Things That Make Me Happy

Well, there are a lot of things, yes. (Get your minds out of the gutter.) Way too often, days fly by and I don't take time to properly appreciate those things, but here are a few of them.

The ALA has made POISON INK one of its Quick Picks, putting it on the list of Best Books for Reluctant Readers for 2009. It's not the first time I've made the list, but it always makes me smile. There's nothing that pleases me more than hearing from someone, kid or adult, who "doesn't like to read" that they enjoyed something I wrote. It always feels like a win. So, yay! :)

Eksmo, my Russian publisher, has sent me copies of the beautiful hardcover edition they've done of ANGEL SOULS AND DEVIL HEARTS. (This is the fourth book of mine they've done, after STRANGEWOOD, WILDWOOD ROAD, and OF SAINTS AND SHADOWS.) Next up is THE MYTH HUNTERS, and she tells me they intend to publish the entire Veil trilogy, as well as the other two Shadow Saga novels. I'm taking that as a good sign.

The lovely (and slightly goofy) Amber Benson has actually started blogging. I thought the day would never come, and now I suppose I'll have to blog more. Bad enough Tim Lebbon blogs all the damn time. And both Amber and Tim are on freakin' Twitter, which I just don't understand. What would mine say? Working. Working. Working. Working. Hmm, maybe that should worry me. All work and no play...you know how it goes. Ah, well, going out to dinner tomorrow night with my wife and some friends (you'd be surprised how good some of the restaurants in Haverhill, MA are), so I do have SOME tiny social life.

Anyway, Amber's blog... http://amberbensonwrotethis.blogspot.com/ Her first solo novel, DEATH'S DAUGHTER, hits shelves next month. Buy. Read. Smile.

Just bought the new CD from the Derek Trucks Band, and it makes me very happy. It's been a long, cold, shitty winter, and playing the CD creates a little bubble of summer in my office.

Comics people, and horror people, make sure to check out the new DEAD OF NIGHT: WEREWOLF BY NIGHT miniseries from Marvel. Always loved the character, and hard boiled Duane Swierczynski has started the thing off with a bang.

So there you go. Must go write, now. Am about to do some very horrible things to Cait McCandless...things for which she will never forgive me. And, perhaps unsettlingly for you, that makes me happiest of all.

Maps and more Things To Come

So, I'm long past the point of making promises about being a better blogger. I've seen where that gets me. Let's forge ahead, shall we? And if I happen to manage this a bit more often, all the better. :)

It's going to be a very interesting year, I have a feeling...in lots of different ways. For me, as always, it's going to involve lots of writing. There's also some fairly interesting travel this summer, taking me from London to St. Petersburg and back. As for conventions...more on that in a bit.

THE MAP OF MOMENTS hits bookstores this week. My collaborator on that novel, the devilishly handsome Tim Lebbon, and I are anxiously awaiting reader feedback. We're pretty damned thrilled with the book and the reviews it's been receiving, so we hope you like it.

What else is up for this year? I've been hearing rumors about an upcoming YA supernatural trilogy that's supposedly written by me, under the name Thomas Randall. I'm curious about that. But for now, some quick updates...

**Tim Lebbon and I will soon begin the third Hidden Cities book, TELL MY SORROWS TO THE STONES, and there will definitely be a fourth one, at least.

**No word yet on release date for THE SECRET JOURNEYS OF JACK LONDON, but I'll keep you posted.

**I've done a short story, "Quiet Bullets," for Joe R. Lansdale's upcoming SON OF RETRO PULP TALES anthology for Subterranean Press.

**Mike Mignola and I just finished a short story, "Mechanisms," for a new anthology of HELLRAISER stories, though Mike's still working on illustrations.

**It appears I'll be returning to comics late in 2009.

**I've delivered the new version of the BALTIMORE script to the producers. I'm sure there will be changes before it goes on to the studio.

**My co-writer on the CW pilot (Stephanie K. Smith) and I await the network's decisions.

**BRITISH INVASION, the anthology I edited with Tim Lebbon and James A. Moore, has finally been published by Cemetery Dance. Hopefully the Cemetery Dance editions of PRINCE OF STORIES and MIND THE GAP will follow quickly, especially since there's another book of mine in the works at CD which is going to be the coolest limited edition I've ever had.

**Rich Horton has chosen my story "The Hiss of Escaping Air" for his FANTASY: THE BEST OF THE YEAR anthology. It's the first time any of my short fiction has been selected for one of these collections, and I'm honored. Note: the original chapbook is still available from PS Publishing's site, and with the way the pound has dropped against the dollar, it's MUCH cheaper for US readers than it was upon publication back in the fall.

I'm sure there are other things I should be reporting, but I've been under the weather this weekend and my head's all muddled. So, moving on...

Right now, I'm planning to attend three conventions this year--Necon, World Fantasy (it's in San Jose, California!), and I'll be Horror Guest of Honor at Context in Columbus, OH, August 28th-30th, 2009. I find it interesting that I'm the horror guest, since so little of what I've written seems to actually qualify as horror, but as I've said in the past, the horror people are my people, which makes it a double honor as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks for reading.