It's currently 6am. I'm about to have some coffee and tuck into edits for Lady Luck, the sequel to A Penny For Your Thoughts. But with less than 48 hours left in 2019, I wanted to take a moment and look back on the year that was. It's been a good one, but a strange one. Why? I usually do multiple short stories throughout the year, and 2019 only saw one from me, a short in Craig Spector's latest anthology. A couple of anthologies got cancelled, some were pushed back to 2020, and that's just how things went. Either way, it felt odd not having consistent stories releasing, and it left me feeling a little out of the loop. Still, 2019 was a great year. Here's why.

In January, my back catalog received hardcover re-releases via Poltergeist Press. Those included Brain Dead Blues, The Faithful, Practitioners, and What Do Monsters Fear? The latter also received a new mass market paperback and eBook release with a foreword by Edward Lee. Following that came the release of A Penny For Your Thoughts by Robert Ford and myself. The reaction was insane. I couldn't be more proud of that novel. I finished a new survival horror titled The Flood, and it's currently doing the rounds via my agent, Lane. Fingers crossed we get a bite in early 2020. I attended Scares That Care in Williamsburg, VA, had the pleasure of hanging out with my horror pack once again, ate some great food, drank a little too much, and returned home to knock out the sequel to A Penny For Your Thoughts with Bob Ford. We finished in early December, and are deep into the editing phase. Expect that to release next summer.

Another Ghost, a new imprint of Thunderstorm Books run by Poltergeist Press, announced their first two limited, lettered editions. Those included A Place For Sinners by Aaron Dries, and A Penny For Your Thoughts. Both titles sold out in under two hours, and are currently at the printers. They will be seriously stunning editions, all signed and leather bound, so if you're a collector, keep an eye out for future AG titles.

I rounded out the year with a reading with Tim Lebbon and Seán O'Connor in Dublin, followed by my second exclusive release, a new short story collection called Various States of Decay. So far, reviews have been extremely kind, and I'm truly humbled. The short story is a form I adore, I cut my teeth writing for magazines and anthologies. This collects everything post-Brain Dead Blues, as well as a handful of new exclusives.

So, that's where we're at. In 2020, so far the release schedule looks like this:

Lady Luck (the sequel to A Penny For Your Thoughts with Robert Ford) - July
Those Below The Tree House (a dark coming-of-age novel) - Late 2020
A Penny For Your Thoughts (limited lettered edition) first quarter 2020
The Lurker In The Basement (Short Story) via Death's Head Press
Cretins (Short Story) late 2020 for an untitled anthology

I doubt that'll be everything released in 2020 as projects pop up and get moved around, but that's where we're at so far. I hope you all had a great 2019, and can't thank you enough for taking the time to read my work. It truly means the world.

Matt