WIP Wednesday

Working hard! This week I turned in two short stories. They both need polished, but we’ll see what the respective editors have to say. It was good to see forward movement on them.

My focus this week is staring down the very Mouth of Hell in one novella, with a poor sweet boy that keeps getting more and more thrown at him. It sucks to be born nearly divine.

I’m waiting to hear on the status of one story, which may or may not fit the editor’s bill. It’s a beautiful, sad thing, and I’m quite proud of it.

Also, Crystal Lake and I have set a tentative time to publish the sequel to Nameless next year. I’m very excited to do so! More on that as it’s confirmed.

Meanwhile, I was talking to an old friend about my very first novel that I ever wrote. I also wrote a sequel to it, both which have never seen the light of day. I’m thinking of revising them, especially because they feature my favorite character ever, Ray the Vampire. He has his own short story, here. That story was one of my very first sales! ❤

That’s what I’m up to! What are you working on?

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An Amazing Acceptance!

You guys! I received some astronomical news this week. My story “The Dead Collection” was accepted to Michael Bailey’s Chiral Mad 3. I can’t tell you how wild my happy dance was. I love Bailey’s work and his Chiral Mad anthologies are top of the line in every way. I’m also floored by the lineup! I’ll be sharing a TOC with people like Ramsey Campbell, Gardner Goldsmith (who wrote the foreword to my collection Beautiful Sorrows. What a dear!), Bruce Boston, and an author you may have heard of, Stephen King.

Stephen. Frickin’. King.

Glenn Chadbourne is doing art for all of the stories, and for some of the poetry as well. In fact, he’s already created a piece for my story! You can see it and the rest of the lineup here.

This is wonderful news to me. I’ve been in a bit of a literary slump, which I’ll address a bit on Wednesday. So this is a dream come true and also a kick in the pants/high-five from the universe. 🙂

Thank you for sharing in my joy with me.

Beautiful Sorrows is FREE This Week Only!

In celebration of Women in Horror Month, my publishers at Shock Totem have decided to give away my short story collection for FREE this week only. It will be free from Monday, February 23 until Friday, February 27.

There is a place where sorrows pile up like snow and rest in your hair like cherry blossoms. Boys have wings, monsters fall in love, women fade into nothingness, and the bones of small children snap like twigs. Darkness will surely devour you–but it will be exquisitely lovely while doing so.

Mercedes M. Yardley’s Beautiful Sorrows is an ephemeral collection encompassing twenty-seven short tales full of devastation, death, longing, and the shining ribbon of hope that binds them all together.

“Beautiful Sorrows… delicate prose with devastating impact. Mercedes Yardley is a female Joe Hill, and I fear her ‘Broken’ will haunt me to my grave.” —F. Paul Wilson, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Keep and The Tomb

“Mercedes Yardley’s debut collection, Beautiful Sorrows, holds its hands out, palms up, no tricks, no irony, no clever retreats from honest emotions. Life’s travails inhabit these pages, and she renders them beautifully.” —Christopher Barzak, author of One for Sorrow and The Love We Share Without Knowing

“Mercedes M. Yardley has the Right Stuff. She demonstrates that in her wonderful collection of short stories: Beautiful Sorrows. Each story is a different kind of gem, the bagful priceless.” —Gene O’Neill, Bram Stoker Award™-winning Author of The Taste of Tenderloin and Double Jack”

I hope that you’ll take the chance to pick up my debut short story collection. You can do that here.

Beautiful Sorrows is my first book and it’s so very precious to me! Won’t you give it a try, or share it with your friends? Thank you, and happy Women in Horror month!

In Which I Meet Aimee Bender and Swoon

She’s rife with whimsy. I think she’s secretly a pixie.

 

Aimee Bender is one of my favorite authors. I first heard of her when somebody read my short story “Flat, Flat World” and said, “You read Aimee Bender, right?” I was introduced to this brilliant, wise world rife with magical realism and some of the most beautiful prose I’ve ever read. Phrases fairly drip from her words like the richest of rains.

So when I found out she’d be a speaker at the Las Vegas Valley Book Festival, I was so excited and so nervous that it was pathetic. I mean, really, really pathetic.

But I sat front and center for her speech, and even had a chance to ask her a question during the Q&A. The best part was talking to her for a bit while she signed my book.

It was a very cool experience. I left happy and inspired in my own work. You can’t ask for anything better. 🙂

Who are some of your favorite authors? Have you ever had a chance to meet them at all? Would you, if you had the chance?

 

BJ Novak and Us: A Story of Sharks

So my writing group The Illiterati were invited to a VIP Reception for writer/actor/producer BJ Novak. He’s a headliner at the Vegas Valley Book Festival, and since Mason and I are in the Lost and Found in Las Vegas anthology that just came out, we scored tickets. Yay!

It’s awesome. BJ was friendly and funny and everything you’d expect. We told him to check out the beautiful woodwork in Main Street Station and to check out the shark tank/swimming pool at the Golden Nugget.

Yes. There’s a tube slide through the shark tank. IT. IS. AWESOME.

Then BJ went on to speak to his adoring crowd while Mason, Matt Czarnowski and I fled the wine and hors d’oeuvres table in favor for some Five Guys Burgers. Because that’s how we roll.

I love my writer’s group. They’re so wonderful. It’s good to be with friends. This weekend we’re doing a panel at the festival, hopefully meeting Aimee Bender, who is one of my favorite writers, and then spending Saturday night at my house. Plans? Cooking chicken noodle soup from scratch, writing, playing video games, and recording a song. This is just what we do. ❤

Preorder Todd Keisling’s Ugly Little Things Hardcover Package

So I really like Todd Keisling’s work. It’s dark, solid, varied, and super creepy. I mean, suuuuuper creepy. I know I’ll never read his The Harbinger again. Twisted little dolls? Ahhhhhh!

ANYWAY! He has been releasing short stories digitally online as part of his Ugly Little Things series. Now he has come out with a hardcover edition of the series with tons of cool extras. Seriously, it’s awesome and worth checking out.

You can read about everything that is included here. 

But there’s a catch. This is preorder only, and the preordering window closes on August 16th. If you haven’t ordered your copy by then, then you have lost your opportunity.

This is the preorder link. Have fun! And to get to know Todd a little more, here’s a video Q&A with Todd that I had the chance to moderate. So, uh, there may be a little goofing off. But just a bit. 😉

 

Check Out this Wonderful Review of Beautiful Sorrows!

 

 

Haralambi Markov (who is on his way to Clarion, by the way!) reviewed Beautiful Sorrows for SF Signal. It’s an amazing review and I couldn’t stop grinning. Thank you, Harry! Best of luck at Clarion! You’ll do a wonderful job.

You can read the review here.

Beautiful Sorrows is availableat the Shock Totem store, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Little Visible Delight

Thanks to everybody who entered the Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love giveaway! I’ll be tallying up entries and drawing the winner tomorrow. Best of luck to all of you!

I’m thrilled to announce that my story “Black Eyes Broken” is in the Little Visible Delight anthology, edited by S.P. Miskowski and Kate Jonez and published by Omnium Gatherum.  I personally think S.P. and Kate are la creme de la creme, certainly as creatives but especially as top-notch women. This was an honor.

This anthology was also very revealing. Here is the concept behind Little Visible Delight:

Often the most powerful and moving stories are generated by writers who return time and again to a particular idea, theme, or image. Obsession in a writer’s imagination can lead to accomplishment or to self-destruction. Consider Poe and his pale, dead bride; his fascination with confinement and mortality; his illness and premature death. Or Flannery O’Connor’s far less soul-crushing fondness for peacocks. Some writers pay a high price for their obsessions, while others maintain a crucial distance. Whichever the case, obsessions can produce compelling fiction.

Little Visible Delight is an anthology of original stories in which eleven authors of dark fiction explore some their most intimate, writerly obsessions.

Explore we did. My story, “Black Eyes Broken” is a dark little tale that was originally prompted by this photograph.

(Does anybody know who created it? It’s lovely and I’d love to give credit where credit is due.)

I always believed that writers write in order to discover what our obsessions are. This anthology leaves me feeling rather bare . It’s stripped us to the core. If you want to love your writers, then read them. My favorite part is where the authors reveal why they wrote what they did, and what their obsessions are. Take care of us. We’re fragile.

Have a wonderful night, everyone!

Charms for the Dark Season

I’m super excited to announce that Lakeside Circus bought my short story “Charms for the Dark Season” for its debut issue. “Charms” is a creepy little tale of horrifying love and power, and I love the language in it.

Here’s a look at my contributor’s page, including my favorite line from the story. Hooray!

Also! There are a few more days left to enter the Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love giveaway. It’s easy, and worth it! Best of luck to you, my friends. 🙂

AH! I Have So Much To Tell You!

About white water rapids, black bears, awesome projects, and general stuff! But not now. I’m packing my suitcase. Literally sitting on top of it and bouncing because it’s a bit overstuffed. I’m currently in Big Sky, Montana. In a week I’ll be in New Orleans for the World Horror Convention. It’s been awesome and busy. But for now, I leave you with this! A short Q&A with TeleRead. We talk about publishing houses, short stories, and Twitter Serials. I hope you enjoy!