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Helen Marshall: Lessons in the Raising of the Monsters in the Basement | The Outer Dark: Episode 26 — JANUARY 5, 2016

Boy Eating

Awards seem to come naturally, or perhaps supernaturally to Helen Marshall whose words weave threads across horror, dark fantasy and into the Weird. Her most recent collection Gifts for the One Who Comes After (ChiZine Publications, 2014) earned her both a World Fantasy Award and a Shirley Jackson Award, and is shortlisted for the ReLit Awards which honor the best new works from Canadian independent publishers. Her first collection Hair Side Flesh Side (ChiZine Publications, 2012) won the British Fantasy Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer.

Helen traces her transition from small town Ontario to poet to a PhD in Medieval Studies to managing editor for ChiZine Publications to short story writer and now novelist (she hopes to finish her first novel Icarus Kids, which draws on her Medievalist background and explores “plague, denial and apocalypse” this week). She also discusses how the writing community sustains her work, a certain unencumbered freedom in current Canadian spec-lit, and the strong indie press movement in Canada including ChiZine and Undertow Publications. References are made to Robert Aickman including Helen’s unexpected fondness for his story “The Swords” and a shared philosophy of endings, as well as Clive Barker, Stephen King, Etgar Keret

Boy Eating

and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Helen takes us on a wild ride, peeling back the skin of her imagination including playing with the “rules” of genre, the capaciousness of the Weird, the strange economy of medieval relics, where magic realism and absurdism and medievalism intersect, and how personal transitions provoked her to engage the “monster in the basement” of her second collection: Legacy. They delve deeply into the archaeology of specific stories including “Sanditon” which plays off the concept of “body as book” in Medieval lit, “Ship House” which explores a legacy of violence inherited from her South African mother, her recurring theme of offbeat consumerism meets a childish sense of make-believe turned disturbingly real in such tales as “Supply Limited, Act Now” about kids in an idyllic Bradburyesque community who order a shrink ray that works, and more. Finally, Helen recommends Indian author Indra Das (The Devourers), recent The Outer Dark guest Gemma Files (especially her recent novel Experimental Film), and Nina Allan (The Race).

News from the Weird: Arkham Digest columnist/Strange Aeons fiction editor Justin Steele reviews a weird work from the Vault, Matt Cardin’s Divinations of the Deep (Ash-Tree Press, 2002), an excellent collection of five cosmic horror stories that may lurk just outside the radar of some readers recently discovering the Weird.

Then Mike Davis, editor of Lovecraft eZine, joins Scott and Justin again to talk about exciting Kickstarter stretch goals for his highly anticipated Autumn Cthulhu anthology and more. Plus two new fiction magazines and a major Weird market now reopened to submissions, as well as another author reveal from the much anticipated Lost Signals anthology (ed. Max Booth III/Perpetual Motion Machine Press).

This archival episode will be available again at This Is Horror soon. In the meantime, subscribe at iTunes or Blubrry to make sure you don’t miss an episode.

Next week’s guest: Rios de la Luz, author of The Pulse Between Dimensions and the Desert.

More links:

https://www.facebook.com/gamutmagazine/?fref=ts

https://whatdoesnotkillme.com/2015/12/22/gamut/

https://www.facebook.com/mantidmagazine/?pnref=lhc

https://mantidmagazine.tumblr.com/

Nightscript: https://chthonicmatter.wordpress.com/

Stories from the Borderland: https://scottnicolay.com/blog/

Henry Lien: The Elegant Art of the Literary Duel | The Outer Dark: Episode 25 — DECEMBER 30, 2015

December 30, 2015 / Scott Nicolay / 0 Comments

There’s no one quite like Henry Lien in spec-lit today. He has generated major buzz with just six unique stories. His first published story ‘Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters’, which features “an art form that combines figure skating with kung fu”, made the cover of the December 2013 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction (Henry even pitched cover artist Alexandra Manukyan) and went on to be a Nebula Award nominee. His latest, critically acclaimed ‘The Ladies’ Aquatic Gardening Society’ (Asimov’s, June 2015), perhaps his most distinctly Weird tale, is about two Gilded Age grandes dames dueling for Newport high society dominance via their increasingly outrageous and environmentally devastating theme gardens. On this episode of The Outer Dark, Henry pulls back the curtain on his creative process starting with the rigorous questions he asks himself before moving forward with an idea (0:03:00), diving into stories as “thought experiments”, putting pressure on his writing and matching concept with format, the importance of humor in “humanizing” and “bridging centuries and miles”, the potential for “wonder in modest concepts” and exploring them to their logical conclusion and how he pushes outside himself to tell stories from the viewpoint of girls and women. A self-described “one-man movie studio”, he also waxes enthusiastic about the joy he gets from indulging his multimedia muse including the “crazy fun” and “intense satisfaction” of handing a story over to an artist, voicing his characters in audio rendition, and even dabbling in writing music to accompany his stories. The madcap conversa

"Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters" (Cover story, Asimov's, Dec. 2013). Art by Alexandra Minukyan.

“Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters” (Cover story, Asimov’s, Dec. 2013). Art by Alexandra Manukyan.

tion touches upon all his stories from the two aforementioned tales (‘Pearl’, 0:14:45) (‘Ladies’, 1:01:30)to the simple, elegant, tragic ‘Supplemental Declaration of Henry Lien’ (Interfictions, Nov. 2015)(0:24:30) and the life-changing experience at its heart that propelled him into writing spec-lit, the poignant dolphin conservation advocacy tale ‘Bilingual’ (F&SF, March 2015) (0:34:55) told unexpectedly all via Twitter, ‘The Shadow You Cast Is Me’ (Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, May 2015) (1:38:30) in which he explores the uncomfortable topic of a dysfunctional marriage, and ‘The Great Leap of Shin’ (Analog, Jan. 2015) (1:50:45). His Clarion West instructors Chuck Palahniuk and George RR Martin receive some heartfelt appreciation, “worlds that can be held in a pocket” are mused upon, and there’s a Karel Čapek interlude (1:17:00), plus ruminations on the rapidly diversifying audience for spec-lit, why Henry is done with short stories for the time-being, his just-completed novel which he says is “the best thing I have written”, why it’s OK to be proud of your stories, why he supports bringing back legal dueling to resolve world conflicts (1:51:30), his own ultimate duels, his ‘Radio SFWA’ recruitment anthem performed at the 2016 Nebula Awards (2:00:00), and his recommended living authors (2:05:20) James Robert Herndon

“Bilingual” (F&SF, March 2015), art by Caroline Sirounian.

and Lian Hearn.

News From the Weird

(2:13:10) With Arkham Digest columnist and Strange Aeons fiction editor Justin “Steely J” Steele. Reviews of two of the best weird fiction chapbooks of 2015: These Last Embers by Simon Strantzas, from Undertow Publications, and The Visible Filth by Nathan Ballingrud, from This is Horror.All day Levitra is great and works fine. Plus Scott and Justin look ahead to 2016, which promises to be another big year in the Weird including another author reveal from the table of contents of the much anticipated Lost Signals anthology (ed. Max Booth III/Perpetual Motion Machine Press).

This archival episode is available at This Is Horror here.

Additional Links

Caroline Sirounian

Kurt Huggins

‘Swim Wants to Know if it’s as Bad as Swim Thinks’ by Paul Tremblay

Sidecar Preservation Society

“The Great Leap of Shin” (Analog, Jan. 2015). Art by Kurt Huggins.

Show credits

Host/Executive Producer: Scott Nicolay

Co-Host, News From the Weird: Justin Steele

Associate Producer/Show Notes: Anya Martin

Logo Design: Nick “The Hat” Gucker

Music: Michael Griffin

Laird Barron & Justin Steele: The State of The Weird 2015 | The Outer Dark: Episode 24 — DECEMBER 22, 2015

December 22, 2015 / Scott Nicolay / 0 Comments

Laird Barron and Justin Steele join host Scott Nicolay in the most epic episode of The Outer Dark yet. Laird updates listeners on what he’s been working on lately, including his new review columns at Dark Discoveries and Locus, Justin discusses his vision as new fiction editor, columnist and reviewer for Strange Aeons, as well as more future anthology plans with Ross Lockhart. And Scott reveals some plans as well including his next collection in 2017, editing a short story collection of works by John D. Keefauver for Lethe Press, and more. The three then dive deep into a discussion of all the “good stuff out there” released in 2015 and upcoming in 2016 in weird fiction, especially short stories and so many must-have collections and anthologies. One stand-out in late 2015 is the “wonderful” and historic Cassilda’s Song, edited by Joseph S Pulver Sr. and featuring a who’s who of not just the top women writing weird fiction today but some of the very best authors and stories of the year period. In 2016, new collections from Laird Barron, John Langan, Livia Llewellyn, Jeffrey Ford, and Brian Evenson lead the pack of highly anticipated publications, as well as collections such as Autumn Cthulhu (ed. Mike Davis/Lovecraft eZine) and Lost Signals (ed. Max Booth III/Perpetual Motion Machine Press), a major new novel by the consistently excellent Stephen Graham Jones and many more writers and editors driving the Weird Renaissance.

Plus the Roundtable discusses innovative takes on werewolves, different types of rejections, the small press boom and its sustainability, the economics of limited editions, advice to authors on strategies to grow careers, the loss of some titans (Joel Lane, Michael Shea, Lucius Shepard, Melanie Tem, Tanith Lee) in recent years, why writers should embrace and savor weird and horror influences, the Weird’s big move into major publishing and cinema/TV, heading into the third annual Year’s Best Weird Fiction, key editors and publishers (including Ellen Datlow, Michael Kelly, Ross Lockhart, Simon Strantzas, and more), where Bizarro and Weird meet and diverge, and much more.

My dick was up for 5 hours (last one in hospital..). If you ask me if did it work? – hell yeah! Did I enjoy it? – hell no! But to be honest, that’s only for Levitra 20mg my idiocy.

This archival episode will be available again at This Is Horror soon. In the meantime, subscribe at iTunes or Blubrry to make sure you don’t miss an episode.

Next week’s guest: Henry Lien, author of “The Ladies’ Aquatic Gardening Society” (Asimov’s, June 2015) and more.

More Links:

https://jonathanstrahan.podbean.com/

https://weirdfictionreview.com/2011/11/dogme-2011-for-weird-fiction-by-scott-nicolay/

https://www.eibonvalepress.co.uk/books/books_scarcity.htm

https://www.lethepressbooks.com/

https://dimshores.apps-1and1.com/

https://smallbeerpress.com/

https://journalstone.com/

https://dunhamsmanor.com/

https://centipedepress.com/

https://www.undertowbooks.com/

https://chizinepub.com/

https://perpetualpublishing.com/

https://www.fedoganandbremer.com/

Robert Levy: A Secret Psychological Diary in Blue | The Outer Dark: Episode 22 — DECEMBER 3, 2015

December 3, 2015 / Scott Nicolay / 0 Comments

Robert Levy unveils and explores the secret origins of his novel The Glittering World from his own personal experiences in Cape Breton, Canada, or, in other words, “taking a great memory and completely destroying it,” similarities between the old lore behind fairies and alien abduction mythology, his ambivalence about but recognition of genre marketing in the publishing business, how a genre-defying and Weird first novel got placed with a major publisher, other authors like Jeff VanderMeer and Paul Tremblay who are breaking the Weird into big publishing, structural similarities in The Glittering World to two Alfred Hitchcock classics, the Weird’s transition from shorter modes into the novel, the short story and novels as different forms, how the book sheds its skin as the main characters unfold the narrative akin to a four-course meal, when the glitter fades–his exploration of transitioning from the club scene fantasy lifestyle to adulthood, the title’s unexpected relationship to the tradition of Navajo emergent/creation stories, altered states as a form of escape, insects, parallels to the iconic relationship in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, his fascination with people who are “right on the edge of oblivion or failure,” a stolen paperweight and life as a bizarre sequence of coincidences, storytelling as one way we try to give our life meaning, choice as the “anxiety of freedom,” taking his time to write a novel, fiction as a diary, future works which might have something to do with cults and found manuscripts, and his reading recommendations of other contemporary writers to watch including Livia Llewellyn, Desirina Boskovich, Dale Bailey, and Molly Tanzer.

News of the Weird Special Guest: Writer/editor Mike Allen reveals the table of contents for Clockwork Phoenix 5 in another exclusive The Outer Dark announcement.

And Justin Steele joins Scott to review The Glittering World.

This archival episode will be available again at This Is Horror soon. In the meantime, subscribe at iTunes or Blubrry to make sure you don’t miss an episode.

Next week’s guest: John C. Foster, author of the Libros de Inferno trilogy (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing) which starts with Dead Men.

More Links:

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7RgOVF0XG0

https://www.trailpeak.com/trail-Fairy-Hole-Hiking-Trail-Cape-Dauphin-near-Baddeck-NS-6019

Footage of the Fairy Hole cave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCZovMZlUas

Rear Window timelapse: https://vimeo.com/37120554

https://navajopeople.org/blog/navajo-creation-story-nihalgai-the-glittering-or-white-world/

https://www.amazon.com/Din%C3%A9-Bahane-Navajo-Creation-Story/dp/0826310435

https://www.francnewcomb.org/

https://www.strange-aeons.com/

A Care for Dark Cookery: Sampling the Menu Chez Clint Smith| The Outer Dark: Episode 21 — NOVEMBER 24, 2015

November 24, 2015 / Scott Nicolay / 0 Comments

Clint Smith talks about his latest story in C M Muller’s journal Nightscript and the excitement of sharing a table of contents with both other established and emerging voices, the strength and good new work in the Weird fiction community now, his first collection Ghouljaw and Other Stories, the weirdness of Henry James’ “The Jolly Corner,” his repetitious obsession with haunted houses, his knack for crafting titles that resonate, allusions to Night Gallery and The Day of the Locust, his propensity towards young protagonists trapped on the path to adult maturity, the barbershop and other father-son rituals, a favorable comparison to Breece D’J Pancake, when insects intrude into the house, a Bradbury inversion, obstacles and contradictions in the Middle American town, a pleasant face on the street, his background in the culinary arts, a future work involving race, sex and hierarchy in restaurant kitchens of the 1950s, moving away from the single white male protagonist to use the Weird to engage in more robust relationship issues, his Dunhams Manor chapbook “When It’s Time For Dead Things To Die,” his story “The Fall of Tomlinson Hall” in Mythic Indy, more upcoming work including “Dirt on Vicky” in Year’s Best New Horror 26 edited by Stephen Jones, and his reading recommendations of contemporary Weird writers including Kristi DeMeester, Ralph Robert Moore, Marc E. Fitch and Christopher Slatsky.

News of the Weird Special Guest: Michael Kelly, editor/publisher of Undertow Publications and 2015 World Fantasy Award nominee for the journal Shadows and Tall Trees, visits The Outer Dark to remind writers, editors and publishers that the deadline draws near for Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Volume 3, edited by Simon Strantzas. Send all submissions (up to 20,000K) to bestweirdfiction@gmail.com before Dec. 31. Michael also previews upcoming 2016 Undertow releases.

And Justin Steele joins Scott to review X’s for Eyes, the latest novella by Laird Barron and a JournalStone/Bizarro Pulp Press release in softcover and eBook in December.

This archival episode will be available again at This Is Horror soon. In the meantime, subscribe at iTunes or Blubrry to make sure you don’t miss an episode.

Next week’s guest: Robert Levy, author of The Glittering World.

More Links: