Posts Tagged ‘Horror’
Yes, this is late, sorry. Blame last month’s NaPoWriMo — or else maybe me, but here it is anyway. Tardy, but never forgotten. And first, of only three prompts this time out, “When I saw the sun disappear” (one suspects this may have been meant to do with April 8’s solar eclipse, but by now of course that was old news. Last month, remember?).
So anyway, for the Bloomington Writers Guild Third Sunday Write here goes:
WHEN I SAW THE SUN DISAPPEAR
When I saw the sun disappear,
WOW! I blinked several times first,
I mean this wasn’t like a few weeks before
when they had that eclipse — that was fun —
but this was more like the sun DISAPPEARED!
That was it, blotto, no sun at all, and of course no light
either when, instantly overloaded, the power
went out too.
So I checked all my pockets, instinct I guess
from back when we all carried matches, or lighters,
when everyone smoked. But those days were
long past (would we even have “days” now?).
So, nothing else to do, I turned as best I could figure
toward where I thought home was,
groped through the dark — crawled when going
got rough — but luckily found it (I fortunately hadn’t
had time to go far, when “it” happened),
felt up to the key lock, and opened the door.
More groping, then, fleetingly petting the cat
whose meows sounded puzzled too when she
slinked past me, and found a flashlight.
I checked batteries then, for extras when needed —
I imagined the stores would be sold out quickly —
and found and lit candles (these from a burner
on the gas stove — no matches, remember?).
Then thought, as I felt that brief moment of warmth,
that even my camp lantern would be no help
when the intense cold came.
Another lovely, warm evening greeted the Bloomington Writers Guild’s “Last Sunday Poetry Reading & Open Mic” (see February 25, et al. — a March “Last Sunday” having been pre-empted by Easter), including this time sun!, at Morgenstern Books. The opening featured reader was Writers Guild founder Patsy Rahn, with nonfiction and poetry publications both in the US and England as well as being 2021’s recipient of the People’s Choice Award from the 5th Open Eurasian Literary Festival of Festivals (LIFT), with — with an eye toward Gaza-related protests on the local IU campus, including incidents spurred by IU and state police — a series of poems from both her 2018 collection, THE GRAINY WET SOUL, and a new collection currently in press, based loosely on the idea of “humanity.”
She was followed by Zionsville resident Rosaleen Crowley, a graduate from University College Cork, Ireland; past president/interest group leader of the Writing Group, International Women Indiana; and a current Creative Writing-Poetry MFA student at Butler University with, first, a group of poems written in and about Ireland coupled with many reminiscences, and finally some poems from the most recent of her six poetry books, BE PREPARED TO BE LUMINOUS, written in and about Indiana.
This was followed by an open-mic session with a record eleven people signed up of which, due to strict time constraints given the session’s 7 to 8:30 p.m. time slot (that is, running up to the bookstore’s closing), only nine were able to be heard. Of these I came sixth with, noting May’s upcoming Second Thursday Spoken Word where poems originally selected to be published in THE RYDER’s spring poetry edition (up in the air at this moment due to the untimely death of its de facto Editor-in-Chief/general firebrand Peter LoPilato) are to be presented, and as a sort of preview of mine, three brief poems that THE RYDER had rejected: two shadormas, “The Health-Conscious Vampiress Reflects Upon Her Most Recent Meal” and “Error in Judgement,” and a more conventional “Pas de Dead.”
Since the first automobiles rolled down a street, the range of human emotions attached to these machines has run from love to hate, humor to horror, joy to sadness. This book is a sampling of how fiction writers have viewed the automobile, from yesteryear to tomorrow.
Famous writers, experienced story tellers, and new literary voices are mixed together between these covers.
Automobilia is the first in a trilogy of stories and poems featuring that one machine that has changed the face of the earth, for the good and for the bad . . . the automobile.
Authors include: Jack Finney, George Clayton Johnson, Richard Christian Matheson, Richard Matheson, J. P. Seewald, Bruce Boston, Marge Simon, Kevin David Anderson, Katherine Tomlinson, James S. Dorr, William F. Nolan, Dean Wild, Sarah Key, Robbie Sheerin, and J.R. Hayslett, among many others.
This spark any memories? No? Well in fairness there was a mention — that it had been finally published! — as recently as January 22 this year, but prior to that we must journey back to January, two years before, for when I’d received payment; then December, 2021 (contract received); then November, 2020 (story accepted), for a tale which had been submitted in late spring 2016. For a book about cars, that’s some pretty slow driving.
But anyhow, my author’s copy is finally here, chock full of both stories and poems with mine on page 325, “The Christmas Vulture.” And a big book too, at more than 440 pages!
So my story, originally published in UNTIED SHOELACES OF THE MIND, Fall 2010, is about pretty much what its title says — and with automobiles too! But for more, you will just have to read the book — which looks to be a winner! — for further details on which press here!
This the dedication, on p. 11:
To the woman pushed to the edge by a world so cold,
Wielding power, not for grace, but to break the mold.
Amidst the allure & indifference, your strength unfolds —
A testiment to the fire in your souls, untold.
The book, FEMME FATALE FLASHES (see March 4, February 24, et al.), published by Wicked Shadow Press, in West Bengal, India. Yes, it did take awhile to arrive. But today, March 4, it arrived in my mailbox, some 280 pages, with 56 stories, including my “Dinner Date,” starting on p. 144.
And as the title implies, these are all flash-length stories, all under about 1000-words each, brief snapshot-like glances at women to . . . well, watch out for, mine unsurprisingly one of those feisty New Orleanian vampiresses, les filles à les caissettes, the normally shy and retiring Hélène.
To quote the blurb (this from Lulu, not Amazon — so it goes): _Welcome to the shadowed corners of intrigue and peril. Wicked Shadow Press presents “Femme Fatale Flashes”, a captivating anthology of flash fictions, each one casting the spotlight on the elusive femme fatale, a figure at once dangerously seductive and imbued with an undeniable strength.
Dive into narratives where mystery and malice dance closely, as these women tread the fine line between morality and desire. From the straightforward journeys of beguiling yet sinister characters whose beginnings are as veiled as their intentions, to the intricate tales of those sculpted by the harshness of society, the sting of betrayal, or the tumultuous twists of love, this collection delves into the myriad hues of what it means to embody the femme fatale.
“Femme Fatale Flashes” beckons you to explore the complex realm of these mesmerising women through stories that are as concise as they are profound. Brace yourself to be captivated by the lethal allure of the femme fatale, in a collection that promises to enchant, entangle, and ultimately, redefine your perception of power, vengeance, and seduction.
For more, see post for February 24 for separate paperback and ebook links.
Not necessarily because of a temporary 7-8:30 p.m. evening time at Morgenstern Books, but because I had the flu (so you get your fall shot, a new kind comes along . . . lucky me!) I missed February’s Bloomington Writers Guild’s “First Sunday Prose and Open Mic” (cf. January 7 2024, et al.). So today was this year’s first, excepting January’s which in some ways seemed more a holdover from last year, and at an all new, hopefully more or less permanent time and place, from 2-3:30 p.m. at the Juniper Gallery on West Kirkwood Avenue just off downtown. A small gallery this, it was more or less packed at maybe a tad over 20 attendees (including some at snack bar tables, a sort of holdover from the original Morgenstern’s ambience as well), and enjoyed, it seemed, by all.
The first featured reader was IU Professor Emerita, storyteller, actor, researcher, writer, and theatrical producer Gladys DeVane, with a moving passage from her book COME SIT WITH ME: MY LIFE IN POETRY, PROSE, AND PLAYS, in part in the voice of major champion for the right to vote for Blacks in 1960s Mississippi — as well as survivor of beatings and worse — Fannie Lou Hamer, and ending on a note for present-day America, a “country still in need of spiritual healing.” She was followed by retired art-museum worker and IU education teacher and present-day tour guide for the Exotic Feline Rescue Center, whose “writing has gotten quite free-wheeling since she’s no longer writing for professional journals,” Beau Vallance, with three short essays: the first “kind of serious,” “Reading for the Incarcerated”; a self-described “lighter” second, “Prom Dresses”; and a “silly” third, a eulogy for a “Yellow Fit,” a much-loved Honda sub-compact that, victim of a crash, had finally had to be given up as being too far damaged to be repaired.
After the break, seven readers lined up for the “open mic” session, with me number six with a piece just published in FEMME FATALE FLASHES (see February 24), “Dinner Date,” about one of the shyer of the New Orleanian vampiresses, the Casket Girls, and how she was able to find a way, when the chips were down, to act as her idol, Aimée, would.
Then, speaking of vampires, harking back to the post just below, February 29, METASTELLAR has officially published the non-Casket Girl Christmas story, “Naughty or Nice,” today as promised. To read it, press here.
Another fun little “femme fatale,” or sometimes things do move fast (see, e.g., February 24). In this case the call was exactly one week back, February 22: Our editors are looking for previously published flash fiction and short stories that fall into the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Flash fiction should be up to 1,200 words, . . . Brownie points if your work can make us chuckle.
The magazine was METASTELLAR and reprint flash doesn’t pay, but [a]ll reprints are eligible for inclusion in our “best of the year” anthologies and are considered for our You Tube story time channel, and you will be contacted if your story is selected. Well, no results on the latter possibilities quite yet (the story, however, takes place on Christmas so there’s still plenty of time), but this word came today: Your short story “Naughty or Nice?” is scheduled to be published on Mar. 3, 202. [I’m assuming that final number is meant to be “2024.”] A link which will be live then was included along with a very nice illustration for my approval (which it got, and is reprinted here), plus bio information and links — again all done quite well — and a contract, that last signed and sent back this afternoon.
The story itself is one I’m fond of, the second (I think) that I’d sold to a then very respected ezine, DAILY SCIENCE FICTION, and published December 21 2011. The story title is “Naughty or Nice” and the femme, noted above, a lady who calls herself Mignonette, an immigrant to Paris from a land farther east who is just getting used to Western customs — in this case that of sending a wish list for Christmas to Saint Nick. (But the setting out of milk and cookies too? . . . so many details!)
And in three days the link I was sent will go live, so stay tuned to be able to read it yourself this Sunday!
It’s been awhile since I’ve been to the Bloomington Writers Guild’s “Last Sunday Poetry Reading & Open Mic” (see October 29, et al.), in part because both November and December were cancelled for Thanksgiving Weekend and Christmas.* And while January was on the 28th as scheduled, due to host Morgenstern Books changing the time for the readings from afternoons to 7 to 8:30 at night — especially inconvenient since I usually walk there — I elected to miss it.
This month, however, was different because of the lineup, combined with an unseasonably warm (even if no less dark) evening, and I do generally enjoy the sessions. So — cut to the chase — the session opened with featured poet and Writers Guild founding member Antonia Matthew, author of the audio theater production “Antonia’s Homefront” as well as a poetry chapbook, JOURNEY, along with many appearances in journals including VERSE WISCONSIN and Bloomington’s own THE RYDER, with a series of poems on subjects close to her own life, including such things as family, events, friends, and nature. She was followed by self-proclaimed “new kid in town” Peter Kaczmaraczyk, a friend to felines and co-creator of Bloomington’s Captain Janeway Statue, with poems in numerous periodicals and anthologies including a chapbook, DISTANT YET ALWAYS HEARD, reading work on varying topics (including at least one specifically on cats), with a tending toward themes of love and fading and loss.
With evening hours forcing a more rigid schedule, facilitator Hiromi Yoshida decided to skip the usual break (leading, as it happened, to extra time for schmoozing after the program’s end) moving directly into the “open mic” portion where I came in sixth of a healthy total of eleven walk-on readers, with two poems written to “Third Sunday Write” challenges for the past winter months, both on the subject of snow, “This Is What I Love About Winter” and “Under the Snow.” Though, belying the picture accompanying this post, the second, especially, not nearly as jolly.
.
*As will next month’s too, March 31, for Easter. What a year!
Some things move fast (one might say, in a flash?). Two months from submission to acceptance of a story is fairly common (cf. February 18), but from there to publication in just under a week?
Apparently so. The word came this evening from Editor Parth Sarathi Chakraborty: In the luminous glow of anticipation, woven with a sense of thrill, we are delighted to unveil FEMME FATALE FLASHES, now gracing the catalog of Wicked Shadow Press.
Enclosed, you will discover a print replica PDF, an invitation to peer into the anthology that has blossomed from stories of captivating danger, narrated in succinct, powerful flashes. This journey, rich with the fruits of our collective labor, finds its roots in the depth of your imagination, for which we remain eternally grateful.
But . . . (ah now, the catch) the replica PDF is for me, as one of 43 contributing authors (of 56 stories — some of us authors more busy than others), but for others the book can be ordered via Lulu. And judging by the blurb (and, yes, the PDF too), it looks like a winner: Welcome to the shadowed corners of intrigue and peril. Wicked Shadow Press presents FEMME FATALE FLASHES, a captivating anthology of flash fictions, each one casting the spotlight on the elusive femme fatale, a figure at once dangerously seductive and imbued with an undeniable strength.
Dive into narratives where mystery and malice dance closely, as these women tread the fine line between morality and desire. From the straightforward journeys of beguiling yet sinister characters whose beginnings are as veiled as their intentions, to the intricate tales of those sculpted by the harshness of society, the sting of betrayal, or the tumultuous twists of love, this collection delves into the myriad hues of what it means to embody the femme fatale.
FEMME FATALE FLASHES beckons you to explore the complex realm of these mesmerising women through stories that are as concise as they are profound. Brace yourself to be captivated by the lethal allure of the femme fatale, in a collection that promises to enchant, entangle, and ultimately, redefine your perception of power, vengeance, and seduction.
Of which my lady, not least of the lot (ah, now), is the “Casket Girl” Hélène of the vampiresses of New Orleans, les filles à les caissettes, arrived in the year 1728 and taking a bite out of history since then. The story, “Dinner Date,” a brief romantic adventure.
But for the whole bunch one can see for oneself, for information and possible ordering, by pressing here (for paper) or for ePub here.
It seemed like a fun little project. No money to speak of, but cash isn’t everything.
FEMME FATALE FLASHES headlined the call: All genres are invited, with the only stipulation that the story feature a femme fatale.
Flash Fiction: (between 50-1500 words) Please send no more than TWO flash fictions per submission.
We are considering TRANSLATED WORKS as well. Submission of translated works must be accompanied by a statement declaring that the translator has obtained the author’s permission and their publisher’s, if required.
And on. But it sounded, did it not, a bit like a job for those irrepressible New Orleanian misses, les filles à les caissettes, and to my ear one who we have not heard overly much of before, the shy, restrained Hélène, who perhaps conceals her vampiric nature too well? Might this not be a chance for her to shine?
And so suppose on a sort of first date with a man who knows of the “Casket Girls” urban legend and, to be sure, doesn’t realize parts of it are real, she finds he will still not let the legend go. He keeps coming back to it, dwelling on vampires and how, if they existed, they would personify evil. Who goes on and on, raking the subject over, not just making Hélène feel quite uncomfortable with all this chatter, but worried he might blunder onto some kind of truth. What would Aimée do, the Casket Girls’ founder and leader? she wonders.
In “Dinner Date” she may discover an answer.
In just over two months, in any event, the reply came from publisher Wicked Shadow Press: We hope this message finds you well and brimming with creative energy! It brings us immense pleasure to reach out to you today with some great news. We are delighted to inform you that your story “Dinner Date” has been accepted for inclusion in our upcoming anthology, “FEMME FATALE FLASHES.”
More here as it’s revealed.
First seen on Facebook Sunday night: AUTOMOBILIA is finally available in Trade Paperback and Kindle Digital from Amazon.com. Now starts the work of promoting the book to benefit the contributing authors and provide some great reading entertainment for fans of that one machine that affects everyone’s life, the Automobile. The hardcover version will be available in February 2024. Please SHARE if you are inclined to help spread the word. In that it happens I have a story of my own in it. . . .
Or, via Amazon: Since the first automobiles rolled down a street, the range of human emotions attached to these machines has run from love to hate, humor to horror, joy to sadness. This book is a sampling of how fiction writers have viewed the automobile, from yesteryear to tomorrow.
Famous writers, experienced story tellers, and new literary voices are mixed together between these covers.
Automobilia is the first in a trilogy of stories and poems featuring that one machine that has changed the face of the earth, for the good and for the bad…the automobile.
Not much more is said, though it is a whopping 494 pages (“41 stories, 9 poems”), according to the site. And as for my small part, to quote this blog from some time past (cf. November 3 2020): I’d sure forgotten it, yes, a story originally sent on May 26 . . . 2016! Yes, that’s four and a half years. But today the word came from Editor Jason Marchi.
This will come as a shock to you after all this time . . . but after many interruptions, long waits on a number of permissions, and factors beyond our control, the AUTOMOBILIA book is finally nearing completion and will be published in August 2021.
We would like to include “The Christmas Vulture” in the anthology.
“The Christmas Vulture?” Originally published in Fall 2010 in UNTIED SHOELACES OF THE MIND, as well as elsewhere (cf. March 21 2012; December 23 2010), a tale of poor driving habits and an unexpected just-before-holiday rescue, this highway horror will now re-emerge in AUTOMOBILIA in, tentatively, August 2021. Other details were offered involving contracts and payment, to which I sent back my “yes” this evening.
As for AUTOMOBILIA, original guidelines having long been lost, I can still quote from THE GRINDER from way back when: as the title suggests an automobile should be such an integral part of the story that if removed the story collapses. While as for the rest, well, time will tell.
So, yes, such is the writing life, that some things may take a little more time than others. Re. the waitup from 2020 in this blog, see also January 11 2022, and December 10, 2021. And this isn’t even academic publishing, as with Dennis Wise’s SPECULATIVE POETRY AND THE MODERN ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL seen more recently (cf. January 15, et al.) in these pages.
But it has come, at last, and with it my “Christmas Vulture,” for more on which — and for possible ordering — one may check here.
jamesdorrwriter 