Stop the deportation of Kiana Firouz

about Kiana Firouz

What Richard Morgan has to say about this.

What Hal Duncan has to say about this.

I have nothing to add except:

sign here!

Nomination for the "Vincent Preis"

For the first time, one of my stories has been nominated for an award, and I feel like sharing - even though most readers of this blog will not be able to read either the story or anything about the award it has been nominated for, since it's all in German.

The Award (as far as I am aware) is the only German Award for Horror literature and artwork, and it's called the Vincent Preis - which means "Vincent Award" and is of course a pun, because it sounds like "Vincent Price". It's really kind of a groaner, but a charming one. The Vincent Preis has only been around since 2007, but it is an audience award with a relatively large number of voters contributing.

The title of the story ("Eine andere Wildnis") translates to "A Different Kind of Wilderness". It's a werewolf story which becomes a dog-were story, and its probably the most romantic thing I've ever written. I'm very proud of it and a little bit ashamed for a few moments of sentimentality that snuck in.

The story has been published in the Anthology Zwielicht, edited my Michael Schmidt (not related).

The winner will be determined sometime in September 2010.

Follow the link for the Vincent Preis blog, featuring an interview with me

K.J. Parker Nightmares

I've just started reading "The Escapement", the last volume of K.J. Parkers brillantly wry and disturbing Engineer Trilogy. I'm planning to write an extemsive post on the trilogy, "The Company" and "Purple and Black" as soon as I finish reading "The Escapement". Until then, I just wanted to share that last night, I had a gruesome nightmare about the dangers of melting steel, which was a direct lift from "The Escapement". I had to make a steel rod with a machine that melted metal down to a clear, ultra-hot, water-like fluid which burned its way straight through the two-inch-piece of wood that I tried to catch it with. Obviously, I must have done something wrong, and I ended up all mutilated by hot, spattering metal for it ...
Just to give an impression of the strong effect these amazing books have on me!