I wanted to acknowledge that I’ve had a new tidbit of fiction appear, and that it’s quite a bit different from anything I’ve had pop out before.

First, it’s part of an ensemble piece, written for what the publishers called a “screaming corpse.” That’s not a literal corpse, believe it or not, but a type of “exquisite corpse.” In your standard “exquisite corpse” exercise, the writer of each new section is allowed to read only the previous section, so that the final product comes out disjointed and surreal. (With this particular story, the contributors were allowed to cheat, and read all the preceding installments, though things got pretty surreal anyway.) The requirement to turn an “exquisite corpse” into a “screaming corpse”? Every writer had to incorporate the phrase “And then the murders began” into their section.

Second, you only get to read this story if you backed The Kaleidocast: Season Two Kickstarter. The story was released to backers on Jan. 19. An audio adaptation by C.S.E. Cooney is forthcoming — also available only to backers.

Those who didn’t back this Kickstarter can gnash their teeth that they don’t get to read a story co-written by (in alphabetical order) myself, Marcy Arlin, Evan Berkow, S. A. Chakraborty, Phenderson Djèlí Clark, D.T. Friedman, Carlos Hernandez, Barbara Krasnoff, Bradley Robert Parks, J. M. Plumbley, Ted Rabinowitz, Rob Cameron, Catherynne M. Valente, Lilah Wild and Fran Wilde.

The story (really, it’s a novelette) is called “It Began in Red Hook.” Lovecraftian reference? Wouldn’t you like to know…

Illustration by Fred Stesney

#SFWApro

Posted in Short stories, Signal boosts, Strangeness, Writing