Bev Vincent

So far this year, I’ve had two stories that I considered to be “in the pipeline” fall off the cliff. The first case I’ve already mentioned — and it is by far the weirdest. The story was accepted for a themed anthology last September and then the table of contents was released without any mention of my story. When I queried the editor it was like he’d never heard of me. He rummaged through his office and ultimately relocated my story, but he decided he couldn’t add to the TOC at that point. Weird.

This week, a small press closed up shop, taking with it a planned southern gothic anthology to which I had submitted a story by invitation. That leaves the anthology homeless. Now the editor has to pound the streets and see if he can interest anyone else in the book. Having learned my lesson some years ago, I do not submit to anthologies that don’t have publishers, but there’s no way to guard against publishers fizzling before a book comes out. I have the option of withdrawing the story and subbing it again or giving the editor some time to see what he can work out elsewhere. I’m in no rush to make a decision about it, but I now consider the story available rather than in the pipeline.

A nice comment about The Stephen King Illustrated Companion from Kev Quigley, who runs the Charnel House website. He says that the book “was a first-of-its kind for King fanatics, featuring removable documents that reprinted unpublished King stories and early drafts from his novels. At once, it became one of the best books on King ever published.”

I received a questionnaire from the MWA yesterday, something I need to fill out for the publicist hired for the Edgar Awards. I still haven’t decided whether I’m going to attend the ceremony or not. It might be fun, but NYC is so expensive, even just for one night.

It was only a matter of time before House tackled a psychopath, and of course it would have to be someone where the psychopathy was a curable symptom. Remy Hadley brings a lot to the show, and more than just good looks–she is the perfect foil for House. They seem to have forgotten that she’s sick lately, though. Guess her meds are working well.

Castle was great again this week. A nice, convoluted storyline that the cops and Castle worked through a bit at a time, following the leads where they took them. Essentially good police work with a few flashes of insight. What’s more, despite the fact that the media is portraying them as dating, I think something more fundamental is going on between Castle and Beckett: they’re becoming good friends. Of course “it’s complicated,” but their friendship is a nice thing to see develop.

Going off to see Ridley Pearson this evening. Wonder if he’ll sign my Ellen Rimbauer book?

That’s no ordinary pizza. It is an abomination known as a haggis pizza, which some places are offering for Robbie Burns day. Even Dominos in Scotland is making them. If that doesn’t drive a person to drink, I don’t know what will.

I come from Scottish stock on my mother’s side. McCormacks they were, from the Isle of Arran, who were given 100 acre land grants in northern New Brunswick in 1832. My parents always attended the Robbie Burns banquet, the central feature of which was the piping in of the haggis. My only experiences with Scotch have led to the worst hangovers I’ve ever suffered, so I don’t think I’ll be raising a glass in Burns’ honor tonight. And I don’t think the local Dominos would know what to do if I (heaven forbid) should order a haggis pizza.

To prepare for the forthcoming Season Six of Lost, I watched almost all of Season Five this weekend. Made it through the first four DVDs, leaving only the two-hour conclusion to be seen, along with the extra features. I’m glad I refreshed my memory, as there were some events that had escaped my recollection. It was also interesting to watch the last several episodes knowing the truth behind Locke’s ressurection, insofar as we know the truth. A lot of dialog takes on different meaning.

I posted my reviews of The Spire by Richard North Patterson, The Night Monster by James Swain, and Horns by Joe Hill. I liked Horns a lot. The other two, well…

Ridley Pearson is going to be at the local B&N tomorrow night. I think he’s also going to be at Murder By the Book, but this is much more convenient so I might drop over to see him. We don’t often get the really big-name authors in our community. The last one I recall seeing was Kathy Reichs a few years ago.

Jazma online updated the interview I did with them to include a number of images, including a photo of me with my good buddy Glenn Chadbourne taken when I was in Portland a number of years ago for a Road to the Dark Tower book signing.

The entire epiosde of C.S.I. last night was a shaggy dog story that built up to the inevitable punny punch line: don’t drive angry. Made me laugh out loud. I also laughed at the way Cho handled being interviewed on The Mentalist last night. His delivery is so deadpan serious at times that it cracks me up. “What your point?” I’m not sure when Patrick was supposed to have figured out who the killer was–was his standoffishness an indication that he knew from the very beginning or was his explanation to Lisbon for real? Speaking of Lisbon–how did she ever get the job as the head of that division of CBI? Seriously.

Fringe was suitably creepy last night, with its Green Mile-esque special effects. No one picked up on Walter’s anguished lament that he wasn’t going to let Peter die again. Tyne Daly was good on Burn Notice, especially in the scene when she was sitting in Michael’s mother’s living room, a little bit tipsy–that giggle. Too bad we didn’t really get to see the resolution of that plot–Michael’s early morning burglary tidied it up from a practical standpoint, but we didn’t get to see the human resolution.

Only 11 more days until the beginning of the final season of Lost. I’m just saying.

This weekend I hope to get a good start on the short story I’ve been thinking about for a while. Still need to do some more research, but I can at least get the opening scene down on the page since I’ve been running it in my head like a film on a loop for a couple of weeks.

I usually troll the internet for an image to accompany my posts. Today, my search revealed this little gem, which is one of the wackiest ideas I’ve encountered of late. Pink Floyd lullabies. Who knew?

I spent an hour this morning in the office of the editor of the community newspaper. When I found out about my Edgar nomination, I fired off a quick press release. I’m not proud. The editor used to work for the regional section of the Houston Chronicle and he interviewed me five years ago for The Road to the Dark Tower. He’s an avid reader and a big mystery fan, so he was impressed by my news. Not sure when the article will appear — perhaps next Thursday — or what the focus will be beyond the award nomination. We covered a lot of territory in the hour. He told me at the end that some of his interviews were grueling (for him) but this one was thoroughly enjoyable.

In addition to some local coverage, I also came away from the interview with an idea for the story I’ve been planning to write. I need to do a lot more research, but something he said in passing hooked me up to a true crime story that sounds perfect for my tale. I love it when that happens.It was a passing comment on his part while he was telling me about a new bookstore in the area. I don’t think I heard everything he wanted to tell me about this cool store, so fascinated was I by the murder he mentioned. If you’re ever talking to a writer and it seems like all of a sudden they aren’t there with you any more, chances are that they’ve been struck by a bolt of inspiration.

I did another interview for a guy who’s a member of the Jazma Online community. It was posted on their forum today. There’s supposed to be some photos/graphics accompanying it–those will probably appear in due course. In the meantime, my meandering thoughts on various subjects are all there for you to peruse.

A lackluster night of television. Only Criminal Minds, and I didn’t find that one of their better efforts. I liked JJ’s story a lot, but the whole idea that some anonymous person could virtually brainwash so many people into playing this dangerous game didn’t work for me.

I’m reading The Night Monster by James Swain, a book I received through the Amazon Vine program last year but am just getting around to now. I have quite a few problems with the novel, which I will go into in more detail when I review it. A lot has to do with actions that don’t seem credible to me. Would the father of a daughter who has just been kidnapped go to her team’s basketball game the next day, for example? And why must the author make the cops such dunderheads? Surely there’s someone with a badge who isn’t a buffoon. Is a guy 6′ 10″ / 300 lbs such a rarity that people would think a person is crazy for describing his assailant that way?

Burn Notice is back tonight with a Cagney and Lacey reunion. After two nights of nothing at all on TV, Thursdays make up for it. The DVR is going to have to do double duty.

Good news to start off the day: The Stephen King Illustrated Companion was nominated for an Edgar award by the Mystery Writers of America. Winners will be announced at a banquet in NYC at the end of April. The full list of nominees can be found here. I’m nominated in the category Best Critical/Biographical, which puts me up against the likes of P.D. James. Not a position I ever imagined finding myself in!

Followed by the sad news that is circulating the blogosphere concerning the death of crime writer Robert B. Parker, author of the Spenser novels (Spenser for Hire on TV, starring Robert Urich) and the Jesse Stone novels that have recently been adapted starring Tom Selleck, along with numerous other works. I can’t remember when I read my first Spenser novel, but it must have been nearly 30 years ago. I kept up with him until recently, when I found the hardcovers were getting too expensive for their contents. Ironically, I was going to pick up some of his newer works on my Kindle. When I think about it, I have to say that Parker is one of my literary influences, though I’ve never written anything quite like his books. I’ve always wanted to, though.

I’m between works at the moment, still dowsing for a storyline to match the characters and situation I’ve come up with for the next story. Still got up at 5 a.m., though, because there’s always other things I can be doing that isn’t writing but is still work. I had to write a 350-word afterword for my story “The Fingernail Test” that discussed why I chose the urban legend for the story, and I had two short stories that I needed to resubmit. One was the story I finished on Sunday. The new market Lightspeed lives up to its name in terms of turnaround time. I received a rejection on it yesterday, albeit a nicely worded personalized one.

Castle was quite good last night. They handled a potentially difficult development very well–the investigation into the murder of Beckett’s mother. They had their cake and ate it by revealing the person who pulled the trigger without discovering who hired him. Also, Castle’s actions at the end could have caused a rift between him and Beckett (she might have suggested that his actions caused the death of the only link they had to the real villain) but instead it brought them closer. And not in the totally predictable way that TV often falls back on — they didn’t have a romantic moment, they had an honest character moment, where Beckett told Castle that he made her difficult job easier. Nicely played, I thought.

I stumbled upon Dreams with Dark Teeth, the Harlan Ellison documentary, on Sundance last night. I didn’t see the whole thing, but I got a kick out of what I did see. I’ve only met Ellison once, but the documentary seemed to capture his essence, both private and public personalities on display. I’m not sure how much of it I missed, but I’ll be on the lookout for it to see the rest.

Monday night comedies were hitting on all cylinders, especially Two and a Half Men (I’ll never think of smores the same way again) and Big Bang Theory. I think Leonard is going to have to turn in his secret decoder ring soon, though. He’s almost not a nerd any more.

I never know when a Storytellers Unplugged essay is going to strike a chord with readers. This month’s entry, Aspring Writers, garnered more comments than most of my essays for the site (though nothing near as much response as Apparently I Write Like a Girl — that one I expected would ring a few bells). This month’s essay doesn’t really offer any advice or solutions–as with many of my pieces, it’s a meandering rumination on a personal observation or experience. But I always like it when people comment.

I finished the work in progress on Sunday morning and submitted it. The final editing round was a pruning session that trimmed about 100 extranneous words from the story. Now I’m doing research for a new story. I have the opening scene developed in my mind, and I have a pretty good handle on the main character, but I still don’t have all of his story worked out.

We watched Post-Grad with Alexis Bledel, Michael Keaton and Carol Burnett on Friday night. It was a little campier than I expected, with Keaton veering toward Beetlejuice territory but it was cute and I now want to start up a web site called CheapAssTravel.com, referenced by Keaton in the closing moments.

I got the DVD of State of Play (the UK miniseries) on Saturday and we watched the whole thing, 330+ minutes, that evening. My wife had never seen it before–she really liked it. Excellent drama, with John Simm and Bill Nighy, along with Philip Glennister. I still haven’t seen the US remake and can’t imagine how they boiled it down to under two hours. The guy who plays Dominic Foy is hilarious.

Finished reading Horns by Joe Hill and am currently working on my review. Started The Spire by Richard North Patterson. It’s a cold case mystery, except the only person interested in re-opening it is the guy who found the murdered co-ed’s body 15 years ago now that he’s back on campus as the new president. His best friend was convicted of the murder. There’s another crime in the contemporary story–the previous president is accused of embezzling nearly a million dollars of the university’s endowment.

Cold Case was okay last night — I liked the way they camped up the historical story like a really bad noir parody. The personal stories of the main characters are starting to overwhelm the main plots, though. What exactly is Nick Vera obsessing over?

I have to confess that I didn’t recognize Jonathan Frakes in this week’s episode of Criminal Minds. When I look at the clip again, I don’t know how I could have missed it. I guess I was concentrating too much on Spencer Reid’s theatrics. Frakes has been appearing mostly behind the camera lately, so it was a rare appearance for him, and a most un-Riker-like one at that.

I did a full editing pass on the new short story this morning. Teased a few more neat details out of my research material but ended up pretty much where I started in terms of length: 3500 words. I think I’ll do one editing pass on the hardcopy version tomorrow and then a couple of more touch up passes online before submitting it and moving on to the next task.

I also came up with an idea for my Storytellers Unplugged essay, which will be posted on Sunday. It came about as a result of some overheard conversations at the place where I usually have breakfast. I may tackle the subject Lee suggested next month — it’s a good one and can be tied back to an earlier essay I wrote about the etiquette of sending books in for review.

I attended my wife’s high school reunion recently. Not nearly as snarky or murderous as the one on The Mentalist last night. Is it just me or did Robin Tunney look like she was sampling the punch rather heavily?

I heard back from the editor who accepted my short story back in September but then published a table of contents last week that didn’t contain it. He located my manuscript, read the story over, and decided to keep this TOC as posted. I can say without fear of contradiction that this is the first time I’ve had a story rejected after it was accepted.

This was posted on the Dark Arts web site yesterday: Dark Arts Books is proud to announce we will release our sixth title, When the Night Comes Down, which will debut at the World Horror Convention being held in Brighton, UK, March 25-28 2010. The book features tales of terror and suspense from four unique and gifted writers: Joseph D’Lacey, Nate Kenyon, Bev Vincent and Robert E. Weinberg. More details about cover, contents and the authors to come shortly, as well as pre-ordering information.  Check this space for the latest updates!

I’ve been alluding to a project that I’ve been working on with an editor for the past few months. Well, this is it, the next in the Dark Arts line of books, which features stories from four different authors. When the Night… and Evolve are the two books that contain my work that will be launching at World Horror in just over two months.

Criminal Minds was definitely creepy last night — the story of a disturbed young woman who lost her dolls so she kidnapped women and kept them consciously sedated and posed at a mock tea party. Spence was firing on all cylinders last night. It’s rare to see him in such high dudgeon as he was with the perp’s father. The victims looked ghastly, frozen as they were except for their wide, blinking eyes.

Well, barring catastrophe it looks like The Stephen King Illustrated Companion might make the preliminary Stoker ballot after all. It was looking pretty grim for a while. Tomorrow is the final day for recommendations. I bombarded them with a batch last week, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Did another round of editing on the short story in progress. It has crept up to nearly 3500 words after the last round. Now it is a matter of obsessing over every word for the next few days. I’ll probably send it in on Sunday. I still have that Storytellers Unplugged essay to write and not feeling particular inspired quite yet. Still open to suggestions for a topic!

I’m about 120 pages into Horns. I finished the second section, wherein we learn about the way Ig and Merrin met, and also how the other important characters fit into the story. Given the revelation at the end of the first section, I understand now why all of this was necessary. It’s a daring approach, though. A secret that could well have been kept for most of the book is revealed early on and, armed with that knowledge, we regard certain characters differently than we would have if we’d been kept in the dark. Then we get to see Ig and Merrin’s last time together, and what a disaster that was.

Glad to see Castle back this week. Alyssa Milano was a pleasant surprise as Rick’s former flame. I wouldn’t have automatically placed Milano and Fillion together as contemporaries but they are only a year different in age. She’s wearing it well.  I mouthed her character’s closing words to Beckett the moment before she said them (“He’s all yours”) but even if that all turned out predictably, it was still a fun episode.

So, we’ve met Gibbs’ father, and Ziva’s and now Tony’s.  Is having father issues a prerequisite for joining NCIS? When will we find out that McGee’s father was a hippie or that Abby’s father was Charles Manson? It’s always interesting to see how an adult reverts in the presence of his or her parent. The closing scene with Gibbs and Tony (Jr.) was great.

I’m about 75 pages into Horns by Joe Hill. The first section details what befalls Ig on the day after his transformation. What a cool idea. In the second section we jump back in time to his childhood when Ig met the love of his life, the woman who was murdered. It’s a bit of a gambit, stepping away from this fascinating series of events. Blowing up a turkey with a cherry bomb sounds like fun, though.

My buddy Dave Hinchberger from the Overlook Connection sent me a copy of his new edition of David Morrell’s The Hundred-Year Christmas.  What a gorgeous volume! The illustrations are by another NECON buddy, Courtney Skinner. The book has a new introduction by Morrell, describing how the book ended up as a Donald M. Grant limited edition. I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced copy of this book for years, ever since I sat with Morrell and his daughter at the Stoker banquet and they told me about it.

As you may know, I’m a Canadian, and one of the national icons of my home and native land is the beaver. He appears on the 5 cent coin (here a nickel, there a nickle) . (David Morrell is a Canadian, too, apropos of nothing). I’ve been aware of a magazine called The Beaver for some time now, though I’ve never submitted to it. Well, it turns out that all of a sudden the publishers have become aware that the title is a double entendre of sorts. It’s an issue primarily because SPAM blockers tend to bounce messages mentioning the magazine. So now, after 90 years, the second oldest magazine in the country has changed its name. It’s now called %&@#. No, not really: Canada’s History.

I found out this morning who the other participants are going to be in a book project that will be announced shortly. Since the publisher and the editor haven’t made a public announement about it, I’ll remain mum for the moment, but it’s a pretty cool project and I’m thrilled to find out more. I’ve been working pretty intensively with the editor for a few months now.

We’re getting closer to World Horror 2010 in Brighton. It’s going to be a busy show! The Evolve authors have a three-hour block for readings on the Thursday afternoon, which will be just a couple of hours after I get into town. Reminds me of the panel I moderated at WHC in New York a few years ago. I got out of the taxi from La Guardia and went straight to the room to make it in time. In addition to this reading, I have two book launch events, a panel that I’m moderating, the Stoker banquet and everything else that I can possibly cram into the four days.

Last night’s Fringe threw me for a loop. I almost didn’t realize that there was going to be a new episode on that night and then there’s Charlie, walking around as if he hasn’t been,well, if you’ve been following Fringe you will know why just seeing him was a bit of a surprise. Turns out this was an unaired episode from the first season that was unearthed, which also happened to be the episode’s title. Unearthed. Not quite sure of the turn of events that got it buried in the first place. House was fun, especially the subplot with NCIS alumna Sasha Alexander as the new neighbor who thinks House and Wilson are gay.

Men of a Certain Age was like a shaggy dog story and I was going to be really mad if the explanation of how Joe ended up with a black eye was lame. For a while it looked like the story was going to peter out (pun intended) and in fact that’s sort of what happened, except in the funniest possible way. Andre Braugher’s character’s reactions and commentary were priceless. I wonder if we’ll see more of Dori. As geeky and awkward as Romano’s Joe can be at times, he actually handled the date as well as possible, under the circumstances.

I received a copy of Horns, the new Joe Hill novel, last night. Didn’t have much time to read but I managed the first few pages. The tone is light and jaunty, almost cheeky, and the concept is captivating — guy wakes up after a bender to find that he’s devilish horns growing from his forehead. Whoa! Looking forward to spending some time with the novel.

Speaking of books, I posted my review of Sleepless by Charlie Huston last night, and I started a thread on my message board that lists the books I’ve read in 2010. I’ll keep it updated throughout the year, assuming I remember to do so. Any of the books that I review will have links to Onyx Review or any other place the review appears. I currently have three books in progress — a short story collection, the book I’m reading to my wife, and Horns.

This morning I got a rough first new draft of the short story I picked up for revision yesterday. The story has been in a discombobulated state for a long time, now, and there’s finally a new throughline to it. Beginning, middle and end. The original version of this tale, which had a different title, was exactly 1000 words long and was inspired by a photograph prompt in a contest. When it didn’t place in the contest, I rewrote it and got it up to 2000 words or so. Then I retackled it sometime last year with a new vision and that’s where I’m at now. It’s up to around 2700 words now. The first 2/3 of it has been extensively revised and should be in decent shape, so it might be finished by the end of the week.

Of course, I still have to write a Storytellers Unplugged essay by Sunday morning and I don’t have any ideas at the moment. Suggestions, anyone?