Writing Projects!

I've been invited to do a few writing projects and I'm kind of ecstatic about them.  My first thoughts were 'do they have the right person?'  'They are asking me?!'  I'm kind of still in shock, I mean, I'm just a poet!  Surely, they want a bigger name!  These are the awesome requests I've gotten lately.

1.  Write an article on Gothic Poetry
2.  Write an article on Gothicism in the Creative Arts
3.  Write a blurb for a poetry book
4.  Submit a few poems to a charity anthology
5.  Write a poem for a themed anthology
6.  Write a story for a themed anthology
7.  Write a review on the cool, new weird journals and periodicals that are springing up

This is awesome!  Out of the 7, I have finished 4, started 1, and contemplated how to tackle the rest.

Los Angeles Vintage Paperback Show 2017

Kyle and I had a blast at the Vintage Paperback Show this year.  We got some awesome goodies, met friends, and made new ones.  Our friend, Chris, had so many books for us to sign that we ended up sitting at an empty signing table and staff thought we were officially there to sign!  They offered us water and then afterwards, wanted to know what time we were scheduled to sign.  I told them we weren't officially there to sign but inquired as to how we could be possibly on the list for next year.

I got autographs from Lisa Morton, Joe Eisenberg, Jason and Sunni Brock, William F. Nolan, Joe Lansdale, John Shirely, John Skipp, David Schow, Dennis Etchison, R. C. Matheson, Kelly Dunn, and Pete Von Sholly.  What a score!

(Nick Diak)

After the show, we headed to Extended Stays Days Inn to hang out at Julius Vladimir Francisco's room and the pool.  It was awesome.  There's also a step going to the pool.  Don't trip on it.  Not that I did....

(Photo by Julius Vladimir Francisco)

(Bill Nolan and George Clayton Johnson's son Paul)

(Peter Atkins)

(Dennis Etchison, Kelly Dunn, ?, Julius Vladimir Francisco)

(Julius Vladimir Francisco, John Shirley, and sitting is Hal Bodner)

(R. C. Matheson)

My goodies!

 

Spectral Realms No. 6 by Hippocampus Press

I received my Spectral Realms No. 6 copy along with the absolutely beautiful annotated Fungi from Yuggoth!  I can't wait to read both of these beauties.  My two poems, Night Play and Siren's Song, are in issue 6.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Poems

 Spider Eggs / John Shirley

 Edgar A. Poe (1809–1849) / W. H. Pugmire

 Finite / Ian Futter

 Oracle / Wade German

 Next / John J. Mundy

 The Fateful Flower / Frank Coffman

 Vul Ravin / D. L. Myers

 Transfiguration / Ronald Terry

 Mistress of the Dark Fortress / K. A. Opperman and Leigh Blackmore

 Un-Hallowed E’en / Richard L. Tierney

 Diluvian Night Out / Jessica Amanda Salmonson

 Chrysalides in the Cromlech / Jeff Burnett

 When the Stars Are Right / Oliver B. Harris

 The Dust That Was You / Mary Krawczak Wilson

 Hunted / Claire Smith

 The Spell / Liam Garriock

 Moonlight in the Playground / Christina Sng

 An Unimaginable Horror / Norbert Gora

 The Fugitives / Manuel Pérez-Campos

 Under the Tuscan Moon / Leigh Blackmore

 Kappa Alpha Tau / Josh Medsker

 Yes, There Are Wonders Beyond Death / Darrell Schweitzer

 rUBBLE ®ubbLe / Jason V Brock

 Desolation / M. F. Webb

 The Cosmic Women / Pat Calhoun

 Descent / Ian Futter

 The God-Builders / Nathaniel Reed

 Sighting / Ross Balcom

 Falling for You / John J. Mundy

 Icons / Ronald Terry

 The Sword / Chad Hensley

Dual Purpose / Kyla Lee Ward

 A Dream from R’lyeh / Charles Lovecraft

 The Witch of the Woods / Frank Coffman

 Fallen / Claire Smith

 The Germ of the Earth / Farah Rose Smith

 The Road to Long-Ago / Ruth Berman

 Spawn of the Wicked Hive / Jeff Burnett

 Night Play / Ashley Dioses

 The Prey / Mary Krawczak Wilson

 A Return / Benjamin Blake

 When the Earth Was Young / Christina Sng

 The House of Gloom / Adam Bolivar

 Elder Beings / Leigh Blackmore

 Reunion / Manuel Pérez-Campos

 The Awen / Michelle Claire White

 Ghosts of  1816 / Clay F. Johnson

 Quetzalcoatl / Kendall Evans

 Relic / Nathaniel Reed

 Admonishments for the Incautious / David Barker

 Yaga / Oliver Smith

 The Demon Corn / D. L. Myers

 Timeless Ghosts / Liam Garriock

 Clearing Sky / Ronald Terry

 The Door / Christina Sng

 Tending the Grave / Ian Futter

 Woodsmoke: A Folk Song That Never Was / John Shirley

 The Wolf’s Last Words / Claire Smith

 Dark Solstice Cold and Deathly / Richard L. Tierney

 The Rainy Season / John J. Mundy

 Siren’s Song / Ashley Dioses

 The Mask of Leprous Light / Jeff Burnett

Of Rippers, Psychos, and Scarves / Randall D. Larson and Charles Lovecraft

 Dark Shuttle / Ruth Berman

 Downstream / Oliver Smith.

 The War of Dragons / Christina Sng

 Temple of the Plumed Serpent / Ann K. Schwader

 Those / David Barker

 Samhain Redivivus / Frank Coffman

 Classic Reprints

 The Old Ghost / Thomas Lovell Beddoes

 Red Ghosts in Kentucky / Leah Bodine Drake

Articles

 In Pursuit of the Transcendent: The Weird Verse of Walter de la Mare / Leigh Blackmore

Reviews

A Dreamer’s Rimes / J.-M. Rajala  (H. P. LOVECRAFT. Fungi from Yuggoth: An Annotated Edition.)

Ghostly Verses / Michael J. Abolafia  (SHANNON CONNOR WINWARD, ed. Eye to the Telescope. Issue No. 22: “Ghosts.”)

Weirdbook 34 by Wildside Press

My copies of Weirdbook 34 came today!  It features my poems Sephora and Narda the Czarina.

•The Demon in the Doughnut Shop, by Bret McCormick
• A Kiss for the Mirrorman, by Adrian Cole
• Mukden, by Sean Patrick Hazlett
• In the Gallery, by J. Michael Major
• Excavation, by Franklyn Searight
• Bunnies of the Apocalypse, by Gregg Chamberlain
• Zhar’s Outré House, by Frederick J. Mayer
• The Devil Is Anonymous, by Frank Duffy
• Touched, by James D. Mabe
• The Singing Tree, by Lawrence Buentello
• Blood of God, by DJ Tyrer
• Bum Fights and Blood Feuds, by Scott Harper
• Beauty Treatment, by Liam Hogan
• Persephone, by Andre E. Harewood
• My Personal Dream, by James Ward Kirk
• Mischa in the Window, by Jason Rubis
• Thrill My Soul, by Greg Jenkins
• Trick, by Rish Outfield
Plus a selection of poetry by Steve Dilks, Ashley Dioses, Darrell Schweitzer, and Lucy A. Snyder.

Skelos - The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy Issue Two by Skelos Press

My contributor copies of Skelos - The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy Issue Two by Skelos Press has arrived and it looks freakin amazing.  My poem, Xyre, is featured in this.  Xyre is a sorcerer created by K. A. Opperman (Kyle).  Xyre and Ashiel were characters created together for an epic poem we collaborated on years ago.  I wrote a few poems on Xyre and Ashiel but most have been omitted from my collection because I feel like they weren't my best pieces.  Xyre is one of them.  I let you all be the judge of it's quality.

Short Fiction

The Keeping of Eleanor May – Angeline Hawkes

Slayers at the Gate – Adrian Cole                                                                       

Of Mist, and an Heirloom Sword – Jessica Amanda Salmonson

Medicine For the Dead (excerpt) – Arianna “Tex” Thompson

Bigger Than God – Cynthia Ward

A Binding of Souls – W. H. Pugmire

The Skin Man – Milton Davis (illustrated by Stanley Weaver, Jr.)

The Black Lion – Howard Andrew Jones

Amarante: A Tale of Old Tharduin – Scott Oden

Novelettes

The Eleventh Scarlet Hell – Robert M. Price (A Thongor tale illustrated by Val Mayerik)

Reverse the Charges – Jess Nevins

Poetry

Carmilla – K. A.  Opperman (illustrated by Esteban Maroto)

The Line of Late Retreat – Michael Walton

Xyre – Ashley Dioses

The Night Realm – Chad Hensley

Ride of the Witchfinder – Wade German

The Mockingbird – Pat Calhoun

A Revelation Dream – Kenneth Bykerk

The Wood – Frank Coffman

Shade of a Murdered Child – James McNew

Essays

Clark Ashton Smith in Carmel – Scott Connors

“The Shadow Kingdom” and the Origins of Gothic Horror in Robert E. Howard’s Heroic Fantasy – Charles Hoffman

The Alexander Romance as Weird Fiction – Benjamin Garstad

Special Features

Skull Session – Editorial by Mark Finn

Warrior Women of History – An illustrated gallery by Samuel Dillon (text by Jeffrey Shanks)

Cracking Skulls with Arianna “Tex” Thompson – An interview by Mark Finn

By Crom! – Rachel Kahn

The Bone Yard – Reviews

Dave Brzeski, Bobby Derie, Mike Hunter, Deuce Richardson, Jake Vander Weide, Keith West

Artists

Front cover:  Ernst Fuchs; Back cover; Allen Koszowski; Interior: Hieronymus Bosch, Samuel Dillon, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Mike Hunter, Rachel Kahn, Allen Koszowski, Esteban Maroto, Val Mayerik, Hugh Rankin, Stanley Weaver, Jr.

Poetry Acceptance

My poem, Lovely Lucifer, has just been accepted for issue one of Feverish Chixxx by Sleazy Viking Press.  Feverish Chixxx is a brand new occult and erotic theme photography journal and includes occult excerpts.  It is a limited run of 33 numbered copies.

OCCULTISM! NUDE PHOTOGRAPHS OF SEXY LADIES! POEMS! SATANISM, KALI MA, KABBALAH AND GNOSTICISM! INCLUDES VARIOUS OCCULT EXCERPTS...

(PRICE INCLUDES WORLDWIDE SHIPPING)

Poets: Ashley Dioses, K.A. Opperman
Models: Ragen Fitzpatrick, Hannah Haddix, Rahel Kapsaski, Lilitu

44 pages
Size: 8.5 x 11 inches
Printed on black 130g Silk-paper - cover and back on 250g Silk-paper with red text.
Limited to 33 numbered copies. Silver lettered.
Each copy comes with a separate spell
Shipped in a black envelope sealed with red wax and a serpent seal sign