So this is cool: The Devil’s Alphabet will be the August book of the month over on Joseph Mallozzi’s blog. Mr. Mallozzi is a producer on the Stargate television shows, including the most recent in the franchise, Stargate Universe — but he’s trying to get fans to read SF too. Imagine!

Joseph’s gotten a wide range of writers to do BotM — including Michael Moorcock, Jeffrey Ford, and Jasper Fforde. Ellen Kushner is finishing up June, and Alastair Reynolds will be doing July. The blog also covers an entertaining mix of TV, SF, and general weirdness.

Anyway, I’ll be answering questions over there starting in August, so drop on by.

Oh, and on the Dracula front, Kurt Busiek and I opine about impalements and the new comic on Newsarama.

This week, I’ve been thinking and talking a lot about impaling, impalers, impalees. The whole impalement spectrum, really. Early in the week I finished the first draft of Dracula: Company of Monsters #1, then had the Clockwork Storybook pros review it and give me notes. (Like: “Daryl, you can’t introduce two new characters, have a dense conversation, and put seven panels all on one page.”) Anyway, Kurt Busiek and the Boom editors are looking it over, and I’ll finish the final edits this weekend.

And in the past couple of days I’ve been doing PR for the book, mostly doing email interviews with the comics press. Kurt Busiek is doing all the heavy work on the interviews — the book was his idea, after all, and he’s the architect of this narrative edifice — so while he offers cogent explanations of the story and its genesis, I interrupt with wise-assery. It’s a job I like.

But the other day I had to fly solo. I had a great conversation with Sean and Jim of the comics podcast Raging Bullets. Oh wait, let’s get the logo:

See how it says “fan podcast”? These guys really are fans, and they talk about books they love — and it’s clear they’re having more fun than anyone else. They’re lifelong friends, and they’ve been doing this podcast for years.

They mostly concentrate on DC books, but lately they’ve been branching out, and they took time to have me on to talk about Dracula, the difference between working in prose and comics, and yes, impalements. I had a blast. You can listen to me at the 88 minute mark on Episode 212, if you’re into that kind of thing. (Thanks, Mom.) But  why not just subscribe to the podcast? You’ll have fun. Sean and Jim are the Click and Clack of Comics.

Howdy, folks. It’s been busy times at Rancho Del Daryl.  #1 daughter graduated from high school this weekend, which we celebrated with a Chicago Hotdog Party. If you’ve never had a true, Chicago-style hotdog, words cannot express the pity I have for you. The neon relish I slathered on my dogs took the sting out of feeling like an old man whose daughter is old enough for college.

Then on Sunday I put the finishing touches on the first draft of my next book—working title Raising Stony Mayhall—and sent that off to agent and editor. And then I started serious work on issue #1 of Dracula: Company of Monsters. In the middle of all that I got addicted to Plants Vs. Zombies on my wife’s iPad. Life is hard.

Oh, and before I go, two items on the reviews front:

BookMark is our local PBS station’s radio book review program, and a couple weeks ago Noah Schoenholtz reviewed The Devil’s Alphabet—and a very nice review it was, too. You can listen or download on WPSU’s site.

And then there were a couple reviews on “Masked”, the anthology of superhero stories edited by Lou Anders, that’s coming out in July, and some reviews are appearing. One hand, we have the prolific reviewer/ human spambot Harriet Klausner, who is the sausage grinder of internet reviewers: books go in, and unrecognizable reviews come out. Her review of the book is a marvel of incomprehensibility.

And on the other, we have this just in from Publisher’s Weekly:

Anders (Fast Forward) delivers an ambitious collection of superhero tales that provide top-notch plots and characterizations while honoring their four-color roots. In Daryl Gregory’s superbly metafictional “Message from the Bubble Gum Factory,” a former sidekick finally realizes the broader implications of superheroes. Stephen Baxter nicely applies hard science to the futuristic “Vacuum Lad.” Gail Simone’s “Thug” and Mike Carey’s “The Non-Event” bolster predictable plots with solid characters and prose. Joseph Mallozzi’s “Downfall” and Marjorie M. Liu’s “Call Her Savage” embrace comics clichés and make them both more complex and more entertaining. Only Mike Baron’s dull, heavy-handed, and predictable “Avatar” stands out as noticeably weak, though Peter and Kathleen David’s witty “Head Cases” feels more like the opening of a novel than a complete story. Overall, Anders has assembled a solid anthology that provides first-rate entertainment. (July)

Oh, and Lou sent the contributors this link: The art director for the book, Richard Yoo, blogged about the cover — with some interesting alternative approaches they tried before arriving at the final product.

Okay, gotta go write about Vlad the Impaler. Happy summer, everybody.

The folks at Fractal posted up the video of my Philip K Dick talk from April. It was 8:30 in the morning and outdoors at Medellin’s botanical gardens. Kind of mind-blowingly beautiful, actually.

Don’t try to sit all the way through the talk (unless you’re a hardcore PKD head), but check out the surroundings — it was a great place to hold a conference.

If the player doesn’t run, you can view the video here.

Okay, as a kid my dream was to write a science fiction paperback. Not a hardback — those were for dictionaries — but a cheap, lurid paperback that I could buy on the rack at K-Mart.

Done and Done. Well, almost done. K-Mart still doesn’t stock me. But cheap and lurid? Check.

But before THAT dream, there was this out-and-out fantasy: to write and draw my own comic book. Then I found out around age 12 that my artistic talent went no further than being able to draw Captain America’s face. Just one expression, a kind of Kirbyish rectangular smile. Though I have to say, I totally nailed the cheek bones.

So, then, just writing a comic. Wouldn’t that be great? Alas, even after I grew up and started generating facial hair, I had no idea how to break into comics.

Then I met Chris Roberson and his wife and business partner, Allison Baker. I told them my fantasy (always a dicey proposition). They nodded sagely.  See, Chris and Allison run indie publishing house MonkeyBrain Books, and Chris writes prose as well as comics, so as far as I’m concerned, they’re living the dream.

Fast forward two years. I get this email from Matt Gagnon at Boom! Studios, saying, Chris Roberson said you might be interested in writing comics — how about this one? With Kurt Busiek? (For those of you not into comics, replace the name “Kurt Busiek” with “Jesus Christ”.) I think I clicked Reply before the email had fully loaded onto my screen.

So the comic series is called “Dracula: Company of Monsters.” It’s coming out at the end of August. And here’s the marketing pitch:

He’s back from the dead and starring in a new ongoing horror series from the mind of Kurt Busiek. A powerful, predatory corporation acquires a valuable asset – Dracula! They think they own him, but no one can own the Son of the Dragon. There’s a monster in their midst that puts Hannibal Lecter to shame – and he plans to gain his freedom in blood. It’s bloodsuckers vs. bloodsucker, as Busiek brings an incredibly modern spin to the Dracula mythos. Joining Busiek is award-winning author Daryl Gregrory (Pandemonium) and rising star artist Scott Godlewski (Codebreakers). The epic journey starts here, so don’t miss the debut issue of Dracula: The Company Of Monsters, the next breakout ongoing series from BOOM! Studios! Featuring covers by Ron Salas and fan-favorite The Nocturnals artist Dan Brereton.

Kurt (I call him Kurt now, or just JC) came up with the idea, the background, the main characters, the outline of the plot–basically, the story bible. Scott Godlewski is the artist. And me, I’ll be writing the word balloons. Now, that may sound like a trivial thing to you, mister, but I’m nervous but amped up beyond belief.

Fortunately, last week I was at the Clockwork Storybook retreat. Did I mention that Chris and his friends invited me in to to their rock ’em sock ’em writer’s collective?  Last week was my first time to attend their annual get-together, and Chris, Matt Sturges, Bill Willingham, Mark Andreyko, Bill Williams, and Mark Finn gave me a crash course in comics. Everything from how many words fit in a balloon, to why five-panel layouts work so well, to who the best people are to work for in the biz. (As well as who the crazies are.)  Every day was an eye-opener.

And now I get to try it out for myself. Issue 1 ships in August.  Let the biting begin.

And all you people googling for Final Fantasy, the video game? Sorry about that, I just couldn’t pass up the title.

Hey, I’m back from Las Vegas, after five days of high level talks and important diplomatic initiatives with the Clockwork Storybook gang. (Clockwork, for those just tuning in, is a fine group of prose and comics and screen writers who invited me in to their happy band last year — our group blog is at clockworkstorybook.blogspot.com) I’m a little fried from taking the red-eye home, so someday soon I’ll blog about why the writer retreat was so darn useful, eye-opening, and well-timed: especially considering my Super Sekrit News, which I hope to reveal extremely soon.

But here’s something I can reveal: my story “What We Take When We Take What We Need” is now online at Subterranean Online Magazine. It’s an alternate take of some themes and characters from my book The Devil’s Alphabet, so you English majors out there can Compare and Contrast.

Okay, now for a nap.

Howdy folks,

Believe it or not, as you read this I’m in the air, winging my way to Las Vegas for a writer’s retreat with the folks from clockwork storybook. I never thought I could feel so free. Flying away on a wing and a prayer…

Sorry. Greatest American Hero got stuck in my head there.

But speaking of heroes, let me tell you about a book that will be released in July that I’m so happy to be part of.  Masked is an anthology of superhero stories, all originals, written by comics writers, prose writers, and those that do both. My story’s there alongside those from some of my clockwork compadres Matt Sturges, Bill Willingham, Marjorie Liu, Paul Cornell, and Chris Roberson. (Yes, we are all over this book.) It’s edited by Lou Anders, who spends most of his time turning Pyr Books into the next SF/F juggernaut.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Golden Age by Lou Anders
“Cleansed and Set in Gold” by Matthew Sturges
“Where their Worm Dieth Not” by James Maxey
“Secret Identity” by Paul Cornell
“The Non-Event” by Mike Carey
“Avatar” by Mike Baron
“Message from the Bubblegum Factory” by Daryl Gregory
“Thug” by Gail Simone
“Vacuum Lad” by Stephen Baxter
“A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows” by Chris Roberson
“Head Cases” by Peter David & Kathleen David
“Downfall” by Joseph Mallozzi
“By My Works You Shall Know Me” by Mark Chadbourn
“Call Her Savage” by Marjorie M. Liu
“Tonight we fly” by Ian McDonald
“A to Z in the Ultimate Big Company Superhero Universe (Villains Too)” by Bill Willingham

And hey, it’s already available for pre-order on Amazon.

Hey, it’s Monster Week on Suvudu.com. I wrote a blog post on my favorite monster. One clue: It’s perfect creature for the attention-deficit-disorder generation.

Another?

So please, people, take some time to give that monster in your life a bouquet of body parts, or whatever it is they most appreciate.

Did I mention I went to Medellin, Colombia? Well I did, and now I’m back.Actually, I’ve been back for two weeks, but it’s taken me forever to write this post, and there’s _still_ more I could write about.

To answer the questions of my nervous relatives first: No one attempted to kidnap me. (Well, two local writers did, just for lunch, but it didn’t work out.)

Second, Juan Valdez exists. He’s kind of like Lassie, in that you don’t want to ask which Juan Valdez you’re with, or how many came before. On the other hand, the Juans last a lot longer than Marlboro Men. But he gave us all coffee! Which I’m drinking as a type this. Thanks, JV!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Continue reading →

I’m way behind on this blog. I keep going on trips, coming back from trips, and then never sharing it here.

So, first things first — Norwescon! Way back in in the first weekend of April. No, the Philip K Dick Award was not mine to bring home — that award when to C.L. Anderson, AKA Sarah Zettel — but I did get to pose with a giant poster of my book (pic courtesy of Leslie Howle). Man those eyes are creepy. See below for a picture of the nominees, also from Leslie Howle.

Update! Don Glover, below, just posted a link to the youtube video of me reading an excerpt from The Devil’s Alphabet. Here me doing an imitation of my cousins’ accents (but trying not to overdo it).

I had a good time at the con, especially while hanging out with Leslie, Jack Skillingstead, Mark Teppo, Dave Williams, and bunches of other people, including some spankin’ new friends. (Though very little actual spanking got done.)  Norwescon is big on costuming, and steampunks were everywhere. More goggles than you could shake a brass stick at. Also? Corsets, corsets, corsets.

Next up, pics from my incredible to trip to Medellin, Colombia, for Fractal ’10! Stay tuned, citizens.