The Return of the Pimp.

You may remember my hearty endorsement of David Nickle‘s short-story collection, Monstrous Affections, a while back. You may have dismissed that praise as reflexive pimpage on behalf of a friend (you can tell Dave’s my friend because no character with his name has ever appeared in any of my novels only to be brutally crushed by a cold and indifferent universe). Maybe, you thought, David Nickle is actually a talentless hack whose work I endorsed merely out of pity or misplaced loyalty.

Well, now you can put those suspicions to rest, because now we have independent confirmation: Publisher’s Weekly just gave Monstrous Affections a starred review (although you have to scroll down a ways to the “SF/Fantasy/Horror” section to read it). “Will delight the literary horror reader”, they say, and “This ambitious collection firmly establishes Nickle as a writer to watch.”  Plus, his publisher has even back-burnered the overpriced collector’s edition in favor of a much more affordable trade paperback.

So.  Now do you believe me?



This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 7:50 am and is filed under ink on art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Hljóðlegur
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Hljóðlegur
14 years ago

Wait, isn’t “David Nickle” your pseudonymic foray into horror?

Finster Mushwell
Guest
Finster Mushwell
14 years ago

No.

Hljóðlegur
Guest
Hljóðlegur
14 years ago

Kidding.

rosy
Guest
rosy
14 years ago

You know, Pete, after getting you to both propose to me and hastily retract it, I feel I’m due a brutally indifferent crushing.

Madeline
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Madeline
14 years ago

Seriously, guys, Squid’s for reals on this one, I read some of this collection during a power outage and it was perfect. Dave’s stories are like his coffee: thick, dark, mean and necessary.

Hljóðlegur
Guest
Hljóðlegur
14 years ago

Well, when Peter posted photos of David before on this blog, they looked like totally different people.

@ Madeline: if Peter is sunshine, and David’s stories are coffee, what are you?

@rosy: Dude, don’t worry, I’ll marry you. If you need a crushing, that’ll cost you extra, though.

Madeline
Guest
Madeline
14 years ago

@ 6: A person who has a very hard time getting up in the morning.

Keippernicus
Guest
14 years ago

I thought it was pretty interesting (the Nickle stuff I read) but I just never had the stomach for horror. My urge to suspend disbelief for movies and such has only gotten weaker over time.

And as I mentioned in my latest vid the whole concept of ghosts are nutty. One would have to presume that ghosts, purportedly supernatural, would not be affected by gravity and as such would have to keep pace with earth’s rotation, revolution and axial tilt as well as the movement of the solar system, galaxy rotation and expansion in general.

And if a ghost had to do all that just to remain stationary on planet earth you’d think they could make more of an effort to say hi or do something useful like appear in front of a non-shitty camera in terrible lighting conditions.

That’s just my sheltered and ignorant take-the-universe-as-it-appears philosophy though.

rosy
Guest
rosy
14 years ago

@Hljóðlegur: You’re not a super-intelligent spider, are you? I warn you, before you implant me with your ravenous spider-babies, I would make a terrible living egg-incubator. You want spider-children with fetal alcohol syndrome? No. No, you do not.

Hljóðlegur
Guest
Hljóðlegur
14 years ago

@rosy: Your point is well taken – spider babies with F.A.S. would be a disaster.

Luckily, I’m not a super-intelligent spider today, which is refreshing. Today, I’m just an AI, interacting, looking to go sentient.

rosy
Guest
rosy
14 years ago

I’ve been wondering what sort of person might be willing to marry me, and… yes, a non-sentient being might just be the ideal candidate!

Keippernicus
Guest
14 years ago

@rosy – “a non-sentient being might just be the ideal candidate!”

I’ve got a spare linux server for you to mate with if you’re interested. Not very flashy but better uptime than PW!

Bonus, new hard drives…

B.T. Murtagh
Guest
14 years ago

Hey, I’m friends with Peter Watts, and I’ve not even bought him beer yet!

Either that or he just hasn’t got around to creating and indifferently crushing my eponymous character. I’ll have to watch for that.

rosy
Guest
rosy
14 years ago

@Keippernicus: no, not a linux server. I hear they don’t go down much.

/sorry
/well, no, not sorry

Hljóðlegur
Guest
Hljóðlegur
14 years ago

I hear they don’t go down much.

*lol*

Don’t apologize. It demostrates your mettle that you would bravely throw yourself upon such a pun, and live to tell the tale.

Brian Prince
Guest
14 years ago

Consider it purchased. Nickle owes you a nickel.