Eric J. Guignard's Blog, page 4

Book Chain 10: Shrouded Horror: Tales of the Uncanny by KC Grifant

Book Chain Campaign: BookChain10: Tracking Log for:

Shrouded Horror: Tales of the Uncanny by KC Grifant :

i. Mailed from KC Grifant to Eric J. Guignard, August 22, 2024


ii. Mailed from Eric J. Guignard to Christi Nogle, September 5, 2024

iii. Where to next...? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine! #BookChainChallenge

###

NOTES:

Book back copy: From the bowels of NYC to the farthest regions of space, Shrouded Horror: Tales of the Uncanny feature people encountering the unseen terrors hovering at the edge of everyday life. Whether it’s a glimpse of a malicious creature lurking behind your reflection or an unusual thunderstorm heralding a needy stranger, oddities loom, ready to reveal themselves.

With hints of The Twilight Zone, Creepshow, and Black Mirror, this collection of short horror stories—the cosmic, the weird, and the fantastical—will settle into the back of your head and under your skin. They will make you wonder what hidden horrors lie there, just beyond the curtain of reality.

(pub. Dragon’s Roost Press, July, 2024

Available here: https://splattertheatre.com/products/shrouded-horror-tales-of-the-uncanny

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Shrouded-Horror-Uncanny-KC-Grifant/dp/1956824324/

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shrouded-horror-kc-grifant/1145663047?ean=9781956824322

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211055621-shrouded-horror

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AND READ WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html

Book Chain 9: His Unburned Heart by David Sandner

Book Chain Campaign: BookChain9: Tracking Log for:

His Unburned Heart  by  David Sandner :

i. Given from David Sandner to Eric J. Guignard at Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale, August 25, 2024


ii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to Vanessa Lanang at The Writers Coffeehouse, Vroman's Bookstore (Pasadena), September 8, 2024


iii. Where to next...? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine! #BookChainChallenge

###

NOTES:

Book back copy: His Unburned Heart, tells the story of Mary Shelley's quest to retrieve her husband's heart from his publisher. History tells us that Percy Shelley was cremated, though his heart failed to burn, but the rest of the details are lost to time. Sandner has channeled Mary Shelley herself to share the story with us. That story is paired here with a second, related, piece. The Journal of Sorrow is named after Mary Shelley's personal journal, and imagines Percy Shelley's demise.

(pub. Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2023

Available here: https://rawdogscreaming.com/books/his-unburned-heart/

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Unburned-Selected-Consortium-Anomalous-Phenomena/dp/1947879766

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/his-unburned-heart-david-sandner/1145171031?ean=9781947879768

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210335899-his-unburned-heart

###

AND READ WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html

Book Chain 8: Through Violet Eyes by Stephen Woodworth

Book Chain Campaign: BookChain8: Tracking Log for:

Through Violet Eyes  by  Stephen Woodworth :

i. Bought on Amazon, July 28, 2024


ii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to Kate Maruyama at Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale, August 25, 2024

iii. Where to next...? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine! #BookChainChallenge

###

NOTES:

Book back copy: In a world where the dead can testify against the living, someone is getting away with murder. Because to every generation are born a select few souls with violet-colored eyes, and the ability to channel the dead. Both rare and precious—and rigidly controlled by a society that craves their services—these Violets perform a number of different duties. The most fortunate increase the world's cultural heritage by channeling the still-creative spirits of famous dead artists and musicians. The least fortunate aid the police and the law courts, catching criminals by interviewing the deceased victims of violent crime.

But now the Violets themselves have become the target of a brutal serial murderer—a murderer who had learned how to mask his or her identity even from the victims. Can the FBI, aided by a Violet so scared of death that she is afraid to live, uncover the criminal in time? Or must more of her race be dispatched to the realm that has haunted them all since childhood?

(pub. Dell Books (Penguin Random house), 2023

Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Through-Violet-Eyes-Stephen-Woodworth/dp/0553803379

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Through-Violet-Eyes-Stephen-Woodworth/dp/0553803379

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/through-violet-eyes-stephen-woodworth/1100302107

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/478628.Through_Violet_Eyes

###

AND READ WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html

Book Chain 7: The Evolutionist by Rena Mason

Book Chain Campaign: BookChain7: Tracking Log for:

The Evolutionist by Rena Mason:

i. Bought on Amazon, June 22, 2024


ii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to Jo Kaplan at Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale, August 25, 2024

iii. Where to next...? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine! #BookChainChallenge

###

NOTES: 

Book back copy: Las Vegas suburbanite, Stacy Troy, dreams that everyone is dead. She dismembers the bodies of loved ones, stuffs them into a shopping cart, then takes them two at a time to the pile where she will burn their remains and say her last goodbyes.

Waking nightly to her own screams, Stacy is convinced she’s on the brink of a mid-life crisis and begins secretly seeing a psychiatrist. Dr. Light and his methods seem strange and unconventional, but his treatments work, and her circumstances improve. Until the nightmares return with a vengeance, taking on a life of their own.

Uncertain what to believe, Stacy carries on living the only life she remembers. Nosebleeds and head-splitting alarms only she can hear, become a regular occurrence. In physical and mental decline, the nocturnal world in her mind refuses to die. The images it reveals hold clues that lead her to a shocking discovery.

Threatening to unravel the last thread of her sanity, Stacy must make a heartrending decision... before her post-apocalyptic nightmares come true.

(pub. Encyclopocalypse Publications, 2023 <orig. Nightscape Press, 2013>)

Available here: https://www.encyclopocalypse.com/product/the-evolutionist-rena-mason/125

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Evolutionist-Rena-Mason/dp/1938644085

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-evolutionist-rena-mason/1120676038?ean=9781960721082

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17199632-the-evolutionist

###

AND READ WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html

September, 2024 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

HWA L.A.: For September, 2024
New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes
At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

https://aescifi.ca/unreal-call-for-submissions-lappel-des-textes/
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–5,000 words
Deadline: November 15, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: by January 31, 2025
Description: Stories and poems inwith fantastical or speculative elements set on the island of Montréal. Submissionsmay be science fiction, fantasy, horror or any adjacent genre. They may be setin the distant past, the distant future, or any time in between. They mayfeature Montréal as we know it today or an alternate Montréal that has neverbeen. The island or city of Montréal must, however, be an essential element ofthe story.


TWO SEPARATE ANTHOLOGIES from Flame Tree Publishing
Payment: 8 cents a word (6 cents/ word for reprints)
Story Length: 3,000–4,000 words (soft range)
Deadline: September 22, 2024
Reprints?: Yes
Response: within 4 months of the submission deadline

1. Morgana le Fay: Fiction short stories about the Arthurian character, Morgana le Fay.
https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/morgana-le-fay-submissions-0

2. Achilles: Fiction short stories about the Greek mythologicalcharacter, Achilles.
https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/achilles-submissions-call-0


The Deadlands
https://thedeadlands.com/guidelines/
Payment: 10 cents a word (1cent for reprints)
Story Length: up to 5,000 words(preferably 3,000–4,000 words)
Deadline: Open between September 1–September30, 2024
Reprints?: Yes
Response: Two weeks
Description: Speculative fictionstories about death, or what death may involve. EX: A ghost in a shadowed wood.An afterlife discovered through a rusted door. An abandoned house in the middleof a haunted field. A skeletal figure moving with intent toward somethingunseen. Death personified; stories from a worldwide perspective, differentcultures, different approaches to death.


https://nettirw.com/submissions/
Payment: 10 cents a word(capped at 5,000 words, thus max of $500)
Story Length: 7,500–15,000 words
Deadline: Open between September 1–September30, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: Within three months
Description: Dark sci-fi and allblended sub-genre (horror, fantasy, etc.) novelettes regarding: What does itmean to be alive? What does it mean to be real? What does it mean to exist?What does it mean to be human?


Utopia SF Magazine (Flash Fictionissue)
https://www.utopiasciencefiction.com/submit
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: up to 1,000 words forflash fiction issue (normally up to 4,000 words)
Deadline: November 1, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: Up to four months
Description: See site for quarterlythemes! December issue is Flash Fiction and Poetry. Mag is also interested inart and non-fiction, all science-fiction related.


Analog Science Fiction and Fact
https://www.analogsf.com/contact-us/writers-guidelines
Payment: 8–10 cents a word (9cents a word for non-fiction)
Story Length: up to 20,000 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: 2–3 months
Description: Science fiction storiesin which some aspect of future science or technology is so integral to the plotthat, if that aspect were removed, the story would collapse.



***Non-PRO-Paying Market, but Eric J. Guignard’s “Pick ofthe Month”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o9cXEU-IJLIq6Qpufrxl9UgbstygkycE/view
Payment: 5 cents a word(Canadian; translates to about US 3 cents/word)
Story Length: 2,500–8,500 words(also open to poetry, no longer than 2 pages)
Deadline: November 1, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: By January 1, 2025
Description: The conflicts relatedto the hopeful and optimistic nature of Solarpunk; Stories and poetry shouldexplore a solarpunk conflict, either one manufactured entirely for the story,or one based in a real-world point of contention you feel currently dividessolarpunks, or that has done so in the past. Conflicts can be as small or asgrand as you would like, though the story as a whole should be legiblysolarpunk and should not champion a non-solarpunk ethos.


StrangeNew Moons
https://frenchpresspub.blogspot.com/2024/08/open-call-strange-new-moons.html
Payment: 3 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–5,000 words
Deadline: Open between September 1–September30, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: Werewolf stories!Looking for something wild, strange, and new!

Book Chain 6: How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive by Craig DiLouie

Book Chain Campaign: BookChain6: Tracking Log for:

How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive by Craig DiLouie:

i. Bought on Amazon, June 22, 2024



ii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to Stephen Woodworth at Comic-Con, July 28, 2024

iii. Where to next...? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine! #BookChainChallenge

###

NOTES: 

Book back copy: “Horror isn't horror unless it's real.

Max Maurey should be on top of the world. He's a famous horror director. Actors love him. Hollywood needs him. He's making money hand over fist. But it's the 80s, and he's directing cheap slashers for audiences who only crave more blood, not real art. Not real horror. And Max's slimy producer refuses to fund any of his new ideas.

Sally Priest dreams of being the Final Girl. She knows she's got what it takes to score the lead role, even if she's only been cast in small parts so far. When Sally meets Max at his latest wrap party, she sets out to impress him and prove her scream queen prowess.

But when Max discovers an old camera that filmed a very real Hollywood horror, he knows that he has to use this camera for his next movie. The only problem is that it came with a cryptic warning and sometimes wails.

By the time Max discovers the true evil lying within, he's already dead set on finishing the scariest movie ever put to film, and like it or not, it's Sally's time to shine as the Final Girl”

(pub. Redhook, 2024)

Available here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/craig-dilouie/how-to-make-a-horror-movie-and-survive/9780316569316/?lens=redhook

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Horror-Movie-Survive/dp/0316569313

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-make-a-horror-movie-and-survive-craig-dilouie/1144153518

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199263513-how-to-make-a-horror-movie-and-survive

###

AND READ ABOUT WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html

Book Chain 5: Tiny Dreadfuls: Horrors, Oddities, and Tales of the Dark by S. Faxon

Book Chain Campaign: BookChain5: Tracking Log for:

Tiny Dreadfuls: Horrors, Oddities, and Tales of the Dark  by Sarah S. Faxon :

i. Bought on Amazon, June 24, 2024 (Pictured here with author Sarah S. Faxon)



ii. Given from Eric J. Guignard to KC Grifant at Comic-Con, July 28, 2024


iii. Where to next...? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine! #BookChainChallenge

###

NOTES: 

Book back copy: “Prepare yourself for a tour through the dark! Inspired by the classic Victorian Penny Dreadfuls, this collection of horror short stories and oddities from award-winning author S. Faxon takes you through cursed orchards, opium-stoked alleyways, haunted houses, and to the high-seas. With some of these stories based on real-life paranormal encounters, this book is a must-read for those who love the fanciful and unexplainable!”

(pub. No Bad Books Press, 2021)

Available here: https://sfaxon.wordpress.com/tiny-dreadfuls/

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Dreadfuls-Horrors-Oddities-Tales/dp/1735726184

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57838235-tiny-dreadfuls

###

AND READ ABOUT WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html

Book Chain 4: Exploring Dark Short Fiction #1: A Primer to Steve Rasnic Tem

BookChain4: Tracking Log for:

Exploring Dark Short Fiction #1: A Primer to Steve Rasnic Tem, edited by Eric J. Guignard, with fiction written by Steve Rasnic Tem:

i. Given from Eric J. Guignard to Rena Mason at StokerCon, June 2, 2024

ii. Where to next...? Only chance and the last reader involved may determine!

###

NOTES: 

Book back copy: 
Dark Moon Booksand editor Eric J. Guignard bring you this introduction to his work, the firstin a series of primers exploring modern masters of literary dark short fiction.Herein is a chance to discover—or learn more of—the rich voice of Steve Rasnic Tem,as beautifully illustrated by artist Michelle Prebich.

Included within these pages are:

•  Six short stories, one written exclusively forthis book

•  Author interview

•  Complete bibliography

•  Academic commentary by Michael Arnzen, PhD (formerhumanities chair and professor of the year, Seton Hill University)

•  … and more!

.

Available here: http://www.darkmoonbooks.com/Primer_1.html

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Dark-Short-Fiction-Primer/dp/1949491080/

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/exploring-dark-short-fiction-1-eric-j-guignard/1126739559?ean=9781949491081

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35674991-exploring-dark-short-fiction-1

###

AND READ ABOUT WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html

August, 2024 Dark Fiction Short Story Markets

HWA L.A.: For August, 2024
New or Reopening Market Listings/ Notes
At Minimum Pro-Paying (5 cents+ per word)

https://darkmattermagazine.shop/pages/little-red-flags-submission-guidelines
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–4,000 words(hard range)
Deadline: Open between August1–August 16, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: 45–60 days from date ofsubmission
Description: Fiction stories offanaticism, fundamentalism, extremism, and control. We want to read about conspeople pull off that make our jaws drop. The horrors hiding just beyond theedges of our better judgment.


Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/contact-us/writers-guidelines/
Payment: 5-8 cents a word
Story Length: 2,500–8,000words soft range (additionally, ‘Minute Mysteries’ of as little as 250 words)
Deadline: Ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: Three months
Description: (No Horror, but Mystery and Crime) Every kind of mysteryshort story: the psychological suspense tale, the deductive puzzle, the privateeye case—the gamut of crime and detection from the realistic (including thepoliceman's lot and stories of police procedure) to the more imaginative(including “locked rooms” and “impossible crimes”). We need hard-boiled storiesas well as “cozies.”


Calliope Interactive
https://calliopeinteractive.com/open-call
Payment: 5 cents a word
Story Length: 100–1,000 (flash) or2,000–4,000 words (short story)
Deadline: ongoing/intermittent (?)
Reprints?: No
Response: estimated within 2 months
Description: Unthemed genre fiction;anything to do with high fantasy, operatic sci-fi, heart-stopping action,that’s our jam.


https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/this-way-lies-madness-submissions-call-0
Payment: 8 cents a word
Story Length: 2,000–4,000 words(soft range)
Deadline: October 13, 2024
Reprints?: No
Response: unknown
Description: In the tradition of Poe’s “ATell-tale Heart” and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, This Way Lies Madness(publishing September 2025) will bring together a twisted tangle of darkstories featuring monstrous manifestations of trauma and guilt, paranoia andpersecution, anxiety, addiction, and crippling terror. In these pages, readersshould expect to find madness in all its forms, without the tired stigmatizingtropes.


Asimov’s Science Fiction (magazine)
http://www.asimovs.com/contact-us/writers-guidelines
Payment: 8+ cents a word
Story Length: 1,000–20,000 words(generally less than 7,500 words)
Deadline: Continually open
Reprints?: No
Response: Five weeks
Description: Character-orientedScience Fiction stories that is serious, thoughtful, yet accessible (occasionalhumor), including borderline fantasy, slipstream, and surreal fiction (and somepoetry).


Story Unlikely
https://www.storyunlikely.com/#submit
Payment: 8 cents a word (up to $200 cap; no longerminimum “pro” pay after 4,000 words)
Story Length: up to 10,000 words
Deadline: September 29, 2024
Reprints?: Yes (paid at 1 cent/ wordup to $75)
Response: 90 days
Description: Good stories thatelicit emotion. Any genre. NOTE: Submissions require (free) subscription tomonthly e-mag publication.



***Non-PRO-Paying Market, but Eric J. Guignard’s “Pick ofthe Month”

https://www.dirtymagickmagazine.com/submissions.html
Payment: $50 flat
Story Length: 2,000–12,500 words
Deadline: ongoing
Reprints?: No
Response: Not stated by thepublisher, but The Grinder indicates less than 15 days.
Description: Original tales offantasy, horror, sword & sorcery, Gothic, Magic, etc.; good balance betweenplot and character; tell a strong story with believable protagonists, strongsetting, and fresh ideas.


Error Code (Riverfolk Publishing)
https://www.riverfolkbooks.com/rabid-otter-horror
Payment: $100 flat
Story Length: 6,000–10,000 words
Deadline: September 30, 2024
Reprints?: Yes
Response: unknown
Description: Technology-based horrorshort stories (“Man-made horrors beyond our comprehension!”)

Book Chain 3: The Hunger by Alma Katsu

 BookChain3: Tracking Log for:

The Hunger by Alma Katsu:

i. Bought on Amazon, February 2, 2024
* I brought this book to StokerCon 2024 and set it down on a table, and it then vanished. Guessing someone "really" wanted to read it! I presume this particular Book Chain to be dead, but I did affix the log inside the cover, so perhaps someone will realize they have this copy, and come upon this Book Chain promo idea, and then set the book onto its rightful course!
Otherwise, I'll probably just get another copy and start this one over at another time...
ii. (where to next?!) ... Only chance and the last reader involved may determine!

###

NOTES: 

Book back copy: “Evil is invisible, and it is everywhere.

That is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the wagon train known as the Donner Party. Depleted rations, bitter quarrels, and the mysterious death of a little boy have driven the isolated travelers to the brink of madness. Though they dream of what awaits them in the West, long-buried secrets begin to emerge, and dissent among them escalates to the point of murder and chaos. They cannot seem to escape tragedy...or the feelings that someone—or something—is stalking them. Whether it's a curse from the beautiful Tamsen Donner (who some think might be a witch), their ill-advised choice of route through uncharted terrain, or just plain bad luck, the ninety men, women, and children of the Donner Party are heading into one of one of the deadliest and most disastrous Western adventures in American history.

As members of the group begin to disappear, the survivors start to wonder if there really is something disturbing, and hungry, waiting for them in the mountains... and whether the evil that has unfolded around them may have in fact been growing within them all along.

Effortlessly combining the supernatural and the historical, The Hunger is an eerie, thrilling look at the volatility of human nature, pushed to its breaking point…”

Available here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-hunger-alma-katsu/12277542?ean=9780735212534

And reviewed on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735212538

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hunger-alma-katsu/1126551874

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30285766-the-hunger

###

AND READ ABOUT WHAT #BOOKCHAIN IS ABOUT HERE!  

https://ericjguignard.blogspot.com/2024/06/book-chain.html