Infernal Ink Magazine Vol. 6 Issue 4: Devilishly Erotic Horror edited by Hydra M. Star

My poem, Maenads, (originally published in Necronomicum: The Magazine of Weird Erotica Issue 4 by Martian Migraine Press) appears in Infernal Ink Magazine Vol. 6 Issue 4: Devilishly Erotic Horror edited by Hydra M. Star.  I've originally heard of Infernal Ink Magazine through Horrotica editor Terry D. Scheerer, who has now passed, and have been interested in it since.  I recently looked at their guidelines again and decided to try it out.  I'm glad I did.  The issue looks awesome and I can't wait to order my print copy.

Maenads is one of the 10 poems that have a black and white illustration in Diary of a Sorceress.

Table of Contents

Notes From the Editor by Hydra M. Star
Our Bond Complete by Mark A. Mihalko
Howling in the Night by G. Large
Calender Witches and Steel Interview with Paul Sherman
Short Memoir of an Ed Gein Disciple by Steven Allen Porter
Thought's In Bed with Pain by Patrick Winters
Act of the Loathsome Intimacy by Norbert Gora
The Chocolate Box by Holly Flynn
Defrosting by Robert Beveridge
The Predator by Timothy C. Hobbs
There is No Sin by John Siney
Valium by Jessica Williams
A Fetishistic Feast of Indulgence by Rick Powell
Horny by Evelyn Eve
Tormentor by TheByStander
Maenads by Ashley Dioses
The Author Bordello with Alder Strauss

HWA Halloween Pumpkin Recipe Contest!

Kyle and I participated in the HWA Halloween pumpkin recipe contest.  How could we not?  We chose a pumpkin Kyle grew himself and made a pumpkin baked fondue.

INGREDIENTS

Toasted sourdough slices
1 (3-pound) Cinderella or Sugar Pie pumpkin
3/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 packages of Brie
2 spoonfuls of blue cheese
1 spoonful of minced garlic
2 spoonfuls of bacon bits (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Splash of white cooking wine
Pinch of pepper

(Cheese!)

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 450°F.
Toast sourdough slices.
Remove top of pumpkin by cutting a circle around stem with a small sharp knife. Scrape out seeds and any loose fibers from inside pumpkin with a spoon including pumpkin lid. Season inside of pumpkin with 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Whisk together cream, broth, nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a bowl. Mix together cheeses in another bowl.
Put a layer of toasted bread in bottom of pumpkin, then cover with about 1 cup cheese and about 1/2 cup cream mixture. Continue layering cheese and cream mixture until pumpkin is filled to about 1/2 inch from top, using all of cream mixture.
Cover pumpkin with top and put in an oiled small roasting pan. Brush outside of pumpkin all over with olive oil. Bake until the pumpkin’s skin wrinkles and turns darker.  You can take the lid off to check if it’s bubbling, 1 hour.  When it’s done, dip sliced toasted sourdough bread into the mixture and enjoy.

(Must scoop the guts out first.)

(Bread on the bottom.)

(Ready for the oven.)

(Tada!)

(Dunk and enjoy!)

Pumpkin Patch

It's tradition that Kyle and I go to the Irvine Regional Park which holds a pumpkin patch every year.  It also has a few carnival games, a small hay maze, a small haunted house, and a cookie decorating booth.  Kyle and I always decorate cookies.

(My spider under the blue moon.)

(Kyle's Jack-o-lantern with wings.)

(Being dorks.)

(Kiss thief!)

(Pumpkin King)

(Jack-o-dork.)

('Lemme tell ya 'bout pumpkin growin...')

(He made me take this picture.  All of them actually...)

(Kyle let me get an ugly pumpkin this time!)

There's also a little zoo at this park that Kyle and I have never been to before.  We decided to check it out.  They had bunnies!

(I also like goats....)

First Fiction Sale!

I am ecstatic to announce that I have just sold my first short story ever.  As in, paid, as in, I'm getting money for my story.  Someone wants to give me money for a story I wrote.  WHOA!  So I am proud to announce that my short story, The Rat in the Rabbit Cage, has just been accepted for Weirdbook 2017 Annual "Witches" by Wildside Press!

I originally wrote this story, as a challenge by Kyle, for the She Walks in Shadows by Innsmouth Free Press anthology.  Since then it has been rejected six more times.  I really liked this story and really wanted to make it work, so, at that point, I signed up to be mentored on short fiction through my local HWA Chapter group and was paired up with none other than Lisa Morton.  Upon reading it she said the greatest thing ever.  "...I think it's overall a very solid piece of work, very M. R. James-ian in the sense of danger always lurking just behind the events."  M. R. James-ian!!!  I wrote an  M. R. James-ian story!  What a compliment.

After working on the story back and forth with Lisa and finishing up the mentorship program, I sent it off to be rejected again.  The second time, however, hit home.  The editor of Weirdbook messaged me on Facebook and told me "I want this story very much," and just asked that I tweaked the ending a bit.  I sent it to him like 5 seconds later because I wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming that he was taking my story, not my poetry, for this antho or that he changed his mind.

Anyway, I hope you all like my story; I shall wait in terror for your judgments and reviews.    

Table of Contents

Fiction
Thou Shall Not Suffer Matt Neil Hill
No Holds Bard Adrian Cole
Laying The Hairy Book Josh Reynolds
Here Is Where Your Proud Waves Halt Erica Ruppert
Vicious Circles Paul Dale Anderson
Assorted Shades Of Red Franklyn Searight
Strange Days In Old Yandrissa John R. Fultz
Fertility Rites Glynn Owen Barrass
The Witches Heart Rachel Bolton
Hag Race Andre Harewood
Best Friend Becky Wayne Faust
The Rat In The Rabbit Cage Ashley Dioses
Two Spells Neva Bryan
Pulled Over Paul Spears
The Witch Of Skur L. F. Falconer
Cat And Mouse Duane Pesice
Last Of Ashiptu Paul Lubaczewski
Firestorm Richard H. Durisen
The Witch Of Pender John Linwood Grant
The Nora Witch Brandon Jimison
The Broken Witch Scott Hutchison

Poetry
The Desert Rose Inn Maurits Zwankhuizen
Salty Lucy Snyder
The Ballad Of Blighted March David F. Daumit
The Witch Queen S. L. Edwards
A Witch's Work Is Never Done Lori R. Lopez
Oracle Bone Script Frederick J. Meyer
Halloween Witch K. A. Opperman
Remembering The Peculiar Effects From the
Sugar-Witch's Goblin-Brew Clay F. Johnson
Sea Witch Vonnie Winslow Crist
Little Youkai At The Witch House Chad Hensley
Mother Persephone Oliver Smith
A Warlock Slips Into My Dreams Darla Klein

A Walk on the Weird Side edited by Joe S. Pulver, Sr.

I ordered A Walk on the Weird Side edited by Joe S. Pulver, Sr. and was surprised to see two copies of it included in my package.  I was even more surprised to see that one of them was signed by Peter Rawlik!  I have no idea why that was but it certainly made my day!  Thank you to whoever included the extra copy!

My poems, Daemonolatry, A Sea of Snow and Frost, and Hollow King, appear in this charity anthology.  Hollow King does not appear in Diary of a Sorceress, fyi.

Featuring new fiction and poetry from:
Nadia Bulkin
S. P. Miskowski
Kristi DeMeester
Matthew M. Bartlett
Ann K. Schwader
Michael Griffin
Craig L. Gidney
Farah Rose Smith
Peter Rawlik
Ashley Dioses
Daniel Braum
Nathan Carson
Jon Padgett
Rebecca J. Allred
Alistair Rennie
Starry Wizdom
Rhys Hughes
John Claude Smith
Ashley Dioses
Michael Bukowski
Michael Wehunt
Anna Tambour
Christopher Slatsky
Scott Thomas
Lynda Rucker
Tom Lynch
Cody Goodfellow
Robert Levy
Jayprakash Satyamurthy
Philip Fracassi
Maura McHugh

XNOYBIS #3: In Praise of Pan by Dunhams Manor Press

I have been waiting for this journal for over a year and the wait is finally over!  My copy of Xnoybis #3: In Praise of Pan by Dunhams Manor Press has finally arrived and oh is it beautiful!?  My poem, Panic, can be found within it's pages.  This is one of the most...explicit poems I've written, but how could it not be?  We are talking about Pan here...

Approx. 50 pages
Limited to 100 copies

The third issue of XNOYBIS.. a themed issue.. IN PRAISE OF PAN!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Panic by Ashely Dioses (Poem)
Black Goat Rising by DJ Tyrer
Lost in Arcadia by C.M. Muller
Flat Ice Drifting to the Second-Innermost by Matt Leyshon
Panic Moon by Jonas Moth
Ye Yellow’d Reed by Adam Bolivar (Poem)
and the Poe Bug column by Selena Chambers.

Diary of a Sorceress Update

Diary of a Sorceress is almost complete.  All that is left to be included are 3 more b&w interior illustrations by the amazing Steve Santiago.

Introduction by Donald Sidney-Fryer, Afterword by yours truly, 4 tribute poems by Adam Bolivar, K. A. Opperman, Michael Fantina, and D. L. Myers, and blurbs by Wilum Pugmire, Ann K. Schwader, Lisa Morton, Linda D. Addison, Marge Simon, Leigh Blackmore, Kyla Lee Ward, Joe Pulver, Peter Atkins, Darrell Schweitzer, Danny Lovecraft, and Jessica Amanda Salmonson, and art by Steve Santiago.  If this doesn't tempt you, I'm sorry.

I will be signing at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, OR. Oct 6-8.  Stop by the Hippocampus Press vendors table to pick up a copy and then find me and I shall sign it for you and/or kiss it, if you so desire.  I will be reading from it sometime during the fest, so keep a lookout at the event page to find out when.  

If you cannot make it to the film fest to pick up a copy, you can still pre-order it directly from the website.