New Blog!

A friend just started blogging! 

The Learning Life, Too Blog

It's not horror related, but just to have a place for her thoughts, which I know from personal experience are always ... well, thoughtful! Evocative, really, and therefore so appropriate she'd want to learn as she goes! I think you all will have fun following along! 

Stoker Finalists!

Check them out! (Scroll down for Nonfiction!) 

Newest From Carole Lanham

The Reading Lessons

Mississippi 1920: Nine year old servant, Hadley Crump, finds himself drawn into a secret world when he is invited to join wealthy Lucinda Browning's dirty book club. No one suspects that the bi-racial son of the cook is anything more to Lucinda than a charitable obligation, but behind closed doors, O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright. What begins as a breathless investigation into the more juicy parts of literature quickly becomes a consuming and life-long habit for two people who would not otherwise be left alone together. As lynchings erupt across the South and the serving staff is slowly cut to make way for new mechanical household conveniences, Hadley begins to understand how dangerous and precarious his situation is.

The Reading Lessons follows the lives of two people born into a world that is unforgiving as a Hangman's knot. Divided by skin color and joined by books, Hadley and Lucinda are forced to come together in the only place that will allow it, a land of printed words and dark secrets.

Coming Summer 2013 from Immortal Ink Publishing

Happy Easter!

Or whatever you celebrate! 

Not much going on here! Just got back from a really fun trip to the North American Undergraduate Conference in Religion and Philosophy! Check out their website, and here's a nice photo of me with my students after they'd done a great job presenting!

Update

It being my birthday, it seemed like it's time for one!

In the last year I have spent more time on my teaching. I hope I wasn't shirking it before, but I did feel like I needed to devote myself to it, be more active and proactive in what I do for my students. And I think it's paid off. Because as I look back on this year, I see my accomplishments in theirs. Helping them achieve things is my purpose and I take pride in the results.

So, here's my scorecard.

One student had her paper accepted and will present at the meeting of the Association for Core Texts and Courses.

Four students will present at the North American Undergraduate Conference in Religion and Philosophy.

Two students will present at Iona's Undergraduate Research Day.

One student accepted into the prestigious Blackfriars Hall program at Oxford.

One student accepted (with generous financial support) by Union Theological Seminary. UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: As I predicted, she has also been accepted to Harvard Divinity School! 

Those are what I'm really focused on, and how I measure my success this year. I guess that's been part of my realization this year - I'm a teacher first, and a writer second.

But, for those of you who know me mostly as an author, I have not been completely neglecting that part of my life: my work The Undead and Theology is a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award to be presented in June in New Orleans.  

2012 Stoker Final Ballot!

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2012 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see www.horror.org ) is the premiere writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with nearly 1000 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see http://www.horror.org/stokers.htm ).

The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards Committee congratulate all these Bram Stoker Award Nominees.

Notes about the voting process appear after the ballot listing.

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVEL

Ethridge, Benjamin Kane – Bottled Abyss (Redrum Horror)

Everson, John – NightWhere (Samhain Publishing)

Kiernan, Caitlin R. – The Drowning Girl (Roc)

Little, Bentley – The Haunted (Signet)

McKinney, Joe – Inheritance (Evil Jester Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FIRST NOVEL

Boccacino, Michael – Charlotte Markham and the House of Darklings (William Morrow)

Coates, Deborah – Wide Open (Tor Books)

Day, Charles – The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief (Noble YA Publishers LLC)

Dudar, Peter – A Requiem for Dead Flies (Nightscape Press)

Gropp, Richard – Bad Glass (Ballantine/Del Rey)

Soares, L.L. – Life Rage (Nightscape Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Bray, Libba – The Diviners (Little Brown)

Lyga, Barry – I Hunt Killers (Little Brown)

Maberry, Jonathan – Flesh & Bone (Simon & Schuster)

McCarty, Michael – I Kissed A Ghoul (Noble Romance Publishing)

Stiefvater, Maggie – The Raven Boys (Scholastic Press)

Strand, Jeff – A Bad Day for Voodoo (Sourcebooks)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A GRAPHIC NOVEL

Bunn, Cullen – The Sixth Gun Volume 3: Bound (Oni Press)

Moore, Terry – Rachel Rising Vol. 1: The Shadow of Death (Abstract Studio)

Thornton, Ravi – The Tale of Brin and Bent and Minno Marylebone (Jonathan Cape)

Wacks, Peter J., and Guy Anthony De Marco – Behind These Eyes (Villainous Press)

Wood, Rocky, and Lisa Morton – Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times (McFarland)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN LONG FICTION

Burke, Kealan Patrick – Thirty Miles South of Dry County (Delirium Books)

Ketchum, Jack, and Lucky McKee – I’m Not Sam (Sinister Grin Press)

McKinney, Joe, and Michael McCarty – Lost Girl of the Lake (Bad Moon Books)

O’Neill, Gene – The Blue Heron (Dark Regions Press)

Prentiss, Norman – The Fleshless Man (Delirium Books)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT FICTION

Boston, Bruce – Surrounded by the Mutant Rain Forest (Daily Science Fiction)

McKinney, Joe – Bury My Heart at Marvin Gardens (Best of Dark Moon Digest, Dark Moon Books)

Ochse, Weston – Righteous (Psychos, Black Dog and Leventhall Publication)

Palisano, John – Available Light (Lovecraft eZine, March 2012)

Snyder, Lucy – Magdala Amygdala (Dark Faith: Invocations, Apex Book Company)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SCREENPLAY

Goldman, Jane – The Woman in Black (Cross Creek Pictures)

Kim, Sang Kyu – The Walking Dead, “Killer Within” (AMC TV)

Minear, Tim – American Horror Story: Asylum, “Dark Cousin” (Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision, Ryan Murphy Productions)

Ross, Gary, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray – The Hunger Games (Lionsgate, Color Force)

Whedon, Joss, and Drew Goddard – The Cabin in the Woods (Mutant Enemy Productions, Lionsgate)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN ANTHOLOGY

Castle, Mort, and Sam Weller – Shadow Show (HarperCollins)

Guignard, Eric J. – Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations (Dark Moon Books)

Miller, Eric – Hell Comes to Hollywood (Big Time Books)

Scioneaux, Mark C., R.J. Cavender, and Robert S. Wilson – Horror for Good: A Charitable Anthology (Cutting Block Press)

Swanson, Stan – Slices of Flesh (Dark Moon Books)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN FICTION COLLECTION

Carroll, Jonathan – Woman Who Married a Cloud: Collected Stories (Subterranean Press)

Castle, Mort – New Moon on the Water (Dark Regions)

Hand, Elizabeth – Errantry: Strange Stories (Small Beer Press)

Hirshberg, Glen – The Janus Tree (Subterranean Press)

Oates, Joyce Carol – Black Dahlia and White Rose: Stories (Ecco)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN NON-FICTION

Collings, Michael – Writing Darkness (CreateSpace)

Klinger, Les – The Annotated Sandman, Volume 1 (Vertigo)

Morton, Lisa – Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween (Reaktion Books)

Paffenroth, Kim, and John W. Morehead – The Undead and Theology (Pickwick Publications)

Phillips, Kendall R. – Dark Directions: Romero, Craven, Carpenter, and the Modern Horror Film (Southern Illinois University Press)

SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN POETRY

Addison, Linda, and Stephen M. Wilson – Dark Duet (NECON eBooks)

Boston, Bruce, and Gary William Crawford – Notes from the Shadow City (Dark Regions Press)

Collings, Michael – A Verse to Horrors (Amazon Digital Services)

Simon, Marge – Vampires, Zombies & Wanton Souls (Elektrik Milk Bath Press)

Turzillo, Mary A. – Lovers & Killers (Dark Regions)

New Review

A nice one (from a faith perspective) - of THE UNDEAD AND THEOLOGY!

The last paragraph is esp. quotable - "Papers such as the ones presented in The Undead and the Theology are a bridge of conversation from theology classrooms to what is intriguing the masses today. When graduates throw up their hands and say 'And how am I suppose to use this education in the real world?!' (and what seminary student hasn’t done that?), we have an answer."

Pokemon! (And a General Evaluation of Human Action)

When my son was four, we played the Pokemon card game obsessively. Literally every day. And not like playing Go Fish or Candyland with him (out of a feeling of duty) - I liked playing as much as he did. In fact, he got his first starter kit and some booster packs for Christmas 1998 and we could not wait for Borders to reopen on December 26 so we could get more booster packs to tweak our decks. And I quickly realized what I loved about the game: it had four distinct parts to it, each of which was enjoyable. 

First, you had to shop for the cards. There was the anticipation, an almost gambling like addiction of not knowing what you'd get exactly, but hoping for the Magic Bullet to defeat all enemies.

Then there was the trading stage. (Obviously, my son engaged in this much more than I did.) This was the social aspect, hanging out with fellow enthusiasts, talking strategy, talking smack about how your water deck would annihilate them next time. 

Then there was the planning and building stage. Unlike the previous stage, this one was completely solitary, focused. This was numbers crunching (you have to calculate things in Pokemon like figuring out average damage per turn and how many turns a Pokemon will stay on the front line until defeated, almost as much as you used to with old fashioned pencil-and-paper D&D), geeked out, hours and hours late at night, sometimes cackling maniacally when a particularly good arrangement presented itself. 

Finally, you got to actually play. This is not really the social aspect, as you and your opponent are hunkered over the cards, totally focused on them and what you can predict will happen next. There is the thrill of victory, sometimes, but regardless of the outcome, you'll have to go back to step three (and maybe steps 1 and 2, as well) and start over before next time!

So I had always appreciated the game for how much enjoyment I could get out of it, and in several different ways. But I was thinking this morning, that other things I really enjoy in life, also participate in similar phases or steps to the Pokemon obsessions. Teaching, for example - I go browsing and shopping for books; I love (and now very much miss) the social aspect of sitting and talking with other teachers about our profession, about pedagogy and what we have planned and what works or doesn't; I read the books, plan the lessons, build the syllabus, think of the opening question for seminar; and then I actually teach. And cooking is even closer (since the shopping stage is more integral): I love shopping for the food (and what's available, local, and/or on sale very much contributes to the planning stage); it's fun to socialize with other foodies, even trade recipes or tips or even coupons or news of sales; then I plan the week's menus (around what was bought, and to maximize use of leftovers); then I actually cook and eat, which is really a more balanced activity than play, as I do the cooking alone but the eating is social, as is the praise for the victorious cooking. 

So, maybe I need some more hobbies that partake of all four! Knitting? Model trains? Who knows! 

I Go To A Land Down Under

I am now clear to announce - I am an invited speaker at the 2013 Melbourne Zombie Convention! I am thrilled and would like to thank the organizers for thinking of me, especially Geoff Brown who worked out the details with me! This is so exciting!

This is their Facebook page at the moment, with official website promised soon!

https://www.facebook.com/events/525794974099727/

2012 Stoker Award Preliminary Ballot

NOVEL
Bodner, Hal – The Trouble with Hairy
Clines, Peter – 14
Ethridge, Benjamin Kane – Bottled Abyss
Everson, John – NightWhere
Faherty, JG – Cemetery Club
Jordan, Lee F. – Coronation
Kiernan, Caitlin R. – The Drowning Girl
Little, Bentley – The Haunted
McKinney, Joe – Inheritance

FIRST NOVEL
Boccacino, Michael – Charlotte Markham and the House of Darklings
Coates, Deborah – Wide Open
Day, Charles – The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief
Dudar, Peter – A Requiem for Dead Flies
Gropp, Richard – Bad Glass
Hatchell, Dane – Resurrection X: Zombie Evolution
Holm, Chris – Dead Harvest
Jones, K. Trap – The Sinner
Soares, L.L. – Life Rage
Sterbakov, Hugh – City Under the Moon

YA NOVEL
Bickle, Laura – The Hallowed Ones
Bray, Libba – The Diviners
Burt, Steve – FreeK Show
Collings, Michaelbrent – Hooked: A True Faerie Tale
Lyga, Barry – I Hunt Killers
Maberry, Jonathan – Flesh & Bone
McCarty, Michael – I Kissed A Ghoul
Stiefvater, Maggie – The Raven Boys
Strand, Jeff – A Bad Day for Voodoo
Waters, Daniel – Break My Heart 1,000 Times
Wilson, Connie Corcoran – The Color of Evil

LONG FICTION
Burke, Kealan Patrick – Thirty Miles South of Dry County
Faherty, JG – The Cold Spot
Giglio, Peter – Sunfall Manor
Ketchum, Jack, and Lucky McGee – I’m Not Sam
Malfi, Ronald – The Mourning House
McKinney, Joe, and Michael McCarty – Lost Girl of the Lake
Miskowski, S.P. – Delphine Dodd
O’Neill, Gene – The Blue Heron
Prentiss, Norman – The Fleshless Man
Thompson, Lee – When We Join Jesus in Hell

SHORT FICTION
Bailey, Michael – Bootstrap
Boston, Bruce – Surrounded by the Mutant Rain Forest
Breaux, Kevin James – The Journal of USS Indianapolis Survivor: Stefanos
“Stevie” Georgiou
Cushing, Nicole – A Catechism for Aspiring Amnesiacs
Lake, Jay – The Cancer Catechism
McKinney, Joe – Bury My Heart at Marvin Gardens
Ochse, Weston – Righteous
Palisano, John – Available Light
Snyder, Lucy – Magdala Amygdala

SCREENPLAY
Hill, Susan, and Goldman, Jane – The Woman in Black
Kim, San Kyu – The Walking Dead, “Killer Within”
Minear, Tim – American Horror Story: Asylum, “Dark Cousin”
Olynyk, Signe – Below Zero
Ross, Gary, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray – The Hunger Games
Sanchez, Eduardo, and Jaime Nash – Lovely Molly
Whedon, Joss, and Drew Goddard – The Cabin in the Woods

ANTHOLOGY
Beebe, Eric – Fear the Abyss
Castle, Mort, and Sam Weller – Shadow Show
Gallows Press – Tales from the Yellow Rose Diner and Fill Station
Guignard, Eric J. – Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations
Miller, Eric – Hell Comes to Hollywood
Salter, Richard – World’s Collider
Scalisi, Patrick – The Ghost Is the Machine
Scioneaux, Mark C., R.J. Cavender, and Robert S. Wilson – Horror for Good: A
Charitable Anthology
Swanson, Stan – Slices of Flesh

FICTION COLLECTION
Cain, Kenneth W. – These Old Tales: The Complete Collection
Carroll, Jonathan – Woman Who Married a Cloud: Collected Stories
Castle, Mort – New Moon on the Water
De Winter, Corrine – Valentines for the Dead
Hand, Elizabeth – Errantry: Strange Stories
Hirshberg, Glen – The Janus Tree
Lane, Joel – Where Furnaces Burn
LaSart, C.W. – Ad Nauseam
Oates, Joyce Carol – Black Dahlia and White Roses
Onspaugh, Mark – Christmas Ghost Stories
Yardley, Mercedes M. – Beautiful Sorrows

NON-FICTION
Aisenberg, Joe – Carrie: Studies in the Horror Film
Amazing Kreskin, The, and Michael McCarty – Conversations with Kreskin
Collings, Michael – Writing Darkness
Klinger, Les – The Annotated Sandman, Volume 1
Matthews, Araminta Star, Rachel Lee, and Stan Swanson – Write of the Living Dead
Morton, Lisa – Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween
Paffenroth, Kim, and John W. Morehead – The Undead and Theology
Perry, Dennis R., and Carl H. Sederholm – Adapting Poe: Re-Imaginings in Popular Culture
Phillips, Kendall R. – Dark Directions: Romero, Craven, Carpenter, and the Modern Horror Film

POETRY
Addison, Linda, and Stephen M. Wilson – Dark Duet
Boston, Bruce, and Gary William Crawford – Notes from the Shadow City
Collings, Michael – A Verse to Horrors
Dietrich, Bryan D. – The Monstrance
Ong Muslim, Kristina – Grim Series
Simon, Marge, and Sandy DeLuca – Vampires, Zombies & Wanton Souls
Turzillo, Mary A. – Lovers & Killers

2013

Ha - little late on the New Year's post for sure! Just been running around, and doing more with Facebook in terms of updates and interaction. But I should make an effort!!

The last two months of 2012 saw a flurry of nonfiction publishing!

Augustine and Psychology from Rowman and Littlefield! (wait for PB is you're serious about buying it)

Augustine and Science, also from Rowman and Littlefield! (same as above - wait for PB if you're a private individual and not a library)

(Check out the website for the whole series, Augustine in Conversation!) 

The Undead and Theology from Wipf and Stock!

I'll be going to the ACTC conference later in the spring. (This is academic, no zombies.) 

My next release from Permuted Press will be PALE GODS in November! It's all set and just waiting for it to work through the queue.

Next Big Thing

I was asked to participate in this vast, expanding blog tour by the Horror Homemaker, Carole Lanham!

I apologize - I asked a bunch of people, but the expanding chain letter had already reached them! So I can't refer you to the next group! I can only offer you my humble Next Big Thing, my new project!

1) What is the working title of your next book? Pale Gods

2) Where did the idea come from for the book? I used to tell people it's a zombie version of Moby-Dick, but I think that got too confusing, since it's not about an undead whale. But I'm taking the underlying idea of Melville's novel is not just whaling, but the idea of theodicy - God's disputed justice and goodness in a world of infinite malice, cruelty, and randomness. And what world is more violent and random than one overrun with the walking dead?

3) What genre does your book fall under? Horror and post-apocalyptic

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? I like Edward Norton for his ordinariness, and the Ahab character should be Bruce Willis

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? In a world where the undead control the continents, a team foraging for supplies becomes increasingly obsessed with the undead's seemingly increasing intelligence.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Published by Permuted Press, due in November 2013

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? About two years

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Monster Island by David Wellington

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? See above - Melville's Moby-Dick

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest? Smart zombies!

Theology Books for the Holidays!

Declare War on high prices! Or declare war on the consumerism that Christmas has turned into! Or whatever floats your holiday boat! I was digging around in some boxes and found a cache of some of my theology books. If an educated, well-read Christian is on your gift giving list (and no, no jokes about that being an oxymoron, my atheist friends and family) - I can make you a deal on signed copies of two of my best theological books!

For example, perhaps s/he has a goal of reading that Christian classic, Augustine's Confessions in 2013. Then this lively commentary would be perfect! 

Or, perhaps s/he has always been fascinated by the Bible's worst villain and the mystery of predestination! Then this book is sure to please! 

Shoot me an email to negotiate! - kimpaffenroth@msn.com !!

The Undead and Theology - Down Under!

In today's interconnected world, it is still surprising that the first reactions to THE UNDEAD AND THEOLOGY come to us from the point on the globe furthest from where I'm sitting now!

A glowing Amazon review!

And a blog entry from the provocatively named The Cross Is Not Enough!

Thanks! And be sure to check it out! 

Free EBook - VALLEY OF THE DEAD!

That's right! All this weekend, the Kindle of VALLEY OF THE DEAD is FREE on Amazon! Get yours!

And a UK fan informs us - this is also FREE over at AMAZON.CO.UK! 

This, along with the third volume of DYING TO LIVE: LAST RITES, is my favorite thing I've written, and in the case of VALLEY OF THE DEAD, it is the novel I was meant to write, the one only I could write, because of particular combination of zombies, theology, and literature.