This is definitely an exciting year for me… in addition to Living With the Dead, Dark Prints Press is also publishing my novella “Rope” as an eBook.  The announcement of this is now online here:

http://darkprintspress.blogspot.com/2012/01/first-novella-titles-announced.html

‘Rope’ by Martin Livings follows a man who played a key role in the gallows at Fremantle Prison. Drenched in history, with an unfolding drama, completely dark and yet a little heart-warming, this is a side of Martin Livings you don’t want to miss – storytelling at its finest.

I can’t wait to see this one in print (or e-print!); it’s a story I worked incredibly hard on, and the research gave me nightmares for weeks afterwards.  Although it’s fiction, the historical facts behind it are entirely true, and my Mum actually went to school with the last man in WA to be hanged, so there’s a personal connection there as well.  I’ll be intrigued to see how readers react to this one, it’s a little different to my usual fare!

Is it crass and commercial to say “buy this when it comes out”?  Ah, who cares?  Buy this when it comes out!

Further to yesterday’s post, Vincent Chong himself has posted on his blog about the artwork for Living With the Dead, in which he gives me way too much credit for the design!

More importantly, and more impressively, he’s posted the full wraparound version of the artwork, which I was hesitant to do myself unti he’d done so himself.  So, ladies and gentlemen, may I present the artwork in all its glory!  Click to see the larger version:

As regular readers here probably know, next year I have my first ever collection of short stories coming out from Dark Prints Press.  This will be a twenty year retrospective, with twenty reprinted stories and three originals, and is named Living With the Dead, after my 1996 story in Eidolon.  This is hugely exciting for me, as single author short fiction collections are some of my favourite books of all time, so having one all of my own is just mind-blowing.

Having the cover artwork done by Vincent Chong, though, is even better.

Vincent has done amazing covers for writers like China Mieville, Stephen King and Peter Straub, amongst many, many others.  So when Craig at Dark Prints Press was going to be doing my cover, I couldn’t believe it.  Then when Vincent contacted me and asked if I had any ideas for what I wanted for the cover, I had to think fast.  I told him I had in mind those Victorian-era “death portraits”, where families would gather around a recently-deceased loved one and have a photograph taken. That sepia, cracked look was what I had in mind. Vincent was already thinking along similar lines, and startlingly quickly sent over a sketch, which I really liked.  I offered a few suggestions, most of which were dumb (cringe!), but one or two made the final cut.  Another sketch was sent, this one perfect, and then not that long later, the final painting.

It took my breath away.  It’s romantic and beautiful and eerie, and so much better than I could possibly have hoped or imagined.  How the hell is my name down the bottom of that?  There must be some mistake!

I genuinely can’t believe how good this book is going to look.  I actually feel a bit unworthy of the cover now, but hopefully what’s inside Living With the Dead will justify this gorgeously creepy artwork.  I can’t wait to see it in the fleshpaper next year, and be pushing it forcefully into people’s hands, insisting “Buy it, buy it now!  Even if you don’t read it, just put it on a bookshelf somewhere and look at it!”

It’s going to be awesome, trust me!

Well, I guess acceptances are like buses.  You wait for ages and ages, then suddenly two come at once.  Unlike buses, though, acceptances don’t smell bad, aren’t rather expensive, and don’t hold up traffic interminably on Alexander Drive when you’re already late for work.  So, in conclusion, buses are not as good as acceptances.  Unless you actually need to travel from one place to another and don’t have a car.  In which case, acceptances are rubbish.  You should definitely go with a bus.

Sorry, what was I talking about?  Oh yeah, that’s right.  On Saturday morning, I found out that my story “La Mort d’un Roturier” has been accepted into the upcoming Machine of Death 2 anthology.  I’m completely thrilled to have made it through, having read the ongoing blog entries from the editors describing the absolute avalanche of submissions they got (over two thousand of them!).  I’m really proud of “La Mort d’un Roturier”, which I’m hoping should be quite different from most of the stories in the collection, and not just because its title is in French!  And I can’t wait to find out who else managed to sneak in.

Then, later that afternoon, another very welcome email, this time from Eclecticism Magazine, accepting my story “Trick Or…” for their (slightly belated) Halloween issue.  This is another story I’m very proud of; it was originally written for a Halloween competition, which I seem to recall it might have possibly won, but it was never actually published until now.  I’ve always held onto it, just waiting for that right market, and how could I not submit it to Craig?  Of course, now it’s starting to become a bit embarrassing how many stories of mine he’s publishing at the moment, especially considering he’s doing my collection next year!

So, all things considered, a pretty damn fine Saturday!  Wish they could all be like that…

Wow, I’ve been quiet on here lately, haven’t I?  Sorry about that, busy busy busy with the day job, and of course I’m now three days into NaNoWriMo, so it’s all go here.  But I thought I’d actually take a moment to mention the fact that the new book of apocalyptic short fiction from Dark Prints Press, Surviving the End, is now available for pre-order from their online store.

This book should be really a interesting one; the publishers have an almost hand-made aesthetic intended for the print edition, with rough cut edges on the pages and illustrations and scribbles throughout.  And, of course, it features brand new stories from Joseph D’Lacey, Jason Nahrung, Amanda J Spedding, Michael Bailey, Kathryn Hore, Ashlee Scheuerman and myself, with “narrative interludes” by the editor, Craig Bezant.  I can’t wait to see this anthology, it really is something a little bit different.  And, of course, the more successful it is, the more emboldened the publisher will be with releasing Living With the Dead, my first short story collection, due out late in 2012.

So go out and pre-buy it!  Then bring it along to next year’s Swancon in Perth, where Craig and I will both be, hopefully to launch it properly!

Or, an essay in which I not only stretch a metaphor, I mangle and disembowel it…

http://fablecroft.com.au/books/publishing/on-indie-press-martin-livings

There’s been a very positive review of Brimstone Press’ magnificent octopus Macabre over at Innsmouth Free Press.  Fellow AWHA alumni Amanda Spedding says some very nice things about it, and my story “Crawlin” gets a mention, which I’m chuffed about, because in a book that big, getting noticed ain’t easy!  She says:

There are so many stories in this section I enjoyed, each one a new gift to be unwrapped. One worth special mention is Martin Livings’ “Crawlin”. The first person narrative of this piece, the agony and the desperation of the character, is reinforced by the style. Bare-bones punctuation drives this story forward, and the disjointed thoughts, feelings and experiences transported me completely into the main character’s hell.

I’m so glad she liked it; when pitching it to Angela and Marty, we all agreed that people would either love or hate this one; it isn’t a wishy-washy piece, whatever else you might say about it!  The entire review is available HERE.

Well, it’s been a while since I last posted, I know, things have been busy behind the scenes, plenty of working on stories for a variety of markets, lots of finger-crossing getting in the way of actual productivity.  But today, for the first time, I’m pleased to announce that I’ve published my own e-book on Smashwords.  The book is a collection of the best stories I wrote for my experimental Tuesday’s Ten Minute Tales (minus a few that were actually published elsewhere already); I thought it might be fun to release them in an e-book, just to see what it’s like releasing an e-book.

The result?  Ten Minutes to Dumbsday! And, what’s more, it’s absolutely free!  So please, go and download it, and let me know what you think of my first clumsy foray into the terrifying world of electronic publishing.  Big thanks have to go out to those who’ve given me advice on this, especially Alan, Shane, Daniel and most of all Patty!  I doubt I could have even figured out where to start without their help.

Well, the awards season is once again done, and now the recent Aurealis Awards judges reports have been published on the AA site here:

http://www.aurealisawards.com/judgesreports2010.pdf

About my story, “Lollo” from Close Encounters of the Urban Kind (available to read online for free HERE), the judges kindly said:

Livings combines horror with a touch of science‐fiction in this fantastic 1970s Stephen King-esque story about a babysitter tormented by a creepy toy clown. Part IT, part Alien and part Black Christmas, Lollo represents a throwback to the fun, supernatural chillers of yesteryear. After masterfully creating a feeling of unease with the appearance of the doll, Livings raises the tension as our protagonist is forced to fight for her life within the confines of the home.

Lovely comments, gotta be happy with that!  And now I really should go and read Richard Harland’s winning story. 

Morrigan Books‘ fantastic collection Scenes From the Second Storey, including Kirstyn McDermott’s Ditmar-winning “She Said”, Felicity Dowker‘s Ditmar-nominated “The Blind Man”, and even my own Tin Duck nominated story “Home”, is now available from Amazon , so there’s no longer any valid excuse for anyone on Earth not to own this excellent book!  It’s available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Scenes-Second-Storey-Kaaron-Warren/dp/9186865005/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1305098451&sr=1-1

Go!  Buy now!  You definitely won’t regret it.

EDIT – it also includes Andrew J. McKiernan‘s story “The Desert Song”, which scored an Honourable Mention in Ellen Datlow‘s Best Horror of the Year Volume 3.  Thanks for pointing that out, Andrew.