The release date of Warmed And Bound is inching closer and closer.
First, the cover art. Goddamn does it look gorgeous.
My story, DEATH JUGGLER, opens up the anthology. The story of a circus freak who kills himself on stage night after night. Call it noir sci-fi. I will make sure to talk more about it on the Booked Podcast soon.
We also managed, and by we I mean the fantastic Pela Via, to get a mind-blowing foreword from Steve Erickson. At this point, you should do yourself a favor and pick up, say, at least one of his books. There is no doubt in my mind that he is one the most under-appreciated yet most important writers working today.
I won’t spoil anything about the foreword, but let’s just say that the man gave us what is essentially a love letter that stands for everything The Velvet community is about.
One of the most poignant bits is featured on the back cover. “The writers of the Velvet are contemporary fiction’s most effective and least self-conscious aesthetic guerillas (…) The result is fiction at once conceived from high artistic intent and executed with depraved populist energy.”
The foreword goes much deeper than that, taking apart and highlighting some of the book’s content.
I reached out to Steve Erickson, to thank him not only for his fiction, but for his contribution to the anthology. He sent back a very kind reply, and added a little something about my story:
I was very struck and impressed by “Death Juggler” which, like the keynote address of a political convention, perfectly set the tone for the rest of the anthology. Congratulations.
Yeah. That, um, broke me.
In many ways.
In many happy ways.
Needless to say, I can’t wait for people to read the entire book. It won’t disappoint, I’m sure of that.
So until the release date is made official (won’t be long, now), head over to:
And of course, here is the complete list of contributors, stolen from Richard Thomas’ page:
- Amanda Gowin
- Anthony David Jacques
- Axel Taiari
- Blake Butler
- Bob Pastorella
- Bradley Sands
- Brandon Tietz
- Brian Evenson
- Caleb J. Ross
- Cameron Pierce
- Chris Deal
- Christopher J. Dwyer
- Craig Clevenger
- Craig Davidson
- Craig Wallwork
- DeLeon DeMicoli
- Doc O’Donnell
- Edward J. Rathke
- Gary Paul Libero
- Gavin Pate
- Gayle Towell
- Gordon Highland
- J. David Osborne
- Jeremy Robert Johnson
- JR Harlan
- Kyle Minor
- Mark Jaskowski
- Matt Bell
- Nic Young
- Nik Korpon
- Paul G. Tremblay
- Pela Via
- Richard Thomas
- Rob Parker
- Sean P. Ferguson
- Stephen Graham Jones
- Tim Beverstock
- Vincent Louis Carrella
