Archive for October, 2021
Reminder that you can start your festivities today with Last Sunday Poetry, 11 a.m. Monroe Country Convention Center– with James Dorr (who better to read on Halloween) and Andrew Hubbard reading, followed by open mic.
Such was the e-alert this morning, reminding us also that the Bloomington Writers Guild has not only a “First Sunday Prose” (see October 3, et al.) program, but also a “Last Sunday Poetry Reading and Open Mic” to which, as above, I had been invited this month as a featured reader. Possibly due to COVID 19 — or perhaps, to us Night People, just that 11 a.m. is the Crack of Dawn — attendance was lowish. But plague or not, on this Day of the Dead (or technically eve, or even more technically first of a three-day fest honoring death), forge on we did.
First up, as announced by emcee Patsy Rahn, was Andrew Hubbard with four reflective poems of past times and haunts, “Granny Melville” about a herbalist sometimes “mistaken” as being a witch, “The Family Ghost” on quirks in a new house, “Another Ghost” in the voice of the then-child poet’s big sister, and “Almost Halloween” on (among other things) the lure of candy. This was followed by me with six early, short poems originally published in GOTHIC.NET for August 2-September 6 2002, and, reminding listeners that traditionally Halloween represents the fragility of the veil separating our world of “reality” from that which is beyond, a long poem, “Maya,” originally written for STRANGE ATTRACTION (Shadowlands Press, 2000), an anthology inspired by a kinetic sculpture depicting a carnival of the damned. Or, more precisely, the Ferris wheel therein (and thus, in “Maya,” the cosmological circularity of all creation).*
This was followed by “open mic” time with four more readers, all aimed to a greater or lesser degree toward Halloween. And then conversation as well, on the table in the back of the room, as a bowl of candy.
.
*I might mention that all seven poems in my reading were republished in my second collection, DARKER LOVES: TALES OF MYSTERY AND REGRET (Dark Regions, 2007). Alas, also out of print by this time, but a convenient single source for me to read from.
The life continues with Tuesday afternoon bringing this from Bryce Raffle: I’ve attached an epub (and a PDF) of DEADSTEAM II. Please let me know what you think, and if you spot any issues with the layout, do let me know. The only things I’ve changed from the manuscripts you sent me are formatting, which has been standardized to match the style of all the stories (and the style of the first DeadSteam).
So, done and done, the PDF looked fine as I e-reported back. My part in this is a Dickensian penny dreadful sort of tale called “The Good Work” (cf. September 27) about London street urchins who have taken up the task of witch hunting. It has to be children because only they — and only some of them at that — have the “second sight,” which is necessary to tell who are witches and who are not. But it’s profitable also. (There was prior to this, of course, a first DEADSTEAM as well in which as it happens I also appear, my story there titled “The Re-Possessed” about the pleasures and pitfalls of the Victorian funeral industry, for more on which see November 9, September 15 2018, et al.).
Then a final item from Editor Raffle on DEADSTEAM II: One thing I can address is the official release date, which (mark your calendars) will be October 30th! Pre-orders for the ebook will be live tomorrow! Information should come up on Amazon sometime during the day, while further details as they become known will be reported here.
So later Monday evening the contract arrived which, at the library this morning, has now been electronically signed and returned for SPAWN OF WAR AND DEATHINESS, with the stories “Refugees” and “The Sidewalk.” Just another task in the writing life completed.
The email was short and quick: Hello all,
In order to have this anthology on the table at World Con, I’m going to need to move quickly.
Attached are page proofs. Please verify name is correct, bio is correct, copyright is correct, and story is correct.
Please include Tom in any responses. Please respond by COB Thursday. Cover is being developed.
I’m sending out contracts and payments today or tomorrow.
The book in question is the overflow/reprint anthology SPAWN OF WAR AND DEATHINESS from B Cubed Press (see August 10, et al.), and my stories are “Refugees” and “The Sidewalk.” So which represents which? Well, perhaps one should buy the book to find out. And, yes, the sentences in the email were spaced out as above, suggesting in haste that emailer/publisher Bob Brown will be doing his part to release it soon.
So, long story short, I got onto it semi-right away and later this evening sent it back with just one small correction.
ORBITAL LOVECRAFT is sort of a sub-subtitle and “Dark of the Moon” (see September 10, July 31) is my story in it. The Amazon blurb reads simply enough:
STRANGE AEON: 2021 brings you seventeen stories of cosmic horror in the tradition of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith.
Tales by Erica Ruppert, Gregory L. Norris, G. Nicholas Miranda, DJ Tyrer, C. I. Kemp, James Dorr, John A. Frochio, Damir Salkovic, J. L. Royce, Jeffery Scott Sims, Davin Ireland, Alfred D. Byrd, Tais Teng, S. Cameron David, Gordon Linzner, Lena Ng, and your host, M. Keaton with original art by Joel Martin.
But one more thing to quote (blush) is from editor Keaton, preceding the bio that follows my story in the book: “Dark of the Moon” is one of this century’s classic Mythos tales and I’m thrilled to be able to include it here. Well, yes, it has at least been around for awhile by 21st Century standards, having been originally published in THE CHILDREN OF CTHULHU (Del Rey, 2002), as well as one or two places since.
To see it this time, though, with sixteen more stories and even occasional illustrations, one may press here.
And it’s here! Today’s email brought my electronic copy of Third Flatiron Publishing’s THINGS WITH FEATHERS: STORIES OF HOPE (cf. just below), with my story, “The Wise Sister,” ensconsed toward the end in the humor corner. There it is paired with “The Summer of Love” by Art Lasky, these two stories followed by a closing essay by Gerri Leen, “What Hope Might Ask.” While above, the main contents of 22 more stories and a poem (this last a reprint by Emily Dickinson, that which has connected the feathers with hope).
All this, with an opening editor’s note by Juliana Rew, can be ordered now in its Kindle form (see link in the post just below), with more to come when the paperback edition is out in the hopefully not distant future.
That’s out on Kindle with paper to come, with supply chain problems, perhaps a bit later than first . . . um . . . hoped. But for the “sort of,” last minute corrections may slightly delay even the Kindle version, a new file having been sent, but it’s up to Amazon to have it ready for sending to buyers. This is the anthology THINGS WITH FEATHERS: STORIES OF HOPE from Third Flatiron Publishing. Or, as Amazon blurbs it:
Is there hope for us all?
Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Hope,” described it as “a thing with feathers.” Third Flatiron Anthologies’ latest collection of short science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories touches on the theme of hope, whether it’s about taking flight filled with optimism for the future, venturing outside one’s comfort zone, taking outsize risks in order to succeed, or finding it dashed on the rocks. Twenty-four authors give their entertaining takes on the subject, including Nemma Wollenfang, Emily Dauvin, Paula Hammond, Barton Paul Levenson, Sharon Diane King, Cayce Osborne, P.A. Cornell, Arthur Carey, David Cleden, F. T. Berner, Raluca Balasa, Melissa Mead, Nicholas Stillman, Shannon Brady, Bonnie McCune, Brian Rappatta, Bruce Arthurs, Alicia Cay, Danielle Mullen, E. J. Delaney, Wulf Moon, Art Lasky, James Dorr, and Gerri Leen. Edited by Juliana Rew.
My story therein is one about deadly tsunamis and best laid plans, “The Wise Sister” (see September 20, et al.), and which one will succeed — or fail. The hope, of course, is for survival, but will either sister’s plans come out a winner?
To find out (or for more information) press here.
NIGHT FRIGHTS 2, the second of DARK MOON DIGEST’s special younger-reader oriented issues (see September 14, et al.), is now available on Kindle with my story “Upward!” in it. In the second issue of Night Frights magazine, we have stories by Christa Carmen, Greg Cypress, James Dorr, Gina Easton, Alyson Faye, Ken MacGregor, Donna J.W. Munro, Matthew Stott, and Roger Venable. Also includes a classic short story by Edgar Allan Poe and an article all about Halloween!
But that’s not all. In an email Editor Lori Michelle has added: It has been sent to the printer, copies are being printed and sent here, ebooks have been uploaded (and attached to this email for you) , and we will probably be announcing it in the newsletter this weekend. . . . Once the copies arrive (FYI, both printing and shipping times are super slow right now. Just another fun COVID side effect), I will get them to you guys. That is, for those like me who prefer them, print copies also are in the offing.
As for “Upward!” it’s a tale of a cliche, in horror circles. That is, it takes a general subject that’s become a sort of cliche — sort of like vampires, there’s nothing new in the concept itself, but there are all sorts of new ways one can handle it — and, in this case, turns it on its head. That is, the point of view is one that’s much more rarely used.
But that’s for the reader to see for themself, which now can be done (via Kindle at least) by pressing here.
If you think you’ve got what it takes to terrify, scar and haunt our audience of 10,000 daily listeners, then we want your stories
If accepted, we’ll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week.
Such was the pitch, along with a list of themes, one of which was “Post-Apocalypse II,” with a fairly tight word count of 2000 words, give or take 10%. That is, 1800 to 2200 words, so how about a reprint (these accepted also) at about 2175 words from British magazine LEAFING THROUGH, December 2004, in the voice of a child? A child, that is, born underground in a colony of World War III survivors who had been trapped there when “the big one” came, and survived by tunneling deeper.
Well, it should be horrifying enough, and in a first person “sub standard” dialect to challenge voice actors, so I sent it in to THE OTHER STORIES (also in the UK, come to think of it), this back in April. And so it waited.
And waited. . . .
Until today, October 7: We loved this story and would like to run it on the podcast.
I’ve attached the paperwork and we’ll just need your signature on that along with your PayPal email address for payment.
Looking forward to getting it into production!
The email came earlier this afternoon, but with one deviation from how these things usually go. It was an acceptance, but what it was an acceptance for was to remain a secret.
Thus: We would like to use your submitted story, “________”, in the ________ anthology. The contract is attached to this message. Please read through it carefully and let us know if you have any questions or concerns. If you do not have any questions, please sign it, scan the full document, and send it back ASAP.
Please do not publicly announce any specifics regarding this yet. . . .
So I will say it’s for a science fiction story and is a reprint, but otherwise details will come when they’re ready. These things happen, usually a case of not all stories decided on yet and the publisher wanting to wait for the entire contents to be set before releasing a general announcement. All a part of the life. And in any event, the task at hand was to download and otherwise handle the contract.
So possibly you’re ahead of me here: This would be another job for the local public library scanner (see September 23, et al.). And so it was done: printed, signed, scanned, and sent back — as slick as that!
jamesdorrwriter 