NEW MILLENNIUM MYTHOS IS NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS. Go HERE for details.
WFC '09
Our debut of COPPING SQUID at World Fantasy Convention in San Jose was an eight-legged success, and as we recover from the long weekend celebration, we draw strength from the assurance that the New Millennium Mythos meme has spread wider than the swine flu, with no sign of any vaccine on the horizon.
Immediately upon our arrival at the Fairmont, Michael Shea and S.T. Joshi joined us to sign the limited editions; but even as we popped the champagne over our freshly printed flagship release, we discovered problems that would force us to send them back and start over. In the meantime, we had sold a handful of copies to convention-goers who may or may not be pleased to find themselves in possession of the soon-to-be-ultra-rare "unnumbered whiteout limited edition." We apologize for the delay this will cause in filling orders for the book, but we're resolved to make good with a Gilberts print drawing sweepstakes and a free 11X17 print of "Ocean's Daughter," a gorgeous Gilberts original wraparound cover for our trade edition.
S.T. Joshi signing the last of 250 books
On Saturday, Michael Shea gave a phenomenal reading of "Copping Squid" that brought the alien poetry of his work to vivid life and set the room to anxious groaning when he was cut off by the clock before finishing the piece. Fortunately, Perilous Press was ready with relief. Working with our strategic allies, Eraserhead Press and Bad Moon Books, we barked our wares until the earplug concession downstairs got cleaned out and went home early. Tapeworm-infested IT wizard ZAK JARVIS was the first to purchase a limited, and also the winner of our first print drawing. Some sweaty bald guy with a pigeon-turd birthmark and his dead mother's hornrims was the first to try to steal a copy of Copping Squid from our table at the mass signing, and he also won a bracing citizen's arrest by an eagle-eyed Adam Barnes. (Nice catch, big guy!) Horror Mall took a case of books to satisfy huge pre-orders; Copping Squid is ranked #3 in Bestsellers over there (close behind some guy who's not me, and THE DAY BEFORE, the new Skipp & Goodfellow joint.
Michael Shea discovering he'll be signing
another 250 books
The Only Guys At The Whole Con In Halloween Costumes
We spent the balance of the convention tracking down amazing writers we want to work with, and got our ears melted off by the genius of Brian Evenson, Richard Lupoff and Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire; and basking in the surely unhealthy glow of some literary leviathans we'll never be able to afford, like Laird Barron, John Langan, Norm Partridge and Peter Straub. (Okay, we could probably buy Langan for pocket cash... just not his books.). I am a bit relieved, actually, I didn't spend much more time with Norm... one more verse of his uncanny Cassius Clay rap, and I would've shat out my skeleton laughing. While I helped represent the pulse-deprived at the zombie panel and room parties Saturday night, Adam flew back to Seattle to take care of business and get our orders fulfilled as soon as possible.
Sunday, we goofed on the partially-flooded dealer floor while the grownups gave out the Howie Awards... Congrats to the winners, but the news didn't trickle down to us at the kids' table. The dead dog parties were fun, despite the steady hemorrhaging of guests, but you can always count on the Bizarro contingent to stay up until the break of dawn, and eat or drink anything you feed them, which abundantly makes up for their mysterious Tim Powers-repelling properties.
With the medicine show all packed up, Skipp and I motored up to San Francisco for the Borderlands signing. While still lamenting that we couldn't swipe "The Recruiter" from or share it with Lovecraft Unbound, I had a great encounter with Ellen Datlow and some of the brilliant crew she assembled for that book. Anna Tambour's every bit as brilliant and charming as her story, "Sincerely, Petrified." We hunger to bend her to our weal. And Nick Mamatas has lovely penmanship!
As we red-eyed it home to Los Angeles in the deep space travel simulator that is the San Joaquin Valley, I blearily reflected on all we'd learned, and all the new friends we'd made, and all the old enemies we'd neutralized, and I was powerless to express my gratitude to the people whose support makes it possible for us to do this thing of ours. But right then, I was also powerless to stay in my lane, let other motorists pass or stop smoking and singing loudly over songs with no words to keep us awake, so... maybe tomorrow, the words will come.
The ONLY(?) people in the hotel in costume on Halloween night
NEW MILLENNIUM MYTHOS
A division of Perilous Press dedicated to uncovering the finest in new cosmic horror and Cthulhu Mythos literature. We have pledged our hearts and hands to reviving that initial thrill of visceral terror that once made us fanatical students of the impossible, but which has almost been extinguished from the popular arts by shoddy imitation and pale dilution for mass consumption.
Our general editor is Lovecraft scholar, biographer and weird fiction critic ST JOSHI. As the author of THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CTHULHU MYTHOS, Joshi roundly condemned the creeping degradation of modern cosmic horror, but challenged new acolytes to seize the initiative and revitalize the genre with fresh innovation and a rediscovery of true fear. With NEW MILLENNIUM MYTHOS, Mr. Joshi will put our money where his mouth is, and usher the greatest artificial mythology of the modern age into the 21st century.
We will endeavor to produce limited hardbound editions of new and selected rare classic weird fiction from established masters of the form and unsung prophets of the new weird until either economic reality renders us unable to persevere, or until our foolhardy campaign catalyzes the arrival of a new dark age of universal literacy.
Our first release will be COPPING SQUID, a collection of Cthulhu Mythos fiction by World Fantasy Award-winning MICHAEL SHEA. A limited release of 750 trade hardcovers with cover art and illustrations by Steven Gilberts, as well as a 250 copy signed deluxe edition with alternate cover will be available for pre-order very shortly.
Keep watching this space for the release of our most forbidding, impossible and despair-inducing document yet… our Submissions Guidelines.