Tag: readercon

ReaderCon 2019

On By griffinwordsIn Words In, Words OutLeave a comment

I’ll be at ReaderCon this year, Thursday through Sunday. This will probably be the only convention I’ll travel to this year (though I’ll hit the local ones, like HP Lovecraft Film Fest).

As usual, I look forward to reconnecting with old friends, and meeting new ones. It seems as if many of the people I usually spend time with every year, including my #1 ReaderCon buddy Justin Steele, will be absent this year.

I couldn’t miss the 2019 ReaderCon, though, as I’ll be receiving my rock as a Shirley Jackson Award nominee. As far as I’m concerned, this is the top award in the fields of horror and weird fiction, and to me, just being nominated feels like winning. Assuming I’m not the recipient of the award (don’t get me wrong, winning would be nice and I wouldn’t turn it down), I’ll feel nothing but pride and satisfaction at being a finalist.

As usual, I’ll try to post pictures along the way. The Shirley Jackson Award ceremony is 11 AM Eastern, and will be streamed here:
https://www.periscope.tv/edelmanscott/

If you see me at the convention, please say hello, even if it seems I don’t recognize you. Sometimes social media friends just need a little reminder, and I love the chance to meet online friends in person.

Full List of Finalists for 2018 Shirley Jackson Awards

On By griffinwordsIn Internet Destinations, Words In, Words OutLeave a comment

I wrote that previous “Hey, I’m a Shirley Jackson Award finalist!” blog in advance, knowing that the announcement was going to happen while I was at work. At the time, I didn’t know who else was nominated, but the announcement has been posted and I’ll copy it here:

In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, The Shirley Jackson Awards, Inc. has been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.

The Shirley Jackson Awards are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.

The nominees for the 2018 Shirley Jackson Awards are:

NOVEL
Everything Under, Daisy Johnson (Jonathan Cape)
In the Night Wood, Dale Bailey (John Joseph Adams Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Little Eve, Catriona Ward (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group)
Social Creature, Tara Isabella Burton (Double Day/Raven Books)
We Sold Our Souls, Grady Hendrix (Quirk Books)

NOVELLA
Judderman, DA Northwood (Gary Budden) (Dead Ink Books/Cinder House Publishing)
The Atrocities, Jeremy C. Shipp (Tor.com)
The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com)
The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky, John Hornor Jacobs (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Taiga Syndrome, Cristina Rivera Garza (Dorothy, a Publishing Project)

NOVELETTE
“Adriftica,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Robots vs. Fairies)
“Blood and Smoke, Vinegar and Ashes,” D.P. Watt (The Silent Garden)
Ghostographs: An Album, Maria Romasco Moore (Rose Metal Press)
“Help the Witch,” Tom Cox (Help the Witch)
“The Black Sea,” Chris Mason (Beneath the Waves – Tales from the Deep, April 2018)

SHORT FICTION
“Back Seat,” Bracken MacLeod (Lost Highways)
“Hell,” David Hansen (The Charcoal Issue of Fairy Tale Review, March 2018)
“How to be a Horror Writer,” Tim Waggoner (Vastarien: A Literary Journal vol 1., issue 2 – Summer / Grimscribe Press)
“The Astronaut,” Christina Wood Martinez (Granta 142: Animalia)
“The Woman Dies,” Aoko Matsuda, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton (online edition of Granta 144: genericlovestory)

SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION
All the Fabulous Beasts, Priya Sharma (Undertow Publications)
From Deep Places, Gemma Files (Trepidatio Publishing)
Garden of Eldritch Delights, Lucy A. Snyder (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Quartier Perdu, Sean O’Brien (Comma Press)
The Human Alchemy, Michael Griffin (Word Horde)

EDITED ANTHOLOGY
Chiral Mad 4: An Anthology of Collaborations, edited by Michael Bailey and Lucy A. Snyder (Written Backwards)
Robots vs Fairies, edited by Navah Wolfe and Dominik Parisien (Saga Press)
The Silent Garden: A Journal of Esoteric Fabulism, edited by The Silent Garden Collective (Undertow Publications)
This Dreaming Isle, edited by Dan Coxon (Unsung Stories)
Tiny Crimes: Very Short Tales of Mystery and Murder, edited by Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto (Black Balloon)

Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, “The Lottery.” Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work.

The 2018 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented on Sunday, July 14, 2019, at Readercon 30, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Quincy, Massachusetts. Readercon Guests of Honor Tananarive Due and Stephen Graham Jones will be the ceremony hosts.

Websites:ShirleyJacksonAwards.org
Readercon.org
______________________________________________________________
Media representatives who are seeking further information or interviews should contact JoAnn F. Cox.

My sincere thanks to all the jurors and board members for the Shirley Jackson Awards, and congratulations to all the other nominees!

ReaderCon This Weekend

On By griffinwordsIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I’ve been so busy with real life this past few weeks, time has flown by. Almost two weeks since the release of The Human Alchemy, and already it’s time to head out to ReaderCon.

If you’ll be at ReaderCon, I’ll see you there. If you’re not, I’ll try to post photos. Heading out tonight… ready or not!

ReaderCon 2017

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This Thursday through Sunday I’ll be at ReaderCon, a convention I first attended in 2014 and enjoyed so much I’ve been back every year since.

Here’s a photo from that first visit, with Paul Tremblay, Justin Steele and Michael Cisco. Jeffrey Thomas is in the room too, taking the photo with my camera.

This year I’ll be rooming with Justin Steele and Michael Wehunt. Last year, we stayed at a different hotel a few miles away, and while that worked OK, I’m very relieved to be staying in the con hotel itself again this year. I look forward to seeing many good friends, and meeting some of you for the first time!

ReaderCon This Weekend

On By griffinwordsIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

This coming weekend (actually Thursday through Sunday) I’ll be at ReaderCon in Burlington, MA.

Last year’s ReaderCon was my first, and I had a great time. It seems to be a less “fannish” convention than most. Almost everyone I met was a writer, editor, publisher, reviewer. I’m not attending as a guest, though, and won’t be part of any programming, though I plan to check out a few readings and panels. I’ll probably spend a lot of time in the bar, and take plenty of pictures.

The Shirley Jackson Awards are on the final day of ReaderCon. Last year, I was very pleased to accept the “Best Edited Anthology” SJA for Joseph S. Pulver Sr. for The Grimscribe’s Puppets. In that same category this year, I’ll be rooting for The Children of Old Leech, edited by Ross E. Lockhart, and my roommate at ReaderCon, Justin Steele.

As with any convention, the aspect I’m most anticipating is reconnecting with friends, and meeting new ones. If you’re attending, I’ll see you there!