A Tribute to George Clayton Johnson: Life Celebration

"This program is free to the public - first come, first served - with a suggested donation of $8 to our nonprofit to help cover expenses. You can RSVP here: http://bit.ly/1RZc4ye

George Clayton Johnson (July 10, 1929 – December 25, 2015) penned some of the most memorable science fiction scripts of the 1960s and ’70s, including the first episode of “Star Trek” and seminal episodes of “The Twilight Zone,” as well as co-writing the novel Logan’s Run. Join us for an evening celebrating Johnson’s life and career, including "Twilight Zone" episodes “Nothing in the Dark” (1962), “A Penny for Your Thoughts” (1961), “A Game of Pool” (1961) and “Kick the Can” (1962), as well as remembrances from colleagues. There will be a panel discussion and a performance by members of Ray Bradbury’s Pandemonium Theatre Company.

Panel discussion follows with biographer Vivien Cooper, LOGAN'S RUN co-writer William F. Nolan, writers Dennis Etchison, Mark Scott Zicree and Wendy All and producers Jason and Sunni Brock, moderated by George's son Paul Johnson. There will also be a performance by members of Ray Bradbury’s Pandemonium Theatre Company. (approx. 150 min.)"

Kyle and I, along with my parents, went to the Egyptian Theatre on Friday night to attend the George Clayton Johnson tribute.  I had the brief pleasure of meeting George Clayton Johnson once, last year at the L.A. Vintage Paperback Show.  I shook his hand and he signed my edition of Logan's Run.  I told him how much I liked the story and he thanked me.  I wish I had known more about him at that time but I didn't.  I knew very little about him then.  I still don't know as much as I would like to but I plan on changing that by reading more of his work.

We didn't get to stay for the whole thing, it was already late for us, but we did watch the panel and the Twilight episode “Nothing in the Dark” (1962) which featured a young and handsome Robert Redford.  Here are some pictures of and from the event.  It was good to see the Brocks again but we didn't have time to chat with them much.  

Vendors at the 7th Annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in San Pedro!

I'm excited to announce that Kyle and I will be vendors at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival® and CthulhuCon™ San Pedro 2016!

 
"KA Opperman & Ashley Dioses, two of today's finest Weird poets, will be at the 7th Annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in San Pedro, California, April 29th to May 1st at the Warner Grand Theatre, where they will be reading from, signing, and selling a number of choice titles in which their work appears."

K. A. Opperman is a writer of Weird and horrific formal poetry from southern California, USA. His influences are many, but Clark Ashton Smith and H. P. Lovecraft are at the top of the long and seedy list. Think exotic, erotic, psychotic, and necrotic—often at the same time. His debut verse collection, The Crimson Tome, will appear from the famed Hippocampus Press a little later this year—nearly 200 pages of madness wrought in rhyme. Aside from that, he has appeared in the journal Spectral Realms, will appear in several anthologies from Horrified Press, and will appear in The Weird Fiction Review #6.

Ashley Dioses is a poet of dark fantasy and horror from southern California. She is currently working on her first book of dark traditional poetry to be out from Hippocampus Press, hopefully this year. Her poetry has appeared in Weird Fiction Review, Spectral Realms, Weirdbook Magazine, Omnium Gatherum Media, Eye to the Telescope, Xnoybis, Necronomicum, Gothic Blue Book, and elsewhere. Her poem, “Carathis”, published in Spectral Realms No. 1, is mentioned in Ellen Datlow's full recommended Best Horror of the Year Volume Seven list. She blogs at fiendlover.blogspot.com.

This is totally awesome!  I've never been a vendor before!  I am so excited.  We will also be reading some of our poems on stage, which is frightening but also awesome.  I'm stoked.

More Poem Acceptances

My poem, Fallen Atlantis, has been accepted for Spectral Realms No. 5 by Hippocampus Press.  It is dedicated to the Last of the Courtly Poets, Donald Sidney-Fryer.  If you are not familiar with Don or the California Romantics, I highly recommend The Golden Phantasticks and The Atlantis Fragments.

My poem, Labyrinthine King, has been accepted for a David Bowie anthology called 47 – 16 : Short Fiction & Poetry Inspired by David Bowie by Penny Dreadful Publications. My poem is inspired by his role as Jareth, the Goblin King, in the movie, The Labyrinth.   

  

D. L. Myers Reads My Poem "Ligeia"!

D. L. Myers reads my poem Ligeia, which is published in Spectral Realms No. 2 by Hippocampus Press!

Dark Poetry Book Signing Event at Rad Coffee!

Kyle and I held our first poetry signing yesterday at Rad Coffee. Unfortunately, it fell on the same day as Super Bowl Sunday, unbeknownst to us, when we first scheduled this signing.  There was a small turnout but a turnout nonetheless and that's what counts.  It was really fun and I got to speak with other horror writers and a few friends.  We sold books, drank tea and coffee respectively, chatted, and had a blast.  This was an awesome experience for us to have and I'm really glad at how it turned out.  :) 

(Fellow horror writer Juan Julio Gutiérrez.)

(Vlad made his debut appearance.)

   

Poetry Manuscript Update

Ah, so my poetry manuscript.  I have 92 poems planned to be in it so far.  This number could still change as I find some to cut out or I write more for it, but it won't dramatically change that much.  I have four sections in it; the first is my fantasy/dark fantasy section, the second is my nature section, the third is my romance/erotica section, and my fourth is my horror section.  The fantasy and horror sections definitely both dominate the book.  Out of the 92 poems, 68 have been completely edited.

Kyle has been an enormous help in helping me edit my poems and smoothing out the meter and such.  He goes over my 'final draft' before I send any poem out for markets.  My poems wouldn't be where they are now without his help and guidance.  So after the 24 poems left to be edited, I can give it a final (most likely a few final) look over.  I say that this poetry book should be out this year but in all honesty, it probably won't.  Hippocampus Press still has one poetry book to put out before mine and I hear its progress is slow.  Which is fine, because I still have work to do with mine, but if my poetry does come out this year, I'm sure it'll be late in the year.    

Spectral Realms No. 4 ToC and Cover!

So Spectral Realms No. 4 is said to be out in 2 weeks.  Here is the cover and table of contents.

Poems  

 The Phosphorescent Fungi / D. L. Myers

 Bone Fences / Christina Sng

 The Stain / John Mundy

 Relative Dark / M. F. Webb

 The Merlin of the Suns / Liam Garriock

 Who Knocks? / Scott Thomas

 The Flower Maidens / David Barker

 The Ghosts of Hyperborea / Wade German

 The Moon-Gate / Ann K. Schwader

 Machen Spoke the Hidden Thing / John Shirley

 Deeper Flowers Thrive / Oliver Smith

 With a Love So Vile / Ashley Dioses

 A Lone Figure / Mary Krawczak Wilson

 The Adverse Star / Leigh Blackmore

 The Vipers’ Lament / Jeff Burnett

 Divine Marriage Comedy / Alan Gullette

 And Only Then I Saw / Charles Lovecraft

 Up the Stairs / Alicia Cole

 A Witch She Is / William F. Nolan and Jason V Brock

 The Stone of Sacrifice / Kyla Lee Ward

 Metamorphosis / Christina Sng

 Phantom / Claire Smith

 The Question / Ian Futter

 Someone Coming / F. J. Bergmann

 Absinthia / K. A. Opperman

 Lucinda the Killed / Reiss McGuinness

 The Yellow Jester / John Thomas Allen

 The Witch’s Cat / Pat Calhoun.

 Fiddler Jack / Adam Bolivar

 Caressa’s Song / David Barker

 The Procession / M. F. Webb

 The Lovely Place / John Mundy

 Gargoyles for the Cathedral / Kendall Evans

 Flyover States / Steven Withrow

 Bedtime Story / Chad Hensley

 Zombification / Alicia Cole

 Souls of Samhain / Leigh Blackmore

 Ilvaa / Ashley Dioses.

 We Who Have Encountered Monsters / Darrell Schweitzer

 Missed Horizons / Ann K. Schwader

 The Ghost of Samhain Past / Margaret Curtis

 The Poetry of Evil Must Never Be Shouted / Darrell Schweitzer

 The Rise of Set / Liam Garriock

 The Living Dead / Ian Futter

 To My Goddess, Nicnevin / Liam Garriock

 Deacon Mercer / Jonathan Thomas

 Alastor / Wade German

 Weird Tale / Charles Lovecraft

 Among the Gargoyles / K. A. Opperman

 The Girl with Pennies on Her Eyes / Scott Thomas

 The Reunited / Oliver Smith

 Graveyard Circumspect / Alan Gullette

 Fog of War / Christina Sng

 Two Fates / John Mundy

 Alchemy / Ian Futter

 Werewolf / K. A. Opperman

 Panos / Fred Phillips

 Water Tears / Mary Krawczak Wilson

 The Summons / David Barker

 The Witching Hour / Alicia Cole

Classic Reprints  

 St. Irvyne’s Tower / Percy Bysshe Shelley

 His Dream / W. B. Yeats

 Cthulhu / David E. Schultz

 Articles

 The Poets of Weird Tales: Part / Frank Coffman

 Reviews  

 In the Court of Hades / Adam Bolivar

 Enlightenment from the Outer Dark / Donald Sidney-Fryer

 Two Centuries of Pleasing Terrors / Steven J. Mariconda

 Notes on Contributors 

There is a wonderful review on Kyle's The Crimson Tome, written by Adam Bolivar in this issue.  I had a chance to read it already and it's excellent.  I am not too thrilled to see a certain name in this journal, though I look forward to reading the rest.