Category Archives: bram stoker awards

Mr. Wicker: One Year Later

Posted on by under anniversary, bram stoker awards, interview, Mr. Wicker, review, rude people

On September 14, 2014, Mr. Wicker was released by Raw Dog Screaming Press. A year has passed, and what a wild journey it’s been…

Suicide Prevention Month

When we chose to publish the book in September, I had no clue it was Suicide Prevention Month. Mr. Wicker opens with Alicia committing suicide and succeeding, however briefly. As a result, some who have struggled with suicidal thoughts have had a hard time reading the book. It vividly portrays someone acting out that intention.

Alicia’s frame of mind had been validated for me in the worst possible way when a friend committed suicide in 2009. Her suicide note bitterly echoed Alicia’s pre-death rants in the first chapter, as well as her post-death lashings out. They say depression is frozen rage, but I’d say it’s more like rage turned inward. I knew Alicia and her obliterating rage wouldn’t be immediately likable, although anyone who’d experienced this kind of pain would instantly recognize it.

And then just days before the book trailer was released, Robin Williams took his life. Suicide was burning up the news headlines, which was awful because I didn’t want to profit from the Zeitgeist of despair.

Besides, Mr. Wicker isn’t a “suicide story.” It’s a reclaiming story. How do we make ourselves whole? That was the question I was facing when the inspiration for the tale came to me in all its gothic glory.

Critical Acclaim

The critical acclaim for the book was strong from the start, with a Starred Review from Library Journal, which also named it Debut of the Month, and a really lovely review from Publishers Weekly, not to mention the many glowing reviews from genre magazines and individuals. I had almost no time to celebrate my success as I was in the publicity crush of countless guest blog posts, interviews and signings thanks to my wonderful publicist, Beverly Bambury. (And thank the gods I had both plenty of spare time and my voice technology to write everything because I suffered a hand disability at the time.)

I even attended three conventions in November 2014 to promote Mr. Wicker: BoucherCon, the World Fantasy Convention (official launch) and LosCon. Crazy, right? I don’t recommend that, by the way. But I do recommend the International Thriller Writers Debut Author Program. They supported me in a major way as I struggled to figure out the publishing terrain. I made some lasting friendships in that program, as they were all like midwives to my child.

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Me and Gil Roth in my home recording the Virtual Memories Podcast.

Some of the interviews were especially perceptive, like the one with G.G. Silverman, who’d picked up on the subtle yet powerful feminist themes in the book. Gil Roth’s interview for the Virtual Memories Podcast was a real highlight for me, too, as he asked a lot of intriguing questions, weaving in my knowledge of swords. The Storyforward Podcast with Steve Peters cut to the chase and asked me to tell everyone how I really felt about that dumbass lightsaber. And in my interview with old friend Adam Campbell for Anywhere But Hollywood, the story came full circle as Adam had read the original Nicholl Fellowship screenplay and as well as the novel. (It felt like the best interview I’d ever given, although that might be nostalgia talking.)

Almost everywhere I went, the book sold out of copies. I loved interacting with readers, particularly book clubs. I discovered that people have rich imaginations and that your story is never your own once it’s out in the hands of the reading public. Reading is a deeply collaborative process; new ideas grow when your words mingle with other people’s thoughts. I had been publishing short stories for years, many to acclaim, and I’d never experienced this as I did with readers of Mr. Wicker. It was kind of magical.

The Award

When Mr. Wicker was nominated for the 2014 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel, I was thrilled. That was about the time I signed with Alex Slater at Trident Media Group for a Young Adult horror novel I’d written. I’d long had my eye on Trident, and Alex had come on board as a regular agent after handling foreign rights for many years just as I was finishing up Snowed. As I wrote in an earlier blog post, actually winning the award in Atlanta at the World Horror Convention was cathartic. For a story that survived so many incarnations to achieve so much was a “reclaiming” all its own.

The Aftermath

After the award, a number of negative reviews hit the novel on Goodreads. Before, there were certainly readers who didn’t like the book for whatever reason. That happens. I honestly wondered if some folk had bought the book without reading the synopsis, because they clearly had expected something more like Stephen King rather than the Gaiman-esque story they got, which annoyed them. Regardless, I appreciated those reviews as much as the positive ones because people gave a damn, one way or the other. That’s awesome!

However, some of these subsequent reviews were not only negative but they featured a whole new “unfiltered” flavor of nasty. One reviewer in particular sounded like she’d stayed up all night grinding glass to mix into my breakfast yogurt. I started calling the site GoodBleeds because it was like getting paper cuts every time I went there.

Seriously.

At that point, I decided to stop reading reviews. It just wasn’t productive. Instead, I bathed my Stoker award with my tears.

Prophetic Advice

Before I’d even won the award, the renowned science fiction writer David Gerrold had quite prophetically advised me at dinner one night, “Maria, remember that fame is like being the tallest tree in the forest. You’ll be hit by the strongest winds, but you’ll also get the most sunlight.”

I’ll always cherish this advice, David. You have no idea how much it’s helped.

So, Thank You

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A massive, tremendous, stupendous THANK YOU to everyone who bought the book, reviewed it (yes, even you, glass-at-the-bottom yogurt lady), spent time interviewing me, published my guest posts, helped me with the book trailer, voted for the book, and everything else. Special thanks to Steven Barnes, Lisa Morton and Jonathan Maberry for their pre-publication blurbs. Domo arigato!

The biggest thanks of all go to John and Jennifer at Raw Dog Screaming Press. I’m so proud to be part of the Raw Dog family. You guys are the best!

What’s Next?

cranberry-clipart-SnowFlakes39_1_2Scarlet_RedAs I mentioned, my agent is shopping my YA horror novel, Snowed, the first in a trilogy. At this moment, I’m almost done with the first draft of the sequel. No matter what happens, Snowed and its sequels are getting out there. I’m extremely proud of this story and its characters, especially my main character, Charity Jones, the teenage skeptic and engineering prodigy. Between the teen beta readers and their moms, as well as my film industry friends who’ve read it, the response has been spectacular. (And we all know that teenagers don’t like anything, right? Except maybe Harry Potter.)

Plus, it’s clear from multiple sources that Snowed is hitting a new Zeitgeist, one that’s just coming to America from lands foreign and invading our storytelling. Fingers crossed that one of the houses that currently has it falls truly-madly-deeply in love with it tout de suite.

I think you will, too.

On Mr. Wicker Winning the Bram Stoker Award

Posted on by under bram stoker awards, hwa, Mr. Wicker, Uncategorized

Wow.

I’m so incredibly honored that the Horror Writers Association chose to recognize my book, Mr. Wicker, for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. As I said in my speech, my heartfelt thanks goes to each and every member who voted for my book. It had very tough competition, especially from film director David Cronenberg’s Consumed and Josh Malerman’s Birdbox. Truly, all the books were excellent. I enjoyed the heck out of meeting Josh, as well as the other nominees, Michael Knost and JD Barker. I felt honored just getting to hang out with such a terrific group of people. I was already in the Winner’s Circle with these talented folk.

Reeling

But when they called my name, I was reeling. Truth be told, I was well into into my cups and enjoying the hilarious antics of poet Mike Arnzen at our table. Raw Dog Screaming Press should probably be called Raw Dog Laughing Press, as we were the most raucous lot in the room. We already had two Stokers sitting on our table as Lucy Snyder had won twice — once for Non-Fiction and then again for Short Fiction Collection. (I know, right?!?) Anyway, I managed to stand up with the help of my table mates. My shaky, tearful walk up to the podium was then supported by many hugs, handshakes and kisses from friends and colleagues along the way. If it weren’t for my friend Joe McKinney and the awesome Dacre Stoker who were giving out the award, I don’t know if I could have stayed on my feet. Thank you, both.

That Crazy Speech

If you couldn’t tell, the speech I gave was totally unprepared. My friend, the great science fiction writer David Gerrold who won his first Stoker last year, had told me to prepare something, but I didn’t. Maybe because the buzz was so strong about the other books, I lost heart. I don’t know. I do know that, from now I on, I will always listen to David because I forgot to thank Lisa Morton for her support, feedback and friendship all these years. (When someone on the Shocklines forum asked members in 2009 what their the top ten book choices were of the last decade, Lisa responded, “Unfortunately the best book I read in 2009 has yet to be published (MR. WICKER by Maria Alexander).”) I also forgot to thank the Dark Delicacies writing group for their support. Oy! Mea culpa for the lack of preparation doused in Manhattans.

Then again, as people congratulated me after the ceremony, some said it was the most heartfelt speech they had ever heard.

All A-Twitter

At any rate, I immediately texted my boyfriend. Next, I took a photo of the award and tweeted to my agent, the wonderful Alex Slater at Trident Media Group:

And finally, I sent Neil Gaiman a direct message on Twitter, to which he responded, “Well done!!!!!!!!!” Jonathan Maberry (who won that night for Best Graphic Novel) pointed to my Stoker and told me with the biggest smile, “That was an easy win.” Honestly, I’m surrounded by amazing people. I’m pretty sure I eventually stopped hugging him. I left a trail of lipstick marks on cheeks across the conference, that’s for sure.

You All Rock

What a fantastic weekend and unforgettable night. I so loved finally meeting in person JG Faherty, Angel Leigh McCoy, Stephanie Wytovich and Alethea Kontis. I feel like I’ve known and admired Angel forever. Bless her because, as she is also the HWA webmistress, she already knew I’d won while we were on the Horror in Gaming panel, and managed not to give away anything. Of course, Lisa Morton knew for almost two months. She is Fort Freakin’ Knox, man. At Los Angeles chapter meetings, she let nary an inkling slip past the usual mischievous twinkle in her eyes. She’s amazing, y’all.

I’m sure there are others that my jetlagged brain has temporarily submerged in the fog; I loved meeting you all.

Thanks again to everyone, but especially publishers Jennifer Barnes and John Lawson at Raw Dog. Heart you guys big time. And so does Mr. BBQ Butt.

And Now the Long-Awaited WHC 2008 Highlights

Posted on by under bad hotels, bram stoker awards, jackass, poetry, radisson, salt lake city, world horror convention

Such as they were, in no particular order. Subject to change.

1. Had a successful round of pitches, including one to an unanticipated publisher, Mirrorstone Books. The editor Stacey and I were chatting happily when she asked me if, by any chance, I had a children’s book. As it so happened, I’d written one about 8 years ago called Monsteria, starring a little girl named Anabelle, who is like a miniature Mary Poppins. I told her about the story, which is Where the Wild Things Are but with a girl protagonist. This seemed to make Stacey enormously happy. We’ll see how that pans out.

2. Sold and signed stuff.

3. Read a bit of Caitlin Kiernan’s fiction for the “Male or Female?” panel-come-gameshow. One contestant said female, the other male. I asked them why they thought the author was either male or female. Gary Braunbeck offered the generalization that men write more about the external world while women write more about their internal world. The passage I read was definitely more about the external world, but then Monica Kuebler had stumped Gary earlier with passages from John Shirley and Jack Ketchum, proving that generalizations are only that.

4. Met lots of great folk, including the very gracious Scott Edelman, up and coming writer Scott Browne, the incredibly sweet Paul Genesse and the delightful Australian writer Rocky Wood, not to mention the awesomely talented Marge Simon. Her husband, the Grandmaster of Poetry Bruce Boston, wrote the introduction to my poetry collection. Biting Midnight. Meeting Marge had been long in the coming. The convention staff were all terrific people, I should add.

5. Strutted around in some utterly frivolous and girly outfits, especially that amazing pink 1940s suit that I bought from Sabrina Belladonna.

6. Read my latest poem, “Uncle Nietzsche with Anchovies,” to an appreciative audience in the Poetry Reading, as well as “Le Menteur” and my French and English versions of “Petite.” (Now, is it just me, or should poetry make fucking sense? All that poetry I heard loaded with random adjectives and hyphenated bullshit seriously needs to meet Mr. Shredder. Most came from one Vogon in particular.)

7. Ground my teeth through most of the Bram Stoker ceremony as I witnessed more “club awards.” However, I was there to support friends, to which I must say “Mission Accomplished,” and besides the emcee was quite funny. I enjoyed watching Sarah Langan win Best Novel. The best part was when Gary Braunbeck mentioned one of my favorite movie moments of all time — the ending of Prince of Darkness — as one of two iconic John Carpenter moments. Yay! It’s not just me!

8. Made a complete ass of myself in the audience of the screenwriting panel I attended. Lisa Morton knows I’m insane and Bill Breedlove still wrote “Maria Alexander is a goddess” on my martini glass that night, so I suppose they forgive me. The other panelists might not. I do repent my ass-like behavior. Alas!

9. Had a lovely sushi dinner with Loren Rhoads.

10. Said other apparently strange and shocking things whilst on one of the networking panels, as I recall a jaw or two dropping. Oh, how I do love being provocative! (Did I mention I also apparently love the taste of my shoe?)

11. Seemed to sexually traumatized every male in the room with “Pinned” at my reading. (Well, I had warned them about the kinky sex on the advertising flyer. Silly boys!) Later sold a copy to the sweet gal who wandered in late but heard enough to want to read the ending.

12. Survived hotel horrors, including two power outages the first night that caused my room to drop to sub-arctic temperatures, skin ailments galore because of the dryness, and finally some kind of food poisoning that nearly cripped me from packing and leaving the hotel. Can I say that I hate Salt Lake City and the Radisson with equal measures of peevishness? Yes, I certainly can.

And there you have it.