Originally published at LonPrater.com. You can comment here or there.
Folks seem to be liking PARSEC’s Triangulation: Dark Glass. Check out what readers at Sci-Fi Online and Small Press Reviews had to say. (PS They are spot on about Rachel Swirsky and D.K. Thompson’s stories–my favorites of the book.)
And there are a few nice comments here and there on the various podcasting sites Theme and Variations has been made available on. It’s a wonderful arrangement (see what I did there?) of music-themed stories. If you like audio fiction, this one is a “don’t miss.”
None of these reviews single my stories out in any particular degree, but it’s nice to be part of a winning team! :)
Originally published at LonPrater.com. You can comment here or there.
Getting to hang out, talk shop and catch up with dozens of fine writer-folk, too many to name them all, in not-so-far-away Indianapolis for Mo-Con IV. Never enough time with my “tribe” but the laughs and memories are enough to get me by till the next time. Simply put, MoCon was awesome: cozy, well-planned, well-cooked-for, and filled with the sort of good company that bridges the gap between genre “community” and genre family. Among the new people I met, Becky and Steven Gilberts were Artists of Honor (happens to be that he did the covers for Frontier Cthulhu and upcoming Tales out of Miskatonic). Got a copy of Tom Picarrilli’s writing book Welcome to Hell, and damn fine gentleman that he is, got him to sign it and we talked face to face for a bit.
MoCon is about the intersection of genre and spirituality (I mean hey, it happens in a church, right?) and for me one of the highlights of the programming track was Wrath James White’s cogent explanation of his atheism, juxtaposed with Maurice’s take on why faith matters and the thoughtful, sincere discussion that followed.
Oh, and plus, there’s this bit of fun, from the same pair of performance lunatics who brought CLOWN, a, novel, into the public’s; eye…..,,,, OR DID THEY!
But the fun of visiting with other genre geeks writers wasn’t the only thing I had in mind when I came up with that title above.
Via Jason Sizemore/Apex Online, I have been reminded of one of the other major thrills of writing. Every so often, someone really gets what you were going after. When I write a story and see it published, it is with this almost childlike air of having created a very special surprise for the reader. Nothing delights me more than when the surprise is appreciated so fully, someone “gets it” so completely, that it feels like I have somehow made a connection across time and space with my story. So I was absolutely exalted when Jason told me that Lois Tilton at IROSF read “Head Music” when it appeared in Apex last March, and–well, said this:
This is a reprint from a horror anthology, which raises the question, What exactly is horror? The creature’s appearance would be regarded as horrific by most people who saw it—indeed, the resemblance to Cthulhu is probably not a coincidence. And the images of what comes later could certainly be called viscerally extreme. But is it evil? And is evil a requirement for what we call horror? I suspect that in the end, this depends on whether Diego acted out of free will as well as the creature’s intentions, and of this, we can not be quite sure.
RECOMMENDED
Man. That is better than money. (Not that I’m offering to give any back!)
Thanks Jason, for letting this story loose once again upon the world.
Originally published at LonPrater.com. You can comment here or there.
Not so much with the liking in this Fix review of Apex’s reprint of “Head Music”. Appreciate the reviewer giving the story a fair shake; I’m hopeful she won’t run screaming at every future mention of my name! 
Originally published at LonPrater.com. You can comment here or there.
1) From an Amazon UK reader review of Abominations that made me grin perversely:
“Starvelito” by Lon Prater is a sick cousin of “The Monkey Treatment ” from George R R Martins “Songs the Dead Men Sing”
2) Ken Scholes’ Lamentations is on the streets today. After poker (once again, the last one to fall before they went to the final table–I’m cursed!) my sweetie took me to the bookstore. Not many debut novels get me to shell out hardcover money*, but Ken… I know he’s good for it. This is going to be my traveling book next month.
3) Writing happens. After muddling about with a novella for a bit that wasn’t much in the mood to be written, I finished a lingering short story, wrote another one, AND got totally buzzed when the final piece clicked into place for a short story that’s been marinating in my backbrain about two years. The “glory” of not having a novel contract is that I can write whatever I feel like with no deadlines to worry about**. Especially since aforementioned short story has suddenly declared itself as my next novel. For purposes of the blog, it’ll be hereafter dubbed Unholy Mashup Novel. Till I finish it, anyway.
4) Got to see my kids for the long weekend. Aside from probably overdoing it with the fun events and unfortunately catching a flu bug of some sort–which now I’m catching too–they helped me name a character in Unholy Mashup Novel.
5) After a challenging bit of editing to rope it in to my current standards, I’ve been informed that Triangulation: Dark Glass wants to buy the revised and updated version of “Deadglass”. Look for it in the spring.
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* F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack, George R.R. Martin’s Ice & Fire, and Jay Lake’s Mainspring series are the others I know I’d spring for in hardcover.
** Oh, those poor dears with novel contracts… how do they ever manage? 
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good_bye_kitty 4 Howie the Nekkid Cat
5 Getting cool surprises in the mail. In the last week, my copy of Nursery Rhyme Noir came in, a cool friend sent me some vintage pulp Avon Fantasy magazines, and GBK got me the RepairmanJack.com What Would Jack Do? shirt.
6 New experiences. Tonight was military appreciation night for the Dayton Bombers semi-pro hockey team. My first hockey game and it turned out to be a lot of fun. #44 was the hothead of the team; he had a penchant for getting into brawls, and a fighting style that could best be described as "Drunken Fratboy".
7 Saving money. Anyone who knows me knows this one should be higher on the list. Aforementioned military appreciation night meant the hockey game was ridiculously cheap.
8 Making progress. Lost 6 pounds, exercised over 2000 calories and wrote 12 pages of new stuff in the first week of 2009.
Bonus happymakers:
9 Another positive review! IROSF's Lois Tilton called my recent Talebones story "A poignant expression of grief and love."
10 Spontaneous poetry collaborations!
- Mood:
happy
Made a sale I'm not sure if it's okay to draw attention to right at the end of 2008. Huzzah!
And then over the last few days, a string of positive reviews have come in for my recently released work. I'm glad these stories are being so well received!
First, for "A Road Like This, At Night" in Talebones, Doug Hoffman had these very kind words to say over at the Fix:
The protagonist of Lon Prater’s “A Road Like This, at Night” has a somber journey ahead of him. Recently, he lost his daughter to a drunk driver; he has taken a bus to his daughter’s college town, and now he must return home with her car. The car resonates with his daughter’s experiences, leading him to a far deeper understanding of her than he could have ever expected. This is a brief but poignant story, a study of regret, effective without being manipulative or maudlin. In the intro, the editor quotes Prater as saying this is his favorite road story, but “A Road Like This, at Night” is far more than a road story.
Same story got this commentary over from Sam Tomaino on SFRevu:
Lon Prater's "A Road Like This, At Night" is the story of a man with a grim task. His college student daughter has been killed by a drunk driver while she was walking one night and he must drive her car from college to his home. But along the way, he is haunted by visions of her life in this car and comes to understand and love her more. This was a well-done piece from Mr. Prater.
Last but not least, Rich Horton of Locus shows my story in Spacesuits and Sixguns some love:
Best may have been Lon Prater's "Prelude to a Theme by Dougie Franz", which had a neat idea: implanted mood enhancers to reinforce work habits -- making you like boring stuff, basically -- and a way in which that could go wrong.
- Music:Animal Crossing nonsense language
“Free to Good Home” (Lon Prater) treads solidly in Stephen King territory by showing us what happens when a man finds a PDA at an estate sale that prompts him with the question: “What do you want?” When the man answers, he is pleasantly surprised to find his wish granted. But there’s a catch, of course. There’s always a catch.
