The Sirens Call: Bastille Day Surprise for New Orleans Vamp

Technically the word actually came late Thursday, the 13th, but I didn’t open it until today. The publication, THE SIRENS CALL, for a special issue for Halloween. Or from the Headless Horse’s mouth (that is, as ridden by the Headless Horseman):

In our world, every day is Halloween and we can’t get enough of it!

This issue has a sub-theme of Halloween. We’re also open to pieces celebrating Samhain, Punkie Night, All Soul’s Day, El Día de los Muertos, Guy Fawkes Night, Mischief Night, Hungry Ghost Festival, Pomona and Obon; you get the idea… Celebrate the dead, and what happens when the veil thins, and you’ll make us happy little horror campers! A small caveat to the restrictions on this call: please do not elevate or defame religion vigorously in your submission unless it’s vital to the storyline. We aren’t looking to celebrate religion, we’re looking to celebrate ghosts, ghouls, and all that can go wrong when the oogie-boogies come out to play.

So, if oogie-boogies, why not vampiresses — or, to be more specific, those based on New Orleanian urban legends, that is starring Aimée and the “Casket Girls”? Or even more specifically there is one, a reprint first published in WEIRDBOOK for “mid 2021” (see June 16 2019 — yes, it took that long to finally come out!) that even co-stars Death — what better for Halloween? — the title: “Death and the Vampire.” So off it went, Sunday. . . .

Yes, death travels swiftly when it’s of a mind to. From 9th to 13th (but not opened until today, the 14th, Bastille Day — and complete with an edited proof sheet attached which, a library computer needed to mark it up, won’t go back to THE SIRENS clutches until tomorrow): We’re delighted to let you know that we are accepting, Death and the Vampire, (with one time publication rights) for this issue.

And that is that.