James Dorr's Blog, page 200

Bleed Cancer Support Anthology Up on Kindle

Just a short note, and a day or two late at that.  BLEED (see August 2, July 8, et al.), including my short story, “King Rat”, is now available for Kindle users at Amazon. The paperback edition will follow later this month from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing.  A list of all authors and stories (though not in final contents order) has also appeared below on July 13, featuring such lights as as Bentley Little, Rick Hautala, Joe McKinney, Mort Castle, Benjamin Kane Ethridge, Tim Waggoner, Gene O’Neill, and William F. Nolan.  In all, there are 45 stories, poems, and essays and, according to reviewer Paula Limbaugh in HORROR NOVEL REVIEWS (cf. August 27) “[a]ll are fantastic reads, none are disappointing.”

But wait, there’s more:  proceeds from the sale of BLEED will be donated to the National Children’s Cancer Society.  So there may be something to say for waiting for the presumably more pricey print edition (though there’s nothing wrong with buying them both!).  For those who can’t wait, however, or just for more information on it, the Kindle edition can be reached by pressing here.

From Character to Collection: Author Spotlight Illuminates “Tears”; Dark Bits Flash Anthology Up on Smashwords

And now for something a little different.  It’s not an interview, not exactly, but UK blogger Morgen Bailey’s AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT (cf. August 28) is up today, and it’s shining on me.  The way it all works is that I was requested to supply a biography — which in this case I also used to give a précis of THE TEARS OF ISIS — and follow it up with up to a thousand words of my own thoughts on writing or a writing related topic.  In both cases, some of what’s there is stuff I’ve talked about before, in various interviews.  I’m not proud — if the thoughts are mine, I’m happy to self-plagiarize.  But in every case if I follow an idea a second time, I’m able to consolidate parts and expand on others, not quite to produce a manifesto but going perhaps somewhat in that direction.  What are my thoughts now?

So, what indeed are they?  Starting from basics, they have to do with what stories are made from (at least in terms of my current opinion), but this time to continue beyond the completion of “story,” to look at how stories might then be combined to form a collection  — and so, again, to THE TEARS OF ISIS as a case in point.

But see for yourself by pressing here.

Meanwhile in other news Jacob Haddon of Apokrupha LLC has announced that DARK BITS (cf. August 10, June 30, et al.)  has just been published.  To quote the blurb, “a collection of 52+1 horror flash fiction stories.  Short, but not sweet, they move quick to grab you. Got a minute?  Go ahead, try one.”  And, as quick as that, the electronic version went up on Smashwords last night, for which one can press here, with a Kindle version expected today and Kobo, Nook, and iBooks to appear over the next week.  And, as for the print version, that should be out in about a week also.

My own part in this is “The Third Prisoner,” a tale of intrigue and executions and . . . maybe zombies?  With 53 stories (they’d originally planned for 52, for one per week, but apparently found a last minute extra they couldn’t resist) there’d better be zombies somewhere in the bunch.  And, if the link to Smashwords, above, is not your cup of tea, the DARK BITS site with links to all vendors as soon as they’re live can be found right here.

 

Half Hour of Vampires at Local Arts Fair; Really Weird Poems, a.k.a. Radical Dislocations in Print

Starting cloudy but moving to sunny, temperature in the mid-to-high 80s (not quite the 91 degrees the Weather Channel had predicted before), today was the second day of the local Arts Fair with, at 3 p.m., my “A Half Hour of Vampires:  Poetry and Prose” reading (cf. August 8) on “The Spoken Word Stage.”  This was a section run by the Bloomington Writers Guild which included various local poets and short story writers, etc., an information table, and a very popular “Poems Written to Order” booth where patrons can suggest a topic or a word or a phrase and, in exchange for a donation, receive a typed copy (on a genuine manual typewriter) of a poem written especially for them.  That last is not something I’ve volunteered for — my on-the-spot poems, when I can even do them, are generally snarky — but I ended up a minor hero of sorts when, perhaps two hours before my reading, the on-the-spot poets discovered they were almost out of paper.  Where to get some (talk about popular! — but the gift shop first suggested turned out not to carry stationery)?  And it was I who thought of a nearby art supply store that, by happy coincidence, had pocket sketch books with tear-out pages of the appropriate weight and size required.

It would be nice to say my reading engendered equal joy, but the fact is “vampire poetry and prose,” as it was billed, is perhaps a bit on the esoteric side for your average community arts fair crowd.  However, though the audience was small, it was appreciated by those who came to hear (and went over well too on the mechanical side of things, apart from occasional pauses for low-flying planes overhead).

Then in another bit of good news, Chupa Cabra House announced late last night that RADICAL DISLOCATIONS, a.k.a. REALLY WEIRD POEMS (see July 28, 17), has been released in print just in time for it to count officially as an August publication.  At 150 pages with work by twenty of “the best new poets,” if can be ordered for “just 9 bucks” now via the publisher by pressing here.  And in a short while it should be available on Amazon and other sites, but at a no-longer-discounted $10.00.

I should add though that, blurbs aside, as genre poets go I’m not really that new,  but my offerings in this one, “Last Rides,” “Book Fair Buzz Is Not Contained Between Two Covers,” and “Why He Ate His Hat,” may represent a more absurd, playful side of my work than one sees that often.

Medusa in the Rear View Mirror — A Great Review Posted on Amazon for The Tears of Isis; Untreed Reads Publishing Announces 4-Day Labor Day Weekend Sale

Last night a really nice review of THE TEARS OF ISIS appeared on Amazon stating that, among other things, “It flows so well that you may not immediately see the overall picture that [has been] knit so well together.”  And although the “stories range in length and genre,” the darkness overall is also noted.  So be forewarned (or, I never said I wasn’t a horror writer), but if “dark” is your thing, although some stories may be darker than others, you might consider giving the collection a try.  Just click on its picture in the center column for more information including ordering.

It has not always been that everyone has loved THE TEARS OF ISIS (see, e.g.,  June 1).  Chacun à son goût, eh?  But if you should read it or have already and found it worth while, you might also think about writing your own review.  The info behind the book’s picture in the center column also includes, for those who scroll down almost to the bottom, an email address reviewers can use to ask for a free electronic edition.  And any honest review (though preferably good, to be sure ) would be much appreciated.

And lest one wonder what “Medusa in the rear view mirror” has to do with a nice review of THE TEARS OF ISIS, press here to see the review for yourself.  

Also Untreed Reads Publishing has announced that “all Untreed Reads titles will be on sale from Friday-Monday in The Untreed Reads Store at a discount of 40% off. No special coupon codes will be needed. The discount will be taken during the checkout process.”  They also note that by buying directly from them, “people get PDF, EPUB and Kindle formats for the same price as buying just one format from any other vendor.”  And while THE TEARS OF ISIS is published by Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing and, hence, is not a part of this sale, you can take advantage of Untreed Reads’s offer by checking out any or all of PEDS, I’M DREAMING OF. . ., and VANITAS, all of which are displayed to the right in the center column.  And, while you’re there, you also might look at Untreed Reads’s 2012 New Year’s anthology YEAR’S END:  14 TALES OF HOLIDAY HORROR with its lead story, “Appointment in Time,” written by . . . me.

“Author Spotlight” Scheduled for Day After Labor Day, September 3rd

These are exciting times for  THE TEARS OF ISIS fans, with a not-quite-interview but “Author Spotlight” on me scheduled to start the fall season off the day after Labor Day, Tuesday, September 3.  Hosting this will be Morgen Bailey who long-time followers of this blog may recall interviewed me more than two years  back in 2011 (see specifically July 2 2011, with a follow up June 1 2012).  This was on the eve of publication for my poetry book VAMPS (A RETROSPECTIVE) and time has, of course, since passed.  So the “spotlight” this time will be largely focused on my latest book, THE TEARS OF ISIS, that came out this May.

See you all Tuesday?

It May Not Mention My Story, but Bleed is on Horror Novel Reviews; After Death Anthology Also Reviewed by Shock Totem

And it’s not really a novel either, but it is about a specific horror, that of cancer.  “I need stories; good stories” the original call read.  “Not just good stories, but great stories to help this anthology sell and make the profits to help those kids in need.  I am looking for allegorical horror stories where the monster represents cancer.  And while this is a book to help children, the stories do not need to be young adult.”  The book in question, Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing’s charity anthology BLEED (cf. July 13, 8) with profits to go to The Children’s Cancer Society, and with my story “King Rat” in it (originally published in GOTHIC.NET, March 2002), about a politico-economic system itself gone cancerous.

This pre-publication review of BLEED on HORROR NOVEL REVIEWS doesn’t exactly mention my story, but it does single out a few others and adds that everything in the book is worth while.  To see for yourself you need just press here.  And then in September BLEED should be out itself, with an opportunity then to read “King Rat,” not to mention the rest of its contents, and see for yourself.

Then, already published, the Dark Moon Books anthology AFTER DEATH (cf. April 17, 3, et al.) was reviewed on Friday by SHOCK TOTEM with my piece in this one, “Mall Rats,” one of the ones specifically commented on.  To read about it and its companion stories, press here.

The Tears of Isis: The Publisher’s Website

I’ve made a small change to the ol’ bloggie today, mainly that clicking on the picture to the right of THE TEARS OF ISIS brings you to a different publisher’s website for the collection, one perhaps a bit more informative in terms of the individual stories.  Part of this is self serving (only part??!? ) in that awards season for 2013 publications is getting underway and More Information is Good Information, whether one’s interested in such things or just wants to know a bit more about the book.  So click away or, hey, I’ve quoted it all just below as well:  .   

“What is art?  To a sculptor it may be the formation of beauty from stone, or some other material; to a writer the forming of words into poetry or prose.  The creation or retelling of myths and wonders, bringing to them a new understanding – but beauty as well.  To the Elizabethan poet Sir Philip Sidney, in his DEFENCE OF POESY, ‘lifted up with the vigor of his own invention, [the poet -- or, indeed, the artist in general] doth grow, in effect, into another nature, in making things either better than nature bringeth forth, or, quite anew, forms such as never were in nature, as the heroes, demi-gods, cyclops, chimeras, furies, and such like.’  And so it may be proper that the book we have here, THE TEARS OF ISIS, begins with a poem about a sculptor, a modern Medusa, and concludes with the title story of another sculptor who travels a continent for inspiration, in search of the goddess, ‘the Weeping Isis,’ and ends with discovery of her own self.

“But THE TEARS OF ISIS, the book, is a journey too, encompassing, yes, ‘forms such as never were in nature,’ as not just ‘La Méduse,’ but also a man’s soul absorbed by an octopus, vampires both physical and metaphorical, music and retellings of Cinderella, an Ancient World caper involving the Golden Fleece of legend,  a far-future recasting of Sleeping Beauty — one of three stories in THE TEARS OF ISIS set in the author’s world of the ‘Tombs,’ another ‘Tombs’ tale of the origin of ghouls, cockroaches spawned by war, insects by UFOs, Lovecraftian monsters called forth by candles, a woman who takes in a rat as a pet, the ‘death planet’ Saturn and women who buy birds, the life-cycle of dragons, another ‘Tombs’ story of love and a zombie-like form of revenge, and at last to Isis – her search to create but destroying as well, as is part of her nature, and back full circle to sculptress Medusa who ‘spoke to her hair at times’ and ‘in her dreams . . . her hair hissed its/ answers.’

“Are these tales, then, her doing, the fever dreams of one who both creates and dismantles, who transmutes life itself into stone?  And are Medusa and Isis the same, the goddess who, with her consort Osiris, rules over death and life at the same time, taking the form of both nurturing mother and flesh-eating vulture?

“It is for the reader to decide.”

Well, that’s most of what you’ll find.  There’s ordering information and links as well, of course, but one thing more.  If, on Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing’s site, you should scroll down past all the above information (the matter to the right on the site) you’ll come to a publisher’s e-address which, if you’re a reviewer or otherwise contemplate giving THE TEARS OF ISIS a review or recommendation — reviews are good, especially on Amazon and Barnes & Noble! — you can ask publisher/editor Max Booth III for a courtesy electronic copy in a choice of epub, mobi, or pdf versions.  Details, such as they are, are on the site.  

Prospective Journal and Sasquatch: Another Issue, Another Poem

You recall PROSPECTIVE:  A JOURNAL OF SPECULATION (cf. July  11, et al.), the magazine with such intriguing quarterly themes I can never resist sending them something?  Well, this quarter has been no exception, the sujet du trimestre being “Surrender the Sasquatch and No One Gets Hurt.”  And sure enough, word came today that I’ll have something in it — another issue, another poem (although to be accurate, last time I had a piece of flash fiction) — a narrative of the interaction of cryptozoology and a family picnic titled “A Slice of Cheese.”  There are more things in those woods than we might think.

The issue should be out in September and, for more information, press here.

All Swords Melt on Kindle in YA Anthology Gaia’s Misfits

It’s just a small announcement for a fairly small anthology aimed at a young adult fantasy readership.  Or, as the blurb says, “What do vicious dragons, mischievous imps, spying gnomes, and a devious demon have in common?  They are all part of this humorous and exciting collection of fantasy short stories.  GAIA’S MISFITS brings together eight of today’s best fantasy authors into a single, collected work full of wonder, intrigue, and laughs.”  My mutt in this mélange, “All Swords Melt” (cf. December 14 2012), is a fairly light tale of a pair of headstrong wizard’s apprentices which originally appeared in FANTASTIC WORLDS in September 1996.  Classic me, eh?

Just released by Happy Gnome Publishing, GAIA’S MISFITS is available only in Kindle as far as I know, and a sample, as well as ordering info, can be found on its webpage on Amazon, for which press here.

Six Vampire Poems to Appear in Moonshadow; The Tears of Isis Pre-Halloween Promo for Oct. 21

Sometimes you just have to be an opportunist in this business.  Wednesday, more or less minding my business, I was reading email when one message took me to some place on Facebook, which in turn led me to Alban Lake’s page — I don’t remember exactly why — but while there my eye fell on a “reminder” that there was an editor “still looking for vampire poetry for his MOONSHADOWS (sic., the actual name is MOONSHADOW, I think) anthology.”  No guidelines, no hints that might serve to narrow the subject or at least say whether to send attachments, just the name and an email address, plus a mention of a contributor’s copy and $2.00 a poem.  I scrolled down to find the original announcement (after all, it said “still”) but the only difference there was that MOONSHADOW had lost its trailing S.  Still (to pardon the expression) I have a backlog of vampire poetry and, even though $2.00 isn’t much, publication is still publication.  So, the bat flying blind as it were, I gathered six poems I thought offered a variety in style and, pasting them into a cover letter, off it went.

Flash forward two days.  Yesterday, Friday, an answer came from Editor Henry Lewis Sanders.  All have been accepted for MOONSHADOW:  A COLLECTION OF VAMPIRE POETRY with a hoped-for publication date of November 2013.  The poems in question are “Social Climber,” “The Neophyte,” “Seven Reflections on a Phrase, ‘After the Rain,’” “Blood and Sand,” “Ancient Music,” and  (my personal favorite) “My Pet Bat.”  And all because I happened upon the right place at the right time and decided, what the heck, why not take a chance?

And then another opportune thing, later last night I received an announcement that blogger Kate Hill, whose interview of me appeared just this Tuesday (see August 13), was gearing up for “the 9th annual Halloween page at my website.  This year the theme is a haunted library.  There will be a main Halloween page as usual and everyone’s info will be posted on it through the entire month of October.  In addition, there are twenty feature spots on my blog that will be filled on a first come first serve basis.”

So Kate’s site “focuses on romance and erotic romance,” as she says herself, but other genres are welcome too, so, even if it was nearly 10 p.m. when I got the word, I stayed up to answer the basic questions, and then the extras for one of the featured promotion spots for (need I say?) THE TEARS OF ISIS.  I honed my answers, I polished my presentation, I sent it in finally amidst (as I found out) a flurry of replies from other competing authors.

But the thing is, I was still in time, while not to appear Halloween week itself as I’d hoped at first, for a spot for Monday the week before on October 21.