SOME PEOPLE, Published April 2002 in DECADENCE: An Erotic Horror Anthology (edited by Monica J. O'Rourke - Prime Books)

So I wrote this story called SOME PEOPLE, see? From 1995 to 2001 I sent it off to various magazine and anthology editors who sent it back, rejected, but with the words "I really liked this story!"

Then they would go on to explain that, though they liked the story, it just didn't quite fit in with their format, theme, etc.

Never any criticism, nothing to point out that I could improve and so, make the story salable. NO! Just a really good, possibly great story with no takers. -Sigh-.

Then my bro and feoamante.com contributor Michael T. Huyck Jr. jumps up and announces HASTUR, HASTUR, PUSSYCAT. A spoofy take on H.P. Lovecraft stories. Could work for SOME PEOPLE, so I send it off. Mikey sends it back. "Love this story!" he said, "but it's not Lovecraftian enough! I'm sure you will sell this story soon because that is one really cool story!"

"MIKEY!" said I, "I've been hearing that for SIX (->6<-) YEARS! Everybody loves it, nobody wants to publish it!"

Mikey immediately took it upon himself to find me an editor who needed that story and right under my own nose turned up Monica J. O'Rourke. At that time, Monica had only wrote a review or two for the site and had plenty of other irons in the fire, so we hadn't spoke as much as we do now. She read the story, loved it, and bought it for her anthology DECADENCE: An Erotic Horror Anthology. The cover is designed by Gord Rollo with original artwork by Mike BoHatch. The book was released in 2002 by Prime Books and shortly after, I got an email from Ellen Datlow, fiction editor at scifi.com, who told me that she liked my story so well that she was going to give it honorable mention in her annual anthology which she co-edits with Terry Windling, YEAR'S BEST OF FANTASY and HORROR 16.

In The Padded Room, Victor Heck said,
"Feo Amante's story was the best damned story in this book."

And in the UK, SOME PEOPLE also received a rave review from InfinityPlus Magazine.

OPEN WOUNDS, Published August 2002 in DECADENCE 2: An Erotic Horror Anthology (edited by Monica J. O'Rourke - Flesh & Blood Press)

Shortly after DECADENCE came out in April 2002, Jack Fisher of Flesh & Blood Press was so impressed with it that he bought the rights to the sequel. This time the book was printed in hardcover. Very snazzy and with a snazzy price!

Monica hounded me to come up with a story for it but I was really all out of anything you could label erotica. The closest I came to such a story was one I was working on about a very unusual sexual disease, but I hadn't got the science all worked out over it. Monica read the story and made some suggestions. I wrote a first draft and sent it off. To my horror she accepted MY FIRST DRAFT (!!!) changing the name from IN BETWEEN to OPEN WOUNDS: an Editor's prerogative (she let me know ahead of time anyway). OPEN WOUNDS now resides in DECADENCE 2: An Erotic Horror Anthology. Feo Amante designed the book cover around Mike BoHatch's excellent artwork.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH MILDRED?, Published December 2002 in RANDOM ACTS OF WEIRDNESS (edited by Brian Knight - Catalyst Books)

This book was in the cooker before either of the DECADENCE books, but came out after. It happens that way sometimes. The book was being edited by Brian Knight, who I had first met in Seattle at the 2001 World Horror Convention. Brian had just released an anthology called RARE, based on an original anthology idea by Weston Ochse. Brian spoke of a sort of sequel book called RAW (but hadn't figured out what the letters would mean). He invited me to submit a story and I sent him WHAT'S WRONG WITH MILDRED?, inspired in a newsgroup I belong to by a subject line with a considerable number of re:'s. I wrote the story, invited said newsgroup to critique it, then asked Jane Letty (newsgroup creator) if I could keep the title and submit it. In her usual emotional flair she gave me her blessing. Of the three anthologies, my story WHAT'S WRONG WITH MILDRED? in the RANDOM ACTS OF WEIRDNESS anthology is my favorite.

Once again Feo Amante did the cover design around excellent cover art, this time provided by Gak.

Essay on George R. R. Martin, Published December 2002 in SUPERNATURAL FICTION WRITERS: Contemporary Fantasy and Horror (edited by Richard Bleiler - Scribner)

Monica J. O'Rourke was there for me again. She threw this at me when she discovered that someone else dropped the ball. "I think Richard needs someone to write up George R. R. Martin for him!" Well hell! I was a George R. R. Martin fan and this would be my first "PRO" nonfiction assignment! I contacted editor Richard Bleiler and he gave me his blessing. He is a really great guy but I was a naïf on how writing nonfiction requires attention AFTER the submission. If you want to write Professional nonfiction articles, you may have to change your lifestyle, meaning, you have to be ready for constant contact, rewrites, revisions, and a host of other things that - As new as I was to the whole field - had never experienced with writing fiction. There were times when the logic of the business escaped me (until it was explained). Meaning I had to stay on top of my email EVERY day and check my phone messages THE VERY MINUTE I got home because accuracy is accuracy and deadlines are just that. There were enough "Of Course!" moments to make my forehead go flat ("slap") and there were times when I felt like little more than an earnest goof. But Richard was kind and held my hand a few times. Thanks Richard!

In The Writer's Block where I live, I've added ruler marks on the wall to see how much I grew from this experience.

BLACK DAY, by Brian Knight, published July 2003 (Amber Quill Press, LLC)

So my bud, Brian Knight, asks me if I'll do the cover for his new book, BLACK DAY? He's got this cool image that he wants to use, see? A snake with spokes eating its own tail! But he needs a cool cover design, right? And he remembered and liked what I did with GAK's artwork in Random Acts of Weirdness. I asked Brian to fill me in on what the book was about, then came up with this design in a matter of hours. I usually don't work that fast, but sometimes inspiration just hits ya!

Is that all? NO! Because, while trying to get the full size printable cover across the ether, emails just shut down. By the time I posted the work on my website (link since removed), Publisher Trace Zaber (who did the actual "snake art") redid "from the ground up" a copy of my cover design to get it to the printer by the deadline. Lesson learned. Only the CD-R snail mail route from now on (it's what I usually do anyway).

Is THAT all? NO! The book comes out and I look at the cover art and I swear! I cannot tell the difference between the cover I designed and the cover that Trace says he "copied from my design". As author Brian Knight says, BrianKnight.com.

YEAR'S BEST FANTASY and HORROR 16

BEST OF FANTASY AND HORROR, To be published August 2003 (edited by Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling)

Ellen Datlow is one of those folks I've long admired for being a sharp eyed editor of stories that will be here today and into the far, far future. I can go back to old anthologies she's put together as well as old issues of Omni Magazine to find that the stories that passed her inspection, still endure. So you can imagine my happy surprise when I got an email from her letting me know that - She Felt - my story SOME PEOPLE (see DECADENCE above) deserved Honorable Mention as one of the best stories of 2002.

Coolness!

The book is out now and here is a snippet:

The best Horror websites that I've seen are:

l www.feoamante.com, edited by E.C.McMullen Jr., is a flashy and informative site covering every aspect of horror including art, comics, upcoming conventions, movie and book reviews - all with attitude.

FREAKING Double Cool!