A.C. Wise

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. Of course, it doesn’t do much good if you’re unable, or unwilling, to move beyond step one. I’m not proud of myself. Oh, wait…yes I am!

The craving struck me this morning, as it often does, to go book shopping. Naturally, I gave in immediately. This is the result.

Believe it or not, this is me practicing restraint. There were easily three or four more books I could have walked out with, but I didn’t. The books I chose, of course, were not only necessary, but perfectly justified. (shut up)

I’ve been eagerly awaiting The Domino Men since reading The Somnambulist. I’m contractually obligated to support my fellow Canadians, plus I resisted buying The Mystery of Grace in hardcover, so that means I deserve it now that it’s in paperback. This is The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The. Very. Best. Enough said. Not only is The Best Horror of the Year 2 also The Best, it’s edited by Ellen Datlow, which makes it required reading. So there. (shut up)

And speaking of The Best Horror of the Year, Ms. Datlow was kind enough to give a shout-out to “A Mouse Ran Up the Clock” in her yearly summation. Woohoo!

Rich Horton posted his year-end summary of Electric Velocipede yesterday, and he picked A Mouse Ran Up the Clock as one of his favorites of 2009. Woohoo!

Ellen Datlow posted her full Honorable Mention list for the Best Horror of the Year Vol. 1 yesterday. I was very pleased to see two of my stories made the list, Strange Fruit from Paradox #12 and Teeth from Horror Library Volume 3. The full list can be found here.

Looking at the list really brings home just how much work goes into these year’s best volumes, on top of all the other wonderful projects Ellen and other year’s best editors work on. It’s vaguely mind-boggling. Thanks, guys!

ABC apparently ordered a pilot of Fables. As with any other source material close to my heart, this makes me slightly nervous. On one hand, I would love to see these stories brought to (more) life, on the other hand, you never know who is going to be Joel Schumacher, and who is going to be Chris Nolan.

In other news, The Best of Every Day Fiction, which contains my flash piece, The Chupacabra in Love, is now available, both as a trade paperback and a fancy clothbound gift edition.

And finally, Cloth from Flesh, Flesh from Bone received a nice shout-out from Rich Horton in his year-end summary of Ideomancer. Go check it out and see if you agree!

I’m planning on attending the Philadelphia stop of Neil Gaiman’s Graveyard Book Tour, which got me thinking about author readings in general. I’ve been to relatively few - fewer than I would like certainly - and each was completely unique.

The first reading I ever attended was by Maya Angelou. It was part of distinguished speaker series, and it was held in a very large theater. My seat was far enough back that she was mostly a squidgy blur on the stage, but even so - wow. She probably could have read in a space twice that size and her voice still would have touched everyone in the room.

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