The Paperback Show, Writing Scandals, and a Giveaway!
The Paperback Show, Writing Scandals, and a Giveaway!
Every Day is Halloween #84: The Official Newsletter of Lisa Morton
Well, I’m glad that’s over.
Yes, I’m talking about Christmas. As a bookseller, there’s always a betting pool as to what day will be our busiest day of the year - the 23rd of December, or the Saturday before Christmas? When they match up, you know it’s a day you’re going to end hoarse, in pain, and so exhausted you’ll just want to crawl into a corner and stare at a wall. Add to that no extra holiday time off (since the bookstore is closed anyway on Sundays and Mondays), and it’s a sure recipe for Christmas grinchiness. Bah humbug.
And remember how last month I was happy to have finally knocked back all my writing deadlines? Yeah, that was great…and then I took on a bunch more in December, which is awesome except I’m once again feeling a little panic setting in, especially since these deadlines are short.
But hey, New Year’s Day is my second favorite holiday of the year - it always feels so full of hope and determination - my novel is coming along well, my agent is excited about 2024, and I’ve still got a roof over my head.
Here’s hoping your 2024 is also productive and at least comfortable.
Lisa
NEW STUFF I LIKE
Okay, so I know I’m a little biased with this pick, partly because I’ve been on this podcast a few times and partly because…well, I live with the purveyor.
But Ricky Grove, who does The Paperback Show podcast, really does invest a tremendous amount of experience (he’s been collecting and reading paperbacks for the better part of five decades!) and effort into this show, and it…well, shows. The podcast is extremely well produced, always entertaining, and might even enlighten you a little.
If you like books, authors, collecting paperbacks, or just plain listening to something fun, give The Paperback Show a try.
THE HALLOWEEN SPIRIT
Okay, this month’s “The Halloween Spirit” column is mainly an excuse to share the above photo of a tiny pumpkin I found in my garden on Christmas Day, growing at the end of a dead vine hidden under some weeds. Thank you, Halloween Fairies, for that lovely surprise Christmas gift.
STRANGE DOINGS
In case you don’t follow writing news, you may not have heard of two scandals that made the news in December. Personally, I find both so outrageous that I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around them. Strange doings indeed…
In the first situation, a debut novelist named Cait Corrain threw away a two-book deal with Del Rey when it was revealed that she’d created fake accounts at GoodReads. It would be bad enough if she’d just used those sock-puppets to elevate ratings for her own book, but she also used them to attempt to take down other debut authors with similar books…including some published by Del Rey. <cue open-mouthed emoji>
When she got caught, first she created a fake friend she accused of creating the fiasco, then she blamed substance abuse and mental health issues. In the end, she lost her book deal, her agent, and probably any shot at a writing career, at least one using her real name.
Scandal #2: An author named Demetrious Polychron published his own sequel to The Lord of the Rings, oh so cleverly titled The Fellowship of the King. As with Corrain, that first act would be bad enough…but this genius decided to try to sue both the Tolkien estate and Amazon when they brought out their Prime streaming series The Rings of Power, claiming plagiarism. Needless to say, his case was thrown out, he was ordered to destroy all copies of his book, and to pay legal fees for the Tolkien estate and Amazon.
Look at it this way: measure any stupid thing you’ve ever done up against either of these, and you’ll probably feel pretty good about yourself.
BEHIND THE SCREAMS
“Goddess” from Playlist of the Damned (released in October by Weird Little Worlds)
When I was invited to contribute a story to a music-themed anthology, I knew immediately that I wanted to write something inspired by Kate Bush, my all-time favorite musician. Aside from having an almost lifelong obsession with the British artist, I wanted to play with certain fan rumors that she dabbles in Wiccan or pagan beliefs. I also thought about what it must be like to be Kate Bush’s kid (she has one son, Albert or “Bertie”).
With those thoughts in mind, I started crafting characters and plot. I decided to go with first person for this story, making my protagonist the daughter of a legendary rock artist who died in a plane crash; the daughter is a modestly successful musician, but spends a lot of time in the shadow of her famous mother. There’s a secret (of course) that the daughter must uncover, a secret that involves magick and her mother’s ultimate fate.
The story was fun to write, and I’m happy to have it in the book, which was financed via Kickstarter. One small note: there was an issue with the first few copies of the book that ended up deleting part of my story, so feel free to contact me if you backed Playlist of the Damned, got your copy, and thought the ending was - ahem - perhaps bit too abrupt.
THE WRITE STUFF
If you sell a lot of short fiction (as I do), you get a lot of galleys to read through. In case you don’t know: galleys are the early versions of a book, before everything is locked and ready to publish. In the past, galleys were printed and sent to authors; now they come as PDF files.
There’s a temptation with galleys - at least for me! - to just say, “Yeah, I’m sure it’s all fine,” especially if you’ve already worked with an editor to finalize the story. Hey, you get busy, you feel like you’re done with that story…
But trust me: DON’T DO IT. Read your story in the galleys. Read your bio. Review your copyright in the front matter. Look at your listing on the Table of Contents. Because, hey - SHIT HAPPENS. No matter how many editors have been over a story, things can still get missed. I find that quite often editors will miss mistakes on something like the Contents page because they get so busy making sure the actual story is perfect that they gloss over other stuff. I’ve even caught mistakes in the page headers.
Whatever…just READ YOUR GALLEYS. You’ll probably be happy you did.
NEWS & WORKS IN PROGRESS
I had a number of new releases come out recently, including:
The science fiction/mystery anthology The Reinvented Detective includes my story “The Gardener’s Mystery.”
You can watch me reading my story “Sofie” here - it’s one of my unused Spine Tinglers stories.
The LA-Ist/How to L.A. podcast talked to me about recommendations for L.A.-centric books
Coming up in early 2024: Placerita, the novella I co-wrote with John Palisano; a feature article in the January/February 2024 issue of Rue Morgue on the spectacular (and revelatory!) new George Romero book Raising the Dead: The Work of George Romero, by Adam Hart; a virtual presentation on the folklore behind zombies; short story appearances in Where the Silent Ones Watch, Black Cat Weekly, and Scaring and Daring; and my episode of the Paul Giamatti/Stephen Asma podcast Chinwag (which I had a blast recording).
Also…my original short fiction podcast Spine Tinglers is on track for resurrection in ‘24, although it will be in a very different form…
Plus…yes, there’s a new novel happening. I’m now halfway through. It’s horror with science fiction and action mixed in. That’s all I’m going to say about it right now.
UPCOMING APPEARANCES
January 22 - My live, three-session course on Confronting the Spectral: A History of Ghosts in the Western World With Lisa Morton begins at Atlas Obscura
February 11, 5 pm PST/8 pm PST - I’ll be appearing live as part of the virtual presentation Exploring the Horror Studies Collection at the University of Pittsburgh (and it’s FREE!)
March 4, 2022, 5 pm PST/8 pm EST - I’ll be teaching live my workshop on Expanding Your Writing Horizons
March 17, 2024 - I’ll be signing at the Vintage Paperback Show in Glendale
May 30-June 2, 2024 - I’ll be at StokerCon 2024 in San Diego
WHERE YOU CAN BUY MY BOOKS
GIVEAWAY
This month’s giveaway is a free PDF e-book designed to keep those winter spirits at home and properly chilled! Just click on the button below to download and enjoy.
Thanks as always for reading this far!