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Goodreads Giveaway & Parsec Awards Announcement

8/12/2015

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"The horrifying webs we weave..."

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"Baby's Breath" recently received some incredibly positive and encouraging reviews on Amazon and elsewhere, a few of which were from some of my favorite writers in the industry. 

B.E. Scully, author of the critically acclaimed Gothic thriller Verland, the Transformation, as well as The Eye That Blinds from DarkFuse Publishing and The Tower of Together from Eldritch Press said:
         Every now and then a story comes along that catches people’s attention, not only because it’s well written, but because it takes a familiar subject and turns it over and under and sideways, revealing all of the hidden, seething life forms underneath.

Plenty of stories feature spiders, the creeping, crawling symbols of our own skittering human psyches and the webs we weave, but what makes “Baby’s Breath” unique is the way Leigh uses the familiar critter to explore one of humankind’s more profound and life-changing events—childbirth, and, even more terrifying, its consequences. 


 Birth forms the literal narrative framework, but it’s also the metaphorical set-up for the many potentially dangerous, secret things gestating in the darkness of our fears, insecurities, and suspicions. 

 Leigh is particularly effective at conveying how our fragile, carefully woven concepts of both ourselves and the people we love and make a life with can tear apart as quickly and profoundly as any spider’s web…with horrifying results.

This story first appeared in the anthology Bugs: Tales That Slither, Creep, and Crawl, which is also recommended for readers interested in more creepy insect tales across a range of genres. This special edition of Baby’s Breath will make a fine addition to any collector’s shelf.
Kenneth Cain, whose work has appeared in Exigencies, the Neo-Noir anthology from Richard Thomas' Dark House Press,  as well as Jamais Vu, The Lovecraft e-Zine, Firbolg Publishing's Enter at Your Own Risk: the End is the Beginning, and more, said:
         Leigh really puts it all out there, making for a story that is equal parts heartbreaking and horrifying. Great voice, great story. 
Jon Bassof, author of Corrosion, Factory Town, The Disassembled Man, and several forthcoming novels posted on Twitter:
         Just read Baby's Breath by @thespiderbox. About as terrifying a final line as I've read...
For me, getting feedback from other writers about our work is important. Obviously, it's important for us to reach readers, as well. 

"Baby's Breath" is a story I wrote without thinking what effect it would have on readers. It was something I lost myself in and just wrote. But as I've mentioned before, it is a very personal story, and I hope it leaves a mark. 

I've also mentioned that it actually started off as a drabble, which is a hundred word micro-fiction piece--that was called "Transference," and it was first published on Hellnotes here. Later, it was podcast on The Wicked Library as part of an episode which featured three of my stories. You can find Episode 503: Three Tales from Sydney Leigh here. Host Nelson W. Pyles read "Corpus Delectable" and "Lust for Life," but had his wife read "Transference," which later became the first paragraph of "Baby's Breath," to give it a more powerful effect.

It worked. I just got word that "Transference" is a Finalist  in the Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama Long Form Category of the Parsec Awards. The gala ceremony will be held at DragonCon over Labor Day weekend in Atlanta.

Many thanks to Nelson and Maddie Von Stark for featuring my work on their podcast! And congratulations to them for having their show recognized. 
 
I think that whoever reads--or listens to--our work, we hope for the same result: that our words make a difference. Strike nerves. Touch places that resonate on deep levels. Grab hold and not let go.

One of my favorite reader reviews of "Baby's Breath" was this one: 

          This "gut punch" will continue to remain with me as much as Richard Matheson's Born Of Man And Woman. I can't recommend it enough.
Oh, the irony...and any comparison to Matheson is, well, an insanely incredible compliment.

Anyway, speaking of terrifying...this is my first solo endeavor, and I am grateful for all the positive feedback I have received from readers, other writers, and reviewers I respect in our community. I'm looking forward to the story getting into the hands of more readers and seeing what they have to say, as well. 

I also hope readers will pick up a copy of the anthology in which it first appeared, Bugs: Tales that Slither, Creep, and Crawl. There are so many stories in there worth reading. I owe Phillip Perron of Great Old Ones Publishing a world of gratitude for accepting "Baby's Breath," seeing something special in it, sending it to Simon Rumley, and allowing Villipede Publications to reprint it in this chapbook format when it was nominated for a Stoker award. 

Three signed copies are available to anyone in the US, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia...giveaway ends October 30th. 
Thanks for reading,
Syd

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Baby's Breath by Sydney Leigh

Baby's Breath

by Sydney Leigh

Giveaway ends October 30, 2015.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway
Baby's Breath on Amazon
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Baby's Breath—Bram Stoker Nomination & WHC Atlanta

3/17/2015

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Bram Stoker Awards, WHC Atlanta, and other news...

I could not have been more shocked to learn that "Baby's Breath" made it through to the Final Ballot of the Bram Stoker Awards, released last month by the Horror Writers Association.

You can find the full list of nominees here. Best of luck to all the finalists, and congratulations on your nominations! 
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I wrote a longer post about this on Facebook, but the simple truth is that this nomination is extremely humbling and all very surreal. 

There are a lot of people I feel are a direct result of any successes I achieve in my writing or otherwise, so really, most of my posts end up consisting of a long list of names anyway.

But this story has proven to be pivotal for me in a lot of ways...it was an accomplishment for me just to write to begin with, and Simon Rumley's words of praise about it  in the Foreword of Bugs: Tales that Slither, Creep and Crawl quite literally meant the world to me.

Then to have it go on to win the award for Best Horror Short Story and now this is just mind blowing, really. 

I'm absolutely thrilled to be nominated in the same category as writers I so greatly admire, and the ballot is full of works I enjoyed and hold in extremely high regard. Three years ago, Stephen King won in this category, and in the years since, Lucy Snyder and David Gerrold. Past and current nominees include Gene O'Neill, George Saunders, Kaaron Warren, Bruce Boston, Michael Bailey, Rena Mason, John Palisano, Joe Lansdale, Norman Prentiss, Damien Angelica Walters, Usman Tanveer Malik, and more stellar writers than I can even wrap my head around. This is just truly, truly amazing to me.


You can read "Baby's Breath" here. I'll also be bringing a limited number of chapbooks to the World Horror Convention in Atlanta and possibly AnthoCon to sign, so if you'd like a copy, let me know. I'm working with an outrageously talented artist who I'm keeping under wraps for now. But I'm really excited. 

My eternal gratitude goes to the HWA and each and every member who felt my work was worthy of this prestigious nomination. It's something I will treasure for the rest of my life.

I'm also very grateful to Marge Simon, who asked me to guest her Blood & Spades Column for the April issue of the HWA Newsletter. I've written an essay called "The Slow Bite of Horror's Tiny Teeth" and incorporated a few of my poems into the column, which was a lot of fun. Last month Michael Bailey guested the column and talked a lot about Inkblots and Blood Spots
, the collection Villipede released of his last November. He also included "Open Auras" and "All But the Things That Cannot Be Torn," two of my favorite poems from the collection. 
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Another reason I'm grateful to Marge is because she invited me to be on the Dark Poets Panel at this year's World Horror Convention. It's such an honor...and if you'll be in Atlanta for the con, I do hope you'll stop by.  

Aside from doing the panel, I'll be hanging around with my good friend Daniel Knauf, who I don't know what I would do without, Gard Goldsmith, one of the most fabulous writers--and people--I know, and Jeremy Wagner, who will be on tour in Europe with his kick ass band Broken Hope next month! There are so many great people I'm looking forward to seeing this year...John Boden (and hopefully Ken Wood) of Shock Totem Publications, Villipede author Kurt Fawver, John Dixon (!), Alex and B.E. Scully of Firbolg Publishing, Taylor Grant, Rena Mason, John Palisano, Michael Bailey, Usman Malik, Anthony Rivera of Grey Matter Press, J.G. Faherty, Randy D. Rubin, Stephanie Wytovich, Jason and Sunni Brock, Jim and Janice Leach of The Daily Nightmare, Maddie Holliday Von Stark, and on and on...

In other words, if you're going, I'm looking forward to seeing you...and if you're not registered yet, you should be. 

My imaginary roommate Ted is even making an appearance! Ted is driving all the way from Kentucky to be there...I can hardly believe it myself. 

There are three people who won't be going that I'll miss dearly, though: Rose Blackthorn, Geno Mortensen, and Carl R. Moore. Those three were my WHC crew last year in Portland, and it won't be the same without them. But check out Rose's new release from Eldritch Press--I'm really proud of her--her first poetry collection, Thorns, Hearts and Thistles is almost as beautiful as she is. And Carl has a novella called Torn From the Devil's Chest forthcoming from Charoin Coin Press, and his website has free stories, poems, and updates on the progress. Carl posts great reviews and also has another fantastic collection called Slash of Crimson and Other Stories coming out in the near future, as well.

Lastly, my interview with Jack Ketchum will appear in the Souvenir Book this year, which is really exciting. I absolutely loved reading his answers to my questions, and can't wait for you to see them, too. I was thrilled when Eric Guignard reached out to me to interview Jack for his Lifetime Achievement Award. Here's a picture of last year's Souvenir Book. 
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Anyway, to tie off, some of you know that my son has been in the hospital for a week now, and between my health issues and his, we've had an extremely challenging year. I'm certainly nervous about the timing of the convention and have been wrapped up in family matters here at home, but am really looking forward to seeing everyone and taking some time away to focus on my second love. I'm sure you all know what that is by now. 

No, not booze. Horror. 
Thanks for reading,
Syd
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The Wicked Library Episode 503: Triple Shot of Terror

9/19/2014

1 Comment

 
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It's Friday, my migraine is slowly calming down, and the kind and talented folks over at The Wicked Library have opted to read three of my pieces on this week's episode: "Corpus Delectable", "Lust for Life", and "Transference". It's a nice blend of varied length fiction: drabble (100 words), flash (500 words), and short (2,100 words).

It's always cool to hear someone talk about your work--especially when they are as kind as Nelson was here--but it's also slightly surreal when it comes with "a wee bit of a warning", the host says he "expects lots of nasty email" over it, and that yeah, "it's really, really that disturbing".

Wow, really? I guess I've arrived. 

No, I'm just kidding. I don't make it a point to disturb people. Well, not in my writing, anyway.

But seriously, I don't write a great deal of "squirm" horror. "Corpus Delectable" and "Lust for Life" were actually two of the very first horror stories I ever wrote, and they are among the few zombie tales in my portfolio. Check them out if you can--Nelson Pyles has a great reading voice. He's also super cool human being--as is Maddie Holliday Von Stark, who created some equally disturbing artwork for the episode. You can also have some fun skiing down my resume, apparently. 

Here's some phenomenal artwork done for "Lust for Life" by artist Jeff Swenson. You can find him at the following link--he is extraordinarily talented: http://swensonfunnies.com.

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© Jeff Swenson
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© Jeff Swenson
Cool, huh? 

(Spoiler alert: that's not actually where the kid comes out.)

As far as "Transference" goes, I have some news I've been dying to share with you guys related to that, but we're not quite there yet. It's exciting, though . . . like, really exciting. Besides being in Michael Bailey's THE LIBRARY OF THE DEAD anthology, which is being published later this year by Written Backwards, this was one of my prouder moments. It's what I was referring to when I posted this back in May: 
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I've had a lot of those moments, to be honest. Let's face it--I've been lucky. No matter what, it's been a good year. I've had a lot of lousy moments, too, obviously. The pendulum is still swinging. But it always will. 

Well, until it stops. 

But anyway, back to "Transference". I will tell you that it was originally published on Hellnotes  and was later fleshed out into a 3,700 word short story (thanks to my long lost friend Ann K. Boyer) which will soon appear in BUGS: TALES THAT SLITHER, CREEP AND CRAWL, an anthology coming soon from Great Old Ones Publishing. The foreword is written by director Simon Rumley, known for his traumatic segment "P is for Pressure" in THE ABCs OF DEATH as well as CLUB LE MONDE, LITTLE DEATHS, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD, and RED WHITE & BLUE, among others. 

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And yeah, okay. It's that disturbing.  I've had people stop talking to me over the full version of that story. I had a bit of a panic attack after submitting it to a publisher who just had a baby. But this is horror, right? 

In PRIME EVIL, Douglas E. Winter said that "Great horror fiction is not about shock, but emotion; it digs beneath our skin and stays with us. It is proof that an image is only as powerful as its context."

I found Charles' desperation to be the most horrifying element to "Lust for Life". His inability to have more children, the tragedy and hopelessness of it all. The situation was just so awful all the way around. And his poor wife . . . she really just had no choice but to be the sacrifice here.

If you read the longer tale "Transference" belongs to, I hope you'll agree that "Baby's Breath" goes past the point of no return and ventures into territory where yeah, it's unpleasant, it's ugly, and it's certainly shocking--but to me, it's actually the emotion which drives the character to do what she does that's more horrifying than the deed itself. 

More news soon. You can decide for yourself if you pick it up. Check out the cover by MJ Preston. 
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So if you're up for a good squirm session, click the following link to The Wicked Library Episode 503. Then throw on some ear buds and get comfortable. 

Just don't expect to stay that way.
Thanks for reading,
Syd
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    Author
     & 
    Editor

    Sydney Leigh is the evil literary double of a mostly sane writer, editor, photographer, artist, English teacher, and native of the North Shore. Her poetry, short fiction, and reviews have appeared in numerous  publications.

    Her best friend is a Border Collie, and despite holding degrees in English, Psychology, and Graphic Design, she spends most of her free time doing her teenage son’s laundry and playing rock-paper-scissors with her imaginary roommate, Ted.

     She currently works for Villipede Publications
    . 

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