Once again, I’m sorry for the lack of consistent updates here on the site. I’m terrible at blogging, but I’ve been saying that for over ten years on here, so you should be used to it by this point. Anyway…
Holy shit! Since last Tuesday, just like the Fresh Prince, my world got flip-turned upside down–in the best way possible!
Let’s start with last Tuesday. On August 4th, author Somer Canon and I saw the long-awaited release of our horror/sci-fi novella SLAVES TO GRAVITY. Both Somer and I worked incredibly hard on this book, and the overwhelmingly positive responses to it from readers and reviewers has been very gratifying. Thank you to those who have purchased and posted their reviews online, both in word and in video. We are very grateful.
Also, early last week, I finished up the first draft of a new book! I can’t reveal too much about it right now, but look for it sometime next year.
And then Saturday happened. I had been waiting for last Saturday for a very long time, at least since the Splatterpunk Awards were first created back in 2018. I’m so grateful that we in the horror genre finally have an award that celebrates extreme and splatterpunk horror, two sub categories that are mostly looked over by the mainstream. After seeing those awards in person last year at KillerCon in Austin, I knew I had to have one eventually. My wife, Katie, who is the wonderful host of the Make Me Read Your Book Podcast, was used as the statue presenter at the ceremony last year, and she let me see the award up close. But I refused to touch it, just like NHL players and fans to do the Stanley Cup before their teams win it all. I was incredibly fortunate and grateful to have not one, but two nominations this year for both ONE FOR THE ROAD in the novella category and RESISTING MADNESS in the collection category. I never honestly thought I would win either, my mind already picking who I thought was going to take them. If anyone was actually watching the ceremony online, my reaction was absolutely genuine. I was completely shocked, and to be honest I still am. I’m grateful to everyone who nominated my work and to the judges for choosing my werid little novella. If you weren’t able to watch, here’s a copy of my speech I read (stuttered and cried through) below:
“Before I get to my list of thank you’s, I have a few things I want to say. ONE FOR THE ROAD was a big deal to me for a great many reasons. I wrote this novella during a big change in my life. Back in November 2017, my wife and I moved to Pennsylvania from Indiana. Though she was from there, I’d had spent most of my life living in the Midwest. The move was a huge step for me, probably the biggest change I’ve ever had to do. When we got settled in, I had a few months before I started my new job, and I desperately needed something to work on, and that’s how ONE FOR THE ROAD got started. This book, in more ways than one, represented change. It was the first book I had gotten traditionally published, and it gave me the confidence in my writing and my career to help me move forward in the best way possible. Getting this book published opened up so many opportunities that I would have never had before, and for that, I have thank Jeff Burk, formerly of Deadite Press, for picking my weird little book out of the slush pile and giving me a chance to show my voice to world. Thank you to Rose O’Keefe for publishing the book and continually having faith in my work. Thank you to Paul Goblirsch of Thunderstorm Books for producing a gorgeous hardcover. To Mauro Saracino and the crew at Dunwich Edizioni for taking on this American nobody and allowing my book to reach your Italian audience. Thank you to Kelli Owen, Bob Ford, Mary SanGiovanni, Brian Keene, all the PA locals, my friends and family, and to my wife Katie, who’s love and encouragement helps me get through everyday life. And most of all to my readers and the folks who helped nominate this book. I am eternally grateful for your readership and your confidence in my work. And congrats to all the nominees this year. Every work on the list was fantastic and absolutely deserved to be here. Cheers!”
And lastly, Sunday. I knew Paul Goblirsch from Thunderstorm Books was planning to put my newest novel CRUEL SUMMER up for pre-order on Sunday. It was something we had planned for a couple of weeks. What I wasn’t expecting was for all 45 copies to sell out in four hours! I’m absolutely blown away by this. I had two book previously published through them, both through the Private Reserve series, which sell out to subscribers. This was my first Black Voltage series book, which was released to the general pubic. Thank you to every single person who shelled out the $100 for a copy. I truly hope you dig the story. It’s a book I’ve wanted to write for so long, and it may be my absolute favorite thing I’ve written up until now. Also, Paul is throwing in a little something extra in with each copy, a small item I had made up a while back specifically for this Thunderstorm Books release. If you missed out on a copy, the guys at Death’s Head Press will be putting out a trade paperback and e-book later this year.
So yeah, there it is. What a week! Thank you once again to everyone who continues to support my writing and allows me to do what I love every single day.
See you all soon and happy reading!
So myself, my co-author Somer Canon, and our publisher Ken McKinley at Silver Shamrock Publishing have decided to push the release back from its original date of July 7th. We did this so that we could have a bit more time to work on edits, add a few extra goodies in the release, and give reviewers a bit more time to read the book.
Today, I am happy to announce that my newest novel CRUEL SUMMER will be out on September 24th 2020 from Poltergeist Press! I am incredibly proud of this novel and work put in by not only myself, but Anna and Matt Hayward with the production, Don Nobel with the fantastic cover, and Jamie, Sadie, Todd, Ron, and Kyle for their beta-reading input. I’m so thrilled to now be part of the Poltergeist Press family of authors. This book will be available in four different editions: mass market-sized paperback, trade hardcover, e-book, and a signed/lettered hardcover from Thunderstorm Books. Below is the official back cover copy:
Today is the official release of the Italian language edition of my novella ONE FOR THE ROAD! This marks the first time my work has been published in another language, and I’m beyond excited to be branching out to different readerships around the world. Thank you to Dunwich Edizioni for making this happen. Hopefully this will be the first of many!
As it was announced earlier today on social media, my short story “My Body” was accepted to be in the upcoming epic demonology anthology MIDNIGHT IN THE PENTAGRAM from Silver Shamrock Publishing. This book is building up quite the all-star roster, which they are still adding to:
A few months ago, before the world went all splody, my wife, Katie, started a new podcast. Since she’s around so many amazing horror authors on a fairly regular basis, she saw an opportunity as a new reader to the genre to bring a fresh concept to the podcast game. 
MIDNIGHT RITUALS is an anthology featuring myself, Brian Keene, Mary SanGiovanni, Robert Swartwood, John Boden, Kelli Owen, Stephen Kozeniewski, and Robert Ford.
Wesley Southard 