Awesome news! Knightwatch Press, a subsidiary of Fringeworks, has accepted my short story "Lebenden Toten at the Gate," about zombies at Stalingrad, for one of their upcoming Raus! Untoten anthologies. Knightwatch Press will publish four themed anthologies over the next several months. I will post more details about when it will be published as they become available.

I Will Be Attending InfectScranton 2013

It's official.  I will be attending Infect Scranton 2013 in Scranton, Pennsylvania from 20-22 September 2013.  My fellow guest authors are Jonathon Maberry, Jacqueline Druga, Kim Paffenroth, Matt Mogk, and Kirk Allmond.  Other celebrity guests include Lev "Axel" Temple, Vincent "Oscar" Ward, Addy (Little Girl Zombie" Miller, and Travis "Screwdriver Zombie" Charpentier from The Walking Dead as well as  Jim "Helicopter Zombie" Krut, Mike "Hare Krishna Zombie" Christopher, Len "Machete Zombie" Lies, and Sharon "Nurse Zombie" Ceccatti-Hill from George Romero's Dawn of the Dead.  I will post more as the event gets close.  You can also follow Infect Scraton 2013 on Facebook here.

First Bad Review

Despite what my critics say, I am not naive or egotistical enough to think that everyone will love my writing.  Everyone's tastes vary.  Recently I got my first bad review (that I know of).  Since I've posted all my good ones, I think it's only fair that I post those that are not so complimentary. 

The review is of "Last Flight of the Bismarck"from Machina Mortis: Steampunk'd Tales of Terror.  The reviewer, Bufton's Blog, said:

"The first story, ‘Last Flight of the Bismarck’ by Scott Baker, didn’t really do it for me. In many ways, despite the inclusion of a zombie menace, this was the closest to a pure steampunk tale (whatever that is) in the collection, but I was left feeling distinctly underwhelmed. Again, I not sure if I was expecting something else, but it seemed like Baker had thrown in half a dozen steampunk standards, added a liberal dash of the undead, and unleashed the resulting concotion onto the page. Whilst it was hardly a bad tale, it failed to hit my buttons in any meaningful way."

Delayed Congratulations for the Winner of the Zombie Fan's Prize

Back on 30 May, I announced that as part of the giveaway of the Machina Mortis and Hunger Pangs anthologies, Zombie Fans had sweetened the deal by offering a twenty-five dollar gift certificate to Applebee's restaurant to one winner of Hunger Pangs.  Zombie Fans honored their part of the bargain weeks ago and sent me the certificate.  Unfortunately, it arrived during a time of personal crises, and I was so preoccupied with other things that I never got the chance to post the winner.  So let's correct that mistake.

The winner of the Zombie Fan's Applebee gift certificate is Beth Dixon.  It's the perfect place to pick up some side dishes to go with your long pork.  Congratulations, and enjoy. 

Back to Work - With Sad News

I took an intentional two-week hiatus from writing to unpack and start to get everything in order at the new place.  I was hoping to resume blogging today with good news.  Instead, I have to announce that yesterday afternoon my family assisted Cocoa across Rainbow Bridge. 

Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile know that Cocoa was the inspiration for Van Helsing, Drake Matthew's pet rabbit, in The Vampire Hunters trilogy.  Cocoa was over eleven years old, which translates into the nineties in human years.  Despite arthritis and glaucoma, he was a happy guy right up until near the end.  He was always begging for a treat or a pet, and was always happy to see me.

Unfortunately, a chronic condition from an abscess in his ear from five years ago flared up, became infected, and went into his sinuses and lungs.  Even if he survived, his quality of life would have been nowhere near what it was before.  So we made the decision to let him cross the Bridge where he can now bink and be happy.  I am heart broken, but I know he's now in a better place.