Saturday, March 29, 2008

World Horror Update

I’m having a great time at World Horror. I’ve met a ton of great people thus far, and I’m sure that the next two days will yield the same results. Among the highlights: My friend Paul Genesse and I picked up Jude and Alan, proprietors of Borderlands books, from the airport and helped them get to the hotel. Last night, we went out to dinner with them. They’re both great people. If you’re ever at a convention with a dealer’s room, or are in San Fransisco, I’d advise looking them up.

It’s great to start meeting the authors who don’t tend to go to the other conventions. I’m horribly out of date when it comes to horror authors. I went to a few readings yesterday and was very impressed. These writers are the real deal. The story that Dennis Etchison read was just amazing. I plan to go to more readings today.

In a moment of unjustified enthusiasm, I entered the annual World Horror Gross Out Contest. I thought, "Oh, I can write gore-core as well as the next man," and proceded to crank out a little story involving murder by workshop tools, like drill presses, power nailers, and table saws. However, it turns out that I’m just not that sick. My story, about as gruesome as I’ve ever written, was like My Little Pony before the sheer, awe-inspiring vulgarity and moral turpitude of many others. I am properly chastened. I did, however, get kudos for leaping in where Mansons fear to tread.

In any case, I’m having a great time. I’ve got a ton of new reading material I’ll have to chew my way through. I have stuff from The Horror Library/Cutting Block Press (Boyd and R.J are very cool guys, and I hope to make it into one of their collections one day). I also became aware of The City Slab, an urban horror magazine. It looks really beautiful, and I’ll have to read through them as soon as the Con is over.

Well, I’ve got to wiggle over to the hotel and see what sort of trouble I can get myself into today. Hope everyone out there is doing well. If you get a chance, come to a World Horror. It’s a kick. These are some rough and ready, ful-loving characters. They may put you in a headlock and give you a knuckle on your scalp, but it’s all in good fun. Oh, and if you think you can take it, check out the Gross Out. It’s like the most disgusting joke you’ve ever heard, stretched over five full minutes. Awesome.

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