(UPDATED 6/14)

Next Tuesday, Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio are out with STORIES: All-New Tales, a collection of genre-fuzzing fictions from an eclectic mix of great writers. I consider myself fortunate to have a story of my own in there, “The Devil on the Staircase” (my current favorite thing to do at readings).

On the same day STORIES is released, Tuesday the 15th, Neil Gaiman and Al will be in New York City, at Columbia University, to talk about the imagination and the increasingly scuffed line between genre and mainstream fiction. Several contributors will be on stage with him, including Kurt Andersen, Jeffrey Ford, Walter Mosley, Lawrence Block, Kat Howard, and yours truly; ace editor Ellen Datlow will also be a part of the panel.* Here are the gory details:

Horace Mann Auditorium

Teachers College

Columbia University

7:00 PM

Hope to see you there.

In other news, as of this morning, Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2, edited by William Schafer, is up for preorder here. I’ve got a story in that one, too, “Wolverton Station,” which is about a corporate hatchet-man who climbs onto a train in London and finds himself carried away into the sort of country that lies at the heart of the darkest sort of fairy tales. Dark Fantasy 2 is set to feature cover art by Dave McKean, and will be out in January 2011.

* ace editor Ellen Datlow will be in attendance, but not actually on the panel; my bad.

Around these parts, I consider it a wild and crazy month if I have a new issue of LOCKE & KEY out. So it’s a little hard to get my head around the thought that I have a new short story, new comic, and new novel all out this coming week.

I’ll probably spend most of February blabbing about HORNS, but this is also out on the 16th:

I’ve got a story in here called “Twittering from the Circus of the Dead,” about a teenage girl with a bad internet habit and a crunchy-granola mother who doesn’t approve. Over the course of a weekend long road trip, they hash out their differences, opening up to one another, venting their frustrations, dealing with their feelings, and working slowly, painfully, towards emotional catharsis and mutual understanding. It’s just like one of those traveling pants stories.

Then they get to the circus of the dead and zombies start eating people.

I’m awfully grateful to Christopher Golden for inviting me into his party – the book looks great and boasts a terrific lineup of writers, from John Connolly to Joe Lansdale to Brian Keene, and everyone in between.

I’ll be reading from HORNS at River Run in Portsmouth on Tuesday night, but if you can’t make it there, and you’re in the mood to hear some scary stuff live, check out Christopher Golden’s Website. They’re launching the book on the 16th with a host of readings across the country; Chris has the full list of appearances on his blog. And of course I’m glad to sign your copy of NEW DEAD at River Run, or anywhere else while I’m on tour.

… and lots of other interesting news besides. Dig in, it’s a big yummy bowl of random:

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I’m pleased to announce I’ve got a new short story in Christopher Golden’s upcoming zombie anthology, THE NEW DEAD, which will be out in February of next year. My story is called “Twittering from the Circus of the Dead.” The rest of the Table of Contents is riiiight… here.

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I’ve also got an introduction in the latest Book of Goon, THE GOON: A PLACE OF HEARTACHE AND GRIEF by Eric Powell. If you aren’t familiar with Powell’s work, you’re missing out on one of the most entertaining (and certainly the most deranged) writer-artists working in comics. Here’s the first paragraph of my intro:

There’s a club-footed gorilla fighting a rabid zombie baby in a basement. There’s a hulking undead transvestite tearing up backyards and the local landlords’ association hasn’t even got around to repairing the damage done in the last city-wrecking giant monster rampage. The watering holes are crowded with cornpone, toothless rednecks, the sort of country gentlemen who think of Deliverance as highbrow romance. This is no place to raise kids. What are they going to do for fun, fight each other over fish guts? Yeah. Pretty much. I’d say the place is going to hell, but I hear property values are higher there.

See? Doesn’t that sound like a comic you need to be reading? As in, right now? (And don’t worry, with The Goon you can jump in anywhere. I think it’s wise to begin with the very first book, because you’re going to read them all eventually anyway, but the stories of The Goon also read just fine taken completely out of order).

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Finally, did you know that Amanda Boyle’s short adaptation of “Pop Art” just won a special jury award for direction at the Atlanta Film Festival? Now you do. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, and you’re sick and tired of waiting for it to screen at a festival near you… well stop waiting already. This week only, “Pop Art” is the featured short on the BBC film network, and through the magic of the intraweeb, you can watch it right there, with the aid of RealPlayer or Windows Media. Go give yourself a fifteen minute break and check it out, lemmie know what you think.

This came out when I wasn’t looking. Hope folks have some fun with it: