(My latest newsletter, reproduced here.)

Hello fiends

Well, damn, it’s been a long time between newsletters. Sorry about that. I do have a few excuses. Firstly, have I told you lot about our new dog yet? That’s him above. His name is Maximo and for some reason he likes to sit on my shoulders. He’s a delight and also a complete monster. He’s just turned 6 months old, so we let him get away with a lot right now while we’re also training him to be better. Thankfully he seems to have stopped eating books, so that’s a massive improvement on past behaviour.

But a lot of other stuff has also kept me busy. It’s funny how this gig works, where the more success you see, the less time you have for the thing you’re trying to be successful at. It’s a good problem to have, and I always recognise how fortunate I am to be invited to things like Supanova, Oz Comic-Con, to be asked to teach workshops at libraries and so on. I love doing those things, but it does take time away from the actual job of writing. I haven’t written any new words of fiction for weeks, unless you count today, when I wrote a new flash fiction for patrons.

I’ve started doing this thing on Patreon where I ask for three words or phrases as writing prompts and then I write a new short fiction piece using those prompts, and I promise to never take more than a week to post the result. The first one went up over there today and it all worked out pretty well. People liked it. Hooray! I plan to do a lot more stuff like that on Patreon in the future.

I also post a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff there and that’ll be happening some more too as I’m finally ready to get back into the novel I started earlier this year but which I had to put aside when I got really busy. I also got really fucking sick – perhaps as sick as I’ve ever been – and that set things back a bit. But other than a little fatigue still lingering around, I’m over that now and raring to go once again. (It wasn’t Covid, I think it was a bad hit of influenza.)

So here’s where things currently stand with work you can expect from me. The Leaves Forget is out now (and I think a few of the limited edition hardcovers are still available from PS Publishing). Next up is my new standalone novel, Blood Covenant. That comes out from the awesome folks at Cemetery Dance Publications on the 24th May next year. 24/5/24 is a pretty auspicious publication date. Unless you’re American, when you fuck it up and make it 5/24/24, which is just weird, but you do you, American pals.

Blood Covenant is the story of a bank robbery that goes horribly wrong, so the crims run off into the country to hide out. They find a hotel that’s closed for another month and decide that would be a great place to lie low until the heat’s off. Except the family who run the hotel have just arrived to get the place ready for opening and suddenly we have a hostage situation. Then something starts to wake up out in the bush, and it’s thirsty for blood…

Blood Covenant is set in the mountains west of Enden in the Gulpepper universe, so while it’s not an actual Tale From The Gulp, it is in that geography. More news on that release as things progress.

In the meantime, I’m very excited to have signed with a new agent. I’m now represented by Becky LeJeune at the Bond Literary Agency and I’m hopeful for lots of future success with her. The first thing under way is my new novel, The Past is a Dark Country, which she’s got out submission right now. I’m not nervous. You’re nervous. Shut up. I won’t say much about that book other than it’s a psychological horror thriller set in Australia (in the city of Wollongong, in fact) and it’s the first novel-length thing I’ve written without any actual supernatural elements. There are occult things, but… I’ll say no more. Please wish me luck on landing a good home for that. I’m really hoping to level up in terms of publisher and distribution with that book.

And that brings us full circle back to the novel I had to put aside earlier this year when I got so busy (and then sick).

I need to go back and re-read what I’ve done so far to get my head back into the book and the characters, but it’s a standalone coming-of-age horror novel set in Monkton, again in the Gulpepper universe. There are some solid Gulp easter eggs in this one – one character is an orphan after events in The Fall, for example – but it’s otherwise an entirely self-contained story. As of next week I’ll start my re-read and get back to work on it. I’m about 50,000 words in already, so I hope to have a first draft finished by early in the new year.

You know me, I like to stay busy.

On the short fiction front, other than the Patreon stuff mentioned earlier, I’ve had one new publication out this year and a couple more in the pipe. You can find “Clean-up Crew” in SNAFU: Punk’d, ed. A J Spedding (Cohesion Press) which is out now, and then “All the Eyes That See” is coming out in Cosmic Horror Monthly in December and “Sunlight On Clear Water” in Dread Volume 1, ed. Kevin Lucia and Brian James Freeman (Cemetery Dance Publications) which I believe is also due out in December. That last one is a new Tale From The Gulp, the first actual Gulpepper story since The Gulp and The Fall. Another brand new and recent story is “Old High Hills”, published exclusively on Patreon in September.

A relatively lean publishing year for me by my usual standards, but there are several things on the horizon. This business is nothing if not inconsistent.

What I’ve been Enjoying

So what stuff have I read and watched?

As a family we’ve been watching the new Lost In Space on Netflix. We’re about halfway through the third (and final, I think) season right now and we’re enjoying it. It takes a lot of different directions from the old 60s show, but it’s cleverly written for the most part and equally appealing to myself and my wife and our 10 year old, so that’s always a sign of good viewing.

I also watched the new Mike Flanagan series, The Fall of the House of Usher. It’s a really clever limited series, with each episode celebrating a different Edgar Allan Poe story. I enjoyed it a lot. Not his best series, I don’t think, but absolutely compelling viewing all the same. Apart from anything else, Mark Hamill is just amazing in it.

Reading wise, I’ve enjoyed a few great books lately. I mentioned before that I was reading the third of C S Humble’s weird western The Light Sublime trilogy and I enjoyed that a lot. The whole trilogy is superb. Lee Murray has a new novella out called Despatches which is brilliant – full of heart and horror. J. Ashley-Smith never disappoints and his new collection, The Measure of Sorrow, is outstanding. The title novella ripped me to pieces – I haven’t been that affected by a piece of fiction in a long time. Fuck you, Joseph, for being so good. What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher is a superb retelling (again!) of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and well worth a read. I’m quickly becoming a huge T. Kingfisher fan. Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark is an incredible novella, not quite like anything I’ve ever read before. And rising Australian star, Zachary Ashford, has a new heavy metal horror novel out called Polyphemus and I had a lot of fun reading that. You honestly can’t go wrong with any of those books above.

And right now I’m re-reading Peter Straub’s Ghost Story for a thing that’s coming up in a couple of weeks. I’ve long been a fan of Straub and this re-read once again confirms for me that he’s possibly the most under-rated author of his generation. He should be as big as King, he’s an absolute master.

Okay, that’s about all from me for now. Keep in touch, I always enjoy hearing from people. On that front, with social media in such flux, I keep a linktree now where all the most up to date links of where to find me can be found. That’s here: https://linktr.ee/alanbaxter

Big love to all, until next time.

Al

www.alanbaxter.com.au

My latest newsletter just went out via Substack, reposted here.

Being a writer is bloody weird. In some ways, it’s entirely natural to me because I’ve never really known anything different. I’ve always loved telling stories. But the longer I do this as a job and the more often I’m interviewed about it and asked about it, the more I have to interrogate what it actually means to be a writer.

If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ll know how I feel about writing rules. Spoiler: I fucking hate the prescriptive bullshit. All this “you must write every day” and “only write what you know” stuff makes my teeth curl. Who the hell knows dragons? Or demons? Or even the reality of a crime scene? Eh, don’t get me started. The one and only “rule” of writing is that you must write. How often, how much, when, what about, whether you’re published or not – all that is variable and irrelevant. If you write, you’re a writer. That’s it.

But despite all those variables, I think writers exist as writers all the time, however much or little they actually write. The strange condition of being a writer means always living in a certain, subconscious way.

For one, we notice things. We see the inconsistencies in existence, the little snagged edges where life gets caught. And while lots of other folks may or may not notice those things too, we as writers remember them. They get filed away in the weird writer cupboard in our brain and there they fester and germinate and eventually burst forth anew as stories.

But do we notice and remember these things because we write or do we write because we notice and remember these things? Are those even separate considerations? This is something I ruminate on occasionally in the dark quietude of the night. I have no answers, of course. I just find it interesting.

You know what else is interesting? (Pro segue there, Al – you see, I’m a writer!) I’ve got a new agent. I recently signed with Becky LeJeune of the Bond Literary Agency and I’m super excited for the future with her support. I knew it would be a good relationship when she wore a Camp Crystal Lake t-shirt on our first Zoom meeting. I am enormously indebted to Alex Adsett, who has been my agent until now and will still represent my interests in several ongoing areas. I’m hopeful that Becky will be able to get my work out to bigger audiences and this new arrangement will be of massive benefit to us all. We’re starting off with a brand new novel, so watch out for news on that sometime in the future. Cross your everythings for me.

A couple of other things are current.

PS Publishing (who own Absinthe Books) have announced The Leaves Forget in their newsletter. There will be a hardcover and a signed and numbered limited edition hardcover (only 100 copies!) both with that sweet Ben Baldwin art you see at the top of this post as a full wraparound cover, and there’ll be an ebook, of course. If you’re keen for one of the physical copies, you can order now. I haven’t actually had the signing sheets yet for the limited edition but I’m told it’s selling fast in pre-orders, so if you’re keen for one of those, best to jump in quick. You can order directly from PS Publishing here: https://www.pspublishing.co.uk/the-leaves-forget-hardcover-by-alan-baxter-6107-p.asp

Here’s the blurb for the book:

Olivia has been missing for months. Her family have tried to accept that perhaps she’ll never be found, and they’ll never know what happened.

So when her brother Craig unexpectedly receives a stack of letters from Liv, all written not long after her disappearance, he’s both excited and frightened. Reading through her correspondence, Craig begins to get a sense of where she was, but he still doesn’t know where she is now, or if she’s even still alive.

Using what clues he can from the old letters, Craig sets off with his partner and his father to find Olivia, hoping for the best, fearing the worst.

I hope you’ll give this one a go.

And that brings me to the Ditmar Awards. I’m absolutely thrilled to be shortlisted four times this year. Four! I’ve been nominated for Sallow Bend in Best Novel; “Gulpepper Curios” from The Fall in Best Novella or Novelette, The Fall itself in Best Collected Work AND Damnation Games (which I edited and have a story in) also in Best Collected Work. Wild. I’ve never won a Ditmar before, so fingers crossed.

Voting is now open, and all Conflux 2023 members (full or supporting) and members of the last 5 Natcons (Continuum 2017, Swancon 2018, Continuum 2019, Swancon 2020 and Conflux 2022) are eligible to vote. All votes must be in by 22/9/23 and you can vote online here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/voting/ If you’re eligible to vote, please do! The more votes that go in, the better the awards reflect the views of the reading public.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

I’ve been flat out lately and haven’t had much reading or watching time, but I have finished bingeing Better Call Saul, the sequel series to Breaking Bad. It was really good and I enjoyed it all, but I think Breaking Bad is better. I was left a little sour with the final few episodes of Better Call Saul. On the one hand, I get it. On the other hand, I would have done it differently. I can’t say more without spoilers, but hit me up if you want a chat about it.

I’ve been to the movies twice recently. I saw Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter which is a great horror movie. Monster on a boat: it does exactly what it says on the tin. And I saw Talk To Me which is simply one of the best horror movies I’ve ever seen. An Australian film, no less. It’s truly brilliant and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Try to know as little as possible going in, if you can.

Reading-wise I’ve just started the third volume of C S Humble’s horror western trilogy, so I’ll report back about that soon. So far, it’s excellent. I also read the new Chuck Tingle horror novel, Camp Damascus. It’s an original and clever take on some old horror tropes and while I felt like it skipped parts and made some strange leaps in narrative, I enjoyed it a lot.

Okay, I think that’s all from me for now. If you’re anywhere near Sydney, I’ll be a guest at Oz Comic-Con on September 23rd and 24th. It would be awesome to see you there. I’ll have lots of books to sign, stickers, badges and general bonhomie. All you need to know is here: https://ozcomiccon.com/

Big love from me, feel free to get in touch and I’ll see you next time.

Al

My latest newsletter just went out via Substack, but here it is:

Hello fiends

How the fuck are ya? I thought it was time to drop you a line again and let you know what’s up. First of all, that image above shows some stellar news.

I’ve really enjoyed working with Cemetery Dance on Sallow Bend and it’s so cool to be published by an outfit with such a great history of producing amazing horror. So I was excited when they were keen to read my next novel and even more excited when they agreed to publish it. As you can see from the Deal Report above, it’ll be out in May next year.

This book was hard going. You might remember some time ago I was posting about it. (September 2019, in fact!) Here’s the blog post where I admitted the problem: https://www.alanbaxter.com.au/when-you-realise-your-book-is-broken/ .

So it turns out that I wrote (and had published!) Sallow Bend in the time between starting and finishing Blood Covenant. This is a really fucking weird business. I shelved the book and then came back to it twice and in the long run that was the right thing to do. I’m super proud of how this one finally came out and can’t wait for people to read it. It’s loosely pitched as HEAT meets THE SHINING, and I think it also has vibes of Paul Tremblay’s “The Cabin at the End of the World” and Adam Nevil’s “The Ritual”, all set in a remote Australian mountain wilderness. I hope that sounds appealing. Let me know what you think. I’ll post more about it as news comes along.

Meanwhile, there is a new book coming out this year, I think around September. It’s a novella and I can’t say anything more about it right now, but watch this space for more news on that one.

So what else is going on?

The Ditmar Awards are open for nominations and if you’re an Aussie fan you’re eligible to nominate. So please do nominate all the good stuff you enjoyed in 2022. If you think anything of mine is worthy of a nomination, thank you! All the details you need, including an online form for nominations, can be found here: https://conflux.org.au/blog/ and everything of mine that’s eligible is listed in this blog post. I’m especially keen to see Sallow Bend get some more attention, so if you thought that was worthy of a nomination in the Novel category, bless your black and pulsing heart.

I’m sure any of you who follow me on any social media will have seen the latest member of the BaxCave. Maximo came to live with us recently and he’s absolutely wonderful. Like any baby, he’s hard work right now but he’s a sweet, lovable, smart little guy and settling in really well. The old dog, Rufus, is having a harder time adjusting, but he’s getting there. The cats… not so much. That might take a little longer!

My social media is just full of Maximo at the moment, so apologies or you’re welcome, depending on which side of that you fall. Normal service will resume shortly.

I was asked by the Horror Writers Association to help with a new series they’re running, interviewing international (i.e. not American) horror writers, and that’s been great fun. I’ve enjoyed working with Meghan Arcuri, Sumiko Saulson, Shawna Hampton, Rosemary Thorne, John Lawson and Naching Kassa on this and you can read my introduction to the series here: https://horror.org/world-of-horror-introduction-to-international-horror-month-2023-by-alan-baxter/

What I’ve Been Enjoying

I’ve been reading more Charlie Parker thrillers by John Connolly. There’s 20 (I think) and I just read number 10, The Burning Soul. Honestly, it wasn’t nearly as good as the previous one and there was one plot device that really didn’t work for me, but these are great books nonetheless. I also got to read an early copy of Michael David Wilson’s new novel, House of Bad Memories, which was thoroughly wild. He asked if I’d give him a blurb for it (hence the early reading) and this is what I sent over:

“If Ira Levin and Guy Ritchie had a drug-fuelled weekend binge with the Kray twins in a Kidderminster council flat, they wouldn’t come close to House of Bad Memories. Darkly funny, brutally violent and strangely touching, Michael David Wilson has created something truly bonkers and I’m here for it.”

With TV, I mentioned before that I was binging Breaking Bad. I finished all of that and it was genuinely outstanding television. Just so good. And then I went directly on to Better Call Saul (at Brian Keene’s urging). Better Call Saul is a prequel/sequel series surrounding Breaking Bad and it’s equally good. I’m loving it and up to Season 4 of 6 so far. I’m hoping to get to the movies with my 9yo to see Barbie soon too, that looks like so much fun.

Meanwhile, this weekend I’ll be a guest at Oz Comic-Con in Canberra (and in Sydney next month) so if you can get anywhere near the nation’s capital, it would be awesome to see you there. All you need to know is here: https://ozcomiccon.com/

Okay, I think that’s all from me for now. Big love to you all, keep in touch and I’ll see you next time.

Al