If you’ve been following me on social media lately, you’d have learned that earlier this month while trying to verify some information I wanted to talk about on an episode of my Why Not Say What Happened? podcast, I discovered a box containing some early teen writing which had somehow escaped my previous purge of that work. And you’d also know that since my discovery, as of this date, I’ve shredded 1,850 pages of poetry, short stories, and a novel, too, written from 1971 through 1974 … that is, from ages 16 through 19.

Some of you are aghast, and we can discuss that another time, but for now, let me assure you it’s only my own unsatisfactory words which are being made into confetti, not any writing or documents created by others. All those have been saved and will probably be turned over to a university archive someday. One forgotten find within that batch — my invitation from Tom Fagan to the 1972 incarnation of his famed Rutland, Vermont Halloween parade, as well as our correspondence about my attendance there, all from two years before I began working professionally in comics.

When I posted the interior of that invite on social media, someone responded with awe that the 1972 incarnation of that event was the same one celebrated in a crossover commemorated in the pages of DC’s Justice League of America #103, and Marvel’s Amazing Adventures #16 and Thor #207.

Not quite. (more…)

Since all the cool kids are making eligibility announcements, so shall I!

I published four stories this year — three science fiction and one fantasy.

Here’s how you can find them. Note that two of the stories have links so you can read them for free right now.

“A Man Walks Into a Bar:
In Which More Than Four Decades After My Father’s Reluctant Night of Darts on West 54th Street I Finally Understand What Needs to Be Done”

First up — my most personal story ever, a valentine to my father which was published in the January issue of Lightspeed — “A Man Walks Into a Bar: In Which More Than Four Decades After My Father’s Reluctant Night of Darts on West 54th Street I Finally Understand What Needs to Be Done.” If you’ve ever wondered how I got to be the person you’ve come to know, this will explain it all for you.

“The Letters They Left Behind”

My second 2023 publication also appeared in Lightspeed —this time the August issue. “The Letters They Left Behind” is the tale of a deep-space encounter with aliens which I understand caused some readers to shed a few tears — but in a good way.

“The Lessons Only a Jelly Bean Can Teach”

“The Lessons Only a Jelly Bean Can Teach,” a short story from the point of view of an Artificial Intelligence, appeared in Pulphouse #22.

“An Invitation for the Uninvited”

“An Invitation for the Uninvited,” my only 2023 fiction which crosses over from short story to novelette territory, appeared in the anthology Qualia Nous 2. This alien invasion story, though new, took me several decades to figure out how to write.

Barring any last-minute surprises, those four are it for my 2023.

Thanks for reading!

Since many of my friends have been amusing themselves asking AI to review their stories, I decided to do the same for a couple of my own stories over at Chat.OpenAI, starting with my recent Lightspeed Magazine story “A Man Walks Into a Bar: In Which More Than Four Decades After My Father’s Reluctant Night of Darts on West 54th Street I Finally Understand What Needs to Be Done.”

Here’s what the AI had to say —

Not only is that not really what the story’s about — the write-up didn’t even mention Donald Trump’s role in it! How could an AI miss that?

I also asked it to review my recent Apex Magazine story “Learning to Accept What’s to Come,” and it thought my protagonists were an elderly couple named Nora and Jerry dealing with their morality, rather than two robots named BR@X15 and CR81321M wandering a post-apocalyptic future.

So that one’s completely off base. Very strange.

I guess AI isn’t yet ready for prime time. At least not when it comes to small fish such as me. (And I suppose “not ready for prime time” isn’t an apt metaphor anymore. Does anyone really care about prime time in our time-shifting world?)

Since publication round-ups from writers have been popping up all over the place now that awards season has begun, I figure it’s time I did the same — especially since more stories of mine were released in 2022 than any year since my first was published 41 years ago, and the earliest of them could easily get lost. I published 10 stories this year, breaking my previous annual record of seven, which I accomplished in 1992 and 2009.

The genre breakdown of the stories is four science fiction, four fantasy, and one horror — and one that I think of as science fantasy, but I’ll list it under science fiction below.

Here they are, some with links so you can read them for free right now.

First up, those five science fiction tales—

“The More Loving One”

My 6,950-word otherworldly science fantasy — which some of you might consider science fiction and others fantasy — went live in the second issue of Proton Reader during the waning hours of the final day of 2022, and is free for all to read here. Another one of my strange love stories, which is what I think all of my stories are at heart.

“Learning to Accept What’s to Come”

My 6,350-word robot apocalypse love story appears in Apex #134, the November issue. You can buy an electronic copy of the entire issue or read the story online. Lesley Connor, in her editorial, described the story as “brutal” and “heartbreaking and disturbing,” while I see it as a bittersweet love story. So I look forward to learning what you think of it. (more…)

… as explained by Tom Gauld.

Yesterday, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America announced the opening of the nominations period for the Nebula Awards, which meant all the cool kids immediately started posting lists of their eligible stories. Well, since my 2018 short stories have now all been published—and the recommendations period for the Bram Stoker Awards from the Horror Writers Association is also open—I figured it’s time to collect info about my publications in one place so voting members of those organizations can take them into consideration.

First up, two science fiction tales—

“ The Final Charge of Mr. Electrico”

This 5,800-word, written to honor Ray Bradbury — which some of you might have already guessed based on the title — was published over at Giganotosaurus in January and can still be read there. Or if you’d rather hear me read it, click on the embed below and travel back to this year’s Balticon.

“Opossums and Angels”

This 5,350-word post-apocalyptic story was one of two original tales to appear in my new collection Tell Me Like You Done Before, which was launched earlier this month at the World Fantasy Convention. “Opossums and Angels” is a sequel to both “The Screwfly Solution” and “The Women Men Don’t See,” my two favorite Alice Sheldon stories. But don’t worry — I think it will work for readers with no prior knowledge of her or of either story.

Here’s the horror story —

“It’s Only a Story”

My 5,275-word short tale “It’s Only a Story” was published this month in the anthology Birthing Monsters: Frankenstein’s Cabinet of Curiosities and Cruelties, edited by Alex and Bobbi Scully from Firbolg Publishing. It’s a celebration of Mary Shelley, her Creature, and storytelling itself.

And the fourth of my stories to be published this year is a fantasy —

“The Man Who Wouldn’t Work Miracles”

This 5,325-word tale is the second of two original stories to see print in my new collection Tell Me Like You Done Before. It’s a sequel to the H. G. Wells story “The Man Who Could Work Miracles,” so if you ever wondered what happened next, I may have an answer for you.

If you’re a voting member of either of these organizations and would like to receive copies of any of the four stories above, send me an mail and I’ll shoot whichever you request back at you.

Thanks!

On Monday, April 5, 1976, the Central New Jersey Home News published an article about a one-day comic con (or “Shabang” as they called it) which had been held the day before, just a few days after my 21st birthday. I remember that day, but it’s been a long while since I thought of it, or of who I was back then.

When I came across the article yesterday, and read what the reporter wrote I’d said, several things came to mind.

First, about the fact I’d stopped counting how many comic books I owned once I hit 4,000 of them—

Well, I did count how many comics I owned once I was no longer able to look at them without feeling bitter thanks to my experiences in the industry, and decided to sell almost all of them. I now own no more than a couple of hundred at most, and that includes the ones I wrote, but at the time I disposed of the majority of my collection, I owned more than 7,000.

The attendance at the con of Michael Avallone reminds me—there was a time I wanted to be Michael Avallone, about whom Wikipedia states: “His lifetime output was over 223 works (although he boasted over 1,000), published under his own name and 17 pseudonyms.”

I was once envious of that kind of output, and at some point early on wanted to be the kind of commercial writer who’d end up with an output of hundreds of novels. I’m not sure exactly when I changed, but now, having published one novel, and that a short story which ran away from me, the thought of deliberately attempting a novel seems bizarre to me. Short stories are what I love, and unless another one runs away from me someday and insists on growing through the revision process, it’s unlikely there’ll ever be another Edelman novel for you to read.

And speaking of novels, what made me smile the most was the way the writer of the article described me as “currently working on a novel for children.”

I did finish that novel.

And then I destroyed it.

Along with a couple of other novels and at least 25 short stories written in my teens and early 20s, an erasure I’ve told you about.

The novel about which I was telling the reporter was terrible—flawed in concept and embarrassing in execution. I’m extremely lucky it was rejected by every children’s book publisher which saw the manuscript back when I would have been 22, perhaps 23 at the oldest. I’d tell you the bare outline of the plot, but even that’s too wince-inducing to reveal.

I’m grateful it no longer exists as evidence of how foolish I was.

And hope that when I someday look back on my recent writing, almost all of it out in the world and unable to be recalled and destroyed as my earlier unpublished work was, I won’t consider those works to be evidence of how foolish I am now.

The Horror Writers Association has revealed the final ballot for the 2018 Bram Stoker Awards—and guess what? I’m on it!

That’s right—my novelette “Faking it Until Forever Comes” is one of the five nominees in the category of Superior Achievement in Long Fiction. Here’s the full slate in my category—

Edelman, Scott – Faking it Until Forever Comes (Liars, Fakers, and the Dead Who Eat Them) (Written Backwards)
Jones, Stephen Graham – Mapping the Interior (Tor.com)
Kiernan, Caitlín R. – Agents of Dreamland (Tor.com)
Taylor, Lucy – Sweetlings (Tor.com)
Waggoner, Tim – A Kiss of Thorns (DarkFuse)

As you may already know, this isn’t my first Stoker nomination. In fact, I’m currently the Susan Lucci of the HWA, garnering more nominations without having won than anyone else.

Will I break that losing streak? Or will I extend my 0-7 record to 0-8?

Whatever happens that weekend in Providence, it’s going to be a fun time!

Last night, the Horror Writers Association revealed those works which made its 2017 Bram Stoker Awards preliminary ballot—and if you examine that list closely, you’ll find a familiar name in the category of Superior Achievement in Long Fiction—

Alan Baxter: The Book Club (PS Publishing)

Tom Deady: Weekend Getaway (Grinning Skull Press)

Scott Edelman: Faking it Until Forever Comes (Liars, Fakers, and the Dead Who Eat Them) (Written Backwards)

Stephen Graham Jones: Mapping the Interior (Tor.com)

Todd Keisling: The Final Reconciliation (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Caitlín R. Kiernan: Agents of Dreamland (Tor.com)

Seanan McGuire: Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Tor.com)

Lucy Taylor: Sweetlings (Tor.com)

Jeff Vandermeer: The Strange Bird: A Borne Story (MCD x FSG Originals)

Tim Waggoner: A Kiss of Thorns (DarkFuse)

That’s right—me!

Check out the complete preliminary ballot here.

It’s important to note this does not make me or my story a Bram Stoker Award nominee or finalist—that still must be decided by members of the HWA voting between now and January 30, with the final ballot being announced on February 5. But I’m thrilled “Faking it Until Forever Comes” has gotten this far!

One reason I’m so pleased is that I’m currently the Susan Lucci of the HWA—that is, I hold the record for the most nominations without ever having won, as you can see below.

So if my story does happen to make the final ballot, I’ll have the unique opportunity to change my record from 0-7—

—to 0-8!

I can become even Susan Lucci-ier!

And as my photo from last year’s Stoker Awards banquet shows, I have a special way of celebrating.

If you’re a voting member of the HWA, and would like a copy of my story so you can consider it before casting your vote, please contact me and I’ll send one off right away.

And whatever happens next, I hope to see you at Stokercon in Providence this March!

Since the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America recently announced the start of its nominations period for the Nebula Awards—and the recommendations period for the Bram Stoker Awards from the Horror Writers Association is ongoing—plus all of my 2017 short stories have now been published—well, it’s that time of year again.

Since all the cool kids seem to be doing it, I’ve assembled info about this year’s publications in one place so eligible voting members of both organizations can take them into consideration.

And so …

First up, three science fiction tales—

“After the Harvest, Before the Fall”

This was the story that broke my 44-year dry spell with Analog. It’s an 11,600-word novelette described by the magazine as “people born to die struggling to live.” It takes place in a future in which the rich and powerful get to order new bodies whenever they wish, and the religion those who are harvested have created to deal with their oppression. (more…)