Thursday, December 6, 2012

Interview w/ a bEast



The very kind folks at The {Dis}Loyal Opposition to Modernity stopped by the balcony overlooking the cloudwaves here in Carcosa to ask this old bEast a few questions. Over tea, we talked about Robert W. Chambers {and his work and YELLOW creations}, intertextuality, poetry, and a few other items.

Here's the link to their Yellowish report


http://skepoet.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/c-derick-varn-interviews-joe-pulver-sr/



Saturday, November 24, 2012

The cost of listening to Martian radio~ ~~





this grey porch

‘It was through thinking on these mysteries and marvels, and on that horrible change to silence and decay which he felt sure must sometime come to him, as he had seen it come to so many of his flock—as it came to all living things except the birds—that Haïta first became conscious how miserable and hopeless was his lot.’—Ambrose Bierce “Haïta The Shepherd”



afternoon… fell. grey old porch that does not remember the fire words of the lantern-eyed poets who laughed here when the world was full of flags and eggs (there was tea, sometimes scotch, whilst they hailed Atlantis and dedicated their meadowlarks to Hypatia), or any mouth that spoke of the shape of green leaves.

old man, long time after immortal vanished. his elbow is rooted to the railing.

empty hangs from the trellis.

nowhere feels foolish (and irritated) for not sleeping.

he’d like the earth-flavored breath of a cigarette, or a drink, but both have quit his cupboard.

unseen tonight, the stars that repealed company are cold and quiet.

open eyes can’t see the mailbox on the silent street. not for the likes of you

looks at his hands. hands that no longer spit at the war. closes his eyes. the utter blackness does not cease.



(for my friend, Mike Davis)
[Lyle Lovett “This Old Porch”]



Letter to a Dead Man (or) this grey porch ~~ the sequel (sort of)

(for Cavey!)


bEast: [at WAR w/ one word in the text.]
Muse: Just get on with it . . . Idiots.
bEast: [looks at cold-hearted bitch w/ all the napalm he can muster.]
Sam Beckett: I believe our Sisyphus is not having fun today, John Henry.
Doc Holiday: ‘Long pacing in the to and fro of the gloom.’
Lyle Lovett: Do you think he’d do a “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” if he had a boat and could row fast enough to get out of the Tower of Song?
Doc Holiday: My money’s on him empting both barrels, then sitting back down and crying again.
Jack Spicer: [looking up from the map that goes on forever.] Ghost of Lorca… empty boats, all the roosters booing, stairs the postman won’t climb, that’s a big, dark carpet to try to escape.
Doc Holiday: [sees the bet. raises.] No one gets out of here alive… that’s the fragrance of this river.
bEast: [creaks a bit and keeps spiting vocabulary at the WAR…]


[Lyle Lovett "An Acceptable Level of Ecstasy (The Wedding Song)"]






(c) 2012 Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.

 

Thursday, November 8, 2012

BIBLOMANCY raves for Portraits of Ruin





The sage critic of Biblomancy ventured forth and sidestepping the hut and curse of Baba Yaga and the ill punishments of the Old Castle entered the exibition to view the portraits stretched over the cracked walls of ruin. Broken apart by tilted cadences and profane velocities he's returned to talk of the wallop that possessed him.

We were very pleased by his recent visit to Carcosa and are delighted by his current promenades deep within our ruined labyrinths.

You can read his review/report/travelogue here

http://jasonrolfe.blogspot.ca/2012/11/portraits-of-ruin.html

Saturday, October 27, 2012

A new blog for ASiC





We've set up a blog for A SEASON IN CARCOSA. We've been posting the first reviews (and there are more coming), have set up links to our contributors and places you can buy a copy. We hope you'll stop by and see the book trailers and read the glowing reviews.

http://aseasonincarcosa.blogspot.de/

Friday, October 12, 2012

Jeff Thomas, Simon Strantzas, and Hellbound Times have this to say





PUNKTOWN
creator and fan favorite, Jeff Thomas, has this to say about this Pulver fellow.

“As I study the bookstore shelves these days, I grow increasingly discouraged by the repetitive trends, the unimaginative prose voices, the general lack of literary adventurousness. That’s why I become increasingly appreciative of a writer like Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., who I think grows more important as a writer by the minute. But don’t get me wrong; the man isn't about hipper-than-thou airs, either. This is art with a capital Fun. Imagine a roller coaster ride through the Louvre, and you may get some sense of the rich and giddy rush of reading a story by Joe Pulver. So hang on tight, and enjoy the dizzying view.”-- Jeffrey Thomas, author of Punktown
Here's what the endlessly-talented, Simon Strantzas, has to say--

 "Fearless. Daring. Poetic prose for the unhinged. Each tale in Portraits of Ruin packs the sort of mental wallop that leaves the reader reeling. From the scorched deserts to the highest foreign towers, across plains of reality and beneath burning suns, this is no volume for the weak, for the conventional. It is a wake-up call from one of the genre's most visionary masters. A book for those who see differently, for those not afraid to know the truth no matter how terrible the cost. I envy anyone about to experience Pulver's horrors for the first time." --Simon Strantzas, author of Nightingale Songs

And Walt Hicks at "Hellbound Times" has the following to say about my new Hippocampus Press collection, Portraits of Ruin.

"I don't think I've ever read an author who is capable of blending/bending his influences quite like Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. As impacting as a violent train wreck, the resultant explosion of mellifluous ethereality onto the page is something so totally different that it's almost a completely new art form. Sure, you've got your Lovecraft, Robert W. Chambers, Ramsey Campbell, William Burroughs, Richard Brautigan, Raymond Chandlereven T. S. Eliotbut jam them all together into Pulver's psychotic centrifuge, and the resulting velvet-swathed, running-the-guts spatter pattern ends up as a collection like Portraits of Ruin." –Walt Hicks, author of Exit the Light
You can read the whole rave review at this link
http://hellboundtimes.blogspot.de/2012/03/portraits-of-ruin-by-joseph-s-pulver-sr.html

PoR is out now and you can get a copy here

http://www.hippocampuspress.com/mythos-and-other-authors/fiction/portraits-of-ruin?zenid=815192813be2927fe51ac99de8532772

http://www.amazon.com/Portraits-Ruin-Joseph-S-Pulver/dp/161498025X/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2F4V4U3J4GAY8&coliid=I1U2J2VUL6MKEO

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Anna Tambour parts the curtains

One hellish night - about zero sleep due to constant legs cramps... Woke up and popped a pain pill to cope. Didn't need it! !! Why? A link to the following blog post by no less a literary light [STAR!!!!!!!!!!! Wonder of the highest order!!] than, ANNA TAMBOUR (Crandolin coming from award-winning, Chomu Press in NOV!, Monterra's Deliciosa & Other Tales &), was in my inbox to offer remedy and CURE! !!

Glee seized me. Humbled, honored, privileged, all spiked my FELT to gladly;YAYyyyyyyyyy~ ~~

Here's the post, a rave review of my new collection, Portraits of Ruin (Hippocampus Press 2012) --

http://medlarcomfits.blogspot.com.au/

Here's a link to PoR --

http://www.hippocampuspress.com/mythos-and-other-authors/fiction/portraits-of-ruin?zenid=eb06878b64aace2b1b7eba8cea6d591c

And here's a link to her upcoming novel CRANDOLIN~ ~~ Trust me, this is a work of rare BEAUTY & magic! !!

http://chomupress.com/our-books/crandolin/

Why do you NEED Crandolin? Try this --

“Immerse yourself in the magical world of Anna Tambour’s Crandolin, a delirious journey that takes the reader through Central Asia and Russia with some fascinating strangers and a donkey, a demanding musical instrument, and delicious hints of nougat and honey.”-- Ellen Datlow
 
“By turns lyrical and absurdist, whimsical and elegantly true, Crandolin is unlike any novel you will ever have read. Anna Tambour is brilliant, a true original.”-- Lucius Shepard

Monday, October 1, 2012

My newest autumnal sonatas step out of the grey rooms



"Decay flutters up on black wings" -- Georg Tralk "ON THE MOOR"

Just in time for the moon-bright translations of autumn my newest collection, the third from Hippocampus Press, PORTRAITS of RUIN, was released today.

This time I was honored to have an introduction by no less a light than, Matt Cardin!! ! PLEASED? YOU BET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

Here's a look at some of Matt's thoughts on PoR from his blog --

http://www.teemingbrain.com/2012/03/26/on-learning-to-read-joe-pulvers-portraits-of-ruin-by-writing-the-introduction-to-it/


"Let us posit that Bukowski is the sun. Or Brautigan, Burroughs and the Beats -- a solar Coney Island of the Mind where Timothy Leary’s dead and dead Cthulhu waits and sings the live long daydream believer. Then Joe Pulver’s Portraits of Ruin would be the burst of planets, Big Bang-Bang, Marquee Moons hanging on for what they got, scream of consciousness -- in Outer Space no one can hear it . . . except Coffin Joe, Monster Mash Potato that big ol’ Portraits of Ruin -- Mars needs it, you need it, so just open the lid and shake your fist -- then say: "They kill horses, horses, horses, horses." Thank you. Come again?" -- Thomas Ligotti





"All writers are influenced and inspired by other writers, and we all know writers who echo those influences, running the gamut from subtly to obviously, but I don't think I've ever read an author who is capable of blending/bending his influences quite like Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. As impacting as a violent train wreck, the resultant explosion of mellifluous ethereality onto the page is something so totally different that it's almost a completely new art form. Sure, you've got your Lovecraft, Robert W. Chambers, Ramsey Campbell, William Burroughs, Richard Brautigan, Raymond Chandler -- even T. S. Eliot -- but jam them all together into Pulver's psychotic centrifuge, and the resulting velvet-swathed, running-the-guts spatter pattern ends up as a collection like Portraits of Ruin."--Walt Hicks Hellbound Times


http://www.hippocampuspress.com/mythos-and-other-authors/fiction/portraits-of-ruin


http://www.amazon.com/Portraits-Ruin-Joseph-S-Pulver/dp/161498025X/ref=sr_1_20?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349116128&sr=1-20&keywords=joseph+s+pulver



Sunday, September 30, 2012

Sesonal wear in Carcosa



Coming from "Super" Sam McCanna {the King of Skurvy Ink}, based on artwork by JD Busch, this little autumnal number~ ~~ Make a pot of Earl Grey, put yer tootsies up and read some Trakl (or A Season in Carcosa) while you're wearing this and yer in Carcosa...


Here's the link to {{{SKURVY INK}}} get ya one:
http://skurvyink.com/?p=1104

And you can find JD here:

http://www.thejdbusch.com/


And here's A SEASON IN CARCOSA


http://www.bookdepository.com/Season-Carcosa-Sr-Joseph-Pulver/9781937408008


http://www.amazon.com/Season-Carcosa-Sr-Joseph-Pulver/dp/1937408000/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pdT1_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2F4V4U3J4GAY8&coliid=I2K4OSCSYV1Q9D


http://miskatonicriverpress.com/products/asic.shtml


http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9781937408008-0


Thursday, September 27, 2012

Facts from the Yellow Sheet










Yes, that's right, ASiC now has 2 book trailers.

A Season in Carcosa can be purchased from Amazon and from The Book Depository [TBD offers FREE worldwide shipping and takes Paypal as well].

http://www.bookdepository.com/Season-Carcosa-Sr-Joseph-Pulver/9781937408008


Many have asked about an Ebook, MRP plans on sometime next year, but that is many months away.

We'll be sharing reviews and updates as they happen.

Autumn has now arrived. Have you seen the Yellow Sign?

You can find further details and the ToC here:

http://miskatonicriverpress.com/products/asic.shtml






Monday, September 17, 2012

Everywhere: greyness and




H.P. Lovecraft. Karl Edgar Wagner. Peter Straub. Those are a few of the names that stand tall in our genre and when it comes to Robert W. Chambers and his King in Yellow they agree, Chambers' beguiling tales of the King In Yellow and Carcosa are among the best in "weird" fiction. Miskatonic River Press and Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. are proud and delighted to present an anthology of all new tales inspired by Chambers.


In haunted and splintered minds… Minds shackled to lonely places…
In the unbound shadows infesting hearts of beautiful woman with frantic sensations…
In an old house where biblical thrived…
In threadbare truths, disturbed by despair, cobwebbed with illusions…
In far cold Carcosa…
Lies madness.


In A Season In Carcosa readers will find the strange and mysterious places of heart and mind that spring from madness, and those minds and the places touched by it are the realms that are mined. Chambers' legacy of the worms and soft decay that spring from reading the King In Yellow play stir both new and established talents in the world of weird fiction and horror to contribute all new tales that pay homage to these eerie nightmares. In Carcosa twilight comes and minds lost in the mirrors of lust and fear, are awash in legacies of shadows, not mercy. . .







Haunting the pages of this tome are the following voices:
Joel Lane"My Voice is Dead"
Simon Strantzas"Beyond the Banks of the River Seine"
Don Webb"Movie Night at Phil's"
Daniel Mills"MS Found in a Chicago Hotel Room"
Gary McMahon"it sees me when I’m not looking"
Ann K. Schwader"Finale, Act Two"
Cate Gardner"Yellow Bird Strings"
Edward Morris"The Teatre & Its Double"
Richard Gavin"The Hymn of the Hyades"
Gemma Files"Slick Black Bones and Soft Black Stars"
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr."Not Enough Hope"
Kristin Prevallet"Whose Hearts are Pure Gold"
Richard A. Lupoff"April Dawn"
Anna Tambour"King Wolf"
Michael Kelly"The White-Face at Dawn"
Cody Goodfellow"Wishing Well"
John Langan"Sweetums"
Pearce Hansen"The King is Yellow"
Laird Barron"D T"
Robin Spriggs"Salvation in Yellow"
Allyson Bird"The Beat Hotel"






http://miskatonicriverpress.com/products/asic.shtml

http://www.amazon.com/Season-Carcosa-Sr-Joseph-Pulver/dp/1937408000/ref=dp_return_1?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Crandolin~ ~~ gets a cover!! !



Coming this November from Chomu Press is Anna Tambour's magcial new novel. Here's a look at the marvelous cover done by C. C. Askew.

In a medieval cookbook in a special-collections library, near-future London, jaded food and drink authority Nick Kippax finds an alluring stain next to a recipe for the mythical crandolin. He tastes it, ravishing the page. Then he disappears. So begins an adwentour that quantum-leapfrogs time, place, singularities, and Quests – from the secrets of confectionery to the agonies of making a truly great moustache, from maidens in towers to tiffs between cosmic forces. Food, music, science, fruitloopery, superstition, railways, bladder-pipes and birth-marked Soviet statesmen; all are present in an extraordinary novel that is truly for the adwentoursomme.

“Immerse yourself in the magical world of Anna Tambour’s Crandolin, a delirious journey that takes the reader through Central Asia and Russia with some fascinating strangers and a donkey, a demanding musical instrument, and delicious hints of nougat and honey.” Ellen Datlow

“By turns lyrical and absurdist, whimsical and elegantly true, Crandolin is unlike any novel you will ever have read. Anna Tambour is brilliant, a true original.” Lucius Shepard


http://chomupress.com/our-books/crandolin/


http://annatambour.net/


http://medlarcomfits.blogspot.de/



Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Demons... come by daylight




I often begin the day by sharpening my WORDpencil, just letting words go where they may. Today was no different. Didn't know what the following would be--a tale I thought, but let it go where it wanted... It decided it was not a tale, just this



The Meeting


Jimmy Webb poured me a drink. “Saw you look at her.”
I took a slip.
“Lot of us do… Have. Hard not to.”
Nodded my I guess.
I didn’t dare turn around. She’d be there, over my shoulder.
“She’s a harsh mistress.”
He didn’t say, you can’t keep the light in your pocket, even if it was true. It is.
I tried. Tried to put it in jars and turn it into words too.
Tried to make dreams out of it.
Failed.
Lot of times.
On a lonesome night I put bell, book, and candle to it. My grip lasted as long as a cigarette.
Jimmy’s fingers cried on the ivories.
I wished the drink in my hand was an ocean and I had the power to not turn and look up at her.



[After Joe Cocker “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”]

 (c) 2012 Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.


The pic, (c) Maddie Von Stark 2012, which I adore! !!, was done by Maddie Von Stark.


You can hear the song [an old favorite I've spent a lot of time w/!! !] that inspired the text here --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW9O77Eocmo

 


Friday, August 31, 2012

Summer fades...



Radiant warmth, afternoons by the pool, ice cream, BBQs, a cold beer and warm laughter... Bye-bye~ ~~autumnal winds are blowing. The knotted rhythms of madness are stirring...

Less light. Everywhere: greyness . . .

See you soon!

http://miskatonicriverpress.com/products/asic.shtml


Monday, August 27, 2012

the ADAM NISWANDER video chat tribute



The likes of a certain Mister Hopfrog, Bob Price, Pete Rawlik, Julia Morgan, Mike Davis, [and even a certain bEast], gathered last night to praise an old frend who has traveled beyond . . .

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Thursday, August 16, 2012

See you in September~ ~~



In
A Season in Carcosa readers will find the strange and mysterious places of heart and mind that spring from madness, and those minds and the places touched by it are the realms that are mined. Chambers' legacy of the worms and soft decay that spring from reading the King In Yellow play stir both new and established talents in the world of weird fiction and horror to contribute all new tales that pay homage to these eerie nightmares. In Carcosa twilight comes and minds lost in the mirrors of lust and fear, are awash in legacies of shadows, not mercy. . .

A Season in Carcosa arrives in September and you can pre-order it now at Miskatonic River Press. Those that pre-order get a free ASiC bookmark.

Here’s the ToC:

Joel Lane  . . . My Voice is Dead
Simon Strantzas . . . BEYOND THE BANKS OF THE RIVER SEINE

Don Webb . . . Movie Night at Phil’s
Daniel Mills . . . MS Found in a Chicago Hotel Room
Gary McMahon . . . it sees me when I’m not looking
Ann K. Schwader . . . Finale, Act Two
Cate Gardner . . . Yellow Bird Strings
Edward Morris . . . THE THEATRE & ITS DOUBLE
Richard Gavin . . . The Hymn of the Hyades
Gemma Files . . . SLICK BLACK BONES AND SOFT BLACK STARS
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. . . . . . . Not Enough Hope
Kristin Prevallet . . . Whose Hearts are Pure Gold
Richard A. Lupoff . . . APRIL DAWN
Anna Tambour . . . King Wolf
Michael Kelly . . . THE WHITE-FACE AT DAWN
Cody Goodfellow . . . WISHING WELL
John Langan . . . Sweetums
Pearce Hansen . . . THE KING IS YELLOW
Laird Barron . . . D T
Robin Spriggs . . . SALVATION IN YELLOW
Allyson Bird . . . The Beat Hotel

http://miskatonicriverpress.com/products/asic.shtml



Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Jeff Thomas gets grilled, or maybe interviewed...



Mike Davis of "Lovecraft eZine" and authors W.H. Pugmire and Joseph S. Pulver Sr. , grill, I mean, interview and chat w/ acclaimed writer ,Jeff Thomas. Jeff is the creator of PUNKTOWN, and the author of many wonderful books.

You can find Jeff on the net at FB, or follow these links.



http://www.jeffreyethomas.com/


http://www.amazon.com/Jeffrey-Thomas/e/B000APMJZ4/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1344972528&sr=1-2-ent



Wednesday, August 8, 2012

The cloudwaves are about to break and reveal A Season in Carcosa



     Venture up the headwaters of the Miskatonic River and you'll find the rivers of Night's dreaming will be ready for your pre-order vEry SOON! !!


And here are the dreamers who sing Cassilda's songs~ ~~

Joel Lane  . . . My Voice is Dead

Simon Strantzas . . . BEYOND THE BANKS OF THE RIVER SEINE

Don Webb . . . Movie Night at Phil’s

Daniel Mills . . . MS Found in a Chicago Hotel Room

Gary McMahon . . . it sees me when I’m not looking

Ann K. Schwader . . . Finale, Act Two

Cate Gardner . . . Yellow Bird Strings

Edward Morris . . . THE THEATRE & ITS DOUBLE

Richard Gavin . . . The Hymn of the Hyades

Gemma Files . . . SLICK BLACK BONES AND SOFT BLACK STARS

Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. . . . . . . Not Enough Hope

Kristin Prevallet . . . Whose Hearts are Pure Gold

Richard A. Lupoff . . . APRIL DAWN

Anna Tambour . . . King Wolf

Michael Kelly . . . THE WHITE-FACE AT DAWN

Cody Goodfellow . . . WISHING WELL

John Langan . . . Sweetums

Pearce Hansen . . . THE KING IS YELLOW

Laird Barron . . . D T

Robin Spriggs . . . SALVATION IN YELLOW

Allyson Bird . . . The Beat Hotel


http://miskatonicriverpress.com/products/asic.shtml

Monday, July 30, 2012

My "Loveraft eZine" interview.

Here's my "Lovecraft eZine" interview from last night... I had fun and imagine I was my usual boring self. Thankfully Hopfrog was there in full frightful regalia to save the day . . .

Thanks to Mike Davis for inviting me!! !


Monday, July 23, 2012

I get interviewed live this Sunday...



This coming Sunday, Mike Davis, the kingpin behind "Lovecraft eZine" will strap me to a chair [or stake] in the Nightmarium and grill me w/ his blasphemies and revelations, or put me to the Q & A...

As I undertstand it, you can join in and ask questions -- Let's hope you'll take pity on a bumpkin and they're not too hard.

And they tell me my dear friend, a certain Mr .Hopfrog, Esq will be around............ . I smell trouble brewin' ~ ~~

Here's the details as I know them.

Sunday on Google+

the video chat with Joe Pulver will happen next Sunday at 5pm CST. (Also known as 3pm Pacific, 6pm Eastern, and 11pm GMT.) If you want to join the chat, email me at michaeldaviswriter@gmail.com , and you might also want to add me on Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/114595615236936675087/about -- At chat time, I will send you an invite through Google IM.



 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Blowin' my horn~ ~~



Yesterday I was informed Peter Tennant, yes, "Black Static" Peter Tennant, liked TOP. You bet I'm pretty YAYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYYY!! ! You'd be.

Here's his blog post~ ~~

http://trumpetville.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/2012-the-story-so-far-second-quarter/


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


Wednesday, July 11, 2012

MIRAGES



MIRAGES


Edited by Trent Zelazny (AUGUST 2012 Black Curtain Press)

Something illusory, without substance or reality. The sticky threads that communicate the meaningless in a thousand different ways.

Collected here are 17 tales of darkness and dread, teetering on the edge of reality and unreality, nightmares and dreams, brought to you by some of the best voices in dark fiction.

Here's the ToC:

The Conclusion – Tom Piccirilli

American Chinnamasta – Jeffrey Thomas

Dumb Luck – Barb Lien-Cooper & Park Cooper

Poor Old Soul – Lee Allen Howard

No Name, No Voice – Tina Swain

Reprieve Eve No. 33 – Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.

Switchbitch – Gerald Hausman

Bastard – Billie Sue Mosiman

Angela & the Angel – Scott Bradley & Peter Giglio

Offline – Kealan Patrick Burke


Fairy Tale – Lori R. Lopez

The Sum of Spectacle – Jason S. Ridler

The Descent Upstairs – Leigh M. Lane

The Pit – Joe R. Lansdale

Jagged Night – Curt Jarrell

Shattering The Meat Tunnel – E. A. Black

 Beast: A Fable For Children – Edward Morris


http://www.facebook.com/blackcurtainpress


Friday, June 29, 2012

My BIBLIOMANCY interview



Jason Rolfe at BIBLIOMANCY kindly asked me to do an interview for his fine literary blog . . .  Many know Jason as one of Chomu Press' strongest advocates, he's interviewed Chomu Ramrod, Quentin Crisp and insanely brilliant writers like Rhys Hughes and Brendan Connell, so I jumped at the chance to talk about my work, some of my influences, and some of the things I have going on.

Thanks, Jason. You made it easy and a lot of fun! !!

Here's a
link to my Amazon author page --



    

Sunday, June 24, 2012

The Starry Wisdom Library anthology

Today's guest post is by my pal, editor, Nate Pedersen. Nate's working on a special project Lovecraftians will be very interested in. Here's Nate to give you a first look at the blasphemies and revelations he's about to unleash . . . I think you'll be as excited by this as I am.

       In a rear vestry room beside the apse Blake found a rotting desk and ceiling-high shelves of mildewed, disintegrating books. Here for the first time he received a positive shock of objective horror, for the titles of those books told him much. They were the black, forbidden things which most sane people have never even heard of, or have heard of only in furtive, timorous whispers; the banned and dreaded repositories of equivocal secrets and immemorial formulae which have trickled down the stream of time from the days of man’s youth, and the dim, fabulous days before man was.
       --H P Lovecraft, “The Haunter of the Dark”

       The notorious library of the Church of Starry Wisdom was left to rot when the cult abandoned Providence for parts unknown.  Robert Blake discovered what was left of the library in his 1938 explorations - over fifty years after the cult had abandoned the Church.The library still contained such enormous rarities as the Necronomicon, the Liber Ivonis, and the Pnakotic Manuscripts. Imagine the library in its heyday, when the Church was still active.
       What if, on the eve of disbanding, the Church of Starry Wisdom organized a rare book auction of the various tomes in their collection? What if the accompanying auction catalogue was privately published and privately circulated, disappearing for over a century until its recent rediscovery in the archives of Miskatonic University?  What if we could read the 1877 original today?
       My new (and first) anthology for
PS Publishing is just that: a “facsimile” publication of the 19th century auction catalogue, entitled “The Starry Wisdom Library: being a catalogue of the unsurpassed occult library held by the recently disbanded Church of Starry Wisdom, offered for sale at private auction Midsummer’s Eve, 1877 by Messrs Pent & Serenade of Arkham, Mass.” The anthology will be presented and designed exactly like a 19th century book auction catalogue, with entries describing the major books in the Church’s collection, accompanied by essays from “noted scholars” on the history of each dread tome. The “noted scholars” will be contemporary horror and speculative fiction authors.  Their contributions will be similar in length and content to Lovecraft’s own “History of the Necronomicon”, a slightly edited version of which will also appear in the catalogue.
       The Starry Wisdom Library anthology was inspired by my personal love of rare book catalogues garnered from years spent working in the rare book trade in North Carolina and Scotland. I am now a freelance journalist and editor and write frequently for the magazine Fine Books & Collections. This anthology was the direct result of a blog post I wrote for Fine Books last October entitled
“The Grimoires of Lovecraft”.



       The finished anthology will contain approximately 30 essays on the history of Mythos books.  I can confirm sixteen of the contributors now:
Joe Pulver with an early copy of the banned play The King in Yellow
Livia Llewellyn with the “profane” version of Las Reglas de Ruina
Silvia Moreno-Garcia with the Aztec codex El Culto de los Muertos
Edward Morris with the medieval Irish manuscript The Book of Invaders
Robin Spriggs with a “copy” of the Dhol Chants
Gemma Files with the an entirely new version of the Testament of Carnamagos
Ramsey Campbell with the cult manuscript the Revelations of Glaaki
Kali Wallace with the mysterious stone-written Tablets of Nhing
Donald Tyson with the third Latin edition of Liber Damnatus
Michael Cisco with a 12th century manuscript of Liber Ivonis
F. Paul Wilson with the first German edition of Unaussprechlichen Kulten
Keith Taylor with Robert Boyle’s copy of the Book of Thoth
Genevieve Valentine with the elusive Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan
Scott Nicolay with the ancient South Seas manuscript the Ponape Scripture
Simon Strantzas with the dreaded Black Tome of Alsophocus
Richard Gavin with the ghoulish transformative manual De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis
    The Starry Wisdom Library will also be illustrated with six original woodcuts by the incomparable Liv Rainey-Smith.




       No publication date has been set yet by PS, however the book is likely to be published in fall of 2013 or spring of 2014.  Interested readers can check out the website for the anthology for updates: http://starrywisdomlibrary.com

About the editor:

       Nate Pedersen formerly worked for rare book dealers in North Carolina and Scotland.  He now lives in Oregon where he works as a librarian in addition to freelancing as a journalist and editor.  He is a Contributing Writer for the magazine Fine Books & Collections.


Tuesday, June 5, 2012

URBAN CTHULHU: Nightmare Cities



Editor Henrik Harksen's Urban Cthulhu: Nightmare Cities (H. Harksen Productions 2012) is out [YAYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!] and has arrived in Carcosa East. Pleased? You bet yer nightguant I am! !! It's a lovely looking tome and Paul Carrick and Tom Kristensen's art is lovely indeed.

Here's a little teaser from the publisher... What lurks in the damp recesses of urban existence? These new tales of weird fiction are a blend of urban horror, pulp noir and dark fantasy. Lovecraftian horrors and Cthulhu Mythos monsters have never been this gritty. From haunted Kingsport across the globe to shadowy Berlin and the otherworldly music of Bangalore. From kind, sexy neighbors to cyberpunk paranoia an The King in Yellow. A journalist's search with unexpected results. What really happened to Walter Gilman, and what is the origin of the witch Keziah Mason? And witness humanity fail against the forces from beyond. From weird sounds to screams of madness. Entropy. Chaos. Disorder. Death. Beneath cities, on the outskirts of ruined, aeon-old cities and INSIDE cities. The stench, the decay, the hopelesness... it is everywhere.  

And here's the ToC:

“Dancer of the Dying” by Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
“The Neighbors Upstairs” by John Goodrich
“Carcosapunk” by Glynn Owen Barrass
“Architect Eyes” by Thomas Strømsholt
“Slou” by Robert Tangiers
“Ozeelah’s Lake” by Morten Carlsen
“The Statement of Frank Elwood” by Pete Rawlik
“In the Shadow of Bh’Yhlun” by Ian Davey
“The Screamer” by T. E. Grau
“Night Life” by Henrik Sandbeck Harksen

“the guilt of each … at the end…” by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.

Lovecraftian editor, writer, reviewer, and geek (aren't we all?), Brian Sammons has reviewed [PRAISED! !!] UC over at "Horror World". You can find his RAVE here:

http://horrorworld.org/hw/2012/06/urban-cthulhu-nightmare-cities/


Thursday, May 31, 2012

Hopfrog on MRP's anthology HORROR FOR THE HOLIDAYS




a certain dear brother of mine has some very nice things to say about Miskantonic River Press' tome. He also has some very kind words of praise for me. What a sweetie he is! !!

You can find MRP at these links --

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=197144847075728&id=1576223866#!/pages/Miskatonic-River-Press/25871246621

http://www.miskatonicriverpress.com/products/hh.shtml


Lovecraftian fans will want this tome! !!

And here is the ToC:

TALES OF ROSH CHODESH
The Tomb of Oscar Wilde by W.H. Pugmire

TALES OF VALENTINE'S DAY
Love and Darkness by Oscar Rios
Be Mine by Brian Sammons

TALES OF PASSOVER
Cthulhu Mhy'os by Lois H. Gresh

TALES OF EASTER
And the Angels Sing by Cody Goodfellow
The Last Communion of Allyn Hill by Pete Rawlik
Mrs. Spriggs' Easter Attire by Joseph S. Pulver Sr. and Tara VanFlower
Seasons of Sacrifice and Resurrection by Adrian Tchaikovsky

TALES OF MOTHER'S DAY
Mother's Night by Ann K. Schwader

TALES OF THE FOURTH OF JULY
Free Fireworks by T.E. Grau
Doc Corman's Haunted Palace One Fourth of July by Don Webb

TALES OF VJ DAY
Translator by James Robert Smith

TALES OF HALLOWEEN
Hallowe'en in a Suburb by H.P. Lovecraft
Moonday by Will Murray
The Trick by Ramsey Campbell

TALES OF THE DAY OF THE DEAD
El Dia De Los Muertos by Kevin Ross

TALES OF GUY FAWKES NIGHT
Treason and Plot by William

TALES OF REMEMBERANCE DAY
The Dreaming Dead by Joshua Reynolds
TALES OF THANKSGIVING
Entrée by Donald R. Burleson

TALES OF YULE
Keeping Festival by Mollie Burleson
Wassail by Tom Lynch

TALES OF CHRISTMAS
Krampusnacht by Joshua Reynolds
The Christmas Eves of Aunt Elise by Thomas Ligotti
Letters to Santa by Scott David Aniolowski
Keeping Christmas by Michael G. Szymanski
The Nativity of the Avatar by Robert M. Price


Sunday, May 27, 2012

A preview of "Lovecraft eZine" #15






Coming in mid June, the next issue of "Lovecraft eZine"...


Starry. . . yet . . ., by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. No one writes like Pulver… he’s one of a kind, and I’m honored to publish another one of his tales in the June issue.


Invitation, by Siobhan Gallagher.
It’s the waiting game that haunts me. Half-past midnight under a lone street lamp and, nothing. Empty streets and sleeping buildings. So unlike the roaring noise of day, with cars honking and engines starting, people yakking in voices louder than they need be on their phones. All headache inducing. It’s why I’ve escaped into the night, a personally pain reliever, and in my hand an invitation…


In Memoriam
, by W.H. Pugmire. Written for Robert Nelson, one of H.P. Lovecraft’s correspondents. W.H. Pugmire says, I have been quite moved, the more I learn about this young suicidal poet, Robert Nelson. I like to pay homage to young doom’d souls, & thus I have writ this wee prose-poem, enclos’d, which I hope you will be able to use in ye Lovecraft eZine.


Station Waiting Room
, by Simon Kurt Unsworth. Gaskin turned to go and caught movement from the corner of his eye. He glanced around expecting to see a mouse of rat or even bird, but there was nothing. The sounds of the train were louder now, its rattle an insistent message for Gaskin telling him to move, to go now, but he ignored it. In the far corner, what he had taken to be the remains of a fire was opening, tendril arms fluttering apart like some night-blooming flower…


Pickman’s Marble
, by Peter and Mandy Rawlik. An enjoyable flash fiction story by Peter, writing with his wife. It was the work of another artist, both a sculptor and painter that drew me into a strange little shop off the main thoroughfare on a dark little side street, almost an alley. Unlike the other galleries, which took to displaying pieces in front windows to entice potential patrons to enter, the Gallery Giallo seemed to be trying to hide its displays, for the curtains were heavy, moth-eaten and an utterly distasteful shade of pale yellow…


Bus Stop
, by Jerod Brennen. Michael’s dread deepened on the ride to school. Each time he dared to peek outside the window, he saw the same thing: more nothingness. Every street was empty, every business closed…


A Stranger at the Door
, by Bradly Shelby. A very enjoyable read by a promising new writer. Sometimes I honestly don’t know which is worse- the tense silence during the days or listening to the door creak and moan as whatever the hell that thing is pushes on it all night long while endlessly, wordlessly screaming at me…




Wednesday, May 9, 2012

In his strange and dark dreams




Artist, Luis Alberto Cayo has a lovely dream-quest...

He wants to create a lurking fear, a Cthulhu pendant, that you can bring into your shuttered room and wear while you dream of balesome rites in monstrous acropolis' like R'lyeh, or to work, or to dinner parties swarming w/ cannibal gods and ancient exhumations.

Here is his evil plan to put some strange in your aeons . . .


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/867463650/call-of-cthulhu-pendant-limited-200-piece-producti

Saturday, May 5, 2012

My love letter to the HPLFF






I can't be at the HPLFF, (Portland, OR - May 11-13, 2012), so I've penned a 6,000 word tale/love letter to the fest I adore. The utterly fab weirdos at the ever-wonderful "STRANGE AEONS MAGAZINE" will be there with a "very limited" run of this chapbook. My brand new tale, "…LIES……Thunder……   ashes………….. .", is ABOUT the fest, the films, and the fine folks who go ever year, the weirdos I love! I think friends of "Nyarly" will enjoy this tale.

Here's the cover by my brilliant pal, Nick Gucker!!!

http://www.nickthehat.com/

Nasty Nicky has also done 3 interior illos for this wee slice of darkness.

The wonderful "STRANGE AEONS" magazine can be found here:

http://strange-aeons.com/


The HPLFF can be found here:

http://hplfilmfestival.com/

http://www.facebook.com/events/319963744716911/?ref=ts

Friday, May 4, 2012

Coming this summer



The Robert W. Chambers/King in Yellow tribute anthology of all new tales, A Season in Carcosa, has been sent to the publisher, Miskatonic River Press.

Here is the final ToC:

Joel Lane
Simon Strantzas
Don Webb
Daniel Mills
Gary McMahon
Ann K. Schwader
Cate Gardner
Edward Morris
Richard Gavin
Gemma Files
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
Kristin Prevallet
Richard A. Lupoff
Anna Tambour
Michael Kelly
Cody Goodfellow
John Langan
Pearce Hansen
Laird Barron
Robin Spriggs
Allyson Bird

http://miskatonicriverpress.com/






Sunday, April 29, 2012

"Phantasmagorium" news


(c) 2011 JD BUSCH


"Phantasmagorium" the quarterly literary journal of horror has a new editor...

 ~ ~~perhaps you were wondering who this entity is… A little bit country and a lot of R’n’R? Sort of… {but don’t forget the Jazz --heap on the ECM!!-- and folk and solo cello suites.} Sane? On Tuesdays, yeah. Other days might be Buk after dropping a few tabs of Gormengast and backin’ a bottle Cisco-fied occultations, or Lamantia studied all them GEMS Datlow has issued for 3 decades and fell truly and madly in love. Maybe add some dark and stormy winter nights the bEast might travel a bit w/ Rechy and Fowles and Beckett and Michaux and and Zivkovic and Vachss and Eco stashed in his pockets fer fun, depends on the phase of the moon [talk ‘bout a harsh mistress]…
     Does he/IT have grisly chants and shadowy dances? Yep, a few. Sings (if you could call it that) in rain too. LOVES noir and hardboiled! Eats POETICS 24/7! !! “Worships! !!” Cisco, Barron, Kiernan, Koja, KEW, Ellison, Weird fiction, “Weird Tales” {Ann VanderMeer is fab! Her other half is purr-D good too}, more poets then you’d care to see listed here, and the writers listed in the last line of the last paragraph…

     They say I’m brutal, but [if you look deep] I’m not all that big on splatter and gore. Loves ghouls! No to zombies in most cases. Sparkly vamps? NO unless, their name is Ziggy and they bang a stardusted-gong w/ Ronson and Marc . . . Is a stone cold King in Yellow purist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
So “Phanta”? It will be dark, hopefully tainted by madness, and strange… [DaRK!]-fantasy, yes. Mash-ups, you bet. Unsettling? I sure hope you think so.

     Will you see HPL, steampunk, bizzaro? Might see some here and there . . .
     Laird had the right idea, mix it up, push the envelope where you can, and I will “try” to live up to his vision in my fashion. Am I Laird? No. He wears the shoes of a gifted giant and I cannot fill them… Few, if any, can.

     I will keep you updated w/ our plans. Yer bEast (and my fellow staff members at "PHANTA") hope you enjoy what we have in store for you.

     That said, here's the ToC for our new issue [#3 coming in MAY] ~ ~~

     Cate Gardner “The Sour Aftertaste of Olive Lemon”
     Cody Goodfellow “NATURE’S MOTHER”
     Ann K. Schwader “Blown Out”
     Edward Morris “TO WALK THE NIGHT”
     Michael Cisco “Coptic Light”
 

     We'll have the new website up VERY soon. In the meantime you can find out what's going on on our new FB page --   http://www.facebook.com/phanta13

    
     NOTE: [some] other [maybe] falls under the "weird fiction" umbrella things the bEast likes~ ~~ "Weird Fiction Review Online". Ligotti, SGJ, John Langan, Ally BirdJean Ray! Chomu Press! Angela Slatter. The Poe Eddie!!!!!!!!!! GEMMA FILES! !! Cody Goodfellow, Simon Strantzas! Alfred Kubin! KEW! Jeff Thomas, Richard Gavin, Daniel Mills, Machen, Bruno Schulz! !! Bruce Boston! !! a certain Mr. D. F. Lewis! Our dear HOPFROG! !! Jack O’Connell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And causes all manner of bEastly swoonin'~ ~~Catherynne Valente, Kaaron Warren, Genevieve Valentine, Murakami, Calvino...  
    



Friday, April 20, 2012

New Chomu coming! !!!

I stole the following from Anna Tambour! !!

http://medlarcomfits.blogspot.de/


Warning: CRANDOLIN to be served up by Chômu Press
To be released in time for the feasting season: my novel CRANDOLIN.
"A fairy tale Dostoevsky would have liked … It's like it was written by a demented chef"
David Kowalski

The fit with Chômu Press is so perfect that I have hesitated to say anything here, for fear the feasting season will fall off the end of Time, or the End of the World will come at 2:00 the day before the release. So I hereby invoke the Writer's Prayer:


Please, Fate(s) or Who(m)ever,
Let The End of the World come the day after the release of my Important novel.
Chômu Press doesn't publish me-too fiction that you've read somewhere before wrapped in another title. They do publish the most intriguing and readable stuff. And they care about presentation. The productions are luscious, partly because they get some of the best artists involved as well as the superb designer, Anil D.Nataly. And mostly because they do insane amounts of work themselves.
Sure, I could have gotten CRANDOLIN published somewhere, but I have wanted the best, and the context I can put this press into, to show that I really do admire what they do as well as their guts, is to say that they're the Blaft of the UK. And anyone who's followed my love affair with Blaft knows that they're my favourite publisher in the world.
Quentin S. Crisp as editor is just what I always wanted for CRANDOLIN, and me! He's like a rain of vinegar hitting the mountain of me, a pile of bicarbonate of soda. He's what all great editors are — insidious drugs. I've been tripping for weeks. (And if you haven't read Crisp's own fiction, you're missing something major. He's a writer of classics, given the readership. I've just finished Shrike, and think it should be rereleased as a Popular Penguin, though it's hardly been read by anyone yet.)
Finally, CRANDOLIN is too original for agents to have been any more use than a sautéed umbrella. And I wouldn't have approached Chômu Press though it looks mouthwatering, because I grew too cynical about the whole fiction scene. So thank you, dear Starburst Poet (Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.), for not only picking me up from the muck of my own depression, but for being yet another wonderful editor; and then, after that, for turning out to be a big hairy yenta — a meddling matchmaker!
Of course, there are other brave readers to whom I am also indebted. They donated their blood to CRANDOLIN and their shoulders (at least) to me, without ever charging me for their earplug expenses. I shall reveal them as the novel turns.


http://chomupress.com/