The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America recently announced the start of its nominations period for the Nebula Awards, and at the same time, the recommendations process for the Horror Writers Association is ongoing — so now that all my 2020 publications have been released, it seems the right time to remind voting members of the fiction I published this year.

It was a very good year, with five short stories and a collection seeing print. Let me tell you a little something about each —

“Only Bruises Are Permanent”

My 5,000-word non-supernatural horror short story “Only Bruises Are Permanent” appeared in the anthology Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey, and published in February by Written Backwards.

“Answered Prayers”

The 6,125-word fantasy short story (fantasy of the bittersweet Twilight Zone sort, so don’t expect dragons) “Answered Prayers” appeared in the fifth issue of DreamForge magazine, published in March. SFRevu had this to say about my story:

“A great story that every booklover will love and think about. But it’s more than that. I have enjoyed Scott Edelman’s stories for decades and this story is the perfect example why. It will be on my short list for Best Short Story Hugo next year.”

“A World Without You in It”

The 3.600-word vampiric love story “A World Without You in It” appeared in the anthology Eighteen: Stories of Mischief & Mayhem, edited by Mark Teppo and published in March.

“The One What Owns You”

“The One What Owns You” appeared in the October issue of The Dark City. It’s a departure for me — a noirish mystery with not a single science fictional or supernatural element in it.

“The Land Where There is No Candy”

“The Land Where There is No Candy” is a 5,500-word Halloween-themed horror story which was published in October in the Halloween-themed anthology Something Good to Eat, edited by Alexander Harrington.

But wait — there’s more! I had a new collection out this year!

Things That Never Happened

Things That Never Happened, published by Cemetery Dance, caused a Publishers Weekly reviewer to state: “His talent is undeniable.” The collection includes 13 stories — four of which were previous Bram Stoker Award nominees.

Over at the Readers Advisory Guide to Horror, Becky Spratford wrote of me and the collection: “His stories are ALWAYS inventive, original, and compelling. I have never read an Edelman story that did not engage me emotionally, and that is the entire point of horror.”

Don D’Ammassa wrote: “A new collection of Edelman shorts is always a treat, and this might be my favorite group of his assembled stories. … Edelman is one of those writers whose work seems much more impressive when read in batches rather than as isolated stories.”

If you’re a voting member of either SFWA or the HWA and would like to receive electronic copies of the collection or any of the stories mentioned above, please drop me an email.

Thanks for your consideration!

I love the Baltimore Book Festival, not only due to each year’s stellar programming, but also because I’ve managed to record some of my favorite episodes of Eating the Fantastic there, including one with Nalo Hopkinson, who was recently named as SFWA’s 37th Grand Master. I’d hoped to harvest additional conversations for you during this year’s incarnation, but alas … well … you know.

And yet, even though we live in a world where such mass gatherings are impossible, I’ve decided to pretend as if this year’s Baltimore Book Festival still went off as scheduled, and snack on some slices of pizza — albeit remotely — with a guest I’d have dined with there in person had that been allowed — the Ignatz Award-winning Alison Wilgus.

Alison Wilgus is a writer and cartoonist who’s been working in comics for more than a decade, and whose latest work is Chronin, a science fiction duology published by Tor. Their first professional gig was as a colorist and staff writer for Cartoon Network’s Codename: Kids Next Door, and since then has been published by Scholastic, Del Rey, DC, Nickelodeon Magazine, Dark Horse, and First Second Books. They’ve also written works of graphic non-fiction, including The Mars Challenge (illustrated by Wyeth Yates) and Flying Machines: How the Wright Brothers Soared (illustrated by Molly Brooks). Alison is also co-host of Graphic Novel TK, a podcast about graphic novel publishing.

We discussed how their life might have gone an entirely different way if not for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, why they describe themselves to people as “a feral nerd,” how an unsolicited pitch on a Post-it note led to selling their first script, what fanfic taught them about writing professionally in other people’s universes, the best way to interact with sensitivity readers, why they’ve retired from Hourly Comics, what would have happened with Odo and Kira if their Deep Space Nine spec script been accepted, the big surprise about the way they made their first sale to Analog, and much more.

Here’s how you can eavesdrop on our conversation — (more…)