STORIES FROM THE PLAGUE YEARS.
The acclaimed collection of horror and dark fantasy by Michael Marano, including the Shirley Jackson Award-nominated novella "Displacement". Pre-order your limited edition Trade Paperback from ChiZine Publications! While supplies last! Click here for more information!
Hey, Everyone! Please check out Jaym Gates‘s interview with me at SFSignal about the upcoming reprint from ChiZine Publications of my collection STORIES FROM THE PLAGUE YEARS. Chizine’s Brett Savory weighs in on the reprint, and you can preview some of the gorgeous interior illustrations by Gabrielle Faust, as well as the bitchin’ new cover by Erik Mohr. Please check it out and RT, if you get the chance! Thanks! Click here to read!
Hey, Everybody! Well, I am back from Readercon… had a most awesome time hanging with a bunch of my home-boys and home-girls. Will try to write a more complete report later, if time permits. I do want to follow up and say that I was not awarded the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novella for which I was nominated (for “Displacement”). That award rightly went to Elizabeth Hand (for “Near Zennor”), whom I had the pleasure of finally meeting at the con after years of admiring her work. The mighty cool thing about being a Shirley Jackson Award nominee is that, while other awards give nominees official letters or certificates, The Shirley Jackson Awards give you… a STONE! Yes, a little mineral-based reminder not only of Jackson’s “The Lottery”, but also (to me, any way) of The Haunting of Hill House, and the stones that fell on Eleanor Vance’s home when she was a child. How freakin’ cool is THAT?
Here it is! Pretty cool, huh? It has a place of honor in my living room. I’m gonna name him “Pollock,” ‘cuz I always wanted a Jackson Pollock in my house. (Sorry…)
A big, beautiful box of my comp copies of Stories from the Plague Years just arrived from Cemetery Dance. They’re gorgeous. Gabrielle Faust’s unbearably lovely illustrations look incredible on the nice, heavy stock paper. As a writer, you live for moments like this.
Hey!
My very dear friend Nancy Santos came by my place and snapped a few pics of me signing the signature sheets for Cemetery Dance Publication’s limited hardback edition of my collection Stories from the Plague Years.
I’m not the only one who signed the book. Cyberpunk icon John Shirley, who wrote the Introduction, also signed the sig sheets, as did Garbrielle Faust, who did the interior illustrations and dust jacket (as well as the totally righteous art on the sig sheet itself). It’s pretty gorgeous. You can check it out below. The book will be shipping soon.
I’ve been writing professionally since about 1992. And I have to tell you, I NEVER get sick of this–the first moment you hold something you’ve written as a physical artifact. It’s always a rush. It’s always a thrill. Brian Freeman at Cemetery Dance Publications just sent along one of two existing advance copies of my collection Stories from the Plague Years. It’s gorgeous. Yeah, I’m saying that as a proud papa. But beyond that, the binding, the paper, Bob Morrish’s layout and Gabrielle Faust’s beautiful cover and interior illustrations are sublime. My crappy camera phone doesn’t do it justice, but here’s a pic.
Inside the mind of author Michael Marano 