Oo! Look, you can get an anthology I’m in for cheap. Jason Sizemore, proprietor of Apex Books says:

For one week only, the following Apex Book Company titles are on sale for $10.00:

Unwelcome Bodies
The Next Fix
HebrewPunk
Aegri Somnia
Gratia Placenti
Orgy of Souls
Mama’s Boy and Other Dark Tales
Beauty & Dynamite

Make Alexander Hamilton proud. Spend ten bucks and buy a book!

Now, I do have to warn you, just in case you don’t know, that Gratia Placenti is horror. This is not safe for parents — and by that I mean my parents. But the rest of you, have at it. Here’s the teaser from my story, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow.”

The moment Tuyet walked into the Dagenais’s compartment, she knew something was different. The usual pack of dogs swarmed around her, distracting her, before she figured out that the compartment smelled different. Not bad–not like the times they had left everything piled in the sink for her as if they were having a contest to see who could goad the other into doing the dishes. Nor the time they’d fired the dog walker and didn’t bother to walk the hoard of dogs that Hélène kept. But they paid her to come once a week to wipe their counters, load the dishwasher and tidy the compartment. So she’d kept her head down, asked herself what Kant would have done, then said screw the philosophy and wiped up the dog shit and urine.

Kant would not have done that.

Horror World Reviews covered Gratia Placenti, from Apex Digest, with what has to be the best review of any project of which I’ve had the pleasure to be a part.

The final story in the book, Mary Robinette Kowal’s Tomorrow And Tomorrow is yet another strong tale, concerning both a mother’s love and a husband’s hate. It is also a timely look at the idea of class systems and those who come from elsewhere; where, though being well educated and even well respected in their places or countries of origin, are forced to take menial jobs and face constant ridicule to survive in their new environment.

The review closes with this line, “Certainly one of 2007’s best anthology titles, it receives my highest recommendation.”

The first review of the Gratia Placenti anthology is out.
Dark Scribe Magazine gives us a very favorable notice

Concluding the anthology is Mary Robinette Kowal’s futuristic “Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, the tale of Tuyet, a cleaning woman working on a space station hoping to earn enough money to buy her ailing son a new set of lungs. A tale of the desperate things people do for the sake of others, this story presents a sympathetic character who is sucked into a murder plot after the fact, and is too deeply involved by the time she realizes it to change the outcome. With more than just her own life at stake, Tuyet is tragically doomed by either path she takes.

According to Jason Sizemore, tomorrow is the last day to order the Gratia Placenti anthology. There’s a pre-order discount of $12.95 or get the hard cover for $30.00.

Table of Contents – Final Order
“Translatio” – Geoffrey Girard
“Follow the Canary” – Athena Workman
“Crasher” – Debbie Kuhn
“Some Glue Never Dries” – David Niall Wilson
“The Cutting Room” – Shane Jiraiya Cummings
“Bright Red Razors” – Teri Jacobs
“Party Makers” – Adrienne Jones
“Them’s Good Eats” – JA Konrath
“Something Wet” – James Reilly
“Popup Killer” – Bev Vincent
“Only Spirits Cry” – R. Thomas Riley
“The Listening” – Neil Ayres
“Tomorrow and Tomorrow” – Mary Robinette Kowal

Introduction by Jason Sizemore
Cover art by Paul Bielaczyc

The anthology has horror based around the theme of “For the sake of pleasing.” Isn’t there someone on your shopping list who you want to please?

http://www.apexbookcompany.com

A Writer’s Vanity - Gratia Placenti available for pre-orders

Date of Publication: December 1st, 2007
Hardcover only available via pre-order
Special TPB pre-order price of $12.95

This is the much anticipated follow up to the Stoker nominated featured writer anthology Aegri Somnia. Gratia Placenti translated means “for the sake of pleasing.” 13 of the most sinister, darkest writers in the horror business were tasked with conveying their take on the theme of gratia placenti.

Table of Contents
“Only Spirits Cry” – R. Thomas Riley
“Crasher” – Debbie Kuhn
“Follow the Canary” – Athena Workman
“Translatio” – Geoffrey Girard
“Party Makers” – Adrienne Jones
“Some Glue Never Dries” – David Niall Wilson
“Some Good Eats” – JA Konrath
“Bright Red Razors” – Teri Jacobs
“Tomorrow and Tomorrow” – Mary Robinette Kowal
“The Listening” – Neil Ayres
“The Cutting Room” – Shane Jiraiya Cummings
“Something Wet” – James Reilly
“Popup Killer” – Bev Vincent

13 stories, 63000 words
Introduction by Jason Sizemore
Cover art by Paul Bielaczyc