Patch

This is a retelling of an African-American folktale, and is injected with some Cosmic Horror

Myth and Moor

This gothic tale stars the Queen of gothic fiction, Miss Emily Brontë

Fur and Gold

This is a horror-touched queer retelling of a fairytale. (The title comes from a Bat for Lashes song).

Black-Winged Roses

Set in the Harlem Renaissance, this story exists in the same ‘universe’ as my previous stories ‘Zoe Coalrose’ and ‘Conjuring Shadows’. (The title comes from a Tori Amos song).

Underglaze

This Weird Fiction is inspired by my Aunt Evelyn’s collection of Flo-Blue (or Flown Blue) plates

Mirror-Bias

Flowers and mirrors feature in this queer horror tale. (Title courtesy of the late Tanith Lee).

Eidolon Realty, LLC

A flash piece inspired by the time I worked in the investment industry

(K)naiveity

Flash piece — Jack Vance meets Jean Genet

Sigilance

Secondary world queer horror fantasy

The Magus Club

Inspired by the queer playwright Joe Orton’s lone weird novel, Head to Toe

Spyder Threads

Cosmic horror meets drag couture

Desiccant

My vampire story with a trans heroine

Sacred She-Devil

Inspired by Umdanba mythology

The Nectar of Nightmares

An oneiric horror novelette

BOOK RADAR: “Cry Your Way Home” by Damien Angelica Walters

Colleague and semi-local-to-me author Damien Angelica Walters has a new collection out. Some of the pieces I have read before they were collected in CRY YOUR WAY HOME  (Apex Book Company). Walters’ delicate prose style belies the disturbing darkness at the center of her fiction.

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From the back cover copy:

Sometimes things are not what they appear to be. DNA doesn’t define us, gravity doesn’t hold us, a home doesn’t mean we belong. From circus tents to space stations, Damien Angelica Walters creates stories that are both achingly familiar and chillingly surreal. Within her second short story collection, she questions who the real monsters are, rips families apart and stiches them back together, and turns a cell phone into the sharpest of weapons.

Cry Your Way Home brings together seventeen stories that delve deep into human sorrow and loss, weaving pain, fear, and ultimately resilience into beautiful tales that are sure to haunt you long after you finish the collection.

Includes the Bram Stoker Award-nominated story “The Floating Girls: A Documentary”

Celebrity Ghosts, 80s style: At Danceteria & Other Stories by Philip Dean Walker

At Danceteria and Other StoriesAt Danceteria and Other Stories by Philip Dean Walker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The specter of AIDS haunts this star-studded, themed collection which is set in the early 80s, just at the beginning of the AIDS crisis. The cast includes Keith Haring, Sylvester, the Reagans, Jackie O, and Little Edie Beale. The settings veer from New York Bathhouses to the Castro to Fire Island to the White House. The brief book exudes a unique mixture of camp and nostalagia, shot through with a prophetic melancholy.

Forthcoming Interview with the author….

STORY REVIEW: Love among the Avatars in ‘Super Bass’ by Kai Ashante Wilson

Super Bass: A Tor.Com OriginalSuper Bass: A Tor.Com Original by Kai Ashante Wilson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Super Bass is a dense, ‘slice-of-life’ piece of fantasy fiction that’s also a love story. The prose is rich, sensual and deeply interior. It reminds of me of early Samuel R Delany, when he just throws you into an alien landscape and then challenges you to fill in the dots. The milleu has a vague Candomble feel, a lush tropical world where the gods inhabit/”possess” their chosen vessels, transforming them into supernatural healers. The story is about a consort to one of these god-vessels. Polyamory and same-gender relationships are the norm. The use of language reminds of me Kiini Ibura Salaam’s work.

“Love doesn’t take the burdens away, only makes them worth bearing.”

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On Meghan McCarron’s “Swift, Brutal Retaliation”

Swift, Brutal RetaliationSwift, Brutal Retaliation by Meghan McCarron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a ghost story, but done as a realistic family drama. Think Cheever or Franzen rather than Shirley Jackson or Stephen King. The ‘horror’ is the disintraging relationships. The emotional brutality and unrelenting prose probably what placed this story on this year’s World Fantasy Award ballot.

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