LORI TITUS: I have a pretty thick list! I\u2019m always reading something but I still don\u2019t get to read as many as I like. Lately I\u2019m doing two at a time with one of those being on audio.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m looking forward to reading Blood Communion<\/em> by Anne Rice when it comes out this fall. I really enjoyed All Systems Red<\/em> by Martha Wells.<\/p>\n I think my favorite book so far this year is probably a tie between two novels: Days of Blood and Starlight<\/em> by Laini Taylor and Children of Blood and Bone<\/em> by Tomi Adeyemi.<\/p>\n CALVIN DEMMER: To-read next: James S. A. Corey\u2019s Leviathan Wakes<\/em> and Nick Bostrom\u2019s Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies<\/em> (non-fiction).<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m slow when it comes to reading novels at the moment, so my favorite novel I read this year would be Jeff VanderMeer\u2019s Borne<\/em> (published in 2017). For a novella, I\u2019d go with Philip Fracassi\u2019s Shiloh<\/em>, which was a very original and fantastic story set during the Civil War. I\u2019ve recently read Christa Carmen\u2019s collection, Something Borrowed, Something Blood-soaked, <\/em>which I enjoyed. I liked how she had supernatural horrors and real-life battles, such as substance abuse and mental health issues.<\/p>\n Well, your debut novel, The Rust Maidens<\/em>, is a book I am looking forward to. I read the synopsis and couldn\u2019t resist pre-ordering it.<\/p>\n ANYA MARTIN: Unfortunately I haven\u2019t read as many novels this year as I would have liked to because I\u2019ve had so many other things on my plate, including my own writing, and my carpal tunnel made it hard to hold up a book during flare-ups, even, perhaps ironically triggered some of those flare-ups. I\u2019m old school and still prefer actual books to a tablet. One way I addressed these limitations was large graphic novels which I could spread open on a table, bed, or my lap. It actually came out in 2017 but I was absolutely blown away by My Favorite Thing is Monsters<\/em> by Emil Ferris! Also the graphic novel adaptation of Octavia Butler\u2019s powerful SF\/horror novel Kindred<\/em> by Damian Duffy and John Jennings<\/p>\n Both Michael Griffin\u2019s and Orrin Grey\u2019s new collections from Word Horde are top of my to-read pile, along with John Claude Smith\u2019s Occasional Beasts: Tales<\/em> from Omnium Gatherum and Damien Angelica Walters\u2019 Cry Your Way Home<\/em>, which came out at the beginning of 2018 from Apex, and I tragically haven\u2019t gotten to yet. Plus The Future is Female<\/em>, the new Library of America anthology of classic SF stories by women edited by Lisa Yaszek, Georgia Tech Professor of Science Fiction Studies, who also edited the kickass Sisters of Tomorrow<\/em> anthology (2016). As for upcoming, I simply can\u2019t wait for Craig Laurance Gidney\u2019s novel A Spectral Hue<\/em>, set for June 2019 from Word Horde!<\/p>\n DOUNGJAI GAM: what’s not<\/em> in my TBR pile is more like it\u2026I typically had about 5-6 books going at a time, but my reading habits have slowed considerably in the last couple of years and I need to fix that. currently it’s Buried in Blue Clay <\/em>by LL Soares, Hannahwhere<\/em> by John M McIlveen, and a reread of Jack Ketchum’s Peaceable<\/em> Kingdom<\/em>. <\/em>My favorite reads so far this year (none of which were released in 2018):The Fisherman<\/em> by John Langan, Haven <\/em>by Tom Deady, and Husk<\/em> by Rachel Autumn Deering. I’m really looking forward to Bracken MacLeod’s next collection White Knight and Other Pawns<\/em> as well as pestilent <\/em>by Rachel Autumn Deering and Matt Hayward.<\/p>\n MICHAEL GRIFFIN: My favorite read of the year was You<\/em> by Caroline Kepnes, just because it\u2019s so fun, crazy and over the top, with such a compelling narrative voice. It\u2019s not weird fiction and not even really horror either, but I think of it as something like American Psycho<\/em> for the social media age. I also enjoyed the sequel, Hidden Bodies<\/em>, though not quite as much as You<\/em>.<\/p>\n My favorite 2018 read \u201cin genre\u201d would be Corpsepaint<\/em> by David Peak, a really cool pagan black metal novel published by Word Horde. I hope a lot of people will check this out.<\/p>\n The to-be-read pile is stacked higher than ever, because I\u2019ve spent so much time this year reading crime novels and thrillers. One of those, Laird Barron\u2019s Blood Standard<\/em>, proves weird authors can write really great crime books! Next up, I\u2019m looking forward to Darkest Hours<\/em> by Mike Thorn, Things We Lost in the Fire<\/em> by Mariana Enriquez, Bones Are Made to Be Broken<\/em> by Paul Michael Anderson and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves<\/em> by Karen Joy Fowler. Of course there are always more things landing in the pile and this intended reading order is subject to constant shuffling.<\/p>\n LEE FORMAN: My to be read pile is always growing, never getting smaller. But I\u2019m currently reading The Road<\/em> by Cormac McCarthy. After that I plan to read The Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy<\/em> series, then on to Sleepwalk<\/em> by John Saul. I\u2019d have to say my favorite read this year has been Still Dark<\/em> by D.W. Gillespie. I\u2019m really looking forward to reading Neverwhere<\/em> by Neil Gaiman.<\/p>\n CHRISTA CARMEN: One of the books I\u2019m most looking forward to reading is The Rust Maidens<\/em>, by the lovely and infinitely talented facilitator of this interview. I\u2019m a huge fan of your short stories and the Pretty Marys<\/em> novella, and S.J. Budd\u2019s early review of the novel has me that much more excited to get my hands on it, rust and all. Others anticipated releases include Stephanie M. Wytovich\u2019s The Dangers of Surviving a Slit Throat<\/em>, and Stephen King\u2019s Elevation<\/em>.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know if I can narrow down my favorite book of 2018 to a single reading experience, so I\u2019ll list several: Bring Me Back<\/em>, by B.A. Paris, Florida<\/em>, by Lauren Groff, The Death of Mrs. Westaway<\/em>, by Ruth Ware, and The Hunger<\/em>, by Alma Katsu. My current TBR pile consists of Unbury Carol<\/em>, by Josh Malerman, The Boy at the Keyhole<\/em>, by Stephen Giles, Foe<\/em>, by Iain Reid, and Bad Man<\/em>, by Dathan Auerbach.<\/p>\n GEMMA FILES: My to-read pile is (I shit you not) two full bookcases’ worth and still growing. I used to read faster, or so I can only assume\u2014I can certainly knock out a John Connolly Charlie Parker mystery in two hours or less even now, but then, he’s special to me (The Woman in the Woods<\/em> is his latest, and it’s excellent, as ever). Most recently, I finally got hold of a copy of Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom<\/em> and read it all the way through (incredible, from top to tail), then re-read Margaret Irwin’s slim, odd little out-of-print book Still She Wished For Company,<\/em> which reminds me strikingly of the work of another quietly brilliant historical\/weird female writer who most people don’t know about, Marjorie Bowen. It’s about time travel, sort of…time bending, at any rate, crossed with 18th-century rakery and haute magie<\/em>, plus a really creepy incest-vibe brother\/sister relationship, but because it’s seen through the eyes of two people who barely know what’s going on, almost all of it lives in the liminal, between-spaces of the narrative.<\/p>\n But David Peak’s Corpsepaint<\/em> is probably still my favourite of what I’ve read so far this year: bleak, cold and cosmically horrifying as an explosion at a factory that makes Hieronymous Bosch prints scored to whatever black metal band you find rawest. Next on the list: probably Hitler’s Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich<\/em> by Eric Kurlander, a series of essays about Nazi \u201cborder science,\u201d and The Penguin Book of Witches<\/em> (ed. Katherine Hoew), which excerpts accounts of witch-trials from 1582 to 1813. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n What’s next for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n LORI TITUS: More books! I have more short fiction, but also plans for one or two novels next year. A sci fi, a fantasy, and more horror, of course.<\/p>\n CALVIN DEMMER: I have quite a few different projects at various stages of completion. It\u2019s hard to say which I think will see the light next. I\u2019ve been going back to work on some of my Dark Celebrations short stories. Also, I have been slowly looking to put out a collection of short stories, and I am working on my first novella. Lastly, I do have a couple of short stories that will be coming out in magazines and anthologies in the near future.<\/p>\n DOUNGJAI GAM: There’s stuff in the works but nothing that’s coming out anytime soon\u2014a couple of anthology submissions I’m working on, a few short stories that have been begging for attention too. I have plans for a novella and what I think may end up being a novel as well. I’m a very slow writer who gets easily distracted, but I’m really hoping to strike a solid balance soon so that I can get more work out there. I also have three readings coming up in October and November that I’m excited about.<\/p>\n MICHAEL GRIFFIN: First I\u2019ve got to finish one novel, then go back and finish a second that I set aside to work on this one, then go even further back and finish \u201cArmageddon House,\u201d the half-done novella I mentioned that\u2019s been simmering on the back burner for almost a year.<\/p>\n At some point, between these things, I\u2019d like to create a new short story or two. This focus on longer works is fine, but since I have no new work coming out for such a long time, it\u2019s tempting to imagine the world might forget I exist! I know from past experience there\u2019s no pacing these things. Sometimes I have five stories published in three months, then nothing for almost a year.<\/p>\n LEE FORMAN: What I\u2019d love to do next is finish my full-length novel. Now that I\u2019ve got a book or two on the shelf I\u2019d love nothing more than to add a few more. It\u2019s probably going to take some time with all the other projects I have going on, but that\u2019s my main goal\u2014to continue publishing long fiction at least on a somewhat regular basis.<\/p>\n CHRISTA CARMEN: As for forthcoming projects, I\u2019m only a few short stories away (stories that are already in the works) from having enough material to put together a second collection. The tone of this one would be a bit different from Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked<\/em>, but some of the same themes would abide.<\/p>\n Still, I won\u2019t pursue another collection until I\u2019ve finished the novel I\u2019m working on. I was surprised by how much additional work came with the release of Something Borrowed…<\/em>, and so I\u2019ve been beating myself up regarding the last few things I wanted to tinker with on this new book, Coming Down Fast<\/em>. Now that the collection has been released, I\u2019m going to use that relentless self-flogging for actual good, and finish it.<\/p>\n Besides Coming Down Fast<\/em> and the new collection, there\u2019s another novel I have in the works, about a thirty-something year old woman who writes a blog about the pharmaceutical industry and ends up pursuing acupuncture as a personal infertility treatment, with monstrous results, entitled 13 Sessions<\/em>.<\/p>\n Staying busy sustains my passion for this crazy thing I love to do. When I first started writing, I kept a folder with me at all times containing a printout of a WIP short story, or several novel chapters. I printed out a quote from Stephen King and pasted it across the front: \u201cTalent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.\u201d As silly as it may seem, it reminded me that the only thing I actually have control over is not whether I get published or if readers like my stories, but how hard I work. I don\u2019t use the folder anymore, but the quote is engrained in my mind, and I like that I can use it to hold myself to a certain standard of productivity. When seeing through longer projects, it\u2019s imperative that I feel satisfied with at least the amount of words on the page, if nothing else.<\/p>\n GEMMA FILES: Write a story, send it in. Finish that next damn book. Keep on keeping on.<\/p>\n Thank you again to my eight featured authors for being part of this month’s roundtable interview series! One more time, let’s look at all of their awesome new books, available now! In her debut collection, Christa Carmen combines horror, charm, humor, and social critique to shape thirteen haunting, harrowing narratives of women struggling with both otherworldly and real-world problems. From grief, substance abuse, and mental health disorders, to a post-apocalyptic exodus, a seemingly sinister babysitter with unusual motivations, and a group of pesky ex-boyfriends who won\u2019t stay dead, Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked is a compelling exploration of horrors both supernatural and psychological, and an undeniable affirmation of Carmen\u2019s flair for short fiction.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Soul Bonded<\/strong><\/a> My soul is in hock, a mystical layaway.<\/em> Heralded as one of the leading voices in contemporary weird fiction, Michael Griffin returns with his second collection, The Human Alchemy. Here you will find eleven magnificent tales of the strange and sublime, the familiar and the disquieting, where dreamlike beauty and breathtaking horror intertwine. Featuring an introduction by S.P. Miskowski.<\/em><\/p>\n from glass slipper dreams, shattered: Like a stupid girl with glass slipper dreams, I did everything you wanted with the hopes that one day, you would love me back.<\/em><\/p>\n glass slipper dreams, shattered the debut collection from doungjai gam is filled with loss, sorrow, revenge and remorse.<\/em><\/p>\n gam delivers devastating punches in this collection of short-shorts, taking our breath away with a turn of a phrase, a dark play on words; every syllable paints unexpected shadows in our imagination.<\/em><\/p>\n Twelve women. Twelve horrors disguised as love. In Anya Martin\u2019s new collection of horror tales: a teenage girl faces the consequences of wishing her dog could live forever; a romantic college student wakes a gargoyle in Paris; and a lonely woman finds her house infested with insects. History\u2019s darker depths are delved as an American jazz singer confronts her lover who has committed terrible war crimes as he descends into madness in post-WW2 Germany; and a couple experiences H.P. Lovecraft\u2019s Resonator machine via found footage from the Velvet Underground. In the publisher\u2019s favorite tale: Actress Elsa Lanchester reveals the true story of Bride of Frankenstein involving the preserved brain of Karl Marx\u2019s daughter in 1923 London. With this book Martin joins the ranks of daring woman delving into the dark fantastical.<\/em><\/p>\n The world\u2019s fate lies with a comatose young girl; an android wants to remember a human she once knew under Martian skies; men at sea learn that the ocean is a realm far different from land, where an unforgiving god rules; a school security guard discovers extreme English class; and a man understands what the behemoth beneath the sea commands of him.<\/em> Lost in the depths of space and time, swallowed by something unknown to humanity, a derelict ship is adrift in an alternate reality. John and his crew board the vessel, the Esometa, on a rescue mission. The ship\u2019s been lost for two weeks with no explanation. When they discover its occupants dead and decaying, a mind-bending journey begins. The Esometa takes them down a path filled with horrid creatures and bizarre events from which there may be no return\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Drawn Up from Deep Places<\/a><\/strong> by Gemma Files<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Something](\"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Something-Borrowed-Something-Blood-Soaked-194x300.jpg\")
Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked<\/a><\/strong> by Christa Carmen<\/p>\n![\"Soul](\"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Soul-Bonded-192x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/strong> by Lori Titus<\/p>\n
\nI haven’t sold my soul to the devil, but the deal I made is close enough. I have to work for a demon for the next seven years. If I do my job well enough, my contract is void after that time, and I get the part of my soul back that he took away. Unless he decides I\u2019m more valuable to him than that. I\u2019ve come across worse odds.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/The-Human-Alchemy-200x300.jpg\")
<\/a>The Human Alchemy<\/a><\/strong> by Michael Griffin<\/p>\n![\"glass](\"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/glass-slipper-dreams-shattered-193x300.jpg\")
<\/a>glass slipper dreams, shattered<\/a><\/strong> by doungjai gam<\/p>\n![\"Sleeping](\"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sleeping-with-the-Monster-200x300.jpeg\")
<\/a>Sleeping with the Monster<\/a><\/strong> by Anya Martin<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/The-Sea-Was-a-Fair-Master-186x300.jpg\")
<\/a>The Sea Was a Fair Master<\/a><\/strong> by Calvin Demmer<\/p>\n
\nThe Sea Was a Fair Master is a collection of 23 stories, riding the currents of fantasy, science fiction, crime, and horror. There are tales of murder, death, loss, revenge, greed, and hate. There are also tales of hope, survival, and love.<\/em>
\nFor the sea was a fair master.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Lee](\"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Lee-Forman-188x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Zero Perspective<\/a><\/strong> by Lee A. Forman<\/p>\n
![\"Drawn](\"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Drawn-Up-from-Deep-Places-199x300.jpg\")
<\/a>In her second collection from Trepidatio Publishing, award-winning author Gemma Files takes her readers on journeys out beyond safe borders\u2014from the trackless depths of the sea, to the empty desert frontiers of the Weird West, even to the edges of cracks between worlds. Here, in these narrow spaces between the known and the unknown, behind the paper-thin curtains of reality, lurk monsters both human and ancient: selkies and avenging revenants, voodoo priestesses and pirate sorcerers, ghosts and vampires, and the most famous murderer of all time. But however strange the things found in these deep places, what draws them up, and calls them back, are forces the human heart knows all too well: grief and vengeance, rage and loss . . . and, most terrible of all, love.<\/em><\/p>\n