Milton Davis is an award winning Black Speculative fiction writer and owner of MVmedia, LLC, a publishing company specializing in Science Fiction and Fantasy based on African/African Diaspora history, culture, and traditions. Milton is the author of twenty-one novels and short story collections and editor/coeditor of ten anthologies. His short stories have appeared in a number of anthologies and magazines, most notably Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda, Obsidian Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora and Tales from the Magician’s Skull. Milton’s story ‘The Swarm’ was nominated for the 2017 British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction, and his story Carnival was nominated for the 2020 British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction.
What’s new and exciting in your life as an author?
Well, I released the sequel to my Ki Khanga story collection, Eda Blessed, titled Eda Blessed Two. I’m also about to drop the paperback version of Fallen, a sword and soul story collection that takes place in the world of Changa’s Safari.
What is your connection to the American South?
I’m born, raised and bred in the South. I was born in North Carolina, grew up in Columbus, GA and currently reside in the Metro Atlanta area. While I’ve traveled throughout the U.S., I’ve lived in the South my entire life.
How has that connection to the South informed your work as a writer?
They say we Southerners are storytellers, so I guess I’ve inherited that by proximity. On a personal level, I’ve only recent begun to tap into my personal experiences as a Black person growing up in the South as a source of my imagination. Some say those are my best stories.
What can we expect to see from you in the future?
Working on a number of novels right know. The ones closest to fruition is Destiny, a Cyberfunk novel set in my Utopia universe and The Curious Cases of Martha Perrywinkle, a Steamfunk novel from my Freedonia universe.
You can all my books via my publishing company MVmedia and anywhere books are sold. You can also read excerpts from my books at my vanity website, www.miltonjdavis.com
Bobby Nash is not a man of action, a detective, or a hero, but he loves writing about characters who are all those things and more. Bobby is an award-winning author of novels, comic books, short stories, screenplays, and more. He is a member of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers and International Thriller Writers. When not writing or vegging in front of the TV, he tries his hand at acting and has appeared in several movies and TV shows, usually standing behind or next to your favorite actor. From time to time, he puts pen to paper and doodles, usually on envelopes. For more information on Bobby Nash and his work, please visit him at www.bobbynash.com, www.ben-books.com, and across social media.
What’s new and exciting in your life as an author?
2021 has been a busy year. Who knew how productive I could be by staying home? Freaky, huh? I’m a hybrid author, which means I write for publishers as well as publish my own books. That keeps me busy and have learned to juggle projects as a result. I also started publishing other writers this year through BEN Books as I’ve invited authors to be part of my Snow series with Snow Shorts. This has been a fun experiment for me and I’m thrilled with the stories that have come in so far from writers Gary Phillips, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Mark Bousquet, Brian K. Morris, and Charles F. Millhouse, and there are more on the way. There are more Snow Shorts on the way. My most recent releases are In The Wind – A Tom Myers Mystery (book 1) and stories appearing in the Occupied pulp anthology and Pulp Reality #2 magazine (featuring a Snow Short).
What is your connection to the American South?
I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. I have been told that I am a rare beast, someone born in Georgia who still lives here, though a little further outside of the city than I used to. I just turned 50 so it seems doubtful I will ever leave, although there are times that moving to a beachside community tempts me.
How has that connection to the South informed your work as a writer?
There’s definitely a southern voice to my writing. It’s hard to escape it. I have set a few of my creator-owned books in the South, including creating my own fictional Sommersville County and the town, now city of the same name. Evil Ways, Deadly Games, the Snow series, and the Tom Myers series all have ties to Sommersville as characters live there, work there, or just pass through. The South is where I grew up so I feel a kinship with the place. That rich history, both positive and negative, impacts the stories I tell. There’s a lot of story potential in the South. Sommersville feels like a real place because it is, or at least the amalgamation of a few real places.
What can we expect to see from you in the future?
There are several projects in the hands of publishers that will be released sooner or later. I don’t always know when, but there will be more Domino Lady stories from me, a Secret Agent X novel, a Lone Ranger story, more Snow, Evil Intent novel, and more Sheriff Tom Myers stories on the horizon. In fact, I plan to have Snow Down (Snow book 6) and Such A Night (Tom Myers book 2) out in September/October along with the Snow Series 1, Vol. 2 collection. Both are currently running as serialized releases on my Patreon page (www.patreon.com/bobbynash). I’m also working on Hunter Houston: Horror Hunter, a 4 book series coming soon from Falstaff Books. I still have one more of those to finish. There’s a horror novel and a pulp adventure also in the works. There’s other stuff in the pipeline as well. There’s always more ideas. I need to learn how to type faster. Oh, and I wrote two full cast audio dramas based on short stories of mine that will be released this year. The first will be “Midway” and the second is “Just Another Saturday on Outpost Nine.” I am so excited to hear what the cast does with them.
What’s new and exciting in your life as an author?
Well, my most recent novel, The Death of the Cyborg Oracle, came out last November (2020) and this November the French translation will come out in France from Les éditions du 38. It is my first work in translation, and it is very exciting, especially with my love of French and French literature. Also, this December, an anthology I’ve edited will be released from Kernpunkt called The Celestial Bandit. It is a collection of tributes to a late 19th century French writer named Le Comte de Lautréamont. He was a brilliant, precocious weirdo who wrote two earthshaking books and then died mysteriously at twenty-four.
What is your connection to the American South?
I was born in New York, and I got to Georgia at age seven after four months in Spain and France (long story; memoir-type stuff), and even at that age there was some culture shock. I then lived in Atlanta until I was nineteen and went back to New York for my undergrad at Manhattanville College. So, I got here accidentally and wrestled with it and tried to make the best of it. I came with a real Northern snobbery. 1980s Atlanta was constantly trying to prove itself to the world. I tasted New Coke as a sample in Piedmont Park. This was the New South. But I have this distinct memory of being twelve in middle school and making a friend whose favorite book was Gone With the Wind. I asked him why and he said he liked the chivalry of the Old School. I was twelve in 1989 and guffawed. Those assholes owned slaves, I remember thinking. The most polite thing I could say was, “I’m not interested in any of that; the only good about the South is the Black South.” This is over twenty years before I’d teach Black Diaspora Literature at UGA. After high school I went back to New York for seven years, then came back to Georgia for a two-year MA in Religion at UGA, finished on time, and never left. It’s been eighteen years in Athens now.
How has that connection to the South informed your work as a writer?
Well, living in a ragingly red state—until recently—but in blue enclaves like Atlanta and Athens has helped fuel the battle against political complacency I might have if I lived somewhere like Berkley or Burlington. Like anywhere, the South has given me a sense of place. And like Faulkner wrote of Mississippi, living here has helped me understand that we love not because of, but in spite of. When I think of Hawthorne or other early New England writers dealing with the shame and guilt of Native genocide as well as slavery, the South gave that to me: a more recent connection to the dark shame of America. In high school in the early 90s Flannery O’Connor and Southern Gothic was huge here. It still is it seems. So many hipsters naming their kids Flannery or Atticus these days. But to return to Faulkner, this is my home. It is the setting for three of my novels and several stories in my collection, Gristle. I met my wife here. My children were born here. To me, the South, Georgia, Atlanta and Athens specifically, is home and a truly multi-cultural, international, globally-connected place.
What can we expect to see from you in the future?
Next year will see the reissue, second edition of my first published novel, The Pit, and No Other Stories. It is my wife’s favorite of all of my books so I’m glad it will have a new second life. I’m also working on some plays and getting close to finally writing some screenplays. Maybe soon I will get to a sequel to The Death of the Cyborg Oracle. That world of Atlanta in 2220 has many more lives, stories, and mysteries to explore.
What’s new and exciting in your life as an author?
Well, it’s a busy time for me right now. My newest novel, The Weight of Ashes, is due out August 24th, with a fair number of events already planned and more on the way. I’m incredibly proud of this one and can’t wait to get reader feedback.
What is your connection to the American South?
I am a Southerner by birth. Born in Orlando, raised in Florida and Georgia, nearly all my life has been lived in the South. From rural areas to big cities, both sides of the political coin, immersed in the history and culture. This is my home. I enjoy writing about it, and working to breakdown some of the stereotypes that exist.
How has that connection to the South informed your work as a writer?
More than anything, it’s given me an ideological base to draw from. Characters are always going to derive some aspect of personality from the real people I’ve known, but it’s the ideology of the South that has inspired my writing. There is a sense of family and community in the South that I haven’t seen in other parts of the country, and the depth of connection to one’s politics and religion is vibrant. People don’t just believe what they believe. They shout it with every part of what makes them a living human. Fortunately, I’ve had the privilege of spending equal parts of my adulthood in conservative and liberal areas. As a writer seeking to understand every motivation of the characters I create, it’s been amazing. I am a centrist, likely due to the exposure to such a variety of belief.
What can we expect to see from you in the future?
I’m down the line on a contract for my fantasy series, the first of which is The Fallen Hero. Hopefully, I’ll have news to share on that soon. That will five or six books and follows the path of Oliver Miles, a young boy who finds himself the hero in the living world of his favorite series of books. It’s tremendous fun. I can’t wait for that one to come out. Also, I’m working with a friend on series of children’s books (either chapter books or middle grade). He’s an incredibly talented artist and the story is too fun not to tell. Beyond that, I’ll write a second novel for my current publisher to follow behind The Weight of Ashes.
My website is zacharysteele.com, where I blog occasionally and keep updated event info. There are links there to Atlanta-area indie booksellers who will have my book in stock. Otherwise, it’s available anywhere books are sold. So, no excuses! Otherwise, I’m rambling somewhere on social media channels about my writing, about Broadleaf Writers, the writing organization I run, my cat Winnie, or my new family that I absolutely adore.
After much consideration, consultation with others, and even prayer, I’ve made the extremely difficult decision to not attend Dragon Con, Sept. 2-6, 2021. I deeply appreciate the safety precautions DragonCon has put in place, but I have several pre-existing medical conditions that put me at high risk, even being fully vaccinated as I am. I am grateful to Derek at the Dragon Con Horror Track and Carol at the Dragon Con Urban Fantasy Track. They were wonderful in creating a schedule for me that looks like spooky fun as well as helping me promote myself as a writer, and I appreciate that more than I can tell. I am also grateful to Valentine Wolfe for creating an ambient vocal music number to accompany the ghost poem I had planned to read at Spooky Tales & Haunting Music, Friday night at the con.
I look forward to seeing everyone at DragonCon 2022!
UPDATE: My story did not win the contest, but it was an honor to be a finalist. You can read my story “The Curse of the Spider” here, in the Facebook group Con-Tinual: The Con That Never Ends.
Original post: I’m very proud to be a finalist in the August flash fiction contest. If you are a Patreon supporter of Crystal Lake Publishing, you can read my story “The Curse of the Spider” and vote on it this month! Here’s the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/CLP/posts
Jessica Nettles grew up with one foot in the real world and the other in a world mixed with dabs of spiritual belief, science-fiction and fantasy dreams, and spooky experiences that she, nor her family, could quite explain. At age 11, she found the perfect outlet for this bizarre childhood in the form of writing. Her influences range from Ray Bradbury to Flannery O’Connor and Shirley Jackson. She reads as voraciously as she can while balancing her career as an English Instructor and a writer of Southern Gothic and Historical Fantasy. She is also on the board of the Broadleaf Writing Association in Atlanta, Georgia and is a member of HWA Atlanta.
Her first novel, Children of Menlo Park, will be released by Falstaff Books in the fall of 2021, and her short story (one of many, many short stories she’s written), “The Undead Have No Dignity” was published in Off the Beaten Path 4 by Prospective Press. To find more about her and her work check out jessicanettlesauthor.com very soon (the website should be up by DragonCon). She loves her beautiful adult children, who are successful in their own right, as well as her two black cats. She lives in Powder Springs, Georgia. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram.
What’s new and exciting in your life as an author?
The last few months have been really amazing. My story “The Undead Have No Dignity” was published in the Off the Beaten Path 4 anthology back in June. This marks the first anthology I’ve been published in, so it’s a sort of landmark in my writing journey. I also wrote a new story, “Cancer at Zero Degrees,” which got some attention back in June online (it’s no longer available where I posted it). Later this fall, my first novel, Children of Menlo Park, will be released from Falstaff Books. I am hoping to have some ARCs at DragonCon where I will also be doing a reading with my publisher and friend, John Hartness, who is the author of the fabulous Quincy Harker Demon Hunter series as well as the equally fabulous Bubba the Monster Hunter series. I have high hopes that my website will be live by that time as well. My best friend in the entire world, Amanda Canup, is designing it for me, and the previews I’ve gotten so far are just beautiful.
What is your connection to the American South?
I was born and raised in Georgia and grew up in West Cobb County when it was still pretty rural. My momma is from Cobb County and my daddy is from Chatham (Savannah) County, so I got a double dose of Southern. I’m a child of the 1970s and 80s, so I witnessed a lot of the changes and stress that has faced the South, particularly in the Atlanta-area, as it has attempted to morph and move away from what some call “our heritage” to become a more international and modern city and region. On a more basic level, I feel the connection to the South in the way I tell stories. I believe there is a sort of story magic that runs throughout the American South, and a lot of folk in this region know how to tap into it.
How has that connection to the South informed your work as a writer?
Not all of my stories are Southern, but I think there is a sensibility that runs through my work that is somehow, innately Southern. There are themes that run through my stories like family, belief, food, secrets, and strange doings (for lack of a better term). Lots of writers in lots of different places write about the same things, but somehow, the South makes all of these things seem louder and more intense, especially secrets and strange doings. When I write, often my stories begin with a secret or with someone not fitting in to the “family,” or some sort of darkness. That’s something else about the South—our people are born knowing how to hide darkness under smiling faces and tables filled with homemade food. Of course, if you’re someone like me, I want to look under the tablecloth and see that darkness and look it in the eye.
What can we expect to see from you in the future?
My story “We All Gotta Eat” will appear in the HWA ATL anthology, Southern Nightmares, Vol. 1: Georgia Gothic (I’m not sure when the pub date is for this yet). I will also be a reader on Pseudopodthis fall, which I’m really excited about because I got to read a really awesome Southern Gothic story by Michael McDowell. I’m also working diligently on my second novel, Kudzu Ridge, which is not even in the same world as my first novel. On top of finishing the second novel, I’m in the planning stages for two new novels, which continue the adventures started in Children of Menlo Park, and I have some ideas for a series about three witch sisters who live in a town much like my hometown. I’m also working on a short story for something called Scary Stories by the Fire, which is a Halloween event in Atlanta.
You can find me online at jessicanettlesauthor.com (website in progress). You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram. Mostly I post pictures of my cats and baking.
This will be my first year as an official Attending Professional at DragonCon, and I’m looking forward to participating in events on the Horror Track and Urban Fantasy Track. I’ll post more details about my schedule as they become available. Given the new CDC guidelines and the mask mandate by the City of Atlanta, here is the link to the updated Safety Guidelines for this year’s con (updated August 1, 2021).
The big news for me as a writer: I sold the film rights to one of my short stories, and it will be made into a short film in 2021 by an indie filmmaker whose work I love. The story is “Moonlight Sonata, With Scissors,” and you can find it in my chapbook, I Never Meant to Start a Murder Cult and Other Stories. The filmmaker is Chris Ethridge, whose previous features include Attack of the Morningside Monster (which has long been my all-time favorite indie horror film) and the more recent Haven’s End, starring Catherine Taber. The plan is for the film to travel the film festival and horror con circuit, hopefully winning awards along the way. Filming and production will begin soon, and I’ll post details as they become available.
Leonidas the Cat is also a fan of Chris Ethridge’s movies
Other Highlights of 2020:
My creepy graveyard story “Under the Blood” was favorably reviewed by Anthony R. Cardno. You can read the review here. 12 year old me, who worshipped Ray Bradbury, would be very happy to read that my story feels “reminiscent of Bradbury.” You can read the story in Skelos 4: The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy, where I’m proud to share a Table of Contents with several of my writer friends: Amanda DeWees, Charles R. Rutledge, Cliff Biggers, Milton Davis, Dacre Stoker, Anthony Taylor, and Cynthia Ward.
My flash-fiction story “What My Family Should Know in the Event of My Demise” was adapted into audio form for the Planet Raconteur podcast in March 2020.
Looking ahead to 2021, I have several other story projects in the works, including a possible collaboration with another author on an action-thriller novella. And I will continue working on the thriller/mystery novel I started in late 2019, a project that ground to a halt when the Covid-19 crisis hit. For updates, follow me on my Facebook author page, on Twitter, on Goodreads, and on Instagram.
I’ve read many books on writing over the years (starting with “Journal of a Novel” by John Steinbeck, which I read when I was 10 years old). “The Writing Life” by Jeff Strand is by far the most unusual and the most helpful. It’s unusual because it’s not really structured like a linear book; it’s more of a patchwork of anecdotes and advice. The tone is very conversational and full of Jeff Strand’s trademark wit. It felt like talking with Jeff over a barbecue dinner but without having to look at the barbecue sauce on his face. Jeff shares stories from his career in writing, some of them success stories, some of them not. He is brutally honest about mistakes he has made. Some of the stories, like his tale of woe from his time as president of a writer’s organization, the story of one of his films being adapted (badly) into a film, and multiple stories of author readings where no one showed up, are hilarious and will make you snort coffee through your nose (well, they had that effect on me, but you might not be drinking coffee while reading).
And take note that the subtitle is accurate: there’s a LOT of cursing here. I think this is Jeff Strand’s filthiest book since his sex-farce thriller “Bang Up.” “The Writing Life” has 68 F-bombs and 62 S-bombs, for those keeping score. The awesome book cover by Lynne Hansen conveys the blend of humor, professional advice, and cursing that make up “The Writing Life.”
There are very helpful (and humorous) chapters on working with critique groups, dealing with bad reviews, collaborating with other authors, being on panels at conventions and conferences, balancing writing and day jobs, and dealing with imposter syndrome.
“The Writing Life” covers a topic I’ve never seen in a writing book before: there’s a chapter on quitting (Chapter 20: “Quitting”). This chapter was hugely liberating to me. It made me realize that for all intents and purposes, I quit writing when the Covid-19 crisis started in early 2020. I quit working on my novel-in-progress, other than making some plot notes here and there. And this chapter helped me realize: that’s OK. Like many people during this crisis, I had to drastically re-invent my whole job (I’m a self-employed counselor who works with clients in the criminal justice system) and go into financial survival mode for most of 2020. And I’m proud of how I weathered the storm and held on to my job and continued to help people in need of my services.
Not that I needed Jeff Strand’s permission to quit writing, or anyone else’s but my own – but realizing I had already quit writing, and realizing that was OK, felt like a huge burden of guilt was lifted off my shoulders. And paradoxically, when that guilt, that sense that I had failed as a writer, was gone, it was replaced by a sense of freedom and a new desire to write again.
Ghosts in the Kudzu 