Wendy N. Wagner

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.

Dear Me at Age 12:

Hi, it’s Me! I’m writing at age thirty-six. Yes, that is old. No, you don’t have an awesome motorcycle. Or a sword. No, no trench coat, either. Trust me, you’ll actually stop wanting to dress like Connor MacCleod someday, as impossible as that might sound right now.

Anyway, I thought I’d just make a list of some of the good stuff that’s happened the last couple of years, because it’s going to blow your mind. And because sometimes there will be kind of lousy days and you’ll want to have a list of your accomplishments. (That’s just a normal part of being a grown-up.) So here goes.

Remember how last summer you decided you wanted to be just like Margaret Weis and write those Dungeons and Dragons novels? Well, guess what? That totally happened! I mean, it’s a slightly different game, but it was born from D&D and it’s still all magical and stuff, and your heroine is super tough and has a sword and everything. No, her eyes aren’t purple. That trend died in the ’90s.

Oh, and I know you’re still thinking about Powell’s Books. Aren’t you glad your sister took you there last year? Anyway, your book is on their shelves, and you’ll be part of a big signing there in November. And that big yellow column with all the signatures? Yours is up there now, too. You should probably work on your penmanship.

I know that ever since you started reading that Fairy Tale series that you’ve wanted to be an editor like Terri Windling. No, I’m sorry. You don’t work in New York at a big publishing company. But you are an editor, and you got to work with Terri Windling last year! And you know what? She’s just as awesome as you thought she’d be. (Oh, and word to the wise? You should start reviewing the rules about using commas now, because they can be pretty confusing. Don’t worry about semi-colons, though; you’ve got those.)

And remember how you wrote down in your journal that someday you want to win a Nebula or a Hugo award, even though you’re not really sure what they are, but you know Anne McCaffery won them and she’s even cooler than Margaret Weis? Well, brace yourself, because this happened this weekend:

Hugo for Best Semiprozine: LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE

Just one more thing, little Me. I want to thank you for dreaming big. I don’t think there are a lot of kids out there who know what an editor is or want to write gaming tie-in fiction or would sit down and write “I want to win a Hugo award.” You’re kind of big weirdo, and I love that about you. I’m so glad I got to make your dreams come true.

Now I have to get back to work, because I didn’t stop dreaming when I was 12, and dreams don’t keep coming true if you don’t keep fighting for them. And don’t forget: you’re destroying science fiction, and that’s pretty great.

Hugs and kisses,

Wendy N. Wagner, aged 36

One of my favorite short stories that I’ve written is the story “The Secret of Calling Rabbits,” which originally appeared in the anthology The Way of the Wizard. There’s something charming about the interaction between the tough dwarf and the sweet little girl, and I can’t actually read it out loud because I get teary.

Luckily, there’s a new recording “The Secret of Calling Rabbits” up at Far Fetched Fables. It’s a lovely recording, so go enjoy it!

It’s a rite of passage for every SF/F writer, especially those of us in the Pacific Northwest: signing the legendary column in Powell’s Gold Room. For a measure of the artifact’s true awesomeness, here’s a photo from the Powell’s Tumblr. Yes, that is Douglas Adams’ signature. And Peter S. Beagle’s. And Ursula K. LeGuin’s. Neil Gaiman has particularly epic piece of art he added to the column a few years back.

So when a group of us local writing gals met up with an out-of-town friend—the talented Tex Thompson—we knew we had to take her to see this holiest of all landmarks. You can’t help but feel the presence of the great ones when you’re standing next to their scrawled messages. Elizabeth Scarborough left her email address! Brian Froud drew a fairy! I mean, how cool is that?

Staff in the Gold Room were just as geeked out about it as we were. Over the past few years, one of the staffers has stepped up to advocate for the preservation of the post, and Powell’s is going to install a new UV-protective plexi covering that will help keep the signatures fresh for future generations. If you look closely, you can see the ghostly shapes of previous signatures, now nearly lost in time.

But the signatures of our little gang are bright and shiny (and right next to Wesley Chu‘s autograph! What a great place to be!). I’ve been waiting to sign the column until I felt like “a real writer,” but with a lot of chocolate under my belt and in the presence of awesome fun friends like Tina Connolly (who hadn’t signed either, even though she has like four books out and a Nebula nomination and is basically my hero), Alex Renwick (who already signed the column like a total pro, because that’s how she rolls), and Tex, it just seemed like the right thing to do.

Squee!

Photo by Arianne “Tex” Thompson, who rocks.

We just announced the preliminary line-up for Queers Destroy Horror!, the special issue of Nightmare Magazine that I’m guest editing. I’ve gotten to work with some pretty amazing writers (Caitlín R. Kiernan! Poppy Z. Brite! Favorite author who is still top-secret and cannot be named!!!!) and our editorial staff has been incredible.

For the announcement, visit the DestroySF website.

I’m delighted to announce that my story “Three Small Slices of Pumpkin Pie” is up today on Farrago’s Wainscot. The magazine focuses on the literary weird, and I’m happy to say I share a Table of Contents with the wonderful Hal Duncan, whose grasp of language is spectacular.

This is one of my favorite pieces that I’ve ever written, so it’s wonderful to be able to share it with other people.

Here in Stumptown this weekend was CthulhuCon, sort of a snack-sized Lovecraftian convention to tide over fans until H.P. Lovecraft Film Fest returns to its October slot. I made it to the con on Saturday and had a wonderful time. Tons of friends had showed up, and the programming was incredible. Highlights included tremendous art, panels with Lovecraftian scholars S. T. Joshi and Leslie Klinger, gaming creatives Kenneth Hite and Robin D. Laws, visits from the Lovecraft impersonator Leeman Kessler, and a delightful performance by Mike Dalager–the musical mind behind the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society’s new album of Innsmouthian jazz standards, Live at the Gilman House. Let me just tell you: if you like musicals, you won’t be truly happy until you’ve heard “My Funny Valentine” with all-new tentacular lyrics.

With all this squamous, cthonic energy in the air, it makes sense that Word Horde revealed the cover of their new anthology: CTHULHU FHTAGN! This is the third Lovecraftian anthology editor Ross Lockhart has put together, and the line-up looks terrific. I’m very excited about my story in the book, “The Long Dark,” which is a SFnal take on Lovecraft, with an ending I really enjoyed writing.

On the editing front, I’m reading submissions for Nightmare Magazine‘s Queers Destroy Horror! special issue this month. I’m having a great time reading all these dark stories, and I think the issue will be fantastic. Look for it in October!

Personally, I’m facing a delightful challenge: I’m working on my first campaign for our Call of Cthulhu role-playing group. I’ve never been a game master before, but it’s my turn to step up to the plate and scare/torment/entertain my gaming group. Fingers are crossed that I don’t suck!

This weekend the Hugo awards ballot was announced, and I’m delighted to say that Lightspeed was nominated for in the Best Semiprozine category. Despite the intense social issues stirred up by the Hugo awards this year, I am still really excited to see my name on the ballot. Seriously, you have no idea how many times I’ve said “Wendy N. Wagner, Hugo nominee” to myself the past few days!

Working at Lightspeed (and her wonderful sister-magazine, Nightmare) has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I’ve gotten to talk about writing with some of the finest writers working in the SF/F/H genres right now, and I’ve learned an enormous amount from them. I feel like my writing has been reinvigorated and I’ve made dozens of new friends that I treasure. Seeing all our hard work recognized by fandom is incredibly, incredibly wonderful.

Dang it, now I’m teary.

A lot of writers don’t read reviews of their work, but I enjoy reading them. I feel like I learn a lot about how to do my job better when I read what people think of my work (although there have definitely been a few reviews that hurt!). So the other day, I was excited to see a new review for Skinwalkers up on the Paizo forums. User chrisb71 said:

“Moreover all the main characters are female, which is nice to see women being portrayed as normal, 3 dimensional people rather than afterthoughts. If you want fiction for a daughter that is not typical romance or girl waiting for the boy to rescue her, then look into this.”

I couldn’t ask for a better compliment!

We’ve never had a tv in the living room before. Back when we lived in SE Portland, we kept our tv in the basement, where it was dark and cold and creepy and perfect for playing Resident Evil. When we moved to our new house, we couldn’t figure out where to put the tv–the fireplace in the living room blocked the most reasonable wall to put the darn thing, and the big front window cast a glare that made it hard to even see zombies on the screen, let alone be frightened of them. So we put the tv in the spare bedroom/office and suffered being cramped inside the tiny space.

Well, no longer. My genius husband reorganized the living room and helped me transform the spare bedroom into a more user-friendly office. In part, we were inspired by Guillermo del Toro’s Bleak House, which uses red walls to help showcase his vast collection of horror and SF art. Okay, when I say “in part,” I actually mean I said “LET’S REDO OUR WHOLE HOUSE LIKE BLEAK HOUSE!” and my husband convinced me that was maybe a little too much red. So now I have a wonderful red office to host my slowly growing horror and SF art collection, and I couldn’t be happier!

Here are some highlights:

Someday, this wall will be almost entirely covered in art, but this is a good start. I think The Crow Witch (by the wonderful Galen Dara, as is the cute zombie valentine guy), needs to be a little closer to the monitor, but I was just recycling a pre-existing nail hole. The inspirational puppy was accidentally printed twice when I sent him along to an awesome friend, and I kept him because who doesn’t need a reminder they have the power to be awesome?

You’ll also note some sundry fun stuff, like some Word Horde stickers spiffing up my printer, and a mailing label that dubs my house “Lightspeed Pacific Northwest HQ.” My own novel is on my desk because I’ve been working on the sequel and I can’t remember how to spell anyone’s name.

Behind me is a futon (perfect for guests!) and a bookshelf with this paper mache octopus I made for Halloween. (At Halloween, I put orange LED candles in his eye sockets, giving him a baleful glare.) You can see a John Kovalic Cthulhu behind him, happily nibbling on people as he tries to choose which Stephen King novel to read next. Because of course the top shelf of my office bookshelf is devoted to Stephen King!

What you can’t see is the window off to my left, which has a big rhododendron growing in front of it. This lets in a mysterious green light that makes the space feel like writing from inside a magical jungle or perhaps another dimension.

It’s nice to be surrounded by so much inspiration. I’ve been getting a lot done over the past few months: I’ve almost finished polishing the sequel to Skinwalkers; I’ve written a couple of short stories; I’ve edited a ton of essays for Queers Destroy Science Fiction. I’m also really excited about some recent successes. Right now the Kickstarter is up for Genius Loci, which will feature my magical Eastern Washington story, “Scab Land.” The book design looks beautiful, so make sure you get a copy of that book.

The folks over at Innsmouth Free Press also just announced the table of contents for their upcoming Lovecraftian anthology She Walks in Shadows, which has a super awesome cover. My story “Queen of a New America” will appear in that one, and I really enjoyed writing it.

It’s all keeping me really busy, but I’m still managing to get in plenty of horror reading and gameplay. In fact, tomorrow we get to start playing a new Call of Cthulhu campaign–it’ll be my daughter’s first experience as GM, and she promises it’ll be fun!

Wendy N. Wagner

The Destruction of Horror is imminent!

Dear Me at Age 12

New audio edition of “Rabbits”

The Powell’s Column

A sneak peek at Queers Destroy Horror!

A new story out today!

Cthulhu Boogaloo

Headed for the Hugos!

This reviewer melted my heart

Welcome to my office!