I have a new novella coming out this week. “Brando and Bad Choices” appears in Triplicity: The Terror Project, Volume 1. The book also features two other novellas: “Steel” by Tony Tremblay, and “The Christmas Spirit” by Rob Smales. This week, I’m going to tell you about those guys.
Back in 2011, I was at a writer’s conference. Jason and I were walking along a short patch of beach when we ran into a stranger wearing a suit jacket and a big smile. (Also other clothes. He wasn’t some weird beach flasher.) Now, I try to be a friendly person most days, so I said hello. He returned the greeting. We stopped to chat for a minute, and it turned out this guy was attending his very first gathering of writers, and had just had a story accepted in Epitaphs: The Journal of the New England Horror Writers. As coincidence would have it, I was working on the line edits for that very book, and knew his story well. It was quite good. I mentioned this. A friendship was born.
I would eventually learn that the suit jacket was standard attire for Tony Tremblay, along with the camera he always has hanging around his neck. Over the years, I’ve been able to hang out with Tony at other writerly gatherings, and we’ve had some great conversations. He’s one of the kindest, most optimistic and genuine people I’ve ever met, and sometimes, when I’m on the fence about going somewhere, learning that Tony will be there is often enough to persuade me to go.
In October 2012, I was at an event in Billerica, MA, one of a handful of writers reading that day at a karate school. As we were setting up a table of books, a guy rushed in: shaved head, glasses, talking so fast and bouncing so much it wore me out just watching him. This was Rob Smales’s first event, and he was clearly excited/nervous/bouncy to be there.
Now, astute readers of this blog know who Rob is—he has since become my editing partner and my best writing friend, but at that first event, we didn’t have much time to converse. It took a few more meetings to discover we shared a similar sense of humor, a mutual concern that we’d be locked up some day for the rather twisted turns our minds often took, and a passion for proper grammar.
Back in 2011, I was at a writer’s conference. Jason and I were walking along a short patch of beach when we ran into a stranger wearing a suit jacket and a big smile. (Also other clothes. He wasn’t some weird beach flasher.) Now, I try to be a friendly person most days, so I said hello. He returned the greeting. We stopped to chat for a minute, and it turned out this guy was attending his very first gathering of writers, and had just had a story accepted in Epitaphs: The Journal of the New England Horror Writers. As coincidence would have it, I was working on the line edits for that very book, and knew his story well. It was quite good. I mentioned this. A friendship was born.
I would eventually learn that the suit jacket was standard attire for Tony Tremblay, along with the camera he always has hanging around his neck. Over the years, I’ve been able to hang out with Tony at other writerly gatherings, and we’ve had some great conversations. He’s one of the kindest, most optimistic and genuine people I’ve ever met, and sometimes, when I’m on the fence about going somewhere, learning that Tony will be there is often enough to persuade me to go.
In October 2012, I was at an event in Billerica, MA, one of a handful of writers reading that day at a karate school. As we were setting up a table of books, a guy rushed in: shaved head, glasses, talking so fast and bouncing so much it wore me out just watching him. This was Rob Smales’s first event, and he was clearly excited/nervous/bouncy to be there.
Now, astute readers of this blog know who Rob is—he has since become my editing partner and my best writing friend, but at that first event, we didn’t have much time to converse. It took a few more meetings to discover we shared a similar sense of humor, a mutual concern that we’d be locked up some day for the rather twisted turns our minds often took, and a passion for proper grammar.
That's me, Rob, and Tony. And yes, people often remark on Tony's resemblance to Steven Spielberg.
Fast forward to Triplicity. When this book was in its infant stage, there was a different cast of writers, a different publisher, and no foreseeable release date. Through the twists and turns that life often takes—a couple of missed deadlines, one writer’s need to have the rights back to a story earlier than planned, that kind of thing—what was once supposed to be a one-book collection featuring four writers is now a three-book series showcasing nine. And in the first installment, I get to share the cover with two of my favorite people in the whole world. So yeah, I’m excited.
Triplicity: The Terror Project, Volume 1 is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in select retail outlets. “Brando and Bad Choices” is about a woman trying to find redemption for her sins, though it’s not easy, because she’s already in hell—literally. “Steel” tells the tale of a group of survivors in a dystopian world trying to figure out how things went so wrong. Tony’s story cleverly combines elements of both H.P. Lovecraft and Mad Max. And “The Christmas Spirit” features a woman trying to explain to her daughters-in-law how one family holiday tradition got its decidedly spiritual start. They’re three very different tales, and a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and editing went into the collection. But when you’re working with two people you love and admire, it hardly feels like work. Honestly, the best way to describe Triplicity is this: my friends and I were playing together with words, and now it’s a book.
Enjoy. I did.
Triplicity: The Terror Project, Volume 1 is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in select retail outlets. “Brando and Bad Choices” is about a woman trying to find redemption for her sins, though it’s not easy, because she’s already in hell—literally. “Steel” tells the tale of a group of survivors in a dystopian world trying to figure out how things went so wrong. Tony’s story cleverly combines elements of both H.P. Lovecraft and Mad Max. And “The Christmas Spirit” features a woman trying to explain to her daughters-in-law how one family holiday tradition got its decidedly spiritual start. They’re three very different tales, and a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and editing went into the collection. But when you’re working with two people you love and admire, it hardly feels like work. Honestly, the best way to describe Triplicity is this: my friends and I were playing together with words, and now it’s a book.
Enjoy. I did.
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