Secret Sales and Secret Identities
= The ForeWarner =
The Matthew Warner Newsletter
February 24, 2005
Contents:
-- Reader Rewards
-- Publication News
-- Watergate's "Deep Throat," Leonard Garment, and me
-- Appearances
-- Miscellaneous
-- Recommended Reading
Opt-out instructions are at the bottom.
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READER REWARDS
Congratulations to the winners of the "Carnage Christmas" giveaway,
exclusively for ForeWarner e-mail subscribers.
The winners were Jon M., Feo A., Elizabeth P., Michael B., Darrin E.,
and Michael A.. Thanks also to the other respondents: Judi R., Ron
B., Andy M., Lisa M., Steve P., Joel J., Charlee J., Chesya B., Wayne
D., Simon D., Zorian, Fisher, and Shadownmidnight.
The prizes were:
DIME STORE MAGIC by Kelley Armstrong
THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN by Christopher Golden
SUNSHINE by Robin McKinley
WORLDS ENOUGH & TIME by Dan Simmons
HOSTS by F. Paul Wilson
THROUGH VIOLET EYES by Stephen Woodworth
Stay tuned for future goodies.
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PUBLICATION NEWS
*** "The Cave" in Cemetery Dance
The contract is signed, and I'm still reeling at the prospect of being
published in horror's flagship magazine. I'm told the story will
come out this summer.
*** Secret sales
A book announcement is coming soon. Can you hear me bursting with
the need to spill the beans? A short story will also appear in a
major web publication this May, but I'm not allowed to tell you where
or what it is until then.
*** "Author's Notes" column
http://www.horrorworld.org/columns.htm
My monthly column on writing, which appears on the first of every month
at Horror World, has been a lot of fun so far. The publishers tell
me it's consistently within their top-5 most-visited webpages. Each
article contains archival links in case you missed past ones. Headlines
so far:
(November 2004) "I'll Have One Large Blood Shake and a Side-Order
of Stereotypes, Please"
(December 2004) "Now for the Moral of This Story: Don't Swim
in the Company's Pool With Your Manuscript"
(January 2005) "Tips on Good (Collaboration) Parenting"
(February 2005) "A Monologue about Dialogue (Part 1)"
Part 2 of "A Monologue about Dialogue," which goes live on March
1, will include criticism of Brian Keene's technique in his new novel,
CITY OF THE DEAD. I had special access to the book's first rough
draft, which I'll be excerpting.
*** "Blessed Among Women" withdrawn from FAMILY PLOTS
Wild Roses Productions's option has expired to publish "Blessed Among
Women" by Wendy Brewer and me in its anthology FAMILY PLOTS.
Yanking the story was a difficult decision, but I think it's for the best.
I apologize if you pre-ordered the forthcoming anthology in the hopes
of reading the short story. If you did, then hopefully you ordered
through a retailer who will allow you to cancel.
*** EXTREMES III anthology no longer for sale
EXTREMES III: TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS, the autographed, limited edition
CD-ROM anthology containing "Middle Passage," is no longer for
sale. It came off the racks in December when its publisher, Lone
Wolf Publications, went out of business. I have connections, though,
if you'd like to buy discounted copies. While the anthology can
only be read on a laptop or desktop computer, it has some great fiction
from the likes of Charlee Jacob and Edo Van Belkom, and things like video
clips. It even contains an audio recording of yours truly reading
a story excerpt.
*** Borderlands Boot Camp
From January 21 to 23, I attended the first annual Borderlands Boot Camp
for Writers, an exclusive seminar sponsored by Borderlands Press.
It was a memorable experience to study craft with four award-winning authors
and editors and only 19 other students. Hellnotes Newsletter, the
horror genre's equivalent to Publisher's Weekly, hired me to write about
my experience. My article appeared in the February 3 issue.
*** Reprints
"And That's When the Bathroom Exploded" has been reprinted yet
again, this time on the Horrorfind Fiction website in November.
This story about Japanese superstitions has proved to be one of my most
popular tales.
"Snow Snakes," about H.P. Lovecraft and downhill skiing, saw
its third appearance in the Ambitions magazine November issue, which you
can order from http://www.projectpulp.com.
*** More information: http://www.matthewwarner.com/pubs.htm
*** SPECIAL OFFER:
Get 20% off the e-book edition of THE ORGAN DONOR if you order directly
from http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com.
To request a discount code, reply to this e-mail or contact me via http://www.matthewwarner.com/contact.htm.
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WATERGATE'S "DEEP THROAT," LEONARD GARMENT, AND ME
Deep Throat is back in the news, and no, I'm not referring to the 1972
porn movie starring Linda Lovelace.
The University of Texas this month opened an exhibition of notes taken
by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein when they investigated the Watergate
scandal for the Washington Post. The reporters' effect on public
opinion contributed in large part to Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation
from the White House. Their exploits were dramatized in the 1976
movie "All the President's Men," starring Robert Redford and
Dustin Hoffman.
Ever since, people have been trying to guess the identity of their anonymous
deep-background source in the federal government, a shady individual jokingly
codenamed "Deep Throat." Guesses have ranged from former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to former FBI Assistant Director Mark
Felt. Woodward and Bernstein maintain Deep Throat is a real person
whose identity they will reveal after his death.
The new UT exhibit naturally has renewed public speculation. Rumors
Deep Throat is in poor health have added further fuel to the fire, causing
some to wonder if it's U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist.
Another candidate, infrequently mentioned, is former White House Counsel
Leonard Garment, now the chairman of the Jazz Museum in Harlem.
Garment is no more a serious candidate than Diane Sawyer, but that hasn't
stopped people from accusing both of them. The latest supposed pundit
on this matter is a former candidate for New York governor, Pierre A.
Rinfret, who lost the gubernatorial election to Mario Cuomo in 1990.
(According to the Associated Press, his platform included a proposal to
put 100,000 armed vigilantes on the streets of New York City.)
In response to the recent hubbub, Rinfret re-posted on his website his
August 2002 editorial about why he believes Garment is Deep Throat, basing
it on claims to having personal knowledge of Garment's inner thoughts.
Rinfret has a history of exaggerating his background, according to the
New York Times.
Seeing as how I was Leonard Garment's secretary from 1998 and 2003, and
helped him on his book IN SEARCH OF DEEP THROAT: THE GREATEST POLITICAL
MYSTERY OF OUR TIME (Basic Books, 2000), I naturally had something to
say to Rinfret.
You can read his editorial and my rebuttal at the following link: http://www.parida.com/
I credit Rinfret for having the decency to publish a contrary opinion.
But I will note he inserted two typographical errors into my letter before
posting it. When I asked him to fix them, he refused.
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APPEARANCES
Presentation to Westfield H.S. Writing Club
March 3, 2005 at 2:30 p.m.
Westfield High School
Fairfax, VA
World Horror Convention 2005
April 7-10, 2005
New York, NY
Horrorfind Weekend 2005
August 19-21, 2005
Baltimore, MD
*** See http://www.matthewwarner.com/appearances.htm
for a CV of my speaking engagements before librarians, students, and writers.
Contact me about visiting your group or class.
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MISCELLANEOUS
With the help of my lovely webmistress, Mrs. Deena Warner, I've slowly
been overhauling my website. You'll be interested in the updated
links page, with its listings of authors, illustrators, publishers, publications,
and organizations.
The home page contains a new "Be notified when this page changes"
form, powered by changedetection.com, so you can be automatically informed
when I've updated the "Current News" headlines.
Otherwise, life is going on. My brother's getting married, I have
a headache from doing taxes, and some family members are in poor health.
Progressively more people are asking me to critique or line-edit their
manuscripts, which I enjoy doing. I may start charging.
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RECOMMENDED READING
As always, I've been reading a lot of great (and not so great) books.
I thought you'd be interested in checking out the great ones:
THE DAWNING, novel by Hugh B. Cave
TWISTS OF THE TALE, anthology edited by Ellen Datlow
THE DARK FANTASTIC, collection by Ed Gorman
NIGHTKILL, novel by F. Paul Wilson and Steven Spruill
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"Also, I felt . . . that too much of the story was too unpleasant/offputting
for my tastes (the insects, the rotting bodies, and so on)."
-- November 2002 rejection letter
Matthew Warner
Falls Church, VA
www.MatthewWarner.com
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