Playing Catch Up

This past year has been such a whirlwind, I've hardly had time to catch my breath, but here's a rundown of what's happened and what's happening. (Also see Events and Books.)

Atlanta's Bram Stoker Awards Weekend and 25th Anniverssary World Horror Convention in May 2015 - I had a blast hanging out with friends and meeting new ones such as Alessandro Manzetti who came all the way from Italy with his family to attend. I was on a few panels like Beta Reading Groups, which was a blast because my Beta Team kicks ass, a Death Panel on Sunday, which was another really fun one, then a Screenplay Panel (don't ask), I'm just thankful Lynne Hansen got up there with me. I also sat on a panel for QUALIA NOUS, an anthology edited by Michael Bailey and published by Written Backwards. My short story "Ruminations" was in it, along with Usman T. Malik's "The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family". Both works were nominated in the Short Fiction category for a Bram Stoker Award®, and we both walked away with the award in a tie, which was awesome. I also accepted the Silver Hammer Award for my volunteer work.

AnthoCon in June 2015 at Portsmouth, NH - I caught up with friends like Gene O'Neill, Gord Rollo, Bob Meracle, Chris Marrs, James Chambers, visited Salem, MA (a place I've always wanted to visit), and got a chance to meet a lot of what I like to call the East Coast writers like Bracken MacLeod, Errick Nunnally, Jan Kozlowski, and Tom Monteleone. I met artist GAK, the Scully sisters, Trevor Firetog, and Andrew Wolter, along with so many more. One of the sponsors for the event was Svedka Vodka, and I fell in love with their cherry flavor. Had it all weekend mixed with Coca-Cola.

Between June through October a home purchase happened, as well as a local move, and major foot surgery. I'm also co-chairing an inaugural event (StokerCon 2016) for the Horror Writers Association next May in Las Vegas, so that's kept me busy as well.

The 2nd Annual Stanley Hotel Writers Retreat in October 2015 would have been so much better if my foot healed faster than a normal human's, but despite realizing I don't have any healing super powers, I had a blast at Denver's 13th Floor Haunted House. Big thanks to Mike McCarty for getting me through it! It snowed a little on the drive up to the hotel, but I had a wonderful time with good friends. It's nice to be able to sit and talk to people I usually only see in passing, like Sarah Read, Craig DiLouie, and Kristin Dearborn. Always a pleasure to visit with Jack Ketchum, R.J. Cavender, and Dark Regions Press.

Only three weeks later in early November, I attended the first Living Dead Convention in Portland, OR. The event was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed catching up with some old friends and getting the chance to chat with newer ones like artist and author Matt Dinniman, and Katie Cord. One major takeaway from this event was staying at The Jupiter Hotel -- very "hip" and interesting place.

During and since all the traveling, writing, and life, I've had a few short stories come out in anthologies. One is out now, and a couple coming soon. I was also invited to write a few more short stories, and a novella. I finished the first draft of my next novel, need to rewrite another novel, and need to start a new draft of a screenplay. Between now and spring of next year, I'm going to be busier than I've ever been, and it's fantastic! I'm looking forward to all the challenges.