1. I’ll be reading from Faerie Winter at World Fantasy Convention—this Thursday, 8:30 p.m., in Pacific 6/7. If you’re going to be there, come by!
2. Just in time for Halloween, I’ve made one of the short stories I’m most often asked about—”Drawing the Moon,” which first appeared in Bruce Coville’s Book of Nightmares—available as an e-chapbook! Copies are available from Smashwords (multiple formats for all ereaders and computers), Barnes and Noble (epub format for Nook and most other ereaders), and Amazon.com (mobi format for Kindles). (ETA: Am also working on google books–will update when I have more info there!)
Here’s a short excerpt:
He tried to explain to Elizabeth once, after the funeral, but she didn’t understand. Her face turned horribly pale, and she whispered, “They’re dead, Andrew. Don’t you know that?” And then, just in case he didn’t, she drew him a picture. She used her red pencils, and some of Andrew’s crayons, besides. She used rusty-red for the brick buildings, brownish-red for the mugger’s jacket, rosy-red for Mom’s torn sweater on the sidewalk. And bright red for Dad, where the knife had gone through his chest.
Andrew tore the drawing up—not because looking at it sent icy shivers up his spine, though it did—but because she’d gotten the drawing all wrong. She’d left out the moon, large and round in the night sky, and that was the most important part …