James Dorr's Blog, page 27

Halloween Haunts for Last Last Sunday Poetry

Well, the last “Last Sunday Poetry Reading and Open Mic” for this year (cf. September 25, et al.), November and December deferring for Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday doings, but also the last to be at the Monroe County Convention Center, with 2023’s January revival scheduled for a new location, Morgenstern Books, and in an afternoon time slot. One problem, in fact, with the present series has been its 11 a.m. to 12:30 schedule (the Center normally being closed Sunday afternoons) which, for a number of Bloomington Writers Guild members, has not been the most convenient.

Nevertheless, despite a chillyish rainy morning adding its own deterrent, nine people attended, with even a tenth arriving in time for the after-break opening to the floor. The featured poets were Indiana University Astronomy Professor Emeritus — with more than 100 refereed scientific publications to add to poetry and short fiction appearances in DISTURBED DIGEST, FROSTFIRE WORLDS, ILLUMEN, WEIRDBOOK, SPACE AND TIME, et al. — Richard Durisen with a reading ending with an especially moving depiction of a doomed mouse, caught in a trap, the problem of its disposal morphing into a reflection on death in general. And me. While, first in the lineup, I read a selection of poems from my first combined (fiction and poetry) collection, STRANGE MISTRESSES: TALES OF WONDER AND ROMANCE, beginning with “The White Worm” on the death of Edgar Allan Poe’s wife, Virginia, by tuberculosis.

Following the usual break for snacks (Halloween mini-cupcakes and candy) and conversation, an encouraging six or seven more poets shared their own work for the “open mic” session, which was by the main a bit less death-centric, but for the most part still captured an appropriate feeling of seasonal melancholy.

Pre-Halloween Pondering: The Science of Zombies; LOLcraft Kickstarter

Of course, zombies don’t really exist,do they? Not even on Halloween? But just for fun, what if they did — why would they do the things they do in the movies (post-Romero/NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, that is, we’re not talking about zombies in Haitian folklore)? Like eat brains, for instance.

Well, that came up first (eating brains, that is) in RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, an “unofficial” John Russo sequel, whereas DAWN OF THE DEAD, et al., by Romero have them continue to eat folks in general, even picky about their meals to the point of turning from someone they’ve just taken a chunk out of to bite a new, marginally fresher victim. But I digress.

Or, well, brains-eating would be part of a Keto diet, being 60 percent fat and 40 percent protein, and devoid of carbs — but would also have its side effects as well. But to the main point, if you’re a reader of the WASHINGTON POST, the answer to this and other questions can now be found in “Craving brains and hangry: Zombie behavior demystified by scientists,” by Bonnie Berkowitz and Shelly Tan. Or, to quote the text: The WASHINGTON POST asked experts in several fields to address some zombie mysteries based on what is known about human bodies and brains. They busted some tropes (aww!), left the door open on others (eek!) and made educated guesses about how and why zombies do what they do.

So now you can know too, by clicking here.

Then, still pre-Halloween, Dragons Roost Press has a kickstarter out for its Lovecraftian tongue-in-cheek anthology LOLCRAFT: A COMPENDIUM OF ELDRITCH HUMOR (see October 6, August 27, et al.), including my Cthulhuesque tale of “The Reading.” One that may come true in fact as, it being Halloween season and all that (cf., also, October 5), I have two more readings myself coming up this Sunday, for poetry, and the Sunday after, on November 6, for prose.

So to check it out and/or for early ordering, plus chances for extra gifts as well, press here.

“Bye-Good” Late October Third Sunday Write

Absurdity maybe? Think perhaps of an Ionesco play — or else something else. A playing in words? In any event, it was time for the Bloomington Writers Guild’s Third Sunday Write (cf. September 28, et al.), never exactly on “calendar time” — and whose fault doesn’t matter — we know how that goes. What is is what is, yes?

So anyway October offered three prompts, and my choice was the third: 3. Begin with “Goodbye…” And this is my “answer”:

Goodbye yourself, what’s good about it? Why not bye-good — buy good? By God? Or why would one buy bad (by god or devil), or buy mediocre? On the shelves of Kroger. . .

But by deity, I think I’ll still buy good. That is, if there’s any left to be had. Isn’t my money good? Or, on the exchange, is it a good buy — that is by the pound, with a new prime minister mucking things up there? This side of the pond we pay for a President to do us wrong, thank you!

Or maybe do right. . . .

So buy good and goodbye.

As many may know, “Kroger” is a large supermarket chain — as well as where I buy my groceries. But, likely still fallout from COVID-19, some shelves sometimes are empty. And that has nothing to do with the citation of Kroger above. Rather, it’s for the almost but not-quite rhyme with “mediocre.”

You heard that first here.

Post Roe Alternatives: Fighting Back Physically Here

No, the title of my story isn’t literally “Consequences,” that’s what the theme of the anthology is (though, as it happens, there is one story that does have that title). So it goes. My story, in any event, is called “Rights” and is one of a large book’s shorter stories. And there are poems, too, that may be even shorter, but in all there are 49 items — symbolizing the 49 years Roe v. Wade was in effect before a new, right-wing heavy Supreme Court changed its mind.

The initial call for stories was this: Roe V. Wade has happened. The question is what is next. What happens in our country. What happens TO our country. What freedoms are next? Do we resist? How?

There will be consequences. What are they? Who stands up? Who caves?

This is a look at the consequences of a SCOTUS who reserves rights for the Rich, the Corporation, the Badged and the Powerful.

And now the hard copy is in my hands. For more information — or ordering one’s own — one need but press here.

Strange Weeds Arrival in Mailbox Friday

So here the story is “Killer Pot” (cf. September 13, 11, et al.), originally published in DAILY SCIENCE FICTION on August 9 2011. And now its new incarnation has come, as of two days ago (it’s been a busy weekend), in the charity anthology STRANGE WEEDS, proceeds to go to The Last Prisoner Project. In physical form the size of an old-time mass market paperback, its cover appears artificially “scuffed,” as if a small contraband manifesto marked by repeated pullings and stuffings back into pockets. You never know when “The Man” might be watching.

To quote from the blurb: An estimated 40,000 people are currently incarcerated for non-violent, marijuana related offenses in the United States. As many states begin to roll out decriminalization acts, medical licenses, and recreational stores, it is more important than ever that awareness is raised for folks that have been arrested, charged, or convicted for something that is widely no longer considered a crime in many parts of the country.

Edited by Donnie Goodman and Meghan The Horror Babe, STRANGE WEEDS is a horror anthology that contains a bevy of marijuana centered horror stories in order to benefit The Last Prisoner Project.

100% of the proceeds go to the organization.

Priced at a modest $9.99 for more than 325 pages, more information, including ordering, can be found here.

“Calm” Contract Signed, Final Proof Sent Back

The magazine is NIGHTMARE ABBEY, companion to Tom English’s more science-fictional BLACK INFINITY, and the story “The Calm” (cf. July 27, et al.), originally published in 1999 in Marietta Publishing’s NEW MYTHOS LEGENDS. And with another BLACK INFINITY now as it were on the stands, the second NIGHTMARE ABBEY is readying for its debut.

So, the Writing Life, the things that must be done. Yesterday the contract came but, needing to be printed, signed, then faxed back to the computer for re-emailing, it waited for today for me to use local county library facilities. No problem there so, the technicalities taken care of, it went back to the “Abbey” this afternoon, to soon be replaced in my stack of new emails by an attachment of the final proof copy. The gears grind swiftly.

So, later this evening, I read through the copy, finding only one tiny correction (and even that rare for a publisher whose proofs are usually perfect) which, as I write this, has just been sent back. As for the story, by contrast to “Victorians” in NIGHTMARE ABBEY 1, a more or less 20th century-set tale of an older home providing the key to a long-repressed memory, “The Calm” takes place a good two centuries earlier, during the French and Indian War, and concerns an unmapped, mysterious village beset by an external menace.

Post Roe Is Here — in Print and Electronic Format

The dedication is short and sweet: This book is dedicated to the people of Kansas. You stood up when it mattered and told the autocratic Theocrats exactly what you thought about them trying to take away your liberties.

The full title is POST ROE ALTERNATIVES: FIGHTING BACK, and it’s large and fast: 348 pages with 49 stories — one for each of the 49 years when Roe v. Wade was the law of the land — and available in both print and Kindle a full week earlier than an aimed-for October 20 release date. Though some stories are short, my own tale in the tumult, “Rights” (see October 7, September 15), is only around 400 words long, but that’s all it took to get to its point.

To quote from the blurb: Fighting back against the theocratic and political hacks that form the conservative majority of the Supreme Court and have used their bench like a pulpit to force their views on America with the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

This book pokes the bear on this subject with stories of women and men doing the right thing and fighting back. Stories of running from Texas bounty hunters, painful descriptions of the consequences of no more health care clinics, to individual and group rebellion against unbelievable odds.

All of these stories inspired by SCOTUS in pursuit of their goal to appease a truculent religious minority and the politicians they vote for. These are stories of fighting back, not just fading into oblivion. Of having the audacity to show courage.

Information, ordering can be found by pressing here.

Black Infinity First Contact Issue Has Arrived!

Or, from the street mail mailbox late Friday afternoon (cf. October 6), a beautiful cover and more than 230 pages, including five pages of story by me. But let’s let the Amazon blurb describe the issue further:

BLACK INFINITY: FIRST CONTACT features 15 strange adventures exploring close encounters with alien life and alien technology by the best writers of yesterday, today and tomorrow, including Robert Silverberg, Ray Bradbury, Douglas Smith, Leigh Brackett, James Dorr, Murray Leinster, Vonnie Winslow Crist, Jason J. McCuiston, Lester Del Rey, Katherine Maclean, Jerome Bixby and others. Includes three special illustrated features: tributes to the original Battlestar Galactica TV series (by author and screenwriter Gregory L. Norris) and producer George Pal’s 1953 movie classic The War of the Worlds (by film historian Justin Humphrey, Curator of the Pal Estate); and a look at First Contact in classic cinema, literature, and television. Plus, illustrations by award-winning artist Allen Koszowski, a vintage 1950s comics story by Wallace (Wally) Wood and Joe Orlando, and much, much more!

My story appears early in the issue, “The Country Doctor,” sandwiched between tales by contemporary writer Gregory L. Norris and Ray Bradbury. Originally published in BOOK OF DARK WISDOM for Summer 2005, it concerns a late night in a small-town New Mexico clinic where an unusual patient has just been brought in. And one thing more, an accompanying military insists that both doctor and nurse will keep the proceedings a secret.

And that’s just one item on a very full contents page, with more information available here.

Post Roe: Another Day, Another Contract . . .

And, yes, another day and another contract, this one for my 400-word “the devil made me do it” story “Rights,” from B Cubed Press. The acceptance time on this was short, as is the story, for POST ROE ALTERNATIVES, an anthology on possible consequences of the supreme court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. And don’t look for the news to be good, necessarily — at least not from my story.

My story, in fact, is a little outrageous — at least so I hope — and its acceptance came with a request for some editing which I okayed (cf. September 15), mainly for a sex change for one of the assailants to underscore a gender-neutral ambience. This isn’t a battle of the sexes! In fact, as I understand, even authors’ bylines will replace first names with initials, so one may not know if the writer is which or what. My initials, by the way, will be J. S. — so that way you’ll know it’s me.

Then, also short, is the time expected for publication. The contract went back early this afternoon, questions answered and John (Joan?) Hancock affixed, and within the hour, a Status Update for Alternative ROE bounced into my e-mailbox. Final edits/verifications to be done this weekend, and. . . .

To put it in Editor Bob Brown’s own words: We intend to have the book launched by October 20, that is in advance of the election.

Post Roe: Another Day, Another Contract

And, yes, another day and another contract, this one for my 400-word “the devil made me do it” story “Rights,” from B Cubed Press. The acceptance time on this was short, as is the story, for POST ROE ALTERNATIVES, an anthology on possible consequences of the supreme court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. And don’t look for the news to be good, necessarily — at least not from my story.

My story, in fact, is a little outrageous — at least so I hope — and its acceptance came with a request for some editing which I okayed (cf. September 15), mainly for a sex change for one of the assailants to underscore a gender-neutral ambience. This isn’t a battle of the sexes! In fact, as I understand, even authors’ bylines will replace first names with initials, so one may not know if the writer is which or what. My initials, by the way, will be J. S. — so that way you’ll know it’s me.

Then, also short, is the time expected for publication. The contract went back early this afternoon, questions answered and John (Joan?) Hancock affixed, and within the hour, a Status Update for Alternative ROE bounced into my e-mailbox. Final edits/verifications to be done this weekend, and. . . .

To put it in Editor Bob Brown’s own words: We intend to have the book launched by October 20, that is in advance of the election.