James Dorr's Blog, page 172

Another Girl Walks Home at Night: Flightless Rats, a Lagniappe

Speaking of vampires, today���s the day my short-short, ���Flightless Rats��� (see November 30, 26), has gone up on T. GENE DAVIS���S SPECULATIVE BLOG.�� ���Flightless Rats��� tells of a brief encounter with the vampiress Aim��e (who we may recall from ���Casket Girls,��� cf. April 17, et al.) about a century after her original 1728 arrival in New Orleans, who, finding herself temporarily between husbands, has decided to experiment with dating.

T. GENE DAVIS���S SPECULATIVE BLOG, to quote from its blurb, ���releases a family-friendly speculative story every Monday, mostly by guest authors.����� Rather like DAILY SCIENCE FICTION, publisher of the original ���Casket Girls,��� it can be subscribed to for free and offers generally high quality fiction, also usually rather short.�� It can be reached by pressing here to read ���Flightless Rats,��� as well as for information on signing up for those who wish to.

And yes, Aim��e does walk home alone, at least on this night.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

Yes she does — and as one reviewer has had it, it���s everyone else in this semi-deserted Iranian town ���Bad City��� that should be scared.�� And, yes, she drinks blood, but then drug use prevails in this self-described ���first Iranian vampire Western��� by director/writer Ana Lily Amirpour.�� There���s Saeed the pimp and his snort, for instance, the pill that the rich girl forces on protagonist Arash at the costume party he���s bartending dressed as Dracula — and, staggering home and losing his way after, still with his ���vampire��� cape and teeth, guess who he will meet — and Arash���s father Hossein with his needles, not to mention successions of homeless men passed out in alleys.�� Thus, as in ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (cf. July 27, June 26) where the vampires complain so much blood is ���polluted,��� it seems here that everything our unnamed girl drinks will have some kind of spark that���s not just hemoglobin.

She doesn���t mind though, she���s made of tougher stuff.�� Unlike LOVERS where the good unlife is upset by the plebeian habits of Eve���s little sister Ava, in GIRL virtually everyone is working class.�� Also like LOVERS, A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT is beautifully filmed — although in a working-class black and white — and with wonderful music.�� And, also like LOVERS, the actual story is almost dwarfed by the details around it, in this case ���Boy meets girl and, despite evidence that when she���d said she has done bad things she really meant it, decides to keep her,��� ending the film by literally driving off together into the post-sunset* along with the evidentiary cat.�� Thus, perhaps, the movie���s theme, as the prostitute Atti tells The Girl during their first (non-sanguinary) meeting, ���Only rich people and idiots think things can change��� — but when Arash tells his father Hossein that he���d met a girl the previous night, but he neither knows her name nor her family, pop replies telling him that he���s an idiot.

I probably shouldn���t be, but I���m a little bit reminded of the Elina L��wensohn movie NADJA (1994), perhaps simply because that���s an art film too that���s in black and white, in this case based somewhat on 1936���s DRACULA���S DAUGHTER.�� But I���ve only finished watching A GIRL two hours ago at the IU Cinema, as this is written, so what do I know?�� To quote from their blurb, ���Ana Lily Amirpour���s debut is a joyful mash-up of influences that span spaghetti westerns, graphic novels, horror films, and the Iranian New Wave.�� Amped by a mix of Iranian rock, techno and Ennio Morricone-inspired riffs, its airy, black-and-white aesthetic and artfully paced scenes combine the simmering tension of Sergio Leone and surrealism of David Lynch.�� In Persian language with English subtitles.���

I would just add it���s a different kind of vampire film (watch for the repeated scenes of oil pumps pumping — also contrast the Girl���s demure, almost meek appearance with her show of teeth when she���s on the attack), and I recommend it!

 

*It would be almost too perfect if Arash���s sporty American car was a Ford Mustang, but I believe it���s actually a first generation (1955-57) Thunderbird.

Big Pulp Zombiefest, Cold, Lifeless Fingers on Schedule

We���ve had a few posts about delayed publications, but here���s one that seems to be right on schedule according to Editor Bill Olver���s e-note earlier this week:�� ���At your convenience, could you send a current author’s bio for the zombie collection?�� We plan to send story proofs by the end of the month, so be on the lookout for more email from us as we get closer to publication!���

The publisher in question is Big Pulp which had put the call out for a zombie-themed collection just about a year ago, subsequently accepting a story from me called ���Cold, Lifeless Fingers��� (cf. March 8).�� ���We love the undead,��� the guidelines had said, ���but the term ���zombie��� can be interpreted a lot of ways.�� Successful subs will look outside the box.����� So my story, a reprint originally published in GC MAGAZINE for Halloween 1999, went back to zombiedom���s Haitian roots with an until-recently resident of Port-au-Prince finding himself in a gated community in the US confronting a lawn sign:�� Anyone Who Wants to Take My Gun will have to Pry It from My Cold, Lifeless Fingers.

If you were a zombie, what would you do?

In Editor Olver���s case, he accepted it, noting that ���[w]e received enough good submissions this time to fill two books,��� and added that mine would be in the second one, scheduled for April 2015.�� Then two more things:�� the first volume, titled BLACK CHAOS:�� TALES OF THE ZOMBIE, apparently came out at its promised time of June 2014 according to Amazon, while further exploration of the internet found, on a blog entry by artist Ken Knudsen, what may be the cover of the second.

 

Monk Punk/Shadow of Unknown is Here; First 2015 Writing $$ Received

The books are out!�� After some past delays, the word came via Facebook from editor Aaron French:�� ���Pleased to officially announce the release of MONK PUNK and THE SHADOW OF THE UNKNOWN in OMINBUS edition [cf. January 2, et al.] from Hazardous Press!�� 504 pages of Lovecraftian goodness!�� Featuring all of the original stories as well as 11 that are brand new to this edition, each centered around the theme of monks and/or the surreal aspect of the unknown in weird fiction.*�� Available in paperback and on Kindle. Stories from Gary A. Braunbeck, Stephen Mark Rainey, Richard Gavin, Willie Meikle, John R. Fultz, Joshua M. Reynolds, Gene O’Neill, James Dorr, Erik T. Johnson, Michael Bailey, Mike Lester, Glynn Owen Barrass, David West, Adrian Chamberlin, Jay Wilburn, K Trap Jones, PS Gifford, RB Payne, John Claude Smith, and much more!����� Available from Amazon in both print and Kindle editions and Amazon UK, more info can be found by pressing here, here, or here.

Then moving on to a different publisher, in today���s mailbox the year���s first mammoth payment has appeared — ah, the riches, the riches! — a royalty check for $2.56.�� So maybe more like a very small mammoth, one that local cave cat Wednesday might mistake for a mouse, but it���s the principle (and other payments had been received from various publishers at the tail end of December, so it all adds up to at least the price of a reasonably loaded pizza**).�� And it is nice that, even if only a few people buy a particular book in a particular quarter- or half-year, it does add up.�� Readers tell other readers.�� Books get lent.�� More stories and poems get sold and the word gets out so, even if for most of us it doesn���t mean we’re quitting our day jobs, it does seem to me to be worth the effort!

 

*Or, as Amazon adds, ���In the tradition of Steampunk, Cyberpunk, and Splatterpunk comes this new sub-strain of speculative fiction — MONK PUNK.�� Twenty-three hard-hitting Monkpunk tales of fantasy, science fiction, and Lovecraftian horror.�� Madness and the Mythos, the Surreal and the Sinister.�� THE SHADOW OF THE UNKNOWN collects twenty-nine tales of horror inspired by H. P. Lovecraft and the element of the unknown in supernatural fiction.�� Think your sanity can withstand the assault?���

 

**Or about one-third of a large bag of Cave Cat Chow.

1st Sunday Readings Resume; Planning Ahead for Halloween 2015

The Bloomington Writer���s Guild First Sunday Prose Readings (cf. December 8, et al.) began its 2015 season under new coordinator Joan Hawkins, with its first scheduled reading by Gwenette Gaddis, currently working on two novels, with a portrait of life in a small Southern town circa 1979.�� As was pointed out in her introduction, when not writing she also bakes brownies, a pan of which were available on the refreshment table.�� Then she was followed by Writers Guild veteran Eric Rensberger who, while primarily a poet, read from essays he has on his website as part of a continuing poetry series under the title ACCOUNT OF MY DAYS.

One new feature for this month (and to be repeated next month as well) was that in addition to the normal 3-minute open mike readings to close the session, a few ���walk-ons��� were to be allowed extra time, up to 10 to 12 minutes.�� Mine was last among seven readings at varying lengths, generally alternating from long to short and vice versa, following my last month���s Christmas tale with one for New Years, ���Appointment in Time,��� originally published in Untreed Reads���s YEAR���S END:�� 14 TALES OF HOLIDAY HORROR anthology (cf. December 30, et al.).�� This was one of the longer ones.

More information on the First Sunday series as well as the Writers Guild in general can be found here.

Then for those of us who like to make our Halloween sartorial plans early, DREAD CENTRAL has come to the rescue via HALLOWEEN FOREVERMORE (see December 3, September 30, et al.) with ���39 Vintage Halloween Costumes that Define Creepy.����� And yes, they do, most of them anyway, as you can see by pressing here.

Airships & Automatons Cleared for Takeoff?

Speaking of “long delayed” anthologies (as we have just below) let us now take a trip in the wayback machine to the year 2012, in the month of September.  Here we find news of such things as a story, ”Avoid Seeing a Mouse,” to be published in the anthology ZOMBIE JESUS AND OTHER TRUE STORIES as edited by one Max Booth III; local group Upstart Poets continues to hold monthly readings; a poem called “California Vamp” has been selected for inclusion in the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s annual DWARF STARS anthology; DAILY SCIENCE FICTION’s first-year print collection has just been received; and then this item from September 4th:

But what about new work?  Well, yesterday’s walkthrough of mounting up email revealed a quick and at first slightly cryptic, more probably from my still starry-eyed condition from Worldcon than any real failing in its wording, message from Chuck Zaglanis . . . the import [of which] is that a hitherto unpublished story, “Raising the Dead,” has been accepted for the upcoming anthology AIRSHIPS & AUTOMATONS.  “We seek steampunk stories featuring strong characters, exciting plotlines, and automatons and/or airships.  . . .  Dystopian, humorous, pulp, Lovecraftian, upbeat or dark — all have a place here.  Please don’t feel constrained to write in a Victorian setting.  It’s steampunk, push the boundaries.  We’re looking for that certain flavor of writing that’s hard to explain, but obvious when it’s present.”   

“Raising the Dead” is at heart a love story with curators, ghouls, Necromancers, graves . . . and an airship.  It’s one of my “Tombs” stories set on a far-future dying Earth and, as I noted in my cover letter, “dystopic but with a sort of transcendent hope.”

I went on to say that “[a]s I understand it, the stories in AIRSHIPS & AUTOMATONS will follow a chronological order, beginning with one set in ancient Greece, and progressing to . . . maybe the world of the Tombs?  In other words, as in the guidelines quoted in part above, to take it away from the run of the mill of exclusively Victorian settings and add, I think, an extra level of novelty and excitement.”

And then it disappeared.  As an airship drifting behind a cloud, the anthology . . . was gone!

And so it goes.

Two long years passed, even rumors fading away like wisps of mist before an autumn dawn. . . .

But then — actually on December 30 but due to a hiatus at this end not opened until January 2 — came an email from Editor Zaglanis with a contract attached!  With it was a request to copy, sign, and return two copies “so I can cut you a check.  Feel free to revise your bio if you wish.  Thank you for your patience and the wonderful story.”

So it is back — or at least one hopes.  More will be reported here as it is revealed.  For now at least, the contracts went into the mail this morning; an updated bio was emailed last night (a major addition:  that the collection THE TEARS OF ISIS, then awaiting a hoped for May publication, has since become a 2014 Bram Stoker Award(R) nominee); and, if all goes well, I think AIRSHIPS & AUTOMATONS may become a major addition to the steampunk genre — and one that will have been worth the wait!

Insidious Assassins ToC Finalized; ���Omnibus Antho��� Release Date 0n 6th

Two more quick notes to begin the new year, the first from Editor Weldon Burge that Smart Rhino Publications���s anthology INSIDIOUS ASSASSINS (see November 12, September 9) is expected to be out later this month ���barring any problems.����� With it has come the latest, and final, table of contents with mine, ���The Labyrinth,��� ninth from the end.�� To wit:

Introduction: The Allure of the Insidious — Weldon Burge

Those Rockports Won’t Get You Into Heaven — Jack Ketchum

Dead Bill — Shaun Meeks

Worse Ways — Meghan Arcuri-Moran

No One of Consequence — Christine Morgan

And the Hits Just Keep On Comin’ — Doug Rinaldi

The Night Gordon Was Set Free — Billie Sue Mosiman

Almost Everybody Wins — Lisa Mannetti

Friends From Way Back — Dennis Lawson

The Repo Girl — Patrick Derrickson

Letter for You — Carson Buckingham

The Rock — Joseph Badal

The Handmaiden’s Touch — Doug Blakeslee

The Bitter and the Sweet — DB Corey

Influence — Martin Marty Zeigler

Agnus Dei — Jezzy Wolfe

Labyrinth — James Dorr

Blenders — Greg Smith

One of Us — Austin S. Camacho

The Absinthe Assassin — Joanne M Reinbold

Slay It Forward — Adrian Ludens

Tantse So Smert’Yu — Ernestus Jiminy Chald

What the Blender Saw — L.L. Soares

Code Name Trine — Martin Rose

Bestsellers Guaranteed — Joe Lansdale

Then from Aaron J. French, the long-delayed ���omnibus��� combined anthology MONK PUNK & THE SHADOW OF THE UNKNOWN (cf. August 21) is finally due for release in print and Kindle this Tuesday, January 6th, from Hazardous Press.�� ���I’m sorry this has taken so long.�� We had some formatting issues with the length (the book is over 500 pages!), which took a long time to work out, and then the cover art needed to be reworked. . . .����� My offering in this one is from the SHADOW OF THE UNKNOWN side, titled ���The Festering,��� and has to do with problems with plumbing.

Very big problems.

Insidious Assassins ToC Finalized; “Omnibus Antho” Release Date 0n 6th

Two more quick notes to begin the new year, the first from Editor Weldon Burge that Smart Rhino Publications’s anthology INSIDIOUS ASSASSINS (see November 12, September 9) is expected to be out later this month “barring any problems.”  With it has come the latest, and final, table of contents with mine, “The Labyrinth,” ninth from the end.  To wit:

Introduction: The Allure of the Insidious — Weldon Burge

Those Rockports Won’t Get You Into Heaven — Jack Ketchum

Dead Bill — Shaun Meeks

Worse Ways — Meghan Arcuri-Moran

No One of Consequence — Christine Morgan

And the Hits Just Keep On Comin’ — Doug Rinaldi

The Night Gordon Was Set Free — Billie Sue Mosiman

Almost Everybody Wins — Lisa Mannetti

Friends From Way Back — Dennis Lawson

The Repo Girl — Patrick Derrickson

Letter for You — Carson Buckingham

The Rock — Joseph Badal

The Handmaiden’s Touch — Doug Blakeslee

The Bitter and the Sweet — DB Corey

Influence — Martin Marty Zeigler

Agnus Dei — Jezzy Wolfe

Labyrinth — James Dorr

Blenders — Greg Smith

One of Us — Austin S. Camacho

The Absinthe Assassin — Joanne M Reinbold

Slay It Forward — Adrian Ludens

Tantse So Smert’Yu — Ernestus Jiminy Chald

What the Blender Saw — L.L. Soares

Code Name Trine — Martin Rose

Bestsellers Guaranteed — Joe Lansdale

Then from Aaron J. French, the long-delayed “omnibus” combined anthology MONK PUNK & THE SHADOW OF THE UNKNOWN (cf. August 21) is finally due for release in print and Kindle this Tuesday, January 6th, from Hazardous Press.  “I’m sorry this has taken so long.  We had some formatting issues with the length (the book is over 500 pages!), which took a long time to work out, and then the cover art needed to be reworked. . . .“  My offering in this one is from the SHADOW OF THE UNKNOWN side, titled “The Festering,” and has to do with problems with plumbing.

Very big problems.

First Story Written for 2015; Dead Lines Contract Returned

Happy New Year to all!  Mine has started off well, albeit with a bit of queasiness when I first woke up this morning.  Not a hangover, mind you, but a reminder that eggnog counts for even the mildly lactose intolerant.  Still, it seemed a good idea at the time. . . .

Parties are parties even though I hosted this one, with the real payment to come as I “re-mess” the house, putting all my stuff back where it belongs, cluttered about me for convenient use, after having boxed it and hidden it away to make room for last night’s guests.

Arnold Böcklin, circa 1878

But first today I wrote a story, the first of the new year.  It is only a short one, just 900 words, based on Greek mythology (as it translates to more modern times) called “Medusa Steps Out.”  But if nothing else, it gives me something for my writers group meeting later this month.

Also concerning stories not much over 1000 words, my last official writing act of the year just past was two days ago, December 30, with the receipt, agreement, and sending back the contract for “Dead Lines” (see December 23) to DAILY SCIENCE FICTION, along with a bio-note and brief description of how the story came about.  You too will be able to read this when “Dead Lines” is published, but that probably won’t come for several months so, for now, let me just say a lot of it goes back to Edgar Allan Poe.

For New Year’s Eve Reading Treats: 14 Tales of Holiday Horror Still on Discount

This just came in from Untreed Reads Publishing for those searching for last-minute reading treats while celebrating the Old Year’s end — and leading off with my own short steampunk/horror story “Appointment in Time”:

“The countdown has begun, but the only thing striking at midnight will be terror. . .

“New Year’s Eve isn’t all champagne and confetti.  For some, it’s filled with regrets, the changing of the day dragging them kicking and screaming into a year for which they aren’t prepared.  This year, some people will be screaming, but they may not make it to the New Year at all.

“Join 14 horror authors as they reveal the dark side of our end-of-year celebrations.  This anthology of a holiday gone horrifyingly wrong contains stories by James S. Dorr, Richard Godwin, Nicky Peacock, John Stewart Wynne, Steve Shrott, Leah Givens, George Seaton, Kathryn Ohnaka, Jeremy K. Tyler, Betsy Miller, Byron Barton, Steve Bartholomew, Ali Maloney and Foxglove Lee.”

So, sure, you’ve seen all the hype before, but here’s a chance to get YEAR’S END:  14 TALES OF HOLIDAY HORROR for yourself and see what the fuss is all about.  Especially now at a very deep discount, for instant download at just $2.99, down from an original price of $5.99.

Want to give it a try?  Just press here (and, yes, this has been a brazen commercial, but it is a bargain at this sale price).