First I’d like to thank any and all of you who bought ‘The Not Quite Right Reverend Cletus J. Diggs & The Currently Accepted Habits of Nature” already. It’s been #1 on the bestseller list at the HORROR MALL since it was announced, and that is an interactive system. It automatically updates in response to sales, so I know people are still buying, and I appreciated it. If the book intrigues you at all…you’d better jump quick. The book is an old school limited edition - 100 copies with some cool bells and whistles…a lettered edition with MORE bells and whistles (more on that in a minute) and a LOYALTY edition (of which only 7 will be issued). There is also the one-of-a-kind CAIMAN edition - you have to pre-order to be entered into the contest for that one…comes with a stand manufactured using an authentic alligator paw and deer horns straight out of The Great Dismal Swamp. Like before, you can preorder this book at the Horror Mall by clicking on the book cover. They never charge until your book is ready to ship - and they have lay-a-way!

Anyway… here is the breakdown of the coolness available in each edition. They will all be signed … a remarque - for those who don’t know - is a small, original sketch drawn for each book by the artist (in this case, Zach McCain)

Limited

• Bonded Leather, Hardcover w/dustjacket. (Will ship in Brodart archival cover)
• Dripping with art. Zach McCain has provided five full page black and white illustrations as well as unique art for the foil stamp, signature page and art for the chapter headings.
• Introduction by Bram Stoker Award-Winning author Elizabeth Massie.

Lettered

• Even more delicious art. There are two full page color illustrations in this one.
• Evolution of a Critter Book. A photo essay detailing the evolution of the Caiman Edition.
• The Name Story. Bad Moon has a reputation for delivering great stories featuring the names of our lettered buyers. David has some great ideas and I expect to have it soon. This story WILL NOT appear in the Loyalty Edition. We treasure the loyalty of our lettered buyers and wanted to make sure they always have something unique and special.
• Frontispiece of cover art.
• Unique signature page.
• Introduction by Bram Stoker Award-Winning author Elizabeth Massie.

Loyalty

• Additional Full page color illustration by Zach McCain.
• Expunged material from the manuscript.
• Essay on life in the south ‘by Cletus’.
• Black and White illustration David Niall Wilson.
• Black and White illustration by Elizabeth Massie
• Remarqued by artist Zach McCain.
• Unique signature page.
• Different leather color.
• Introduction by Bram Stoker Award-Winning author Elizabeth Massie.

NAME STORY:

I have never done one of these before. It’s a new thing for me to have a story that REQUIRES twenty-six names, and not to even know what those names are ahead of time. I’ve started the story. It is a Cletus J. Diggs story…only the second ever, and it will only appear in the lettered edition of this book. I’m having a lot of fun with it.

ESSAY: I convinced Cletus to pen an essay about life near Old Mill, NC. Not surprisingly, a lot of what he has to say sounds very familiar to me … here’s a teaser…the first paragraph:

“Near Old Mill, North Carolina, there are roads signs every few miles that read Dead End. They aren’t even numbered. All of them are dead ends, of course, but they lead off into fields, wind around corners, and stop. People live on those roads. Ruined farms loom in the shadows of the trees. Makes you wonder how they ever got mail. For miles around you can smell the scent of the swamp, riding on the cotton dust and pollen. From time to time you see a shack or a trailer so fallen down and rotten looking it seems like the Earth has opened up to swallow it. Outside, you’ll see a pickup truck and a line with laundry drying in the sun.”

– Cletus Jehosephat Diggs

A final note…it would be wonderful if some ladies bought the lettered edition. Why, you might ask? I’ll tell you. It’s hard to write a story with twenty-six characters and none of them are women, you know? Unless you want Brian to be Brianna and Andrew to become androgynous… help a fella out?

Next entry will cover the Bram Stoker Awards in the categories I’ve been nominated in. I was perusing the lists of past winters, and it was sobering to think I might actually become part of one of those lists before the week is out…a bit humbling too.

Until then…

-DNW

This year - for me - is almost surreal in quality.  I have fourbooks due, stories being published, things being considered for furtherpublications - and I find myself nominated for the Bram Stoker Award inthree categories.  It’s a little hard to take in.

This award has been maligned often and loudly, and of course, whenthe nominations came through, I found myself mulling over the reasons. The organization behind the awards, HWA (The Horroror Writer’sAssociation) has had it’s ups and downs - as any organization will. The award process is different from most of the other genre awards, inthat it is recommended by all members and voted on by only “Active”members.  It can become quite the popularity contest - but in the end,when the final ballots are cast, somehow it seems to level off.