Nick Mamatas is the author of several novels, including I Am Providence and Sabbath. His short fiction has appeared in Best American Mystery Stories, Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, Asimov’s, Tor.com, and many other venues—much of it was recently collected in The People’s Republic of Everything. Nick is also an editor; his anthologies include Haunted Legends (with Ellen Datlow), Mixed Up (with Molly Tanzer), and Wonder and Glory Forever: Awe-Inspiring Lovecraftian Fiction.
His story, “Bleak Night at Bad Rock”, appears in the Weird World War III anthology.
Tell me about yourself. Where are you from? What’s your background?
I am from Long Island, and specifically a little Greek-American (and even more specifically, a little Ikarian-American) enclave on the North Shore. I grew up largely in Brooklyn.
Besides yourself, which other contemporary authors would you recommend?
Do people recommend themselves in questions like this?!? I want the names of those people! And their addresses!
Tell me about a time you almost died.
Years ago, while living in Jersey City, we wanted to grill some food in the concrete backyard because the power and gas were out. We were also out of lighter fluid, so I grabbed a cigarette lighter and a big rock and was about to smash the former open with the latter when my girlfriend at the time walked outside and said, “Don’t do that. The lighter will explode and you will die.” And so I didn’t, and I didn’t.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
The Manhattan in the parallel universe where Giuliani and Bloomberg didn’t ruin it.
If you could live in any time period, when would it be? Why?
Three weeks from now, when I’ll be all caught up. At least I’ve been telling myself I’ll be all caught up in three weeks for the past thirty years, so…
Story’s Soundtrack
Each of the stories in this volume evoked certain themes and emotions that can sometimes be approximated with music. The below video is the editor’s best interpretation of the feelings and themes that this author’s story evoked. Please note that this is only the editor’s interpretation. The author did not know this portion of the blog post existed until the editor published it.
Peter J. Wacks, born Zarathustra Janney, then quickly reminted the next day to a sane name on his second birth certificate, never really recovered a sense of normalcy in his life. Peter (or Zarth, whatever, it’s cool) has travelled to thirty-seven countries, hitchhiked across the United States (very funny, no, he didn’t hitchhike to Hawaii), and backpacked across Europe. He loves fast cars, running 5Ks, space travel, and armchair physics. In the past, Peter has been an actor and game designer, but he loves writing most and has done a ton of it, which can be found by Googling him, or checking his Amazon page. Even if it seems a little cyber-stalkery, don’t worry, go for it! Since he doesn’t think anyone really reads these things anyway, he will mention that strawberry daiquiris, Laphroaig, great IPAs, and really clever puns are the best way to start conversations with him. On a last note, his most recent novel is about a magical Ben Franklin, and was released by Baen in 2020. You, know, if you’re actually reading the author bios and notice this. If you aren’t, this just got slightly uncomfortable. Are you still there? The bio is over. Read the next one.
His and Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s story, “It’s A MUD, MUD World”, appears in the Weird World War III anthology.
Tell me about yourself. Where are you from? What’s your background?
Hi there! I’m Peter. It is actually difficult to answer the question where are you from, because it has many answers. I’ve lived in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and Denmark and travelled to an additional 33 countries. Even in the U.S. I’ve lived in 6 different states and travelled to all 44 of the others. I guess I really try to be from everywhere. Right now, I happen to park my laptop at a docking station in California, or, depending on the week, in Colorado. I’ve been in entertainment and creative fields my entire life, starting as a child actor at age 6. I’ve been an actor, game designer, poet, essayist, novelist, editor, magician, and more-depending on my mood.
I guess the best way to define myself is that everyday I am hungry to experience or learn something new.
What kinds of stories do you write? Why?
I love this question! The defining quality of the stories that I write is that I hate formulas, and I avoid writing into specific well explored territory. It’s nearly impossible to define the kind of story I write, other than to say it is usually the story in the anthology that stands out as very uniquely different. Different isn’t always good, but at least it helps people stop and blink. An example of this is that once, when challenged to write a Space Opera; I wrote a story about an aria being performed which told the story of a space battle. Another example: my time travel novel can be ripped apart and the 13 chapters can be read in any order and still result in the three act structure of build up, conflict, resolution. Even if it is just as simple as presenting a comedic story amidst very serious counterparts, its the thing I love do.
Which of your short stories is your favorite? Why?
Okay, I’m going for a shameless self plug here. What I should say is that the story in Sean’s upcoming Weird War III anthology is my favorite. (Not naming it because I’m not sure if you’ve done the Table of Contents reveal yet, Sean…) Instead, I’m going to put out there the shortest story I’ve ever had published: Shotgun Wedding. It is a 1 page post apocalyptic bromance, and I wont give you more than that. It appears in the charity anthology Surviving Tomorrow (Google it). It was rewritten so many times it’s almost ridiculous, because I wanted to see if I could fit all the elements and hooks of a story into a one page story, and still have room for the reader to like the character. I think I succeeded, and the pre-release reviews so far have been mentioning the story so I feel like others feel the same way.
Tell me about a time you almost died.
Which one? Ha. Alright, this summer, amidst the COVID 19 craze, my first hardcover released from the marvelous Baen books—Caller of Lightning (think Ben Franklin at Hogwarts). (See how I put in a detail important for the story but ALSO a shameless plug?) Right as I was gearing up to start promoting the book in late April, I developed a fever. Then I started having trouble breathing. Then my muscles started aching at the bone level…
After being diagnosed with the global freaking pandemic, my life fell apart, in ways. I could only focus for about 90-120 minutes each day. If I tried to read or sit at the computer I’d start to have trouble breathing or fall asleep. But it was only supposed to last a week or two, so I tried not to worry—we still didn’t know better. My case lasted a little over 5 weeks before I was finally allowed to emerge from quarantine. At times, my O2 was as low as 68%—a level that should have had me in a coma. I was paranoid, full of anxiety… it was hell. And I couldn’t write more than a couple minutes a day.
And yet here I am. I do have post illness complications, and I am still shaking them off, going through a kind of slow physical therapy to try to regain my brain and my vascular strength… but let me tell you this: there is nothing like being on the losing side of the pandemic curve to make you get your crap together and decide to go out and kick some arse.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
Okay. Craziest, stupidest, bone-headedest…. and appropriate to the upcoming anthology:
When I was 14 years old I was in Leningrad amidst Gorbachev’s Perestoik—it was the year before the renaming of the city to St. Petersburg. It was an amazing experience. Seedy looking guys on street corners would offer you 300 Rubles to the dollar—at a time that the banks were offering 3 to 1. They were using a special technique called an Elmsley Count to make it look like they were giving you that many Rubles, when in fact you’d get a random 60 or 80 Rubles. As I ALSO knew how to do the same count, I would negotiate with the con-men and usually walk with about 100 per dollar. To give you a metric – the single most expensive bottle of vodka I was able to find, behind the locked cabinet at the store, was about 350 Rubles. It was very good. I was living like the Dread Pirate Roberts in Patagonia, feasting every night, the best entertainment, and all for less than my $10 weekly allowance for full chore completion.
So one night, having had a nip of that very fine bottle of Vodka, I wandered out onto the streets of an asleep Leningrad until I came to the Hermitage Museum at the Menshikov palace of Peter the Great next to the Neva River. In my tipsy 14 year old brain I decided that since the building was Peter’s winter palace, and MY name was Peter… I should take a memento home. On the front entrance of the building, suspended over the entry between two beautiful ornate lampposts in the plaza, hung a giant red Soviet flag with a fringe along the edges. I glanced around once, made sure no one was overtly watching and at about 3 in the morning, I scaled the side of the building to the flag pole and stole the flag. I should be rotting in a prison in Russia, but somehow, I ghosted into the night with my stolen flag and got it all the way back the U.S. Not by far… but it was the supidest AND the craziest thing I have ever done.
Story’s Soundtrack
Each of the stories in this volume evoked certain themes and emotions that can sometimes be approximated with music. The below video is the editor’s best interpretation of the feelings and themes that this author’s story evoked. Please note that this is only the editor’s interpretation. The author did not know this portion of the blog post existed until the editor published it.
Bryan Thomas Schmidt is a national bestselling author and Hugo-nominated editor whose works include the original novel series the John Simon thrillers and the space opera trilogy Saga of Davi Rhii as well as official entries in The X-Files, Predator, Joe Ledger, and Monster Hunter International. He’s edited thirteen anthologies and dozens of novels, including the international phenomenon The Martian by Andy Weir. He also authored the writing book How To Write A Novel: The Fundamentals of Fiction. He can be found on Facebook and Twitter as BryanThomasS or at his website: www.bryanthomasschmidt.net.
His and Peter J. Wack’s story, “It’s A MUD, MUD World”, appears in the Weird World War III anthology.
Tell me about yourself. Where are you from? What’s your background?
I am from Ottawa, KS at present but grew up about 3 hours west in Salina. I have a background in music and performance as well as consulting with various companies, Fortune 500 on down.
What kinds of stories do you write? Why?
I like to think I write good stories, but I guess what you’re looking for is adventure stories—stories with action and conflict driving them, with a decent pace to them. I also like to mix humor in to create characters with interesting quirks and personalities.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
I was working as a temp once in Kansas City when I suddenly found myself trapped in my cube with two mountain lions staring at me from the doorway. I didn’t know anyone’s name I was working with so I had to call out for “help” generically. Finally, a woman I knew was a higher up showed up and said, “There you two naughty boys are. I wondered where you wandered off too.” She apologized, grabbed them by the leashes, and led them off. What the hell she was thinking bring them into an office is beyond me but there they were. Thank God my mom insisted I leave clean underwear in my glove compartment.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
The Florida Keys.
What’s your favorite book? Why?
Either Robert Silverberg’s Lord Valentine’s Castle or James Clavell’s Shogun. Both have amazing world building and characters with an epic drama that unfolds over many months and years and asks profound questions about friendship, life, love, human nature, and so on. They are real lessons in how to write epic adventures with vivid dialogue and character building and world building and each one I have reread multiple times since discovering them with equal joy each time.
Story’s Soundtrack
Each of the stories in this volume evoked certain themes and emotions that can sometimes be approximated with music. The below video is the editor’s best interpretation of the feelings and themes that this author’s story evoked. Please note that this is only the editor’s interpretation. The author did not know this portion of the blog post existed until the editor published it.
Alex Shvartsman is a writer, translator, and anthologist from Brooklyn, NY. Over one hundred of his short stories have appeared in Nature, Analog, Strange Horizons, InterGalactic Medicine Show, and many other magazines and anthologies. He won the 2014 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction and was a two-time finalist for the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Fiction (2015 and 2017). He is the editor of the Unidentified Funny Objects annual anthology series of humorous SF/F, and of Future Science Fiction Digest. His epic fantasy novel, Eridani’s Crown, was published in 2019. His website is www.alexshvartsman.com.
His story, “A Thing Worth a Damn”, appears in the Weird World War III anthology.
Tell me about yourself. Where are you from? What’s your background?
I’m a writer and translator from Brooklyn, NY. I was born in the country that no longer exists (USSR) and arrived via an airline that no longer exists (Pan Am.) So there’s truly no going back. So instead, I choose to write tall tales and also to translate from Russian fiction that I want to geek out about with my friends. I also edit anthologies and a magazine (Future Science Fiction Digest). Sometimes, I even find time to grab a quick nap.
What kinds of stories do you write? Why?
I tend to write a lot of humor, because the snarky, sarcastic voice is my default (Not that you could guess this from my Weird World War III story). However, I won’t be boxed in. I’ve written everything from space opera to political fantasy, the latter being the genre of my inaugural novel, Eridani’s Crown.
Which of your short stories is your favorite? Why?
Hands down, the favorite short story of mine is “Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma.” It also happens to be my most successful, having won an award and been reprinted a bunch of times, but I also love it because it’s exactly the sort of combination of humor, action, and creative problem-solving that I enjoy committing to the page. This story is free to read online at the Intergalactic Medicine Show archive.
What authors have had the greatest influence on your writing? Why?
Fredrick Brown, Harry Harrison, Bob Sheckley, and Robert Silverberg, to name a few. I devoured their short story collections in translation growing up, and much of their style/approach to writing short fiction has really stuck with me.
Besides yourself, which other contemporary authors would you recommend?
Ken Liu, K. A. Teryna, and Shaenon K. Garrity are among my favorite contemporary short fiction authors.
What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you?
I once got turned away at the border crossing into Malaysia and kicked out back into Singapore. Buy me a coffee at a convention sometime and I will tell you the entire story.
Story’s Soundtrack
Each of the stories in this volume evoked certain themes and emotions that can sometimes be approximated with music. The below video is the editor’s best interpretation of the feelings and themes that this author’s story evoked. Please note that this is only the editor’s interpretation. The author did not know this portion of the blog post existed until the editor published it.
Ville Meriläinen is a Finnish university student, author of speculative fiction, and Death Metal musician. His short fiction has appeared in various venues online and in print, including Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show, Pseudopod, and Cast of Wonders. His musical fantasy novel, Ghost Notes, is available from Digital Fiction Publishing.
His story, “The Scholomance”, appears in the Weird World War III anthology.
Tell me about yourself. Where are you from? What’s your background?
I’m from a small-ish forest town on the west coast of Finland, from where I moved to study across the country to a small-ish forest city near the Russian border. While writing this, I’m visiting my parents, and can see the sea from the guest room window. Wood and water are prominent elements in my work and it’s no marvel why.
What kinds of stories do you write? Why?
The latest bio line I’ve given editors is: “Ville Meriläinen writes stories like the Finnish winter: long, dark, and someone probably gets hurt.” You try living without the sun for half a year and see how cheerful it leaves you.
Which of your short stories is your favorite? Why?
It’s always the latest one. I’m severely self-critical and whatever is newest usually feels passably competent. God forbid someone tells me they’ve read one of my older pieces, because the reaction is invariably thinking “Oh no not that one” while trying to convincingly smile and nod like I appreciate it.
Besides yourself, which other contemporary authors would you recommend?
I don’t think I’ve ever recommended authors over books, but Victor LaValle’s The Changeling, Justin Robinson’s The Dollmaker, and G. Willow Wilson’s The Bird King have hit me pretty hard lately, so I suppose there’s a list. I don’t know anything about the authors or their other works, to be honest. When you grow up on Black Metal you learn to separate art and the artist pretty fast.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
All I want in life is to write silly stories in my bedroom and never talk to people, and yet somehow I keep winding up on stages. Dive bar stages, lecture hall stages, and then there was that one time in a black tie Hollywood gala beside a mechanical dragon and a number of genre grandmasters.
Story’s Soundtrack
Each of the stories in this volume evoked certain themes and emotions that can sometimes be approximated with music. The below video is the editor’s best interpretation of the feelings and themes that this author’s story evoked. Please note that this is only the editor’s interpretation. The author did not know this portion of the blog post existed until the editor published it.
Through A Glass Darkly 