Music

I went hunting with my father and two of his friends this weekend. Great time. Drank too much scotch, ate too much red meat, listened to old men talk about past conquests both real and imagined.

One of the men, when I went to put some music on the stereo, stopped me and said, "Hell no. We're talking here."

My dad drew me aside and said, "Gene doesn't like music."

That took a while to sink in. I couldn't believe it. So I asked the old guy about it. "You don't like music? Any music?"

"Hell, no. Just noise to occupy you while you wait to die." He was having major back pain at the time and heavily self-medicating with J&B. So I can understand his dark outlook. But music is an anodyne.

My dad looked at me and shook his head, warning me off.

"You ever like music?"

The old dude blinked. "Naw. It's silly frivolous crap. It's nonsense, music."

My dad vehemently shook his head.

So, I stopped questioning the old dude. But, damn, going through life without music? That's not life.

Next morning, his back and shoulder hurt him too much to hunt. We went out and were overrun with ducks. He hobbled to his car and drove home.

Hard to believe that someone could be born into the world without the capacity to enjoy music. But there it is. I've met the poor son of a bitch. And it wasn't pretty.

The Sixth Gun

Yeah, I did some more stuff. This time a video trailer for Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt's awesome comic, The Sixth Gun. Just watch the trailer. You'll get the idea.

MAKE CLICKY HERE.

Now go to Oni Press and buy those bad boys. Don't be lollygaggin'.

Publishers Lunch

Holy smokes. Holy freakin' smokes.

It reads:

John Hornor Jacobs's SOUTHERN GODS, in which a Memphis DJ hires a recent World War II veteran to find a mysterious bluesman whose music -- broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio station -- is said to make living men insane and dead men rise, to Jeremy Lassen at Night Shade Books, by Stacia Decker at the Donald Maass Literary Agency (World English).

Big thanks to the lovely Amy Boggs for the screenshot.

ERRATA: Accidentally titled this post Publishers Weekly instead of Publishers Lunch the first time around. My monumental bad.

Taking a Strop to the Dead Horse

More shout outs about my deal.

Steve Weddle has some nice things to say - and some interesting pictures of me. AND I'M NOT DRUNK IN EITHER OF THEM.

Keiran O'Shea bought me a drink.

And Erik Smetana remains a gentleman.

And the diabolical known as THE DOCTOR has sliced off another gobbet of flesh.

Please follow the links and give these people some love. They deserve it. Especially that O'Shea. I hear all the ladies swoon in his presence but his only true lady-love lives in the brine and bluster of the sea.

That is all.

Southern Gods to Night Shade Books

Well, my agent announced it so I guess it's okay to talk about it here. My first novel, a Southern gothic mythos novel, SOUTHERN GODS, will be published by Night Shade Books.

I'm very excited. VERY EXCITED.

Night Shade is the perfect home for this book. Not only do they have national distribution - meaning this book will find its home in finer bookstores all over this country plus all the other online points of retail - they're a small press that outstrips being a "small press." With incredible authors like Glen Cook, Richard Kadrey, China Mieville, Paolo Bacigalupi, Joe Lansdale, Kim Stanley Robinson - sorry, I need to pause here for a moment. KIM STANLEY ROBINSON?!? HAVE YOU READ HIS MARS BOOKS? THE BEST SF NOVELS IN THE LAST 20 YEARS? HOLY GUACAMOLE. NOT TO MENTION MULTIPLE AWARD WINNER, THE WIND-UP GIRL BY PAOLO BACIGALUPI? DID YOU KNOW THIS???!!!!???

Shew. Sorry for the yelling.

Just trust me, these guys are the real deal.

I'm happy. My agent is happy. The dream of being a novelist when I was just a kid is now coming true. Did some work between then and now, this is true, but...wow. Just wow.

So, it might come out late next year. Or early 2012 but I have no details whatsoever so keep watching this blog for more news.

Okay. I finally have a reason to clean up my dirty mouth.