Detritus In Love Pre-Orders Are Up!

I can’t tell you how excited I am! Pre-orders for  Detritus In Love are now up! Detritus comes out on October third, and you can pre-order it for $2.99 here.

“What unfurls in the form of The Opposite is a haunting and unsettling presence—one that our protagonist, Detritus, must battle, with a motley crew consisting of only his ghostly best friend and a long dead love. Suits of skin, bloody rain, vermin and insects unified in upheaval—this tapestry is a vibrant, visceral horror, written by two introspective visionaries.”—Richard Thomas, author of Breaker and Tribulations

“Detritus in Love is a dark portrait of the fantastic, tinged with shades of Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. Boden and Yardley kept me hoping and wishing on each star they painted in their stark night sky. –Matt Betts, Author of Odd Men Out and Indelible Ink

I have to admit I did a happy dance when I read these blurbs, both by authors I enjoy and respect. I hope you enjoy the book. It’s a good little Halloween read, and is about 40 printed pages. It’s meant to be devoured in one sitting, and will take about an hour or so to read. Please enjoy. ❤

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Pimp a Friend Friday: John Boden and Mercedes M. Yardley

You know I adore John Boden. He was one of the original founders of Shock Totem, and was such a wonderful guy to work with on staff. One day he approached me and asked if I’d read this wonderful story he was working on, called “Thief.” As time went on, the title was changed to “Loving the Girl with X’s for Eyes.” He asked me if I wanted to contribute to it, and thus was born the most enjoyable collaboration I’ve ever taken part of. We worked on it every day, or we didn’t work on it for months. He’d write a line, I’d write a line, or we’d write a…well, almost a chapter, but it doesn’t have chapters. It’s gentle and jagged and full of love and horror. This was the piece I’d work on when I couldn’t even stand to look at anything else. And now it will be published later this year.

I’m delighted to announce that Omnium Gatherum picked up our story, which is now called “Detritus in Love.” It’s a dark, lovely, bizarre novelette about a boy who never should have been and things that should not be.

John Boden lives a stone’s throw from Three Mile Island with his wonderful wife and  sons. A baker by day, he spends his off time writing or working on Shock Totem. He likes Diet Pepsi and horseradish cheese and  sports ferocious sideburns. While his output as a writer is fairly small, it has a bit of a reputation for being unique. His work has appeared in Shock Totem, Splatterpunk, Blight Digest  and Lamplight  as well as the following anthologies Psychos: Serial Killers, Depraved Madmen and the Criminally Insane, Once Upon An Apocalypse,Robbed Of Sleep Vol 1, and Borderlands 6. His not-really-for-children children’s book, Dominoes is a pretty cool thing or so people say.  You can track him down on the Facebook.

Mercedes M. Yardley is a dark fantasist who wears red lipstick and poisonous flowers in her hair.  She was a contributing editor for Shock Totem Magazine and currently works with Gamut, a new neo-noir magazine. Mercedes is the author of many diverse works, including Beautiful Sorrows, Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love, Pretty Little Dead Girls, and the Bone Angel trilogy. She recently won the Bram Stoker Award® for her story Little Dead Red.  Mercedes lives and works in Las Vegas, and you can reach her atwww.mercedesyardley.com.

Shotgun Logic’s Review of Little Dead Red

This is a pretty awesome review. Earlier I was interviewed by Shane D. Keene  (which was a fun interview, by the way) and now he put up a wonderful review of Little Dead Red. This just makes me happy.

I love this story. It’s the little story that could. Take a second and swing by, if you can!

Announcing The Super Sekrit Project! Shattered Worlds.

So we’ve been sitting on this for months, but it’s finally time to announce the Shattered Worlds project.

Dave Robison

Dave Robison has created an delicious fantasy world that blends physics, religion, alien races, and pirates into one elaborate realm. This thing is huge, and complex. It’s a intriguing playground to roam in. And to kick off the very first “book” in the Shattered World series, Dave wanted to do something extra special.

Alasdair Stuart

The Shattered Worlds is starting with a bang.

Dave invited Alasdair Stuart, Colin F. Barnes, Sarah Chorn, and I to each write (get this) nine to ten interlocking novellas that will piece together in order to form Voltron! Er, a 150,000 word omninovel! Isn’t that absolutely insane? But wait, it gets better.

Colin F. Barnes

We’re going to write it in a month.

You heard me. One. Month.

Sarah Chorn

One month, start to finish, weaving our stories together. We started this endeavor as strangers, but I’m pretty sure we’ll finish each other’s sentences by the time we’re done. (Ha, literally.) It’s terrifying and exciting and something extremely powerful. I think “audacious” is the word that keeps coming up.

Mercedes M. Yardley (that’s me!)

It’s intense and wonderful. A thing of insanity, and that attracts me. In fact, I’d better wrap this up so I can get back to work on my part of it. With a team this stellar, I’m terrified of being the weak link.

Read what my teammates have to say about it above! And wish us luck. 🙂

Free Creative Writing Courses and Activities for Summer

It’s summer and time to go on vacation. Not a chance, writers! You have skills. Use ‘em or lose ‘em.

I was delighted to find this FREE Clarion West Write-a-thon. Shadow their prestigious workshop from June 23 through August 2 and force yourself out of your comfort zone. Sign up by June 22.  (That’s tomorrow.) They’re looking for seven more people. Join me!

Also, Brandon Sanderson (who finished the last Wheel of Time book after original author Robert Jordan passed away) is teaching a free online summer course. By the end of the course, you should have written a 30,000 word novelette. You can find more information here.

The best part about these two activities, however? They run consecutively. My novelette for Sanderson’s class is going to be my goal for Clarion West. It’ll be a summer writing boot camp. If you sign up, drop me a line. We can do it together! I’ll be working on Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love. I had a brainstorm this morning while driving. She meets her love with a knife to her throat, I think. Fitting, since love truly does take your breath away.