James Dorr's Blog, page 201

Tunnels to be in Horrified Press Anthology Until the End; Peds and Others in Untreed Reads 3-Day Sale Friday and Weekend

It’s the way of the universe, I suppose, that some weeks nothing much notable seems to happen, then others every day is a circus.  So Wednesday I printed and mailed copies back of Eggplant Productions’s contract for “As Fine As Frogs’ Hair,” then, scarcely having finished that and posted it below on the blog, a new email came.  This was from the UK and Nathan J. D. L. Rowark and contained a contract as well, along with this message:   “Firstly, thanks for submitting your story for Horrified Press’s anthology UNTIL THE END.  I’d like to include ‘Tunnels’ in this collection.”

UNTIL THE END is a post-apocalypse anthology having to do with the power of love to endure . . . perhaps. “During the last days of the end of the world, a love-struck couple sit atop an old brick wall to watch its dawn silhouettes burn.  All that once was has been demolished . . . except the paring’s unwavering devotion to one another.  Will it be enough as the bodies stack-up and the rampaging hordes of an atomic Hell stalk the ruins of this once proud city?”   As I explained to Editor Rowark, “Tunnels” is more a tale of familial love than romantic as such and, as the guidelines contained some ambiguity on this point, it was a reprint (cf. September 6 and August 5 2011).  Would that be okay?

Apparently yes, as I emailed this contract back later yesterday evening.

Then, today being Thursday, Untreed Reads Publishing has officially released the announcement of a 40-percent off sale for all titles bought through the Untreed Reads site starting Friday and continuing through the weekend to Sunday, 11 p.m. PST (which I think would be midnight in daylight savings time, but then I’m not on Pacific Time myself anyway).  This would include the three Untreed Reads titles I have myself, PEDS, I’M DREAMING OF A. . . , and VANITAS, as well as last December’s YEAR’S END New Year’s anthology with my short short, “Appointment in Time.”  Discounts, according to the announcement, will be applied during the checkout process, whether for just one book or a bushel — but, as they underscore, “ONLY in the Untreed Reads  Store.”

To consider my books with Untreed Reads, just press here, or if you prefer you can go directly to Untreed Reads for a special sale celebration home page and proceed from there.

“As Fine” First Story Sale for August for Eggplant Productions

“Inspired by such fantasy libraries as those found in Robin McKinley’s Beauty and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, Eggplant Literary Productions presents  MISCELLANEA:  A TRANSDIMENSIONAL LIBRARY.  The shelves will be filled with books of the other:  books that have never existed and that haven’t been written yet.  What I am looking for are excerpts from such books.”  So begin the guidelines from Raechel Henderson of Eggplant Literary Productions for an unusual market for literary flash, “excerpts from fiction works, otherworldly recipes, snatches of poetry, faux reviews of imagined books, articles from cryptozoological texts, parapsychology manuals, works written in fairy languages, pictograms or mathematical equations, footnotes, even dedications are fair game.  Let’s get creative here.”

As it happens, I’m not a stranger to MISCELLANEA, having published a story fragment of something like 300 words (the maximum amount that will be accepted), “The Cage,” with them last year (cf. April 5 and February 25 2012).  It’s kind of neat too, accessed as if via an old-style library catalog file card.  So this spring when I found they’d opened for submissions again, I sent them a 75-word all-dialogue snatch from what might be a fairy tale, “As Fine As Frogs’ Hair.”  Or maybe a dialogue with a reporter from something like a Fairyland Newspaper trying to find out the facts behind what could become such a tale.

Be that as it may, word came back, with a contract, late Tuesday night:  “Thank you for your submission of ‘As Fine As Frogs’ Hair.’  I really like this piece and would like to publish it in MISCELLANEA:  A TRANSDIMENSIONAL LIBRARY.”

And for now, that’s all that’s been written.

New Interview by Kate Hill Is Live for Tuesday

Had enough of interviews of me?  I certainly haven’t.  Each one seems to be a little different — and often enough more than just a little — as indeed each interviewer is different as well.  Today’s, then, is via erotic, historical, and paranormal romance author Kate Hill, with an emphasis still on THE TEARS OF ISIS (yes, you knew I’d get that bit in!) but perhaps as approached from a slightly different angle.  

So something we might emphasize is character, does this come even before the plot and, as an author, how does one learn about one’s characters?  Where does one get one’s inspiration?  How does one put together a collection like THE TEARS OF ISIS and what other projects are being worked on now?  Any excerpts or teases, both of this work and on something to come?  

So perhaps a bit of a personal approach will come through here, of me and what I like to read and write — what’s fun for me, too, is how something may seem to have been done before, but now there’s another layer added or more depth of thought.  I don’t believe I’ve mentioned “Blackwoods” fiction before (cf. Edgar Allan Poe’s “How to Write a Blackwood Article,” though I should have added that the reference is to BLACKWOOD’S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, not the author Algernon Blackwood) or “Theatre of the Absurd.” in terms of pleasure or possible influence on my own writing.  

So all this and more, my favorite season(s) and the origin of the cave cat Wednesday’s name, can be discovered by just pressing here.         

Werewolves, Vampires, October Night to Dawn Received; An Odd Kind of Lagniappe

Today brought NIGHT TO DAWN #24, dated October 2013, with my “Werewolves vs. Vampires” (cf. July 25 2012) in the lead position for poetry.  It had been bought with two other poems, the micro-length “The Werewolf Explain,” — werewolves being notably taciturn creatures — and “Where the Vile Things Are,” a homage of sorts to Maurice Sendak.  “The Werewolf Explains” and “Vile Things,” the latter also with an illustration by Marge Simon on the next page, both appeared in the previous, April 2013 issue of NIGHT TO DAWN.

And then, harking to the post just below, today I received a new copy of the Portuguese version of “The Third Prisoner” as it appeared in the Brazilian I ANTOLOGIA LUSIADAS (2009) courtesy of another “Maurice,” the story’s translator Mauricio R. B. Campos.  The kind of neat thing about the translated version is it even has a couple of footnotes, so, as possibly the oddest lagniappe that’s appeared in this blog thus far, those up on their Brazilian Portuguese may press here and enjoy.

But more to the point, if you like “The Third Prisoner” in any language (or think that you might) consider buying DARK BITS when it’s out where it should appear along with stories by fifty-one other horror writers, all to the best of my knowledge in English.

Dark Bits Contract, etc. Okayed; Cats, Rats, and Bats Contest Ends Aug. 15

Progress progresses, in this case with another bit of office work, this time reading, electro-signing, and sending back the contract for “The Third Prisoner” to publisher Apokrupha for DARK BITS (cf. August 5, June 30, et al.).  This is to be for an anthology of 52 horror flash fiction stories with no restrictions on subject or taste, only length – a terse 500 words or less — and originally hoped to be out in July.  So schedules slip sometimes, but contracts and, sent back with it, an okayed proof copy are due from all authors within a week, so hopefully it will still be ready both in e-book and print editions by the end of August.

And speaking of August as well as flash fiction, but this time with more room to spread out its wings, I received a reminder from the Ligonier Valley Writers that entries for its latest Flash Fiction Contest are due before midnight, August 15.  Yes, that’s next Thursday.  “This year’s topic is cats, rats, and bats, in any combination.  Flash fiction means that the story must be less than 1,000 words long.”  Prizes are $50, $25, $15, and three honorable mentions for the glory only, and entries require a statement to the effect that winning stories can be published on the LVW website as well as presented in local public readings during this year’s Halloween season.

More information can be found here.  Also, as an endorsement of sorts I’ll add that “The Third Prisoner,” as noted above to appear as a reprint in DARK BITS this month, is itself an LVW contest alumnus having copped an honorable mention in 2008.

Vampire Half Hour to Be at Arts Fair September 1

It’s official.  I received the schedule for the Spoken Word Stage at this year’s Bloomington Arts Fair, or as it’s more formally known the Fourth Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts, for Labor Day weekend and I’m listed for 3 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, September 1 for “vampire poetry and prose.”  This will be my “A Half Hour of Vampires in Poetry and Prose” reading that I premiered at WorldCon in Chicago almost exactly a year ago (see September 3 2012) and, more recently, used for my reading at World Horror Convention this June.  In fact, I’d originally put it together with an Arts Fair reading in mind, but the fact that the fair is on the same weekend as WorldCon — but that, this year, I pretty well exhausted my travel fund on WHC and New Orleans — meant that a local reading had to be put off till now.

The program is mostly poetry, actually, some from my book VAMPS (A RETROSPECTIVE) and some poems more recent, but ends with a seven-minute story, “La Fatale,” which is also scheduled to be in WHITE CAT MAGAZINE this winter.  As for the reading, as the official wording goes (lots of official stuff for this post, but it’s in the announcement so I suppose it’s meant to be quoted), “The Spoken Word Stage at the Fourth Street Festival is presented by the Writers Guild at Bloomington and supported in part by the Bloomington Arts Commission and the Fourth Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts.”

Shadorma, a Poetic Guilty Pleasure (and a Bad Lagniappe); Dark Bits Story at First Sundays Open Mike

Guilty pleasures, yes.  You have them, I have them.  Toward the end of April, as a Writers Digest poetry blog challenge (cf. April 1, et al.), I wrote a “shadorma” about the dietary habits of vampires (well, sort of).  It was kind of fun.  Then just last Friday, as part of another challenge, I wrote my second shadorma (also vampiric, but I’d like to think that part’s just a coincidence), and I believe I’m getting hooked on them.  It’s a short form (thus sort of like cinquains that some poets are hooked on, though I don’t care that much for those myself) and may actually be a kind of hoax:  it’s claimed to be a Spanish form, but historical references to shadormas have not been found, let alone actual examples from Spain.  It’s also a poem with fixed syllable counts for each line, a little bit like a haiku on steroids (not normal in Romance language forms where so much tends to be focused on rhyme, although of course there can be exceptions), consisting of six lines of 3, 5, 3, 3, 7, and 5 syllables each.  And so, for this blog, I have written a third, instructive perhaps although bad as poetry in any form, and thus for today a “bad” lagniappe:

 

ORIGINS

Shadorma.

A Spanish form, yes?

Maybe so,

as I’ve heard,

though no evidence exists.

Still, a lot of fun.

 

So why not try a few — I know I’ll be writing more myself from time to time?  While, for another guilty pleasure, yesterday was the day for the Bloomington Writers Guild’s “First Sundays” reading series (see March 3, et al.), including (ahem) free snacks.  The way these work is three featured writers read for fifteen minutes each, then after a break others can sign up to do three-minute readings.  So on a sunny, but not too hot day, we heard a group of essays, followed by poetry, followed by excerpts from a play.  Then for the “open mike” session afterward, this time with only four more participants, I took the cleanup slot with a reading of my flash zombie story “The Third Prisoner,” due to be reprinted in DARK BITS hopefully later this month (cf. June 30, et al.).  I might point out as well that the story has been reprinted before in Brazil in Portuguese, if not quite in Spanish, and as another coincidence of sorts, has itself been a former lagniappe here (cf. June 15 2012 — so anybody who enjoyed it then, you’ll probably like DARK BITS too when it comes out).

A Blast From the Past: Flush Fiction Now on Kindle; Bleed, Andromeda’s Offspring Proof Sheets Sent Back

Yard Dog Press is a delightfully unpretentious Arkansas publisher that, once upon a time, decided to showcase its various writers in a book to be called FLUSH FICTION.   Say what?  Well, it came out in Spring of 2006 and it’s really flash fiction but, as the book itself points out, these are stories intended “to be read in one sitting.”  All are intended to be complete stories told in 1000 words or less, as the back cover says:  “Some of the biggest names in the business make their livings writing seven hundred thousand word vignettes.  They wouldn’t know how to tell a complete story if it jumped up and bit them on the ass, so keep that in mind as you read the stories in FLUSH FICTION.”

And so, has it come back to bite us too?  Today’s email brought the announcement, “Flush Fiction is Live on Kindle!”  To see for yourself, you just need to press here.  Also, right now it’s on Amazon Select, but in 90 days it should be taken off and made available as well on Nook and possible other locations.

As some may have guessed, I have an outing myself in this outhouse, a story called “The Dragon Tattoo”* about the pleasures, and unexpected dangers, of certain all-body skin decorations.  Yard Dog is also known for its five book series on BUBBAS OF THE APOCALYPSE, with stuff by me in the first four volumes, also first published back in the 2000s — more information on all these titles can be found on Yard  Dog’s website.  And as for FLUSH FICTION, the paperback version is still available as well and can be found on Amazon by pressing here.

Then for a bit of cleanup activity, today I proofed or otherwise checked over not one, but two upcoming anthologies.  ANDROMEDA’S OFFSPRING, VOLUME 1 will be coming out from the UK with ten percent of its profits going to the Trans Atlantic Fan Fund (cf. April 5), including my story “Golden Age” for which I approved editorial changes; while BLEED (see July 18, et al.), now in its final check before going to the printer, will be out from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing with profits to go to the Children’s Cancer Fund, including my piece “King Rat.”

 

*A slightly longer version of “The Dragon Tattoo” has also appeared in the Summer 2003 FANTASQUE.

Latest Interview Posted in UK for Monday

And here it is, fresh from across the Atlantic, Sonnet O’Dell’s DUSTY PAGES interview of . . . moi (cf. July 22).  So many questions, so many answers.  Am I mostly a clean or a messy person?  That’s in terms of my writing habits, I presume.  Which do I find more embarrassing to write, violence or sex?  What are the most important attributes to staying sane as a writer?  What are books for?

What, indeed?  To find out, press here.  (And don’t forget all those interesting answers concerning THE TEARS OF ISIS; buy it for chills to counter the summer heat right here — and while you’re at it why not review it?  Amazon, B&N, Goodreads await. . . . )

Radical Dislocations/Really Weird Poems Scheduled for Mid-August, Pre-Orders Open

This just in:  It was originally announced as simply REALLY WEIRD POEMS (see July 17), but now the limited edition offering from Chupa Cabra House Publishing has an official name, as well as a publication date set for the middle of next month.  Moreover, RADICAL DISLOCATIONS (as we now know it) is open for pre-order for $9.00 a copy, a one dollar discount from a cover price of $10.00 after it’s out.

Billed by Editor Timm Tayshun as “a collection of the weirdest poems by the best new underground poets,” the book is (dis?)graced with three pieces by me, natch, “Last Rides,” “Book Fair Buzz Is Not Contained Between 2 Covers,” and “Why He Ate His Hat.”  And who could resist that?

To take advantage of the discounted pre-order price, press here.