My Debut Novel 'The Deading' Announced By Erewhon Books
Erewhon Books announced the first in a two-book deal, The Deading, half of which I wrote about four years ago, the second half I wrote in the UC Riverside Low-res Program in Creative Writing. I graduated that program in June and now working on rounds of edits, trying to get this eco-horror/climate fiction novel ready for its Summer ‘24 release.
The Deading was acquired by Erewhon’s Diana Pho in early March. A fabulous editor, she’s kind, generous, curious, imaginative. She previously worked for Tor Publishing, won major speculative fiction awards, and has been integral to our rounds of editing, helping me find ways to expand both character and story.
Many of you know I’ve been writing a long time. The dream has always been to publish at increasingly higher levels. I’ve had a few low-tier book deals, published in journals and anthologies too, and ghostwrote for famous writers. This multi-book speculative fiction deal is what I’ve always been hoping for, the culmination of strategizing to get an MFA, then using that experience as a launching pad into publishing long-form fiction. Somehow, it worked! While I was in the program, I didn’t expect to work on The Deading. My thesis was a different work entirely, not speculative fiction but Chicano literature. Even my graduate lecture was on crafting family in literature. So, The Deading has been a complete surprise! Anyway, I ended up studying a few quarters under Stephen Graham Jones (Don’t Fear the Reaper, The Only Good Indians, Mongrels). He taught me quite a bit about the horror genre, so much that I found myself immersed in expanding The Deading into sub-genre, eco-horror. He helped rearrange some of the book too, made it tidier.
Stephen Graham Jones has this to say about The Deading: “Do not eat fish from these waters. Or oysters. Really, just stay inland. Except that, in The Deading, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re safe, either.”
I love that blurb. Feels like my novel will be kind of scary!
Anyway, I’m really happy about the announcement. You can read more about my ongoing writings here on Goodreads or at Erewhon Books, and of course you can find me on social media or here if you want to have a chat.
The Deading was acquired by Erewhon’s Diana Pho in early March. A fabulous editor, she’s kind, generous, curious, imaginative. She previously worked for Tor Publishing, won major speculative fiction awards, and has been integral to our rounds of editing, helping me find ways to expand both character and story.
Many of you know I’ve been writing a long time. The dream has always been to publish at increasingly higher levels. I’ve had a few low-tier book deals, published in journals and anthologies too, and ghostwrote for famous writers. This multi-book speculative fiction deal is what I’ve always been hoping for, the culmination of strategizing to get an MFA, then using that experience as a launching pad into publishing long-form fiction. Somehow, it worked! While I was in the program, I didn’t expect to work on The Deading. My thesis was a different work entirely, not speculative fiction but Chicano literature. Even my graduate lecture was on crafting family in literature. So, The Deading has been a complete surprise! Anyway, I ended up studying a few quarters under Stephen Graham Jones (Don’t Fear the Reaper, The Only Good Indians, Mongrels). He taught me quite a bit about the horror genre, so much that I found myself immersed in expanding The Deading into sub-genre, eco-horror. He helped rearrange some of the book too, made it tidier.
Stephen Graham Jones has this to say about The Deading: “Do not eat fish from these waters. Or oysters. Really, just stay inland. Except that, in The Deading, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re safe, either.”
I love that blurb. Feels like my novel will be kind of scary!
Anyway, I’m really happy about the announcement. You can read more about my ongoing writings here on Goodreads or at Erewhon Books, and of course you can find me on social media or here if you want to have a chat.
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