July brought two fantastic events!

First was Camp Necon 44. As always, I had a great time at this “summer camp for writers"!

I spoke on the "Traditional Publishing & Indie Publishing: The Pros and Cons of Both" panel along with Allison Pang, Lori Perkins, Sam Rebelein, Mellisa Sherlin (who moderated), Daniel Waters, and Douglas Wynne. Despite my facial expression in the photo above, I really enjoyed it!

We told a lot of juicy stories of our publishing experiences, and we could have told a lot more if we’d had another hour!

On the very last day of the con, I was surprised (pleasantly!) by the announcement that next year, at Camp Necon 45, I will be recognized as a Camp Necon Legend for my many years of attendance, my stint hosting the annual (and now defunct) Necon Roast, and my decade-plus of developing the conference’s programming!

Even better, my dear friend Jack Haringa will be recognized as a Camp Necon Legend at the same time! It feels fitting, since Jack and I first became friends at Camp Necon well over 20 years ago.

But that’s not all! Next year’s Toastmaster will be none other than my darling wife (and number one roaster) Alexa Antopol! Somehow, she kept this marvelous secret from me all weekend!

I’m deeply honored and very, very grateful. I can’t wait to see everyone next year, and whether you’ve been to Camp Necon before or not, I hope you’ll join us!

* * *

I mentioned there were two events. The second happened just days after returning from Camp Necon.

Bestselling author and good friend Christopher Golden invited me to take part in Summer of Horrors, which was the first leg of his “Carry Me to Your Bookshelf” national tour promoting his new novel Carry Me to My Grave. The night was sponsored by my favorite new bookstore, the Twisted Spine, and hosted by Brooklyn Brewery.

Chris and I were joined by a who’s who of great horror authors: Nat Cassidy, Clay McLeod Chapman, Nicky Gonzalez, Brian Keene, John Langan, Victor LaValle, CJ Leede, Tanya Pell, Mary SanGiovanni, and Tony Tremblay.

Chris divided us up into two groups for two interesting panel discussions. I was on the "Making Monsters Personal" panel, which was a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure everything I said was gibberish, but the other panelists were all smart and insightful.

Afterward, there was a mass signing for all the authors. I got to meet a few new readers of mine and sign books for them, which is always a blast, and it was a joy to see some familiar faces in the crowd too.

Then we took the group photo you see above, which gets more chaotic the higher up the tiers you go!

Sneak Previews

I’m still hard at work on No One Is Coming to Save Us and have no new publication info to share just yet. In the meantime, please enjoy this comic that feels very pertinent at the moment:

In the Flesh

Two more very cool events coming up this month!

First, you can catch me at NecronomiCon Providence, August 13-16, along with Linda D. Addison, Dr. Chesya Burke, Philip Gelatt, Jon Padgett, Jeff VanderMeer, and more!

Here’s where you can find me on the schedule:

Friday, August 14 - 5:00 p.m. The Weird Within: Parasites and Parasitism
Waterplace Ballroom, Omni 2nd Floor

Ann VanderMeer (Moderator), Matthew Carpenter, Kristin Dearborn, Nicholas Kaufmann, Victoria Nations, Stephanie M. Wytovich

Tapeworms, flukes, ticks, amoeba, cuckoos, cordyceps. Organisms that steal life, incubate within host bodies, replace young, and manipulate behavior are a powerful source of psychological and bodily terror. Unsurprisingly, these organisms and ideas have permeated the Weird from the beginning. Panelists discuss the reasons why with reference to classic and contemporary examples and a side of biology.

Friday, August 14 - 6:30 p.m. The Weird on a Moderately Large Color Screen
Bristol/Kent Room, Omni 3rd Floor

Jacy Morris (Moderator), Heather Buckley, F. Brett Cox, John Foster, Nicholas Kaufmann

Surviving panelists from 2024’s Weird on a Small Color Screen return with reinforcements to continue their discussion of weird television shows from the Twenty-aughts, when cable and Blockbuster were still dominant but a proliferation of channels, production companies, and DVDs by mail began to change how the weird entered our living rooms. Turn to the infinite scrolling channel guide to see what horrors await!

Saturday, August 15 - 9:30 a.m. Tales from the Crypt: EC Comics
Bristol/Kent Room, Omni 3rd Floor

David Quiroz Jr (Moderator), Adam Golaski, Derek Austin Johnson, Nicholas Kaufmann, Sarah T Walker

A cackling, cloaked figure opens a dusty tome and reads to their audience stories featuring the supernatural, twist endings, and comeuppance. Welcome to the world of EC Comics, who specialized in gruesome titles like Vault of Horror, Weird Science, The Haunt of Fear and, of course, Tales from the Crypt. Unfortunately, EC’s run of horror, sci-fi, and crime stories was short-lived due to their comics being used as a scapegoat by politicians and psychiatrists for cases of juvenile delinquency in the 1950s. But much like the Crypt Keeper, EC refused to stay dead. Our panelists discuss the writers and artists who contributed to EC’s unique tone, the relationship of EC to the Pulp Era Weird, and how film adaptations, comic revivals and a certain beloved HBO series have kept EC’s legacy alive to this day.

It’s not too late to join me! You can find the registration info here!

* * *

On Monday, August 17, I will be in conversation with author S.M. Hallow about her fantastic debut novel The Halls of the Dead!

Join me as we celebrate this amazing new novelist and her dark and gory novel, full of complex characters and violent, chaotic magic!

This is a ticketed event and is sure to sell out, so grab your tickets now at Eventbrite!

Spooky Science Lab

The Spooky Science Lab podcast is on break before we return for Season 4. If you haven’t started listening yet, now’s a great time to catch up!

You can listen to Spooky Science Lab episodes wherever you get your podcasts, or at this easy link.

Also, don’t forget we have merch! T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, tote bags, phone cases, stickers, you name it!

Check out our merch store here and use the three-line dropdown menu in the upper left corner to see all the different items you can get with our awesome logo on it!

As an added bonus, if you take a picture of yourself with any Spooky Science Lab merch and email it to contact@spookysciencelab.com, we’ll post it on our social media!

Let everyone know you like your science spooky!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

Happy 4th of July to my American readers!

Last month, June, brought two very fun events!

First was a reading at the KGB Bar as part of the Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series. My co-reader that night was recent Bram Stoker Award winner A.C. Wise, who is a lovely person and who gave a great reading from her novel Ballad of the Bone Road.

I read the story “Lucienne” from Monuments in Darkness and was very pleased by how well it was received. The audience laughed and gasped in all the right places. Who could ask for more?

My Godzilla shirt got lots of compliments, too! That’s how you know everyone there had discerning taste.

The NBA playoffs were still going when the reading happened, and I want to thank everyone who showed up to give us a full house for braving the crowds of Knicks fans!

Many thanks again to hosts Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel for inviting me, and to the ever-reliable Amy Goldschlager for subbing in for Matt last minute as co-host! Also, thanks to my pal Chandler Klang Smith for taking the excellent picture above!

* * *

Then, I had the awesome opportunity to host a guest round at Brooklyn Horror Society’s monthly horror trivia night at Lucky 13 Saloon, a horror and metal bar in Park Slope!

I had the best time! My round was all about the classic Universal monsters (with one question about the 1999 remake of The Mummy added for good measure), and judging from the final scores, my round was just the right balance between relatively easy questions and more challenging ones.

(By the way, the answer to the question in the picture above is: his fangs. Dracula’s fangs are never seen in the movie, and neither are the puncture holes in the necks of his victims. Universal deemed both details too intense to show!)

Big thanks to everyone who showed up and filled the house! It was a fun, high energy night and I definitely felt the love! Special thanks to Julia, Adam, and Dave from BHS for having me! Thanks also to my wife Alexa for taking great pictures!

I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Sneak Previews

Not much to report. I’m almost done with edits on No One Is Coming to Save Us.

I know, I know, I keep saying that, but I can really see the light at the end of the tunnel this time.

I hope to have more news for you soon!

In the Flesh

Lots of cool stuff coming up this month!

From July 16-19, catch me at Necon 44, along with Clay McLeod Chapman, Johnny Compton, Christa Carmen, and Robert R. McCammon!

Here’s where you can find me on the schedule:

Saturday, July 18 - 9:00 a.m. Traditional Publishing & Indie Publishing: The Pros and Cons of Both

Nicholas Kaufmann, Allison Pang, Lori Perkins, Sam Rebelein, Mellisa Sherlin (Moderator), Daniel Waters, Douglas Wynne

The gap between traditional publishing and indie publishing isn’t as wide as it used to be. In fact, many authors are doing both now, releasing new works through traditional publishing houses and rereleasing their backlist on their own. Our panelists will discuss their experiences with traditional and indie publishing: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Sunday, July 19 - 11:00 a.m. Camp Necon Town Meeting

Another annual tradition, as awards are bestowed and the Camp Necon Family gives the Committee feedback on what went well and makes suggestions for next year. [Come say goodbye to me as I finish my final year on the Programming Subcommittee!]

It’s not too late to join me! You can find the registration info here!

* * *

On Tuesday, July 21st, it’s Summer of Horrors, part of Christopher Golden’s Carry Me to Your Bookshelf Tour!

Join me, John Langan, Brian Keene, Clay McLeod Chapman, C.J. Leede, Victor LaValle, and so many other great horror authors as we celebrate the release of New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden’s novel Carry Me to My Grave!

Sponsored by the Twisted Spine bookstore and held at Brooklyn Brewery in Brooklyn, NY!

It’s going to be a mini-convention with two panel discussions featuring all of us, and then a massive book signing!

Doors Open: 5 PM

Panel #1: 5:45 PM

Panel #2: 6:45 PM

Signing Line: 7:30-8:30 PM

Grab your tickets here, and act fast! This event is sure to sell out!

Spooky Science Lab

The Spooky Science Lab podcast is on break before we return for Season 4. If you haven’t started listening yet, now’s a great time to catch up!

You can catch Spooky Science Lab episodes wherever you get your podcasts, or at this easy link.

Also, this is your regular reminder that we have merch! T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, tote bags, phone cases, stickers, you name it!

Check out our merch store here and use the three-line dropdown menu in the upper left corner to see all the different accessories you can get with our awesome logo on it!

As an added bonus, if you take a picture of yourself with any Spooky Science Lab merch and email it to contact@spookysciencelab.com, we’ll post it on our social media!

Let everyone know you like your science spooky!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

If you’ve been following the news of the Anthropic settlement (and I’m sure you have if you’re an author), you know that the AI company settled a class-action suit after scraping online pirate sites for thousands of stolen books to use to train their AI program Claude.

Many authors are expecting to receive a share of that settlement money, although how much will actually end up in our pockets remains to be seen. I’m skeptical, to say the least.

However, if you’re an author, you also know that only books whose copyrights were properly registered with the U.S. Copyright Office are eligible for the settlement. And boy, was that an eye-opener for many of us!

It turns out that most small presses, and even some of the big ones, don’t bother registering their copyrights, likely in order to save on the fee, which resulted in an untold number of books left out of the settlement.

Of the 10 or so books of mine that Anthropic illegally pirated to train Claude, only three are eligible for the settlement because of this issue. It’s maddening.

You know who else thinks it’s maddening? The Authors Guild.

The Guild is currently collecting information from authors whose publishers failed to register their books with the U.S. Copyright Office, and who believe they were excluded from the class action settlement as a result.

In a message to authors, the Guild said it wants “to understand the scope of the problem and report out about it.”

Authors who have learned their work was not registered by their publisher can alert the Authors Guild at this link.

You don’t have to be a member of the Guild to fill out the form. I’m not, and I filled it out for each and every one of my books that wasn’t covered.

Before you get yours hopes up, I should reiterate that this is about data-gathering. I don’t expect it to result in additional settlement payouts. Although, that would be nice!

Please let your writer friends know about this.

And now, onto this month’s news!

Sneak Previews

Not much writing news to report this month.

I’m still working on revisions for No One is Coming to Save Us. The work is advancing by inches, as I haven’t had a lot of time to focus on it lately. It’s been a hectic month.

And speaking of hectic, check out how many appearances I have coming up!

In the Flesh

On June 10, I’ll be reading at the Fantastic Fiction at KGB series along with author A.C. Wise!

7 PM at the KGB Bar on the Lower East Side!

Free admission (but please buy drinks from the bar)!

* * *

On June 24, I’ll be guest-hosting a round of horror trivia for the Brooklyn Horror Society’s Wrong Answer Trivia Night!

8 PM at the Lucky 13 Saloon in Park Slope, Brooklyn!

Free admission (but again, please buy drinks from the bar)!

* * *

From July 16-19, catch me at Necon 44, along with Clay McLeod Chapman, Johnny Compton, and Robert R. McCammon!

You can find the registration info here!

* * *

From August 13-16, I’ll be at NecronomiCon Providence!

You can find the registration info here!

* * *

On September 19, join me and a bunch of other great authors signing books at the Brooklyn Books & Booze Author Book Fair!

11 AM to 5 PM at Barrow’s Intense Ginger Tasting Room in Industry City, Brooklyn!

Free admission!

A busy summer indeed, I declare in my best Vincent Price voice!

Spooky Science Lab

I’m proud to announce that Season 3 of the podcast has wrapped!

As always, you can listen to Spooky Science Lab wherever you get your podcasts, or follow these easy links to the new episodes that have gone live since the last newsletter:

Episode 033: The Bone Collector / Origin of the Moon - In this episode, Nick introduces us to a rare and unusual caterpillar, one that's carnivorous, cannibalistic, hides in spiderwebs, and makes armor out of the bones of its prey. Then, Dave reveals the origin of the moon. If you think you already know how the moon formed, the truth is weirder and wilder than you thought!

Episode 034: Spider Megacity / How the Planets Died - In this episode, Nick reveals the shocking surprise explorers discovered in a cave on the Greece-Albania border: the world's biggest spiderweb, home to over 100,000 spiders and part of a fascinating and bizarre ecosystem. Then, Dave examines the origin of the inner planets of the solar system and the very real possibility that there might have been life on other planets than Earth. But if there was, what happened to it?

Episode 035: Jackalopes / Dark Matter - In this episode, Nick tells the tale of hunters in Iowa in 1933 catching rabbits with strange black horns. Horned rabbits were seen again in Colorado in 2025. What's happening, and what do these horned rabbits have to do with the American myth of the jackalope? Then, Dave examines what keeps galaxies from breaking apart. The answer is gravity from dark matter. But where does dark matter come from, and if we can't see it, how do we know it's there?

Episode 036: Spooky Science Lab Live 2! - The season finale! In this episode, Nick details two of the weirdest and wildest ways the Earth could be destroyed. Not the end of humankind or civilization as we know it--the end of the planet itself! Then, Dave reveals early Homo sapiens were not the only intelligent life on Earth. In fact, they shared the planet with at least seven other species of hominids. But what happened to them? (This episode was recorded before a live audience at the Flying Fox Tavern in Queens, NY, on April 19, 2026.)

Season 4 is on the horizon!

In the meantime, don’t forget Spooky Science Lab has merch! T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, tote bags, phone cases, stickers, you name it!

Check out our merch store here and use the three-line dropdown menu in the upper left corner to see all the different accessories you can get with our awesome logo on it!

As an added bonus, if you take a picture of yourself with any Spooky Science Lab merch and email it to contact@spookysciencelab.com, we’ll post it on our social media sites!

Let everyone know you like your science spooky!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

April’s “Spooky Science Lab Live 2” at the Flying Fox Tavern was a smashing success! (And I do mean smashing, since one of the things I talked about was a rogue planet colliding with Earth!)

We had a full house, and it was great to see so many friendly faces. There were newcomers in the crowd, too, whom I hope will become regular listeners to the podcast. I know we picked up a few new followers on our socials.

Our topics were well suited to a live show with a visual component. I talked about two of the weirdest and most random ways planet Earth could be destroyed. Dave talked about a time in the distant past when Homo sapiens was not the only dominant species and shared the world with seven other closely related but distinctly different hominids.

If you couldn’t join us for the live show, don’t worry. It was recorded, and the episode will be going out to podcast listeners at the end of this season.

We always have a blast doing the podcast live. I hope it’s a tradition that continues!

Sneak Previews

My collection of horror stories and weird fiction, Monuments in Darkness, has been out for 10 months now! Can you believe that? But even though it’s not brand-new anymore, it could really use some love. the collection contains some of my best work to date, but I’m sorry to say it hasn’t found a big audience yet. You can help!

If you read and enjoyed Monuments in Darkness, please consider writing a review for Amazon, or Goodreads, or your blog, or your social media, or even just talk it up to your book-lovin’ friends.

If you like horror and weird fiction but haven’t read it yet, please consider picking up a copy. I think you’ll love it!

You can get it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Powells, directly from the publisher, or your local indie (always recommended).

Many thanks!

In the Flesh

Lots of cool stuff coming up!

On June 10, I’ll be reading at the Fantastic Fiction at KGB series along with author A.C. Wise!

7 PM at the KGB Bar on the Lower East Side!

Free admission!

* * *

From July 16-19, catch me at Necon 44, along with Clay McLeod Chapman, Lisa Springer, Johnny Compton, and Robert R. McCammon!

You can find the registration info here!

* * *

On September 19, join me and a bunch of other great authors signing books at the Brooklyn Books & Booze Author Book Fair!

11 AM to 5 PM at Barrow’s Intense Ginger Tasting Room in Industry City, Brooklyn!

Free admission!

Spooky Science Lab

Season 3 of the podcast continues apace!

As always, you can listen to Spooky Science Lab wherever you get your podcasts, or follow these easy links to the new episodes that have gone live since the last newsletter:

Episode 029: Tiny Mushroom People / Space Tunnels - In this episode, Nick reports on a rare hallucinogenic mushroom from southwestern China that, impossibly, gives everyone who eats it the exact same hallucination: the sudden appearance of hundreds of tiny grinning, dancing human beings! Then, Dave explores the fascinating scientific concept of space tunnels, lanes of hot, sparse plasma that connect vast areas of empty space into a gigantic network. Can they be used for interstellar travel?

Episode 030: Death on Lake Nyos / Blanets - In this episode, Nick relates the real-life horror that befell the villages around Lake Nyos in Cameroon in 1986. Without warning, over 1,700 people died mysteriously in the night, while simultaneously the lake’s water turned blood red. What caused this bizarre tragedy? Then, Dave probes the surprising existence of planets in stable orbits around black holes, known as “blanets.” Could they support life, and if so, what would it be like to live with a black hole for a sun?

Episode 031: New Ocean Life Roundup / Antimatter - In this episode, Nick takes us on a roundup of newly discovered deep-ocean life. New marine species are being discovered all the time. Here are three of the strangest examples. Then, Dave talks about antimatter. What is it, where does it come from, and perhaps most importantly, what really happens when it comes in contact with ordinary matter?

Episode 032: The Mummy’s Curse / Parker Solar Probe - In this episode, Nick takes a look at the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 and the string of untimely deaths among those present that immediately followed. Was it a supernatural curse or was something else to blame? Then, Dave introduces us to NASA's Parker Solar Probe, an incredible but little-known feat of engineering built to withstand millions of degrees as it passes through the sun's corona.

And don’t forget, Spooky Science Lab has merch now! T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, tote bags, phone cases, stickers, you name it!

Check out our merch store here!

As an added bonus, if you take a picture of yourself with any Spooky Science Lab merch and email it to contact@spookysciencelab.com, we’ll post it on our social media sites!

Let everyone know you like your science spooky!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

Are you tired of me talking about AI-related issues in publishing? I hope not, because there’s a new AI scandal that’s rocking the industry, and I’d like to dissect it a bit here.

As detailed in a Jezebel article from March 20 (an article which features my own Bluesky post on the topic!), Hachette Book Group, which owns imprints like Little, Brown, Orbit, Grand Central, Workman, and others, picked up the publishing rights to a self-published horror novel called Shy Girl, which apparently had sold well enough to catch their attention.

It does happen sometimes that self-published books sell well enough that a traditional publisher comes calling with, ostensibly, high advances and a promise of worldwide distribution. The Dungeon Crawler Carl books are a good recent example of this. They were successfully self-published before being acquired by Ace in 2024. Unfortunately, the Shy Girl instance reveals just how lazy and reckless this process can sometimes be.

Even before Hachette picked it up, there was a lot of chatter online that Shy Girl appeared to have been written by generative AI. Hachette claimed ignorance of this, which is odd because the book was an Internet-driven success. You’d think the acquiring editors at Hachette would have stumbled across a few Reddit threads in looking up the book. Instead, they went ahead and acquired it, published it in the UK, and scheduled it for publication in the US.

But then the New York Times picked up the story about its apparent AI origins and Hachette got cold feet. They pulled the book from shelves in the UK and canceled plans to publish it in the US.

The author, Mia Ballard, claims she didn’t use AI, but that she paid a friend to edit the manuscript prior to self-publication and the friend substituted AI-generated passages for Ballard’s own. I suppose anything is possible, but it’s odd that Ballard didn’t seem to notice or care at the time.

You may be tempted to think Hachette is taking a principled stand for human-created works, but there are some reasons this may not really be the case.

First, I wonder whether they would have pulled the book this readily had their UK edition been selling better. Apparently, it’d only moved 1,800 copies. If that number had been 18,000 or 180,000, would the same have happened, or would they have ignored the growing online accusations and New York Times article the way Penguin Random House ignored everything when James Frey’s bestselling memoir A Million Little Pieces was publicly revealed to be fictional?

Next, as this Publishers Weekly article points out, Hachette itself uses AI to “generate short marketing text or social media assets to facilitate broadest possible reach for all titles.” In other words, their press releases, email blasts, and social media posts are all AI-generated, thus freeing up the marketing and publicity department to, presumably, find other jobs. Not terribly human-friendly, that.

Lastly, there’s this interesting wrinkle: In 2023, Little, Brown published a book of entirely AI-generated poetry called I AM CODE. The money they saved by not having to pay an actual author went toward hiring famed director Werner Herzog to narrate the audiobook. As I mentioned up top, Little, Brown is part of Hachette, the same company that is now claiming to value and defend human-written words.

So what does it all mean? Only that the industry has yet to set any standards for itself or its authors when it comes to genAI. Hopefully, it’s not too late. Personally, I’d love to see a blanket ban on genAI in publishing, since it’s trained on millions of copyrighted works stolen from me and my author (and artist) friends. But if publishers are already using AI behind the scenes, whether in marketing or in the creation of an entire book of poetry, I suspect the needle will soon be moving in the opposite direction.

As someone who values human creativity, I think that’s a shame.

Sneak Previews

Exciting news!

After six years of only being available as an e-book, Crossroad Press has now reprinted my novella Chasing the Dragon in a new paperback edition!

Shirley Jackson Award Finalist
Thriller Award Finalist

Centuries ago, St. George fought and killed a dragon — or so the legend goes. The truth is somewhat different. George failed in his mission, and the Dragon still walks the Earth, protected by an undead army, hiding in the shadows and slaughtering men, women, and children for its prey. Each of George’s descendants through time has been tasked with killing the Dragon, and each has failed.

Twenty-five-year-old Georgia Quincey is the last of the line — the last, best hope for defeating the Dragon once and for all. But Georgia is also an addict, driven to the warm embrace of the needle by the weight of her responsibility and the loss of everything and everyone she has ever loved. Tracking her nemesis to the small town of Buckshot Hill, New Mexico for their final showdown, Georgia is about to discover the truth about the Dragon, a terrible secret that could put all life on Earth in peril.

“Chasing the Dragon moves like a bullet. As blood-soaked and thunderous as a Sergio Leone western, and grimly referential to classic pulp horror, Kaufmann turns the screws and steadily escalates the tension. A gory, thoroughly rollicking thriller–not to be missed.” — Laird Barron, author of Blood Standard and Black Mountain

“Relentless and unflinching, Chasing the Dragon offers mayhem, meat puppets and one hell of a monster. Highly recommended!” — Brian Keene, author of Darkness On The Edge of Town and The Lost Level

Get a copy for yourself at Amazon!

In the Flesh

Spooky Science Lab Live 2 is coming!

On April 19, join us at the Flying Fox Tavern in Ridgewood, Queens as Dave and I record a live episode right before your very eyes!

For more info and to RSVP (not required), go to this Facebook event page!

Doors open at 5 PM! There’s food and drink! Show starts at 6 PM!

Free admission! Be there!

* * *

On June 10, I’ll be reading at the Fantastic Fiction at KGB series along with author A.C. Wise!

7 PM at the KGB Bar on the Lower East Side!

Free admission!

* * *

From July 16-19, catch me at Necon 44, along with Clay McLeod Chapman, Lisa Springer, Johnny Compton, and Robert R. McCammon!

You can find the registration info here!

Spooky Science Lab

I’m over the moon to report that Spooky Science Lab has been downloaded over 2,500 times!

Obviously, I know there are big podcasts out there that hit numbers like that every day, but for a little niche podcast like ours talking about strange-but-true science, it’s truly amazing and so gratifying.

I know I speak for Dave as well as myself when I say thank you to all our listeners out there who made this possible. We appreciate each and every one of you, and your support means more to us than we can possibly say.

* * *

I’m also happy to report that Season 3 is underway as of this writing!

As always, you can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts, or follow these easy links to the new episodes that have gone live so far:

Episode 025: Tattoos / Extraterrestrial Life Update - In the Season 3 premiere, Nick takes a deep dive into what actually happens inside your body when you get a tattoo. Think it's just ink being injected into your skin? Think again! There's a wild, desperate battle raging just beneath your epidermis that plays a bigger part in getting a tattoo than you can imagine. Then, Dave updates us on the search for extraterrestrial life. With the discovery of distant worlds that have liquid water on or below the surface, exobiologists believe there's more of a chance than ever that life may exist elsewhere in the universe.

Episode 026: Spider Intelligence / Galactic Center - In this episode...spiders! Whether you love them or are creeped out by them, you can't deny they're fascinating creatures. But did you know they're smart, too? Nick introduces us to a species of sheet-web spider that has developed a very interesting trick to lure prey, one that indicates a more sophisticated level of intelligence than we thought. Then, Dave takes us on a journey to the center of the galaxy to explore a bizarre realm of ionized gas and dark matter. At the middle of it all sits Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole 4,000,000 times more massive than the Sun.

Episode 027: Eye Worms / Are We Living Inside a Black Hole? - In this episode, Nick shares what might be Spooky Science Lab's most disturbing medical mystery yet, the story of a woman in Beijing who went to the hospital for what she thought was common eye irritation. What they discovered was anything but common: tiny worms living and laying eggs just beneath her eyelid! Then, Dave examines the theory that posits our universe exists inside a black hole. Is such a thing even possible? Surprisingly, the math says it could be!

Episode 028: Zombie Shrimp / Lost Continents - In this episode, Nick explores the mystery of how a parasitic worm makes amphipods change their color and behavior, and more importantly, why they do it. In true Spooky Science Lab fashion, the answer is deeply disturbing. Then, Dave examines the legends of lost continents throughout history. Did any of them, including Atlantis, really exist?

And don’t forget, Spooky Science Lab has merch now! T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, tote bags, phone cases, stickers, you name it!

Check out our merch store here!

As an added bonus, if you take a picture of yourself with any Spooky Science Lab merch and email it to contact@spookysciencelab.com, we’ll post it on our social media sites!

Let everyone know you like your science spooky!

* * *

Also, don’t forget about Spooky Science Lab Live 2 at the Flying Fox Tavern in Ridgewood, Queens on April 19!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

Such is the scourge of AI-generated novels, poems, and stories gumming up the system at Amazon and other retailers that the Authors Guild has begun offering “Human Authored” certification marks for literary works in which "the text itself was fully authored by one or more human beings and not generated by AI."

If you click through the above link, you can see an image of the certification mark they came up with, which, unfortunately, looks like it was thrown together in five minutes on an off-brand free design app. I’m sure all my graphic designer friends are shaking their heads right now. My pal Errick Nunnally, who designed the amazing Spooky Science Lab logo, is probably pouring himself a stiff drink.

I do like (and appreciate) the sentiment. After all, who wants to read a novel generated by a computer program that has no life experience or understanding of human emotions? I’ve read AI-generated prose, and it’s as soulless as you might imagine, full of surface-level characterization, clunky prose, and cliched plots. What do you expect from a computer program that can only regurgitate the prose that has been (often illegally) fed to it with no understanding of what makes prose good?

AI loves adjectives, and they’re peppered liberally throughout AI-generated works. Those same adjective are also peppered liberally throughout the AI-generated phishing emails I and every other author I know are bombarded with every damn day from fake book clubs and make-believe movie scouts.

So, yeah, I get it, but the human-made certification mark is also a little silly. For one thing, anybody can pay the $10 fee (if you’re not a Guild member; members get it for free) and receive the certification mark to put on their book covers, with no way for the Authors Guild to verify if the work really is human-authored. Ultimately, it’s just a logo for license.

Second, that $10 fee. The Authors Guild is banking on its name lending the certification mark legitimacy, which is why they’re charging for it. But really, since the Guild isn’t vetting who can buy the certification mark, you might as well just put the text “100% human-written without AI” somewhere on the cover of your book or in the front matter without spending a dime. It will mean just as much in the end.

Sneak Previews

I’m thrilled that writer and raconteur Ben Francisco included my new collection, Monuments in Darkness, in their Favorite Short Story Collections of 2025 roundup!

They called it "an excellent collection of horror, dark fantasy, and weird fiction from a master of the genre." I’ll take it!

You can read the rest of their review, and see what other collections made the list, at their website.

Just a reminder, if you’ve read and enjoyed Monuments in Darkness, leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, your social media, your blogs, or anywhere really helps a lot! Nothing helps a book find its readers like word of mouth.

And if you’ve been wanting to pick up a copy for yourself, here’s a handy link!

In the Flesh

Wow, was February busy for me!

First, there was the Brooklyn Books & Booze Author Book Fair in Industry City. It was freezing cold outside—the coldest day of the year—so I really appreciate the readers who made the trek to come out and see us!

Then came Boskone up in Boston. What a blast that was! I loved seeing friends I don’t get to see very often and meeting new readers. My reading on Sunday morning was even well attended, which I wasn’t expecting! So much gratitude for that! (I’m making “gratitude hands” right now, which is a reference anyone who’s read Sarah Langan’s A Better World will get!)

Finally, I was a “Guest of Horror” at LICH, the Long Island Convention of Horror! It was a lot of fun. I got to meet some great people, reconnect with old friends, and build relationships with a couple of publishers I’d love to work with someday (and who said they’d love to work with me, which is always nice to hear).

LICH is a new convention. This was only their second year and they’re still working out some kinks, but I was blown away by how much work (and love) went into it. I hope LICH continues to grow.

* * *

In between all of that, I also took part in an online reading called Eldritch Winter: An Afternoon of Horrors. Hosted by author C.S.E. Cooney, the reading included horror luminaries like Cassandra Khaw, Christa Carmen, Jeffrey Thomas, S.P. Miskowski, Mike Allen, and more.

You can watch a recording of the reading on YouTube now! (I’m the second reader.)

* * *

Last year’s Spooky Science Lab Live was so much fun we’re doing it again!

Spooky Science Lab Live 2 will be happening on Sunday, April 19th, at the Flying Fox Tavern, 6-78 Woodward Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens!

We’ve got something special planned, so come see Dave and me share stories of strange-but-true science in front of a live audience! It’s free and open to the public!

And speaking of Spooky Science Lab…

Season 3 is almost here!

The first episode of the new season will go live on Monday, March 9th!

Catch it wherever you listen to your podcasts!

We’re so excited! Spooky Science Lab is back!

And don’t forget about Spooky Science Lab Live 2 on Sunday, April 19th!

May the fungus be with you…

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

February is my birthday month! Normally, it’s a time of celebration, but as I get older, it’s also a time of reflection.

Not to get too morbid (says the horror writer), but I’m about to turn 57 and mortality is on my mind. I know what you’re thinking: 57 isn’t that old. You’re right, of course. When I say mortality, I suppose what I really mean is legacy.

Speaking honestly, it has sometimes felt hard enough getting readers to pick up my books as a living author; will I still be read when I’m gone? How many more books do I have in me before I ascend to the great coffee shop in the sky, clutching a laptop in lieu of a halo? How will those books be received? These are the questions I ponder as a new birthday approaches, as my body’s chronic aches and pains intensify and are joined by new ones.

Part of the reason this is on my mind is because I recently received an email from a fan of the Trent novels (Dying Is My Business, Die and Stay Dead) wondering where the third book is, and once again I had to relate the sad story of how sales of the books were disappointing to the publisher, St. Martin’s, and that they canceled the series before the third and final volume of the trilogy was commissioned.

I get one, maybe two of these fan emails a year. Hardly a groundswell, but I’ll admit it’s always nice to hear that people liked the books, even if they didn’t hit it big.

Will this be my legacy, I wonder, the forever-missing third book in a trilogy? Or will some future book be the one I’m remembered for? Will I be read after I’m gone, or will my work eventually be forgotten?

There are no answers to be had, which is why any good therapist would advise you not to dwell on it and to try to live in the moment. But as another birthday appears on the horizon, and my hair silvers further, I can’t help thinking about what, if anything, my legacy will be.

Sneak Previews

If you ordered the signed, limited edition hardcover of Cold War Cthulhu, which includes my story “The Endless Black Cathedral,” it should be arriving soon, if it hasn’t already. I just got my author’s copy this week.

It's a beauty, with dust jacket art and endpapers by the great Bob Eggleton, and signed by all the authors!

It's limited to 100 copies and is sold out at the publisher, but you should be able to find copies on the secondhand market, and of course there's a trade paperback available, too.

In the Flesh

Today, as you read this very newsletter, I’m selling and signing books at the Brooklyn Books & Booze Author Book Fair, along with other great authors like John C. Foster, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Leanna Renee Hieber, Randee Dawn, Hildy Silverman, Aaron Rosenberg, and so many more!

It runs Saturday, February 7th (today!) from 11 AM - 5 PM at at Barrow’s Intense NY Tasting Room in Industry City in Brooklyn, NY.

If you’re local and reading this in time, please stop by! It’s free and open to the public! (Plus, it’s indoors and well heated!)

* * *

On Friday, February 13th - Sunday, February 15th, I’ll be at Boskone 63, at the Westin Boston Seaport District in Boston, MA! Here’s where you can find me:

Friday at 5:30 PM
Podcasting as an Author
How should an author run a podcast? An author can run a successful podcast by defining a clear niche, focusing on quality content and consistent delivery, and actively engaging with their community. The discussion should cover key areas from planning to promotion.
Courtney Floyd, moderator; Nicholas Kaufmann; Gregory Wilson; Brianna Wu

Friday at 7:00 PM
Body Horror in Fiction & Media
Body horror gets under your skin. Is it being embodied as inherently upsetting? How can body horror portray liberating transformation/acceptance of that horror? The term "body horror" didn't seem common in public until 2024--how long has it really been around?
Justin C. Key, moderator; Gillian Daniels; Nicholas Kaufmann; Bracken MacLeod; Rebecca Rowland; RJ Taylor

Sunday at 10:30 AM
Reading
I’ll be reading something, but I don’t know what yet!

If you’re interested in joining us, you can find Boskone registration information here.

* * *

On Friday, February 27th - March 1st, I’ll be a “Guest of Horror” at the Long Island Convention of Horror (or, LICH), at the Hyatt Regency Long Island in Hauppauge, NY!

I’ll be selling and signing books, and I might be on some programming, too, but I don’t have my schedule for this one yet.

You can find LICH registration information here.

Spooky Science Lab

If you follow Spooky Science Lab on Facebook, Bluesky, or Instagram, you already know the good news! (And if you’re not following our socials, you should rectify that pronto!)

We’re happy to announce that recording has begun on Season 3! We have some amazing strange-but-true science lined up for you and can’t wait to share!

The new season of the podcast goes live on Monday, March 9th!

Catch Spooky Science Lab wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

Happy new year to you all! I hope 2026 brings you good health, happiness, prosperity, and lots of great books to read!

Unfortunately, the new year brings with it more generative AI nonsense, this time coming from Amazon.

Amazon is launching a new feature on the Kindle app (just the iOS version for now, although coming to Android soon) called “Ask this Book.” According to the feature’s announcement website, “Highlight any passage in a book you’ve bought or borrowed, and Ask this Book allows you to ask questions about what you’re reading, right on the page….Instantly answering questions about plot details, character relationships, and thematic elements without disrupting your reading flow. All responses provide immediate, contextual, spoiler-free information.”

What’s so bad about this, you might ask?

The problem is that the only way this AI feature can answer your questions is if the book you’re reading has been “fed” to Amazon’s LLM, which, without consent from the author and compensation, is an illegal copyright violation (stemming from the fact that most books fed to LLMs are scraped from Internet pirate sites, not purchased through normal channels that provide authors with royalties for their work).

It gets worse. If by some chance the book you’re reading hasn’t already been fed to Amazon’s LLM, the only way this feature can answer your questions is if the text is being fed to the LLM as you read it on your Kindle app.

In other words, with each page you access onscreen, Amazon’s LLM slurps up the content from the other side.

It’s an insidious new way for Amazon to get around having to pay for the content they train their LLM on.

This is why I’m against generative AI. Because it's trained on hard work stolen from me and my writer and artist friends, and because it devalues that same hard work.

You can read more about concerns regarding Ask This Book at Writer Beware.

Okay, enough of that! Let’s move on to some good news!

Sneak Previews

Legendary reviewer Don D’Ammassa has some very nice things to say about my collection Monuments in Darkness:

“Kaufmann is very serious about his characters and stories and almost all of them are intensely suspenseful…A good collection from an author I encounter too infrequently in my reading.”

You can read the full review at the Horror Reviews website.

* * *

Work continues apace on my new horror-thriller novel, No One Is Coming to Save Us. The third draft is done, and with fingers crossed, I hope to have some good news for you later this year!

In the Flesh

In December, the mighty Jason White (not to be confused with Mighty Joe Young) had me on his YouTube channel, Jason’s Weird Reads, to talk about Monuments in Darkness.

We talked about everything from the HBO Max streaming series “Welcome to Derry” to ambiguous endings, my advice to writers about crafting short stories, and what the heck weird fiction even is. We also did a deep dive into a few of the stories in Monuments.

It was a great conversation, and you can check it out on video or audio-only podcast!

Jason has been a big supporter of my work ever since The Hungry Earth came out back in 2021, and I’m so grateful and pleased to be back on his show!

* * *

I’ve got a trio of appearances coming up in February (my birth month—surprise, I’m a Pisces!):

• First, on Saturday, February 7th, you can catch me at the Brooklyn Books & Booze Author Fair. It goes from 11 AM – 5PM at Barrow’s Intense NY Tasting Room in Industry City in Brooklyn, NY. It’s free and open to the public.

• Then, on Friday, February 13th - Sunday, February 15th, I’ll be at Boskone 63, at the Westin Boston Seaport District in Boston, MA. I don’t know my schedule yet. I hope to be able to include it in February’s newsletter. In the meantime, you can find registration information here.

• Lastly, from Friday, February 27th - March 1st, I’ll be a “Guest of Horror” at the Long Island Convention of Horror (or, LICH), at the Hyatt Regency Long Island in Hauppauge, NY. I don’t have my schedule for this one yet, either, but you can find registration information here.

I hope to see you at one (or more) of these very cool events!

Spooky Science Lab

Exciting news for fans of Spooky Science Lab!

You’ve waited long enough! This month, we’re beginning recording for Season 3!

Judging from the episodes we’ve already got planned, I’m confident Season 3 is going to be the best one yet for the podcast!

Remember, if you have any strange-but-true science you’d like us to cover on the show, please give us a shout at contact@spookysciencelab.com. Or send us a note just to say hi! We love hearing from our listeners!

Keep watching this space for information on when Season 3 will premiere!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

With the just-passed Thanksgiving still on our minds, here’s one more thing to be thankful for: the tail end of 2025 (how did we get here so quickly?) has brought us more good news in the fight against rampant book piracy by generative AI companies.

You might remember me mentioning in an earlier newsletter that Anthropic, Amazon’s GenAI program, settled the lawsuit brought against them in September for a record $1.5 billion in damages. At the time, I thought it was likely to have a positive ripple effect on the similar class-action suits being brought against other GenAI companies.

It turns out I was right. In November, OpenAI also suffered a loss in court, potentially opening the door to billions of dollars in damages after allegedly pirating huge datasets of copyrighted books.

But it gets worse for them. Internal OpenAI documents reveal the company deleted two massive book datasets allegedly containing thousands of pirated works scraped from online pirate sites in order to keep the courts and anyone else from finding out what they’d done.

This potentially gives authors in the class-action suit a clearer path to arguing that OpenAI engaged in willful infringement, which in copyright law is the most serious violation possible. If the court finds OpenAI knowingly downloaded and stored pirated books, the financial damages could be enormous. And I hope they are.

At the risk of making a groan-worthy pun, I hope they throw the book at OpenAI, and at every other GenAI company that stole our hard work to make themselves richer.

Sneak Previews

I’m happy to report that I’ve completed the second draft of my new novel, No One Is Coming to Save Us!

I happen to love second drafts. There’s often a lot of heavy lifting to do, but it’s really gratifying and exciting to see everything start to cohere. And not for nothing, but my second drafts often make a lot more sense than my first drafts do!

I love third drafts even more. They tend to go faster, because I’m focusing on things like word choice, sentence flow, character grace notes, and closing up any remaining plot holes, instead of the structural issues that hopefully got taken care of in the second draft.

As you can probably tell, I enjoy the revisions phase more than writing a rough draft, which can often feel as endless and futile as Sisyphus pushing his boulder uphill. But revisions are when I get to make the novel shine! (And also make sense. That’s important, too. Or so I’m told.)

* * *

My new collection Monuments in Darkness continues to sell well, which makes me happy. As I’ve mentioned before, it could use some more reader reviews in the usual places, but honestly, I’m just glad it’s being read at all when there are so many books out there to choose from.

* * *

Speaking of choosing books, the holidays are coming up and I’m a firm believer in books making great gifts for the readers in your life!

If you know someone who likes books of the spooky variety, or if you want to treat yourself to one, please consider taking a look at my books. You might find just what you’re looking for!

In the Flesh

Issue 10 of Procession Magazine, a glossy magazine dedicated to the goth, darkwave, industrial, future pop, and post-punk music scenes, but which also loves authors for some reason, has an interview with me! I talk about Monuments in Darkness, my writing process, which writers inspire me, and more.

Also, Procession called me “an iconic American author of horror fiction, urban fantasy, and other spooky stuff.” I’ll take it!

Procession is a print-only magazine (I know, in this day and age!), so unfortunately the interview isn’t available online. If you’d like to purchase a copy of the issue with my interview, you can get it here.

* * *

I was honored to be included in author and poet Maxwell Ian Gold’s article at the Lineup about Jewish horror authors, “Oy Vey the Horror: Jewish Authors in the Horror Space”!

He chose to focus on only five, but really, there are so many other great Jewish horror authors worthy of mention! I hope he’ll do a followup soon!

* * *

Upcoming appearances in 2026:

• Boskone 63, February 13-15, in Boston, MA

• Long Island Convention of Horror (LICH), February 27-March 1, Hauppauge, NY

• KGB Fantastic Fiction, Wednesday, June 10, in NYC

Spooky Science Lab

Remember before when I said books make great holiday gifts? Well, so do t-shirts, hoodies, tote bags, stickers, phone cases, and more!

We’ve got them all at the Spooky Science Lab merch store! Use the three-line menu in the upper left corner of the website to shop different kinds of apparel and accessories to find the perfect gift for that special someone in your life who prefers their science spooky!

Also, you’ll be happy to hear that we’re going to start recording new episodes in January! Stay tuned for information on when Season 3 will hit your ear holes!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

Without a doubt, the Halloween season is the most wonderful time of the year. (I don’t care what Andy Williams says!) With the season comes a plethora of spooky events, and I attended my fair share throughout October!

• It started on October 1st, when my wife Alexa and I went to see Evil Dead in Concert at NYC’s Town Hall! I hadn’t watched the original Evil Dead in years, and to have the screening accompanied by live musicians performing Joe LoDuca’s score was remarkable!

I made sure to wear my Evil Dead t-shirt, which is over 20 years old now, and which I quickly discovered barely fits anymore. It has since been donated.

• October 3rd brought my annual pilgrimage to Spirit Halloween with fellow author John C. Foster to buy Halloween items we definitely don’t need but must have, like the Camp Crystal Lake baseball cap I’m currently wearing as I write this!

• Then, on October 7th, Alexa and I attended a panel discussion at the New York Public Library in celebration of Becky Siegel Spratford’s new book Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature. In attendance were editor Spratford and authors Rachel Harrison, Victor LaValle, Clay McLeod Chapman, and Grady Hendrix (see photo up top). I’m happy to say we got our copy of the book signed by all of them!

• On October 20th, we saw authors Christa Carmen and Clay McLeod Chapman read at the Yeah You Write series, which was a chaotic good time!

• On the 25th, we took a spooky tour of the “Uncanny Upper West Side,” with Boroughs of the Dead, which featured, among other things, the Ghostbusters building on Central Park West and the secret undertaker’s entrance around the back of the Dakota (a building famous for being the site of John Lennon’s assassination and also the exteriors for Rosemary’s Baby)!

• On the 26th, we attended a special screening of Shaun of the Dead, one of my favorite horror-comedies, at the United Palace Theater in Washington Heights with fellow author David Wellington and his wife Jennifer. I hadn’t watched the movie in ages and it was as good as I remembered! I also got my face painted to look like a zombie and took part in the “Zombie Olympics” before the screening, but unfortunately I didn’t make it to the finals.

• On the 27th, Alexa and I attended an event at Books Are Magic celebrating the life and work of author Peter Straub. It was an excellent discussion by guest authors Nat Cassidy, Dan Chaon, and Kelly Link, moderated Emma Straub (Peter’s daughter and a bestselling author in her own right). I even got to share a personal story about my friendship with Peter from the audience. It was all very moving.

• Lastly, on Halloween itself, I enjoyed my usual triple feature of horror movies. This year’s roster included Candyman (1992), Burnt Offerings (1976), and Ginger Snaps (2000). All three remain absolute classics, especially Candyman. Tony Todd was an icon.

Alexa joined me for Ginger Snaps, which she’d never seen before. She doesn’t usually watch horror movies, but she enjoyed this one, especially the two sisters and the practical effects.

I’m a little bit exhausted from all the activity—as if I needed more proof I’m not a young man anymore!—but I have no regrets. I feel like I did Halloween to the max this year, as it should be.

I hope your Halloween season was fun and eventful as well!

Sneak Previews

This is a reminder that my new collection, Monuments in Darkness, is finally available as an e-book!

And of course the paperback is available wherever you buy your books.

If you’ve read and enjoyed Monuments in Darkness, please consider leaving a reader review at Amazon, Goodreads, or on your own social media. Word of mouth is what sells books like this one, which doesn’t really have any marketing behind it, and every little bit helps!

In the Flesh

I had a blast at the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival, as I always do!

It was great to see so many of my author friends there, and our bowl of Halloween candy was a big hit with the kids—including one who, with our permission, dumped the whole bowl into his backpack for later!

(Then there was another kid who I’m pretty sure is going to grow up to be a Dexter-like serial killer, or maybe an expert on the Wendigo, or both, but that’s a story for another time.)

One of the things I love about the festival is meeting new readers, and this year’s crowd did not disappoint! Everyone was so friendly and excited to be there! I can’t wait for next year!

* * *

Upcoming appearances in 2026:

• Boskone 63, February 13-15, in Boston, MA

• Long Island Convention of Horror (LICH), February 27-March 1, Hauppauge, NY

• KGB Fantastic Fiction, Wednesday, June 10, in NYC

Spooky Science Lab

Podcast listener Tina came to the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival in a Spooky Science Lab t-shirt! She obviously has excellent taste in both podcasts and clothing, so of course I had to get a picture with her!

If you’d like a Spooky Science Lab t-shirt of your own, or any of our other merchandise, check out our store! It’s a great way to support the podcast and let everyone know you like your science spooky!

Also, watch this space for exciting news about Season 3!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

Believe it or not, this year marks my twenty-fifth anniversary as a published author! (I know, where does the time go?) My very first published story, “La Bête est Morte,” appeared in the Bell, Book & Beyond: An Anthology of Witchy Tales in the year 2000. In fact, I think it was published in October, 2000, so we’re right at the anniversary as we speak!

You can’t just let a milestone like this pass by unrecognized, so on Tuesday, September 16th, I had a big celebration in honor of 25 years of professional writing.

Surrounded by close to 50 of my nearest and dearest in the cabaret room in back of the beautiful Lower East Side restaurant/bar Pangea, we had guest readings by my dear friends Chandler Klang Smith and John C. Foster, an interview with me led by another dear friend, David Wellington, and a brief Q&A with the audience, all topped off with a reading from my new collection Monuments in Darkness. It was a great night, and I really felt the love!

As much as I would have liked it, I couldn’t have each and every one of you there with me, so I thought I’d share my opening remarks here for anyone interested:

Hello, everyone! The program is going to begin in just a minute, but I wanted to take a moment to welcome you and thank you all for coming to this celebration of my 25th anniversary as a published author.

I always dreamed of becoming a published author, and I’m gratified not just that I managed to achieve that dream, but that even 25 years after my very first short story publication, I’m still living it.

That first story, by the way, was called “La Bête est Morte” – the beast is dead, but in French because I thought that was cool. It was the first story I ever submitted for publication, and it was bought by the first place I sent it to for what was considered professional rates at the time—a whopping 3 cents per word! I thought to myself, this writing thing is going to be a snap! My career as a writer will be smooth sailing from here on out! They say if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life!

That’s a load of horse shit. I was disabused of that notion very quickly. Like any other career—and writing is a career—it has its ups and downs, its successes and failures, its moments of triumph and moments of deep frustration.

Not that I would ever want to be anything other than a writer, but the truth is, I don’t know how to do anything else at this point. I can’t work in an office; I don’t like other people. Writing is all I know. The Swedish author Frederik Backman put it best when he said, “Being a writer is the best way I know how to get paid for being insane. I spend eight hours every day locked inside a room with people I have made up.”

As some of you know, my great-aunt passed away a few years ago. I was the court-appointed administrator of her estate—which was its own adventure, let me tell you. Maybe I’ll write about that someday. While I was going through her belongings, I discovered that someone had made a family tree for her of my father’s side of the family. It went back multiple generations into Germany, which is remarkable. But what was even more remarkable was that I discovered I had a distant ancestor back in the old country named…Karoline Frankenstein.

It seems my career in writing horror was inevitable.

Speaking of which, this isn’t just a celebration of 25 years of me wearing out the space bar on every computer I’ve ever owned, it’s also a book launch! I have copies here of my newest book, a short story collection titled Monuments in Darkness! Coincidentally, it has a Frankenstein-inspired story in it. I’m sure my ancestor Karoline would be proud. The books are for sale and I’ll be happy to sign them for you at the end of the night. By the way, it’s published by New York City’s own famous Hippocampus Press, whose founder and operator, Derrick Hussey, is here with us tonight!

I have a short list of thank yous: Thank you to Pangea for hosting us and their manager, Stephen, for being so easy to work with. Thank you to Derrick and Hippocampus Press for publishing Monuments in Darkness. Thank you to Richard Curtis, who is also here tonight, for fearlessly shepherding my career for the past decade. I wouldn’t be half the writer I am today without Richard reading the pages I sent him and then calling me to tell me they stink. Thank you to all the members of my late lamented writing group Who Wants Cake, several of whom are here tonight, for helping make the stories collected in this book as good as they are, and for helping me become a better writer.

But my biggest thanks goes to Alexa. Over 16 wonderful years, 14 of them as my wife, her love and support have been unending and unconditional. She never once batted an eye at all my heavy sighing in front of my laptop or my lamentations that every project I’m writing is awful and will be the end of my career. A wise person once said, “Your partner is someone who lifts you up when you’re down and keeps you grounded when you find yourself spiraling into despair or panic—unless they’re hungry or haven’t had enough sleep.” To that end, I’ve made sure that food and drink are available tonight and that this program will end at a reasonable hour.

So, here’s how things are going to go tonight. I’ve got an opening act for you that features readings from two authors who are dear friends of mine. Then another dear friend of mine, David Wellington, will interview me right here on this stage, followed by a Q&A with the audience, where you get to ask all the questions I’m sure you’re dying to ask me. Then I’ll wrap things up with a reading from my new collection. And of course, I’ll stick around afterward to chat and sign books.

Thank you again, all of you, for being here tonight to celebrate with me!

The past 25 years have been a wild ride. Here’s to the next 25!

Sneak Previews

Good news! My collection Monuments in Darkness is finally available in e-book format!

You can pick up the e-book here! (It’s free for those who have Kindle Unlimited!)

Of course, you can buy the trade paperback wherever you get your books!

* * *

Speaking of free, for a limited time only, Crossroad Press is giving away the audiobook of my Amazon and B&N bestselling novel The Hungry Earth, narrated by award-winning voice artist Linda Jones!

All you have to do is send an email to crossroad@crossroadpress.com and they’ll send you a code for a free download!

How cool is that? Get on it! I don’t know how long this offer will last!

In the Flesh

An essay I wrote for LinkedIn about how much better I feel now that I’ve started reading in the mornings instead of jumping right onto social media was reprinted by Moonlight Reader Society: “A daily ritual by Nicholas Kaufmann.”

* * *

Issue 10 of Procession Magazine—an actual print magazine (in this day and age!) that focuses mostly on the darkwave, goth, and industrial scene—has an interview with me (despite my not being a musician) about Monuments in Darkness, writers who’ve inspired me, and more. If you’re interested, you can buy a copy here!

* * *

Catch me at at the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival on Saturday, October 18 from 10 AM to 4 PM at the Haverhill Public Library, 99 Summer Street in Haverhill, MA!

I’ll have copies of all my books there for sale and signing, including Monuments in Darkness!

The Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival is free and open to the public!

More info here!

* * *

Appearances coming in 2026:

• Boskone 63, February 13-15, in Boston, MA

• On Wednesday, June 10, I’ll be reading as part of the legendary KGB Fantastic Fiction series in NYC

Spooky Science Lab

Podcast listener Giasone let us know he was representing Spooky Science Lab with a t-shirt while attending Dreadcon in Burlington, Ontario last month! Much appreciated, Giasone!

If you’d like to represent Spooky Science Lab in your daily life with t-shirts and other merch, check out our merch store!

One last important note:

Unfortunately, my friend Patrick Freivald lost his longtime job as a science teacher. If you like hot honey, please consider buying some from his homemade-honey company Frog’s Point Honey. (They also have regular honey.) It would really help him out during this difficult time!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

You’re probably tired of hearing me go on about the ills of generative AI at this point, particularly with regard to how the large language models (LLMs) are trained on stolen books, including books by yours truly, but there’s some interesting and potentially good news to report.

In late August, Anthropic, which is Amazon’s genAI program, settled a class-action lawsuit brought against it by a group of U.S. authors claiming copyright infringement. Just yesterday, September 5th, the terms of the settlement were announced: Anthropic will pay a record $1.5 billion in damages. This is huge news and is very likely to have a positive ripple effect on the similar class-action suits currently being brought against other AI companies.

Back in June, a judge ruled that Anthropic made fair use of the authors' work to train its AI. It was disappointing but understandable. Fair use allows the use of copyrighted works without permission in some circumstances, such as showing clips from a movie when reviewing or analyzing that movie. In this instance, the judge was saying it’s fair use to use a book to train a LLM, regardless of whether or not that book was paid for by the trainer.

However, the same judge also said Anthropic did violate copyright law by scraping up—and saving to its own private library—millions of pirated books.

In other words, if Anthropic had simply decided to buy a copy of all of the greatest works of world literature to train their LLM on, there would be no case against them. Everything would be smooth sailing. Anthropic certainly has the money to buy books, but instead, it chose the quick, easy, and cheap method of scraping millions of books from Internet pirate sites, and now they will have to pay for that decision to the tune of $1.5 billion.

Buying books would have been cheaper.

Hopefully, the same fate awaits OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and any other AI company who did the same.

Anthropic’s settlement amounts to approximately $3,000 per stolen book. Will I, as a class member, see that much money for each of the ten or so books of mine Anthropic illegally accessed from pirate sites? It’s highly doubtful. Lawyers’ fees and expenses will be deducted from the settlement fund before the per-book payout is actually calculated.

Still, sometimes the principle is more important than the money, especially since it could set a precedent against anyone else who arrogantly decides it’s a-okay for them to use pirated books to train their LLMs in the future.

If you have to break the law in order for your business model to succeed, it should never have been your business model to begin with.

Sneak Previews

My new collection, Monuments in Darkness, continues to sell well, which I’m grateful for.

However, it could really use some reader reviews to help build buzz and spread the word. If you’ve read and enjoyed the collection, please consider leaving a review somewhere. Amazon remains the most useful place for a review, but if you'd rather review it on Goodreads or your website, blog, or social media, that's fine, too. Every little bit helps and is greatly appreciated!

(It’s funny, I can remember when professional book reviews appeared in every newspaper and magazine, and the responsibility for reviewing wasn’t left up to the readers themselves. How times have changed!)

If you haven’t picked up a copy of Monuments in Darkness yet, you can buy the paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, directly from Hippocampus Press, or from your favorite independent bookstore.

I know a lot of you are waiting on the e-book edition. It’s coming soon, I promise. Once I have an actual publication date, I’ll be sure to let you know.

In the Flesh

I had a great time reading at the Brooklyn Books & Booze series on August 19th! I think it’s my fourth time reading there, and it has quickly become my favorite reading series in New York City. Thanks, as always, to host and series creator Randee Dawn for having me!

The other authors I read with, Steven Van Patten, Auston Habershaw, and Mimi Mondal, were all fantastic. I was honored to share the stage with them. (Randomly, I think this is the third time in recent memory Steven Van Patten and I have wound up reading together!)

I’m happy to say I sold a bunch of copies of Monuments in Darkness that night as well. I’m always delighted when people enjoy my readings enough to buy a book!

* * *

Catch me at at the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival on Saturday, October 18th from 10 AM to 4 PM at the Haverhill Public Library, 99 Summer Street in Haverhill, MA!

I’ll have copies of all my books there for sale and signing, including Monuments in Darkness!

This is a really fun, family-friendly book festival for readers who enjoy spooky books. The authors often have Halloween candy at their tables for the kiddos. (Let’s face it, the candy is also for the adults.)

Best of all, the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival is free and open to the public!

More info here!

* * *

The book festival will very likely be my last appearance in 2025. If that changes, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Next up will probably be Boskone 63 in February, 2026.

Good lord, I can’t even imagine 2026 yet! Where does the time go?

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

As of this writing, I’ve been back from Necon 43 for a little over a week and I’m still riding high.

One of the reasons I like Necon—as well as a handful of other writers’ conferences—is that seeing old friends, meeting new ones, hanging out with authors whose work I admire, and talking about the craft and business of writing recharges my creative batteries like nothing else.

And sometimes those batteries really, really need a recharge. People who aren’t writers themselves may not understand this, but it’s very difficult to simply produce, produce, produce. Creative batteries are a very real, if allegorical, source of our writerly abilities. I’m sure it’s the same for other kinds of creative artists, too.

When I’m feeling burnt out or stuck on a particularly ornery project that just refuses to behave, being around my fellow writers—especially ones I’m lucky enough to call friends—is always the balm I need, without fail. I leave brimming with creative energy and a newfound determination to keep writing.

If you’re ever feeling down in the dumps about your writing, I highly recommend it. Among the writers’ conferences I particularly enjoy going to are Necon, Boskone, and NecronomiCon Providence. I’ve heard good things about StokerCon as well and hope to check it out someday.

Those are my favorites because of the type of writing I do. If you don’t write horror or speculative fiction, other conferences might work better for you.

Speaking of Necon, here’s photo of me moderating panel on how to get bookstores to stock your book and host a reading/signing, joined by Meg Wasmer of Copper Dog Books, Michael Burke of Comicazi, and Mellisa Sherlin of the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival!

Sneak Previews

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, my new collection Monuments in Darkness has been released into the world!

It contains nine previously published stories and two originals written just for this volume!

You can buy the paperback at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, directly from Hippocampus Press, or from your favorite independent bookstore.

The e-book edition is coming soon!

If you’ve already bought a copy, thank you! If you read it and liked it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, your social media, your blog, or wherever you feel comfortable doing it. It would be great to get more buzz going!

We sold quite a few of them at Necon 43, which was gratifying!

* * *

I also have a brand-new story, “The Endless Black Cathedral,” in the Lovecratian anthology Cold War Cthulhu, out now!

You can grab a copy at Amazon, or if you’re in the UK or thereabouts, directly from PS Publishing!

In the Flesh

Catch me at the fabulous reading series Brooklyn Books & Booze on August 19th at 7 PM at Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room in Industry City, Brooklyn!

I’ll be reading alongside Auston Habershaw, Steven Van Patten, and Mimi Mondal.

It’s free and open to the public!

More info on my reading plus the whole reading series here!

* * *

You can also catch me at the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival on October 18th from 10 AM to 4:30 PM at the Haverhill Public Library in Haverhill, MA!

I’ll be selling books as I always do, including Monuments in Darkness!

This one is free and open to the public as well!

More info here!

I’m keeping it (semi-)short and sweet this month!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

Hold onto your hats because I’m writing about the scourge of generative AI again! Only this time, the call is coming from inside the house.

It’s not publishers, organizations, or news media who are giving a middle finger to all the authors out there who put in the work to hone their craft this time—it’s other authors!

Or, I guess, “authors.”

Authors using a tool built on work stolen from countless fellow authors? I’m saddened but hardly surprised.

Today, however, I’m talking specifically about authors who used genAI to write their books, yet cared so little about their craft, or their readers, that they actually left the AI’s responses to their prompts in the published text!

Coincidentally, this happened twice in recent months, both times involving indie romantasy authors. (Romantasy is a relatively new and wildly popular subgenre that mixes fantasy and romance, often with steamy sex scenes included. Rowr!)

In January, K.C. Crowne, a top-selling Amazon author, published a book called Dark Obsession. Soon after, incredulous readers began sharing screenshots of an AI’s response to Crowne’s prompt smack dab in the middle of a page that read:

“Certainly! Here’s an enhanced version of your passage, making Elena more relatable and injecting additional humor while providing a brief, sexy description of Grigori.”

In her apology post on Facebook, Crowne wrote, “I’ve recently started the practice of using AI to make very minor edits…but I can assure you that keeping my original voice strong is of utmost importance.”

It’s hard to see how asking AI to make your protagonist more relatable and add more humor to the scene is a “minor edit.” Furthermore, it stretches credulity to claim that having AI completely describe another character for you is "keeping my original voice.”

That’s bad, but the second instance is even worse.

In March, an author named Lena McDonald published Dark Hollow Academy: Year 2, and just like before, incredulous readers started sharing screenshots of yet another AI response to her prompt just hanging out right there in the middle of a chapter.

“I’ve rewritten the passage to align more with J. Bree’s style, which features more tension, gritty undertones, and raw emotional subtext beneath the supernatural elements.” (You can see the screenshot up top.)

What makes this worse isn’t just that it’s a lazy betrayal of her readers’ trust in her as an author. It’s that McDonald clearly and brazenly asked the generative AI program to make her writing more like that of another, more popular author!

In her inevitably apology, which she confusingly posted to the “About the Author” section of her Amazon book page (but which is no longer there), McDonald wrote, “The truth is, I used AI to help edit and shape parts of the book. As a full-time teacher and mom, I simply can’t afford a professional editor, and I turned to AI as a tool to help refine my writing.”

Again, it stretches credulity to claim she’s using AI only to “refine my writing” when she’s asking it to rewrite an entire passage in the style of a more successful author.

I’m not even going to get into the irony of how the AI program is able to emulate author J. Bree’s style—namely that the AI was most likely “fed” Bree’s books after they were illegally scraped from a pirate site online. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bree was part of a class-action lawsuit against the very same AI model that McDonald used here!

(Also, note how McDonald frames her reliance on genAI as an issue of privilege. She’s a full-time teacher and mother and can’t afford a professional editor. If you judge her for using AI, you should check your privilege, I guess?)

What’s the takeaway from this? Last month, I called genAI a time-saver for the lazy, and I think that applies here. As more authors rely on AI, and fewer take the time to learn the craft and develop their authentic voices through the same trial and error authors have been engaging in for centuries, we’re only going to find more slip-ups like this in the books we read. Because laziness breeds laziness.

If authors can’t be bothered to write their own books without asking genAI to make it better (or make it more like a more successful author’s work!), it stands to reason they can’t be bothered to proof their books before publishing them so their readers can have a decent experience.

All right, enough of that. I promise all my editorials aren’t going to be about genAI! On to other things. There’s good news to share this month!

Sneak Previews

It’s finally here! My new collection, Monuments In Darkness, is now available!

The collection includes nine previously published stories, plus two brand-new originals!

Here’s what some excellent authors have to say about it:

“Horrors literary, classic, and cosmic populate Monuments In Darkness—this collection has claws and isn’t afraid to use them. Even in the blind depths of utter darkness, Nicholas Kaufmann knows his way around a horror tale.” — Matthew M. Bartlett, author of Gateways to Abomination and The Obsecration

“Monuments In Darkness is filled with masterful characterization and a slow, nerve-wracking pace, where each story reveals a labyrinth of unspeakable truths. Kaufmann excels at drawing out the mystery in his fiction, building tension through the absence of information. That void in the center of each tale will dare you to enter and face the terrifying visions within. And to your horror you’ll go, and go eagerly.” - Simon Strantzas, author of Nothing Is Everything and Only the Living Are Lost

You can purchase the paperback at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, directly from Hippocampus Press, or wherever you buy your books!

An e-book edition is coming soon. I’ll be sure to let you know when it’s available!

In the Flesh

Catch me at Camp Necon 43, July 17th-20th! Here’s where you’ll find me on the program:

Friday, July 18
8:00 PM Meet the Authors Party

A two-hour meet & greet and book signing, with table space available for ALL authors attending Camp Necon. The Dealers Room will remain open and Copper Dog Books is purposefully stocking titles by attending authors, but authors are encouraged to bring their own stock and Campers are encouraged to bring their own copies of books they’d like signed as well.

(Copies of Monuments in Darkness will be available for sale!)

Saturday, July 19
4:30 PM Richard Dansky's Write Club
Hosted by Richard Dansky

Back by popular demand! This improvisational horror writing game is Whose Line Is It Anyway with more adverbs and tentacles. Can you rise to the challenge of a timed writing prompt where you compete against others for the judges’ favor and Valuable Prizes? Or do you want to sit in judgment instead? Join the merriment, chaos, and improvised tales of demonic spatulas!

(I volunteered to be a judge!)

Sunday, July 20
10:00 AM Love Your Local Bookstore: How to Set Up a Signing, Get Bookstores to Stock Your Book, and More
Michael Burke, Nicholas Kaufmann (Moderator), Mellisa Sherlin, Meg Wasmer

A good local bookstore can be an author’s best friend, but that sort of relationship doesn’t just happen. Learn what your friendly local bookshop can do for you – and how you can help them, too—in a way that supports both parties.

It should be a good time!

Click here to register! It’s not too late!

* * *

You can also catch me reading at Brooklyn Books & Booze on August 19th at Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room in Industry City, Brooklyn! I’ll be reading alongside Auston Habershaw, Steven Van Patten, and Mimi Mondal.

It’s free and open to the public!

More info on my reading plus the whole reading series here!

Spooky Science Lab

You know what goes well with the hot summer weather?

A t-shirt from our merch store!

Grab yours today! And while you’re there, check out all the other cool Spooky Science Lab merch we’ve got for sale!

In the meantime, I’m gathering more strange-science stories for our third season, and I’m more excited than ever! Stay tuned!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

AI slop seems to be everywhere these days. While writers, artists, and journalists continue to beg for scraps, the garbage being fed to us by generative AI feels inescapable. But there are still some places you don’t expect to see it being used.

One such place is Seattle Worldcon. Also known as the World Science Fiction Convention (it changes locations every year), it’s an annual celebration of human creative achievement with panels and art exhibits, all culminating in the Hugo Awards, a best-of-the-year awards show for the genre.

This year, Worldcon was caught using generative-AI program ChatGPT to “vet program participants before inviting them to be on our program”. Apparently, the people in charge conveniently forgot that many of the convention’s author attendees are currently suing ChatGPT and similar companies for copyright violations because those companies stole the authors’ books off pirate sites to train their AI!

There was immediate blowback, as you might imagine. The authors were furious, and rightly so.

In a joint apology statement by the Chair and Program Division Head, it was revealed that their use of ChatGPT was even stupider than previously thought. They weren’t using it to check credentials; they were using it to look for scandals. Literally, the prompt was, “Using the list of names provided, please evaluate each person for scandals.”

I can’t begin to explain how stupid it is to use a computer program that routinely hallucinates fake facts, such as law cases that don’t exist and books attributed to the wrong authors, to find disqualifying scandals for any prospective panelist. It’s insane.

Another place I wouldn’t have expected to find generative AI being used is at the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) Edgar Allan Poe Awards. Like Worldcon, the Edgar Awards is a celebration of human creative achievement. However, the organizers seemed to forget the human part when they were putting the event together. According to Publishers Weekly:

“An opening video, surveying treatments of the genre on the big and small screen, was narrated by a creepy AI version of Humphrey Bogart, complete with imperfect lip-syncing, later followed by one featuring an even creepier, black cat-holding, artificially-generated Edgar Allan Poe.”

The AI-generated Poe also appeared on the cover of the program booklet, which you can see up top.

Imagine a roomful of authors, many of whom are suing ChatGPT and other generative AI companies for copyright violations, and many of whom have legitimate concerns about AI-generated books crowding an already overcrowded field, witnessing that on their big night. Imagine a roomful of cover artists who have worked with those same authors, and have many of the same concerns, being shown AI-generated images instead of human-created images like their own, which any of them could have been hired to create. What a slap in the face.

The terse apology from the MWA Board of Directors makes it sound like they didn’t know AI-generated art was going to be used, but that doesn’t make sense to me. This is the Edgar Awards, the biggest and most prestigious night of the MWA’s year. Surely everything would have been vetted.

My last example comes from somewhere I unfortunately have come expect generative AI to be used, and that’s journalism. Newsrooms have already been cut down to the bare bones, and we’re hearing about even more layoffs as news companies lean further into AI.

That’s how we ended up with a syndicated summer supplement from King Features, which ran in the Chicago Sun-Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and possibly other newspapers, that included an AI-generated summer book roundup featuring several books that don’t exist!

According to an NPR article, “Only five of the 15 titles on the list are real.” Good lord!

That Marco Buscaglia, the “journalist” who “wrote” the supplement, lazily relied on AI to do his work for him (and presumably got paid for it) is only half the problem. The other half is that no one, not Buscaglia, not his editor, no one, proofed or fact-checked it. No one even looked up the books to make sure the titles or names were spelled correctly, or they surely would have discovered the books didn’t exist.

As the Chicago Sun-Times said in its apology, “Did AI play a part in our national embarrassment? Of course. But AI didn’t submit the stories, or send them out to partners, or put them in print. People did. At every step in the process, people made choices to allow this to happen.”

I believe this is only the tip of the iceberg. I believe it’s going to get worse. AI is a genie that can’t be put back in its bottle. It’s a time-saver for the lazy and a cost-cutter for the cheap, and so we’re only going to see it used more and more.

We already live in a post-truth world where politicians and pundits lie to the public’s face about the very things the public saw happen with their own eyes. How soon before we have newspapers full of articles about things that didn’t happen, or that did happen but are attributed to the wrong people?

How soon before writers can’t get published because publishers would rather generate books in-house with AI so they don’t have to pay advances and royalties? How soon before professional book cover artists stop getting work because it’s cheaper for publishers to generate their own AI art?

If we’re not careful, this is the future that awaits us.

* * *

By the way, happy 2nd birthday to Up From the Fathoms! If you’ve been with this newsletter since the start, thanks for sticking around! If you’re new to these parts, welcome, and I hope you like what you see! (I promise my editorials aren’t always this long!)

Sneak Previews

I’m still hard at work on my new novel, and I’m still awaiting news on when my new collection Monuments in Darkness will come out, but in the meantime, I was able to write something short for a project near and dear to my heart.

Big Finish Audio was holding a contest for short Doctor Who stories featuring the 13th Doctor (played by Jodie Whittaker, above), and the winning story will be turned into an audio drama.

As someone who has been a lifelong Doctor Who fan (I first started watching when a syndication package of Tom Baker’s first four seasons as the Doctor came to American PBS stations in 1978), this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up!

Of course, since this is a story I wrote, there’s a strong element of horror. Its title is “Lord of the Dead.”

I’ve always wanted to play in this particular sandbox. Keep your fingers crossed that my submission makes it to the next round!

In the Flesh

I had a fun time chatting about the Stephen King story "Graveyard Shift" on Jason White's Short Bites: A Stephen King Podcast!

While "Graveyard Shift," widely known as the one with the rats, may not be considered one of King's topmost stories, we still found a heck of a lot to talk about.

You can watch the discussion as a video or listen to it as a podcast!

* * *

Catch me at Camp Necon 43, July 17th-20th, along with Eric LaRocca, Cynthia Pelayo, Errick Nunnally, Izzy Lee, Ellen Datlow, and Richard Dansky!

Register here!

* * *

You can also catch me reading at Brooklyn Books & Booze on August 19th at Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room in Industry City, Brooklyn! I’ll be reading alongside Auston Habershaw and Steven Van Patten.

It’s free and open to the public!

More info on my reading plus the whole reading series here!

Spooky Science Lab

While the podcast is on break so we can research more strange-but-true science for Season 3, I’d like to invite you to submit your own favorite strange-science items, which we might use in a future episode!

You can email us at contact@spookysciencelab.com to send us your ideas, comment on past episodes, or just say hi!

Also, don’t forget we have a merch store, which is a great way to support the show so we don’t have to resort to dumb, boring ads. Plus, owning our merch lets everyone know you like your science spooky!

Check out our merch here!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

On Friday, April 25th, Todd Keisling, a talented author and two-time Bram Stoker Award nominee, took to social media to share some appalling behavior by one of his publishers, Cemetery Dance Publications (CD).

Todd had emailed Richard Chizmar, the owner and publisher of CD, to let him know that the royalty check he was owed was nearly a month late and asking when he might expect it.

Chizmar answered him with nothing but mockery and dismissal, calling him “a funny little man” and implying, through the use of a laughing-face emoji, that being one month late with owed payment was hardly a big deal worth bothering him over.

When Todd, who was quite rightly shocked by this blatantly unprofessional response, posted about it on social media, Chizmar found and commented on that post, doubling down on the disdain before ultimately deleting his comments. Unluckily for him, Todd had already taken a screenshot of the comments for all to see.

Here’s the thing: Authors like Todd Keisling (and myself) aren’t wealthy. Most authors aren’t, but especially not those who tend to publish with smaller presses. Keisling and his family depend on those royalty checks.

Chizmar, and unfortunately quite a few other small press publishers, don’t seem to care about that. They’re all too happy to publish books and collect money from sales, but when it comes to paying their authors, maybe they’ll get around to it eventually. Or not at all.

I’ve been there. Longtime readers know I had a similar situation with ChiZine Publications, the original publisher of my award-nominated novella Chasing the Dragon. I had to chase down every cent they owed me in royalties, every time. There were other ChiZine authors who had it far worse than me. At least I eventually got paid after pestering them. Many others never got paid at all.

What happened to Todd wasn’t a one-time error on CD’s part. Rumors of CD not paying their authors go back decades but were often ignored or swept under the rug because of Chizmar’s close relationship with Stephen King and because the Cemetery Dance horror literary magazine paid well and had high subscription numbers (back in the day when horror literary magazines had high subscription numbers).

One person who used to work for CD told me privately they eventually quit because they couldn’t keep lying to their author friends about when (or even if) they would receive the money they were owed, which sometimes totaled in the thousands of dollars. They just couldn’t keep lying on CD’s behalf. It was eating away at them.

Times have changed. Authors aren’t staying quiet anymore for fear of rocking the boat. They’re standing up—loudly and publicly—for what they’re owed, and I applaud it. I hope it continues, because when it comes to CD and others, treating their authors as an afterthought has been allowed to go on for far too long.

After all, if your boss was weeks or months (or even years) late with your paycheck, you wouldn't stay quiet about it. Why should authors? The blame doesn’t fall on authors for bringing up these issues. It's 100% on the publishers, just as it would 100% be on your boss.

One final note, and this one is addressed to the publishers out there: Publishing is a business. You're not doing a favor to your authors by publishing them. You're entering into a business contract, one you are bound to honor. If an author sends a polite email reminding you that payment is late and asking when it can be expected, you reply professionally. This is a business. Treat it like one.

You can read more about this story over at File 770.

(There’s a gratifying coda to this story: On Tuesday, April 29th, Todd posted to social media that the money owed to him was finally on its way and he’d gotten his rights back for both of his books published by CD, which means he is now free to find another publisher for them, hopefully one that treats its authors better. Sometimes it pays to go public.)

Sneak Previews

Cold War Cthulhu, the new Lovecraftian anthology edited by Darrell Schweitzer, is finally up for pre-order from PS Publishing!

It includes a brand-new story from me called “The Endless Black Cathedral”!

Cthulhu Mythos stories that take place during the height of the Cold War between the US and USSR, featuring authors like Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Paul Di Filippo, Harry Turtledove, Cody Goodfellow, and yours truly? What’s not to love?

Preorder the signed hardcover (limited to 100 copies) here!

Or:

Preorder the trade paperback here!

In the Flesh

I was interviewed about “Dead and Forgotten in Manhattanville,” my story in Dark Spores, and about why I write horror:

“I am drawn to its heightened reality and often intense, complicated emotions. Also, I’ve loved monsters since I was a child, and even though many of my stories don’t necessarily feature a monster, it’s that strong childhood love that keeps my fire burning.”

* * *

Catch me at Necon 43, July 17th-20th, along with Eric LaRocca, Cynthia Pelayo, Errick Nunnally, Dan Brereton, Ellen Datlow, and Richard Dansky!

Register here!

* * *

You can also catch me reading at Brooklyn Books & Booze on August 19th at Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room in Industry City, Brooklyn! I’ll be reading alongside Auston Habershaw, Steven Van Patten, and that famous, brilliant author…TBD!

It’s free and open to the public!

More info on my reading plus the whole reading series here!

Spooky Science Lab

Now that Season 2 is complete and the podcast is on break until Season 3, I’d like to remind you about our merch store!

Buying merch is a great way to support the podcast so we don't have to resort to putting ads in the episodes (boooo!).

Check out our merch store at the link and let everyone know you like your science spooky!

Merch! Merch! Merch!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

I have started and restarted this editorial numerous times already. It’s hard to capture the emotions involved, which are mainly anger and indignation. It’s also hard to write coherently when you’re angry, but I’ll try.

On March 20th, The Atlantic published a search engine to allow authors to search a catalog of pirated books available on a site called Library Genesis (a.k.a. LibGen). What makes LibGen different from other pirate sites (of which there are hundreds) is that it’s the site Meta relied on to train its AI.

Yes, that’s Meta of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads fame. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta.

Put simply, Meta used illegally pirated books, without permission from the authors and without compensation, to train its AI. This is clearly a copyright violation.

I am one of the many authors whose works were available on the pirate site LibGen. When I plugged my name into The Atlantic’s search engine, it revealed that LibGen had pirated 10 of my books.

The Atlantic makes sure to state that their database of LibGen’s books is accurate as of January 2025, after Meta is known to have accessed the database to steal what is likely to be hundreds of thousands of books, so not every book in the database now may have been available when Meta came calling. However, since all of my books were published before January 2025, it’s a safe bet they wound up in Meta’s hands.

Even before this happened, I was infuriated with the proliferation of pirate book sites on the Internet. All of my books are on those sites, even the books that are out of print. Those sites are career-killers, especially for us midlist, lesser-known authors who really need every sale we can get so we have a track record to show publishers when we're trying to find homes for our next books.

It makes me wonder just how many sales I've lost out on because of pirating, how much money that should have come to me and my family was essentially stolen, and how much my career may have suffered for it.

For example, St. Martin’s canceled the Trent series after just two books because of diappointing sales. Both of those books have been available for free all over the Web since day one because of pirate sites. Coincidence? Unlikely.

However, this situation with Meta illegally scraping pirated books from LibGen takes things to a whole other level. This is a multibillion-dollar corporation deciding to break copyright law for their own selfish purposes—to create an AI model that they can then use to attract additional investors or possibly sell, all to make even more money—and now they're arguing in court that they should be allowed to break copyright law because it was faster and easier for them that way.

Can you imagine if that was your defense in court? “Your honor, I had to steal that car because it was the fastest and easiest way for me to get where I was going.” You’d be laughed out of the courtroom and into a jail cell. Then again, you’re not a multibillion-dollar corporation. The rules for them are often distressingly different.

Meta has enough money that they could have bought one copy of the greatest works of literature from around the globe to train their AI on, but no. Why buy anything when you can just steal everything? Infuriating doesn't begin to cover it.

If you’re an author, I urge you to check The Atlantic’s database (the link is above) for your own titles. If you find any, don’t despair. A class-action suit is already being brought by Joseph Saveri Law Firm & Matthew Butterick.

Even better: Every author whose books were used by Meta is automatically a class member. You don’t need to contact the law firm. I found this out firsthand after emailing them.

Sorry I’ve rambled on so long about this, but it’s important to me. I urge you to please not pirate books, movies, TV shows, or anything. It’s theft from the very creators whose work you’re enjoying, and it makes it a whole lot harder for them to continue creating things you’ll enjoy—not to mention just paying their bills or putting food on the table.

Please, say no to pirating.

Sneak Previews

Not much to report this month. Just a couple of items:

• Cold War Cthulhu, the anthology edited by Darrell Schweitzer that includes my story “The Endless Black Cathedral,” is supposed to be published by PS Publishing this month. However, I don’t see it listed on the publisher’s website yet (or any books retail sites), so I’m assuming there will be more delays. Stay tuned!

• Don’t forget, Dark Spores is out now! I have a brand-new story in this fungus-horror anthology called “Dead and Forgotten in Manhattanville”!

In the Flesh

In March, I journeyed up to the lovely Stanza Books in Beacon, NY for a group reading and Q&A to celebrate the publication of Dark Spores.

Beacon is a charming little city in the Hudson Valley, and Stanza Books is an equally charming bookstore. Plus, they’re very horror-friendly! I hope to get back there soon.

I was thrilled and honored to take part. Many thanks to Dark Spores co-editor Carol Gyzander for putting the event together, inviting me, and even driving me up there from NYC!

* * *

I also had the pleasure of attending a discussion between Stephen Graham Jones and Victor LaValle at the Strand to mark the publication of Jones’s newest novel, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.

It was an excellent and frequently hilarious conversation between two of my favorite authors. I’m so glad I could be there for it!

* * *

I guested on Jason White’s new podcast Short Bites: A Stephen King Podcast, which tackles a different King short story each episode.

Jason and I had a great time talking about the story “Graveyard Shift,” which can be found in the Night Shift collection. It’s been ages since I read it, and though I don’t think it’s one of King’s best stories, it’s a lot of fun.

I’ll be sure to let you know when the episode goes live.

Spooky Science Lab

More episodes of Spooky Science Lab Season 2 have been released into the world! As always, you can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts, or follow these easy links to the new episodes that have gone live since my last newsletter:

Episode 020: Horsehair Worms / How Many Planets Are There? - In this episode, Nick introduces listeners to the horrifying horsehair worm, a water-dwelling parasitic organism whose brutal lifecycle puts its insect host through hell, culminating in the worm's unique ability to compel its host to drown itself. Then, Dave asks the question, "How many planets are there in our solar system?" The answer might seem simple to you, but throughout history the number has fluctuated wildly, taking into account celestial bodies both real and theoretical. So how many are there really? Listen and find out!

Episode 021: Strange Loves of the Anglerfish / Teleportation - In this episode, Nick takes us to the deepest ocean depths to meet the alien-looking anglerfish and its bizarre, disturbing mating habits. Think you've been on weird dates? You haven't seen anything yet! Then, Dave ponders what teleportation would be like in the real world. Star Trek makes it look easy, but what would it entail to break you down into atoms and reassemble you somewhere else? Provided you survived the experience, would you still be you?

Episode 022: Jellyfish / Repopulating the Earth - In this episode, Nick brings us back to the ocean to visit one of its most bizarre inhabitants, the jellyfish. Some have tentacles over 100 feet long, others have a sting that can kill a human being in under five minutes, but most fascinating of all are the ones who've achieved immortality. Then, Dave asks one of the most difficult questions in science: If a catastrophic, world-ending event was on the way, who would you choose to survive in order to repopulate the Earth and how would you save them? It's a moral quandary with no easy answer, but it's one humanity may have to face someday.

Episode 023: Krakatoa / Io: The Death Moon - In this episode, Nick takes us back in time to the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, one of the most devastating volcanic eruptions in modern history. Not only did it kill tens of thousands and lead to unimaginable devastation, it also changed the Earth's climate in ways that still affect us over one hundred years later. Then, Dave drops us off on Io, Jupiter's innermost moon and one of the deadliest spots in the solar system. How exactly can Io kill you? Let Dave count the ways!

Episode 024: Ice Mummies / What Is Reality? - In the Season 2 finale, Nick explores the chilling (in more ways than one) world of ice mummies. From Beechey Island in the Arctic to the summits of the Austrian Alps, the bodies of the dead lay frozen and preserved, including one "iceman" discovered to be 5,300 years old! Then, Dave examines the difference between perception and reality. Are we seeing the world around us as it really is? The answer will blow your mind!

And that’s a wrap on Season 2! Spooky Science Lab will be on break for a bit, and then we’ll be back with Season 3!

In the meantime, don’t forget that Spooky Science Lab has merch now! T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, tote bags, phone cases, stickers, you name it!

Check out our merch store here!

As an added bonus, if you take a picture of yourself with any Spooky Science Lab merch and email it to contact@spookysciencelab.com, we’ll post it on our social media sites!

Let everyone know you like your science spooky!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

February was my birthday month! In addition to celebrating with friends and family, my wife Alexa got me a very fun and unexpected gift!

Tickets to an armored combat tournament!

The folks from Gladiators NYC put on a great show, using real armor and real weapons (although they weren’t sharp).

One thing watching the tournament really drove home is how quickly the fighters got tired. That armor is heavy, and so are the swords, maces, and axes they fought with. Each match had two 30-second rest periods.

Movies and books tend to romanticize knights in armor when they’re fighting battles, depicting them as tireless swordsmen, but this was a good lesson in the reality of the situation. How easily they become exhausted is something fantasy and historical writers would do well to remember.

During intermission, Alexa and I got to hold one of the swords to see for ourselves how heavy it was!

It was a fun, unique experience, and it made my birthday one to remember!

Sneak Previews

Two fantastic blurbs came in for my upcoming collection Monuments in Darkness! I’m sharing them here exclusively with you, my newsletter subscribers. They haven’t been shared anywhere else yet.

"Monuments in Darkness is filled with masterful characterization and a slow, nerve-wracking pace, where each story reveals a labyrinth of unspeakable truths. Kaufmann excels at drawing out the mystery in his fiction, building tension through the absence of information. That void in the center of each tale will dare you to enter and face the terrifying visions within. And to your horror you'll go, and go eagerly." - Simon Strantzas, author of Nothing Is Everything and Only the Living Are Lost

"Horrors literary, classic, and cosmic populate Monuments in Darkness—this collection has claws and isn't afraid to use them. Even in the blind depths of utter darkness, Nicholas Kaufmann knows his way around a horror tale." - Matthew M. Bartlett, author of Gateways to Abomination and The Obsecration

Hippocampus Press is on track for releasing the collection this summer, but I still don’t have an exact pub date. I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I do, so keep watching this space and my social media!

* * *

In case you missed the news, the anthology Dark Spores: Stories We Tell After Midnight 4, which includes my story “Dead and Forgotten in Manhattanville,” was released at the beginning of the year.

You can pick up a copy at Amazon, Bookshop, or wherever you buy books.

In the Flesh

Speaking of Dark Spores, I read from “Dead and Forgotten in Manhattanville” at Boskone 62. Other than the weirdness of doing a reading in a boardroom around a conference table (see picture), it went very well.

The rest of the convention went very well, too. I spoke on two panels: one about the science of fear (although it was more about why we love horror than anything truly scientific), and another on starting up a podcast.

I also moderated a panel on science-fiction horror, which was a blast, especially when panelist Jeffrey Ford had everyone in the room laughing during his rant about being bored by Lovecraft!

* * *

Speaking of Dark Spores (again), I’ll be part of a group reading of authors from the anthology on Saturday, March 8th, at 7PM, at Stanza Books, 506 Main Street in Beacon, NY.

That’s just seven days from when this newsletter hits your Inbox! (Cue the ghost girl from The Ring: “Seven days…”)

With me will be Carol Gyzander (co-editor of the anthology), Meghan Arcuri, Teel James Glenn, and James Chambers.

I hope you’ll join us!

You can RSVP at the Facebook event page, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Also, there’s talk of a NYC event for Dark Spores in the near future, too. Keep an eye on my social media for more info!

* * *

Lastly, my good friend Jason White of Jason’s Weird Reads YouTube channel is starting a new podcast called Short Bites: A Stephen King Podcast.

Each episode will feature Jason and a guest discussing a Stephen King short story.

Shortly, I’ll be recording an episode with him on the story “Graveyard Shift” from King’s collection Night Shift! I think it’s going to be a lot of fun!

I’ll let you know when the episode gets released!

Spooky Science Lab

More episodes of Spooky Science Lab season two have been released into the world! As always, you can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts, or follow these easy links to the new episodes that have gone live since my last newsletter:

Episode 016: Death by Slug / A Field Trip to the Exoplanets - In this episode, Nick recounts the true story of a young Australian man in the peak of health who, in 2010, ate a common garden slug on a dare. What followed was a swift and brutal physical deterioration, eventually putting him into a coma. But slugs aren't poisonous, so what happened? The answer will shock you! Then, Dave takes us on a guided tour of several fascinating and spooky exoplanets, strange and completely alien worlds that orbit distant stars. Could any of them support life as we know it?

Episode 017: The Manchineel Tree / Deep Life - In this episode, Nick gets too close for comfort to a tree the Guinness Book of World Records called "the deadliest tree in the world." With poisonous fruit, toxic bark, and lethal sap, there's no doubt the manchineel tree wants you dead. Only one creature can survive in its branches, but you'll never guess what it is. Then, Dave takes a deep dive into the deep Earth, where there's no light, intense pressure, and unbearable heat, and yet life is thriving down there. These life forms are unlike anything we've ever seen and far outnumber the organisms that exist on the surface. How they survive in these extreme conditions will amaze you.

Episode 018: Into the Immune System / Dark Flow - In this episode, Nick shrinks Dave to the size of a bacterium and sends him into the savage battlefield of the human immune system, a breathtaking biological enterprise that's second in complexity only to the human brain. Then, Dave takes us to the very edge of the universe, where something unknown lurks beyond observable space, emitting such an immense gravitational pull that this mysterious celestial body is believed to be the largest, densest object in the universe.

Episode 019: Lazarus Syndrome / Cerebral Organoids - In this episode, Nick explores Lazarus Syndrome, a rare occurrence where people who are declared dead suddenly and mysteriously wake up hours later, sometimes just minutes away from being embalmed. The dead are rising, but this isn't a zombie movie, it's real life! Then, Dave introduces us to cerebral organoids, lab-grown living human brain cells in petri dishes. These mini-brains are capable of learning, including how to play video games, and now some want to turn them into organic supercomputers.

And don’t forget, Spooky Science Lab has merch now! T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, tote bags, phone cases, stickers, you name it!

Check out our merch store here!

As an added bonus, if you take a picture of yourself with any Spooky Science Lab merch and email it to contact@spookysciencelab.com, we’ll post it on our social media sites!

Let everyone know you like your science spooky!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

February is my birthday month, so I should be excited, but instead I’m feeling a little down because just recently, on January 15th, we lost one of my favorite filmmakers, David Lynch.

I remember seeing Blue Velvet when it hit movie theaters in 1986. (I was 17 and finally able to see an R-rated movie without having to beg a random adult in line to buy a ticket for me!) Anyway, guess what? I hated it! I didn’t understand the movie at all and made fun of it quite a bit afterward.

A few years later, I saw it again in a film class in college, and with the help of the professor I had a much greater understanding of what Lynch was trying to achieve. Now I think Blue Velvet is a masterpiece!

In fact, I think most of Lynch’s works are masterpieces. There’s Twin Peaks, of course, the TV series that was appointment-viewing for me and my friends while we were in college—I remember all of us piling into the dorm room of our one friend who owned a TV—and later, the feature film followup Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, which I rented on glorious VHS in ’92 or ’93, and which disturbed me so much I had to watch cartoons for an hour afterward just to clear my head.

Lost Highway, with its fractured narrative and interrogation of reality vs. fantasy, blew my brain apart. Mulholland Drive, which is structurally and philosophically the same and the opposite of Lost Highway, blew it apart all over again. Frequently, I would have to sit with Lynch’s movies and mull them over before fully understanding them, and even then, I knew that what I thought I understood might just be my own interpretation, and someone else’s might be just as valid. Lynch himself refused to say what any of his movies were “about.”

I think the last thing I saw by him was What Did Jack Do?, a hilarious and bizarre short in which Lynch, playing a detective, interrogates a monkey about a murder. It’s as crazy as it sounds—as crazy as any David Lynch piece—and yet not at all surprising that it came from the mind of this wildly inventive and creative genius.

Elsewhere, I called Lynch a maker of surreal, nightmarish films. Somehow, he was able to get under the viewer’s skin with images and sounds that affected us, especially our fear centers, on a primal level. He made it look effortless. I can only hope my fiction will someday have a similar effect on readers, and that I’ll be able to make it look as effortless as he did.

Rest in peace, David Lynch.

Sneak Previews

Dark Spores: Stories We Tell After Midnight Volume 4 is finally out! This anthology includes my story “Dead and Forgotten in Manhattanville,” which I think fans of dark, creepy horror and New York City architectural history are going to love. (I know they’re out there!)

It’s available at Amazon, Bookshop, or wherever you buy books.

Many thanks to editors Carol Gyzander and Rachel A. Brune for inviting me to write a new fungal-horror story in the vein of The Hungry Earth. I always enjoy revisiting the world of strange fungi, which anyone who listens to Spooky Science Lab already knows!

* * *

I recently got some news about Cold War Cthulhu, a new Lovecraftian anthology edited by Darrell Schweitzer that includes my story “The Endless Black Cathedral.”

You might remember it was supposed to be released in 2024, but word from the editor is that it’s been pushed back to April, 2025.

I’m eager for this one to come out because I think “The Endless Black Cathedral” is one of the best things I’ve written, and I can’t wait for people to read it!

In the Flesh

Boskone 62 is fast approaching! It runs from February 14th through February 16th in Boston, and it’s always a good, informative, and inspiring time. Here’s where you can find me on the program:

Saturday, February 15

• 1 PM, The Science of Fear
Writing realistic and compelling psychological suspense in a speculative or even in the real world takes a careful and thoughtful hand. From haunted starships to cursed forests, speculative fiction creates unique settings for psychological suspense. How do authors use fear to explore deeper truths? Let’s dig into the mind games that keep us turning the page.

With Kelley Armstrong, Nicholas Kaufmann, Paul Tremblay, Stephen P. Kelner, Jr., and Trisha J. Wooldridge (moderator)

• 4 PM, Reading
I’m not sure what I’m reading yet, but I’m leaning toward reading from one of the originals from my upcoming story collection, Monuments in Darkness.

Sunday, February 16

• 10 AM, When the Darkness Strikes Back
Whether it’s Alien or The Thing, science fiction horror thrives where curiosity and terror collide. Why do we fear what we don’t understand, and how does science fiction magnify that fear? Let's shine a light into the darkness and see why these stories make us imagine what terrors might exist in the night sky.

With Carlos Hernandez, Catherine Scully, F. Brett Cox, Jack M. Haringa, Jeffrey Ford, and Nicholas Kaufmann (moderator)

• 11:30 AM, Starting Up a Podcast (Audio and Video)
Podcasting has changed, evolving to include both audio and video. Starting a podcast requires content, format, equipment, distribution platforms, publicity, and more. Our panel of experienced podcasters will talk about how to navigate these hurdles and answer your questions from Spotify to YouTube and beyond!

With Brad Abraham (moderator), Dan Moren, Erin Underwood, Madison Metricula Roberts, and Nicholas Kaufmann

If you’re at Boskone, come say hi! I don’t have a signing scheduled, but if you bring a book from home you’d like me to sign, don’t be shy, I’m happy to do it!

Spooky Science Lab

Spooky Science Lab is back for a second season! Co-host David Wellington and I have a whole new batch of strange-but-true science we can’t wait to share with our listeners!

As always, you can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts, or follow these easy links to the new episodes that have gone live so far:

Episode 013: Spooky Science Lab Live! - In this episode, Nick explores the strange and spooky phenomenon of bog mummies in northern Europe. How are they so well preserved after thousands of years, and what dark, deadly secret do they share? Then, Dave examines what intelligent alien life might look like should we ever encounter them. The answer might surprise you! (This episode was recorded before a live audience at the Flying Fox Tavern in Queens, NY, on September 15, 2024.)

Episode 014: Chernobyl Fungus / The Phoenix Cluster - In this episode, Nick leads us deep into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone to the remains of the deadly reactor itself, where a most unexpected organism has made its home. Not only is it resistant to the radiation bombarding it, it appears to be feeding on radiation to grow and reproduce. Then, Dave takes us on a journey to the Phoenix Cluster, a massive and beautiful collection of galaxies billions of light years from Earth. Yet something terrifying lurks at the center of the Phoenix Cluster, something we know is there but cannot see.

Episode 015: When Birds Attack / The Yucca Flat Experiment - In this episode, Nick recounts the bizarre events that befell the small coastal city of Capitola, California in 1961, when thousands of seabirds attacked the city, an incident eerily similar to Alfred Hitchcock's famous movie The Birds, yet this happened two years before the movie. What caused the birds to swarm Capitola and peck madly at its residents, and could it happen again? Then, Dave tells the sad story of American servicemen purposely exposed, without their knowledge or consent, to the radiation of nuclear blasts at Yucca Flat, Nevada in the 1950s. The dark and tragic secret they were forced to keep for decades has finally been revealed.

And don’t forget, Spooky Science Lab has merch now! T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, tote bags, phone cases, stickers, you name it!

Check out our merch store here!

As an added bonus, if you take a picture of yourself with any Spooky Science Lab merch and email it to contact@spookysciencelab.com, we’ll post it on our social media sites!

Let everyone know you like your science spooky!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I hope 2025 brings you health, happiness, prosperity, and peace.

Looking back on 2024, I’m proud of the things I accomplished. The Mind Worms was published, I wrote several short stories which should be making their way to your eyeballs next year, and my friend David Wellington and I launched the new podcast Spooky Science Lab, which is doing better than we ever could have dreamed.

There’s lots to look forward to in 2025, including a new story collection and a new season of Spooky Science Lab. More about both later in the newsletter!

Plus, 2025 marks my 25th year as a professionally published author! That’s quite a milestone!

I don’t really make resolutions, but I do think the new year is a good time for reflection and reevaluating one’s goals.

One goal I have for 2025 is to get out of my apartment more. Those who’ve known me a long time know I used to do the majority of my writing at the main branch of New York Public Library, a beautiful Beaux-Arts building perhaps best known for the scene at the start of the original Ghostbusters where the team encounters a ghostly librarian.

The lockdown in 2020 forced me to relearn how to write at home, despite all the distractions that exist there. (Including the cats.) Eventually, I just got into the habit of writing at home. I wrote all three Dr. Laura Powell novels at home (mostly), but I miss going to the library. I miss having a subway commute (believe it or not) that gives me the time to switch from home brain to writer brain, and which also affords me extra reading time.

My desire to return to writing at the library ties into my second goal, which is to complete another novel. I have a commercial thriller all planned out—tentatively titled A Gleam in the Dark—and I just need to sit down and really dig into the writing of it. I’d hoped to get more of that done in 2024, but the best laid plans and all that.

Whatever goals you’ve set for yourself in 2025, I hope they bring you lots of joy and a true sense of accomplishment!

Sneak Previews

Now that the contract has been signed, I can finally announce—and I’m announcing it here first; this hasn’t been announced anywhere else yet—my new collection Monuments in Darkness will be published by New York City’s fabled publisher of all things Weird and Lovecraftian, Hippocampus Press!

(Normally, this is where I’d link to their website, but their website is, frankly, an eyesore that looks like it was designed in the early 2000s.)

Hippocampus is aiming for a July 2025 publication date. However, they’re a small, independent publisher and delays are often par for the course. Stay tuned.

Monuments in Darkness will collect eleven stories, including two brand-new, never-before-published stories. Here’s a sneak peek at the table of contents:

1. The Fire and the Stag

2. The Rest Is Noise

3. Lucienne

4. Every Path Taken

5. Spawning Season

6. Six Strikes on a Laboratory Lightning Rod (original to this collection)

7. Whatever Happened to Solstice Young?

8. Daughter of Echidna

9. The Fifth Horseman

10. Companion (original to this collection)

11. General Slocum’s Gold

Longtime readers will remember “General Slocum’s Gold” as my Bram Stoker Award-nominated novelette from 2007, originally published as a chapbook by Burning Effigy Press. After Burning Effigy folded, “General Slocum’s Gold” was only available as an e-book for the past decade. I’m thrilled to bring it back into physical print here, where it will be able to reach a whole new generation of readers.

I’m planning to have at least one book launch, definitely in NYC but maybe others elsewhere, too. Keep watching this space.

I can’t think of a better way to mark my 25th year as a writer than a big party where I’m also launching a new book!

In the Flesh

Catch me at Boskone 62 in Boston, MA, February 14th-16th! I’ll be speaking on panels and might even do a reading or host a kaffeeklatsch, but I don’t have my schedule yet. I should have it in time for February’s newsletter.

* * *

Later in the year, you can find me at Necon 43 in July and the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival in October.

Spooky Science Lab

The podcast is coming back for Season 2 on Monday, January 13th!

Mark those calendars!

Every week, you’ll be able to listen to a brand-new episode on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts!

And don’t forget, Spooky Science Lab has merch now! T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, tote bags, phone cases, stickers, you name it!

Check out our merch store here!

As an added bonus, if you take a picture of yourself with any Spooky Science Lab merch and email it to contact@spookysciencelab.com, we’ll post it on our social media sites and tag you!

Let everyone know you prefer your science spooky!

Until next time!

Like what you see? Buy me a cup of coffee!

Curious about my books? Visit my website!