Other Theologians

Meth, Colan & Other Theologians is almost complete. The new book from Aardwolf Publishing reprises Perverts, Pedophiles & Other Theologians with two new stories, including a horror tale that Gene and I collaborated on and that he's working up a new illustration for. The cover is being painted by Mark Staff Brandl, the Chicago-born, Swiss-repatriated artist whose shows include galleries and museums in Basel, Paris, Moscow, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Mark is also a frequent contributor to London’s The Art Book and a Corresponding Editor for New York’s Art in America. Recently, works of his have been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, The Whitney Museum in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the St. Gallen Art Museum, The Thurgau Museum of Fine Art, The E.T.H. Graphic Collection in Zurich, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the International Museum of Cartoon Art... And he's painting my cover.

You can read a recent interview with Mark here or see one here.

Meth, Colan & Other Theologians is in the July Previews for books shipping in September. You can reserve the book now with your local retailer or order the signed edition here.

Wizard loves SNAKED

From Wizard Universe: The paperbacks you should be reading:

SNAKED (IDW Publishing): In this cleverly concocted political horror-thriller, Bill Timmons is born with scales and a latent ability for bloody outbursts. But when he makes it to the high-profile political scene, he finds it’s his co-workers who are the real snakes. In fact, his straight-laced principles make him, according to one slithery colleague, “almost inhuman,” setting up an analogy charged with the power of today’s most popular politicians. After being framed, fired and cheated on by his wife, Timmons goes on a bloody rampage that jumps out in stark red against the book’s dramatically dark and grimy palette. Snaked features sharp writing, a fun crude streak and an innovative plot encompassing a volatile backdrop of far-fetched, reality-based political intrigue you have to read to believe. Incredibly entertaining! JULY $17.99

Methage in a bottle

A dozen years ago, Matt Schwartz reviewed Perverts, Pedophiles & Other Theologians for BarnesandNoble.com calling me “one of dark fiction’s best-kept secrets.” Twelve years later, I still get notes from secret admirers:

“I first found one of your books in Chile (of all places) where I was living at the time,” writes Gonzalo Baeza who just bought MethO.D. “I've acquired all of your other books in the last 3-4 years but I was missing this one. I can't believe the ‘big’ publishing houses haven't decided to publish an anthology of your stories. Then again, it's not as if they know what they're doing and you'd probably not have the freedom to say what you say in your stories…”

MethO.D. was my last offering from Aardwolf Publishing. My next anthology, One Small Voice, was published by IDW Publishing—not exactly a “big publishing house,” but certainly not small press. TOR and others have asked for my first novel, but that assumes I’ll write one. For the nonce, short-fiction still wets my whistle.

Fiction in the works:

• Billboards, a novelette illustrated by Dave Gutierrez with an introduction by Robert Silverberg (IDW Publishing)
• Meth, Colan & Other Theologians -- reprints Perverts with two additional stories and new forewords from Marv Wolfman, Mark Evanier, and Gail Simone (Aardwolf Publishing)
• god’s 15 minutes: deluxe edition – new French, Hebrew, and English language editions of my 2003 collection with additional stories and an afterword by Harlan Ellison (Mahrwood Press)
  

Mark Evanier's KIRBY: Best in Breed

Once in an indicolite moon, a comics publication reminds me why I misspent my youth on the porch reading comics while the cool kids on my block were tossing firecrackers at helpless cats. And it just happened again: Mark Evanier's KIRBY (Harry N Abrams Inc.) is 223 pages of the coolest book I've ever seen. The layouts are smart, the writing is inviting, you hold it in your hand and feel the sunshine in your face. I can't say enough about this hidden treasure other than if you have any sense left, you'll buy two copies because someone (probably one of the assholes from my block) may borrow yours and never return it.