Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Portraits of Ruin news





W!O!R!K!! ! [editing/proofing/design] continues on PoR [Hippocampus Press - SOONer than the June/July/sometime this summer I expected!! !!]............. .

Cover art [again by my hellishly-talented pal, Bogo] is in the works! !! Here's a peek at the 2 covers the HP art team is deciding upon . . . [Our FABBO model is a certain West Coast HOWLin'-all-night gal some of you know! !! THXXXXXXX, Leenie!! HUGSsssssssssssSSSSSxxxxxs]

More Portraits of Ruin news [like the ToC, etc.] soon...........[maybe I should have called this collection, A Collection of Lovesongs?]......... .

NOTE: I'm scared witless by the release of PoR~ ~~~~~~~~lot more than the last 2! !!

3 others books in the works [at the moment!], and TONS of projects on the plate -- some are scary as hell! !! More on them ~and other things~ as I can! !!

Also looks like I'm 'bout halfway done w/ my 4th collection, Stained Translations........... I'm not counting this tome as part of the 3 I mentioned in the last paragraph..






Tuesday, January 24, 2012

This I have to share~ ~~



Busy as all get out, but this................. . I must share this. Amazed, stunned, and humbled yet again............ .

Mills & Boon [shakes head, laughs & LAUGHSSSSsssssssssssssssssss][but maybe, just maybe, some truth in that]
"nudibranch" . . . &
"a mug of hot Lear blended with Cummings, served with a squeeze of post-enema'd Shelley" . . .

What is all this babblin'? Go here and see~ ~~

http://medlarcomfits.blogspot.com/2012/01/upcoming-in-season-in-carcosa-editor.html

My deepest thanks to the author.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Society of The Yellow Sign~ ~~



gets another member!

I'm vewwy pleased to announce, Anna Tambour {Spotted Lily, Monterra's Deliciosa & Other Tales &} joins our guests on the balcony in Carcosa . . .

There will be further updates as our other guests arrive~ ~~

You can find Anna and her wonderfully surreal & sensual work here~

http://annatambour.net/

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

A Season In Carcosa update~ ~~~~~~~~




There are a "number" of subs I'm wating for, but here's the current IN list~ ~~

The newest addition is Ann K. Schwader w/ "Finale, Act Two".

The final ToC will appear around MARCH 1st.

Joel Lane

Don Webb

Ann K. Schwader

Simon Strantzas

Edward Morris

Richard Gavin

[pulver]

Michael Kelly

Richard Lupoff

Daniel Mills

Allyson Bird

Gary McMahon

Cate Gardner









Monday, January 16, 2012

how to waste time & &&



make the Muse un/happy~ ~~~~~~~~~


Inalienable rights. That’s what it says. For EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! And fighting to keep them and make certain EVERYONE has them is vital.
Yes, I did. Once.
I love names. Weirdo perhaps, but to me, they’re the key to a tale. Name’s wrong I can’t buy the character.
Record shop mrg, bouncer in a strip joint, lumberjack, witness . . . FOOL!
Never allowed to have a pet as a kid.
I don’t hate all my stuff. There are times I think “that” sentence is pretty damn good.
                                                                           Do I read others writers and think why the hell do you even bother? Damn right I do! !! Long list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anubis and Loki!
Damn right I like LOTR.
Yes, yoga and zen . . . long ago and faraway . . .
KILL ULGY RADIO!
Inhaled. I did have sex with that women. LIKE it –her! !! 

Sin like you mean it!
                                                        It’s CLOBBERIN” time!


Love rocks, stones.
Drank a lot of take-home pay.
Love the desert!
LOUD – sometimes…

                                                                                                                       Yes, I’ve watched Jeremiah Johnson ‘bout 100 times. Not top 3 but top 5, bet yer ass.

MASKS! Yep, the beard is one.
Put a lot of cotton in a 11ft sack;;;;;;;;;;;;; felt like it! !!
Saw a mountain of bullshit & GREED in that commune. Told him to jam it and walked~ ~~
Raised in a lion’s den? Sure. Why the hell do you think have the new new minglewood blues? ??

BIRDS~ ~~~~~~~~~~~
One wing is HAWK, the other is pure DOVE! Try to soar on ideas when I can; ;;;;;;;;;;;;


Destination:
                                      the next WORD, of course!


PART 1) )) Yes she was naked. Yes I sipped wine from her belly button as she read Homer to me. You think Keith Richards is the only one who ever pitched a wang dang doodle all night long? ??


PART 2)))) )))))))) 5 days - 2 gallons of T and 4 worms~~~~~~~[smoke? Who can really recall?? ?]~~~~[yes there were women]~~ You think Keith Richards is the only one who ever pitched a wang dang doodle all night long? ??


Mathis, Bee Gees, Carpenters, YEP! Sun Ra and Mingus and Diamanda and the jam kickin’ 5 too. You don’t, maybe you don’t really like music and you’ll be dust after that eye-blink trend gets blown away~ ~~
If I had to pick one I’d lean toward Odin.

Cap, Dr. Strange, FF, Daredevil, Thor. In that order.

Red Skull, Dormammu, HYDRA, Loki, Zemo. In that order.

Bats, Metal Men, Doom Patrol, GL, Challengers of the Unknown. In that order.




Am I ever gonna go Pulver on sparkly vamps. Yep!
cried
Will get around to a werewolf one day . . . Seems odd lookin’ in that mirror.


bEast. For good reason.


Song that started it all for me: Gene Pitney “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”. I was 7 or 8.
Think it was 8.
Autumn!
Thing’s a chessboard and a cage, help the other guy. It’s why yer here. Or should be . . .
Moonlight!
                                 Goes w/out saying, a slow dance, of course.

Philip Lamantia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But there are plenty of times I think E.E. – no it’s not ee! !! Go look it up.

Hated Hemmingway in high school. Washington Irving too.
I’d like to believe in YOU! !! But that’s up to you.
Sometimes w/out DRUMS. Please.
Found out.
Can’t blame too many folks. I put the wall up. They only handed me a few bricks every once and again.
Hot: Earl Grey. Cold/on ice: green.
I remember all the faces . . . It’s no fun having a “full” fur coat! !!
Writer I hate the most: Vachss! Puts a new one out, I HAVE to have it NOW! & then BAM, few hours it’s gone and he makes us wait forever to get another!!!!!!!!!! Ain’t right! Ain’t!
Apologies to a lot of brilliant writers, but best novel I’ve read in the last few years, Generation Loss by Liz Hand.
There’s one tale that scares me like no other. I never revisit it, can’t . . . JCO “Martyrdom”.
If you hadn’t guessed, Hesse’s STEPPENWOLF is a bible to me. One of them.


                                           Guilty? Too many times to count. Stupid? Too many times to count. Just plain wrong.  Yeah. Give me a sec it will come ‘round again . . .

FELT, you damn well better be!
THINK, you damn well better be!
BLUES!

                                                Lie shreds just like a hollow-point or a knife-edge.
      
Enlarge with FREE trail of porn star secrets. NO!
Said CURVES last time. Still mean it! !!
Dr. King. Gone too soon!.
Kosmische & Motorik when I can. Spell it Sandoz [in the rain once –yes, I did!] and/or Hallogallo if you like.
Reading gives you depth. Listening to what the other person has to say does to! !! Try both.
How far is? ??
Gazed upon troubled. Then let the tango go ‘round. And ‘round! !!
FORWARD> >>>>>>>>>>>
Yes, alongside.
I do not say nice things about other people’s work for the hell or it, or to get ahead. I like what I like. Not sayin’ I’m right, just my 2cents is all. You think what you want, and I’ll do the same.
I have stage fright. Even doing one of those v-blog things.
“The Piata”. [sue me if I spelled it wrong!]
spell check – thiS ain;t no sub………..
Dirty Blvd. Is!
Royal scam. They’re runnin’ a lot of ‘em!
Comes n’achel. You waste all the time you want groomin’ yours in a mirror. I’ve got other demons to shoot at.


I don’t give a rat’s ass what you do in your bedroom! If it’s w/ a consenting adult, fine. You be you, I’ll be me. You see two men [or women] walking down the street holding hands and that bothers you, turn your HATE up to FULL ON KILL and  go F**k yerself w/ it – and please, use a red hot, barbed poker. The EXIT sign for assbags is right over there – I’d be happy to show it to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! Hell, let me hold it open fer ya!


Jack was right, Cavey! My vocabulary did this to me. OK, yer right, Dylan helped. All those books to.
Blame Harlan Ellison!


Yer damn right I wish there was net. Auguries, fragments, and a crown of weeds.
                                                                        Yes, I’ve read every KIY tale I’ve ever heard of [including a few hundred thousand unpublished words worth], except one, and no, I don’t care to discuss the how and why of Chambers or the KIY. I write it, let the big brains and critics analyze. That said, yes I do think there’s a canon. And it’s rather small. There’s a bunch of tales I don’t not include in the canon that are good, but, to me, they just miss being canon worthy. I DO NOT consider anything of mine part of the canon!


                                                           Quietude.
Sleep? Been meaning to try it.
Hope the hell I’m not derivative!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Every word does not have to push the narrative forward.
Hardcore homebody.
                                                 Dinner and a movie – HELL YES!
Geek. Yep.
Compromise does not mean you have sold out. We thinking, feeling human beings need to live together, listening, communicating, and understanding, needs to be as important as breathing.
HATE is taught. Spreading it is criminal.
If she has wit and brains you’ve hit the jackpot!

No, twins are not hot. No, don’t want two at a time! !!

                                                                                                      Tombstone hand.
Political gerrymandering is a crime.
You say you care, yet you don’t vote? ????????????????????
You wanna talk and be reasonable and maybe find some middle ground, let’s. If not, yes, that’s a fist.

Not ckin’ this one for spelling, grammar, or typos either.


A-yep, wastin’ time ‘gain……………. .


me: you write some words down. me I'm off to play~ ~~
MUSE: you better--
me: See that Spicer volume? Yep, they call it poetics. Start w/ that. I'll get back to you....................... .


why LAST YEAR cover up there; ;;;;;;;;;;;;; cause i wanted to ((((((((((((( (and it's my blog......................... .

[soundtrack ~ pet shop boys and steppenwolf]


a reader's 5 star review



Good reviews from critics, yes please, but a rave from a reader, that's IT! !! Tells you someone sat in their easychair and let you lead the tango and they felt what you hoped they'd feel. So here's a very humbling rave for The Orphan Palace. Delighted this reader, who can be tough on what's good and what's not, enjoyed TOP, bet yer bottom! !!

http://griffinwords.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/words-in-the-orphan-palace-by-joseph-s-pulver-jr/

Friday, January 6, 2012

BIG~BIG YAYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYY!! !



ANNA TAMBOUR
There I said it. FELT GOOD! !!

Posted this a couple of days ago w/out the MAGICIAN's name. Here she is! Pleased? Bet yer bottom I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

"But to your own writing, shiiiiiit. Maybe you're influenced, but you sure aren't derivative. Sin and Ashes is unique, and it's so unusually honest emotionally. It's the opposite of pose. I'm so glad that you have managed to keep true to your own visions, not to mention I'm awed that they haven't destroyed you, but that you have taken them in hand. You wield words in ways that exercise them more than they've been used to. They don't get to put on makeup and primp either. You have also a most unmodern beauty of standing back in what you are writing too. There's a veracity there without the ego first, if that makes any sense. That you have live, are living, and know pain in every declension of it, but you don't revel in victimhood, or cruelty and snideness for its own sake. I do hate the linking of other writers with you, as you are more much more than the ones who are said to have influenced you. Your eyes have seen, your heart has experienced, and you're still very much alive and experiencing; these elements make the very poetry of a simple act, beautifully expressed and meaningful. She took off her limits. One at a time." -- Anna Tambour

I do hope yer reading this VASTLY-underrated lady. If you're not, boy are you missing out! !!!!!!!!!!!!

This one--2 bEastly paws WAY UP! !!--, "Klokwerk's Heart", [you can read it here online] is a STUNNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20021202/klokwerk.shtml

You can find her other gems here [and there's a link to her blog] --

http://annatambour.net/

the newest from S.T.'s blog (JAN 4)

Said YAY! !! before, so one mo time~ ~~~~~~~..~.

"Submissions are coming thick and fast to the various anthologies of Lovecraftian fiction that I am compiling this year—Black Wings III (for PS Publishing), Mountains of Madness (stories based on HPL’s At the Mountains of Madness), and The Madness of Cthulhu (a more general Lovecraftian anthology)—the latter two to be published by Titan Books. I have recently accepted some splendid stories by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., Cody Goodfellow, and Will Murray, and more good material seems to have landed in my inbox."

I'm in 2 of these [crosses talons and looks at new, almost finished sub] . . .

http://stjoshi.org/news.html

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Q & A sans interviewer/well, sort of



 Afraid of rats, snakes, and spiders. Yep.
Never read much T.S. Eliot. Keep meaning to . . .
Didn’t like or read the Beats until I was well into my 40s. Love listening to WSB but don’t enjoy reading him as much as I should.
Frank Zappa and Lin Carter are my biggest “literary” influences. You’ll have to figure that one for yourself.
I HATE typing! I have never written a word [or come up w/ an idea] while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Never used a cut-up machine. W/ a messed-up brain like this one who needs it? ??
I revise a hell of a lot more than anyone thinks! !!
Basically don’t care for my stuff. Would love to, but . . . It’s just never good enough to suit me. 90% of the time, I only stop working on a tExt as I find myself thinking, I don’t know what to do w/ it now/kinda feels done.
I almost never write without music on! !! Music is AIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Many of the stories and images in and from “Creepy”, “Eerie”, pre-superhero MARVEL Comics, and The Twilight Zone are in so deep I’ll never escape . . . Strike that, I don’t want to.
Jacques Brel! Drink a couple of gallons a tea a day. Smoke like a chimney.
Afraid of needles!
I feel like a whore pushing my work, but friends say you have to. Wish I knew where the line was . . .
There’s more than a few Springsteen songs that bring on the tears – every time I hear them.
I’d kill to write a Dr. Strange novel. Yes, the villain would be Dormammu!! ! And Clea would be in it.
I “never” consider what a reader or an editor might think until I’m pretty much done, then it’s sheer TERROR!
Still trying to find a voice. Perhaps if I ever think I have one, I’ll be able to tell if my work is of any merit?
Hope some of my work is good, or some merit. Am humbled by the kind praise I’ve been given, but I just don’t [can’t] see what they see. Wish the hell I could.
I’m not a big horror movie fan.
Do I feel like I’m boring. HELL YES. [I believe this thing/list/whatever it is proves my case.] Feel like a bumpkin? Often.
Don’t read too much horror anymore. Poetry and CRIME!! ! Still love good horror tales, but most often find myself somewhere else. Read a lot of WEIRD fiction too.
Excepting crime fiction, most of my favorite writers and poets are women. HATE they are not receiving the acclaim and readership they deserve! !!
I have “hundreds” of things I’ve started, and put aside for any number of reasons.
ECM is hands down my favorite record label.
Critics, yes. But would you please be polite? Would that hurt so much? Have to say, a time or two it has been, fuck you, you try this!
I’d rather read a novel, a long one, than a short tale.
Do I have a favorite novel? Yep. FLICKER!! !
I love cactus.
CURVES, of course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BESTest most wonderful thing on the whole damn planet – A woman’s MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! [Yes, I like other parts, but w/out the brain, who cares!!!!]
Jacques Brell, Eno, Dylan! !! My trinity! David Sylvain & FVZ have seats at the table! !!
Harlan Ellison!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dangerous Visions!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ain’t a real bookshelf if it ain’t on it!
BRING ON THE BAD GUYS! How do I label my work? Most times I think I write horror, but really can’t say.
I don’t outline outline. Not really. Each tExt wants to go where it wants to go. I let it. When I can, if I can . . .
Yes, there are days when I’d like to turn off the words!
Greatest fear – MADNESS. Nothing else is even close! I will forever LOVE and hate Robert Bloch for that!
Idol – Ben Grimm, The Thing.
Wanted to be 6 feet tall or better!
"Be a GOOD man."
BLUE! But grey ain’t bad.
The beard is there as I’ve never liked my face. It’s a mask! !!
Maybe 30 or so KIY tExts so far. Won’t rest until I write one worthy of the canon. If I ever do, I’ll stop.
For fun – Beckett, David Lynch.
Yes, I did play the 1st Sabbath album for 2 weeks non-stop while working on a very short text. Yes, I spent two weeks on it! !!
I envy anyone who can get a whole 8 hours sleep.
Thinking is the best way to travel! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My horror icons – The Headless Horseman, [[[[[[[Norman, Jack, and Juliette! !!]]]]]]]]]], Frankenstein, the Phantom of the Opera, The Creature From the Black Lagoon, Caligari. & that KIY! !!
KARL EDWARD WAGNER, Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !
Pizza! Thick crust, mushrooms, Italian sausage!! !
I’m not half the Lovecraftian fan some think I am.
#1 – guitar. #2 – b-flat clarinet #3 – a B-3 w/ a Leslie.
Best album ever recorded, easy – Jimmy Giuffre 3 1961.
Off the top of my head ladies who walk on water: Liz Hand, Caitlin Kiernan, Ellen Datlow, Bette Davis, Larrissa Szporluk, Harper Lee, Carla Bley, Helen Merrill . . . There are many others.
Not much on TV. Freak for a good film! !! Drama please.
Yes, I really do like the Bee Gees and the Carpenters.
If you HATE Black, LGBT, Women’s rights, etc., etc, crawl back in yer hole and go screw yerself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !  
Rhinos and owls! Love animals! !! Absolute freak for birds!! ! ! !! Lucky bastards can sing and fly . . .
Scared of dying, bet yer ass I am.
I don’t do sports. Loved them as a kid, when I could play them, but watching, no and no.
If I could have picked, guitar player or artist, never a writer! !! I love the immediacy of art and song! But I don’t think of this as writing. In my mid I’m a 16 year old kid upstairs in his bedroom trying to get songs out of this guitar. Each word is a note, which I hope leads to a melody/song.
Don’t like zombies.
Didn’t figure on any of this. Didn’t. Wasn’t in the handbook either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love ghouls!! !
My desktop is a mess.
I don’t remember most of my work. Sometimes, more than I’d like, I don’t recall story titles or what they are about until someone describes them to me.
I really don’t think I’m all that gory. Brutal, yes.
Yes, I repeat myself. Sue me.
We are losing sight of art and how important it is to humanity. There are far too many tied to various forms of hardship and to deny them art, strips dreams and opportunity! !! Please put a book or a crayon or a guitar in the hand of a child.
Liberal! But not on crime. You hurt a woman or a child, 2 to the back of the fucking head! !! No jail, no 2 to 5! !! Rape should be a crime punishable by Death! !! Murder as well!! ! Stalkers? Sorry, but fuck them too.
Absent-minded. Yes. Very.
Hate that every time I type the word sand it comes out snad. There are about two dozen others words where same thing happens . . . waht/what, etc………….. .
I waste too much time on the internet.
I’m not sure if PSYCHO or The Exorcist scared me more. Both left deep fights.
Stones! It took me a long time to care about the Beatles. I pick George.
Out of my mind freak for early Weather Report! !!
I have a lot of trouble reading on the computer screen.
Not happy that 90% of the time when I read my work, or speak it aloud, I read the line without noticing the missing word/letters. Wish I knew how that happens! Never happens when I read someone else’s.
Thoughts on politics and religion? Yes, I have them! !!
America is a beautiful MONSTER! !!
My top 3 films of ALL time - Man On Fire! All About Eve! A Man for All Seasons!
I wish I wrote differently. Like to be more of a “storyteller” and less bumpkin-poet, but the Muse didn’t let me pick. Hell, she never even asked my thoughts on the subject.
MARVEL or DC? Do you need to ask? Also Cap or Bats . . . CAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Things I miss about America . . . The list would be longer than WAR AND PEACE.
Favorite short story of all time: TIE - “The Cask of Amontillado” and “A Toy For Juliette”
Did I mention I hate RATS? ??
THINK and be HUMAN! Why the hell do you think yer here……………….. .
LIBRARIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Want to be a better writer? READ! This is a craft, sharpen your tools! !! Then go outside and LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, damn straight, I cry. Ain’t dead just yet! !!
The rats sure as hell scared me/that little kid, the junkie with the knife too, after the fact, but staring at my draft card day after day, almost nothing was scarier than that was. Almost . . .
I HATE typin’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’.
OWLS! [all birds really]
This stuff is "fiction", folks!
Cancer. Moonchile. Does it show? ??
Out of context, but if I could be summed up by a line from a song it would be – “I’ve got scars upon my cheeks and I’m half-crazy.”
Advise about writing, some how to thing ? Easy. Put yer ass in the chair and type! Get it on paper, worry about what you have after. If it needs work, that’s what other drafts are for. It may be easy for some, but for me, it’s blood, sweat, and tears – Yes, I swear at these thingSSSSSsss. You want to write, let it bleed!
I think I’ve said most of this before . . . [Pretty sure I told you I’m boring.]
You harm a woman or a child, 2 to the back of the head. And we ain’t wastin’ time or effort to bury you. Ants & crawlies have to eat……………………. .
Am I going to ck this for typos. Nope.
Next thing I plan on doing, a nap! Then again, maybe it’s tea time, light a smoke and look at this tale I need to finish again—MAYBE? ??
I would kill to be a better writer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~; …………………… .
Had to, that’s why. OK, I confess, I was wasting time………………. . Sometimes it’s a good pencil sharpener.

[soundtrack a bunch of ECM recordings]  

   

teStin''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''



After my blog got blocked by FB for being "abusive" [might have been reported by that flat-earth-lovin' assbag who thought the REAL woman in the pic, the one with curves, was fat] I figure it's time to test and see if the network blogger thing works again................. .

Had some great news yersterday, but can't tell it yet.................... . Sorry.

I'm still at wAr w/ the ToC for Portraits of Ruin............. I've reworked it maybe 50 times. Think, yep, that's it. Then-- Will I ever be happy w/ any of these things? Doubt it! !!

Also looked at the ToC and saw a title I didn't remember [happens to me all the time!]. Went to look for it, zippo. Didn't have a clue as to what it was, or what is was about -- hey, I just write 'em then move on.......... Found it after nearly two hours. Different title, and in a folder in a sub-folder thing. How or why I put it there, if "I" did, is beyond me. But am happy I found the damn thing.

OK that's all the stuff that's fit to sing and this is just a test, so....................... Bye-bye!!

And the picture, well, let's just say CURVESsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! !!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

WHaT????????????? ?



Some days you look at the pages ask/bitch/beg!!!!!!!!!!!!!/pray/hope~ ~~ Deep in a war over two dumbass WORD choices, and all you want is a ray of light . . or a razor blade.

And out of the blue you get something like this from a writer who is 7 billions times better than yer ever going to be.

"But to your own writing, shiiiiiit. Maybe you're influenced, but you sure aren't derivative. Sin and Ashes is unique, and it's so unusually honest emotionally. It's the opposite of pose. I'm so glad that you have managed to keep true to your own visions, not to mention I'm awed that they haven't destroyed you, but that you have taken them in hand. You wield words in ways that exercise them more than they've been used to. They don't get to put on makeup and primp either. You have also a most unmodern beauty of standing back in what you are writing too. There's a veracity there without the ego first, if that makes any sense. That you have live, are living, and know pain in every declension of it, but you don't revel in victimhood, or cruelty and snideness for its own sake. I do hate the linking of other writers with you, as you are more much more than the ones who are said to have influenced you. Your eyes have seen, your heart has experienced, and you're still very much alive and experiencing; these elements make the very poetry of a simple act, beautifully expressed and meaningful. She took off her limits. One at a time."
Shucks, thanks, HUGSsssssssssssssSSs, and humbled, just don't cover it. And those 2 words aren't looking as nasty & impossible as they were a couple of minutes ago! !!