The Official Site Of Author Brian Hodge

Slated for next autumn is a new short story, “For I Must Be About My Father’s Work.” Trustee for this one is Nancy Kilpatrick, wearing her editor’s hat for the anthology Danse Macabre. Look for this one in fall 2012, from Canadian publisher EDGE.

Richard Kuklinksi, a.k.a. "The Iceman." Heart not included.

The genesis of this one dates back to pair of documentaries that HBO ran in the 1990s, called The Iceman Tapes. A simple set-up, just Richard Kuklinksi — one of the most chilling individuals who’s ever lived — talking from prison about his life as a mob killer.

Strange but true: Among his seemingly endless, and endlessly savage, string of murders, the only one he regretted was one in which he let a man await his own killing, to see if God would answer his prayers to save him.

“I shouldn’t have done it that way,” Kuklinksi said, clearly bothered by the recollection.

That always fascinated me. I always thought there was a story in that. Now, finally, there is.

Last year’s story, “Just Outside Our Windows, Deep Inside Our Walls,” ended up with a double-dip presence in year’s-best roundups. While I would of course maintain that you need the story in its original e-chapbook form, courtesy of Darkside Digital, these volumes are pretty nice too.

First up, because it actually appeared last May, is this assortment of all that was good and unholy in 2010 as selected by the one and only Ellen Datlow. A good ratio of familiar names to other folks that I’m looking forward to getting to know better.

Tapping into the Amazon reviews, for some reason I’m especially fond of one reader’s declaration that Norman Partridge and I should have permanent slots reserved in every year’s-best anthology. I think I can also speak for Norm when I say, “Sure, why not?”

Next it’s editor Stephen Jones’ turn, with his autumn annual and latest book whose spine is thick enough to double as a weapon in the next Jason Bourne movie. There’s a bit of cross-over with us chicks in Ellen’s brood, but it’s largely a different roster. I’m just happy to have pleased them both.

Along with this Amazon reader, who calls “Just Outside Our Windows…” “…a superlative example of dark fantasy; a masterclass in magic realism.” Really, I’m going to have to start putting these folks on the payroll.

After the two new novelettes, it’s reprint time. In case you missed my story “Godflesh” in any of its previous outings, here’s one more chance. This is the one that once got me contacted by a unique fetishist society wanting to know one thing: “Do you have any more stories like this?”

Perhaps fortunately, no.

Again, I can’t complain about the neighbors: Joe Lansdale. Ray Garton. A pre-Game Of Thrones George R.R. Martin. Longtime friends Elizabeth Massie, Wayne Allen Sallee, and J.F. Gonzalez. Edward Lee and Wrath James White, whom you’d sort of suspect would have to be here. 20 culprits in all.

I’m thinking that Comet Press editor Cheryl Mullenax may have assembled her dream team, then let each one select the story that they felt best fit the criteria. That was at least true in my case. Meaning that, if so, you really do get each individual author’s perspective on their own work.

Another brand new one. You have to love seminal editor Stephen Jones’ concept for this: a deliberately unthemed anthology, just Steve inviting an undisclosed number of the most dependable writers he knows to do their very best, then selecting the cream of the crop. I’m ecstatic not to have curdled on this one.

Again, the company rocks: Caitlin R. Kiernan. Dennis Etchison. Ramsey Campbell. John Ajvide Lindqvist. Michael Marshall Smith. R.C. Matheson. Some guy named Stephen King. 14 in all. The reviews at the Amazon link below are very comprehensive, and will serve up a much better idea of what’s an offer here than I have room for. Suffice to say that my piece is called “Roots and All,” a kind of folkloric reaction to what’s become of the place where my grandparents spent their lives.

Here’s the thing: It’s from UK publisher Quercus, where also-seminal editor Jo Fletcher now has her own imprint. Meaning, a Kindle download notwithstanding, at this point a stateside purchase may mean a little extra effort or wait.

Then there’s also what I call the Richer Than God Edition, a 100-copy traycased limited coming later this year from fellow contributor Peter Crowther’s specialty press, PS Publishing. Depending on the exchange rates, that one will set you back about $1000.

Probably not the version you’ll want to take along on a rafting trip.

Autumn has turned into anthology season, with several appearances clustering all at once. First up, it’s Demons, which also bears the epic subtitle “Encounters With The Devil And His Minions, Fallen Angels, And The Possessed.” Edited by John Skipp, who I’m pretty sure is in the dictionary in the picture next to “Living Legend.”

Huge in size, huge in scope. Do not drop this thing on any small animal whose life you value. It weighs in at 632 pages, with 37 stories (most new, some classics) by the likes of Robert R. McCammon, Neil Gaiman, David J. Schow, Karl Edward Wagner, Bentley Little, and bunches more. Stellar company, all around.

My contribution is a longish piece called “Scars In Progress,” which I expect will be the only story I ever write whose title comes from misreading some dull technical material I was scanning (the phrase was actually “scans in progress”).

I’m very gratified by the story’s thumbnail assessment on Facebook by fellow contributor Adam-Troy Castro: “Old lover has photos of demons, dragging protagonist along. An astounding evocation of decay and despair, as creepy as anything I’ve read so far.”