I don’t need to tell you that the end of 2024 brought unwanted and unwelcome news for the US and the rest of the world. Hell, even a year ago things were not great. Frankly, I’m not really here to talk about all that. There’s other places I’m willing to stick a shovel in that pile of shit, but not here. Let’s talk about books, publishing, writing, and pieces of media I enjoyed this year.
Short Stories
When I first decided to take writing seriously, I tried for a long time to get short stories published. I mainly tried horror stories and even dabbled in more literary stuff/magical realism. Some of it was good (mostly the horror) and some was bad (mostly the literary). I got a lot of rejections from various websites and magazines. Now I’ve got one short story published and another one the way!
I was fortunate when Gabriella Houston (author of The Bone Roots) asked me to write a short story for an anthology titled Whispers in the Earth: World Folklore Reimagined. As the title suggests, this anthology contains short stories from authors of many different backgrounds drawing upon different elements of folklore from around the world. It’s a bit out of my wheelhouse, but I took it as a challenge. I have to thank Gabriella for her encouragement when I expressed uncertainty about the story. It’s titled “Bonaparte’s Devil” and is inspired by stories of the Jersey Devil. The anthology also includes linocut illustrations made by Gabriella herself. Other authors included in the anthology include Stephen Aryan and Eliza Chan as well my agent siblings Sam Horton, Shannon Ives, and Sarah J. Daley.
I also wrote a horror story titled Brain Nine and the Masseuse that has been accepted for publication in Cosmic Horror Monthly! It’s been a long time since I wrote anything firmly in the realm of horror and I’m very proud of this story. It’s great to be able to say that I finally have a short horror story being published after 11 years of trying.
The Ten of Shrike and Krait
My heroic fantasy went out on submission over a year ago. Response times have been slow (that’s the publishing world in a nutshell) but the long and short of it is this has no home – yet. I can only answer that bit of news with a shrug. It’s not the first time a book of mine has had a hard time finding a home, but I try not to think about it. Instead, I’ve stayed busy.
New Book
Meanwhile, I wrote another book! It took me about the first half of the year and it was one of the best writing experiences I’ve had since Song of the Raptors. Right now I’m working on some revisions after looking over the feedback from my agent. I can’t say much about now, but I hope I’ll get to tell you all about it in the not so distant future.
New Book Deux
I’ve got another book in the works right now as well. This one is a sci-fi book and I’m trying not to push myself too hard with it. I want to play around with style and worldbuilding a bit. I expect I’ll finish it sometime next year if I keep up this pace.
Favorite Things:
Books
Empire of the Wolf Trilogy by Richard Swan
The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin
Tress and the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
Light Bringer by Pierce Brown
Movies
Oppenheimer (yeah I know I’m late)
Dune Part Two
Deadpool & Wolverine
Gladiator II
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Challengers
The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim
Television
House of the Dragon
The Rings of Power
The Acolyte
Nobody Wants This
Only Murders in the Building
Dune: Prophecy
Video Games
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Borderlands 3
Darkest Dungeon 2