The children are home for Halloween

Today's post brought the author copies of the new editions of my three novels from my new publisher, Open Road Media. I couldn't be happier. 

Also, I love that the books arrived in time for Halloween. With COVID-19, we're not handing out candy and obviously not seeing friends. It'll be us, the dog (who's ten today, by the way—Happy Birthday, Beckett!—and some well-chosen horror films, and the new editions on the shelf. 

This was Beckett, on his first birthday with us—October 30th, 2012, when he turned two. I still see that "quizzical puppy" expression on his face eight years later. 

Unboxing the paperbacks

The highlight of this past week was undoubtedly getting these copies of Les Ombres de Wild Fell, the French translation of my novel Wild Fell, which arrived from Paris this past Tuesday. 

I've had my books published in hardcover and trade paperback, but I've never had one published in a mass market paperback before. Like a lot of horror writers who grew up in the 70s and 80s, paperback horror novels were a staple—for me, even a gold standard—to which I aspired. All of the horror writer I most admired (including many who later became good friends) had their books published as pocketbooks, either after a decent hardcover run, or in the book's' first and only form. 

Finally, in my 50s, I've achieved it. I may have missed the golden age of the paperback horror original as a writer, but this still feels remarkably satisfying.