genevieve valentine

May 31, 2016

Get Ellen Datlow’s outstanding anthology THE CUTTING ROOM for $1.99!

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized /film, a c wise, anthology, david morrell, dennis etchison, douglas e. winter, ed bryant, Ellen Datlow, f. paul wilson, garry kilworth, gary a. braunbeck, gary mcmahon, Gemma Files, genevieve valentine, horror, howard waldrop, ian watson, joel lane, kdd, kindle daily deal, lucy a. snyder, movies, nicholas royle, peter straub, robert sherman, short stories, stephen j. barringer, steve nagy, the cutting room, the cutting room: dark reflections of the silver screen

Ellen Datlow’s acclaimed anthology THE CUTTING ROOM: DARK REFLECTIONS OF THE SILVER SCREEN is a Kindle Daily Deal for Tuesday, May 31st.

For today only, the ebook is available for just $1.99!

A Kirkus Excellent Horror Read for October

“This themed anthology revolves around the idea that the separation between what is real and what we see on film is not as clear as we’d like to think it is. What if, for example, the Wicked Witch of the West didn’t stay in Oz? What if James Dean got a second chance at life? These are just some of the weird-but-cool ideas explored in this tempting volume of stories from renowned editor Ellen Datlow, who collects 23 scary tales by the likes of Peter Straub, Genevieve Valentine, Robert Shearman, Laird Barron and more.”
—Kirkus

A Publishers Weekly Book of the Week

STARRED REVIEW “Superstar editor Datlow makes no missteps in this reprint collection of dark tales involving movies and moviemaking. The one original piece, Stephen Graham Jones’s “Tenderizer,” is a haunting exploration of tragedy on both a personal and national level. A.C. Wise’s “Final Girl Theory,” about a cult film that’s an “infection, whispered from mouth to mouth in the dark,” is disturbing and gory without fetishizing its horrors. Kim Newman’s brilliant “Illimitable Dominion” tells an alternate history of Edgar Allen Poe, Roger Corman, and American International Pictures that’s particularly suited to film buffs who will probably spot the (initially) subtle changes to the time line. Film critic and author Genevieve Valentine provides both an entertaining story (“She Drives the Men to Crimes of Passion!”) and an enlightening introduction, while even Douglas E. Winter’s “Bright Lights, Big Zombie”—the literary target of which has long faded—still holds up reasonably well. Strong stories by Gary McMahon and Gary A. Braunbeck, as well as poems by Lucy A. Snyder and Daphne Gottlieb, are also worth noting, but really, the entire volume is outstanding.”
—Publishers Weekly

The credits have rolled, but the lights are still off. Something is lurking on the other side of the screen. There are dark secrets, starving monsters, and haunted survivors who refuse to be left on the cutting room floor. But that’s okay, right? After all, everybody loves the movies…. Here are twenty-three terrifying tales, dark reflections of the silver screen from both sides of the camera. James Dean gets a second chance at life—and death. The Wicked Witch is out of Oz and she’s made some unlucky friends. When God decides reality needs an editor, what—and who—gets cut? These award-winning, bestselling authors will take you to the darkest depths of the theater and beyond.

“This collection of 23 stories should appeal to fans of horror and SF primarily, though noir and hard-boiled-mystery readers should feel welcome too…. Definitely worth checking out.”
—Booklist

“It’s pretty much a given that an Ellen Datlow anthology will at least be good, if not great… ‘The Cutting Room’ is no exception.”
—Bookshots

“Horror cinephiles and bibliophiles will have extra cause to rejoice this Halloween: The Cutting Room, a literary anthology, is an October treat.”
—Diabolique

Introduction by Genevieve Valentine
Preface by Ellen Datlow
“The Cutter” by Edward Bryant
“The Hanged Man of Oz” by Steve Nagy
“Deadspace” by Dennis Etchison
“Cuts” by F. Paul Wilson
“Final Girl Theory” by A. C. Wise
“Lapland, or Film Noir” by Peter Straub
“The Thousand Cuts” by Ian Watson
“Occam’s Ducks” by Howard Waldrop
“Dead Image” by David Morrell
“The Constantinople Archives” by Robert Shearman
“each thing I show you is a piece of my death” by Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer
“Cinder Images” by Gary McMahon
“The Pied Piper of Hammersmith” by Nicholas Royle
“Filming the Making of the Film of the Making of Fitzcarraldo” by Garry Kilworth
“Onlookers” by Gary A. Braunbeck
“Recreation” by Lucy A. Snyder
“Bright Lights, Big Zombie” by Douglas E. Winter
“She Drives the Men to Crimes of Passion!” by Genevieve Valentine
“Even the Pawn” by Joel Lane
“Tenderizer” by Stephen Graham Jones
“Ardor” by Laird Barron
“Final Girl II: the Frame” by Daphne Gottlieb
“Illimitable Dominion” by Kim Newman

“I personally feel that short fiction is the ideal format for horror and dark fantasy literature and the theme of film/film-making is absolutely brilliant and Datlow collects a very nice assortment. This collection is highly recommended.”
—Looking for a Good Book

“The Cutting Room is a ton of fun….”
—LitReactor

“Horror stories about the cinema in some capacity. There was no way I wouldn’t like this book, regardless of whether I was a horror and film buff or not. Datlow’s pretty much the master of the anthology, and it shows here.” —LitReactor‘s favorite reads of 2014

For more info about THE CUTTING ROOM: DARK REFLECTIONS OF THE SILVER SCREEN, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Josh Beatman

October 31, 2014

THE CUTTING ROOM coming attraction: “She Drives the Men to Crimes of Passion!” by Genevieve Valentine

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized /film, anthology, Ellen Datlow, excerpt, genevieve valentine, horror, josh beatman, movie, She Drives the Men to Crimes of Passion!, short story, the cutting room, the cutting room: dark reflections of the silver screen

Over the next two weeks, in celebration of Halloween and the new anthology The Cutting Room: Dark Reflections of the Silver Screen, Tachyon and editor Ellen Datlow present excerpts from a selection of the volume’s horrifying tales.

Today’s selection comes from “She Drives the Men to Crimes of Passion!” by Genevieve Valentine.

The scene was this: Cocoanut Grove, Saturday night, packed so tight you had to hold your drink practically in your armpit, and the band loud enough that you gave up on conversation and nodded whenever you heard a voice just in case someone was talking to you.

You never went to the Grove on the weekends if you had any kind of self-respect at all—by 1934 all the stars had turned their backs on the Grove and fled to the Sidewalk Café, where they could drink themselves onto the floor without any prying eyes. The reporters had given up trying, and now they came to the Grove to dig up dirt on the third-rate bit players.

It was fine for the bit players, but I had some prospects.

Well, one picture. It hadn’t done well. I knew they were talking about putting me on pity duty with the melodramas that shot in four days on the same set. No extras, no stars; nothing to do but come to the Cocoanut Grove and look around at the bit players you were going to be stuck with for the rest of your life.

“You need a friend in the studio, fast,” said Lewis. “Come down to the Grove with me. There’s bound to be someone.”

I nursed my Scotch and grimaced at the crowd for an hour, looking for a studio man I could talk to.

None. Damn Sidewalk Café.

I was on my way across the floor to leave when the music ended, and the dance floor opened, and I saw Eva.

She’d been dancing—strands of her dark hair stuck to her shining brown skin, a spiderweb across her forehead. If she’d been wearing lipstick it was gone, but her lids were still dusted with sparkly shadow in bright green and white that shone in the dark like a second pair of eyes.

I saw her coming and held my breath. I could already see her at the end of the lens—turning to look over her shoulder at the hero, giving him a smile, tempting him to do terrible things.

“You should be in pictures,” I said, and it sounded like a totally different line when you meant it.

Her audition alone got me into Capital Films for a feature with her. I knew it would.

There was no point in making her into an ingénue (exotic and ingénue did not mix), so we went right to the vamp. I made her a fortune-teller in On the Wild Heath. She captivated the lord of the manor, put a curse on him when he scorned her, and got shot just before she could lay hands on the lady of the house.

The Hollywood Reporter called her “Exotic Eva” in the blurb—couldn’t have planned it better—and went on for a paragraph about the passion in her Spanish eyes. They wrapped with, “We suspect we haven’t seen the last of this sultry siren.”

Capital signed me for another flick, and started making us reservations at the Sidewalk Café.

Eva wore green satin that matched her eyes, and as we danced under the dim lights there were shimmers of color across her skin.

“I think I love you,” I said.

She said, “You would.”

It sounded ungrateful, but I let it go. There was time for all that; right now, our stars were rising.

Capital didn’t want her being a heroine yet. (“Keep her mysterious,” they said. “The fan magazines can’t even tell if she’s really Mexican or if it’s just makeup. It’s perfect.”)

I made her a flamenco dancer next, in Stage Loves.

The lead, Jack Stone, was nothing much—I was doing the studio a favor just having him—but at least he looked properly stunned whenever she was in the frame.

Originally Stone’s theatre patron was going to seduce her and leave the virginal heiress for a life with the variety show, but word came down that Capital was going to start getting strict about the Production Code, so the hero sinning was right out.

So instead Eva seduced the patron, and got strangled by the jealous stage manager in the last reel.

(The poster featured her bottom left, with a banner: “Eva Loba is Elisa the Spanish Temptress—She drives the men to crimes of passion!”)

The new script must have worked just as well; the studio asked for two more movies as soon as the film was in.

For information on The Cutting Room: Dark Reflections of the Silver Screen, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Josh Beatman.

October 10, 2014

THE CUTTING ROOM is a Kirkus Excellent Horror Reads for The Month of October

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized /film, anthology, Ellen Datlow, genevieve valentine, horror, john denardo, josh beatman, kirkus reviews, Laird Barron, movie, peter straub, robert sherman, short story, the cutting room

For Kirkus Reviews, John DeNardo included The Cutting Room: Dark Reflections of the Silver Screen, the new anthology from the award-winning, superstar editor Ellen Datlow, among his 12 Excellent Horror Reads for The Month of October.

This themed anthology revolves around the idea that the separation between what is real and what we see on film is not as clear as we’d like to think it is. What if, for example, the Wicked Witch of the West didn’t stay in Oz? What if James Dean got a second chance at life? These are just some of the weird-but-cool ideas explored in this tempting volume of stories from renowned editor Ellen Datlow, who collects 23 scary tales by the likes of Peter Straub, Genevieve Valentine, Robert Shearman, Laird Barron and more.

Read about the rest of DeNardo’s selections at Kirkus Reviews.

For information on The Cutting Room: Dark Reflections of the Silver Screen, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Josh Beatman.

October 3, 2014

We’re celebrating Halloween by giving away Ellen Datlow’s new anthology THE CUTTING ROOM

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized /film, a c wise, anthology, david morrell, dennis etchison, douglas e. winter, edward bryant, Ellen Datlow, f. paul wilson, garry kilworth, gary a. braunbeck, gary mcmahon, Gemma Files, genevieve valentine, giveaway, goodreads, horror, howard waldrop, ian watson, joel lane, lucy a. snyder, movies, nicholas royle, peter straub, robert shearman, short stories, stephen graham jones, stephen j. barringer, steve nagy, the cutting room

With the help of the fine folks over at Goodreads, we’re celebrating Halloween with a giveaway of an ARC of The Cutting Room: Dark Reflections of the Silver Screen, the new anthology from the award-winning, superstar editor Ellen Datlow.

Visit Goodreads for the full details and to enter.

The credits have rolled, but the lights are still off. Something is lurking on the other side of the screen. There are dark secrets, starving monsters, and haunted survivors who refuse to be left on the cutting room floor. But that’s okay, right? After all, everybody loves the movies…. Here are twenty-three terrifying tales, dark reflections of the silver screen from both sides of the camera. James Dean gets a second chance at life—and death. The Wicked Witch is out of Oz and she’s made some unlucky friends. When God decides reality needs an editor, what—and who—gets cut? These award-winning, bestselling authors will take you to the darkest depths of the theater and beyond.

STARRED REVIEW “Superstar editor Datlow makes no missteps in this reprint collection of dark tales involving movies and moviemaking. The one original piece, Stephen Graham Jones’s “Tenderizer,” is a haunting exploration of tragedy on both a personal and national level. A.C. Wise’s “Final Girl Theory,” about a cult film that’s an “infection, whispered from mouth to mouth in the dark,” is disturbing and gory without fetishizing its horrors. Kim Newman’s brilliant “Illimitable Dominion” tells an alternate history of Edgar Allen Poe, Roger Corman, and American International Pictures that’s particularly suited to film buffs who will probably spot the (initially) subtle changes to the time line. Film critic and author Genevieve Valentine provides both an entertaining story (“She Drives the Men to Crimes of Passion!”) and an enlightening introduction, while even Douglas E. Winter’s “Bright Lights, Big Zombie”—the literary target of which has long faded—still holds up reasonably well. Strong stories by Gary McMahon and Gary A. Braunbeck, as well as poems by Lucy A. Snyder and Daphne Gottlieb, are also worth noting, but really, the entire volume is outstanding.”
—Publishers Weekly

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction by Genevieve Valentine
Preface by Ellen Datlow

“The Cutter” by Edward Bryant
“The Hanged Man of Oz” by Steve Nagy
“Deadspace” by Dennis Etchison
“Cuts” by F. Paul Wilson
“Final Girl Theory” by A. C. Wise
“Lapland, or Film Noir” by Peter Straub
“The Thousand Cuts” by Ian Watson
“Occam’s Ducks” by Howard Waldrop
“Dead Image” by David Morrell
“The Constantinople Archives” by Robert Shearman
“each thing I show you is a piece of my death” by Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer
“Cinder Images” by Gary McMahon
“The Pied Piper of Hammersmith” by Nicholas Royle
“Filming the Making of the Film of the Making of Fitzcarraldo” by Garry Kilworth
“Onlookers” by Gary A. Braunbeck
“Recreation” by Lucy A. Snyder
“Bright Lights, Big Zombie” by Douglas E. Winter
“She Drives the Men to Crimes of Passion!” by Genevieve Valentine
“Even the Pawn” by Joel Lane
“Tenderizer” by Stephen Graham Jones
“Ardor” by Laird Barron
“Final Girl II: the Frame” by Daphne Gottlieb
“Illimitable Dominion” by Kim Newman

For information on The Cutting Room: Dark Reflections of the Silver Screen, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Josh Beatman.

February 27, 2014

Tachyon 2014 Fall Preview: THE CUTTING ROOM

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized a c wise, anthology, cutting room, daphne gottlieb, david morrell, dennis etchison, douglas e. winter, edward bryant, Ellen Datlow, f. paul wilson, garry kilworth, gary a. braunbeck, gary mcmahon, Gemma Files, genevieve valentine, howard waldrop, ian watson, joel lane, josh beatman, Kim Newman, Laird Barron, Lucy Snyder, movies, peter straub, preview, robert shearman, short stories, stephen graham jones, stephen j. barringer, steve nagy

This week, we’re previewing the Tachyon publications scheduled for Fall, 2014.

The Cutting Room: Dark Reflections of the Silver Screen

Edited by Ellen Datlow

What happens after the closing credits and before the lights go out? When you turn off your TV, but still aren’t able to sleep? Cancel your Netflix. Sometimes only the written word will do.

These twenty-two terrifying tales are a chilling homage to the silver screen. Discover that James Dean may well have lived beyond the grave, a trip to Oz is a one-way ticket, and zombies were behind the corporate greed of the 1980s. Learn how reality is edited (and found overly long) and how the Final Girl, a horror film’s sole survivor, emerges victorious and with a captive audience. Join award-winning and bestselling authors from Neil Gaiman to Peter Straub in a journey to the darkest depths of the theater.

Table of Contents

Introduction by Genevieve Valentine
Preface by Ellen Datlow

“The Cutter” by Edward Bryant
“The Hanged Man of Oz” by Steve Nagy
“Deadspace” by Dennis Etchison
“Cuts” by F. Paul Wilson
“Final Girl Theory” by A. C. Wise
“Lapland, or Film Noir” by Peter Straub
“The Thousand Cuts” by Ian Watson
“Occam’s Ducks” by Howard Waldrop
“Dead Image” by David Morrell
“The Constantinople Archives” by Robert Shearman
“each thing I show you is a piece of my death” by Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer
“Cinder Images” by Gary McMahon
“The Pied Piper of Hammersmith” by Nicholas Royle
“Filming the Making of the Film of the Making of Fitzcarraldo” by Garry Kilworth
“Onlookers” by Gary A. Braunbeck
“Recreation” by Lucy Snyder
“Bright Lights, Big Zombie” by Douglas E. Winter
“She Drives the Men to Crimes of Passion!” by Genevieve Valentine
“Even the Pawn” by Joel Lane
“Tenderizer” by Stephen Graham Jones
“Ardor” by Laird Barron
“Final Girl II: the Frame” by Daphne Gottlieb
“Illimitable Dominion” by Kim Newman

Trade paperback/ebook * $16.95/$9.99 * October 2014 * 978-1-61696-167-1

Cover by Josh Beatman

Tachyon Publications

genevieve valentine

tachyonpub