Spectral Realms No. 2 and the Complete Poetry and Translations Vol. 1: The Abyss Triumphant by CAS

I got a few lovely gems in the mail today.  My long awaited copies of Spectral Realms No. 2 finally came!  And it is just as lovely as the first!  I am so thrilled to be in such a wonderful journal as this and to be in the company of such poets as Donald Sidney-Fryer, Ann K. Schwader, Leigh Blackmore, and many others.  I also got the first volume of poetry of Clark Ashton Smith which I am so excited to have!  Just one more volume to acquire....

 

 

My Inanna Rising Copy Is Here!

This book is beautiful!  My awesome poem, Medusa, starts this books off and I am so stoked about that!  I have never had a piece of work be the first in any journal or anthology before so that is exciting for me.  I have four poems in this kickass looking anthology about strong women rising up from their own personal hell.  I can't wait to read it.  You can order Inanna Rising: Women Forged by Fire by Amanda M. Lyons here.

 

 

Book Review- The Electric Eye by Cody Goodfellow

This was a short story made into a little chapbook.  It was an interesting and out there take on the invention of the television complete with aliens, mind controlled slaves, and sabotage.  It was fast paced and definitely action packed with battles against strange abominations who stole equipment and technical secrets from the creator of the television. It's pretty weird and definitely different.  :)

 
      

Book Review- Simulacrum and Other Possible Realities by Jason V. Brock

All these stories are quite interesting, some better than others, but out of the 16 stories in here, I would have to say that the last 3 stories are amazing and my personal favorites.  The first of the three, Black Box, is a sort of sequel to a Twilight Zone episode, written by Richard Matheson, called Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.  The main character, the same pilot from the episode, is on a new flight when some of the same things start happening to the plane as they did before from the gremlin.  It is a very intense story from the very beginning and leads to an excellent suspenseful ending.

The 2nd of the three, Milton's Children, is very Lovecraftian and involves a naval crew of scientists and biologists and such that discover a few new islands off of Antarctica.  There they find a few new animal kingdoms and some are more terrifying than others.  I found it most chilling that the giant bird like creatures could mimic human voices so well.  Imagine running after a panicked friend to find that you're running straight into a hungry predator!  Creepy!  This story was really well done and was a perfect length to build up suspense and character development and background.

The last story, Simulacrum, dealt with the workings of a new technology that could create an alternative or virtual reality.  As you might guess, problems develop where it is hard to decipher reality from illusion yet this story takes a fascinating new direction and ends with quite an interesting twist.    

 

3 Poems Accepted for Spectral Realms No. 3

Along with my King in Yellow themed poem, Even Madness Cannot Hide, S.T. accepted 2 more poems of mine for Spectral Realms No. 3; A Queen in Hell, based on Poe's Annabel Lee, and The Perfect Rose, a tribute poem to the California Romantic poet Nora May French.

Inanna Rising: Women Forged by Fire edited by Amanda M. Lyons is Out!

 This awesome anthology published by J Ellington Ashton Press has just been put up for purchase today!  This anthology centers around stories and poetry about women who rise up from the darkness victorious, whether for evil or for good.  My four poems feature such known warrioress's as Medusa, Atalanta, Narda the Black Czarina, and the infamous countess, Lady Bathory.  Check out this anthology!    

 http://www.amazon.com/Inanna-Rising-Women-Forged-Fire/dp/1508470219/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

 https://www.createspace.com/5315880

Book Review- Logan's Run: The Definitive Edition by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson

This book, to me, seemed to be a cross between the Running Man and Repo Men where the hunter becomes the hunted in a seemingly sick game.  I quite enjoyed it, it had a quick easy to follow pace with plenty of action and descriptions of a strange new world and the kinds of people that live in it.  It's also fascinating to know, that while reading it and following along with the story, that the enemies, the murderers, are all children and young adults.  I would be considered old though my palm flower would've turned black only 3 years ago!  It's an incredible perspective to look through when you realize the gangs, doctors, police, etc. are all younger than you and it makes the story more fun and interesting.

The only criticism I have is that I would have liked it more if there was more character development.  The 'love' between Logan and Jessica seemed to come out of nowhere especially since Jessica had no problem running away from him after she found out he was DS.  And since the time span is about 24 hours, since that's the time between a blinking red-black palm flowers to turn to full black, the fierce love she has in trying to protect him toward the end just seemed unreal.  They never talked romantically or even talked about anything other than their survival and what needed to be done at that moment, so it was hard for me to see how they suddenly loved each other.

I enjoyed the short story Logan's Return and wished it could have been longer.  I love the combats in the tournament especially since the combatants were clones of great war leaders.  It reminded me of a show I loved watching on the History channel called the Deadliest Warrior, where they would pair warriors from different time periods to see who would win if they ever fought each other.  The climax was kind of short to me, I wish the second meeting with Stendar and Logan was more fleshed out as well as what exactly was happening to Jaq when he was being brainwashed.  I wanted to know more about what was happening to him.

 

 

Book Review- Disorders of Magnitude: A Survey of Dark Fantasy by Jason V. Brock

I absolutely loved this book.  I love reading the history and facts behind great horror writers and why they write what they write, how they write them, and what motivates them.  This volume spans different time periods and shows the highlights.  The beginnings of different publications, the beginnings of now famous writers, actors, and artists is all so fascinating to read.  I learned quite a lot from this book and I would highly recommend it to, not only horror writers, but horror buffs in general.  It covers horror, fantasy, and science fiction in movies, art, comics, as well as, of course, books.  This is definitely a book worth having.

 
 

Clive Barker Comics Treasure Trove

While my parents were cleaning up the backyard, my dad found his stash of Clive Barker comic books!  And he gave them to all to me!  There are four series: Hyperkind, Saint Sinner, Hokum and Hex, and Ectokid.  I know nothing about these and am excited to read them.  I have not read much of Clive Barker and I've been wanting to read more of him.  I loved the movie the Midnight Meat Train and ordered the fine Centipede Press volume which I have yet to read.  I have afew short stories of his scattered in some anthologies I have, so those are little gems I look forward to reading as well.