James Dorr's Blog, page 71
October 8, 2019
Scares for Halloween: Why Do We Enjoy Them?
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Well it’s not too profound — we’re hard wired to be afraid of some things as a simple technique for survival, but as intelligent beings as well we can also analyze situations, taking into consideration why particular horrors (e.g. sights experienced in movie theaters) might not be dangerous to us after all. But, basking in relief, wasn’t that fun (or at least stimulating)?
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Well maybe, maybe not. Individuals may have individual fears, some stronger, some weaker, so giving movies as an example one person may be thrilled while his or her companion is bored. Or sometimes we laugh. But for more, press here.
October 7, 2019
House Of Zolo Contract Received; Pre-Casket Girls Vamp, Monsterthology 2 Authors Early E-Copy
Another week, another contract, this time from Canada’s House of Zolo via Publisher Nihls Andersen: We are so excited to have your work as part of the first edition of the HOZ JOURNAL OF SPECULATIVE LITERATURE. Attached please find our contract. [image error]Once you’ve had a chance to read it and you are satisfied with the terms, please fill in your address, sign and return the document at your nearest convenience. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. This was followed by an up to date biography request, for a picture if possible, plus payment information.
The story in question is “Golden Age,” originally published in MINDSPARKS in Spring 1994 and also reprinted in Smart Rhino Publications’ ZIPPERED FLESH 3 (cf. September 11, et al.). Thus the writing life continues: We are expecting to release the JOURNAL in November 2019 as an E-Book and as a Printed Book, and we will let you know the exact date as soon as it is finalized. The JOURNAL will be available Internationally on Amazon and other platforms — we’ll keep you posted as we add other venues. The signed contract went back this afternoon, with more details to be printed here as they become known.
Also late Sunday the following came from Zombie Works Publications Editor Alan Russo: You will find attached the official digital copy to MONSTERTHOLOGY 2! Print copies will be available soon, along with the eBook version. Thank you to every[one] and their hard work and contribution to this great anthology! The tale here is a dark-humored take on a New Orleans vampire, but one not in the “Casket Girls” series, “Beefcake and the Vamp” (see September 25, February 19, et al.), with, again, more information here as soon as it’s known.
October 6, 2019
Astronomical First Sunday Prose; “Dorr Sampler” Included In Beer-Battered Kickstarter
Sunday afternoon opened the Bloomington Writers Guild “First Sunday Prose Reading and Open Mic” (cf. May 5, et al.) at Bear’s Place for fall. The featured readers were Wendy Teller who read an excerpt from her novel BECOMING MIA followed by another from the forthcoming THE SORROWS OF SEX; followed by Anya Peterson Royce who read two reviews from when she had been dance critic for the local Herald-Times newspaper, another piece from her long-term work with the Isthmus Zapotec in Mexico, and an excerpt from a novel about the commedia dell’arte in Renaissance Italy. This was then followed by the “Open Mic” session in which I batted second of five with an (as I put it) “astronomical” story to start the [image error]season, a science fiction/horror tale titled “The Comet.”
And then a quick note on the BEER-BATTERED SHRIMP FOR COGNITIVE RUMINATIONS kickstarter noted Wednesday (see below, October 2). Amongst the various levels of participation are two with my name mentioned in the details. In both the $55 Shrimp Platter and the $150 Mantis Shrimp Ninja one of the items donors receive is “A James Dorr Sampler (7 short stories, pdf file).” Say what?
Yes indeed, it is just that. Six full-size short stories from my published books (for more on which one may click their pictures in the center column), one each from STRANGE MISTRESSES and DARKER LOVES and two each from THE TEARS OF ISIS and the novel-in-stories TOMBS: A CHRONICLE OF LATTER-DAY TIMES OF EARTH, plus one extra uncollected story, all in a glorious no-frills PDF chapbook. The idea for me is that, if you like some, you may be moved to buy the book(s) they come from, but in any event it’s for stories for now, and for BEER-BATTERED SHRIMP it’s an extra inducement to make a pledge that will translate into copies of that book and extra prizes in the near future.
For more information, including more offers and yet more prizes, one need but press here.
October 4, 2019
Mermaid Vampiress Bites Again: One of Three New Poems To Be Published In Star*Line
I’d only sent them in Sunday, September 29, and today the word came: I’d like to accept “Waste Not, Want Not,” “Parents,’ and “Gourmet Warning.” Could you please let me know if they are still available? The magazine: STAR*LINE (cf August 30, 24, et al.), the publication of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) and no great stranger to these pages. And one may be [image error]sure I e-assured Editor Vince Gotera that, yes, the poems were available, ready, and waiting to be published at STAR*LINE’s pleasure.
The poems concern a frugal vampiress, alien family values, and the mermaid vampiress (who STAR*LINE readers have met before) up to her gluttonous tricks once again. And, I might add, this is a bit quicker than the average STAR*LINE acceptance time, but I’m hardly complaining — in fact it’s adding to a so far rather pleasant beginning of autumn. A publication date has yet to be determined, but will be announced here as soon as I know. And, as for the magazine itself, more information on STAR*LINE can be found here.
October 3, 2019
Indiana Laureate Leads October First Wednesday Writers Guild Reading
Past Indiana Poet Laureate Norbert Krapf was the lead featured reader at Wednesday’s Bloomington Writers Guild Spoken Word Series at Bear’s Place (cf. September 4, et al.), reading a dozen selections from his latest book, INDIANA HILL COUNTRY. He was followed in a slightly truncated session by writer and sometime dancer and actor Zilia Balkansky-Selles with four highly descriptive essay-poems, “two long, and two short,” and Newburgh Indiana poet and musician Jon Koker with work from his book SON. Musical interludes were by guitarist/songwriter Richard Layton, while I came in second of seven “Open Mic” readers with the shortest and newest (and perhaps somewhat influenced by Joan Hawkins’ and Tonia Matthews’ “color” presentation last month) of the “Casket Girls” series, “Shades of Difference.”
October 1, 2019
Beer-Battered Shrimp, Another Kickstarter Is Up
The word is just out: the kickstarter is up. This is for the micro-fiction anthology BEER-BATTERED SHRIMP FOR COGNITIVE RUMINATIONS (the official full title — cf. September 26, August 21, 4, et al.) and can be found here.
To quote Editor/Publisher Jaleta Clegg: Beer-Battered Shrimp for Cognitive Ruminations came about because of a chance comment on a Facebook post. I had a friend post a short, weird little thing that made me laugh. I mentioned that it would be fun to have a book of quotes and sayings like it — strange, quirky things that just don’t fit in the normal publishing pigeonholes. The idea started snowballing from there and before I knew it, I had a pile of submissions. [image error] And wouldn’t it be fun if it were a short book with fun illustrations? However now it must be funded, for which you can help by, again, pressing here. It costs money to pay authors and artists. It costs money to print and ship books.
To quote some more: Beer-Battered Shrimp is a collection of extremely short things that will hopefully bring a smile to your face or make you stop and think for a moment, or just entertain and amuse. My vision is a colorful, quirky little book, a very short story on each page. The authors range from best-selling authors to some just breaking in to some never-before-published authors. The youngest is four. The oldest isn’t telling.
My part in this is the 75-word fairy-tale world epic “As Fine as Frogs’ Hair,” originally published in MISCELLANEA: A TRANSDIMENSIONAL LIBRARY (Eggplant Literary Productions, November 14 2013), and is (as the guidelines had suggested) “silly and weird.” And possibly at most a little disturbing. But then, with the others, it’s only a “little” story as well.
October Publications Start Off With HWA Newsletter Illo and Poem
The illustration is by artist and poet and current Horror Writers Association trustee Marge Simon, who some years ago challenged me to write a poem about it. The result, titled “Émile’s Ghosts” (the title was also Marge’s, for the illustration), was published originally accompanied by the picture in ILLUMEN in Spring 2008 and also appears in my 2011 [image error]poetry collection, VAMPS (A RETROSPECTIVE). And now it, still with the illustration at my suggestion if Marge was willing, has been published again in the HWA’s October NEWSLETTER, a special expanded Halloween issue, with a full dozen poets included, including such names as Linda Addison and Alessandro Manzetti, Michael A. Arnzen, Christina Sng, Stephane M. Wytovich . . . the list goes on. So for HWA members, just press “Gallery of Poets” in the October NEWSLETTER (fourth from the bottom in the issue’s contents), then scroll down and down until you see the picture, the only illustration that’s there, with the poem to its left.
September 30, 2019
Monsters in Spaaaace: Another Contract, Another Signing
Plus a bit of good news on this one, too, that while it still couldn’t quite reach pro market pay, it was upping the share for authors to four cents a word. It’s MONSTERS IN SPAAAACE (cf. August 2), a new anthology edited by Michael Cieslak of Dragon’s Roost Press, of which it is written:
Jason, the Leprechaun, even the Cenobites and the Critters ended up going into space. We decided it was time to give some other monsters that same chance.
Earlier this year we started accepting submissions for an anthology featuring classic monsters with the stories set in [image error]space. We have collected 16 stories and one poem that we think you are really going to enjoy.
And by enjoy we mean scare the space suit off of you.
My story in this many-scarred starcross is one called “Atoms,” originally published in FANTASTIC COLLECTIBLES for February 1992, of a planet’s natives that seemed unable to be killed, not a good prospect if you’re the one who’s trying to conquer them. And so the contract came — along with the news of the pay raise which isn’t bad at all for a reprint — and thus signed, along with some minor changes to an included biography, went back to the publisher Monday afternoon. A rather nice ending to close out September and start the fall season.
Discordant Love Kickstarter in Final Week
Yes, the email said the final week but the site itself says only “five days,” though it also says Sunday, October 6, 7:59 AM EDT, perhaps as an allowance for London time? But one way or another in just a few days the DISCORDANT LOVE BEYOND DEATH kickstarter (see September 12, et al.), and the opportunity to sign up for bargain copies and even swag, will be no more. 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 your preconceptions of [image error]what is right and wrong, before allowing you to return and continue reading. DISCORDANT LOVE BEYOND DEATH offers up twenty-two fabulous inspired short stories, by a fresh line-up of authors from around the world, ensuring that there is something for everyone; and with many being on the macabre side, we believe that this anthology makes the perfect alternative gift for those who want something a little different come Valentine’s Day.
My tale in this tangle is one of hauntings, and gangsters in Depression era Florida, and of a young woman whose life is in danger titled “The Sending,” a slightly longer description of which can be found on the kickstarter site itself, along with descriptions and mini-biographies of all the writers. And, as said above, many prizes including publisher-related cups and T-shirts and other such merch, but one still must act fast. (And may one remind, from the authors’ point of view, last minute pledges may mean higher pay?) So for information and possible action — the book itself is slated to be out on Valentine’s Day 2020, so why not reserve your copy today? — one need but press here.
September 28, 2019
Sockhops A Star on Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviewer Blog
Also known as SCIFIANDFANTASYREVIEWER.WORDPRESS.COM, the word came Saturday evening from SOCKHOPS AND SEANCES (see August 14, 6 et al.) Editor Nicole Petit: I wanted to let you know we’ve had one of our first reviews come up! It’s really detailed and positive! Thank you so much for all of [image error]your hard work, and I’m so glad that someone is noticing!
Nine stories, in fact, are singled out for individual comment by the eponymous reviewer of which my own “Bottles,” about a young Puerto Rican woman in 1958 Cambridge Massachusetts, is one: Set against a background of white privilege, anti-communism and outright racism . . . an engaging and unique story that has a genuinely surprising ending that caught me off-guard. Other tales cited are set in such locales as Las Vegas, the back roads of Texas, and even outside the US in the British Isles, with equally eclectic aspects of the 1950s — and the occult, or at least just strange — providing their own unique background color.
The review can be read for yourself by pressing here (note that the link at the review text’s top is for Amazon.uk, though it is on Amazon, et al., in the US too). I should note too that “Bottles” itself is also reprinted in my own collection THE TEARS OF ISIS.
