Preston Black's Opening Act

Just a reminder that there's a little get-together at Black Bear on Pleasant Street this Saturday! Kind of a pre-launch for THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK. It's a causal thing, and everybody's invited. Just stop by if you're in town. We'll have music by ABACUS JONES--an amazing group of guys--and a raffle to benefit The Friends of the Cheat.

Saturday, December 8, 2-4pm. Black Bear Burritos, Pleasant Street. Hope to see some of yinz there.

 

'Hellbender' Finds Magic and Murder in the Mountains

Jason Jack Miller's 'Hellbender' Finds Magic and Murder in the Mountains

"Family feuds are a huge part of the history and folklore of this country. The Hatfield and McCoy families alone have accounted for endless books, television shows and punch lines. People outside the feuds may see them as pointless and silly, but to those deeply entangled in them, they are a matter of life and death. They often start over matters like a piece of land or a broken relationship; important things, yes, but usually not worth the violence, heartbreak and bloodshed that stains their names for years and generations to follow."

Read the rest at Fearnet.com!

Hazard Yet Forward Authors Featured on IMJ

Visit Ian and Jose at Inveterate Media Junkies (IMJ) for a Halloween Blitz benefiting the Hazard Yet Forward charity anthology. The IMJ Nation has generously donated three of our monthly columns (Heidi Ruby Miller's Geek Girl Underground, Irene L. Pynn's The Princess and Her PS3, Jason Jack Miller's Sound Check) to promote breast cancer awareness and introduce you to some wonderful authors. They answered some questions and talked about their stories. And you'll find out just how each of them plans to deal with a zombie apocalypse.

Now, about the anthology...

Seventy-six writers connected to the Seton Hill University Writing Popular Fiction program have created a multi-genre charity anthology entitled Hazard Yet Forward. All proceeds from this project will benefit Donna Munro, a 2004 graduate of the program. Munro, a teacher living in St. Louis, Missouri, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Genres represented in the book range from horror to romance to mystery - and everything in between. Some of the notable writers in the anthology are World Fantasy Award winner Nalo Hopkinson, Bram Stoker winners Michael A. Arnzen and Michael Knost, Bram Stoker nominees Lawrence C. Connolly and John Edward Lawson, ALA/YALSA Best Book for Young Adults winner Jessica Warman, Rita finalist Dana Marton, Spur award winner Meg Mims, Asimov's Reader's Award winner Timons Esaias, Rhysling Award nominee K. Ceres Wright, Ronney Award winner Jason Jack Miller, and WV Arts and Humanities literary fellowships winner, Geoffrey Cameron Fuller.

FEATURING: Querus Abuttu, Sally Bosco, Penny Dawn, Matt Duvall, Jacki King, Dana Marton, Michael Mehalek, Rachael Pruitt, Chris Stout, K. Ceres Wright

FEATURING: A.G. Devitt, David L. Day, Kristin Dearborn, Ron Gavalik, Scott A. Johnson, Meg Mims, Nancy J. Parra, Lori Pollard-Johnson, W.D. Prescott, Jessica Warman

FEATURING: Michael A. Arnzen, S.A. Check, David Corwell, Natalie Duvall, Ron Edison, Timons Esaias, Geoffrey Cameron Fuller, Karin Fuller, John Edward Lawson, Deanna Lepsch, Donna Munro

Cover Reveal for COG by K. Ceres Wright

In a futuristic world where personalities can be downloaded at will, who's a girl to trust?

COG by K. Ceres Wright

Cyberpunk Science Fiction coming from Dog Star Books in Summer 2013

Cover Art by Bradley Sharp

Worse than cold sores.

Sir John Edward of Lawson infected me (like I always knew he would,) and now it's my turn to spread the disease. Basically, it involves searching for the first  use of the word “look” in your work in progress, then pasting that paragraph, and those immediately before and after, into a blog post, after which you spread the disease to five other authors.   

 

This is from the very, very beginning of THE REVELATIONS OF PRESTON BLACK, a little alt newspaper article about an upcoming show. Kind of tells us a little about Katy and Preston since last we saw them.

     From the moment she walks across that stage, you know Katy Stefanic is the kind of girl you could fall in love with. Though romantically involved but not married, the pair play off of each other like they have been attached at the hip for no less than twenty years, instantaneously responding to frequent and impulsive key and tempo changes. Call me jaded, but watching Stefanic and Black work the aural space over the crowd mesmerized me in a way only more seasoned acts have been able to do in recent years. Except for the random, "Marry me, Katy," (or, "Call me, Preston,") the crowd remains stone silent during ballads and quiet instrumentals. Even more curious is the way audience responds to the mix of old time throw-down melodies and punk-fast tempos with fists in the air and good old-fashioned foot stomping. And when the lights came up for the first encore the frenzied crowd responded like Joe Strummer himself  was going to join them for a song or two.

     I had a chance to talk to Stefanic and Black after their show in D.C. last Saturday and asked them about their relationship and how it affected their musical development. Preston was more than content to let his beloved Katy do most of the talking. With a wide smile, she folded her  hands over her knee and explained, "Sharing music with somebody is a lot like sharing a bed. After a while you start to know when something's building, when things are going to sour, when the temperature's going to change with just a look."

     Preston added, "It's like yinz and y'all. Same language, just different ways of saying things. What the audience hears is where we meet in the middle."

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