Posts Tagged ‘Brandon Layng’

Strange People, Strange Award

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

You all know how I love Cate Gardner – if you don’t, well, I do. In a weird sort of stalker-y-ish-ly kind of way. She’s strange, her writing is strange and her men come in strange pin-striped suits, too. ;) Cate’s running a blog award/contest in conjunction with the forthcoming release of her story collection, Strange Men in Pin-Striped Suits, from Strange Publications. Don’t click those links yet. Wait, it’s okay, they’ll open in a new window. Now, scroll down for award and contest info.

*squeeeee* Sorry. Had to get that out of my system before I literally buy a ticket to the UK and set up camp in the bushes outside her house. (yes really, well, maybe)

And now, on to the award/contest.

The ‘Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits’ award is given to only the strangest of folk, and as the recipient of such you are deemed very strange indeed. Congratulations.

Now you must go forth and celebrate the strangeness of friends (and strangers – strangers are always allowed) by nominating blogs run by strange folk. *Beware, some people don’t like you to refer to them as strange…Try to avoid them if possible.

Some rules:

1. Add the logo of the award to your blog post.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you (don’t mess with strange people).
3. Nominate seven other blogs telling us why you think the recipient is strange enough to deserve the award.
4. Leave a message for those nominated on their blogs.
5. And, if you email catephoenix(at)gmail(dot)com and tell her you’ve received the award for your strangeness, she’ll enter you in the biggest kick-ass Strange Men competition ever. Details over at strangemeninpinstripesuits.com (click on the award link on the home page)

Technically, not awarded as I went following links from Cate’s blog to the award page, and I want to help spread the word for Strange Men. (I said I was stalker-y-ish-ly, didn’t I?) So, since that’s the case for Cate – Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits

Louise Bohmerhttp://louise-bohmer.livejournal.com/

Why do I think Louise is strange? Because she’s put up with me for 5+ years, spends most of her time under a rock, and has slowly infected me with her ratty passion until now we have 5 rats, too. Finally – she does an eerily awesome Joey Ramone. o_O

MR Sellarshttp://mrsellars.com/mrblog

What can I say? A wonderful sense of humor that is perfect for morning coffee… if you want your sinuses cleansed with caffeine. Just watch out for EK, because I hear tell she’s got some really sharp heels…

Brandon Laynghttp://brandonlayng.wordpress.com/

If following me into New Bedlam – and then sticking around and liking it – doesn’t make Brandon strange, I honestly don’t know what would.

Gina Ranallihttp://ginaranalli.wordpress.com/

Don’t believe me? Oh, she’s strange. She writes about the oddest things. Seriously, read 13 Thorns, and tell me she’s not strange. (and she doesn’t yell too loudly when I’ve drooled on her…)

Jezzy Wolfehttp://jezzywolfe.wordpress.com/

She has ferrets. A lot of ferrets. In the coffee, in the fridge… she has more ferrets and ferrety stuff than I have rats and rat stuff. I think. Seems like it. Dook dook!

Zoe Whittenhttp://zoewhitten.com/wordpress

Zoe’s got a quirky, kinky, spot-on sense of humor that is in its own way, strange. Not to mention, she does some borderline-bizarro writing that is just killer. Literally.

Ray Gartonhttp://preposteroustwaddlecock.blogspot.com/

Every day, I check Facebook or Twitter for one of Ray’s hilarious little updates. Strange sense of humor, but if loving it is wrong…. yada yada. I would love to have coffee with him some day, just for the laughs and atmosphere.

Now, go forth, pre-order & multi-post!

It’s Here!

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Waiting has never been so awful and stress-inducing. I’d like to say labor was easier… but there are far too many people out there that would probably hurt me if I did. ;)

The very first paperback Courting Morpheus to roll off the printer arrived yesterday. I hugged it and squeezed it and loved it and almost named it George. Then the girls took it away from me and put it somewhere safe, away from my crazed book-sniffing nose and spine-cracking hands. Today we show it off to family and friends before placing it in honor on a shelf dedicated to Belfire Press.

I pitched the Courting Morpheus idea to Apex when I was first brought on in 2006, and that got the ball rolling. Over 300 submissions were whittled down to 13. Everything was a go..and then I made a move that some are probably wishing they’d kicked me over. I quit the company and took CM with me. Numerous rounds of edits were applied, a lot of second-guessing by me, and finally I thought it tight enough to send to another company, Shroud. During this shift, we lost an author, but hope he’ll return to allow us to publish the story in The New Bedlam Project. And as ya’ll know by now, unfortunately due to other commitments at Shroud, CM ran out of contract and we were adrift again.

Well, not really. I’d felt the “uh-oh” twinge about two months before our contract was done, and since I’d already been putting the wheels into motion for Belfire, CM became our first project. Our first release. And damn it if Greg Hall’s At the End of Church Street didn’t almost beat it to the printer! :)

A final round of beta-readers suggested numerous edits (quite a few were rather heavy, actually) so we held off on sending to the printer, and dug back in. Finally, I sent it off to the copy editor.. and then to the printer.

And it’s here.

There are a handful of quirky things throughout the book, in the same places but in different stories, that are intended for a contest we’re currently working out the prize for. I almost panicked when I didn’t see them where I thought they were…LOL

I clicked approve last night, and now it’s available for ordering, either direct from the printer, or through us at Belfire.

Three years. I’m in awe at how patient the authors have been, how extremely cooperative and caring they’ve been. They’re definitely inspiring and I have to say – very, very talented. :)

You should check them out….

Courting Morpheus X-Post

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

(x-posting from The Pagan & The Pen, groups)

It’s been three years since the Courting Morpheus anthology was conceived, two since it was supposed to be in print and has been through two publishers. Finally, Courting Morpheus is being published!

Featuring stories by Geoffrey Girard, Camille Alexa, and Louise Bohmer, a novelette by Rowan Gant Investigations series author M.R. Sellars and introduction by Alethea Kontis, Courting Morpheus is a collection of 13 stories centered on the writing/artistic community in the town of New Bedlam.

Insomnia plagues the townspeople, and the monsters they usually contain within the pages of their books are now loose on the streets. Morpheus, the god of dreams, takes his revenge on those that make their living from their nightmares.

“Courting Morpheus is a creepy anthology filled with a lot of strange new voices shouting from the graveyard. It tears through genre walls and mingles horror, humor, and spec fic into a chimerical collection of chills..”
-Jonathan Maberry –multiple Bram Stoker Award winning author of Patient Zero and Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead

“A small town full of horror writers where nightmares come to life? What a concept! And Counting Morpheus delivers. From ‘What You Know’ to ‘The Word Inside,’ this is some impressive collection. New Bedlam is one place you don’t want to call home.”
-Nate Kenyon, author of Bloodstone and The Reach

Limited edition hardcovers are available for pre-order only at the Belfire Press website; no more than 250 copies will be produced, and it will only be available until January 5th. Shipping is included in price. For more details, please visit:
http://www.belfirepress.com/main/?page_id=98