James Dorr's Blog, page 46

On Its Way For Valentine’s Day. . . .

Love takes on many forms, as does death, and this anthology features twenty-two stories that dance the line between Dark Affection and Paranormal Romance, where death is not the end but merely the start of some truly original tragedies, tales that will often stop you dead in your tracks, challenging you preconceptions of what is right and wrong, before allowing you to return and continue reading.

The book is DISCORDANT LOVE BEYOND DEATH (cf. December 21, et al.) and my story in it is “The Sending,” originally published in ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, December 1997, on ghosts, lighthouses, and Florida during the Great Depression. It and twenty-one other stories are set for release in three days, Sunday, February 14 — on Valentine’s Day — for more on which, including pre-ordering, one can press here.

“Pre-Owned” PDF Corrected, Returned To Great Void

Say what? Well the story’s full title is “Pre-Owned Jeans” and the publisher The Great Void Books (see January 10; June 18 2020).

Oh.

And the thing is, with COVID-19 and other distractions, the wheels of publication have been grinding out some delays these days, but The Great Void’s ghosts and hauntings anthology SHATTERED VEIL is now back on track. Thus the pdf proof copy came yesterday, and gone through with two corrections returned to Editor/Publisher Aditya Deshmukh this afternoon. These are longer stories with nineteen in all in a book of 471 pages, or at least in its current form, with mine, “Pre-Owned Jeans” about a strange store that sells used clothing — not all of whose prior owners are necessarily still alive — listed last in the contents.

Thus the writing life continues, lockdowns and vaccinations and all. More to come here as it becomes known.

“Ancient” Poems May Be Re-Published In Scholarly Volume

It’s been a fairly quiet week, but some things have happened. Wednesday, for instance, I got my first COVID-19 vaccination. But also I got an email asking about possibly reprinting two poems published twenty and twenty-six years back, respectively, to use in a proposed academic anthology of speculative alliterative poetry in the late 20th century.

These for me are older works, but with a borrowed technique that has much, much more ancient roots. In my case, the newer is one titled “The Worm in the Wood,” first published in STAR*LINE in May-June 2001, a poem opening with quotes from Geoffrey of Monmouth and Sir Thomas Malory, both from the Middle Ages, on the fate of King Arthur. This written in a style “inspired” by the 14th century English poem GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT. And the older, “The Westfarer,” first published in DARK DESTINY II: PROPRIETORS OF FATE (White Wolf, 1995) on Norse explorations of the new world — and werewolves — taking after the Old English epic BEOWULF (no, this one’s not about a werewolf itself) in style, probably from before the 10th century.

Interesting stuff, this, for those into English literary roots, a lot of which filter up to us in the form of horror and fantasy tropes. Dragons anyone, for instance (I think I’ve run across two new anthologies reading right now)? But in any event, I emailed my “yes” yesterday afternoon, Thursday, and today received a reply: Many thanks, James. . . . I’ll send along some paperwork once we’ve got everything finalized on our end.

Keep your eyes on these pages. . . .

Now It Can Be Seen: Murder/Machinery Contents Displayed, “Cogs In Motion” for April 3 Release

MURDER AND MACHINERY – COGS IN MOTION

Such is the headline on Black Beacon Books’ new blog.

Mechanical Madness and Technological Terror!

Join Black Beacon Books as we celebrate the launch of MURDER AND MACHINERY, an anthology of horror, suspense, sci-fi, and steampunk all about – you guessed it! – murder and machinery. There’ll be interviews, chats, competitions, and sneak peeks galore!

My part in the mystery, “Vanitas” (cf. January 4, et al.), originally published in ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, January 1996, a tale of 19th century mayhem concerning a circus, a house of worship, and the gol-dangist BIGGEST church organ in all of Massachusetts. But what of the ghostly figure of a woman that people have seen on the church roof?

Well, one still has to wait a few months for that, until April 3, although Kindle copies can be pre-ordered and with a one dollar discount to boot. Information and an Amazon link, another link to the book’s FaceBook page, and other publication lore can be found on the MURDER AND MACHINERY blog by pressing here. And as the date for its release draws nearer, author interviews and other goodies are set to appear on the blog as well.

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*While for the contents list, promised in the headline, just click on the illustration above.

LEST WE FORGET, THE BIRTHDAY OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, 1809-1849

“Who started it all.”

Hanging Vines Becomes First 2021 Acceptance

Seems like BLACK INFINITY was in the news just a few days ago (see January 13) and here it is again already. Along with the contract Wednesday, Editor Tom English also mentioned what the theme would be for the issue to follow “Renegade Robots,” tentatively to be “Starships and Spacesuits,” and if I should like to send in an early submission. . . .

Well, why not, if I could find something suitable? So after a few days of sifting through memories I hit upon one I thought might do. At 2900 words, maybe a smidge on the short side, but a “puzzle” story: a spacesuited man, a recalcitrant starship — and very bad news if they can’t get it together. . . .

Originally published in CONADIAN SOUVENIR BOOK for the 52nd World Science Convention in September 1994, this was a story recalled with some fondness. An early one titled “Hanging Vines” (the spaceship has landed on an uninhabited planet, but one that does have plants), this time there’s no horror crossover, not really. No creepy miilieu, no noir, unlike some other tales BLACK INFINITY has had by me in previous issues, but still, why not? So off it went earlier this afternoon.

You probably know now how this will end. In possibly record time the acceptance came for a tale, as Editor English put it, “[still] quite suspenseful. Readers will definitely hang around to learn how your protagonist makes out.”

And that’s not a bad thing.

Tears Of Isis, Other PMMP Titles On 20 Percent Off Sale

Did I mention THE TEARS OF ISIS in the post just below. The long arm of coincidence striking, guess what has been announced Friday as being on sale?

Well, not just TEARS. Here’s the announcement from MAX BOOTH III of Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing: The future is scary. I do not know what’s going to happen and neither do you. I hope we see some real change in the United States with this new president. I don’t know if that’s going to happen. . . . I do think it’s good to celebrate things whenever possible, and I do think getting Trump out of the White House is something absolutely worth celebrating.

So, with that said, for the rest of January, everything in our website will be 20% off when you enter code . . . well, I won’t repeat it exactly here, but I believe it’s in the ad pictured above.

So the thing is (*the plug from me*) THE TEARS OF ISIS is published by PMMP and thus is one of the titles on sale. So for “The Moons of Saturn” as mentioned in the post just below, plus sixteen more stories and an opening poem, one need but press here. And, TEARS being just one of the books offered, one can go from there to a cornucopia of other titles.

But don’t forget. The deal must be sealed by the end of the month, January 31.

Moons Of Saturn, “Autumn” Pulp Lit Appears In Computer Cave Mailbox

So, okay, it’s late, but then we’re still in the midst of a pandemic. Also it crossed a border from Canada so let’s just celebrate that it’s here. The “it” in question being the Autumn 2020 issue of PULP LITERATURE (see December 22, et al.), arrived at last! And the item of interest, “Moons of Saturn,” originally published in TOMORROW, July 1993, as well as reprinted in my collection THE TEARS OF ISIS.*

As for “Moons,” this is the description I used with the original submission: A man and a highly imaginative woman watch extensive TV coverage of the Voyager missions past Saturn while the woman grows progressively more ill. And as for its fellow contents in the issue at hand, as the magazine’s editors say themselves, [b]ecause our title says “Pulp” Literature, some authors assume we want guns and blood. The pulp in our title refers to cheap pulp paper of dimestore novels and digests of the past. We want our magazine to include a balance of all genres, including fantasy, romance, mystery, literary, etc. PULP LITERATURE is in fact a rather classy literary magazine and a fairly hefty one as well, with just short of a dozen stories, poetry, an interview, and a graphic memoir at a bit over two hundred pages in all. Or to see for oneself press here.

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*Also a 2013 Stoker® finalist for fiction collection (THE TEARS OF ISIS that is, not the story) for more on which one can click on its picture in the center column.

Scavengers Contract Is Received, Returned

A quick note for Wednesday with another contract, this time from Tom English for BLACK INFINITY (cf. July 12). Hope you’re well and enjoyed the holidays. Attached is the contract for “Scavenger”. Sign and return at your earliest convenience. I hope to finish laying out issue 7 by late Jan., send out pdf’s for proofing by early Feb., and get the book out by mid Feb. We’ll see.

We’ve met BLACK INFINITY twice before (see August 8, July 19, 12, 9, et al.), a classy magazine featuring both new fiction and reprints, the one upcoming to be on the theme of “Renegade Robots.” While “Scavenger,” originally published in the November 1994 FANTASTIC COLLECTIBLES, is about a robot not necessarily so much a renegade itself as deserted by the world it originally had been created to serve.

Pre-Owned Jeans, Shattered Veil Contract Re-Signing Request Received

So in this crazy game, nothing’s permanent, really. In Sunday’s email, from The Great Void Books Editor Aditya Deshmukh: I need you to . . . sign the contract for SHATTERED VEIL. Yes, we already did this. However, unfortunately, there were many delays in publishing SHATTERED VEIL and the old contracts are no longer valid because of this delay. I’m really sorry for the trouble.

And so it goes. Delays happen — we know that. Along with the email were instructions for a new portal to use for the signing, plus a request for a mini-bio and picture (after all, in the ensuing time, who hasn’t added a wrinkle or two?) and a “bone-chilling” summery. Thus for my story in this (cf. June 18), “Pre-Owned Jeans” (originally published in 2010’s DREAMSPELL NIGHTMARES from L&L Dreamspell): “Haunted clothes from a mysterious store provoke strange responses in their new buyers. What is it that draws these items together?”

What indeed? Check here as more news becomes known.