Validation!

Ellen Datlow's annual Year's Best Horror list is out, and "The Patriot" is in the list! Take a look, there I am, sandwiched between Cody Goodfellow and Theodora Goss.

I'm dancing the happy dance now!

It's Raining Good Reviews...

Brian Sammons, a good writer who knows Cthulhu from a Cthonian, has posted a review of Cthulhu Unbound at Nanci Kalanta's Horror World.

"I really liked John Goodrich’s The Patriot for many reasons. First and foremost, it is well written and very creepy. Second, it’s a war story, and I love war stories when they’re done right. Third, it’s set in a war mostly forgotten today, World War One. From start to finish, this tale is simply great, but as for that finish, it’s a doozy. While it is tough to pick my absolute favorite of this anthology, this one would be one of the contenders."

Guess who owes Brian and probably Nanci a drink?

What's Got Two Thumbs and Was Name-Checked by Fangoria's website?

Me.

Everyone Loves a Good Review

But not as much as I love a positive review of my work.

Bob Freeman recently posted this review of Cthulhu Unbound on the Monster Librarian website. It runs like this:

H.P. Lovecraft’s intricate mythos of chthonic alien monstrosities and human madness is an industry onto itself, spawning role-playing and computer games, pastiches in all shapes and sizes, and influencing literature and film ad nauseam. The latest anthology to drape itself in the cloak of Lovecraft’s dark creation comes from Permuted Press. Cthulhu Unbound, the first of two volumes, attempts to unshackle the mythos from preconceived boundaries of the genre, but the anthology that is uneven at best. Some of the tales are quite good, such as Kim Paffenroth’s “The Covenant” and D.L. Snell’s “Blood Bags and Tentacles”, but most fall embarrassingly flat. The crowning achievement in the anthology goes to John Goodrich’s “The Patriot”, a ghoulishly creepy war story that was atmospheric and a delight to the end. The anthology is worth the price of admission for those three stories alone. For public or private collections.


"Crowning achievement"


I'll take that.

Blew Him Away

Two positive reviews for Cthulhu Unbound were added to Amazon on May 13^th. One with four stars, and a five-star review by Matt Carpenter, reviewer of scores of Cthulhu Mythos collections.

Matt gives the anthology five stars, and, as is his wont, reviews each story individually. In the beginning of the review, Mr. Carpenter states that I pushed Permuted Press to send him a reviewer's copy. I did, but they weren't that difficult to convince. Mr. Carpenter likes Cthulhu anthologies, and he seldom gets much thanks for posting his extensive reviews. I thought it was time to give a little back. Anyway, here's the important part of his review:

“The Patriot” by John Goodrich - Mr. Goodrich has a story in the upcoming Cthulhu’s Dark Cults from Chaosium but otherwise I am uncertain about his publication history. This is a ghoulish yarn set in WWI, reminding me a little bit of Curran’s “The Chattering of Tiny Teeth” from the book Warfear. On its own merits this was a very creepy and well written piece that I enjoyed until the end...and the denouement just blew me away, it was so good!

*swoons*


There's also this story-by-story review by Episkopses Vulpine the XXIII which is fairly positive overall ("The collection was alright, while there wasn't any one story that made me go all squamous with glee, neither were there too many clunkers."). Here's what he had to say about mine:

'THe Patriot' by John Goodrich set the stage in WW I and No Man's Land. Why France has been very good to the ghoulishly inclined. Another rather good story.

I'll take that.

Unbound Unleashed

I have copies of the first volume of Cthulhu Unbound in my hands. It should be available at your local bookstore on March 30^th, but if you want copies early, there's a book party tomorrow, Saturday the 21^st at Bennington's South Street Cafe, 5-7PM.



Contents are as follows:
"Noir-Lathotep" by Linda Donahue
"The Invasion Out of Time" by Trent Roman
"James and the Dark Grimoire" by Kevin Lauderdale
"Hellstone and Brimfire" by Doug Goodman
"Star-Crossed" by Bennet Reilly
"The Convenant" by Kim Paffenroth
"The Hindenburg Manifesto" by Lee Clarke Zumpe
"In Our Darkest Hour" by Steven Michael Graham
"Blood Bags and Tentacles" by D.L. Snell
"Bubba Cthulhu's Last Stand" by Lisa Hilton
"Turf" by Rick Moore
"The Menagerie" by Ben Thomas
"The Patriot" by John Goodrich
"The Shadow over Las Vegas" by John Claude Smith
"Locked Room" by CJ Henderson

"The Patriot" is about a man who gets a macabre history lesson while dying in the muddy No Man's Land of World War One. I think it's got the best ending of anything I've written.

For a quick preview, I present you with another Wordle of the story. I like this the composition and atmosphere of this one better. Click on it to see a larger version.



My next project is to make up some "Signed by local author" tags to stick in the books I put on the counter of the Gamers Grotto.

A NEW TOY

Mood: Entertained

Found on matociquala's blog, Wordle creates a word-cloud from whatever test you care to enter, emphasizing the most commonly-used words. It's fascinating, and you can adjust the colors and the font. I may start entering chapters of my novel to see what comes out of it.

This is a word-cloud for "The Patriot" the story appearing in Cthulhu Unbound. You can click on it and it will appear much larger.

Hey, a New Experience!

Mood: Figety


Well, for the first time ever, I've gotten a proof of a project I'm in, and I get to scan through my story it and see what errors have been made by the editor and company. This is reassuring because it gives me something to do, and tells me that Cthulhu Unbound is progressing.

The majority of the errors are, however mine. I want to take whole unnecessary phrases out of about half the pages, but that's not what this is about. I caught a few things here and there, a dropped word, an m-dash that should be a hyphen, little stuff. Kind of neat to be doing a part of the process I've heard about, but never done myself.

Mood:

Pleased

I have received the table of contents for the Cthulhu Unbound pair of anthologies from Permuted Press, as well mock-ups of the covers. I don't know when they'll be available (certainly not before Necon), but I can say I'm pleased to have gotten under the cover I prefer.



BOOK ONE
1) Noir-lathotep by Linda Donahue
2) The Invasion Out of Time by Trent Roman
3) James and the Dark Grimoire by Kevin Lauderdale
4) Hellstone and Brimfire by Doug Goodman
5) Star Crossed by Bennet Reilly
6) The Covenant by Kim Paffenroth
7) The Hindenburg Manifesto by Lee Clark Zumpe
8 ) In Our Darkest Hour by Steven Graham
9) Blood Bags and Tentacles by DL Snell
10) Bubba Cthulhu's Last Stand by Lisa Hilton
11) Turf by Richard D. Moore
12) The Menagerie by Ben Thomas
13) The Patriot by John Goodrich
14) The Shadow over Las Vegas by John Claude Smith
15) Locked Room by CJ Henderson



BOOK TWO
1) Passing Down by Inez Schaechterle
2) The Tenants of Ladywell Manor by Willie Meikle
3) The Hunters Within the Corners by Douglas P. Wojtowicz
4) Surely You Joust by Patrick Thomas
5) References in Cthonic, Eldritch, Roiling Creations are Recondite by Warren Tusk
6) New Fish by Kiwi Courters
7) Tomb on a Dead Moon by Tim Curran
8 ) The Long, Deep Dream by Peter Clines
9) Santiago Contra el Culto de Cthulhu by Mark Zirbel
10) Stomach Acid by David Conyers and Brian M. Sammons
11) Sleeping Monster Futures by Brandon Alspaugh
12) Nemo at R'lyeh by Joshua Reynolds
13) What's a Few Tentacles Among Friends? by Sheila Crosby
14) An Incident Occurring in the Huachuca Mountains, West of Tombstone by Gary Vehar
15) Abomination With Rice by Rhys Hughes