Back in 2018, I published a novel with Steven L. Kent called 100 Fathoms Below. It got good reviews, and would eventually be nominated for a Dragon Award, but it didn’t really find its audience until a tweet of mine about the novel went viral in 2021.
You can see the tweet above. Honestly, I thought I was just making a snarky tweet that would soon be forgotten. You never know what’s going to go viral. I’m just glad there aren’t any typos in it!
The phrase “vampires on a submarine” took on a life of its own.
The tweet is still making the rounds online, long after I bounced from Twitter and the original tweet bounced with me. Every once in a while, it shows up on Facebook again, and my friends tag me to remind me that not only will this be my legacy, it will also probably be etched on my tombstone.
Anyway, viral tweets sell books, apparently, and we sold thousands upon thousands of copies, mostly in e-book format.
As a result, 100 Fathoms Below became an Amazon and B&N.com bestseller. Its popularity led to it being the only book of mine to have its own Wikipedia entry. I even decided to reference it in the name of this very newsletter you’re reading (and hopefully have subscribed to)!
The popularity of 100 Fathoms Below also led to it being surprisingly influential.
In 2022, the AMC TV show Fear the Walking Dead, a spinoff of the popular Walking Dead show, put out a limited Web series called Dead in the Water.
The hook? Zombies on a submarine.
The similarity was enough that my agent told AMC we would be watching the series very closely to make sure they didn’t lift even the slightest plot point or character arc from 100 Fathoms Below.
Thankfully, Dead in the Water did not mirror anything other than the most basic premise of horror on a submarine where the crew are transformed one by one into undead monsters.
Was it simply one of those coincidences that occasionally sees two intellectual properties share a similar theme, like the movies The First Omen and Immaculate earlier this year?
It’s hard to say. But a series about zombies on a submarine coming out just one year after my viral tweet about vampires on a submarine is a little fishy, if you’ll pardon the pun.
This next one, though? I’m even less willing to believe it’s a coincidence.
I’m not familiar with the role-playing game Cthulhu Eternal, but the title of this module and its Cold War-era submarine setting definitely caught my attention.
Luckily, the story of the module bears no resemblance to the story of 100 Fathoms Below. But I mean, “Fathoms Below”? Come on.
Are there more like these? Probably, but they haven’t come to my attention yet.
You’d think for a novel this influential it would be a national bestseller or there would be a movie by now, but, as Gordon Van Gelder used to write in all his rejections of my story submissions to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, alas.
Sustained sales might have moved the needle, but the viral tweet only resulted in a temporary spike. Enough that people heard about the book but didn’t necessarily buy or read it. And enough that some creatives thought the idea was worth, ahem, putting their own spin on it.
If I’m being generous, I could call it homage.
Anyway, if you too would like to be influenced by my “vampires on a submarine” novel, you can order 100 Fathoms Below from Amazon, B&N, Bookshop, or your favorite bookseller in paperback, e-book, and audio!
Sneak Previews
Unfortunately, I still don’t have a definite release date for the anthology Stories We Tell After Midnight, Vol. 4: Dark Spores, which includes my story “Dead and Forgotten in Manhattanville,” but I’d say it’s looking more like October than September at this point.
Stay tuned!
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I’ve started work on a new novel, a thriller called A Gleam in the Dark.
It’s about a bus caught in an epic rainstorm, a group of strangers trapped in a flooded rest stop with a vicious killer, and a secret that's waited decades to be revealed.
Let’s hope it comes to something! I’m still early enough in the process that it all feels very ephemeral.
Stay tuned about this one, too!
In the Flesh
I had a wonderful time at NecronomiCon Providence in August! It’s a great convention, one of the biggest and busiest gatherings of readers interested in horror and weird fiction. Thousands of people attend, and I try not to miss it when it rolls around every two years.
I was happy to moderate the panel “The Weird on a Small Color Screen Redux,” the third TV panel I’ve done at NecronomiCon, this time about the horror and sf shows of the 1990s. It went extremely well, and I was gratified that so many people remembered one of my short-lived favorites, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.!
I spoke on the panel “Verdant and Creeping: The Land Plant (Embryophyte) in Weird Film and Fiction,” which was remarkably well attended for an 8 AM panel on a Saturday morning! The crowd was enthusiastic and engaged, and it ended up being one of the best panels I’ve ever been on. There need to be more panels about weird science!
I was part of a group reading that was well attended, and also helped out with another author’s reading of a play she wrote by portraying a reanimated corpse. My only line was “Arrrrrgh!”
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You can catch me doing a hopefully Arrrrrgh-less reading on October 6th at the Shade Bar in NYC at 6 PM!
Joining me will be authors John C. Foster, Karen Heuler, Chandler Klang Smith, and Randee Dawn!
The reading is free but the drinks are not! (Please buy some drinks!)
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You can also catch me at the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival on October 19th at the Haverhill Public Library in Haverhill, MA!
Admittance is free and the event is kid-friendly! There will be tons of great authors there selling and signing their books!
Spooky Science Lab
Don’t forget Spooky Science Lab Live coming Sunday, September 15th at the Flying Fox Tavern in Ridgewood, Queens!
My podcast co-host David Wellington and I will be recording a brand-new episode of Spooky Science Lab in front of your very eyes (and ears) — live!
The doors open at 5 PM and admission is free!
That’s Sunday, September 15th, at the Flying Fox Tavern in Ridgewood, Queens! Be there, or you’ll miss out on hearing about all kinds of cool, weird, and gross stuff!
Until next time!
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