SIN & Ashes is OUT! !!

my new collection SIN & ashes is now out!! !

http://www.amazon.com/SIN-ashes-Joseph-S-Pulver/dp/0984480242/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293219364&sr=1-8

http://www.hippocampuspress.com/mythos-and-other-authors/fiction/sin-ashes-by-joseph-s.-pulver-sr.

Caligari, a clockwork Alex, Dylan, Jim Morrison, and a cast of demons and harboiled madmen [& LADIES!! !!] fill the pages of madness . . . Step right up--Come SIN like you mean it!! !

a morning in fragments . . .

tears tailored by the lonely bones of night -- the words are uncoiling, but snow white -- Needs to get BLOOD red...

///////////////////


eyes closer to the ♥ . . . or maybe: veins, pillar to utmost, about to speak -- flavors adored form the roots / the peacock's mouth is a torch . . . or maybe: wherever you are thrust deep . . . or maybe: clutching the blossoms of the moon . . . [This ain't poetry, it's --] :)

////////////////////


listening to an opera in Atlantis... fingers smeared w/ Rothko... [ah, velvet air]

////////////////////////////



     Santiago.
     Slow and lazy.
     Little this, little yellow flowers. A soft district, no fog, no thrash, smiles you can hear in the glass windows. The bright one, simple as an escape cut into the scene—Ankles. And fragrant knees. You like her shoulders, scrubbed gently. Nice, with a little fire. You like the arrows of ready her mouth clasps. Nice how she reads. Slow. Nice little yellow print dress. Her legs make sense in it.
     Slow and lazy. Bit of this, piece of feast on her Scheherazade fingertips. Moments a little less chopped here; might be the cotton of her pulse; she twirls, her silk doesn’t bruise the secrets in your spoon. She’s a bird content with the threads you weave. Not love, but it glints with the same colors.
     Slow and lazy.
     Not writing it in the book. Not on the opulent paper. Not measuring disorder with light. Just enjoying how soft yellow is this time.

///////////////////////////////

Put her on a pedestal to taste/Lovely as a mystery filled w/ the loki paths of the ♥


///////////////////////////////

OK. OK. Yes, back to the editing...

SIN is now available for order and will be shipping before the end of the year

Shipping before the end of the year! !!
SIN like you mean it,
SIN in the New Year!! !

http://www.hippocampuspress.com/mythos-and-other-authors/fiction/sin-ashes-by-joseph-s.-pulver-sr.

SIN is COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my new collection SIN & ashes is up for pre-order at Hippocampues Press.

http://www.hippocampuspress.com/mythos-and-other-authors/fiction/sin-ashes-by-joseph-s.-pulver-sr.?zenid=f30466bcc7812c895eb84628809e3dee
Other bits:

almost done w/ a draft of my LENG tale -- been a long time on this . . .

just finished a new tale called "kristamas at an exibition" -- massively fractured poetics on acid for this one.

new link to SIN

a direct link to the rave for SIN on SheNeverSlept!!!

http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/archives/4164

SheNeverSlept.com RAVES...

Alanna Quinn has reviewed SIN for SheNeverSlept & it's  RAVE ! !! I am delighted

http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/

http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/

http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/

http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/

http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/

http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/

http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/

7 DEADly SINs, hell!! ! I could never stop w/ a mere 7! !!

"STRANGE AEONS" reviews SIN & ashes

SIN & ashes has just received the following review. To say I'm delighted and humbled falls way short of understatement.

FROM SA:

SIN & Ashes, the new collection of short stories by Joe Pulver Sr., is a heady blend of rock ‘n roll, sex, death, and insanity. Inside its pages Pulver offers us a dance through the ribbons of his mind. And we accept, because there is something about his vision of a world, so dark and yet so vividly colorful, that is impossible to resist. Each word is delivered in that uniquely poetic style of his, giving us a glimpse into the seedy underbelly of urban decay and rural despair; daring us to consider if it is really human nature that has brought us so low or if otherworldly hands from Carcosa or R’lyeh might have played some role in our downfall.


He opens with Love Her Madly, then barrels ahead like a loosed bull through a land of serial murderers and revenge and cold, cold torture. The tension ebbs and flows as the pages turn; sometimes bitter and terse, other times graceful and melodic, but in every vibrant phrase you sense a hint of something dangerous and feral, just waiting to snare you. Like the slightly too-sweet smell of fruit just before it begins to rot, his words, even when they are breathlessly beautiful, teeter on the edge of lunacy and depravity.

It’s an effect that is hard to duplicate but that just makes it all the more impressive.

The overall style of SIN & Ashes brings to mind the prose of Poppy Z. Brite. The imagery in the fantasy tale Crow in Trick Town specifically conjures memories of her work in Wormwood and Drawing Blood. It isn’t everyone who can fabricate metaphors for sounds or textures or tastes and tell us how they look or hear. That’s the realm of poetry, not storytelling, yet Pulver blends the two disciplines with expert finesse. He has a talent of giving a single word a myriad of meanings, which makes it hard to return to our reality of concrete and glass, where everything is as it looks.

Unfortunately it IS only a book and it, like everything else that is physical, can only go on for so long. However, he leaves us on a high note with a delicious closing tapestry of rock n’ roll and Robert Chambers. Fans of both will be left with such an inspiring thrill of excitement that it will ensure the next installment Joe Pulver Sr. will be met with rabid book lust.

JP

http://strange-aeons.com/

S.T. Joshi's "Weird Fiction Review"

I just received my copy of S.T. Joshi’s “Weird Fiction Review”. Imagine my delight to have a tale in it. “W.F.R.” has new tale by Marc Laidlaw—Yeah, The 37th Mandala Marc Laidlaw! The Kalifornia Marc Laidlaw!!

—and I’m in something w/ him. No less than Ramsey Campbell called The 37th Mandala “A masterpiece.” and was he ever right! !! It remains a favorite of mine to this day.

Along w/ Marc, Cody Goodfellow [read Radiant Dawn yet people? Why the HELL not!! !] has a new tale in and there’s poetry by Ann Schwader and Tierney, and Scott Conners and Burleson have essays. And David Ho’s art – WOW! !! And it’s a Centipede Press release. Every tome released by Jerad Walters’ CP is a marvel! !!



another wee update . . .

I did a v-blog on You Tube [kiy1955 is the channel thing there] . . . MIGHT have mentioned Laird, Simon Strantzas, Hopfrog, Bob Price, S.T., Ligotti and a few others . . . MIGHT have said OCCULTATION is the collection of the YEAR [a week before the Black Quills][maybe get me a LOTTO tix]… Some out there want me to do more, but you know, some out there are WAY the hell out there . . .

http://www.youtube.com/user/KIY1955?feature=mhum




Finished my new “pimps & ghouls” urban nightmare . . . Proofing it, then drop in the editor’s inbox . . . and start sweating . . .



4 might mega-talented writers are reading SIN as I type this… You want to know what’s scary!!!!!!!!! !



SheNeverSlept.com will have the very 1st review of SIN . . . whisper-stream says might be rave . . . Keep yer talons crossed! Mine are!! ! They will be interviewing me soon as a follow up to the review . . .    http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/



Still need to compose a list of what I have coming . . . and where . . . seems like a dozen things or so in 2011 [so far] . . .



Desktop is back up to 5 active tales . . .



There is a final tweek of SIN’s cover . . . you’ll see it soon . . .



And I started the Twitter thing . . . http://twitter.com/#!/JoePulver

Paul Tremblay confesses his SIN...

Paul Tremblay is one of the BEST around! !! If you've read his work you know that! If you have, not go ck him out, everyone loves this master -- and for damn good reason! !!

He was nice enought to read SIN and here's what he had to say...

"Joe Pulver's SINS AND ASHES is a messed up (and I mean Cronenberg messed up) splicing of William S. Burroughs and Thomas Ligotti. Add a whiskey chaser. After reading these vibrant and weird stories with their assorted devils and down-and-outs, I kinda want to party with Joe. But I think I'm too scared to."--Paul Tremblay, author of The Little Sleep and In the Mean Time.


Again, I find myself thrilled and humbled.

Might go dance around the Nightmarium a bit...

Paul's site is here:

http://paultremblay.net/paulgtremblay/

Simon Strantzas on "SIN & ashes"

Highly-acclaimed author, Simon Stranzas, was kind enough, after reading my new collection, SIN & ashes, to say the following:

"Joseph S Pulver, Sr. is a thunderous scribe of dark fiction. His poetry slams into you, cracking through flesh and bone to the real meat beneath. SIN & ashes is his mighty hammer, deftly wielded and smithed on Hephaestus's great anvil. This is no book for the faint of heart. Filled with hard boiled goodness and devastating imagery, Pulver proves his is a talent to be reckoned with, and cements his rightful place as one of the most interesting voices in the genre. I am both awed and humbled by his power."

I am not alone in considering SS to be among the very best writers in "Weird Fiction", so as you might guess, I am humbled and blown away by his praise for my new collection.

Guess I should add, WOW! !! & YAY! !!

Off to go jump for joy for a while... [and reread it 47 more times! !!]

Simon Strantzas BENEATH THE SURFACE

I don't spend much time here talking about other writer's work, but this one I have to mention and highly recommend. Normally I'm wordy as hell, but not this time. Why? Easy -- you need to be on your way to a get a copy of this and not spending time reading about it.

Here's what I will say...

Strantzas = Atmosphere, Atmosphere, Atmosphere! !! + The seasoned subtlety of a literary master and a rich, evocative imagination—a very dark one. Along with Laird Barron and a handful of others, Simon Strantzas does not show you the gate to this new Golden Age of weird fiction that is upon us, but leads you through it. What you encounter on the other side will leave its mark on you. I dare you to look BENEATH THE SURFACE!

tweeking SIN's cover...

SIN's cover has gotten a *font* touch up... Lookin' like we're ready to rumble for X-mas! !!
You can pre-order your copy of SIN & ashes from Hippocampus Press here:
http://www.hippocampuspress.com/mythos-and-other-authors/fiction/sin-ashes-by-joseph-s.-pulver-sr.?zenid=c10d40913b4c7736aaefc23c2733ff4c

under the dust in the Nightmarium... JEFFREY THOMAS

Years before Blood Will Have Its Season there was to be a collection of some of my short works... Some of these tales and poetics saw the light of day in BLOOD, a couple in my new one in, SIN & ashes, and there are still a few that have yet to find a home [and several appeared in BLOOD w/ radical changes to the poetic lay out]... That collection was to be called Collisions In The Word Box and PUNKTOWNer [pal, and GREAT writer! !!], Jeffrey Thomas, penned the following as an intro... In a file that holds files of old files I found JT's "intro"...

THEN & NOW(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) THANKS, Jeffrey! [yer still one of the BESTest]!!

Sculpting Words: on Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.’s “Collisions In the Word Box”


JEFFREY THOMAS



What one will first notice upon paging through Joseph S. Pulver’s “Collision In the Word Box” is the unique, sometimes dizzying arrangement of text, the mutability of fonts, the obliteration of conventional paragraph structure. Because this is the landscape of nightmare, of madness, of violence that is being painted for us. This is the reader examining his own face, and soul, in a shattered mirror. This is viewing the fires of hell through a beautiful brass kaleidoscope.

In the opening piece, “PITCH nothing”, a column of the word “enchantment” literally seems to flow from left to right. “Echo” seems to ripple in sound waves, “stumble” to drop off the edge of a step. Pulver constructs rooms and staircases from the bare skeletons of type. His are sculptures of words, making as much use of the empty spaces around them as the words themselves. As Lovecraft’s evil forces dwelt not on the distant stars but in the spaces between them, so does Pulver fill with invisible foreboding the blank spaces between his words. As Pulver himself says: “White space made explicit by the attention of black.”

In “PITCH nothing”, (the first of these gorgeously-titled works – my favorite title being “I once possessed a fragile blue vase”), our protagonist becomes effectively lost in a disorienting limbo of exploded sentences and paragraphs with the floors dropped out of them. One would be hard pressed to find a better portrayal of altered reality, of a mind fragmented by insanity, than in this series of prose poems. In “Water lilies”, the words of the title spread gracefully, but the poetic loveliness of the piece mixes disturbingly with an ominous intimation of violence. In “The Master and Margeritha” (inspired by a Giger painting), Pulver builds a hellish cityscape out of barbed words. The character in this piece and others in the collection yearn for transcendence, transformation (these evolving states artfully conveyed by the unorthodox structure), and – unfortunately for them – they achieve it. In “The Songs Cassilda Shall Sing, Where Flap the Tatters of the King” (an edgy, Kathe Koja-like short story which captures the very essence of Goth), Pulver uses his word-art to manifest the raging anarchy of rock music. A song is described as being, “The death wail of 1000 vampires wasting in solar fire.” “The Delirium of a Worm-Wizard” deftly mixes lush mysticism with forbidding doom. “A Night of Blood and Moon, Then Holstenwall” (a retelling of “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligrari”) is a Ligotti-like phantasmagorical nightmare that could be refilmed by the Brothers Quay.

“Collisions In the Word Box” abounds in the mysterious, as best epitomized in the line from “After my skirmishes with unhappiness”: “There are still secrets hidden on the undersides of the leaves.” Each piece seethes with a sinister madness like a straitjacketed ghost forgotten in a dark and cobwebbed cell. As Pulver himself so wonderfully puts it, “Perversion is hired as a governess for our dreams.” In this innovative, hypnotic collection, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. has proven himself to be a perversely masterful sculptor of those dreams.

words...

They called her crazy.


Then.

Crazy. Until sunset and the face of the moon struck them.

Now.

Crazy.

Worse.

Not with her ears open to their eyes. Not then. Called her hag. In the other tongue. Hoping she had forgotten it.

Now. Crazy old hag. If they think they are far enough away from the face of her heart.

(c) Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. 2010

in Leng...

Indelicate blades articulating blood-magic before he can argue. Three more through the opening. A step in, they howl. Blades forward, one overheard. Ready. Hungry.


Dogs leaping.

Gunfire. A head becomes a blood-blossom. A chest is ripped open by lead. Third takes two shots in the abdomen.

Slab’s bigger. Wider. No less bloody.

Drifting smoke.

Faces of men and canine savage, blood for blood.

(c) Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. 2010

Unfilmable says SIN is coming...

Over at UNFILMABLE [the home of COSMIC HORROR CINEMA... and a few other BLOODbaths] the UNdead have been kind enough to mention that my new collection, SIN & ashes, will be coming out next month...  Mighty nice of them and a certain Mr. Mullins...

A rather fine bunch of ghouls there... always have their ears to the tombstones to hear what lurks in the dArk places... Stop by and see Mr. Mullins. Tell 'em you like yer SINs w/ Xtra ashes sprinkled on top. I'm sure he'll dose 'em good fer ya... might even put some small dEad things on top fer ya...
http://unfilmable.blogspot.com/

STRANGE AEONS #3 is in Berlin! !!

My contri copies of SA #3 have arrived in Berlin... I am vEry pleased w/ the lovely presentation of my text in this issue. and Eric York's KIY tarot art to go with my text is wonderful!! !

You can get your copy of SA here:

http://strange-aeons.com/

SIN & ashes has a cover...

SIN & ashes now has a cover. Noted surrealist, J. Karl Bogartte, is the artist.

More of Bogo's wonderous art can be found here:

http://homepage.mac.com/photomorphose/surrealism2.html

Innsmouth Free Press' Historical Lovecraft Anthology

Innsmouth Free Press' Historical Lovecraft is still open to submissions...

Here's what I know --

"We are still looking for stories for the anthology and we are still having too many stories set in Europe or the USA in the slush. Victorian is the most popular time period we are getting, and as such, the competition is fierce because we will only take one or two stories in that setting. We also want to see more stories in ancient times and stuff with female protagonists (we got Joan of Arc the other day, but women are definitely missing from the slush pile). I am very interested in seeing stories in pre-colonial Africa, as it's a neglected region.

Though many people are sending stories with Mythos elements (Cthulhu and co.), we are open to anything Lovecraftian, and it need not include an Elder God, but it should evoke or be inspired by Lovecraft."

I have had my Lovecraftian "Western" "A Meeting on the Trail to Hot Iron" accepted [contracts are signed]. I'm looking forward to seeing who comes and plays in the past. More female protagonists & pre-colonial Africa, THAT I'd love to see! !! OK, Scribes, sharpen yer pencils...

Here's a link to more details:

http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com/?p=7404

cold black night... WORDS...

Carcosa-Berlin Express… Cold black night… Blues roarin ‘like the grey Hulk on a STOMP!! !

Getting’ close to finishin’ a new one… odd how some come so hard…

3 books between now and JAN/FEB and it seems weird waiting on word of cover art, etc., but that’s publishers. You sign on, they get the contract and they forget yer email… or so it seems at times…

Working on cleaning on the desktop… NEEDS IT!! ! Bad… Looks like I have a lot done this year…

Only have 5 “active” tales on the desktop now… And one “collection” file that needs to go to pub… That said, I now have 44,000+ words to choose from for NIGHT BEGETS… One more and I’m done…

I’m still wondering about agents… Do I? Should I? W/ the new novel [TOP] ready to go, curious what could happen…

OOPS… 3 more need to be tended too… Then, finally, I can get back to next novel… I want to putter w/ this one bad…

I’ve decided the next collection after SIN & ashes and NIGHT BEGETS will be called Portraits of Ruin… Planning on putting a couple of old things in there – original versions w/ my wEir~D layouts and fonts [want them to see print in the form they were intended/envisioned – especially my 1st “Caligari”!! ! – which almost made it into SIN & ashes, but we yanked it due to page count considerations][also delighted Nightmare’s Disciple will contain Bob Price’s introduction, which was not included in the 1st release due to page count considerations as well. It will also have a NEW “Foreword” by Bob looking back! As he was Dr. Frankenstein on this tome, it’s nice to see his "then & now" lab notes!!]…

There’s a few other things in the works, but I’m still not allowed to talk about them…

Next time I’ll update the list of tales I have coming in 2011, so far… just need to organize the list…

Hope yer all warm & WELL...

Well, there's the King in Yellow pointing at the new desk in the Nightmarium-Berlin... guess that means more WORDS... [maybe he'll let me shave and shower 1st?? ?]

All my bEastly best! !!

Joe

[may need to change the soundtrack... "early!!!" Weather Report seems a good bet! !!]

seems trains ain't, so bicyclin' along Tarkio Road...

"Tark left Santiago"
+grainy B&W NOIR
+ a smack of hybrid poetics
+ Karl Edward Wagner
+ shadow/time travel [w/ a Jobim/Mingus soundtrack]
_____________
= lookin' done to me...

In other news... Old PC up & runnin' [no laptop keys!! priceless!]... Cleaning up old files - Lot of ghosts in that closet... 12,000 songs rescued! Happy ears!!

Nightmarium-Berlin taking shape... Books easing into bookcases... Nice to look at old friends on A-Shelves! !!

To be released between DEC 2010 and JUNE 2011 - SIN & ashes [TPB]; Nightmare's Disciple [e-book/TPB]; Blood Will Have Its Season [e-book]; Night Begets [TPB]... and various tales in anthologies & mags - 6 so far [& waitin' on word regarding a couple of others from editors]...

ND & BLOOD getting new covers [Hmmmmmmmmmmm...] - that may prove interesting... Talons crossed - I'll keep ya posted...

Finished a story tale w/ my friend, Tara Vanflower of Lycia [she''s a delight! !!] I REALLY like this short thing we did. We are working on others! !!

Finished a short tale w/ my friend, Kelly Young [for "STRANGE AEONS" magazine]... Think this one is wonderful... I hope it breaks readers hearts [did mine]...

Lots of "TALES" on the desk... 5 in "active" status...

New novel and screenplay screamin' to be heard...


[David Crosby/Brewer & Shipley/Spoon]

Casino R'lyeh Cthulhu Mythos Playing Cards

Jarred Wallace of Dagon Industries has comeout with a deck of Lovecraftian playing cards... play cards? ?? Lovecraftian? ?? Then you need these -- the art [FAB! !!] is by Heather Hudson!! !

Casino R'lyeh Cthulhu Mythos Playing Cards

http://www.arkhambazaar.com/oddities/other/casino-rlyeh-cthulhu-mythos-poker-cards?cPath=36&zenid=omroenvahsdgjfqi8qbqvug2u2

Speaking Volumes

Speaking Volumes - We are proud to announce the Print and E-pub signing of "NIGHTMARE'S DISCIPLE" by Joseph S.Pulver Sr.

"How to describe this novel... Pulver-izing! - Best Selling Author Brian Lumley

Speaking Volumes will have news of my collection, Blood Will Have Its Season soon! !!

Stay tuned...

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1741550948#!/speakingvolumes.audiobooks

a certain mr. Hopfrog elegantly speaks . . .

a certain mr. Hopfrog Pugmire elegantly recommends Double Feature Press and one of his favorite bEasts . . . Again, I'm humbled and delighted to receive his praise. To be associated with a Lovecraftian of his caliber is both, a pleasure and a high privilege.  

new tale of mine...

Finish my final draft of "Caroline No. Bleue"... puttering w/ I WRITE LIKE I plug in a long passage... got James Joyce... wanted Paul Celan... maybe it needs another draft... Anyone seen my saddle? ??

[Nick Drake on the box . . .]

The Book - The Writer . . . Soon to be in a book with This Writer

Review from http://grimreviews.blogspot.com/2010/07/robin-spriggs-diary-of-gentleman.html

I'm overjoyed and humbled to be one half of an upcoming book with a Magican this powerful. Robin Spriggs is a master wordsmith; startling imagination, capable of endlessly defying a reader's expectations, style, charm, a wizard of form and literature! !! He is all that and so much more . . .



Robin Spriggs' new collection of prose poems, Diary of a Gentleman Diabolist, whirls toward the indefinable. Prose poetry itself seems like an odd and engaging anachronism, and the effect is doubled when it is used as a genre-bending skeleton for Spriggs' strange and macabre content. This ambiguity and ethereal charm marks him as a flexible practitioner of the truly unknown and truly fearful, and his latest book collects his workings, somewhere deep in the hinterlands inundated with the weird, the fantastic, and the occult.

The selections inside Diary of a Gentleman Diabolist range from a few short sentences to story length passages. With few exceptions, Spriggs manages to christen his well written pieces with the symbolic depth of poetry in few words. Some stories read as occultic rites, while others make painfully truthful observations about existence. Yet, most of these prose poems are self-contained tales that resonate deeply with the inexplicable imagery and otherworldly vistas common to weird fiction's best. Added to this is the sense of interconnectedness between these stories, which really makes one feel as though they are reading some forgotten diary uncovered in an old chest. But whose? A madman's, a sorcerer's, or a demented poet's? The best answer is all of the above.

Pieces like "Liber I," "Liber Ba," and "The House of Nine" draw on a seemingly rich knowledge of real occultism by Spriggs. But within these rituals are other currents, parallel meanings that are forced to cohabit an incredibly limited space. Readers will uncover philosophical musings on the temporal and the imaginary, as well as a sense that they are eavesdropping on the author's most private concerns and self-reflections. Direct ties between this occultic wordsmithing and the book's pure fiction is not always obvious, but these intermittent passages bridge the gap between fiction and spiritualism, giving the whole of Diary a mystical potency.

Spriggs' fables, this collection's real center, are nearly as diverse as the project as a whole. "The Yordhla" chronicles the onset of strange entities seeking their lord, wrapped in curious and unsettling language very much at home in the weird genre. "Withershin," on the other hand, seems like the bastard offspring of magical realism and dark folklore in describing the leg altering curse that befalls a town's inhabitants. "The Brides," which gives readers a minuscule peak at ghosts from another world, is just as horror inducing in its rich imagery and melancholy mood. On another level, "Practical Magic" and "Through a Doll, Darkly" are nasty and hilarious prose poems very reminiscent of the late Thomas Wiloch's work.

Whether he is doing humor, thought exercises, horror, or magic, Spriggs hits the target about 98% of the time. A tiny handful of pieces fall short in their effect and purpose, however. "Lagomorpha" and "Charge of the Dung Beetle" are too short, and come dangerously near to breaking the spell woven by Spriggs' many excellent offerings. Fortunately, these weaker prose poems are exceptionally rare and mercifully short, and barely even figure into one's reflections on the overall journey--one worthy enough to be taken time and time again.

In an era where technology is abundant and attention spans are short (guess the correlation), prose poetry may well be due for a comeback. It is not impossible, however unlikely, to imagine the Stephenie Meyer readers of today becoming the weird fiction aficionados and creators of tomorrow. Writers like Robin Spriggs may be just the ticket to lead them there. Those who have never experienced the truly magical, frightening, and surreal before Spriggs may not come back after venturing through Diary of a Gentleman Diabolist, and those who have tread the strange many times will have one more uneasy stroll to take when Anomalous Books releases this collection in September, 2010.

-Grim Blogger

Tara Vanflower

Tara Vanflower's voice, w/ Lycia [remember COLD -- a classic! !!] and on her own recordings, has haunted and beguiled me for years. And not just her voice, but her words as well. So you can well imagine my delight to have just collaborated on a short tale w/ her. Something we will do again! !!

Tara and Lycia are here:

http://www.lyciummusic.com/

Double Feature Press

As you may know, Sarah L. Covert, has started a new imprint, Double Feature Press. I'm delighted to one of the 1st authors choosen to sail on this new plague ship. Robin Spriggs, the diabolical wizard to penned the widely-acclaimed, Diary of a Gentleman Diabolist, is the other author appearing in this maiden voyage. Robin's half of the tome is called, The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom, my half is titled Night Begets.

Noted Lovecraftian editor and critic, Robert M. Price, will be offering the introduction.

And there will be soundtrack . . . Yes, that's right. Dark ambient provocateur, Jason Wallach The Unquiet Void and Tara Vanflower of the wondrous and lyrical and often magical phenomenon known as Lycia (!!!) will be creating dark compositions based on what Robin & I are brewing. Few things thrill me more than the thought of Jason and Tara being a part of this new venture! !!

DFP still needs donors, and we'd love to have you aboard! Please look at the Kickstater link and help. Every dollar counts --we can not do this w/out you!-- and I promise you will be delighted by what your donation, large or small, brings forth.

To see who is who and where this all happens, follow the links.

Kickstarter
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/505398600/double-feature-press?ref=search

Double Feature Press
http://doublefeaturepress.com/

Robin Spriggs
http://www.houseofnine.com/

Robert M. Price
http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/

Jason Wallach - The Unquiet Void
http://www.wix.com/jsnwallach/the-unquiet-void

Tara Vanflower [& LYCIA]
http://www.lyciummusic.com/

"But Not For Me"

"But Not For Me" is a new tale I've just co-authored w/ my dear friend "Laurence Amiotte". Never had the chance to work like this w/ another scribe, he made project a dream.

I hope when you read this new work, you enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed pouring my poetry into it.

"But Not For Me" has been sold and will appear in "STRANGE AEONS" #4.

http://strange-aeons.com/

J. Karl B.

The stunning cover for my new collection, SIN & ashes is by noted surrealist J. Karl B.

I'll have more to say about him later. For now go here and discover wonder! !!

http://homepage.mac.com/photomorphose/virtual2a.html

the cover for SIN & ashes is . . .

Here is the cover for

SIN & ashes . . .

The fonts will be added soon! !!

More on this in my new post! !!

Double Feature Press - A New [Dark] Light on the Publishing Horizon - Please read and support in any way you can ...

About this projectWelcome to the Kickstarter page for Double Feature Press. We are a small press formed by Sarah L. Covert in October of 2010. Sarah grew up on drive-in movies. That is where her love for Science Fiction, Strange Tales, and Horror was born. Double Feature Press has an interesting concept, based around the old double feature drive-in flicks. Each book has two authors. Each author contributes either short stories, poems, or novellas to make up their half of the book. The books will all be in the genres Sarah loved as a child and loves even more now. They will be limited edition runs.Our first book is due out in 2011.


Hi! My name is Sarah L. Covert. Some of you may know me from my work at Lurker Films and the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon. Many of you will know me from She Never Slept - a science fiction, strange tales, and horror news and reviews website. For those of you who don't know me, please check out my bio on the sidebar - and oh, nice to meet you!


The idea for Double Feature Press has been brewing for over a year now. After reviewing a lot of books from indie/small press, I came to a realization. There are a lot of good publishers out there and some really great publishers, but for every one of those there are three or four really bad ones. I have heard the same kinds of things from many authors - the publisher didn't edit their copy, they didn't promote them, they didn't give them copies of their work, and worse than all that -- sometimes the publishers wouldn't even pay them. Eventually I grew weary of hearing this kind of thing and decided that I would be part of the solution... I would throw my hat in the ring and add to the ranks of the good guys! I shared my thoughts with my friend Joe Pulver, and he thought my ideas were wonderful. He was ready to work with me on the spot! He is an exceptional writer, so I was happy to have him on board. His endless support is what made me persist and never give up on this dream.


"Some writers one admirers and others make one want to do as they do, or try. For me, Joe Pulver is of the latter type. His imagination is so vile so much of the time that it makes me giggle with amazement. And the prose so deadly visionary. I'm grateful that the pieces in this collection are those of a fellow horror writer who has raised the ante on what it means to be such a creature." – Thomas Ligotti


“In an earlier day I feel sure Joe Pulver would have been arrested for writing some of the stuff in this collection. Maybe he will be yet! In any case, I cannot shake the feeling that his stories are all well described by analogy to "The Colour out of Space" in that the descent of some elder, outer entity acts as seed producing, from the dark mulch of Joe's subconscious, a luxurious growth of beautiful and at the same time poisonous blooms. One knows one ought to flee but cannot resist hanging around to savor the corruption! How can he write, with such intricate delicacy, thunderous prose that fairly rips up the pages it is printed on? I wish I knew!" -Robert M. Price


At the time I was working a full-time job and my website was like a second job (that I didn't get paid for), I didn't have the start-up money or the second author for the book, so the dream was on the backburner for a while. I never stopped searching for though. About a month ago I received a book in the mail from author Robin Spriggs to review on the She Never Slept website. I was floored - his book, Diary of a Gentleman Diabolist, was nothing short of brilliant. I instantly knew he would be the perfect pairing for Joe! We opened dialogue between the three of us and in a matter of days decided that this was it and now was the time.


"Spriggs's style is filled with elegance, literary wit, and uncanny dread. His work builds to an inescapable climax that eschews the happy endings in the work of lesser fantasists. I enjoy the frisson of his endings immensely." -Michael A. Arnzen


"...an author who is serious about stretching the creative boundries of fantastic literature." -Cemetery Dance


There was a small problem with this, though the stars were right for this in so many ways, the startup money would be difficult (at best) to obtain. You see, I am now unemployed. I would not be able to get a loan and didn't want to find a big money investor who would surely want creative input in our project. I was perplexed. But after thinking for some time, the lightbulb lit up! A few months back, my friend Wolfgang Parker used Kickstarter to get funding for his graphic novel and i was a huge success. I applied and was accepted! That brings us to the present.


We are asking fans of Robin Spriggs, Joe Pulver, She Never Slept, and those in the Kickstarter community to become involved. All of the money we raise here will go towards the first print run for Double Feature Press.


Throughout the process, we will be posting updates on our blog (that will only be accessible to backers) about our ongoing adventure of getting this small press running. You will hear from the authors, be able to read edited clips of work going into the book, see sketches of cover art, read about my search for the best printer and learn what it takes to make an idea a physical reality, see video or audio clips of Joe reading his work, and so much more. It will surely be a unique experience.


We want you to know much we appreciate your help, so we have instituted a rewards program for you to choose from based on the level you pledge. The incentives include everything from the blog "backstage pass", to limited edition Double Features swag, to free copies of the book, to limited edition signed copies of the book, to your name in a story or poem written by our authors! It's our way of thanking you for helping to make a dream become a reality and helping us do what it is we love most. If you look at the sidebar you can see details of each pledge reward. All you need is an Amazon account to make a pledge. If you don't have an account don't fret, they are quick and easy to set up. Your account will only be charged if we meet or exceed out pledge goal by the deadline. Remember, any amount you donate gets us one step closer to meeting our goal and is appreciated more than any words could ever express adequately.


For more information on me, the authors who will be in Double Feature Press's first book, and Double Feature Press itself - please follow the links below.

Double Feature Press

I'm over the moon to split the 1st release by DFP with Robin Spriggs. His work is amazing! !! Everyone from Laird Barron on praises him and for good reason!

Robin's half of the tome will be --


The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom

The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom, according to arcane legend, is a collection of stories and poems about a collection of stories and poems by (if titles can be trusted) a certain Ozman Droom. But who is Ozman Droom? Or what is Ozman Droom? And when, where, why, and how is Ozman Droom? The answers to these and countless other questions of equally perilous rank await the curious seeker within the collection itself . . . provided such a book does indeed exist. And perhaps even if not. Caveat lector.


Mine, maybe something like this:

Night Begets
Night burns and burrows, vast as any idea it declares its bottomless truth -- Terminus. The players and observers come, absorb and discard atoms, fill moments with ripples they call magic, or love, or chance, heartache, and fate. For knowledge and pleasure they steal editions, wait for, or take, more. Night loves nothing . . . and, finally, it takes all.

Joe Pulver’s, Night Begets, is a collection of tales and poetic texts about lovelorn ghouls and other night-bound creatures as they discover sin and ashes bloom and echo in the noir labyrinths and pitch black, dungeon skirts of Night. It is a work that provokes and will leave an indelible mark on anyone who picks it up and comes through on the other side, painting a world that is as much brutal as it is beautiful and imploring readers to reconcile these seemingly antagonistic aspects of existence.

more info can be found here:

http://doublefeaturepress.com/home.html

and here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/505398600/double-feature-press?ref=search

Double Feature Press - Kick Starter

Copyright Daniela Picht

Copyright Josh Lamkin

Double Feature Press
Double Feature Press - Kick Starter

This evening I have some terrorific news to share with you! I am starting my own small press. Double Feature Press is a small indie press formed by yours truly! We have an interesting concept, based around the old double feature drive-in flicks. Each book has two authors. Each author contributes either short stories, poems, or novellas to make up their half of the book. The books will all be in the genres I loved as a child and love even more now. They will be limited edition runs. Our first book - with auhors Joe Pulver and Robin Spriggs - is due out in 2011. We could use your help getting started. Please stop by and check out our Kickstarter page (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/505398600/double-feature-press )for more information. Thanks, my fiends!

Abstrusely,
Sarah L. Covert

Joe here. I'll have more to say about this in the next post! !!

HPLFF . . .

the fest is cooking . . . Alanna Quinn and others are beaming info and pics to FB and sites like SheNeverSlept.com . . . for those of us, the broken-hearted, who are not there these are a gift.

Sarah L. Covert, Robin Spriggs, & I are hours away from the big news . . .

I'm working on 3 tales [in 3 different voices] at the same time -- It's noisy in here! !! But it's fun! The 4th tale is coming to a boil too . . .

I've forgotten something . . .

[current soundtrack: Marvin, Black Sabbath, OM]

Historical Lovecraft anthology

Innsmouth Free Press is doing an anthology entitled, Historical Lovecraft. They have bought my tale, "A Meeting On The Trail To Hot Iron" for inclusion in the book that will be released next year.

They are still open for subs and actively seeking fiction set outside of Europe and the United States, specially tales set in ancient times. They are extremely interested in stuff set in Africa, say Aksum and in Asia and pre-Columbian civilizations. "We haven't had a single thing in Egypt or ancient Rome arrive, but we're stuffed to the gills with Englishmen and Americans in the 19th and early 20th century." I'm one of the 19th century America tales -- post-Civil War.

You can see the cover and find submssions details here:

http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com/?p=7404

SOMETHING wicked is coming SOON! !!

Red Magic . Elegy of Rain . eye of newt . SIN & ashes . PAIN . . . This weekend Robin Spriggs, Sarah L. Covert, and yer bEastie are going to do a very bloody and diabolical thing . . . STAY TUNED! !!

Bob Price's treasure!! ! -- From RWC to Hastur . . .

This fantastic volume traces Hastur from Bierce to Chambers to HPL and Derleth . . . ESSENTIAL! !!

S.T. Joshi's Chambers & KIY benchmark! !!

All the critical RWC a reader needs . . .

Alex gets BLOODy

a certain Mr. Hopfrog gets BLOODy! !!

I have a new KIY tale in

cover art is by Tom Brown

Blood Will Have Its Season

is coming to an E-book device soon . . .

[this image is the original unused cover image for BLOOD]

Nightmare's Disciple

is coming to an e-Book device soon . . .

Rick Dakan

I had the great pleasure of spending some time this afternoon with author, Rick Dakan. Wit, smarts, down to earth and friendly, Rick is one fine Lovecraftian. Rick’s been in Berlin researching and writing his new novel, and over the last few months he’s been interviewing Lovecraftains like Bob Price, Wilum Pugmire, S.T. Joshi, and Laird Barron. Today he added me to the list. I’m normally nervous as hell speaking, but Rick is so easy going it was a pleasure to sit and talk to him about things like Nightmare's Disciple, Blood Will Have Its Season, and Robert W. Chambers' King in Yellow.

I’ll be getting my bEastly paws on his novel, The Cthulhu Cult, soon, so what out for a review. S.T. and Bob have both praised this book, so I’m very much looking forward to it.

Info on Rick’s novel can be found at his site:

http://www.thecthulhucult.com/

HLPFF 2010

The wondrous H P Lovecraft Film Festival is coming up . . . OCT 1 -2 -3 . . .

http://hplfilmfestival.com/

This legendary fest has been running since 1995, and SADLY, this is to be the last . . . If you ever attended you won't want to miss this last go 'round. If you've never been, do not miss your last chance to view CTHULHUVIAN wonders and hear the Great Old Ones [OK, some are a bit younger] speak! !!

The GOH is none other than the finest writer & storyteller passing out literary gifts these days, Caitlin R. Kiernan! & editor-supreme, Ellen Datlow will be there! !! Add Lovecraftian wonder-man, Bob Price, S. T. Joshi, and Michael Shea [a genius if ever walked!! !], a certain Mr. Hopfrog Pumire, and a midnight-buttered host of other bEasts, you better get there and enjoy! !!

http://hplfilmfestival.com/

The END is NIGH!! !

Be there or stay at home with your suicidal tendencies . . .

For more info and UPDATES visit the always on-top-of-things

http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/

2 Poems . . .

You try, but . . . some days the words just go where they want to . . .


Being Led By Pictures . . .

A doorway. A tear. An arm with a need . . .

Said her name was kristamas.

But her eyes made me forget little bad girls. Ripe-fruit open mouths, emphasis venture. Panties down around their pale ankles.

What’s her name? She must have one? In some life of pictures adorned with masks and loved madly she had one? Must have . . .

The way she parades, scootin’ nipples ready to whirrrr. Why won’t she take off her dark darkmask?

Miles’ trumpet heats her toes. Snow white, curled—what diaries her toes must have written, bite by bite, in the calendars that vanished in graves.

I want to talk to her. Whisper about the bite of the spider. Those legs, that’s the side I want to be lost on. I want to kiss her with my teeth.

“El Prince, loose your ebb and flow processional. The oracle in my fahrenheit itches.”

Shaman-song mouth of rothko shadows colors my mind, peels me till I capsize. Eyes—it’s about that time. Eyes—what if my dainty moondream-valentine klangs when the black satin X of your fox steps from angel to flame. Eyes—every small tiger-face window open with ghosts. Want her gamut to cry without hesitation, want her tongue full of me too, me too.

She knots her joy to the lisp and chat of the drums. Toes . . . Toes—true and pretty, whisper, “Oh.”

Her meow, petite as a knife, is upside down. Knees, smooth as art painted in midnight ivy, redecorates the poof of my stunts . . .

Eyes and toes and nipples, the room dances till it can’t—till it can’t.

[after the art of Kristamas Klousch]

[David Sylvian SLEEPWALKERS]

(c) Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. 2010



The Ground She Sleeps Upon Is A Clue . . . and a mystery


The trauma of chasm is obvious. Can’t delete the world of deadman feats.
Too many surfaces. Tomorrow dies.
Innocent Erendira doubts . . .
In-between the vanishing smoke of love,
Her where-am-I vessel of cracked-diamond stars and amnesia,
Wounds the blue dance of the door.
A day away from further
Her fingers, an exiled patchwork of self injury
And coiled architecture,
Lose their grip on the prayer-bridge.
A butterfly
—(no arc of kite-dance above the snail)
—(its tongue of secrets sends no word),
Scarred by a whisper of breath,
Rests on her shoulder as she slumbers . . .
There’s no anger in dust.

[again, after the art of Kristamas Klousch]

[David Sylvian - "Ride"]

(c) Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. 2010

word stuff

Kind of busy ‘round here . . . [chilly too] . . .

The final edits for SIN & ashes are turned in . . . awaiting cover news/details . . .

Signed the contracts w/ Speaking Volumes [ http://speaking-volumes.com/indexflsh.asp ] for the reissue of Nightmare’s Disciple, and the E-Books of ND and Blood Will Have Its Season . . . They’ll darken the street in JAN/FEB 2011 . . .

Working on a *long* tale set in LENG for Bob Price’s From Secret Asia's Blackest Heart, coming from Mythos Books 2011 . . . [& I hear tell a certain mega-talented earth-clearer --known to wander ‘round in red pj’s-- is also penning a Lang tale for this anthology] . . .

Also on the desk: a noirish short called, “The Black Box”, lightly-editing The Orphan Palace [may have updates about this soon], looking forward to seeing the new issue of “STRANGE AEONS” magazine [#3 is an all KIY issue w/ a new tale by me], and tinkering w/ the new novel [noir & rock ‘n’ roll, w/ a special cosmic guest] . . . researching for another tale for another Bob Price project –this one involves playing w/ madness. Guess I can . . .

[current sountrack: David Sylvian SLEEPWAKLERS] [wonderful cover by Kristams Klousch too! !!]

A fan page for me . . .

Sarah L. Covet, of SNS, a fan and friend of mine has started a fan page for me and my books on Facebook.

Details can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joseph-S-Pulver/157811340895910

sheNeverSlept can be found here:

http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/

A Gentleman Diabolist gets Bloody

Of Blood Will Have Its Season, [Damn near genius poet! &] Gentleman Diabolist, Robin Spriggs, says, "If you like your prose (and poetry) haunting, hallucinatory, and full of heart, read Joe Pulver."

Every lover of The Weird and poetry, ***NEEDS*** his collection, Diary of a Gentleman Diabolist! !!

http://www.amazon.com/Diary-Gentleman-Diabolist-Robin-Spriggs/dp/0963429671/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

Spawn of the Green Abyss

And S.T. [Joshi] says, "Am reading proofs of SPAWN OF THE GREEN ABYSS . . ."

S.T. is the editor on this tome. It's coming from MYTHOS BOOKS very soon. That's very good news! !!

My tale, ". . . Hungry . . . Rats", is in SPAWN.

More on this and other things soon . . .

BLOOD stains yer E-device . . .

‎Blood Will Have Its Season is coming to an E-book device soon . . . Ligotti and Datlow liked it, maybe you will too? More on this release and ND on E-book very soon . . .

Nightmare's Disciple . . . reanimated

My Lovecraftian serial killer novel, Nightmare’s Disciple, will soon be in print again. This time it will contain Bob Price’s original introduction. Sadly, it was not included in the Chaosium edition due to page count considerations. ND will also be appearing as an E-book. More soon . . .

In other news . . . I submitted two short horror/weird works today . . .

Also at work on . . . Well . . . out running w/ 3 dogs, History, Ashton, and Outlaw . . . fingerpost says, MYTHOS . . . Got my guns out. I'd call Laird or Jack London -- Hell, I'd assemble the Avengers, but there's no phone booth . . . Got invited to whip up something for a new anthology, and of course, I said, yes . . .

There are several other forms of madness in the wings, I'll keep you posted . . .

A reaction to napalm doom-chords poem . . .

For Our Metalhead—Worshipping—Across the Courtyard


Night comes in, engages desires, touches worn, unfolds.

Not born to saunter while August swells, Autumn layered in textures of dust, slips, droplet by droplet, into the stillness of winter.

The silent wild transcriptions of blackness do not speak of freedom or truth or the canvas sky . . .

November is no longer daydreaming of future, or a box of iridescence.

Night comes in . . . Among the clouds, fearful, rushing, if moves away.



[Nik Bärtsch´s Ronin Modal 39_8]

Berlin 8/28/2010 10:54 pm


(c) Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. 2010

odds & stuFF . . .

This week in a nutshell:

Berlin - cold and damp.

Pulver(s) in E-book . . . news at 11 . . . Yeah, it's happening.

Finished another round of editing newest novel [TOP] and have begun my next . . . Looks like it's about a stranger in a strange land. Yes Virgina, the American night is a very strange land. Don't believe me go look out your window . . .

Have new subs ready to go out in the mail . . .

Still editing SIN . . . TYPOS :(

Listening to Scott Walker and the Doors . . . or should I say, L.A.'s Brel and Weill . . . Reality and music [and they say it's only rock and roll] . . .

Direct sunlight . . . 74 degrees . . .

Sun came up . . . seems hours ago . . . Like that when you don't get much sleep . . . Another dark night of the soul for the history books? We'll see . . .

Editing [insert growl] . . . puttering w/ a passage from newest novel . . . maybe goes:

Moths collapsing. The moon surrenders to tears.

Birds and summer sky hide from Night’s traveling dialogue of words.

The cigarette in Cardigan’s hand turns to ashes. The empty bottle at his feet did not sail. He feels like a jigsaw piece that will never meet luck.

He lights another cigarette. Its smoke is a wedding gown that can find no harbor, or hand to take it to happiness. Wasted. It waits, thinning when no water of situation or information comes to sing to its spiraling branches.

Confusion. Once. Orientation muffling reality.

No follow me. No horn of plenty. This sea is barren.

It clings to his eyes.

Cardigan burns, slides into his soft discontent. Notices the pack is empty and the Night’s din of bitter ways has not tired of blinding hearts with dust.

He could sleep. Would like to.

But some border yet to cross will not leave the near and far of his landscape of minutes.

He wants to say, I am not like you. I am not your mirror.

Wants to.

But his tongue is an old shoe with no wings.

He stares into his hand. Asks, “Mountain, or devil?”

No reply comes.

There is a light in the distance. Where there is light there is a drink and a cash register and momentum that hasn’t lost its color . . .

A moth collapses. His last cigarette is ashes.

. . . Maybe . . . if I don't change it in the next look see . . .

Got a tale to submit to an anthology today. My 2nd Western [but that's just the stage . . . It's really nothing more than two hard men pinned to a night of hard weather . . .] . . . Kinda sick of looking at it . . . Worrying about 2 words . . . wouldn't mind if it was a whole sentence, but two words? ??

Incense for today: Rose and Sandalwood.

Music [so far]: Deaf Center. Might need a bit of Bob Seger later now . . .

Tea: black on ice.

. . . I hear tell it will be 84 here today. Better stock up on ice. [Thanks, Bob!! !]

Magpies have arrived . . . Guess they slept in . . . Can't say I blame them . . .

Now where did I leave my smokes?

Ah, there.

Grim Reviews blog goes gaga for NULL

It's a rave! !!


http://grimreviews.blogspot.com/2010/08/nemonymous-ten-null-immortalis-reviewed.html

Some recent places to find my work

again . . . NULL IMMORTALIS! !!

Des Lewis' NI is getting praised.


"Have been quietly enjoying Null Immortalis: "The Shell" is a once-in-a-century story of outstanding importance."

"There is no story which I haven't dug. A collection of smaller and greater masterpieces."

There's more, but you get the idea. 26 tales of wonder. Many may well appear on BEST OF lists when the year comes to a close. have you read this fine collection yet? You should! !!


NI is here:

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/null_immortalis__a_realtime_review.htm

SRV + Lonnie Mack = KIY

You hear a song and your mind is off . . . Strange districts, end of the line faces, rain leans in . . .

I won’t stare into her grave mouth while it dances, spreading its cruel time, and unlearn what was written in The Imperial Dynasty of America. Won’t revoke my pledge and vanish, so their world of spite and petty temptation and its stone-fist doctrine can remain and flower.

I will not be struck by their flag.

The pack is out there. Been out there half the day. Erecting a Lethal Chamber to assault my window. Posting their handbills and pronouncements. Marking things. I see it. I can hear it. Hear it twist and scar.

Do they believe their straggle of fables can astonish, or conquer, my heart and its limbs? That I am some throbbing hummingbird that must circuit the black architecture their master frightens the world with?

They circulate their war, tarnish cheeks with knots of blood . . . They only seek to bruise, to mark and encrust all light with crude. They roar from abyss-colored throats, seeking, pulling on wires, calling phantoms from the grave.

They can fish, but they won’t eat my soul.

Joni's "Coyote" just came on . . . Wonder where I'm headed? Did she just say, "eyes and lips and bones"? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh . . .

Joni fades . . . Quicksilver Messenger Service "Doin' Time in the U.S.A." rollin' over me . . . ". . . hounds in the moonlight . . ." Yeah, that's it!

I Write Like . . .

OK . . So I'm puttering around and find this website, I Write Like. You paste in your text and it compares it to famous authors. Yeah OK, for a laugh . . . I pump in 5 of my things, all "very" different. One's a poem.

I get --

Gertrude Stein

J. D. Salinger

Neil Gaiman

Hemmingway

Nabokov

Yeah right . . . So here's to 5 minutes of laughter. Nabokov, in my dreams . . .

Care to putter?

http://iwl.me/

New works . . .

Finished "Marks and Scars and Flags" [new KIY tale], "The Ozymandias Display" [yes, Shelly kicked this one into life], dusted off and finished an old Lovecraftian piece [even submitted it], had "NO HEALING PRAYERS" [guess we'll call it Lovecraftian noir] accepted for an upcoming anthology next year [can't mention the name yet, but I'm delighted to be in it]. Finished "When A Sigh Visits Skin" [dropped it in the NEXT collection file for now].

I have a new KIY tale coming in "STRANGE AEONS" #3 [SEPT 2010?][I'm super excited to have a 2nd tale of mine in this fine mag! !!]. “Dark Discoveries" magazine will have my tale, "When The Deal Goes Down" in its WINTER 2010 issue. S. T. Joshi has accepted “The Last Few Nights in a Life of Frost" for his “Weird Tales Annual” #1 [Hippocampus Press 2010] and “Hungry . . . Rats . . . “ for S.T. Joshi’s The Spawn of the Green Abyss [an anthology for Mythos Books --Fall?--2010]

Still working on 2 new short tales, and have begun writing and researching "new!" novel . . .

Working on a project w/ my friend Kelly Young. I'm over the moon for this baby!

Might have some interesting book news end of next week -- Keeping my talons crossed it plays out like I'm hoping . . .

That's the update . . .

All my bEastly best!! !

Some authors Laird Barron feels should be read . . .

Laird Barron posted this list of "horror-dark fantasy authors I think you should go read" on his blog. As he says,"In no particular order and not remotely definitive:"

1. Caitlin Kiernan

2. Sarah Langan

3. Richard Gavin

4. Adam Golaski

5. Maurice Broaddus

6.Lee Thomas

7.Nick Mamatas

8. Paul Tremblay

9. Stephen Graham Jones

10. Michael Cisco

11. Gemma Files

12. Don Tumasonis

13.Tananarive Due

14. Glen Hirshberg

15. Joe Hill

16. Joe Pulver

17. Norman Partridge

18. Sarah Pinborough

19. Allyson Bird

20. Tia V. Travis

I'm delighted and then some to see my name on that list! !!

Laird's blog is here:

http://imago1.livejournal.com/

Des Lewis has been talking NULL . . . My turn!

Des Lewis, the editor of NEMONYMOUS (2001 - 2010), has sadly, closed the gates to this haven of wonder. But before strolling off to districts where he will, hopefully(! !!), find time to gift us w/ more of his fine fiction, he has left one last gift . . . NULL IMMORTALIS.

Look at the array of gifted writers [Reggie Oliver, Joel Lane, Gary Fry, Richard Gavin, Steve Rasnic Tem, and Mark Valentine, are but a few] who have created soul-stirring wonder and thought provoking deeps between these covers.

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/null_immortalis.htm

Those minds, those hearts—Did you sigh? I did.

Des is also doing a “real-time” review of NULL on his site, a kind of director’s commentary on the fascinating tales he’s collected for this tome. Neat idea.

As I have said many times now, I am delighted/humbled/over the moon, to have been lucky enough to have had a tale included in this marvelous collection.

Thank you, Des.

And to the writers, thank you for sharing your vision and your mighty talents! !!

Surrealism! !!

There is a vast field of fantasy & whim in my heart where the surrealistic toymaker in me flies his alchemic kites . . .

Neil Coombs, the editor of PATRICIDE, has accepted 2 of my “bloom” tExts for an upcoming “Seaside” issue. To say I’m delighted is an understatement. I’m over the moon to finally see my character “bloom” [and his dips in gardens dizzy with history, its pencil of mirrors fluttering wildly] appear in print.

You can find Neil’s brilliant journal of surrealism here:

http://www.patricide.co.uk/

And here:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/neil.coombs

Ah, the magpies are calling, so I’m off for a stroll in the garden . . .

As Lin Carter used to say, Happy magic! !!

Marks and scars and flags . . .

John Lee Hooker and John Henry on the box . . . [same old blues . . .][again]

Dusted off an old Lovecraftian fragment I had sitting 'round and finished it . . . Feels done now . . . Even "submitted" the thing . . .

Felt surrealistic for 2 minutes, spilled a new poem, something about clouds and the Owl Moon . . . That led to a Carcosan state of mind. Out came a new KIY text, "Marks and Scars and Flags" [4 pager/1,300 words]. Everytime I think I'm done w/ RWC something in a song flares and I'm on that long dark road to Carcosa again . . .

So . . . Back to my J-Horror research for "Movietime . . . with popcorn . . . and . . ." . . . And to 2 new projects, one short "Mythos" work, and my next novel.

On those ancient roads John Lee's moanin' low . . . I'm followin' . . .

Sleeping's overrated so . . .

Berlin. A few clicks passed the witching hour . . . Skip out on the nightmare -- Way too many TEETH in that grim fandango beyond the wall of sleep for comfort.

A smoke burning. Tea. Unsweetened. No ice.

Finished the edits [short/quick/one a spelling error] on "When A Sigh Visits Skin" . Feels done, but I never know . . . Maybe down the line a reader [or an editor] will let me know?

Puttering w/ "Movietime . . ." -- Made up another batch of fake film titles. Vampireville Gangsterama, Vampire Honeymoon On Planet Alamo, Dr. Funkenstein’s Extraterrestrial Surf Party [I hope George Clinton will forgive my tip of the hat], Necronomicomedy . . . I think I like VHoPA. Half a chuckle for Necronomicomedy, but then I'm tired . . . We'll see after I sleep and eyeball them again.

So, where was I? Black Lagoon Bubba VII, Zombie Scarecrow Geisha-Cheerleaders VS. The Robovampire Assassins . . . YIKES! Somebody please sell me a few Zzzzzzzzzzzzz's.

More tea. Another smoke . . . Can't get Dave Alvin's "30 Dollar Room" outta of my head. Thank god, it's a great tune. Hate it when some dreck I can't stands get stuck there . . .

Berlin. A city of 3.4 million people and it's quiet as hell . . . Except in this cauldron I call a brain . . .

I'm taking a Greyhound on the Styx river line . . . I'm in a noirish state of mind . . . It's a stagecoach -- Burroughs is driving, Ellroy's ridin' shotgun, totin' a machine gun [He expecting Nazis, or a lose herd of zombies?] . . . Robert Johnston is in the seat across from me -- wants to bum another smoke . . . The clouds are stones. How the hell can Bukowski sleep in this crate? He needs a shave . . . Twilight Zone straight ahead. Hell, we're already there.

Sweet dreams to all,

a bEast on the Eastern Front

I'm in a J-Horror state of mind . . .

Vampire Shaolin Valkyrie VS Black Kat Witch-heart and the Soul-eating Robot Mermaids of the Firecloud Swamp . . . Gratuitous cheesecake w/ Xtra WEIRD, mad scientist, SAMURAI & [subtitles?] and buckets of blood, yep. "Movietime . . . With Popcorn" on my plate . . .

Puttering away . . .

‎2 poems today . . . One after a composition by Akira Rabelais, and the other after Plath's "Goatsucker" . . . and some editing . . .

Tomorrow I should finish my new piece, "When A Sigh Visits Skin" .[7 "wildly-fractured" pages of HARD-URBAN, blood & poetics, in Moontown] . . . It's done, but I'd like to eyeball it one more time . . .

A Review of Null Immortalis

I had the very great pleasure of having one of my tales appear in this wonderful collection alongside an array of truly gifted writers. The first review is in and it is a rave. Congrats to Des Lewis for his care and selection of tales and to all the writers who spin fine marvels on the pages of NI.

Here's the details:

First review: http://matthewfryer.com/2010/07/23/null-immortalis-nemonymous-ten/ "I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys an anthology to savour. The subtleties, the synchronicity, the love of language. It cares not for genre, other than the general blanket of weird fiction, and blends imagination with startling humanity. The stories are ordered so that themes sometimes leak from one to the next, but best of all, they credit the reader with intelligence; there is no unecessary explanation of thread or coincidence. Null Immortalis is a respectful equal, not a weary teacher."

http://matthewfryer.com/2010/07/23/null-immortalis-nemonymous-ten/

Finding words . . .

A city of 3.4 million . . . strutting magpies . . . Die Sehenswürdigkeiten und Unordnung of a new language . . .

But I'm finding words. Tales are forming . . .

The butterflies, dressed in hesitation and feeble, breathe their perfume in the flood-tide cage, but they are of no importance. Their expressions are forgotten towns of unarmed ghosts.

Bile is a dagger, a pirate, a voyage of eats and wings and uneven in wild skin. Spleen, a pin at the entrance of a butterfly.

What confidentials would Ellroy see? What would Chambers, or Bloch, take from gem-like moments on the edge of madness?

A stranger in a strange land . . . Berlin . . . Watching . . . Listening . . . Breathing the alchemic contours and palette of a different Yellow Book . . .

Finding new words . . .

Death's Head Blues

"Lord knows I've got 'em.

Handed in the introduction to Joe Pulver's upcoming collection Sin & Ashes, which is up for preorder at Hippocampus. This old boy will make your brain bleed. Ghosts of Thompson, Chambers and Lovecraft, informed by film noir and that badass James Ellroy...Pulver's the kind of stylist who ties you down and works you over while eerie music plays through scratchy intercom speakers and that one naked bulb on a wire flickers and flickers...And the misshapen thing in the suit chuckles from the shadows while its moll smiles and smokes a cigarette with her ivory holder. There's a big black Lincoln in the front lot by the gate, lights on, engine running. It's late, and getting later."

-- Laird Barron, [from a comment on his LJ blog about his intro to my new collection, SIN & ashes.]

Thanks, Laird. I've now read his intro 5 times, blew me away everytime. Praise from one of the true masters of our genre [and he is!], well, it leaves me reeling w/ delight, and over the moon.

Mr Wilum sings of Tindalos

My friend and fellow Lovecraftian, Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire, on his utterly charming You Tube v-blog, has done two v-blogs on The Tindalos Cycle from Hippocampus Press.

You can enjoy them here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrWilum#p/u/2/x5NJX-EhXxc

and

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrWilum#p/u/0/WGLKCau0BUs