Publishing News: 'The Screamer' Accepted For Publication in Urban Cthulhu: Nightmare Cities

I've had the ridiculously good fortune to be either published and/or accepted for publication in a number of stellar anthologies in 2011, and the latest is certainly no exception. 

My story "The Screamer" - a sizable tale that attempted to hobble me a number of insidious ways during the birthing process - was recently accepted for inclusion in Urban Cthulhu: Nightmare Cities, edited by devoted Danish Lovecraftian Henrik Sandbeck Harksen and published by his critically acclaimed small press H. Harksen Productions, with a tentative release date of January 2012.

While this auspicious occasion will mark the typesetting of my longest narrative to date (8,700 words), it will also count as the first time I'll be published in a language other than English (if a Danish version is released in addition to the English language version, which I'm assuming/hoping), and a Scandinavian language at that.  As a proud Teuton whose ancestors finally skittered to a stop in the Schleswig Holstein area of northern Germany (just a catapult throw from the Danish border) before bailing for the New World, I've always felt a special affinity for Denmark, where - regardless of what that mother-loving emo Hamlet said - something is rarely rotten.  Hell, for a number of mystifying and silly reasons, my dad claims to be Danish instead of German, so I could possibly be (great)grandfathered in as a full-on Dane.

 

Anyway, I'm very excited and proud to be a part of what looks to be a fantastic line-up of Cthulhoid asskickers, including several friends and antho comrades with whom I've shared a ToC or two in the past, and some new names that I'm very keen to read.  

Here's Henrik's most recent announcement regarding the dread folio:

Urban Cthulhu: Nightmare Cities (hplmythos.com Vol. 2) Update

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post today, Vol. 2 of the much anticipated hplmythos.com Series, Urban Cthulhu: Nightmare Cities, is scheduled for publication January 2012. I could probably publish it earlier but I want the result to be worthwhile — so I am going for the safer bet. The stories deserve the best possible design etc., and not something rushed through.
Here’s an updated Table of Contents:
CONTENTS:

• “Dancer of the Dying” by Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
• “The Neighbors Upstairs” by John Goodrich
• “Carcosapunk” by Glynn Owen Barrass
• “Architect Eyes” by Thomas Strømsholt
• “Slou” by Robert Tangiers
• “Ozeelah’s Lake” by Morten Carlsen
• “The Statement of Frank Elwood” by Pete Rawlik
• “In the Shadow of Bh’Yhlun” by Ian Davey
• “The Screamer” by Ted E. Grau
• “Night Life” by Henrik Sandbeck Harksen
• “the guilt of each … at the end…” by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.

Believe me, it’s worth the wait!

For comparison's sake, here's an announcement Henrik made back in May , when "The Screamer" was still just a barely meeping fetus, looking for a way out of the womb inside my skull:

Announcement: URBAN CTHULHU stories found

I know you have been waiting, holding your breath — close to dying — wanting to find out what stories and authors you can find in Volume 2 of my hplmythos.com Series, Urban Cthulhu: Nightmare Cities. Well, rest at ease at long last, my shadow friends on the web. The final decisions have been made, and here are the tales you will find:

CONTENTS:

• “the guilt of each… at the end…” by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
• “Dancer of the Dying” by Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
• “The Neighbors Upstairs” by John Goodrich
• “Carcosapunk” by Glynn Owen Barrass
• “Architect Eyes” by Thomas Strømsholt
• “Slou” by Robert Tangiers
• “Ozeelah’s Lake” by Morten Carlsen
• “The Statement of Frank Elwood” by Pete Rawlik
• “Night Life” by Henrik Sandbeck Harksen
• (I expect a couple of more confirmations, but will reserve the mentioning of those stories till I’ve heard from the authors;-))

I am really, really impressed by this collection. In all modesty (or not) I think this will truly be a fine addition to the Cthulhu Mythos & Lovecraftian publications that sprawl the world. And any interested reader will find tales that reveal a new, hitherto unexamined corner of this genre — the urban Cthulhu area. (And yes, the .com site will be updated with this information, but it will take a few days longer.)

A deeply felt thank you to all contributors.

Needless to say, I'm tickled a pleasing shade of pink about this one, and must say working with Henrik has been a breeze.  His patience and trust, allowing me the time and space to explore every labyrinthine turn, and stare down every unnatural shadow in the room, was a wonderful experience.  He's a fine one, he is.

As I creak toward a new decade of life in January, it looks like I'll have something other than bad joints and panicked feelings of mortality leering back at me.  I'll have "The Screamer," waiting in a Nightmare City, holding its breath while I blow out the candles and cloak the room in darkness once again.

Artwork (c) by Jon Foster -  http://www.jonfoster.com/#home