Santiago Caruso and Miskatonic River Press

The year is starting off well, with an official story acceptance.  I wrote a wee tale for Dead But Dreaming 2, an anthology forthcoming from Miskatonic River Press.  Tom Lynch, of MRP, then invited me to write a collection of traditional Mythos fiction for him, and it sounded like a nice challenge, with each tale set in Lovecraft Country.  I've looked at some of the products from the press online and have been very impressed with the atmospheric cover illustrations.  Then, I recently did a Google search on "The Dunwich Horror," and I came across a video on YouTube that showcased Santiago Caruso's amazing illustrations for Lovecraft's tale -- and I was simply blown away!  As is evident by now, I love Lovecraftian art, especially illustrations for Lovecraft's weird tales.  It is one of my great disappointments that I have absolutely no talent for drawing.  I have a number of artists appear in my fiction, and I am now preparing to write a complete book of tales concerning a weird New England artist, a book I am going to write with Jeffrey Thomas, who is himself a fine artist.

When I discovered that Santiago Caruso does art for Miskatonic River Press, I became really excited -- perhaps there was a chance that my publisher could get Santiago to draw the cover illustration for my book!  I shall be meeting Tom at MythosCon, and I am going to stress how wonderful such a thing would be.  And the very idea of it makes me approach the writing of that book differently -- I want to be more descriptive and visual in my prose style.

I've been trying to work on a tale that I will submit for possible inclusion in Arkham Nightmares, an anthology being edited for Arkham House by Lois Gresh.  I have no been successful, everything I have try'd to do has been a false start.  Then, last night, I was watching a program devoted to the marvelous poet, W. S. Merwin, during which he read a poem that mentioned following a black dog -- and that was the key I needed.  I now have almost 1,000 words of semi-polish.  I had planned to set the tale in Sesqua Valley, but 'tis nigh set in Arkham.  Perhaps I'll have a rough version that I can shew to Lois when I meet her at MythosCon.  I am so looking forward to that convention!