Thursday, June 2, 2022

NAFALLEN UNIVERSITY COURSE CATALOG 2022-2023 IS UP FOR SALE NOW - Notes and Acknowledgments


GET IT ON AMAZON NOW http://getbook.at/NUCC2022



 

Notes and Acknowledgments for the Nafallen University Course Catalog

I would not have thought a year ago that my idea for an evil college course catalog would have been anything more than another weird idea I had that would at most be a writing project for myself. Somehow though, this book is now a real thing, and I couldn’t be more excited to have others read it and hopefully get some enjoyment out of it. Even better, it’s been wonderful to work with a bevy of talented people to have this come into fruition.

I have not seen acknowledgments really done in an anthology before, probably because it would get very long to have all the contributors share their thoughts and thanks. But I would be remiss not to account for everyone that had a hand, seen and unseen, in making this project happen. This on its own will be a little lengthy but I hope you’ll give it some time and attention, and give attention and support to all of those mentioned. When one wins we all win, and this is most certainly a win I want to see ripple forward. I apologize if I’ve excluded anyone from this list, there are truly a lot of people to thank-and please know your support and encouragement means a lot to me, and I wish you all success, peace, health, and love.

 

Thanks to my wife Jennifer, and our cat Rumi, who help me stay grounded and give me a loving base to be able to work from.

Thanks to my parents, who probably won’t read this, but raised me to embrace my imagination and to be creative and silly.

The idea for this project was born from a walk where I was listening to an interview with Matthew M. Bartlett talking about his phenomenal chapbook series, the WXXT Program Guide. I started thinking about what kind of universe I could create that might mimic what he is doing with that series (and his writing in general is a large inspiration to me). Matt was an enthusiastic supporter of the idea, and over the months has proven time and again how wonderful people in the independent horror community are to one another. I am proud to call Matt a friend, and even prouder to have done a little playing in the WXXT-verse myself.

John Baltisberger is the head of Madness Heart Press which put this book out. In the midst of his own prodigious and excellent output, and running a small press, and just life in general, John has been a joy to work with and is committed to supporting his writers. He took a risk on an unknown weirdo with a crazy idea, and I hope this reinforces his belief that there is a necessary place in this world for weird horror stuff. I can’t believe how fast he made all of this happen-I’m still pretty blown away by it! I look forward to working more with John in the future.

A critical part of Madness Heart Press is Charles Bernard, who has been a great supporter of mine and a hell of a writer in his own right. Thank you for all you do for the Press and for your friendship!!

The entire roster of Madness Heart Press is so supportive of one another and are all doing phenomenal work deserving your attention. Christine Morgan, Susan Snyder, Jay Wilburn, Lucas Mangum, Ben Arzate, Maxwell Bauman, and many more. Do yourself a favor and pick up ANYTHING from madnessheart.press and you’ll have a fantastic reading experience.

Madness Heart Press is one of several small presses out there putting phenomenal work out. Had I gone through the usual channels for pitching something, two I definitely would have gotten a hold of were Silent Motorist Media and Nightscape Press, run by two of the kindest folks I have met in the community. Justin Burnett runs Silent Motorist Media, and has been incredibly generous with his time and thoughts. Dream Wilson runs Nightscape Press, and has also been a really wonderful person to talk to and get to know. Please consider supporting them and their work!

Jon Padgett is a writer of formidable talent, another strong influence on my writing, a very nice guy who also runs Grimscribe Press. His passion for putting quality work into the world of the weird and the horrible has been an influence on my editing for this project.

Mike Davis runs Lovecraft E-Zine (the press and podcast) and has introduced me to many writers I hadn’t known previously. He is a very nice man who does great work championing the indie horror community.

An anthology would be naught without the talent contributing to it. For every author who wrote something for this, THANK YOU for making it more awesome than I could have hoped for. I encourage you, reader, to seek out other work by these amazing authors and give them your support and encouragement.

One of my creative partners going back to the school bus is Michael Cavagnaro. In addition to being my longest and one of my best friends, this guy has writing talent to stun and shock you. I am hopeful to introduce you to his work in the near future.

Another more recent creative partner here in Illinois is Nick Vasi. His encouragement for this idea has truly made me feel like this earns a spot on your bookshelf. He is also quite the writer, and I’ll be excited to give him a platform for his creative output in the near future.

I met Mat Fitzsimmons through Matt Bartlett, and together we have created something truly awesome with Olde Wyathscope’s Quarterly Concern-a very strange, horrible, and weird almanac. His creativity and support fuel me, and if you like the Course Catalog, I think you’ll really like what we have cooked up. We also have a few other irons in the fire that we’ll look forward to revealing to you in the months to come.

Farah Rose and Michael Cisco are two awesome people who have also influenced me as well as being supportive of my work. I am grateful to count you among my friends.

Through Farah, I met Leah Bond who graciously interviewed me (with Matt Bartlett!) for her podcast. Thank you for boosting my signal and being a wonderful host.

Daniel Braum ran several very entertaining weird reading events last year over Zoom which featured several of my favorite writers as well as authors new to me. He is a terrific guy and writer. Check him out.

Brian Evenson is another writer who influenced me greatly, especially with his talent for the super short and disturbing writing as well as injections of the surreal and absurd.

Drew Stepek, Christina Pfeiffer, Marian Elaine, and all the authors and talent associated with Godless.com have been phenomenal to me and supportive in my creative endeavors. Truly too many to name, but my thanks is deep and wide to you.

I have several friends who I incorporated into the catalog – you’ll know who you are and please consider it a little tribute to what you mean to me and my unending gratitude for being in my life.

If you have given me a creative platform in the last couple of years, you don’t know how much it means to me to have my creative output validated and shared. Thank you very much!

If you’re an author who has even said thank you to a message from me, your time, effort, and talent mean a lot to me and have helped fuel my own creativity. Thank you very much!

If you’ve listened to my music and dug it and shared it, or we’ve collaborated on something together, you mean a lot to me, and thank you very much!

If you’ve read my writing, thank you very much!!

If this lengthy document doesn’t call you out by name, but you’re reading it, you mean a lot to me! Thank you very much!

If you are a creative person, and want to work together, if you don’t ask you don’t get, and I would love to connect and talk about ideas for things to do together. Together, when one wins, we all win. Let’s put something awesome out in the world that we can be proud of.

I love you.

Matt

 

 

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