Thursday, July 28, 2011

This is NOT yer Daddy's HPL to REH letter ......... NOPE! !!

Once upon a time I sent Gary McMahon my new novel to see if he, should he like it, might give me a blurb...................... Here's his email back~ ~~

Hey, Joe.

I read aout 2 thirds of your novel in the hospital yesterday, while I was waiting for test results. I can't think of a more perfect time to have experienced this: a time that was raw, gut-punhcingly scary, and tettering on the edge of absurdity. Just like the novel. :-)

Anyway, I'm loving it. No: I'm fucking loving it. Amazing stuff.

Here's a blurb before I even finish:

"The Orphan Palace is not a story. With this novel, Joe Pulver wants to press your face right up against the horror, the crime, the sheer madness and absurdity of the cosmos, and rub your nose in it. He wants you to eat it like a dog eats its own vomit; he wants your face to be covered in black-shining stars and rainbow-filth when you're done; he demands that you be changed by what you have consumed. This is not a novel. It is a unique literary experience."

I hope that's okay, my friend...

Gary.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Matt Cardin on Pulver, SIN & ashes, TOP...

"Joe Pulver is like the answer to some arcane riddle: What do you get when you cross one of Plato's Muse-maddened poets with a Lovecraftian lunatic, and then give their offspring to be raised by Raymond Chandler and a band of Beats? His work caters to a literary hunger you didn't even know you had, and does it darkly and deliciously." -- Matt Cardin, author of Dark Awakenings

Some days the inbox has something wonderful [and very humbling] in it.


Thank you, Matt! !!


SIN & ashes [Hippocampus Press]

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


The Orphan Palace [Chomu Press]
 
 
 

KIZUNA: Fiction for Japan comes this week!

http://tsunamianthologyinfo.tumblr.com/

Kizuna: Fiction for Japan, a charity book for Japan relief will be out this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

Every penny of this goes to aid for our friends in Japan!! ! EVERY penny! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


70 contributors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Moorcock! John Shirley! !!


From Tokyo : Katherine Govier
Downtown Pharmacy : Ken Asamatsu
E-mail to Mother : Lee Pletzers
Small Ocean After Solar : Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
A Cure for the World : S.A. Gambino
100 Fingers and the Tree : Michael Allen Rose
Ploughman : Nickolas Furr
Orpheus in the Underwear : Garrett Cook
Pocket : Touya Tachihara
The Norwegian Makes Lemonade : Jess Gulbranson
Breakwater : Alvin Pang
HO(locaust) Scale : Robert M. Price
Inconceivable : Kevin Lovelace
Memories of Ken : Junichi Ashikawa
Whispers : Adam Joffrain
Jackie Ω Has Gone Too Far : Moxie Mezcal
Throat Wad : Andersen Prunty
The Push of Man : L. Christopher Bird
The Old Man and Honey : Minoru Inaba
Sharan Gali : Richard Wright
Island Swarm : Kirk Marshall
Kopy Cats : Davide Mana
Why Wear Red? : Sho Tomono
Thrones & Powers : Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Yara-ma-yha-who : Christene Britton-Jones
Bille_Goat_Gruff_2056 : Philip Overby
Cherry Guard : Yuusuke Tokita
Eternal Case of the Mondays : David Agranoff
The Game : Bradley Sands
Initiation : Naohiko Kitahara
The Ice-Flock Storks of Sørøya : Michael John Grist
Nothingness Dust : Trent Zelazny
Five short Twitter novels : Riri Shimada
Conservation Hero Blues : Made in DNA
Dissolution : Glynn Barrass
Dead and Breakfast : Fulvio Gatti
Plum Blossom : Melissa J White
The Flower : Fumihiko Iino
A Tale of Smoke and Ash : Curt Seubert
Back Beyond The Hedgerow : Elizabeth Black
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Giant Rat of Sumatra : John F. Rice
A Summer’s Melody : Hiroshi Yamamoto
Humanitas Ex : Volker Baetz
Tarma’s Song : Andrew Freudenberg
The Power of Perspective : Terrie Czechowski
Legends : Lucía González Lavado
If Only Flowers : Mie Takase
Dial Tone : Stephen A. North
The Starlet and the Fishman : Ran Cartwright
Recollections : Ukyo Kodachi
The Loft in the Sky : Danilo Arona
Last Embrace : David Naughton-Shires
The Girl with Eyes in the Back of Her Head : John Shirley
Heart of an Angel : Jonathan Moon
The Music Box : Tadashi Ota
Not Alone in the Dark : Richard Salter
Natsumi’s Diary : Midori Tateyama
Sweet Hearts : Grant Wamack
Appointment at the Oji Inari Shrine : Massimo Soumaré
The Story without a Key : Yufuko Senoh
The Feast of the Fly : Berry Sizemore
A Second Metamorphosis : Ash Lomen
Homecoming : Adam Breckenridge
Mom, Dad and Hiro : Yasumi Kobayashi
The Bubbling Road of Self-Loathing : Jason Wuchenich
That Day… : Ryuto Hijiri
The Dream-colored Morning : Vittorio Catani
The End of the Royal Palace and the Kingdom : Joji Hayashi
The X-ray : Kevin David Anderson
The Mermaid Princess’ Love, Curse and… : Tamao Kanroji
Walking the Hog : Michael Moorcock
That Long Day : Shinya Gaku

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The foreword to The Orphan Palace

I’ve received Michael Cisco’s foreword to The Orphan Palace. To say I’m delighted and pleased is an understatement! !!

The Orphan Palace [CHOMU PRESS] arrives in OCT 2011.

http://chomupress.com/our-books/the-orphan-palace/

Friday, July 22, 2011

We should be hearing an update about this soon

Spawn of the Green Abyss, the anthology of S. T. Joshi's "favorite" Cthulhu Mythos tales:

"The House of the Worm," by Mearle Prout
"Far Below," by Robert Barbour Johnson
"Spawn of the Green Abyss," by C. Hall Thompson
"The Deep Ones," by James Wade
"The Franklyn Papers," by Ramsey Campbell
"Where Yidhra Walks," by Walter C, DeBill, Jr.
"Black Man with a Horn," by T. E. D. Klein
"Nethescurial," by Thomas Ligotti
"Black Brat of Dunwich," by Stanley C. Sargent
"The Phantom of Beguilement," by W. H. Pugmire
"...Hungry...Rats," by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (original to this edition)
"Virgin's Island," by Donald Tyson (original to this edition)
"In the Shadow of Swords," by Cody Goodfellow (original to this edition)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Some days this is exactly what you NEED to hear! !!

Allyson Bird [on Facebook] posted this today.

"Savouring it. Slowly working my way through Joe Pulver's Sin and Ashes....poetic, mesmerising, dramatic, stream of consciousness writing that I appreciate. Vivid imagery steam driving itself through my mind."

Gots'ta give that lady a bEastly hug! !!

Thanks, Ally! Yer da BEST! !!
You can find Ally here! !! YOU ARE READING HER, R I G H T ! !!

http://www.birdsnest.me.uk/



Sunday, July 17, 2011

LAIRD BARRON wins 2 Jackson awards! !!

I said many times Laird's OCCULTATION was head and shoulders the finest collection released last year and now the jury for the Shirley Jackson Awards has spoken and they agree. Laird also recieved the SJA for NOVELLA with his tour de force, "Mysterium Tremendum".  Both of these awards are well deserved!! !

Last year was a great gift to horror readers, so I'd like to say CONGRATS to all the SJA winners and the fabulous nominees too! !!

http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/sja_2010_winners.php

Saturday, July 16, 2011

"Lena... cries" and some odds & ends...

"Lena… cries" 5,102 [yellow] words in the done file~ ~~ this King in Yellow tale [loaded w/ hybrid poetics and more than a few in-jokes] was inspired by Lena Griffin and her beguiling cello performances on her CD Extended Gestures For Cello [Hypnos] . . . I’m preparing my new Hippocampus collection, Portraits of Ruin, and this one IS going in it. I’ll be putting up the “ToC” fairly soon . . .
You can find samples of [and buy] Lena's CD here

http://hypnos.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HOS&Product_Code=hss08&Category_Code=hss

News from S.T. Joshi's blog: Black Wings I: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror (reprint: Titan Books, March/April 2012) . . . My tale "Engravings" is in this widely-acclaimed anthology.

http://stjoshi.org/
    
We’ve found a cover artist for my novel The Orphan Palace [SEPT 2011 Chomu Press] so there’ll be a cover to show you soon . . .
 
“It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you.” --Martha Graham.

I shoul
d tape that to the wall over my desk . . .


I reviewed the wonderful short film THE CURSE OF YIG by Paul von Stoetzel for SNS.
http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/archives/5919


Friday, July 15, 2011

Author's Notes for SIN & ashes


Author’s Notes for SIN & ashes

[[[Remember, Pulver, you don’t like spoilers, so watch what you say here! !!]]]

Sit at desk – hope to hell WORDS show up………….. Tea ~ got to. Smokes ~rough & ready. Was there any doubt? ?? Thinkin’ cap on ~duh? I’ll try… Muse says, “Try hell, Worm.” [flashes whip! !!]

Book’s called SIN & ashes. Knew that before my first collection came out. 1st time the title flashed across mindspace I thought it would be a tale . . . but then I thought Blood Will Have Its Season is long, so go short w/ the next title. Did.

“Laird Barron’s FOREWORD”
S.T. asked about the foreword.
bEast: “Well, in you win the grand prize-land I’d have one by Laird.”
S.T.: “Why don’t you ask him?”
bEast: “I’d hate to bother him. Man’s a giant. You don’t bother the masters.”
But I did. And he did. [insert BIG YAYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyY! !!] And I sailed over the moon! !! I mean c’mon folks, it’s LAIRD BARRON! !!
{When he emailed it to me I read it about 10 times in a row! You would have too! !!!!!!!!!! !}

“Love Her Madly”
Rock ‘n Roll heaven, nope & NO! !! Ain’t! More like Hell – extra damnation. Janis and Phil Ochs soaked in pain and tears, that, sure as shootin’, ain’t heaven . . . So Morrison would be there . . . BAM, that’s the tale. Jim comes back from the dead. I had one note for this tale – Morrison comes back from the dead. LA noir. WHY? ??
For all of 5 minutes this was going to be a novel
J

“She’s Waiting”
Just wanted to do FANGSsssssssssssssssssssssss! Sharp ones. Muse asked, “What REALLY hurts?” Typed . . .

“First There Is A Mountain…Then”
My note said there’s a man sitting on the edge of a bed in a cheap motel room. He’s been drinking . . . I hear Dave Alvin singin’ ‘bout they come and they go. And that was that. Just added some BLOOD.
[This one came out fast.]

“In The Desert Even the Air Burns”
Simple. I love the desert! !! It’s clean and the facts of life are stated right upfront. You see bleached bones you know what yer getting . . . I was listening to Dylan, thinking about the West [where the sun sets] and my friend Alanna [Mistress of the Yellow Chamber] and missing people [and places] . . . This is another one of my sitting alone at night just letting my mind drift texts . . . I never know where they are going . . . I leave that to the Muse.
[As a rule I’m never happy w/ my stuff. I kinda of like this one.]
[Imagine you have to wait 54 pages for Pulver to drop a King In Yellow tale on you . . . Yeah, weird things DO happen……….]

“Even Night”
A poem I wrote back when I was working on the 1st draft of Nightmare’s Disciple.

“Crow In Trick Town”
Another old thing I penned back when I was working on ND. Came to me as I listened to Jack Bruce. I’ve always wanted to look at Crow again . . . What else has he been up to?

“When the Deal Goes Down”
Everything is vampires and zombies these days, so I try to play w/ them from time to time. But I’m not a big fan so mine come out a little different . . . Puttered w/ the idea of a whole series of tExts w/ this character roamin’ ‘round FIXING things
J

“Devil’s Got the Walkin’ Blues”
Desert. Serial killer. Starting to be a theme in this collection… Cellars scare me, so a song on my playlist kicked this one into gear . . .


“Dead ’Round Here Tonight”
I don’t care for zombies – maybe once in a blue moon in b-movies. When I want Mindless Ones I turn to Dr. Strange. I love ghouls. Wanted one to like FRESH meat. Thought about shopping in a meat market…


“The Delirium of a Worm-Wizard”
Another 10 year old tExt. The darkangel, Michael Cisco used to come to Bob Price’s Kalem Klubs and always blew my mind w/ his FANTASTIC readings. I really wanted to up my game and try my hand at “Language” in this . . . I wrote part of this on the roadside [of the NYS Thruway] coming home from Bob’s after a KK… I read it at a KK and Cisco praised it. I was vEry happy!! !
 

“As the Sun Still Burns Away”
I read a screenplay by the director of the BRILLIANT[! !!] AM1200, David Prior, got me thinking . . . Another desert, another female lead, some whisper of la Llarona, dead babies . . . Cody Goodfellow says, “While everybody else in horror is still aping the shallow visual palette of cinema, Joe Pulver calls down a storm of psychotronic nightmares charged with the evocative depth and relentless pulse of the Devil's music. This isn't a book that wants to be a movie. This is a drug disguised as a book. ”, well, this is one of the few times I tried to think film…
Yes, for 10 minutes I thought this could be a film
J


“Caligari, Again”
I never tire of Cal! !! Never will”. There were to be 3 pre-Holstenwall texts, this is #2 . . . #3 is in some file somewhere
J


“Long-Stemmed Ghost Words”
Yes, again one for Alanna. Dylan got me thinking . . . Tats on pale skin, cloth and shears, Carcosa, just had to wander that way! Might have been voodoo or witchcraft, or just the sound of her voice . . .


“When the Moon Comes to Call”
My friend Stan [Sargent] and I were on the phone talking about music - as we often do. After our conversation I put on a Miles cd that lead to Sha and thoughts of simmering jazz in a club. 


“After Reading Michaux’s “In the Land of Magic”
Something I penned for Cisco… Man’s a genius! !!


“The Walking Man Walks”
After a nap where I dreamed Tom [Ligotti] and me sat in a park. We talked about serial killers . . . I rarely remember my dreams [wish I did!], but we talked about Man On Fire and Jim Thompson and frolics, so I tried to get part of it on paper.


“Silent No Longer”
Another old thing from my ND days. Bob asked me to be the music reviewer for “Crypt of Cthulhu” and I had half a thought of starting a column w/ this tale . . . Didn’t.


“The Maiden of the Pines”
Yep.  This be an old one. I don’t really recall it [common for me – I write ‘em and move on. Often people mention a title to me and I have no idea what the thing was about w/out getting filled in.]. Was in a file and S.T. liked it so we put it in.


“Last Year in Carcosa”
Started w/ watching Last year In Mareinbad [love it! !!]. I had an image of a gun under a linen napkin and just typed from there. Only thing I knew going in was the beach was Carcosa and I wanted to play w/ The Dynasty in Carcosa as part of play.


“Scarlet Obeisance”
Bob [Price] said he wanted to do The Tindalos Cycle. I penned this for it. Everyone loves Cthulhu, I sure don’t. When it comes to Mythos beasties I love Chaugner Faugn, so I tried to say I love you to Robert Bloch again! !!


“Rendezvous Under Shadow Bridge”
I was toying w/ thoughts about a tale w/ a night watchmen in it. Thought I might make it all daily “reports”. One night I was putting away some books, Last Exit to Brooklyn, and a couple of Ligotti tomes, and began to wander what Bohren & Der Club of Gore covering Bill Evans might be like – [I do that  kind of thing a lot]. This is what popped out.
Good or bad, it’s one of my “one take” numbers.

“in front of an empty house in dead city”
Sometimes I just putter, think Sonny Rollins up on the bridge, play and see what comes out. This is one. Let’s call it woodsheding.


“Ain’t No Love on the Street”
Written around the same time as “ifoaehidc”. More woodsheding. Yes, I do that a lot!


“Perfect Grace”
Grace Jones. I had just seen her new video for “Corporate Cannibals” and was blown away.  This is what popped out after viewing it.



“Kynothrabian Dirge”
“The Exorcism of Iagsat”
X-mas morning a fax from Bob listing 11 “titles” from the SUB-Mythos [as discovered by Will Murray]. He wanted me to come up w/ spells and litanies to go w/ the titles. I thought you get to play Dr. Strange for the Mythos – ran w/ it! !! They were fun to write! These were in Bob’s THE BOOK OF EIBON [Chaosium][They were also translated into Japanese]
 
“Lonesome Separate Ways”
A Steve Earle tune came on I started typing . . . And just kept wandering.

“Just Another Desert Night with Blood”


I’ve never been in the desert but I dream about it. Cactus, sand, more sand, quietude. It comes in different colors, it has a different language. It’s like an itch. One day I’ll discover its contours until then I’ll just keep walking in the sand.

“After Death”

Can’t say I remember much of this. Had a few scraps of poetry. Started typing, just to see where it would go.


“I Often Dream of Words”

Watching some Eno videos on YouTube, skipping around. Fragments started talking to me. Watch for a few minutes. Made a few poetic notes, then typed as fast as I could.

“Forever Changes”

I haven’t looked at this since I wrote it. When I write I enter what I call The Zone. It’s the bedroom of a 16 year old kid that just got a new guitar. I’m that kid, often it’s just me sitting there riffing, going where the notes, words, wanna go. There’ll be some piece of music playing, in this case it was Love Forever Changes and I just wanted to see what forever changes meant. A different day in The Zone it would have meant something completely different.

 “In the White Walls of Silence”

I originally wrote one Caligari piece, a prequel to the film, and thought I’d keep going. Caligari is one of my oldest and most favorite Horror inspirations. Wanted to write five or six Caligari texts. If I remember correctly, this was the third. It’s dedicated to Robert Bloch and also inspired by Bloch. Whenever I deal with murder I take Bloch’s heart out of the little jar I keep it in and put it in my chest. And I let it sing to me. Pretty sure, one day I’ll return to Caligari . . . Perhaps many times. Bloch will be there w/ me! !!

“Mother Stands for Comfort”
Sat with a paper and a pen and watched the Q6 film Din of Celestial Birds. Just put words on paper. Didn’t think about it. Didn’t correct it. Ran a spellchecker through it. Done. Not the first time this has happened. I’m betting it won’t be the last.

“Blow Wind Blow”

I love names. Places, people, names want to tell me stories. Ionesco. That name wanted to tell me stories. Thought I might use this character in a whole series of texts. I don’t ever want to talk about him. He just walks. Sees a problem, fixes it. For this one I wanted him to meet people that had been changed by darkness and I wanted to see how he would fix them.

“8’s & Aces”

Plank and the Belldog. Wanted to use them as characters for a long, long time. To me they’ve always been gravediggers. Wondered what happens to gravediggers that are dead. Thought, ah, they turn into ghouls, can’t steal from the grave, at least you can have dinner. Then I wondered what happens when the meal hasn’t laid down and died, yet.

“A One-Way Fare”

Derrick Hussey is my publisher and a friend. Spent many a happy hour on the streets of New York, walking around with him. Mostly we’d go to bookstores and record stores. Came home from NYC one night with a few CDs I had bought in the city. Looking at song titles words started popping into my head. Didn’t have a story in mind, just a bunch of words from song titles. I wrote them down on a piece of paper. They were in no real order. Decided it was a map, but it looked like a puzzle, so I typed until I connected the dots.

“Don’t Look Back”
John Lee Hooker. Sonny Rollins. “Maggie May”. All in my head at the same time. What does it mean? Only way for me to tell is type. I did. This is another one of those I typed it, I ran a spellchecker through it. Then it goes in the “done” pile.

“Long is the way and hard . . .”

Hubert Selby, Jr. big influence. Huge. Dog eat dog world, you bet your ass. But when I thought about it, came out “Cain eats Cain”. Little Mott the Hoople and a couple of lines of poetry . . . Don’t know what else to say about this one. Parts of it I loved. Parts of it I wasn’t sure of. But when I kept going back and looking at it, it seemed done . . . I often write these things pretty quick, then spend half an eternity deciding what they look like on the page. As I don’t “see” a lot of my work as stories, but texts or poetry of some stripe, it’s critical to me how they look on the page. This is one of those that came real quick and then I spent days with the layout.

“huddled in rags in a Kingsport alley . . .”

I have a friend in London. Julia. Lovely lady! !! She reads poetry. I think of her as a siren. She has a gentle, alluring voice I could listen to for hours, yet she reads some of the darkest literature that has been written. I often wonder what dreams haunt that gentle voice. I wanted to write something poetic and dark just for her. This piece began with a line of poetry I had written, but had not used ‘Little but the noise of the moon survives’. I could hear her whisper that . . . I typed, searching for darkness . . .

“Dead Ends and Empties”

I almost never outline. A line of poetry occurs to me or the tone of a piece of music sets me off and from there I type, drift, just to see where the words go. This one was just that. Me typing, to see where the words wanted to go.

“Sharp Fangs + Blood = Murder”

I was thinking of my best friend Bob Price and his collection of short stories. I couldn’t get the word blasphemies out of my head. Every time I heard the word or thought it, I thought it came out as a howl. I could see the face, sharp fangs, spittle, that equaled blood to me. Robert Bloch taught me blood equals murder. So that was it. Sharp Fangs + Blood = Murder. No plot in mind, just typed. After about a page or two I thought this one needed a soundtrack. As I recall I spent a couple of hours looking for the right song. Found it. U2. Then I typed like hell.

“Saint Nicholas Hall”

Nearly 20 years ago I used to go to Bob’s house for KaLeM Klubs. Cisco was one of the writers who was often there. He’d come in with his new tales and read. I’d sit in awe. Years ago I was going to do a King in Yellow anthology. Sadly that didn’t happen, and for that book I had asked Cisco to write a King in Yellow tale. He did. Wrote one I think is brilliant, worthy of the canon. I’ve always wanted to write one back, a thank you. There’s no way I can ever walk in the field Cisco walks. No one can. This is merely my humble tribute to one of the very best writers of Weird Fiction we have ever had.

“Funeral in a Hate Field”
When I was a  teenager, I loved Sword & Sorcery. Conan. Kane. Elric. Lieber! !! Loved Sword & Sorcery!! ! Since I’ve begun writing I often think about writing a Sword & Sorcery tale. Thinking about Lin Carter one night I began I paragraph, thinking this would be my Sword & Sorcery tale. Didn’t have a plot, thought like Conan I’d just see where my wandering took me. This one is very short, but it’s where the darkness took me. This isn’t what I had envisioned as a S & S tale, but it’s one of the few things I’ve written that I am actually happy with. One of these days I might write a “real” S & S TALE until then, this how I see S & S.


“An Orange Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick”
Rules? I guess they’re good things, but not in literature. Literature is about passion. It’s about getting sweat and blood on the page. Anyone with half a brain isn’t going to write a prequel to Caligari, or a sequel to A Clockwork Orange . . . Brain? I don’t think so. Rules? No.

So, I’m watching A Clockwork Orange and again it occurs to me how much I love the words, the language. As someone who is always searching for words, I thought what a great field to play in. When I was 13 or 14 I read A Clockwork Orange. I loved it. I didn’t know there was a glossary in the back of the damn book. But when I got to the end and found it I thought it was amazing. Sitting there, watching that film, I remember reading the book and wishing the glossary was in front of it. And as I sat there, the muse said you have to, have to, use some of these words. Yep, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Just wanted to say, in my fashion, THANKS, AB! !!


“Engravings”

S.T. asked me to contribute to a book called Black Wings. I was half in a panic thinking about it. I was a needle stuck in a groove. What the hell can I write for that? He wanted Lovecraftian, but he didn’t want tentacles. And he didn’t want those names. All I kept thinking about was Nyarlathotep. He’s a trickster. So I wanted to start in one place and move to another. Rain’s a place. The desert’s another place. To get from A to B you either walk or drive. I decided to drive. Somewhere in the middle of the first page I asked myself the question, why. Then I typed until I found the answer.

“The Last Few Nights in a Life of Frost”
I love Jack O’Connell. Love! He walks on water! !! After reading one of his short pieces online I couldn’t get parts of it out of my head. I tried and I tried and I tried, but like one of those songs that won’t go away it stayed there. The only way to get rid of it, was to make a story out of it. There’s two versions of this story. The first one I named the character ST, not S.T., and when he read it he said I have some place I want to use it, so he thinking people would think ST was S.T. he asked me to change it. So ST became LT and he used it. As I’ve said, I don’t normally like my stuff. This one I do.

“Epilogue for Two Voices”
No one can or should pen the KIY play. So here’s my thoughts on a KIY “PLAY”. ‘nuff said!

“To Live and Die in Arkham”
Most of the time I think I’m done with HPL and the mythos, then half of some idea hits me and say, no. But usually it won’t stop talking to me and I have to type it to get rid of it. For this one, I wondered what Arkham looked like if you were from the wrong side of town, if you were Selby or Bukowski . . . So I walked away from the finely manicured lawns of Miskatonic University just to see what life on the bottom looked like and to see what it thought of those who lived privileged lives.

“The Last Twenty Miles of Wandering Again”
So I’m playing David Crosby’s “Cowboy Movie” and some Dylan tunes and I have a few images that I’d come upon in a nap that afternoon. I’d already used Morrison as a character so I thought, what about Dylan? And if we were pards where might we roam? Carcosa, naturally. Why? Who the hell knows.  But I spent a few hours having fun, finding out.

So, I guess that’s the “uncorrected” look at SIN & ashes. I wonder if S.T., somewhere down the road, is going to want to annotate SIN? If he does, maybe this will help
J

yer bEastie JUNE 2011


Thursday, July 14, 2011

I'm in . . .

Multi-award winning editor, ELLEN DATLOW called SIN & ashes "a deliciously varied and ambitious collection." and included a text from it in her widely-acclaimed THE BEST HORROR of the YEAR 3.

I'm in THE BOOK OF CTHULHU

Ross E. Lockhart bought a tale from SIN & ashes for his upcoming THE BOOK OF CTHULHU [SEPT Night Shade Books]

TPB & Ebook of ND out now

Nightmare's Disciple has been rereleased w/ an "intro" and "afterword" by by the acclaimed Lovecraftian editor/scholar/critic/writer, Robert M. Price! !!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Curse of Yig

I just had the chance to see Paul von Stoetzel's Lovecraftian short film, THE CURSE OF YIG and posted a review of this wonderful film at SNS.


http://sheneverslept.com/newsandreviews/archives/5919

Saturday, July 9, 2011

SIN & ashes as an Ebook

SIN & ashes as an EBOOK will be - "format release will be Adobe eBook (EPUB) which can be viewed on a boatload of devices" . . . Coming to the E-world in 2 weeks! !!

And we may be adding my complete "Author's Notes" to the E-release . . .

SIN gets another RAVE! !!

Part of it says " this volume is a MUST-READ for those who appreciate literary horror/speculative fiction. I should correct that statement to read "MUST-EXPERIENCE", because the reader doesn't only read a Pulver story, the prose and story-telling are so devastatingly powerful that each story is a soul-searing EXPERIENCE. Highly recommended."

The rest of it is here


http://pagehorrific.blogspot.com/2011/07/sin-ashes-by-joseph-s-pulver-sr.html

Friday, July 8, 2011

Some of the things in the pipeline




My newest collection - SIN & ashes as an EBook [Summer 2011 Hippocampus Press]

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

I’m in - Ross Lockhart’s The Book of Cthulhu [Night Shade Books Sept 2011]

http://www.nightshadebooks.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=201

My new novel - The Orphan Palace [OCT 2011Chomu Press]

http://chomupress.com/our-books/the-orphan-palace/

I'm co-editing and in The AKLONOMICON

http://aklopress.org/

I’m editing - A Season in Carcosa [MRP Summer 2012]

http://www.miskatonicriverpress.com/

I’m editing - The Grimscribe’s Puppets [MRP Fall 2012]

My next collection - Portraits of Ruin [Hippocampus Press Summer 2012]

A collection I’m splitting with Robin Spriggs [Double Feature Press Summer 2012]

http://doublefeaturepress.com/

And this winter Laird Barron & I will begin co-editing a “THEMED” anthology  [Summer MRP 2013] . . . Expect something a bit DIFFERENT! !!

Bob Price & I are preparing a "LOST" manuscript by ? ?? STAY TUNED! !!

More to be announced soon . . .



Thursday, July 7, 2011

Lena's cello is to die for! !!



Entering cello heaven~ ~~ thanks to Lena! !! Haunting beauty - this is worthy of David Darling and Hildur Gudnadottir~ ~~

There IS a tale in this entrancing music! !! Samples can be found here! !!

http://hypnos.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HOS&Product_Code=hss08&Category_Code=hss

TOP news

Galleys for TOP are turned in! !!

http://chomupress.com/our-books/the-orphan-palace/

Cover coming soon! !!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

HARD



If you read my work then you know I love the HARD stuff! !! The last few monsters of "Hard" that rocked my world and left me in AWE ~

Andrew Vachss THE WEIGHT
Ken Bruen ONCE WERE COPS
Will Beall L.A. REX

Now I'm reading Pearce Hansen's STREET RAISED

When Speedy raises from Pelican Bay State Prison, he hitchhikes home to Oakland only to find his little brother, Willy, a homeless crack addict, and his best friend, Fat Bob, bouncing in SF’s underground punk clubs. When two of their childhood homeboys get wrapped in chains by Mexican Mafia drug dealers and thrown in the American River alive, our heroes somehow get it together enough to plot revenge. Sure, it maybe takes the edge of Speedy’s game a little when he starts playing house with beautiful phone psychic Carmel. And it complicates things a bit more when Officer Louis, the same black cop who put Speedy in prison, starts dogging their steps like an unwelcome relative. But when a racist coven of skinheads comes howling for Speedy and Carmel’s blood, and a serial killer with a monster in his head decides that Speedy is the answer to all his unholy prayers, things get really interesting . . .


Add him and his book to that list! !! This is a monster! !! In "my" Crime/Mystery/Hardboiled library, Hansen is now in my Top 50 of all time [yes, I typed that right!] and I'm not even done with it yet! !!

You NEED this! NUFF SAID!

http://www.amazon.com/Street-Raised-Pearce-Hansen/dp/0809556596/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309597660&sr=1-1