Escape Hatch 051: Creature Feature

Pushing The Pram Out Into The World; A Weekend @ the Library

Baby Steps

I’ve got a new short story out on September 26th: “The Pram,” an Amazon Original, available for your Kindle, and as an audiobook through Audible.

Willy and Marianne’s farmhouse in Maine has acres of meadow and fresh air, and a lonesome bridle path in the forest along which Willy daydreams and ambles. When he’s loaned a decrepit old baby stroller to cart his groceries home, the rickety squeak of the wheels comforts him. So do the sweet coos of a baby Willy knows can’t be real. Can it? In this twisted thicket, wishes come true—with a price.

This is one of about half a dozen short stories I wrote earlier this spring — a rush of creativity I haven’t had in years. You’ll see the others trickling out over the next 12 months, I imagine.

“The Pram” is part of the new Creature Feature collection, featuring stories from Paul Tremblay, Chandler Baker, Josh Malerman, Jason Mott, and Grady Hendrix. At the time of this writing we don’t yet have our own Amazon Original Stories page, but I figure that’s only a few days away.

Big thanks to everyone who gives it a peek — I hope it scares you.

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👀 you in Jacksonville this Friday and Saturday?

The big Q&A is on Saturday, but on Friday I’m doing a workshop about POV for a smaller crowd. I wanna be upfront on this: I’ve never done a 90-minute workshop in my life and have no idea how this one is gonna go. If you’re one of the fifty who signed up, bring a notepad and some paper. I’m putting the “work” back in workshop. Expect to write. And maybe have some fun. I had a notion for a game we can play. It’s my favorite kind of game: I don’t know who’s going to lose but I’m 100% sure I’m going to win.

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Here in New England, it’s still summer at one in the afternoon… but when I get up with the twins, a little after 5AM, it feels like a cool, peaceful fall. The little guys and I like to sit on the front step and watch the sky light up with dawn. The other day it poured and let me tell you, nothing will a cheer a fella up like getting out in the rain to watch a pair of one-year-olds stamp their boots in ankle-deep puddles.

We think babies are adorable because they don’t know what’s important, but maybe we’ve got that exactly backwards? We’re smitten because they do know what’s important — only grown-ups forget.

I’m hacking at the third draft of King Sorrow and puttering away on the novel that will follow it. I’ve got 35,000 words of the latter, or about one-third (it might turn out to be my shortest novel-length work).

And after picking at this one for a little over a month (look, my free time is not exactly abundant) it’s finally done and sitting in my office. My favorite build since I put together the Death Star over a decade ago.

(More pics over on Instagram)

We’re getting into spooky season. Here’s hoping you’ve got some chillers on hand to keep you company for when the leaves turn. I’ll hope to catch up with you in October. Look after yourselves.