Wendy N. Wagner

Every year the James Tiptree, Jr Award announces its winners, its honor books, and its long list of recommended reading. While the Tiptree award isn’t as famous as, say, the Hugo, it’s been my dream to make the long list–it’s always a great collection of literature digging into what makes gender tick.

Needless to say, I’m delighted to see last year’s editorial project, Nightmare‘s Queers Destroy Horror! special issue, get a shout-out. I’m so proud of all the writers, staff, and volunteers who worked so hard to put the book together!

If you live in Hungary and you love Lovecraft, there’s a new magazine to check out—Azilum. It’s an actual paper magazine, edited by Gábor Somogyi, and while I have no idea if it’s a good read (Hungarian was definitely not a foreign language offering at my high school!), I’m pretty excited to have my story “Curvature of the Witch House” reprinted in their inaugural issue.

If you’re not in Hungary, you can still read “Curvature” in the archives of Innsmouth Magazine.

While I’ve had work translated before, this is my first foreign Lovecraftian reprint, so I’m one happy nerd!

Wow, is it really award season again? Last year’s award season was chaos and pandemonium, but I have high hopes that this year, the science fiction and fantasy community will have a friendly discussion about their favorite genre. If you had a membership to WorldCon last year or have a membership this year, you can nominate work. Awards can make a huge difference in a writer’s career, so get out there and nominate the pieces you love! For more information, visit the MidAmericon’s Hugo award site.

I had a lot of short fiction come out this year, but most of it was horror, so it’s not a great fit for the Hugo awards. Of course, I did work my butt off in the editorial world, and one awesome fan site recommended me as a nominee for Best Short Form Editor (Thanks so much, Nerds of a Feather!). I guess I am eligible!

Seriously, the editorial categories of the Hugo awards often get very few nominations or votes, but editors do a lot of heavy lifting in this field. If you love a magazine’s work, give their editor a shout-out when you make your nominations! And if you like a book, you can often find its editor listed in the acknowledgments at the back of the book. I’d love to see short form editors like John Joseph Adams, C. C. Finlay, and Scott Andrews get recognized this year, and I adore the work of long form editors like Liz Gorinsky, Nick Mamatas, and Paizo’s own James Sutter.

Let’s make the Hugo Awards a celebration this year. It’s not really about who wins–it’s about how much we love SFF!

Look at Jendara, leaping straight into danger!

Here’s the cover text as it appears on the Paizo website:

The Stars Are Wrong

Once a notorious pirate, Jendara has at last returned to the cold northern isles of her birth, ready to settle down and raise her young son. Yet when a mysterious tsunami wracks her island’s shore, she and her fearless crew must sail out to explore the strange island that’s risen from the sea floor. No sooner have they delved into the lost island’s alien structures than they find themselves competing with a monstrous cult eager to complete a dark ritual in those dripping halls. For something beyond all mortal comprehension has been dreaming on the sea floor. And it’s begun to wake up…

The book is due out in August.

The wonderful cover painting (which wraps around the cover—it’s really terrific!) is by Jesper Ejsing.

Here’s a bigger look at that great monster:

December.

The sun sets before you get to leave work. The line at the coffee shop is at its seasonal high. The grocery store is always packed. You might get a few extra days off from work, but you’ll probably spend most of them driving in slow-and-go traffic and icy, windy, or just plain miserable conditions. And I won’t even start on the family gatherings. No matter how much you love your kith and kin, there’s bound to be an awkward moment just waiting for you.

You deserve a winter pick-me-up!

And while I’d love to give everyone in the world a big glass of holiday egg nog (or my delicious vegan nog), I only have so many glasses. So instead I’m giving away two copies of the audiobook of Skinwalkers! It’s just the thing to put on when you’re headed over the river and through the woods, or when you’re hitting the gym after too many cookies.

In fact, I’d go so far as to claim that Skinwalkers is the perfect holiday read. Reading about peril, mystery, and the threat of being eaten alive really helps put your own problems in perspective. Being forced to listen to twenty hours of Wham’s “Last Christmas” isn’t nearly as painful as being crushed by an ogre! And if you think your family has problems, wait until you hear about Jendara’s. Still, it’s that bond of love that matters in the end—and nothing warms the heart like a family coming together to fight all odds.

Plus, it’s, well, free.

Just drop me an email at wendy @ winniewoohoo.com with the subject line “Free audiobook” before midnight on Thursday, 12/17—that’s right, you can do it while you’re waiting for the premiere of The Force Awakens to start! I’ll draw two winners at random on Friday morning and let them know via email.

Is it really Orycon all ready??

For me, nothing signals the start of the holiday like our annual SF/F convention here in Portland–Orycon! I usually pick up a few holiday gifts in the dealer’s room or at the art show, and getting to reconnect with all my favorite writers (I almost typed co-workers–they kind of are!) from around Washington and Oregon just feels special.

This year, I’ll be on a few panels on Saturday and I’ve got a reading on Sunday. It’s at 11:30, so you have just enough time to get brunch, pop in for taster from my most recent short story (it has ghosts!), and then catch the last few hours of the con.

Of course the highlight for any book lover is always the post-Orycon author event: Authorfest 9! Make sure to stop by Powell’s Cedar Hills location at 4 pm on Sunday. There will be more than two dozen local writers ready to sign books and shoot the breeze. Rumor has it that a contingent from the Cloud City Garrison of the 501st Imperial Legion will be there, too. How often do you get to take your picture with a storm trooper?

If you love the Cthulhu Mythos as much as I do (or hey, even one-third as much as I do–that’s still a lot!), you should be sure to make it to Powell’s Books on Hawthorne on November 12th at 7:30 pm. That’s right, in a little over a week, I’ll be reading from Cthulhu Fhtagn!, along with some of the other terrific writers in the anthology.

For all the details, visit the event site. It’s going to be a blast!

Terrific news, audiophiles! Fifteen of the Pathfinder adventure novels have been released today as audiobooks, including my all-axes-on-deck novel, Skinwalkers. So if you need something to make your commute a little more exciting, we’ve gotcha covered.

You can check it out here on Audible.

It’s that time of year again, folks–the time when the Deep Ones come out of the sea to gather at the Hollywood Theater and celebrate their maker. H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary with an amazing line-up of films, gaming, and author events, and I’m glad to be a part of it this year. For the full schedule of the event, click here.

If you’d like to catch me while I’m at the festival, here’s my schedule:

Friday

4-6 pm – Meet & Greet at Sam’s Billiards. Come hang out!

8 pm – Lovecraft on the Tabletop. We’ll talk about Lovecraftian board games and RPGs. What’s not to love?

Saturday

10 -noon – Carbload for Cthulhu. I’ll be selling copies of Skinwalkers and signing anything you put in front of me. With donuts!

8 pm – Reading with Andrew Fuller and Molly Tanzer. They’re two of my best friends in this business!

Other than that, I hope to be hanging out, watching great movies and letting the Gospel of HPL wash over my soul. I hope to see you there!

PS: I thought I’d share a picture of me from a few years ago. It looks like somebody got a photo when I wasn’t wearing my makeup!

I am so, so excited for October 1st! I’ve been working on Queers Destroy Horror! for the last several months, and as I’ve watched the table of contents and the art come together, I’ve just gotten more and more thrilled.

First of all, there’s the cover. It’s a great cover–colorful, vibrant, and a weird blend of creepy and cute. Wanna peek?

It really captures my vision for the issue’s fiction, which I wanted to be polished, approachable, and creepy. Every piece had to appeal to my gut as well as my brain; every piece was selected because its language gave me goosebumps at some moment. Some of the pieces are immediately uncomfortably dark, while others have to be chewed on a bit before they elicit a solid surge of unpleasantness. I think horror is at its best when it makes you think about the world around you and the ways it can be cruel, dangerous, and downright gross.

Speaking of things that are downright gross, my love of the revolting brought me the biggest surprise of the entire issue. I’d fallen in love with a particularly nasty story by Chuck Palahniuk (“Top Potting,” which originally appeared in his frame novel Haunted) and really wanted to reprint it in QDH. But Mr. Palahniuk surprised me with a fantastic original piece called “Let’s See What Happens.” It’s a tremendously stylish piece filled with moments I didn’t want to read, but found I couldn’t not read. Like all the other stories in QDH, I adore it.

Here’s the full list of fiction for the issue:

Golden Hair, Red Lips — Matthew Bright (original)
Alien Jane — Kelley Eskridge (reprint)
The Lord of Corrosion — Lee Thomas (original)
Rats Live on No Evil Star — Caitlín R. Kiernan (reprint)
Dispatches from a Hole in the World — Sunny Moraine (original)
Bayou de la Mère — Poppy Z. Brite (reprint)
Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers — Alyssa Wong (original)
Let’s See What Happens — Chuck Palahniuk (original)

All of the pieces are available Queers Destroy Horror’s ebook and print editions (available on Amazon starting 10/1), and some of them will be featured in our online edition, where a new story will be released every Wednesday in October. And all the original stories have brand-new illustrations from our talented artists, like Plunderpuss and the Hugo award-winning artist Elizabeth Leggett.

Another great feature in QDH is our amazing poetry section. I love poetry and sometimes write it, and I’ve had the luck to work with Robyn Lupo on several poem revisions. Robyn is a wonderful poet and a terrific writer; she’s also one of our Assistant Editors at Lightspeed Magazine. Since I know a handful of poets who work in the dark arts, I knew my special issue of Nightmare had to include a poetry section, and I knew Robyn was the only person for the job. She picked out eight tremendous pieces that explore the beauty in darkness that I know I’ll be reading and re-reading for years.

There’s more to QDH than just fiction and poetry, though. The nonfiction is terrific! I love good nonfiction and knew we had to have an amazing nonfiction editor. Picking Megan Arkenberg for the job was a no-brainer. She commissioned challenging, engaging work for the issue that really dig into queer issues and rip into the flesh of the horror genre.

Queers Destroy Horror! is my first solo editorial project, and I’ve been thrilled and awed and terrified to make it and put it out in the world. It’s not just a special issue of Nightmare, but a celebration of the tremendous community of LGBTQIA creators in the horror genre. I’ve felt so humbled working with these talented writers and artists. I’m so lucky to get to know them and listen to them. They’re some of the best people I’ve ever known.

So order a copy and snuggle up under the covers as the chill of fall settles over you. And as the ghoulies and beasties go bump in the night, remember: it’s only horror. It can’t destroy you–unless you let it.

Wendy N. Wagner

Queers Destroy Horror! makes Tiptree Long List

Going international!

Hugo Nominations have opened!

STARSPAWN has a cover!

You need a winter pick-me-up!

Northwesterners: It’s Orycon this weekend!

The Stars Are Right … for a reading!

SKINWALKERS now available as an audiobook!

Get your tentacles on! Here’s my schedule at HPLFF

The Destruction of Horror is imminent!