Highly recommended reading: Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box.  Yeah, I know--I'm the last guy in the world to read it.  Interesting characters, dynamite ghost, very entertaining.  Not surprising to me that this book has done so well.   

On the other hand, I found the highly-praised film version of No Country for Old Men a bit disappointing.   I liked it fine, but as a long time fan of the Coen Bros, I didn't find anything all that new here.  I'll take Blood Simple, The Man who Knew Too Much, or Barton Fink over this latest one any day (John Goodman running down that hotel hallway with a shotgun screaming "I'll show you the life of the mind" is one of my favorite movie memories).   I have to wonder how much of the acclaim is due to the movie itself and how much is due to the simple fact that Cormic McCarthy is hotter than hell right now with just about every award committee around.

Website updates: some changes will be coming with the June issue of Dred.  We will be adding a profile page where readers can meet interesting people from around the web.  Also, a new reader survey section where you can see what others have to say about selected questions … and give your own two cents worth, too (see my prevvious post for the question for our June issue).

Here's the first question I will be using for our new Dred web survey.

What is your single all-time favorite piece of "dark" writing?  

It can be a play, poem, story, novel, you name it.  And of course the definition of "dark" is entirely up to you.  You can add your responses here or e-mail them to me at deardreditor@hotmail.com.

Survey results will be in the June issue of Dred at www.dredtales.com.

Just posted the April update to The Landlord of Walnut Fork, our seriel at Dred.  You can see this month’s story at http://www.dredtales.com/Case_File.htm

--Bill

Very pleased to say that my publishing dry spell is coming to an end.  It’s been a LONG time since I’ve had a story come out, but I just learned that by flash fiction piece "The Recruiter" is going in the April 2 edition of AlienSkin (http://www.alienskinmag.com/).  This is a very fun forum for horror and speculative fiction, and I hope everyone will check it out. 

--Bill

I’m pleased to announce that Michael Stone, whose work appeared in Dred 2 and 3, has a new collection of four novellas coming out soon from Baysgarth Publications.  Fourtold contains the previously published tale "The Reconstruction of Kasper Clark," plus three previously unpublished novellas, "San Ferry Ann,"  "The Terracotta Warrior," and "Lemon Man."  Michael is a talented writer, and I’m excited to see this book coming out.  Can’t wait until I have a chance to crack open my review copy. 

Back in the early 1980s, when I was in college, I got my first computer.  I started writing on a word processor and never looked back. 

I’m not sure what bad writing habits I have developed (or escaped) as a result of this shift in technology.  I suspect my habit of revising constantly would not be as pronounced if I always had to retype every page.  Beyond that, I’m not sure. 

Lately, though, I’ve been unfaithful to my PC.  I’ve started to move back to pencil-on-paper composition.

It’s a survival move partly.  Combine my full time job and my five year old son and, bingo, most of my "writing time" comes in five minute segments (like while sitting on the john or waiting for the mac and cheese water to boil).  Mix in the fact that my office is in the attic and you have a recipe for disaster.  By the time I pour a cup of coffee, climb the stairs, and boot up  . . . well, I’m pretty much finished.  Of course, when I do grab some CPU time, I have e-mails to check, friends to visit, site work to catch up, etc. 

I have a laptop, but even that seems cumbersome at times. 

So the composition book has recently worked its way back into my life.  And I’ve been amazed, lately, at how much more writing I’ve managed to do.  Some folks may find it bothersome to have to type the work later, but I often find that just the first (of many) reviews and revisions, so it hardly bothers me. 

I wonder how many of us would be more productive if we were less tied down to our machines.

Kudos to A.C. Wise, whose story "Matthew" is at the lastest issue of "Chizine" ( http://www.chizine.com/matthew.htm).  It's the best story I've come across on the web this week, and definitely worth a read). 

Also be on the alert: Greg Gifune has struck again.  His latest, Blood in Electric Blue is now out in hardback and available at the (among other places) the Horror Mall (see the cover art, or to order your copy, go to http://www.horror-mall.com/BLOOD-IN-ELECTRIC-BLUE-by-Greg-F.-Gifune-p-17673.html

Also, Gifune's Dominion is now available in paperback, both online and at a number of retailers.  You can check it out at the mall too:  

WOW, I had no idea how bad February was going to get there for a moment.  Been mostly down for more than a week.  Finally--I THINK--got that flu bug kicked.  And it's going to be sixty degrees out there today. 

Always fun to browse around and visit folks on the web.  I don't get out as much as I would like, but lately been having a lot of fun at the shocklines boards (http://shocklinesforum.yuku.com/directory) and also at a newer one I've found over at Doorways mag (http://doorwayspublicationsforum.yuku.com/).  Interesting folks and lots of good discussions going on.  Also a good place to pick up on the latest news (like Doorways' call for novella submissions, which you can read about for yourself http://doorwayspublicationsforum.yuku.com/topic/452/t/Guidelines.html). 

Some of the fictional selections for the June DRED are starting to take shape--should have an update on that soon!

T.S. Eliot once wrote that April is the cruelest month.  He was full of it.  February kicks April's sorry ass.

            Oh, I know the rap.  April is cruel because it teases us with glimmery sunshine and little budding flowers and blah blah blah.  That's a bunch of boo hoo hoo trying to pass itself off as profundity.  It's fucking cold out there doesn't sound nearly as deep.   But no one ever froze to death in forty degree weather, either.

            February is dominated by forces like wind and ice and snow, and weird little things called viruses that you can't really kill because (get this sci-fi fans) they aren't exactly alive.  Hm…sounds like I'm building toward a plug for the feature story in the current issue of Dred, Spurling's Virus.  I wasn't going for that, but what the hell.  Go read the story…it's pretty good.  Heck, it may be the best thing that happens to you all month. www.dredtales.com.

            Really, what I was going for was just to say that I'm tired of cold and I'm sick of shoveling.  My son has been sick off and on for three weeks, and I'm got a temp of 102.  All of which, of course, is just a bunch of boo hoo hoo—but I hope of the down-to-earth, everyday variety.  The only thing worse than an whiner is a pompous whiner. 

Glad to say that the "Christmas Submission backlog" (ie that pile of work I don't get to in December) is melting away.  If you have a submission in at Dred that was submitted before the first of the year, you should have a response by this time next week. 

Right now I'm very pleased with the work I've been seeing.  We've picked up some good creature features for our stockpile, as well as a number of good tales written in the first person.  I would say if you are planning to submit currently your best bets are to avoid large monsters and to write something in the thrid person.