James Dorr's Blog, page 162

Poetry, Prose, Snacks Part of Writers Guild Potluck Social

Just as the summer is starting to get warm, today brought the Bloomington Writers Guild’s (cf. May 31, et al.) annual summer “Potluck Social & Open Mic,” along with the announcement that next Sunday will bring the start of the “new” season with August’s opening “First Sunday” prose reading. And so the world turns.  The snacks part of the summer potluck included rolled sandwiches, hot baked beans, two kinds of potato salad, dolmades, cake, apple slices, melon and berries, and several choices of soft drinks, of which latter my offering of cold lemonade proved an early favorite.

Then came the readings with prose — fiction and essay — as well as poetry from possibly ten or a dozen participants.  Mine in the mix was poetry (since I’ll have to have some prose to read next week, plus more for an upcoming Arts Fair reading the first weekend in September), two relatively new, or at least thus far unsold vampire poems, “The Etiquette Vampire:  How to Retain One’s Lover After that First Penetration of Fangs” and “Her First Time”; “Necropolis,” a three-line shortie concerning the relative lack of noise complaints in graveyards, recently accepted by NOTHING’S SACRED (see July 6, June 24); and a personal favorite, “On the Other Hand,” a tip of the hat to actress Fay Wray and why her romance with King Kong couldn’t last, hopefully soon to appear in GRIEVOUS ANGEL (see March 30, et al.).

Ill-Considered Expeditions, Ice Vermin Also in Homestretch

These things sometimes come in clusters don’t they, or, another anthology has been updated including a hoped for end-of-August release.  Thus came the email Thursday evening from April Moon Books’s Neil Baker noting that, with tasks completed (or at least come to stopping places) for two other books, “I can now finish off the proofing for ILL-CONSIDERED EXPEDITIONS.

“I will be sending the contracts for the anthology along with galley proofs for your perusal in the next few weeks or so — I’m aiming to get this book out by the end of August — sorry for the delay, and thanks for your patience.”

My trip in this tome is “Ice Vermin” (cf. March 10, January 13), originally published in EXTREMES 5 (Lone Wolf CD ROM, 2003; also reprinted in my collection DARKER LOVES: TALES OF MYSTERY AND REGRET), the tale of a pre-World War I trek through darkest Siberia — and, it might be mentioned, perhaps extra refreshing should we be into high 90s-plus temperatures by then (summer in these parts, at least, appearing to come late).  So here’s another to look for at the end of next month, more on which will be noted here as affairs progress.

Chilling Ghost Update — Hauntings Set to Start at Next Month End

The word is out that Flame Tree Publishing’s upcoming CHILLING GHOST SHORT STORIES anthology (see  July 6, June 21) is at the printer, along with two companion volumes, CHILLING HORROR SHORT STORIES and SCIENCE FICTION  SHORT STORIES.  The printer, in turn, is located near Venice Italy with delivery expected in the UK by mid-August, and from there to the US distributor by, hopefully, that month’s end.

My part in the potpourri is called “Victorians,” originally published in GOTHIC GHOSTS (Tor Books, 1997; also reprinted in my 2001 collection STRANGE MISTRESSES:  TALES OF WONDER AND ROMANCE), a story of architecture and awakening memories, and will rub shoulders with offerings by other current writers as well as such past giants as Willkie Collins, Washington Irving, Algeron Blackwood, and Sheridan Le Fanu.   More information, including ordering when the time comes, will be passed on as it becomes known.

At the Movies: E. A. Poe Meets Alice in Wonderland

Imagine if Edgar Allan Poe shook hands with Alice, of Wonderland fame.  That sort of describes my ultimate feeling when, last night, I took a chance watching Ken Russell’s somewhat dubious-sounding movie THE FALL OF THE LOUSE OF USHER.  Yes, that’s not a misprint, it’s a buggy interpretation “for the 21st century” of not just Poe’s “House” (which possibly more deflates than falls at the end of the picture) but almost everything else Poesque beginning with a wink of the eye to “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

Thus rock star Rod Usher is convicted of killing his wife and sent to the local insane asylum run by, if not “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” the equally cracked Dr. Calahari (played by Russell himself), assisted by buxom and oft-groped nurse ABC Smith, “whose [to quote the back-cover blurb] mind-blowing shock treatments set off a series of bizarre, nightmarish adventures.”  Other assistants, patients, relations, and/or references include “Berenice,” Valdemar (as in “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”), etc., including, in that this becomes a detective tale too, Gory the Gorilla (as borrowed from “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”).  And, Rod being a rocker, there are songs as well, or at least snippets thereof including a rap piece with overtones of “The Bells,” a rock song that quotes “The Conqueror Worm,” and most luscious of all, a rock video treatment of “Annabel Lee.”  And more!

To paraphrase one of its reviewers, THE FALL OF THE LOUSE OF USHER is at heart a series of ten-minute takes in filmmaker Russell’s back garden with his friends and neighbors, done ultra low-budget.  But also allowing him total control.  And that’s where the ALICE AND WONDERLAND aspect comes through for me, that book also being a succession of takes, one mini-adventure, one new and eccentric character met following after another, presenting a broadening but never complete, surrealistic view of a world of madness.  But madness still with a sophistication, a story behind it.

Love it or hate it, following the lead of seemingly most of the film’s reviews — I myself could have done with a bit less gratuitous phallic imagery, though in fairness there’s really not that much.  So maybe you shouldn’t show it to the kids.  But otherwise, in late 1960s parlance:  Man, what a trip!

Nine-Year Old Here and Now Wings Way from England

It came as rather a surprise, the Facebook message from Frank Roger on July 7:  “Dear James, I noticed you had a story in British magazine HERE & NOW, issue 7, back in 2006.  I had several stories in that issue, but never received a copy.  Did you, and would you have a spare copy?  If not, could you send me Xerox copies or scans of this issue’s table of contents and the pages with my stories?  Thanks in advance!”  This one took a bit of detective work — nearly ten years old?  But I finally ran it down.  It turns out I’d never received one either.

So both of us, it turns out, were detectives, both of us finding that issue 7, to be out in December 2006, was the final one that HERE AND NOW had published.  But its

Cover illustration Here & Now #7

then-editor Jenny Barber is still an active writer and even had a blog with archives from back then, such as they were, but with space for comment which Frank and I both used.  “Hi Frank, I did a little detective work but it looks like you’re ahead of me in finding the ’HERE AND NOW Archive.’  Unfortunately, I never received a copy of the magazine either, so I’ve also left Jenny Barber a message (plus a friend request on Facebook), but it’s probably a bit past bedtime in England so won’t expect to hear anything until tomorrow. Sorry.”

And, long story short, July 8th dawned, and during the course of the day Jenny emailed us both.  Physical copies were still available and, with the receipt of a mailing address, copies would be put in the mail.  And so, today, mine has arrived including the story that I had in it, “Oriental Mist,” a breezy romance concerning pheromones and Chinese cooking  — spicing up one’s marriage, as it were, and dinner as well.  Although perhaps a bit out of date in terms of some of its social mores (one might note that “Muffy’s” dress shields are a little quaint for even then), might it be time for me to find somewhere that might reprint it?

Thus is the writing life — but one final item too.  During the course of the “conversation” Frank congratulated me on my sale of “Victorians” to Flame Tree Publishing’s CHILLING GHOST SHORT STORIES (see July 6, June 21), noting that he’d sold one of his own to a companion volume, CHILLING HORROR SHORT STORIES.  So now in a few weeks perhaps there will be two books that one might consider buying.

And also, a big “thanks” to Jenny Barber!

French Zombie Violence for Bastille Day Fun — A Rerun of <>

For Bastille Day this year, combined with the final day of the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona Spain (cf July 7) — as well as the NASA New Horizon space probe’s flyby of Pluto* — herewith a rerun of a review originally posted on June 14 2011 of the excellent (in my opinion) French zombie film LA HORDE.  So settle back with a nice glass of Médoc, or other red beverage of choice, and enjoy from the past:

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But Speaking of Zombies — and French Ones to Boot

I had started watching Elvira on TV Sunday hosting the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, but not quite in the right mood for her wisecracks, switched to a DVD of THE HORDE (a.k.a. LA HORDE), a very violent — and very well done — French zombie film which had just arrived from Amazon UK maybe the day before (since it was cheaper in England even with the postage, even getting it new, and I don’t have any problem with PAL format). Ironically, since I usually watch these in the original language with subtitles, the British disk has an English language dub as well, while I understand the US equivalent doesn’t.  One thing about The Horde also though (and I think it’s picked up in some of the reviews) is that the use of sound is extremely well done, and the “background noise” becomes very important by the end.

The main objection some critiques have is that none of the characters are particularly likeable:  It involves French police having to join with gang bangers to fight their way through a zombie, um, horde — but the cops are corrupt bastards who’d originally attacked the crooks in an abandoned high rise because the crooks had previously killed one of their fellow cops (and who, despite his being married, the sole policewoman member of our merry band had been sleeping with — but, well, it is French).  There are also poor people still living in the building including a particularly politically incorrect (he refers to the zombies as “Chinks” throughout) elderly veteran of Dien Bien Phu (the engagement after which Charles de Gaulle reportedly warned President Eisenhower that the US ought not get involved in Viet Nam — Eisenhower didn’t listen), two Nigerian crooks who had apparently had their own violent past in Africa, the still-resident apartment security man who has a weapons collection stashed in his office, and one particularly over the top battle between the lead policeman and “La Horde” in the building’s underground parking garage which, yes, is probably not 100 percent believable but, still, Wow!   Also, for those who pick sides between slow zombies and fast zombies, these guys are FAST — and, re. the unlikeable characters rap, yes, guilty as charged, except at the same time they’re delightfully quirky.

Also the film is quite nihilistic (speaking of  THE NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, original version).

I would compare THE HORDE favorably with the Spanish film [REC], for those who’ve seen that one.  Similarly, the French

Pluto as seen from the New Horizons probe, July 11 2015

film starts off a little bit slow but once in gear, and not very far into it at all (though I understand there is a version with about 8 minutes more set up at the beginning, but only available in Germany — it is, however, included in “Deleted Scenes” in the Extras), it doesn’t let up for a moment.

This will not be everyone’s kind of film, but if you should feel the urge to watch an ultra violent zombie film, THE HORDE would be a good pick.  And don’t miss what one critique called the “ultimate cat fight” between our policewoman friend and a female zombie who tries to jump her in an apartment kitchen (e.g., use of a refrigerator as a weapon).

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*So, okay, what does this have to do with zombies?  Well, maybe Pluto’s ambiguous “undead” planetary status, or else perhaps simply that it’s cool, for more on which check here and, for a special downloadable NASA app, here.

Blurring the Line, The Good Work On Track for September/October Unveiling

Today’s email brought an update from Cohesion Press for BLURRING THE LINE (cf. March 23, February 7), the Australian anthology that asks the question:  “Do you really know what’s real and what isn’t?”  According to Editor Marty Young, “[r]eal life kind of got in the way for a few months,” but now it’s on schedule for publication September or October this year.  And, as another nod to real life, the book will be dedicated to recently passed on, on July 11,  author and four-time Stoker Award® winner Tom Piccirilli, “who contributed with a pretty hard hitting story that’s incredibly close to home.”  Also the table of contents should be finalized soon, and will be announced here as soon as I know it.

My part here is called “The Good Work,” a treatise on witchcraft in 1850s London.  Or is that witch-hunting?  And, along with a call for updated author bios and pictures, there will also be a limited hardcover edition signed by the authors, more on which will be announced as well as details become known.

The Viola Organista of Leonardo Da Vinci in Concert, as Constructed and Played by Pianist Slawomir Zubrzycki

This may seem a bit off the beaten track, but as a writer I’m interested in other expressions of art, and I came across this courtesy of Openculture.com via LinkedIn, the world premiere performance, on November 20 2013, of an instrument invented by and built from plans by Leonardo di Vinci.  Yes, that Leonardo da Vinci.  To quote from Openculture’s description:  “As the archetypal example of the polymathic, intellectually omnivorous ‘Renaissance man,’ [da Vinci] not only attained mastery of a wide range of disciplines, but did his most impressive work in the spaces between them. Given the voluminousness of his output (not to mention the technical limitations of fifteenth-century Europe), many of his multiple domain-spanning ideas and inventions never became a reality during his lifetime. However, just this year, 494 years after Leonardo’s death, we now have the chance to see, and more importantly hear, one of them: the viola organista, an elaborate musical instrument that had previously only existed in his notebooks.”  The piece continues, in part itself quoting builder and player, Polish concert pianist Slawomir Zubrzycki, “'[t]his instrument has the characteristics of three we know:  the harpsichord, the organ and the viola da gamba,’ and playing it, which involves hitting keys connected to ‘spinning wheels wrapped in horse-tail hair,’ and turning those wheels by pumping a pedal below the keyboard, produces exciting unusual waves of cello-like sounds.”  To read more for possible Renaissance/steampunk/alternate history inspiration, but also simply to hear for oneself the 10 1/2 minute premiere performance, one need but plunk here.

Pun Book of Horror Published in England

Horror is always game for a life; no bone is left unturned, no body ignored in the haunt for a good joke.  In the pages that follow, punishments are meted out in inventive fashion, a his-and-hearse mix of stories utterly in tomb with each other.  Language, it seems, is truly the Devil’s plaything, and why should he have all the good jokes?  After all, are we not all entitled to carrion laughing?  In the end, dying is awfully good at raising the spirits and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Thus another book from the UK and this one a long, long time in coming, but late Monday the word came from Editor Theresa Derwin that TERROR TREE PUN BOOK OF HORROR (cf. January 27 2015, March 8 2014, et probably al.) has been published in print, with an ebook version to go live, hopefully, by the end of July.  Other changes are also afoot, with Teresa stepping back somewhat from publishing, though not entirely, including Steve Shaw taking over the ownership of Knight Watch Press.

But getting back to the book at hand, my tale is one of zombies and the running of the bulls at Pamplona, Spain,* titled “Olé Bubba and the Forty Steves” and originally published in 2005 in Yard Dog Press’s INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF BUBBAS.  For more, check out its entry on Amazon (including the opening quote, above) by clicking here.

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*In one of those kinds of coincidences that couldn’t possibly be planned, Monday was also the opening of this year’s Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, with this morning marking the beginning of the eight days of “Running of the Bulls” ending July 14.  For those good with Spanish, to get more from the (as it were) horse’s mouth, check here.

Two Vamps and City of Dead, Chilling Ghost Stories Proceed Apace

Holiday fireworks having ended (or at least so hopes the cave cat Wednesday, though to her credit she bore up well over the weekend noise), the mundane bits of the writing business begin for July.  Thus lateish Sunday I received and sent back the contract from Jack of No Trades Productions for three poems to be published in NOTHING’S SACRED VOL. 3 (see June 24).  The poems in question include two on vampires, “The Vampire’s Excuse” and “The Vampiress Reflects,” and a “horrorku” concerning graveyards, “Necropolis.”

And then today, Monday, an email came from Flame Tree Publishing Editor Gillian Whitaker noting that “[w]e’re just finalizing the author biographies” and requesting a confirmation of where and when my story to be in CHILLING GHOST SHORT STORIES (see June 21) was first published.  The story in this case is “Victorians,” originally in the anthology GOTHIC GHOSTS from Tor Books in 1997.

If everything else continues on time, CHILLING GHOST SHORT STORIES should be out in the UK on August 15, while NOTHING’S SACRED is scheduled for an October release.