Sadie Hartmann reviews books all over the place, including the celebrated horror magazine, Cemetery Dance. Not only did she give The Secret Skin a stellar review over at the magazine, she put it on her list of favorite 2021 horror releases.
But that wasn’t the only Best Books of 2021 The Secret Skin made! Back in November, The Washington Post compiled their list of the year’s best SF/F/H novels and The Secret Skin made the cut! That post is behind a paywall, but you can check out the full list on Locus.
I can’t tell you how terrific it is to hear that readers I really admire have enjoyed this novella! I hope it continues to connect to people, because this little book means an awful lot to me.
Is it really December already? Much like it has for everyone, 2021 has been an absolute whirlwind for me. There was some bad stuff (like it hitting nearly 120 degrees in my neighborhood) and some good stuff (my husband taught the dog to sit!), but on a professional level, this was a VERY exciting year.
Here’s a list of everything I published this year and what it’s eligible for, award-wise:
• “The Suburbs Are Delicious,” 99 Tiny Terrors, edited by Jennifer Brozek (October 2021). This was my only piece of short fiction! It’s a fun flash piece, so I don’t think it’s eligible for anything. But if you know anybody who’s really scared of spiders, they should avoid this one.
• “Telling Stories of Ghosts,” Apex Magazine. (Spring 2021) This little piece of nonfiction is eligible for the Bram Stoker award, Short Nonfiction category. It’s about way American practices about death can deeply scar children.
• The Deer Kings, JournalStone Press (August 2021). This horror novel is eligible for the Bram Stoker award, Novel category. If you like books that pit children against terrible evil or about communities secretly sheltering evil cults, this one is for you!
• The Secret Skin, Neon Hemlock (October 2021). This gothic novella with dark fantasy elements is eligible for the Bram Stoker award, Long Fiction category. It’s also eligible for the Nebula award, Novella category, and the Hugo award, Novella category!
I also have a super-gloomy essay about cemeteries coming out in the December issue of The Deadlands, but it’s not out yet.
Editorial stuff:
I started editing Nightmare Magazine this February, and it’s been a great experience! We’ve published a terrific mix of horror and dark fantasy. All of those stories are eligible for the Bram Stoker fiction awards. We published a few novelettes that qualify for the Long Fiction award: “Darkness Metastatic,” by Sam J. Miller, “Rotten Little Town: An Oral History (Abridged),” by Adam-Troy Castro, and “We, the Girls Who Did Not Make It,” by E.A. Petricone, but the rest are all Short Fiction. All of our H Word columns are eligible for the Bram Stoker award for Short Nonfiction, too!
Because Nightmare contains a mix of horror and fantasy content–and because I’m also the Senior Editor at Lightspeed–I think I’m probably eligible for the Hugo Award, Short Form Editor.
Other awesome stuff:
It’s been a terrific year for the horror genre! It’s been so wonderful to see up-and-coming indie writers like Hailey Piper and Eric LaRocca get so much critical recognition, and I was so happy to see Zin E. Rocklyn‘s novella Flowers for the Sea make so many year’s best lists. These three writers are really pushing the genre needle into weird and wonderful places, so I hope you get a chance to check them out!
Thanks to everyone who made 2021 such a terrific year–and here’s hoping next year is filled with joy!
It’s kind of weird to have another book out just two months after the most recent one, but that’s the way publishing works sometimes! But I’ve got to say that I’m incredibly excited about this novella. I started it ten years ago, and I think it’s probably the prettiest thing I’ve ever written. So I’m thrilled that The Secret Skin is out today!
The always-awesome Paul Semel interviewed me for his website, where we talked all about “gothic sawmills” and all things booktacular. You should check it out!
Festival poster at the Hollywood Theater: You can just see my name on the right-hand side: Wendy Wag.
I was just looking at my calendar for the month, and HOLY BONJOES! I’m doing a lot of stuff right now. I guess that’s what happens when you’re promoting a novel, a novella, and you work in the spooky business.
I had a great time reading at the HP Lovecraft Film Festival, one of my very favorite horror-related events. It was my first trip back to Portland’s iconic Hollywood Theater since the beginning of covid, and it felt like a homecoming. I also just wrapped up an event (virtual, sadly) at Powell’s Books, another place that always feels like home. If you missed it, the event (a fun conversation with Caitlin Starling about her new novel The Death of Jane Lawrence), it’s up on YouTube now!
Here are some of my upcoming events:
10/11, 7 pm Pacific: Scary Stories with Wendy N. Wagner — I talk scary stories and submissions with Willamette Writers. (Suggested $5 donation for non-members.)
10/31, 11 am Pacific: Apex Snap Judgment Panel — A panel of editors listens to your short story submissions and give writing advice. Free and sure to be educational!
So that’s my month! Here’s hoping to see some of you at these fun events. I love hanging out!
I’m so excited that today is my novel The Deer Kings‘ launch day! I’ve never had a book that’s felt so personal to me, so it’s amazing to think of it making its way into other people’s hands.
If you’d like to learn more about the process of writing The Deer Kings, there’s a really in-depth interview with me up at Paul Semel’s website: paulsemel.com/exclusive-interview-the-deer-kings-author-wendy-n-wagner. Paul is a terrific interviewer who knows how to get writers to dig deep. In the interview, I talk about some of the scary stuff I saw growing up that inspired the novel, as well as books and movies that helped me write the book. You can also check out a great picture of my dog, Beansy!
If you’re interested in learning more about The Deer Kings, you can check out my publisher’s website here, where the novel is available in ebook and paperback : journalstone.com/bookstore/the-deer-kings
You can preorder my Gothic novella The Secret Skin during my publisher’s Kickstarter campaign (which runs during the month of May). There’s a price break over buying the novella when it releases in October, plus, you can get cool candles, pins, and all the other novellas in the series.
The Secret Skin is a sawmill gothic that begins with June Vogel’s return to Storm Break, her family’s estate. Things in the great house aren’t what they used to be. Doors slam in the night. Faucets turn on, untouched. Something is always watching, whatever June does. And when her brother returns with his new bride, deceit and betrayal threaten to destroy everything she loves.
So the other day, my editor at Oregon Humanities emailed me this:
And while I know there are thousands of Pushcart nominations every year, I just about jumped out of my chair for joy!
I love reading and writing nonfiction, especially about nature, so to get this little affirmation about my nature writing really felt great. Plus, I really care about being a pedestrian advocate, so I’m doubly happy.
This morning the automated system emailed to let me know that my roundtable conversation with John Joseph Adams about working at Nightmare, reading and editing horror, and other fun stuff went live at the magazine. First I got excited, because we had a great time working on this interview and I’m really excited to share it with people.
And then I got teary.
If you know me at all, you’re not surprised. I tear up for anything touching, sweet, or more emotionally stimulating than a Hallmark card (and let’s face it, some Hallmark cards are dangerously touching). And this interview is all of those things. To me, it’s like that moment in a relay race where one runner hands off the baton to the next.
I’ve been working with John Joseph Adams for more than a decade, on and off. Before I ever became his editorial assistant, I was a fan of his work, so working for him was pretty intimidating. Honestly, sometimes it’s still sometimes a little intimidating! John has such a fine mind and great instincts, and they’ve made him one of the best in the business. I’ve learned so much working with him over the years. I admire him so much.
It’s scary to think that next week it’ll be my name on the cover of Nightmare–scary because JJA has built a tremendous publication that thousands of readers know and love. I don’t want to let them–or him!–down.
But it’s also incredibly exciting. I am SO PROUD of my first issue! I love the stories and the poem, our first ever (well, first in regular issues–we included poetry in the Queers Destroy Horror! special issue). The cover artwork (art directed by Grace Legault) is rad. “The H Word” column is thought-provoking, and the interview is with the delightful Hailey Piper.
So yes, this week I’m tearing up for JJA’s last issue. Next week? I’ll be tearing up for my first. I hope you’ll check it out!
The cat is out of the bag! That’s right—starting with our February 2021 issue, I’ll be stepping up to serve as the editor-in-chief of Nightmare Magazine! Here’s the full announcement from JJA and I.
I love my work at Nightmare and I love, love, love dark fiction and the horror community, so I couldn’t be more excited.
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