162. from Plutonian } "The Wind, The Dust."

Initially, when Scott Dwyer requested a story for his as-of-yet named anthology of “the best writers working in the weird horror genre,” I declined. We agreed, instead, on an interview for The Plutonian.

And then I changed my mind.

I sent “The Wind, The Dust,” from a sequence of stories I’m writing for a collection tentatively called Autobiography. (Another of those stories, “Woods (Marion),” can be read online at Essays & Fictions.)

A few weeks ago, a proof of Scott’s anthology now called Phantasm/Chimera arrived. It’ll be officially released at Necronomicon next week.

Reading it, I realize I have lost track of current horror fiction. I haven’t read a "best of" in many years, or bought a new collection. I knew just one name in the anthology: Brian Evenson. (Evenson’s story, “The Hole,” reminds me of the best scenes from his Aliens novel.) Christopher Slatsky, Jon Padgett, Livia Llewellyn, etc.—are all new to me, though apparently bright lights in the current horror scene. Clint Smith, too, whose “Fiending Apophemia” is the best story in the book—a candidate for those best ofs I haven’t been reading.

If, like me, you’re not attending Necronomicon, you can get your copy at Create Space.

Nervous about committing 16 bucks? Our friend Des Lewis is real-time reviewing the anthology. Of mine he wrote, “The plot did not seem to care whether I was frightened or not, but I was.”

[ The image above: a spread from the anthology—two pages from “The Wind, The Dust,” with my most recent edits. ]