Maurice Broaddus has written hundreds of short stories, essays, novellas, and articles. His dark fiction has been published in numerous magazines, anthologies, and web sites, including Cemetery Dance, Apex Magazine, Black Static, and Weird Tales magazine. He is the co-editor of the Dark Faith anthology series (Apex Books) and the author of the urban fantasy trilogy, Knights of Breton Court (Angry Robot Books). He has been a teaching artist for over five years, teaching creative writing to elementary, middle, and high school students, as well as adults. Visit his site at www.MauriceBroaddus.com.

Maurice Broaddus: Everyone should have a Jerry Gordon in their lives. Not only does he keep me organized and on task (and often bars me from the most egregious submissions from the slush pile), but he brings a bottle of Riesling to every editorial meeting. Which caused me to demand weekly, sometimes twice weekly meetings.
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[Do you have an idea for a future Mind Meld? Let us know!]

On SF Signal Mind Melds, we’ve discussed Anti-Heroes, Villains, and
Sidekicks. It’s been a while since we tackled straight up heroes.So, this week we asked about heroes:

This is what they had to say…

For me, a hero is someone who actively works to achieve a goal for the good of others when there is a risk of losing something, ranging from a peaceful existence to their own life. Perseverance is critical; a hero persists in their heroic endeavour far beyond the point where most people would give up. Most wouldn’t even try in the first place.

As for whether a hero is old-fashioned; no. The portrayal of heroes (i.e massively flawed as opposed to nothing more than bravery in a bap) changes to fit the needs and sophistication of the audience. However, the basic need to see someone being more than we are – but everything we could be – is eternal.

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Jerry Gordon has posted the table of contents for the upcoming sequel anthology he co-edited with Maurice Broaddus, Dark Faith 2:
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[SF Signal welcomes author Lee Thomas and the launch of his new SF Signal column, Be My Victim!]

This column is meant to address issues pertaining to horror fiction and the publishing of same. Some of the installments might rub you the wrong way. Down the road, this column might even hurt some feelings. It happens. We won’t always see eye to eye. My feelings run along these lines…

“I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

– James A. Baldwin

This quotation describes the way I feel about horror fiction, so while there will be celebration of the genre, there will also be criticism. Feel free to join the conversation in the comments section.

My first guest is Maurice Broaddus, an author, a minister, and the master of Mo*Con, an annual literary convention focusing on religion and dark fiction. We’ll be discussing the status quo, or at least, the illusion of the status quo.

Set to commence in 3… 2…

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