Was playing a little Clash earlier (London Calling), whilst working on the
audio book project, so the blog title today kinda wrote itself. Because,
with the Ts included, this is what I’ve been trying to decide all day.
Head Trauma, the audio book I’m going to be putting out (hopefully later
this year) with fellow author Frank Wales, has been going pretty good. I’ve
got three of Frank’s stories in, and am waiting for some more. I’ve also got
a list of 13 of my own stories to go through, to decide which ones are going
to make the cut. Because honestly, while I would love to just jam-pack a
book with a dozen stories by both Frank and I, even audio has some
limitations, and when you see the count is up to a whopping 180K words
(roughly 725 pages, if you go by the average paperback), well, you gotta
start trimming. Sure, be a helluva nice package, a 725 page collection of
horror tales, but it’d take forever to record and do the production work on,
as well. (Although I’m in, if Random House or Putnam wanna give us a
shout–and a check.)
And, this is *after* I cut out a rather lengthy story (The Cucumber Bitch),
which originally appeared in the collection Sex Crimes. (Poorly co-edited,
and filled with print errors, but still, if you want to read the story,
along with tales from David J. Schow, Wayne Allen Sallee, Steve Bissette,
and a whole bunch of other folks, you can grab a copy at the MSI Online
store-for cover price. No mark-ups here.) Even without that behemoth, I’m
already looking at 150,000 words worth of short stories, most of them
never-before-published. Two stories that I’m 90% certain to be using?
(Brutal and p0rn)-I don’t have in WORD, so I can’t even check how long they
are.
Three other stories that I’d at least *like* to think about? Haven’t even
been written yet. Outlined? Sure. Scripted for comics? Yes on two of ‘em.
And, a fourth story that I *have* finished is definitely making the cut.
CHASERS, which I’ve been getting great feedback on, is getting a ton of
compliments. The last couple of day’s worth of e-mails? If my ego were a
dick, I’d've gotten off a couple of times already due to the stroking. I’m
really happy with this one. It’s the one taking the place of ‘Cuke, which
should tell you something, considering Wayne Allen Sallee sent ‘Cuke to
Ellen Datlow for consideration for Year’s Best Horror & Sci-Fi that year.
You don’t get a bigger kudo and pat on the back than having a guy with Wayne’s
pedigree going to bat for your work that way. And still-I’m not going to be
using it in Head Trauma.
On the one hand, it’s becoming a bear of a job. It’s like, “Okay, which
family member do I leave behind while the others go on vacation?” On the
other, it’s hard for me to bitch, because okay, I’ve got nearly 200K worth
of my own short stories to choose from. So??? Do another book in 2011. It’s
not the end of the world just because I can’t play Noah and pair all of
them up and get ‘em on board.
I’ve been trying to look at it that way. But it’s kinda tough nevertheless.
Some choices were easy. Coven? Needs a serious update, so I was okay not
packing that one’s bags. The Box? More of a novella, so I had no trouble
putting that one aside for future use, too. Shuteye, too was a choice that I
didn’t hand-wring over, given that I’m still considering Frozen Meat. Both
are Starkhammer stories, meaning someday down the road, when I write the
others that I would have included in the Zacherley comic, I can always
collect them then. Make them their own thing. A Starkhammer Penitentiary
anthology. That’ll be fun, so no biggie there.
But man, some of the rest… The Monthly got a great reception when it
appeared in Stuff Out’a My Head in 2002, and Pam is really wanting me to
include it. So I’m on the fence about it. p0rn (which will be undergoing a
title change to Skin Flick if it makes the grade) I’m pretty intent on using
because the screenplay is currently sitting on the desk of a producer in New
York who just committed to paying me a chunk of change in the mid 5-figure
range to produce my ghost story script, Visions of Sarah. So, yeah, having
p0rn/Skin Flick appearing in an audio book, maybe around year’s end? Be real
nice to have that one getting talked about again.
Hell, even if I didn’t reprint a single story, I’m still way over a hundred
thou in terms of word count. And, Frank could hit me up with ten more
stories of his own this week, I don’t know what’s still to come. He and I
could be in the same boat for a long while.
Oh well, could be worse. I could be editing an omnibus Stephen King short
story collection, where *he* dumps all his old stuff on me and a 40 gigabyte
hard drive full o’ new ones. Imagine trying to winnow down *that* list!
* * * * * * * * * *
Currently listening to: Her Liquid Arms by Diorama
