All That Was Once Dead Shall Live Again: The Award-Winning Fiction Journal LORE Rises from Hibernation, Never Dead But Always Dreaming

Horror writing for centuries has made hay off of stories pertaining to the undead.  We're fascinated by it, the conquering of the Grand Veil.  We fear it, we hate it, but most of all, we love it.

But what if the medium for the writing itself was that which rose from seeming oblivion?

This is the triumphant story of iconic fiction journal LORE, which founders and constant cemetery gardeners Rod Heather and Sean O'Leary are about to share with you below (with minor editorial formatting and tweakery by yours truly).  Take it away, lads:
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Who Goes There?

LORE began in 1995 as an approximately 70-page, saddle-stitched, digest-sized labor of love. It ran for nine issues until 2000. Throughout those five years, we printed some outstanding work by writers and artists we had admired for years and ones we would come to know and regard as friends. We gathered many cherished memories, accepted two awards for our efforts: The Deathrealm Award and the Dragon's Breath Award, and were thrilled to be featured on The Sci-Fi Channel's Sci-Fi Buzz! Many of the works we published received Honorable Mentions in Datlow & Windling’s The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, and some of the work we published even went on to win awards such as The Bram Stoker Award and The World Fantasy Award. LORE surpassed our wildest dreams!

But we were younger then, and the unpredictability of real life at the time and demands of emerging careers eventually forced closed the vault doors in 2000.

Fast forward to January 2011 in Tempe, Arizona at MythosCon, a celebration of the life and work of H.P. Lovecraft, where something was stirred to life. Through the hazy weekend merriment with some old comrades like Dan Clore, Robert M. Price, Michael Cisco, and Peter Cannon, we got the idea to take a prybar to those vault doors and let some fresh air in (and the old spirits out). LORE would return!

The intervening five months have been a flurry of activity: meetings, conference calls, tracking down old friends. And, finally, we are able to start setting down the next chapter in LORE’s history.

This site is the culmination of our shared love for imaginative fiction, in its many guises. It is also a work in progress. Through the coming days and weeks, we will present compelling content here, and continue to refine the components we’ve set into motion. Our ultimate aim, of course, is to publish outstanding fiction, and more will be announced to this end soon.

We hope you will join us and be a part of our continuing journey.

LORE 2.0 is GO, back with its first collection of new horror, science fiction, and fantasy tales in over a decade!

Lore Volume 2, Number 1 (April 2012) now available (artwork above), featuring:

"Fairy Gold" by Peadar Ó Guilín

"Picking Roses For Chateelet" by Garrett Ashley

"Wait" by Kevin Wallis

"Splash" by Don Webb, Richard Lupoff, Scott Cupp,
Michael Kurland, Michael Mallory, Paul Di Filippo,
and Jim Kelly

"Toll and Trouble" by David A. Hill

"Lonely, Lonely" by Daniel P. Swenson

"She Wanted to Go Into the Trees" by Patricia Russo

"The Spacetime Subway Station" by Clinton Lawrence

"The Deposition of Leodiel Fand" by Brian McNaughton

Cover artwork by Richard Corben

- 172 pages -

Order the latest issue of LORE at the official LOREstore at Amazon right here.
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LORE: A Quaint and Curious Volume of Selected Stories

Herein you will find a selection of the terrifying, thrilling, weird, and wonderful tales for which LORE became known, many of which have never been reprinted, including the Lovecraftian round-robin tale "The Challenge From Below" by Robert M. Price, Peter Cannon, Donald R. Burleson, and Brian McNaughton.

It's not everyday that bygone weird fiction journals from the past couple decades are resuscitated, but LORE: A Quaint and Curious Volume of Selected Stories does exactly that. The 1980s and 1990s experienced a tremendous flowering of brilliance in the broad field of literary horror, and Lovecraftian fiction specifically. In fact, the pioneering efforts of these unforgettable 'zines and journals arguably led to the strong position this genre enjoys today online.

LORE was one such effort that garnered a small, but devoted following in the late 1990s. Now, editors Rod Heather and Sean O'Leary have pieced together the finest samples from the magazine's history. Lovecraftian readers and weird fiction fans will find plenty to admire in these pages.

Tales by recognizable names such as Harlan Ellison, Jeffrey Thomas, Brian Lumley, and Robert M. Price abound, rare items that haven't seen the light of day again since the 'zine closed its doors. This latest incarnation of LORE: A Quaint and Curious Volume of Selected Stories brings back several award winning tales, and some experimental efforts that are too interesting to pass up. “The Challenge from Below” by Robert M. Price, Peter Cannon, Donald R. Burleson, and Brian McNaughton is particularly creative, conceived as a Lovecraftian round robin story by several veteran observers in the field.

Best of all, it seems this volume is merely the debut for a resurgent publishing imprint called The LORE Firm. This new enterprise aims to build on the little acknowledged success of the old publication by bringing out new content in both print and online media. What better way to build interest than by reminding readers of the predecessor's wonders?

LORE: A Quaint and Curious Volume of Selected Stories is a treasure trove of hidden Lovecraftiana and weirdism. Hopefully, it constitutes a firm starting point for new explorations that will prove just as impressive.

An anthology of short horror, science-fiction, and dark fantasy tales culled from the pages of the award-winning LORE magazine. Cover art by M. Wayne Miller. Contents: "Chatting With Anubis" by Harlan Ellison, "Vision" by Brian McNaughton, "The Game of Kings" by Tim Emswiler, "The Mandala" by Kendall Evans, "The Guide" by Richard Lee Byers, "Rat Familiar" by Patricia Russo, "Empathy" by Jeffrey Thomas, "The Vehicle" by Brian Lumley, "Thanks" by Elizabeth Massie, "The Galvanic" by James S. Dorr, "Sheets" by Donald R. Burleson, "Water and the Spirit" by Brian McNaughton, "The Unkown Elixir" by Dan Clore, "Rile Fouts and Dead Jake Sorrel" by Lawrence Barker, "The Challenge From Below" (a four-part Lovecraftian round-robin tale) - part one: "Under the Mound" by Robert M. Price - part two: "The Trial" by Peter Cannon - part three: "The Horror at the Lake" by Donald R. Burleson - part four: "Beyond the Wall of Time" by Brian McNaughton.  - 200 pages -

Available at the LOREstore at Amazon by following this link.

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NOW OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS!

WHAT DO WE LIKE?

FICTION: We will consider short stories that can be classified broadly as belonging to the Horror, Science Fiction or Fantasy genres. Expand our horizons, challenge or fine-tune convention. We love well-done genre blending and bending, too, like John W. Campbell, Jr.'s “Who Goes There?,” H.P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains of Madness,” Philip K. Dick’s “The King of the Elves,” and C.S. Lewis’s “Space” trilogy. Other authors whose work we enjoy include Jorge Luis Borges, Harlan Ellison, R.E. Howard, Shirley Jackson, M.R. James, Brian McNaughton, Clifford D. Simak, Clark Ashton Smith, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Submissions should be between 2,000 and 6,000 words. Send query to info@lore-online.com if shorter or longer than this. Also, if you're asking that we take a look at a work outside these word count parameters, tell us why we will want to make an exception for your work.

REPRINTS: We will not consider unsolicited reprints. Query first. We will want to know such information as when/where did the work first appear? This includes electronic publication (blog, your fb page, excerpts, etc.). Send query to info@lore-online.com. While asking that we consider your reprint, too, tell us why we will want make an exception for your work. Please note, we will only very rarely be interested in considering a reprint. It would need to be something entirely extraordinary to pique our interest.

NON-FICTION: We will not consider unsolicited works of non-fiction. Send query to info@lore-online.com.

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: No. Too often, we have had someone withdraw a story from consideration because it was accepted elsewhere. If your story is under consideration somewhere else, please do not submit it to us until you have heard back from the first market.

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: No.

WHAT DON’T WE LIKE? Genre clichés with nothing new to offer. YA-oriented fads. Superfluous and gratuitous gore or sexual content.

We like poetry, but are not currently considering it for LORE.

GENERAL INFORMATION: Not responsible for unsolicited material.

FORMAT: Points will be adjusted for proper grammar, spelling, punctuation and formatting, one way or the other. It behooves you to present your work in the best possible light.

Standard manuscript format: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript_format

Submissions should be sent electronically to submissions@lore-online.com as an attachment in .doc, .rtf, or .pdf format. In the subject line of the email, include your name, and the name of the work you are submitting. In the body of the email, include your contact information, the word count of the work you are submitting, and some brief biographical material. We only accept electronic submissions at this time.

Snail mail inquiries may be sent to:

The LORE Firm, LLC
PO Box 10051
Lancaster, CA 93584

If querying by snail mail, please be sure to include an SASE in order to accommodate a reply.

All queries may be sent to info@lore-online.com.

RESPONSE TIME: Update effective 6/1/12: Beginning on 6/1/12, our response time will officially go up to 90 days for submissions received on or after that date.

PAY SCALE: Made by check or by Paypal, as requested.

Fiction: US$.05/word, payable upon publication. Plus, one copy of the edition in which the work appears, as applicable.

Reprints: US$.02/word, payable upon publication. Plus, one copy of the edition in which the work appears, as applicable.

RIGHTS: Exclusive First World English Rights for print and First Electronic Rights for one year from date of print publication. Rights are then no longer exclusive and revert back to the author.

After a ten-year hiatus, the award-winning magazine, LORE, returns to bring you some of the best dark and imaginative fiction, artwork and web content being offered today.

During its initial run, LORE won The Deathrealm Award for Best Magazine, The Dragon’s Breath Award for Best New Magazine and was featured on The SciFi channel’s Sci-Fi Buzz, in addition to seeing coverage in a great many mainstream media outlets.

Some of the fiction LORE published went on to win The Bram Stoker Award, The Deathrealm Award, The World Fantasy Award, and garnered a great many Honorable Mentions in Datlow & Windling’s Years Best Fantasy & Horror. LORE published original works by such luminaries as Harlan Ellison, Brian Lumley, Tom Piccirilli, Jeffrey Thomas, Brian McNaughton, Richard Corben, and many others.

Visit LORE at www.lore-online.com for compelling content, submission guidelines, ad rates, and subscription information. You won’t want to miss the next exciting chapter in LORE’s storied adventure. Be a part of it!

Rod Heather, Editor/Publisher – rod@lore-online.com
Sean O’Leary, Editor/Publisher – sean@lore-online.com

A Blog About a Blog and a New Gig for that Blog: The Horrifically Horrifying Horror Blog's 'What Scares You?' Goes Grau, and That's Just the Beginning

Zdzislaw Beksinki

After just recently launching my new column "The Extinction Papers" (Chapter One available here) at The Teeming Brain, Matt Cardin's electronic meeting place of horror fiction, philosophy, religion, and apocalypse - about which I will go into more detail in the coming days here at The Cosmicomicon - I stand poised to dribble the dark stuff that leaks out of my head into a new corner of the cyberverse.

The Horrifically Horrifying Horror Blog, an always active and endlessly interesting horror corridor which begs to be read regularly based on title alone, just today posted their newest installment in their ongoing project "What Scares You?", which - as of a few minutes ago - now features your truly.

In addition, Emma Audsley, founder and top banana (pronounced "ba-nah-ner" in the UK) of THHHB, has gone daft and extended me an offer to write a regular piece for the site, which will be named "Murmurs from the Ether."  This was initially planned to be the title of my debut collection, but I think it's more appropriate for an electronic column.

The parameters are pretty wide open, but will definitely involve the latest happenings in the Speculative, Horror, and Weird Fiction multisphere.  "Murmurs from the Ether" will differ from my usual postings here at TC in that they will be more timely and thankfully more concise.  Quick hits, rather than a prolonged beating. I think it'll be fun and informative, so keep watching The Horrifically Horrifying Horror Blog while I correlate my contents and dive into a new outlet for my yammering.  Also, for all horror authors, artists, filmmakers, musicians, publishers, editors, throat singers, and interpretive dancers - send me news of your recent, current, and coming projects, releases, and gigs, and I'll add them into "Murmurs from the Ether."  Do my job for me, I beg of you, as they're ain't much room left on this stove for any more steaming pots.

And now, get thee to a nunnery.  Failing that, scamper on over to THHHB and check out what frightens the holy hell out of me, then stick around and check out what the monstrous site has to offer.  You can thank me later for stealing your next 4-6 hours.

Another Beksinski, as much like Pringles and obsessive hang-ups, you can never have just one.

Cosmic Horror Returns to the Bay of L.A.: Tickets Now Available for the 2012 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival Los Angeles

Original Festival and Poster Art by Nicholas Collins

September is the Burning Season in Los Angeles.

Rain is a memory. Everything shunned by irrigation and the army of imported gardeners stumbles, dries, and dies. The heat is such that residents are reminded that the marine layer has its limits and we are, indeed, subject to the ravages of an American summer that seems to get hotter every year.

Then the flames come, down from the high country, chewing up hillsides and turning palm tress into 50 foot birthday candles; taking back what we think we own and digesting into the sandy dust that is as old as the stars that birthed it.

Yes indeed, September is the perfect time to run from the city and suburb and head to the ocean, where the air is still clean and the waves still remember our long ago march from the reef. Come September, we'll all gather by the sea, where we'll be safe. Right?

Not exactly...

September in L.A. also means madness filtering down from the incomprehensible void beyond space and time, as the annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival Los Angeles turns quiet, quirky downtown San Pedro into a garrison of cosmic horrors our feeble minds are unable to process. Yes, true believers, the festival is back, and bigger than ever. Kicking off September 28th, the HPL FF LA 2012 provides a safe haven for Lovecraftians from far and wide to gather at the edge of the continent to beat hideous drums, watch features and shorts, engage in a Cthulhu Prayer Breakfast, listen to author readings and panel discussions, shop, congregate, debate, Q&A, eat, drink, and be merry - all while wearing a fez.

This is year three of the festival's move south to Los Angeles, and the gala keeps growing. Attendance nearly doubled last year, and is expected to take a huge leap forward again in 2012 (please see reports from festivals of years past here and here).

I will provide more details as we grind towards September's end, but for now, check out the conveniently hyperlinked-up press release below, and purchase your passes now via Brown Paper Tickets before they become scarce.

The Grand ol' Warner:  Deco to Die For - photo by Fez-o-rama's head monger Jason Rodgers

The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival® - Los Angeles

September 28 and 29, 2012

NOTE: Although this is "Carmageddon II", and the 405 freeway will be closed between the 10 and 101, the 110 and 105 will be open, and the festival will continue. Don't be afraid of the freeways!

The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival® promotes the works of famed American science fiction and horror author H.P. Lovecraft through motion pictures by both professionals and amateurs, current and classic, national and international. The festival was founded in 1995 by Andrew Migliore in Portland Oregon to promote and encourage film and television adaptations of Lovecraft's great works and other, similar weird tale writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, M.R. James and Robert E. Howard.

This is the third year the HPLFF-LA® has played at the classic art deco Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, California.

The HPLFF-LA® is partnered with the Grand Vision Foundation, a nonprofit volunteer-run 501(c)(3) organization.

Grand Vision's mission is to preserve and promote the historic Warner Grand Theatre and foster artistic, cultural and educational activities in the Theatre and the Harbor/South Bay area of Los Angeles.

We are sponsored by the San Pedro Historic Waterfront Business Improvement District (PBID).

Tickets purchased here are cheaper than at the door.

FRIDAY NIGHT SPECIAL EVENTS

5pm to 7pm - Join us for dinner at the nearby Whale & Ale, a Victorian-era themed English pub.

Reservations must be made directly with the Whale & Ale here or on their Facebook page.

The are offering us a special discounted meal (salad, choice of entree, dessert) for fest-goers at $21 per person, tax included or, for $17, choose any two entrees off the menu.

Make your reservations directly with the Whale & Ale for Sept. 28, between 5 and 7pm.

11:15pm to 1am - A post-festival party as the Whale & Ale bring us a happy hour menu and prices: $4 English tap beers, house wines, cocktails & a special Happy Hour food menu.

SATURDAY SPECIAL EVENTS

Noon to 4 pm - Brunch 'n Fun at the nearby Grand Vision Annex. Enjoy a delicious catered breakfast from Happy Diner along with indie Lovecraftian games (card, board, and video), spooky author readings, story time, digital art show and the inimitable Cthulhu Prayer Breakfast led by Cody Goodfellow.

THIS IS A SEPARATELY TICKETED EVENT. PURCHASE TICKETS WITH YOUR FESTIVAL TICKETS.

Admission includes food but not alcoholic drinks. Cash bar for 21+, bring photo ID.

11:30 pm to 2am - Post-fest party at the Grand Vision Annex. Cash bar
Theater Schedule

Friday (September 28) - doors open at 7pm

Macabre Fantasy Radio Theater will present a live audio drama of The Statement of Randolph Carter.

Films announced soon!

Saturday (September 29) - doors open at 4pm

The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Collect Call of Cathulhu" - Written by Michael Reaves and originally aired in 1987, this is the first introduction of Cthulhu to the small screen, and a classic, landmark episode.
The Ghostbusters must track down a stolen copy of the Necronomicon. Many inside references mentioned in the dialogue for the HPL fans.
Winston - "Cathulhu? I heard of him. He's bad, right?"
Egon - "He makes Gozer look like Little Mary Sunshine."

South Park: The Coon Trilogy - uncut and uncensored, the kids take on Great Cthulhu himself after he was summoned from BP drilling on the moon.

Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated: Season 1 episode "The Shrieking Madness" -- Following the break-up of Mystery Inc., the gang decides to move on with their lives by touring a nearby university, but they are forced to delay their plans when the campus is terrorized by a mysterious creature known as Char Gar Gothakon, whose screams can destroy anything in its path. With the voices of Jeffrey Combs as "H.P. Hatecraft" and Harlan Ellison as Himself.

Short Subjects: the latest and best independent shorts from around the world

Doctor Glamour by Andrew W. Jones

more films announced later!

GUESTS

Our special guest for 2012 is Michael Reaves, a writer known for scripting series such as Batman: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Twilight Zone. An anthology he co-edited with John Pelan, Shadows Over Baker Street, features Sherlock Holmes stories set in the world of Lovecraft.

Mr. Reaves will receive the Howie Award for his contributions to Lovecraft cinema, penning the classic 1987 episode of The Real Ghostbusters entitled "The Collect Call of Cathulhu", the first time Cthulhu appeared on television.


AUTHORS:
Cody Goodfellow
Denise Dumars
T. E. Grau
Michael Tice
Bryan Thao Worra

VENDORS:
Fez-o-rama
Badali Jewelry Specialties
The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society
more on the way!

Visitors can stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (three blocks from the Warner Grand in the historic district of San Pedro) at a discount. Use code HPL when booking online (discount only good until 8/28).

This festival is presented courtesy of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival® and Lurker Films (www.lurkerfilms.com).

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This is one of the few times in Southern California when fans of cosmic horror and the Weird can come together, drink beer and wine from large paper cups in a movie theater, and just soak in two full days of Lovecraftiana. It shouldn't be missed. It CANNOT be missed. Come down to the bay and dream with us squids, won't you?

The Man Under the Hat Behind the L.A. Fest - Aaron Vanek

(TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE)

Taking Vamps Back to the Old School: 'In the Footsteps of Dracula: A Personal Journey and Travel Guide' by Steven P. Unger

Remember when vampires were cool?  Menacing?  Legitimately sexy to anyone other than a 14 year old girl?

I don't really either.  The long, proud, once horrifying legacy of accursed bloodsuckery has been sadly tainted nearly beyond repair by CGI glitter and slouching faux teenagers.  What a thousand years made, three sequels have almost surely destroyed.

The 21st Century:  Wussing up horror for twelve years and running

I used "nearly" and "almost," as vampires are indeed immortal, and will live on, one way or another, until the end of time.  And while their street cred has been damaged, the root of the vampire remains unchanged, as long as there are those who recall and champion what made vampires the terror of the Eastern Hemispehere for centuries, chilling blood at the very mention of these monstrous creatures who are more apt to suck you dry and/or rend you in two than take you shopping at the local teen mall.  Although manually rending asunder a cow eyed fanperson at the local teen mall does sound quite wonderful...

Ah, to be wizened enough to remember when vampires were scary as shit and wanted to eat you, not mope you to death

So, if you're like me, and a fan of the Old School (and often Old World) when it comes to creatures of the night - or creatures of any time of the day, really - as well as a geography dork/history buff, do yourself a goddamn favor and check out In the Footsteps of Dracula: A Personal Journey and Travel Guide, written by Steven P. Unger, which is a fascinating, exhaustive exploration of the real roots of Count Dracula and the overarching vampire mystique.  This is history told on the ground, through travel, research, and first hand exploration.  Living, breathing history of those that no longer do, nor never did.  This is the past told the right way.

Bran Castle - The Carpathians ain't no Disneyland, son.

The official press release - which does a much better job than I ever could explaining the book's attributes and accolades - is provided below:
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My book, In the Footsteps of Dracula:  A Personal Journey and Travel Guide, is published and distributed by World Audience Publishers. (http://worldaudience.powweb.com/pubs_bks/Dracula.html).

Photoarticles describing my book have been published in the online magazine Romar Traveler at http://www.romartraveler.com/ROMAR07/Romar07Pages/Europe/DRACULA.html; Patricia's Vampire Notes at http://patricias-vampire-notes.blogspot.com/2010/09/steve-unger-guest-blog-and-contest.html; and in The Copperfield Review at http://www.copperfieldreview.com/interviews/unger.htm, among many other sites.  In September 2011, In the Footsteps of Dracula was ranked 5th in a survey of the World's Best Romania & Moldova Travel Guides (http://www.flaier.net/c/The_Best_Romania_Moldova_Travel_Guides), ahead of Lonely Planet Romania (ranked 7th) and National Geographic Traveler: Romania (ranked 12th).

Comprising approximately 30,000 words and 185 photographs, In the Footsteps of Dracula is the first and only book to include:

*   For the armchair traveler, pictures and descriptions, in memoir form, of every site in England and Romania that is closely related to either Bram Stoker's fictional Count Dracula or his historical counterpart, Prince Vlad Dracula the Impaler.

* A thorough history based on original research and face-to-face interviews with experts—such as the Man in Black of Whitby, England—of how the novel Dracula came into being, and almost never happened.

* The true life story of Vlad the Impaler, connecting his lineage for the first time in print to the Brotherhood of the Wolf, which had already survived for two thousand years when Prince Vlad was born in 1431.

*  For the independent traveler who would leave his armchair for the Great Unknown, a Practical Guide to the Dracula Trail, including a complete Sample Itinerary with recommendations for lodging and detailed instructions on traveling to each British or Romanian Dracula-related town or site—at a small fraction of the cost of Western European-only travel.  Also in the Practical Guide are sections on money; recommended reading; modes of transportation; security and health; internet access, shopping, and cable TV; and alternatives to independent travel.

Between January 2010, when the 1st Edition of In the Footsteps of Dracula:  A Personal Journey and Travel Guide was published, and December of that year, almost 100 related reviews and articles appeared in print and online.

Ranging from horror fanzines to scholarly journals, and originating from locations throughout the United States to countries as disparate as England, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, and South Africa, the reviews of In the Footsteps of Dracula:  A Personal Journey and Travel Guide were not only overwhelmingly positive, but cried out for more back-story, travel guide updates, and even deeper insight into the mind of Bram Stoker and the influences and inspirations that drove him to write his undying Gothic novel, Dracula.

In response, the 2nd Edition of In the Footsteps of Dracula:  A Personal Journey and Travel Guide was released on December 21, 2010.  The 2nd Edition, available now as a paperback and e-book from its dedicated World Audience Web page well as from www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.de, and www.amazon.com/Kindle), includes:

     -- References, Web Links, and Costs Updated to December 2010;
     -- The First Review of Dracula Ever Written, Published in the Manchester Guardian on June 15, 1897;
     -- A New Section on Bram Stoker's Dublin;
     -- A Rare Photo of a Wolf-Dragon, the Original Source of the Name "Dracula," Carved Within the Ruins of a Prehistoric Dacian Temple in Transylvania; and much, much more!

In Flames Rising Dot Com (http://www.flamesrising.com/footsteps-of-dracula-review/), reviewer Jason Thorson wrote:

In the Footsteps of Dracula:  A Personal Journal and Travel Guide (Second Edition) is exactly what the title implies it is.  But what the title doesn't imply is how rich this book is with information.  It really is stunning.  Steven P. Unger deserves high praise for the mere existence of his opus; but moreover, the book is well written and provides the ultimate tome of Dracula data for classic horror fans.  You’ll be hard pressed to find a more entertaining nonfiction read.

Book Title:  In the Footsteps of Dracula:  A Personal Journey and Travel Guide
Author:  Steven P. Unger
Publisher:  World Audience, Inc.
ISBN:  978-1-935444-53-4
Publication Date:  December 2010
Price:  $20.00; 258 pages with 185 black-and-white photos

Distributors:  US: Ingram (www.ingrambook.com), Amazon.com (www.amazon.com), Baker & Taylor (www.btol.com), Barnes & Noble (www.barnesandnoble.com), NACSCORP (www.nacscorp.com); UK: Amazon.co.uk (retailer, www.amazon.uk), Bertrams (wholesaler,www.betrams.com, Blackwell (library supplier, www.blackwell.com/library_services), Book Depository (Amazon Marketplace, www.bookdepository.co.uk), Coutts (library supplier,www.couttsinfo.com), Dawson (library supplier, www.dawson.co.uk), Gardners (wholesaler,www.gardners.com), Mallory International (wholesaler, www.malloryint.co.uk), Paperback Bookshop (Amazon Marketplace, www.paperbackshop.co.uk).
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For those of you in the New Orleans area this weekend, or keen for some last minute travel to one of America's truly great Gothic outposts, Steven will be signing In the Footsteps of Dracula: A Personal Journey and Travel Guide Sunday, July 15 at the Boutique du Vampyre (the "original New Orleans Vampires Store" - ain't competition a bitch?) at 3:00 pm, as part of the A Midsummer Nightmare Festival, which kicks off today in one of my favorite cities in this world or any other.

The Delectable Darkness: Dark Delicacies Keeps Los Angeles Quaking, and Bibliophiles Booked

Along a quiet, tree-lined street doth lurk...

As much as it brings convenience to our silly, self important lives, technology kills a great many beautiful things.  The hiss of steam engines.  The clack of a typewriter.  Actually looking at your surroundings while outside, instead of staring down at that glowing rectangle clutched in your hand.

But one of the greatest harms wrought by the explosion of Electronic Everything is the slow bloodletting of the local bookshop trade.  What Amazon couldn't kill by making an impulse book purchase just a mere  click away, eBooks have nearly snuffed by beaming printed page into another one of those damnable glowing rectangles.  Your average Joe Ma & Pa book retailer - hell, even the gargantuan book chains - just can't keep the lights on in an environment such as this.  Humans are fickle, easily distracted water sacks, jonesing for the next toy rather than realizing the toys we already have are more than could possibly ever need.

So how wonderful is it that not only is an independent bookseller thriving in media-addled Los Angeles (okay, Burbank, to be exact), but an indie book shop devoted entirely to horror fiction and related ghoulish media.  That's what Dark Delicacies does, and has done, since 1994, when Del and Sue Howison creaked open the crypt doors and shared with the lighted world one of the most comprehensive shops devoted to the gruesome and macabre the west coast had - and has - ever seen.  Dark Delicacies is the home for horrorheads in Los Angeles.

I'm not proud to say that up until about a month ago, when chum and colleague John Palisano had his book signing there, I had not yet darkened the door of Dark Delicacies.  Ives and I had been meaning to get out there several times, but the vagaries of schedule, and weekends devoted almost entirely to either family or writing/editing the last few years, have kept casual browsing time among haunted stacks to a nearly non-existent minimum.  So, I was super excited and happy for the excuse that John's release and signing of his debut novel Nerves afforded me.  To the darkest heart of Burbank I sojourned....

This is Dark Delicacies - HorrorHead ground zero in L.A.

I was not disappointed.  After queuing up and waiting while John chatted with fans new and old, I ducked down aisles and poked around in corners, finding pretty much anything a devoted fan of horror would ever want.  Books, toys, movies, t-shirts, fragrances, collectibles, graphic novels, antiques, oddities, bizarrities, rarities, and novelties.  And lots and lots of signed merchandise, as all dark roads through Southern California eventually travel through Dark Delicacies, bringing in hundreds of individuals devoted to horror and dark fantasy in fiction, film, television, and the visual arts to launch and/or sign their creations.

This place had - and has - everything I've always wanted in one store but dared not dream to discover.  I felt like a gearhead at Pep Boys.  A stoner in a donut shop.  A redneck at a gun show...  I felt giddy, and in between reaching for my wallet as yet another coveted item caught my eye, I felt like I had come home.

To give you a better feel of this unique hollow of beautiful shade, please enjoy a mini-gallery of photos, without the cloying nature of my reportage:

Readers really fucking rule.

This is the closest Cthulhu has stood next to Sweeney Todd without violating a restraining order

The inestimable Jeffrey Thomas gets some well deserved top-o'-the-stacks rack space.

If they can sell 'em, why the hell not make 'em?

We do love our toys, don't we?

'Dark Delicacies III' gets my hornish seal of approval.  

Every horror film worth watching, both great and small

Doing my best to insert myself in the cabinet of interesting horrors

The Dark Del Himself - as in Howison

Every bookstore I enter must endure the Laird Check.  Dark Delicacies passes with flying colors.

Meanwhile, at the signing...

Stoker Award nominated author John Palisano, signing my copy of his debut novel 'Nerves.'

I paid Palisano 60 bucks and Coffee Bean Groupon to stick his hand up my bum and make me his Puppet Boy

Go here for more information on Dark Delicacies, and here for more on John Palisano's Nerves, published by the esteemed Bad Moon Books.  Go here for pictures of a dude pulling his eyes off of his face, and here for a delicious green been casserole recipe (you're welcome).

Strange Aeons: Issue #9 Now Available, Featuring Comics, News, Reviews, Art, and Original Fiction by Stephen Graham Jones

cover by JD Busch

Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.

This is exactly how I feel about my current position as the Fiction Editor of Strange Aeons magazine, which was a favorite, four-time-a-year read of mine long before I was set up with a SA e-mail account.

As a child of the late 70's/early 80's who haunted dingy book stores and "hobby shops" - as retailers devoted to RPGs, lead figurines, models, comics, fiction, and other geekery were known back then - whenever I could get my mother to drop me off for a few hours, my foundation is girded with the aesthetic of pulpy fantasy/sci fi mags like Heavy Metal, oversize horror comics like Eerie and Creepy, wargaming journals like Dragon and White Dwarf, and brawny, ultra violent sword & sorcery black and whites like Savage Sword of Conan.  My inner world of fantasy was carved out by illustrators and writers of the ghastly and the fantastic, at that age when my mind was a sponge and imagination was my dearest friend.  As such, these images and textures are ingrained in me, bonded with that peculiar childhood DNA that shades the rest of one's days.

This was before I knew who H.P. Lovecraft was (although I was absorbing his echoes almost everywhere), or that Weird fiction existed as a vibrant, established scene, with proud roots, a present, and a future.  This was before I knew that I wanted to be a writer (or an editor), but I was certain - then, and now - that I loved to live in those dark, haunting, exhilarating worlds more than any other. Reality for me was doomed in the face of such unconquerable competition.  Fantasy, and all of its far flung outposts, would be my mental escape route when the dulling grind of reality threatened to pull me down in the morass of the crushingly common.

So, imagine my childish glee when I stumbled across Strange Aeons a few years ago, just as I embarked on my creative journey back home to my roots. It took me back to those cramped, out of the way shops, to that distinctive smell of moldering paper and ink and musty air spiced with junk food wrappers stuffing the bin behind the counter. Strange Aeons seemed like a throwback to those times, and celebrated a tradition of fantasticism and FUN (a concept often forgotten in this often grim, post ironic days) that I had missed so much.

Making the Masthead, flanking a stellar ToC

I quickly became a fanboy of the magazine, and struck up a professional relationship with Strange Aeons creator K.L. Young, who - along with Rick Tillman and Laurence Amiotte - made up the magazine's core at the time.  Content in my glorification of the lost art of the Pulps on the pages of Strange Aeons, which has featured some of the best in Lovecraftian, horror, and Weird fiction writers, artists, craftsman, retailers, and newsmakers since its worldwide launch in the spring of 2010, it came as an unexpected shock when Young invited me to come aboard as Fiction Editor earlier this year.  I couldn't believe my luck, and still can't, but won't question the movements of the stars, both visible and waiting.  For now, I'll count my blessings and pledge to uphold the tradition of excellence forged so long ago, and continued on the pages of Strange Aeons.  Our humble magazine isn't the first to do what we do, but we think we are doing it as good or better than anyone else out there right now, and we're just getting started.  Plans are afoot (and a-wing) for expansion, including a rumored all-fiction issue, electronic circulation through additional platforms, and other multimedia delights.

Stay tuned, true believers, and bring that inner child in from outside.  Playing football in the street is fun, but we have so many things to show you best seen under lamplight in a darkened room, while the rest of the flat world sighs.

And now, a walking tour gallery of page shots taken from Strange Aeons Issue #9.  Enjoy, and realize that until you feel that paper between your greasy fingers, you ain't seen nothing yet:

After a very tough selection process, in which I read the works of many of THE top Weird/horror/sci fi fiction writers working today, I finally settled on "Welcome to the Reptile House," by the unparalleled Stephen Graham Jones.  Having an original, fresh-off-the-brain piece from a true rock star of the speculative fiction scene mark my first issue as Fiction Editor is something I never could have dreamed, and makes me so incredibly proud.   Mostly, it serves as concrete testament to the reputation of Strange Aeons among the top level creatives working in the industry.

The first page to SGJ's spanking new story, featuring art by The Hat

In "The Corpse's Crusade", you are treated to a further tale of Zothique, Clark Ashton Smith's fabled land of charnel gods, necromancy, and bloodied steel, wrought from the poisoned pen of Cody Goodfellow, who once again joins up with long time collaborator Mike Dubisch to create a boldly illustrated tale that hearkens back to the best of the Pulps and graphic novels that truly are exactly that.

Evil tyrants, flesh eaters, and corpse humpers - Must be another Strange Aeons tale!

Issue #9 brings to our regular readers the first regular installment of "Anno Ktulu" (written by K.L. Young and Vincent Ferrante, pencils by Ben "1314" Hansen, graytones by Chris Hagerman, letters by Eduardo Martinez) recently launched with the special edition, oversize one-shot currently available at the Strange Aeons website, which premiered to resounding acclaim at Crypticon Seattle and the 2012 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland last month.  The one-shot ties into the ongoing "Anno Ktulu" storyline that will be running all year in Strange Aeons.  Get in on this innovative story of superheroes set in a Lovecraftian universe now, as you definitely don't want to miss this.

With "Hell Dorado", SA's own cigar chomping Editor-In-Chief Laurence Amiotte pens a story of gunslingers and hellish monsters in the new old west, illustrated by Rob Corless.

Double threat Lee Davis offers up Part 3 of his supernatural zombiedrama "Bloodworm."

Eric York brings to life an excerpt from H.P. Lovecraft's epic poem "Fungi From Yuggoth" with his distinctive artistic style.

The Eldritch Words segment starts out each issue, giving a lowdown around Strange Aeons HQ, providing a bit of staff and related news, and introducing the wonders in the pages to come. Notice the smiling gent on the right. That's Strange Aeons staff artist Nick "The Hat" Gucker, who has decided that 2012 is now officially his.  Thank goodness he likes to share.

Also included in Issue #9 is an official report taken from Portland's recent H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, where SA's own Nick Gucker won the first annual "Pickman's Apprentice" competition, besting such worthy adversaries as renowned artists (and Strange Aeons favorites) Mike Dubisch and Lee Moyer.  Congrats to The Hat, and to all of us, as we're all winners based on the three mind bending end results.  YAY for everyone, and puppies too!

Book reviews are "Forbidden Lore" to us.  In this this issue, we give the business to Rough Music by Simon Kurt Unsworth, Lucky Bastard by S.G. Browne, and Laird Barron's The Croning, with a shout to All Monster Action by the above mentioned Cody Goodfellow, Nick Gucker, and Mike Dubisch in the "Currently Reading" circle.

Our "Unearthed" section features all the cool shit you need to know about, including the Monopoly-style board The Doom That Came to Atlantic City (which absolutely destroyed its goal on Kickstarter), the always fantastic Lovecraft eZine (which has featured work by yours truly), and this wonderful reproduction of Lovecraft's ghost written Weird Tales piece for Harry Houdini titled "Under the Pyramids" (aka "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs"), complete with a working lock and vintage-style U.S. mailbags, featuring art by our global landlord Nick Gucker (who proffers more info here).

In each issue, we always include something extra, from lobby cards to mini posters to your very own kitten (I MIGHT be fibbing a bit about one of those).  In Issue #9, the staff of printing gnomes stashes two "Anno Ktulu" trading cards by some guy named Nick Gucker into each magazine before mailing.  Collect them all, and trade with your friends.  Way cooler than the seventeen Ken Griffey Jr. cards doing exactly nothing in a cigar box in my parents' basement.

Well, that's the penny tour, kids.  Interested?  Goddamn right you are.  Now click through here and pick up the latest Strange Aeons, then work backwards on the previous issues, like any good collector of comics and the Pulps.  We're just getting warmed up, so watch us grow tall, dark, and infinitely monstrous.  We have such Things we'd like to show you...

Summer of Zombie Blog Tour 2012 Stops By The Cosmicomicon and Dispenses Zombie Lit Wisdom from Author and Editor Todd Brown

The summer is a time for many outdoor activities.  Picnics, trips to beach, the eating of flesh under the naked sun.  Unattended meat does fester more rapidly as the temperature climbs, so be sure to dine quickly, and don't leave anything left behind to rot.  That would just stink up the place, and attract all sorts of unsavory attention.

As we shamble headlong into the summer solstice of 2012, The Cosmicomicon is very proud to have been selected to serve as this week's host of the first annual Summer of Zombie Blog Tour (June 1st through July 31st).  For this third installment, noted zombie/horror author and editor (and founder of May December Publications) Todd "TW" Brown provides some learned advice for not just writers of zom fic (Is that a thing?  I'm going to try to make it a thing), but for those who write and submit horror and overall fiction stories in general.

Wipe your mouth, pull up a chair, and keep a round in the chamber.  It's getting hot outside.
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You want to write a story for a zombie anthology

 Todd Brown

You know you want to. C’mon, admit it. I mean, this isn’t like sitting in front of your television watching Shawn White own the half-pipe on his snowboard, Drew Brees dissect a secondary, or Tim Lincecum throw his freakball to strike out Albert Pujols. You want to do it…and what’s more, you know you can. You want to write a story for a zombie anthology.

It is not even a question as to whether or not you’ve read a zombie anthology and thought, “How in the hell do some of these people get published?”  Let’s be honest with ourselves here.  It’s just me…and you…and the flickering computer screen.  So, say it with me. Out loud. Ready? Okay…here goes.

There are some terrible, horrible, mind-numbing, time-devouring, zombie stories being published, and I can do better. 

That, my friend, shall be our mantra. Now, you got it in your head, so it is time to sit down and create THE STORY. Here is where I can be of no help. You have an idea, so run with it. Write it and rewrite it. Put it away for a few days, and then pull it out and clean it, polish it, and rewrite it again.

Okay. Now what?

You need to let your baby go out into the big wide world. Somewhere in the back of your mind, you hear Carrie’s mom chanting, “They’re all going to laugh at you…They’re all going to laugh at you!” Ignore her. She’s crazy. Still, a word of warning, somebody might point…might laugh. If you can’t handle that possibility, stop writing and stick to being a fan or critic.  But that is a subject for an entirely different column. I say save those rejection letters as the badges of honor that they are. (Honestly, if I were Stephanie Meyer, JK Rowling, or Stephen King I’d incorporate those people that rejected me into my Christmas card list—I can be petty.)

You’ve written a story. You’ve cleaned it up as much as possible. Now what? There are a couple of avenues—and a lot of back roads—that you can take. First, I suggest you go to the websites of some of those publishers whose anthologies you have read. Check their sites for announcements about what they have coming up. Additionally, I suggest sites such as Duotrope.  You can also send out a tweet: “anybody know of a zombie anthology that is taking submissions?”  I liken that to standing out on a street corner…and yelling, “Fresh fish!” (Wait, what were you thinking? ooo…somebody has a dirty mind).

Okay, great. Now you know who is accepting. What you have to do next is very important. READ THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES! That might seem like a silly thing to say, but after compiling my first batch of zombie shorts for May December’s premier anthology, Eye Witness: Zombie I stand humbly corrected.  And thus, I reach the crux of my article.

While it may seem silly, certain aesthetic points (i.e. courier font type, size 12, double-spacing) serve a purpose for editors.  Also, if you read a few hundred thousand words a week, your eyes need as much help as you can give them.

Next, there is the theme.  If the publisher asks for “traditional” (read: Romero-style) zombies, and your opening theme has four zombies in cowboy hats, sitting around a campfire, roasting a California senator, discussing global economic woes...your story DOES NOT FIT! Don’t think, “Yeah, but my story is freaking awesome!”

Real example: I had an anthology in the pipeline, First Time Zombie.  It was for, as of yet, unpublished writers — the chance to bring some new blood to the party if you will. I asked for presently unpublished writers with a zombie story (no type restrictions…fast, slow…writer’s choice et cetera) to submit with the following guidelines: 3,000 -10,000 words; Courier font type; size twelve font; double-space.  I actually received a witch story 1,200 words, single spaced, Times New Roman!  Additionally, this individual had a full page of credits on an attached resume. My only question was, “How has this person ever been seen in print!”  Oh wait…they have a reputation and a “semi-known name”.

And here is where I plug my own company.  At May December Publications, we don’t care what your name is.  Now, before you get “more” offended, let me explain.  All submissions for MDP anthologies are forwarded to a review team—minus a byline or anything that identifies WHO wrote the story being considered.  We don’t know who we accept or reject until after the story has been read and voted “thumbs-up” or “thumbs-down”.  But I can assure you, no matter the publisher, if they want cowboys and you give aliens…your story will be dumped in the garbage can.  If you don’t have the luxury of anonymity, you can find your name on a “black-list”.

So what have we learned here? Try hard, read the rules, and don’t take it personal if you’re rejected.  It’s not brain surgery, folks. And one more thing…support your favorite press, be it Permuted, Rymfire Books…or even May December.

*   *   *   *   *

All six of us - Todd Brown, Mark Tufo, Ian Woodhead, Armand Rosamilia, John O'Brien and Dave Jeffery - hope you'll keep following us on the Summer of Zombie blog tour, and comment as we go along.

And… one lucky commenter for each blog will receive a Free eBook or Print book from one of the authors! Simply leave a comment with your e-mail address and we'll pick a random winner each day! Simple as that!

The Work is the Writer and the Writer is the Work: "Today I Write Lovecraftian" by Peter Rawlik

By next year, it will be nigh impossible to pick up an anthology of new Lovecraftian fiction without finding a Peter Rawlik story inside.  The phrase "successfully prolific" was invented to describe his blistering output, which seems to have no end in sight.  Some arrive on the scene.  Rawlik kicked in the door, shot up the joint, then sat down to a nice steak dinner.

I mean, feast ye febrile eyes on this bibliography, which isn't even complete, as a few as-yet-unannounced credits have been redacted to spare lives:

Published Fiction
“Urban Shaman” (poem) in SFSFS Shuttle #119, May/June 1995
“Take Me Home” in SFSFS Shuttle #121, September/October 1995
“Requiem for Leibowitz” (poem) in SFSFS Shuttle #124, March/April 1996
“On the Far Side of the Apocalypse” in Talebones #7, 1997
“Fashion Thing” in SFSFS Shuttle #136, September/October 1998
and in Ibid #105, Winter 1998/99
“The Tale of the Horn Gate” in Tropicon XVII Program Book, 1998
“A History of Miskatonic Valley Part One” in Crypt of Cthulhu #104 (19/2), 2001
“The Masquerade in Exile” in Tales of the Shadowmen 7 Femme Fatales, Black Coat Press, 2010; also as “La Mascarade Oubliee” in Los Compagnons de L’Ombre 8, Black Coat Press, 2011
“Here be Monsters” in Dead but Dreaming 2, Miskatonic River Press, 2011
“All the Other Reindeer” in Morpheus Tales Christmas Horror Special, December 2011
“In the Hall of the Yellow King” in Future Lovecraft, Innsmouth Free Press, November 2011, also reprinted in Future Lovecraft, Prime Books August 2012
“Before the War, Five Dragons Roar” in Tales of the Shadowmen 8 Agents Provocateur, Black Coat Press, 2011
“The Last Communion of Allyn Hall” in Horror for the Holidays, Miskatonic River Press, 2011
“A Man of Letters” in Innsmouth Magazine, February 2012
“The Statement of Frank Elwood” in Urban Cthulhu, Nightmare Cities, H. Harksen Productions, 2012

Fiction Accepted for Publication
“The Thing in the Depths” in Lovecraft Ezine 2012
 “The Statement of Frank Elwood” in Worlds of Cthulhu, Fedogan & Bremer, 2012
“Journal of Thomas Gedney” in Worlds of Cthulhu, Fedogan & Bremer, 2012
“North of the Arctic Circle” in Undead and Unbound, Chaosium, 2012
“The Battle of Arkham” in Eldritch Chrome, Chaosium 2012
“Looking for Joey Shoggoth” in Techno-Goth Cthulhu, Red Skies Press, 2012
“Pickman’s Marble” with Mandy Rawlik in Lovecraft Ezine 2012
“Under the Mountains of Madness” in Over the Mountains of Madness, Dark Quest Press 2012
“Amongst the Stars I Dream” poem in Anno Klarkash-Ton edited by Glynn Barrass, P’Rea Press 2013
“Facts in the Case of Dr. Rafael Munoz” in Tales of the Weird and Uncanny # 3 edited by Steve Lines, 2012

I'm winded just reading that list, and feel my fingers and wrist throb as the combined word count stretches to the stratosphere (and nearly wore out my mouse linking all those suckers).

Anyway, I don't post this to make the rest of you feel bad for your - and our - sluggish scribbling pace, but I just wanted to give some context on this talented writer who has burst from the shadows to shake down the dead stars and look for clues, and to post something he whipped up last week that I thought was creative and pretty cool:
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So, I wrote this piece a few weeks ago. It is completely unmarketable, but so frigging fun, feel free to share it, but please give me credit.


Apologies for any sleights in advance to AKS, Joe Pulver, Thomas Ligotti, Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire, T. E. Grau, Robert M. Price, Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan, Peter Straub, Michael Cisco, Simon Strantzas, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, Colin Wilson, Karl Edward Wagner, Stan Sargent, Lin Carter, Franklyn Searight, Peter Worthy, Gary Myers, Scott David Aniolowski, Don Webb, Michael Shea, Dan Harms, Glynn Owen Barrass, Brian M. Sammons, David Conyers, John Sunseri, Charles Stross, John Tynes, David Drake, Peter Cannon, Pierre Comtois, TED Klein, David Langford, Robert Weinberg, Laird Barron, Donald Wandrei, William Jones, James Ambuehl and ST Joshi.

Today I Write Lovecraftian 

By Pete Rawlik

I Schwader through the morning (w)rite; short, vivid lines that merge and grow into sharp paragraphs that cut with mythic iconography and unsettling imagery. My eyes are cloudy and my hands unsure as they try to caress something out of the page. Things get better after java and nicotine, and the page Pulverizes into stream of consciousness, odd punctuations and words with far too many consonants. It’s a frenetic pace, unsustainable, chaotic, and filled with alien memes and literary allusions, uncomfortable metaphors and unwelcoming truths! When I finally find my Ligotti it’s a welcome relief. The page fills with language, forgotten vocabulary and loquacious delights. The text is rich, dark and liquid, a molasses of verbal virality that infects and festers in the mind. The intertextual prions highjack my precious literary coding and force it to spawn, replicate, a miscegenetic mutation and transformation. I shudder free of my metatextual cocoon and spend the late morning as Pugmire. The words become self-reflexive, the page a corrupting mirror, aged yellow with decadence, and (in all senses of the word) queer.


Lunch, and I Grau through a post-food coma until I am able to Joshi through a rather difficult paragraph. As the drowse wears away I Price back and forth until I can Kiernan into something prevalent with ghouls, but is neither the horrific nor the literary meta-fiction others so hungrily desire. It is instead meta-fantastic, and I dip into Straub before sashaying into a bit of late afternoon Cisco, with all its flash and lilting beats. I try to slow things down, make myself a Bailey’s, and that slides me into a slow introspective Strantzas that gives way to Campbell before sputtering into a Lumley. I linger there, filled with the cool comfort of alien vampires and psychic nemeses. At some point I play with Wilson, but I fall into psycho-babble and pseudo-sociology that leaves the pages dry and sterile. There is meaning here, I just can’t find it. Self-doubt creeps in; I pause and find a bottle to crawl into. I spend twenty minutes pulling a Wagner before I come back to the desk feeling my Sargent rise. 


Dusk, and I Carter through an homage that could easily be parody before I Searight a steak. Post-partum I search for my inner Myers but instead find myself Worthy. It doesn’t last long and soon I’m Aniolowskied on the couch, caught in a Webb of Shea and Harms. I Jones my way back, and find myself Barrass and Sammons with a dash of Conyers. I Sunseri a few pages, but they end up all Stross and Tynes and I have to Drake through the last chapter. Suddenly I catch my stride and Cannon off five thousand words before I Comtois in front of the television. The evening news is a Weinberg, and I end the day drifting into a blissful Klein. As I Langford myself to sleep, an Ambuehl of Scotch in my hand, my mind Wandreis, and I find comfort in the blissful Barrony of sleep.
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The Writing Rawlik, when not squinting into a computer screen and melting down a keyboard