Amanda M. Blake's Blog, page 16
May 22, 2023
OUT OF CURIOSITY AND HUNGER coming soon!
OUT OF CURIOSITY AND HUNGER, my newest creature feature, is coming out June 13! Cover reveal coming soon, but here’s a sneak peak:
May 20, 2023
DEAD ENDS in paperback
DEAD ENDS, a dark poetry collection, is finally available as a slender paperback and e-book. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5P9TVY8
May 17, 2023
“Wives”
Apparently, today was the day that Jonathan Harker was seduced by Dracula’s wives in his castle. To celebrate, here’s the song I wrote for the for-fun Dracula musical that I’m working on.
I.
I was not the first,
But I’m the eldest of wives.
We did not come on our own.
We were torn from our lives.
He’s a nobleman born.
Under chaos he thrives.
I was a peasant girl lost,
and under pale moon revives.
All I can remember
Are the palest of knives,
And under his firm palm
how a peasant girl thrives.
We are Dracula’s wives,
His three women scorned.
With him we have yearned.
With him we have mourned.
Soon you will see,
As all his wives do,
How he stirs in your blood
When you’re his wife, too.
II.
I he stole from my bed
As his empire fell.
He brought me to heaven,
and saved me from hell.
All the warriors he killed,
All the fires he’d quell.
While his enemies would bleed,
Our desires would swell.
I’m more from his world
Than my sisters could tell.
I know it pains him to see
His grand home now a shell.
We are Dracula’s wives,
His three women saved.
With him we have danced.
We him we have craved.
Soon you will see,
As all his wives do,
How he conquers a will
When you’re his wife, too.
III.
He left his home once north
To find me fairer-skinned
And encircled me close
In his frigid cold wind.
Though I prayed to the saints
Under him I have sinned.
Though I searched for the light,
Beneath him it has dimmed.
I begged him to stop,
But my lord simply grinned.
So my pleas have gone quiet,
My denials I rescind.
We are Dracula’s wives,
His three women kept.
With him we have dined.
With him we have slept.
Soon you will see,
As all his wives do,
How he shackles a heart
When you’re his wife, too.
May 7, 2023
DEAD ENDS drops today
Have to wait a bit longer for the paperback, but DEAD ENDS: A Dark Poetry Collection about death and dying is now available as an e-book.
Y’all, this is my first poetry collection ever, and that’s just really exciting, especially since it’s horror. It’s self-published because much of it was shared on social media, but DEAD ENDS curates and polishes the pieces to a fire-opal shine.
Amazon: https://amazon.com/dp/B0C4K334LN
Universal link (as they become available): https://books2read.com/u/3R5NQp
April 26, 2023
To the River
come on down to the river
the current runs red and the algae blooms sweet
come on down to the river
nothing more refreshing in the sweltering heat
come on down to the fresh mountain spring
just a trickle left but the last one clean
come on down to the fresh mountain spring
the clearest damn water that you’ve ever seen
come on down to the old deep well
a drought’s piercing through the dry cracked fields
come on down to the old deep well
the trumpets all sound and the scroll’s unsealed
come on down to the dark gutter drain
the bodies sink low and the corpse fluids rise
come on down to the dark gutter drain
where waste-streaked gods swallow all of our lies
come on down to the river
for an old-time spiritual revival song
come on down to the river
the end times are coming and it won’t be long
April 18, 2023
April 7, 2023
Author Spotlight: Crystal Lake Publishing
For winning their March 2023 Shallow Lake flash fiction contest with bloody reality-show parody “The Cut”, Crystal Lake Publishing interviewed me for their Patreon Author Spotlight. The story is covered under the $5 subscription to their Patreon (or 30-day free trial), but the interview is free to read. (My head is really big on my computer screen at the link, but don’t let that scare you.)
They do this flash fiction contest every month, themed and unthemed, so the subscription basically gets you a flash fiction collection per month, which is pretty neat.
April 3, 2023
“Blackberry Wine”
My short story “Blackberry Wine,” about an old woman revisiting her childhood fairy friend in a blackberry patch, is in this month’s Wicked Fae Crow’s Quill. (free to read)
March 2, 2023
Dead Ends – poetry of the morbid and macabre
I can’t even be coy about the cover reveal, because I’m kind of excited (nervous, but excited) that I’m putting out this little morbid poetry collection in April.
Most of the poems consist of flash pieces and reconstructed lyrics shared through social media the last few years that are already considered published and therefore unlikely to be republished. I include a few new pieces, too, though.
“Blood Mother”
It’s release day for THE SACRAMENT, which includes one of my favorite body horror short stories “Blood Mother,” about two pregnant teens in a fertility cult. Available here: https://linktr.ee/darklitpress
The e-book is only 99c through the 10th.
