Weirdbook Magazine Issue 43 by Wildside Press

Weirdbook Magazine Issue 43 has finally arrived, looking beautiful as ever.  It contains my poem, What is the Season?  What is the Season? will appear in a future poetry collection.

Table of Contents

Fiction

An American Story, by Darrell Schweitzer

Impervious to Reason, Oblivious to Fate, by John R. Fultz

The River, by Sharon Cullars

Taking Out the Trash, by D.C. Lozar

Arthur Wardrobe And Asia Anastacia: A Love Story, by Andrew Darlington

Snack Time, by Franklyn Searight

Godlike, by By Edward Morris and Konstantine Paradias

Ronkonkoma, by Glynn Owen Barrass

The Fury of Angels, by Adrian Cole

Keisha’s Dinosaur, by Nicole Givens Kurtz

Will Home Remember Me?, by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.

You’re Gonna Love This Song, by Michael S. Walker

Frozen Time, by Rivka Jacobs

Lucien Greyshire and the Ghost from Applebee’s, by L.F. Falconer

Poetry 

Danse Macabre by Jeff Barnes 

A Sum Total by Maxwell I. Gold 

Night Hag by Neva Bryan 

What is the Season? by Ashley Dioses 

Empress of Vampires by K.A. Opperman 

Dark Rift by Ann K.Schwader 

King's Pyre by W.D. Clifton

The Dragon's Gold by Ngo Binh Anh Khoa 

The Pumpkin Boy on Samhain by Chad Hensley 

Gol-Goroth Fane by Frederick J. Mayer 

Doom of the Season by Gregg Chamberlain

ParABnormal Magazine September 2020

I just received my contributor's copy of ParAbnormal Magazine by Hireath Publishing.  It contains my poem, Dethroned Spirit, which is inspired by The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  It will appear in Diary of a Vampyress.

Table of Contents

Stories

Nobody Rides for Free by Amanda Hard

Pleased to Meet Me by Matt McGee

A Fresh Start by Justin Boote

The Unwary by DJ Tyrer

Disquiet by J. L. Royce

Poetry

The Cycle by Juleigh Howard-Hobson

Dethroned Spirit by Ashley Dioses

Crossing Over by Bhupin Butaney

Features

Thought Transference by Hudson Tuttle

Scientific Truths Contained in Fairy Stories by Hereward Carrington, PhD

Uncanny Guidance in Modern Horror and Dark Fantasy Fiction by Daniel R. Robichaud

Forthcoming Autumn 2020: The Withering

"...poetry from a night-blooming blossom... throbbing with incantatory power..."

--John Shirley, author of Cellars, Wetbones and A Song Called Youth

Last year held a major disappointment for me when Septemeber came and went without The Withering being released when it was scheduled to.  Now, a year later, I am excited to announce that my second poetry collection, The Withering, has found a new home with Jackanapes Press!  Jackanapes Press is a new press run by Dan Sauer, who is well known for his amazing artistic talent.  The Withering is forthcoming this autumn.

Here's a recap about The Withering.  It originally consisted of the 50 best poems from my preteen and teenage years.  I've added 5 more.  It features cover and interior art by Mutartis Boswell and an introduction by John Shirley.  I've added a notes page with fun facts about certain poems and a list of the poems written chronologically.  The four sections are broken down to Nature-Based Horror, Supernatural Horror, Psychological Horror, and Body Horror.  

(Cover Art by Mutartis Boswell)

Table of Contents

Introduction: Siren of Shadows by John Shirley

I. A Luminous Darkness

A Luminous Darkness

Cobwebs

Light Fades in Her Dark Embrace

Plague’s Wake

Life Decayed

Obliterate 

Unveiled Star 

II. Pale Radiance 

A Lust for Blood

Quest for the Flesh

Into the Dark I Came

Dead Kings Rise

Karmic Repercussion

Like a Fixed Star

Djinn Deceiver

Hollow King

Xyre

The Sorceress’s Lament

The Prideful Scribe

Crimson Swirls

All Hallows' Awakening

Pale Radiance

Paper Doll Displays

A Soul of Filth

An Angel's Fall from Grace

Tears of Eternity

Behind Dead Eyes Part 1

Behind Dead Eyes Part 2

I Am the Most Beautiful Angel

The Entrance

III. Night Cries 

Twisted Saying

Whispers

Night Cries

Dreams Forever Will Remain

The Sight

The Darker Side of Me

Believe Me

The Picture

Created

Chartreuse

The Porcelain Garden

A Haunting Sensation Part 1

A Haunting Sensation Part 2

The Creator

The Monster

The Guillotine

Splinters in My Skin

Death Upon Me

IV. A is for Axe Murderer  

Ashley 

A is for Axe Murderer

The Surgical Suite

Body Parts

The Body Shop

Cannibal

Strung By a Noose

Skinless

Afterword

Endnotes

Chronological Order

Acknowledgments

  

Midnight Under the Big Top: Madness, Murder, and Magic by Cemetery Dance Publications

I just received probably one of coolest books I have ever been in and that's Midnight Under the Big Top: Madness, Murder, and Magic by Cemetery Dance Publications.  Unfortunately, this edition is already sold out but I heard there will be another print run of this anthology at some point.  Cemetery Dance was a household name for me growing up as my dad had purchased the lifetime magazine subscription when it first came out.  He died a month before I could tell him I was invited to write for them in this anthology.  I wish I could show it to him.  It features my poem, Beneath the Fullest Moon.  I actually submitted a second poem that was accepted but for some reason, does not appear in it.  I have no idea why.  Check out this killer line-up!

Some praise for Beneath the Fullest Moon:

"7. Beneath the Fullest Moon by Ashley Dioces

This poem flows really well. The story of the carnival hiding werewolves to feast on the town before the pack up for the next. There is a creepiness to this poem because the implication is that you are being tricked," (Mylene).

Table of Contents:

ACT ONE:

"The Night of the Tiger" by Stephen King

"Twittering from the Circus of the Dead" by Joe Hill

"The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch" by Neil Gaiman

"The Girl in the Carnival Gown" by Kelley Armstrong

"Herd Immunity" by Tananarive Due

"Pickled Punks and the Summer of Love" by Lisa Morton

"Courting the Queen of Sheba" by Amanda C. Davis

"The Circus Reborn" by Nayad Monroe

"The Black Ferris" by Ray Bradbury

POETRY INTERMISSION FEATURING:

Norman Prentiss

G.O. Clark

Marge Simon

Bruce Boston

Robert Payne Cabeen

David E. Cowen 

Alessandro Manzetti

Christina Sng

Stephanie M. Wytovich

K.A. Opperman

Ashley Dioses

Terri Adamczyk

ACT TWO:

"The Great White Way" by Robert McCammon

"Buried Talents" by Richard Matheson

"The Carnival" by Richard Chizmar

"Mr. Bones' Wild Ride" by Billy Chizmar

"Fair Treats" by Jeff Strand

"Smoke & Mirrors" by Amanda Downum

"Circus Maximus" by Robert Brouhard

"Laughable" by Dominick Cancilla

"Count Zardov's Circus and Museum of Terrifying Grotesques" by Heather Graham

THE GRAND FINALE:

Dandy, a short novel by Josh Malerman

Spectral Realms No. 13 by Hippocampus Press

I just received my contributor copy of Spectral Realms No. 13 by Hippocampus Press.  It has a striking cover art created by the talented Dan Sauer.  My poem, Lord Death, appears in this issue.  Lord Death pairs well with my poem, Lady Death, which can be found in my first collection, Diary of a Sorceress.  Lord Death will appear in my third collection, Diary of a Vampyress. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Poems

King Pest / Richard L. Tierney

The Protector / Ian Futter

After Verdun: A Psychomantic Vision / Manuel Pérez-Campos

Märchen (Fairy Tales) / Carl E. Reed

Nevermore / Adele Gardner

The Sleeper / Josh Maybrook

City of Skulls / Maxwell I. Gold

Among the Petroglyphs / Ann K. Schwader

The Catacombs / Tatiana Strange

Illusion of Light / Ronald Terry

The Hidebehind: A Legend of the North Country / Frank Coffman

Dream Snatchers / Ngo Binh Anh Khoa

My Bantam Black Fay / Manuel Arenas

Doubled Word / Rahul Gupta

De Quincey Mutations: Our Ladies of Sorrow / Wade German

Ithaca, Finally / Darrell Schweitzer

All That I Have Lost / Christina Sng

Astray / F. J. Bergmann

Imperishable / David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Wraith of the Versifier / David Barker

The Tongueless Dead / Leigh Blackmore

Sanctuary / Mary Krawczak Wilson

O Iranon / Charles Lovecraft

Sweet Discordia Lee / Oliver Smith

The Harvester / K. A. Opperman

The Song of Calamity Joe / Andrey Pissantchev

Jenkin / Ross Balcom

Amongst the Sargasso / Scott J. Couturier

Notre Dame Is Burning! / Lori R. Lopez

The Sweet Dreams of the Dead / James O’Melia

The Witch-Gallows / Josh Maybrook

Lord Death / Ashley Dioses

Our Lady of the Acherontia / Allan Rozinski

Legion / Benjamin Blake

Where the New Gods Dwell / Maxwell I. Gold

Imaginary Friend / Ngo Binh Anh Khoa

Lines on Austin Osman Spare’s “Arbor Vitae” / Manuel Pérez-Campos

In the Forest, Where Wild Things Live / Claire Smith

Melinoë / Wade German

Hell-Flower / Manuel Arenas

Haunted / Ronald Terry

He Who Waits / Frank Coffman

Splenetic IV: After Baudelaire / Rahul Gupta

The Graves / Steven Withrow

A Conspiracy Penetrated / Carl E. Reed

Frozen Voices / Leigh Blackmore

Calling All Witches / Adele Gardner

To the Wolves / Scott J. Couturier

Red Land, Black Pharaoh / Ann K. Schwader

Ouroboros / Frank Coffman

The Draining Chair / Thomas Tyrrell

Retrieval / F. J. Bergmann

The Rider of the Pegasi / C. d. G. Nightingale

Testament of Doom: A Paean to Clark Ashton Smith / Manuel Pérez-Campos

The Passive Vampire / Wade German

The Pores of Earth / Charles Lovecraft

Moribond / Manuel Arenas

The Variant / Maxwell I. Gold

To Gaelle Lacroix, Lone Survivor of the Trufort Massacre / Steven Withrow

Dr. Ripper, I Presume? / Carl E. Reed

Red Tresses / Scott C. Couturier

 

Classic Reprints

Strife / R. H. Barlow

It Will Be Thus / Arthur Goodenough

 

Reviews

The Sun Sings Loud and Clear / Donald Sidney-Fryer

Terror and Poignancy / S. T. Joshi

A Queen of Dark Poetry / Sunni K Brock

 

Space and Time Magazine Issue 137

 I recently received my contributor's copy of Space and Time Magazine issue 137 and it looks rad.  My poem, A Daemon Beckons, appears in this issue.  A Daemon Beckons will appear in Diary of a Vampyress.

FICTION

Artifacts: A Joe Ledger Story by Jonathan Maberry

A Night Out by David Hammond

After Altera by Andrew Reichard

Joy of Life by Alessandro Manzetti

All I Wanted to do was Dance by S.R.Vcardi

Dogs of Mars by Tim Lees

Evolved by Marianna Shek

Forgetting Faces by TJ Berg

A Girl Like Us by Derwin Mak

Stay In Your Homes by Elad Haber

The Hole That Swallowed the World by Kurt Newton

Slash by Ken Hueler

POETRY

Mother, Mad by Jezzy Wolfe

Legacies by Anton Cancre

A Daemon Beckons by Ashley Dioses

Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins by Geoffrey A. Landis

The Achilles Heel by Francis W. Alexander

A Twisted Root by Jennifer Crow

When by Felicia Martinez

Pencil-Drawn Boundaries by Hibah Shabkhez

Electronic Djinn by Deborah L. Davitt

Depth Sounding by Tiffany Morris

Divinity in the Afterglow by Colleen Anderson

After the Summer by Russell Hemmell

Lessons from Poe by Lee Murray

Backward(s) by Nancy Cervenka

Orientation at the Time Travel Hospital by Sara Backer

Flight of the Ka by Ronald J. Murray

Dead Cold Night by Kim Whysall-Hammond

Corpse of the Quarter Winner: What We Do for Love

NON-FICTION

Speculating: 11372.4 by Angela Yuriko Smith

Word Ninja by Linda D. Addison

Take Two at the Movies: The Ironic Resonance of “The War of the Worlds” by Daniel M. Kimmel

Potter Magic: Guiding Libraries in Pandemic Times by Angela Yuriko Smith

Graggon Speak: “Survivor Song” by Paul Tremblay by Austin Gragg

A Message of Hope by John Palisano

ART

Cover by Frank Wu

Room With a View by Mark Levine

Sy Klopz by L. Allen Gillick

Artifact illustration by Martin Hanford

Slash illustration by Doug Draper

Stay in Your Homes illustration by Brad W. Foster

Joy of Life illustration by Stefano Cardoselli

A Night Out illustration by Shikhar Dixit

Dogs of Mars illustration by Alan Beck

Forgetting Faces illustration by Mark Levine

Evolved illustration by Alfred Klosterman

All I Wanted to do was Dance illustration by Simon Walpole

The Hole That Swallowed the World illustration by Al Sirois

After Altera illustration by Anthony R. Rhodes

A Girl Like Us illustration by Tom Nackid

Another Publisher Falls

It is with great sadness that I see Gehenna and Hinnom Books close their doors.  It showed great promise and churned out 2 beautifully published books and a few magazine issues, one of which I had the privilege of being a part of.  C. P. Dunphey was great to work with.  But it just takes one life crisis to throw everything out of whack and even worse when more just pile on until you are drowning.  Gehenna and Hinnom should be the last thing on his mind and I believe he made a good decision in closing it at this time.  Family and health should, of course, come first.  I wish him and his family the absolute best and hope to see Gehenna and Hinnom Books open its doors once more in the future.  Here is his closing announcement.

With that being said, The Withering was released of its contract and will not be published with Gehenna and Hinnom Books.  To be honest, with the lack of communication from the publisher for so long, I was afraid this would happen and sent off The Withering to another publisher months ago.  I still await their judgment.