February is Black History Month: a period to honor and reflect upon the many contributions and accomplishments of African Americans throughout the history of the United States. February also plays host to Valentine’s Day, lesser known as the raucous pagan celebration of Lupercalia. During February, avid listeners of NPR (National Public Radio) heard the Senate hearing regarding the harrowing January 6th insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol. And we’ve seen an increase in COVID-19 vaccines being distributed these past weeks. Heck, even my birthday falls in February! So, needless to say, this February 2021 has been a month of many things, but dull was not one of them!

On the day of my birthday, my mother presented me with some fascinating and thoughtful gifts related to writing and writers of import. She had constructed a compelling story about an ancestor of ours through her mother’s side of the family, one Brewster Higley IV (1759–1847). Her tale highlighted how he and his family traveled from Connecticut to Ohio, by wagon and river raft, to where they founded Rutland, OH around the turn of the century. (It is worth noting that Brewster’s grandson, Brewster Higley VI, moseyed west further still and penned the original words to “Home on the Range.”)

My mother led in with this anecdote because Rutland began with the Higley’s settling at a lone shanty along Leading Creek—a tributary of the Ohio River—which is a mere 16 miles from Horse Cave Creek, where American writer Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) was born 43 years later. Not only was Bierce an influence of H. P. Lovecraft, but my grandfather used to read stories from Ghost and Horror Tales of Ambrose Bierce to my mother! This venture was short-lived, however . . .

. . . in the Midwest home in which my mother grew up during the mid-1960s, words like “fart” or “guts” were hardly acceptable, so you can imagine how Bierce’s short story “The Damned Thing” was received by my grandmother—a lady of gentility. Thus, my mother gifted me a copy of Ghost and Horror Tales, along with a copy of I Am Providence, the award-winning biography of Lovecraft by the esteemed scholar and literary critic, S. T. Joshi. What a windfall!

Throughout February (and most of January), I have also been attempting to submit an original short story, “Keys to the Soul,” to several leading speculative and horror magazines—but, to no avail. At first, these attempts represented the only forward “progress,” per say, in my writing endeavors until the Horror Writers Association partnered with Roadmap Writers to offer HWA members a “Mastering Your Pitch” workshop.

This free collaboration provided not only insight and professional conversations with several known agents in the field but also the first interactions I’ve had with other HWA members. So many inspiring and creative writers out there! And with such cool ideas, too!

Although Roadmap Writers specifically focuses on working with screen writers, their branch Roadmap Authors offered the 3-day workshop, thanks to the company’s talented founder Joey Tuccio and award-winning author/moderator Selene Castrovilla. One of the highlights of this digital gathering was the second night, during which Nicole Resciniti, President of The Seymour Agency, listened patiently as willing HWA members pitched book ideas to her. Another agent was actually scheduled to present that evening, but I sure am glad that they had to reschedule. Nicole was dynamic, attentive, and personable! What’s more, she confessed to being a fan of Weird Tales, the very magazine that published a number of Lovecraft’s works a century ago!

Now, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect going into this workshop, but I had taken the time to do two things beforehand: 1.) prepare a very rough pitch for my Lovecraftian novella, The Face on the Floor, and 2.) begin going through the final edits of said novella after my friend and professional proofreader, John Thornberry of JPRT Creative, made a pass through the weird tale. In this instance, both efforts paid dividends. The first night, I learned from the advice of Cate Hart, an agent with the Harvey Klinger Literary Agency, to improve my pitch and warm up my public speaking skills over Zoom. This, combined with my confidence at having cleaned up The Face on the Floor (my literary debut and a prequel to Lovecraft’s own At the Mountains of Madness), contributed to a successful delivery of my pitch to Nicole on that second night.

Hence, she gave me some really helpful feedback before telling me to send her a refined pitch and copy of the manuscript of The Face on the Floor! And so, I did just that. She knows who to send it to over at Weird Tales! What a turn of events from the beginning of the month! I now look forward to catching up on sleep, as well as being more present at home, where my wife keeps the ship afloat and our infant lightens our lives.

Yours in R’lyeh,

Tony LaMalfa