I Hate Introductions

Introductions suck. The whole thing starts with a teacher telling you to stand up the first day of a new school year and asking you to tell the class a bit about yourself. You're uncomfortable and have no idea what to say. As years go by, you get better at it. You do it in school, college, parties, office meetings, and other places. You start to develop go-to answers and short spiels, but the core of the thing never changes: you're always asking yourself "What the hell should I say?" Anyway, here we are again. Hi, my name is Gabino Iglesias and I do a lot of stuff. I will tell you about that stuff now and hopefully it'll work and we can all walk away from here with genuine smiles on our faces.

Okay, so here we go. Author Garrett Cook once called me "an inveterate blogger." That has changed  a bit because venues use different names, but the idea at the center of that still applies. I write books and short stories that are crime, horror, bizarro, or all three at once. My last novel, ZERO SAINTS, was translated into Spanish, optioned for film, and nominated to the Wonderland Book Award. I review book regularly for venues such as Vol. 1 Brooklyn, HorrorTalk, Criminal Element, PANK Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, Crimespree Magazine, The Collagist, Heavy Feather Review, and many other places. I am a columnist for LitReactor and CLASH Media. I am the books reviews editor for PANK Magazine and the TV/film editor for Entropy Magazine. I...you get the point: I try to stay busy. Oh, and I'm finishing two novels and working on a third book that is a posthumous collaboration with the great J.F. Gonzalez. Hopefully that covers the professional part.

Now comes the important part. As a blogger/writer/columnist, I love to take on topics I feel strongly about, even when they are touchy or regularly get me hateful emails and tweets. I'm talking about things like diversity in fiction, waging war on submission fees, and destroying unconscionable publishers and editors. In other words, my main goal as a writer and reviewer is to stand up for equality, support indie writers in any way I can, and be a voice for POC, women, and LGBTQ authors. That sounds nice, but I don't always go about in a nice way because we live in dark times and a lot of people are trash. Yeah, maybe I wouldn't share that in an office meeting, but it's okay to do so here so you have an idea of what to expect.

Well, that's it. We survived another introduction together and it wasn't too bad. I'm stoked to be joining the fine folks who already make Across the Board an awesome place and look forward to adding my bits of sugar and salt to the mix. Stay tuned. If you need me or want to chat in the meantime, you can find me on Twitter at @Gabino_Iglesias. Thanks for having me. Cheers.