MORE CANDY?

I'm going to have a new Candy Sangria story, BLOOD-BOUGHT SON, in the next print issue of Shoots and Vines. Should be out in a week or two. Shoots and Vines is published by Crystal Folz, whose own writing you can read here:

GYPSY RONDO at Yellow Mama.

If you're wondering who Candy Sangria is, there's a link on the sidebar under Other Online.

(Thanks again to J.D.C. for the inspiration.)

FULL FALL FICTION/FACEPUSH

Three related pieces I wrote, a brief narrative and two poems, are going to appear in Full of Crow's Fall Fiction Issue. AMANDA #1-3. Scheduled for September. I'm honored to be part of it and to work with the staff there, who are small press/online champions and terrific writers, as well.

These are the first things I wrote about the recent death of a local woman--a scene I drove up on moments after it had occurred. I am trained to deal with situations like this, but it was immediately apparent that I was too late to do anything for her. I have two more pieces submitted elsewhere and, though I worried I might actually dig myself into a deeper hole by re-living the experience, feel much better about what happened since I've gotten it out this way.

-----

I also have a new blog up where I'll be posting random comments on pop culture guaranteed to upset somebody.

BLACK BETWEEN THE FRAMES

EIGHT ON THE FIRST

I'm going to have a little something called EIGHT at Gloom Cupboard, August 1, 2009. A vignette, I suppose. A pair of knuckleheads standing in the rain would be a more accurate description.

On that day, I also will post a re-cap of what I've been up to this summer: from June, when I really got the itch to start publishing again, until the first of August, when I will have two new pieces online and information on upcoming work.

I spent the day searching out markets for a poem I wrote last night. There's a lot to consider, because I'd like to include it in a chapbook or collection later this year.

HARD-ASS HARDCOPY

Earlier this summer, I wrote a story called LAST STOP, DULLSVILLE that was based upon the photography of a friend. We've decided to publish it as a book, with the photos and story appearing together. Right now, it's little more than an idea, but I did get to check out a few mock pages today. I'm very excited about this. We aren't sure what form the actual book will take just yet. However or wherever it's released, I think we could probably get it out by the end of the year.

Yesterday, I finished a long crime story for submission to an upcoming anthology. Today, I revised and submitted a poem online--possibly the last dealing with the tragedy I witnessed in June.

Time for a very late breakfast....

GONE, GIRL

Another new poem of mine, GONE, will be published soon in a trade paperback collection of supernatural poetry. More details when they become available.

This poem and a short story I recently submitted to a horror anthology are some of the darkest things I've ever written. I slipped from crime (which I already write very dark) to black-hearted fantasy without meaning to. Earlier this summer, I experienced something that shook me to my core. I've been trying to work through it by writing it out a little at a time. These two pieces aren't based upon that incident, but seem to have sprung from a deep reaction to it. I do have several things which deal directly with it written or submitted right now. It's a tricky game to play, but I think I may finally be getting it out of my system.

AMERICAN GOTHIC SYNDROME

My poem, "this house is haunted", is going to appear in Issue #6 of The Stray Branch Literary Magazine, sometime next year. No firm date as of yet.


About AMERICAN GOTHIC SYNDROME (AGS):

It seems like every time I sit down to work on a story, lately, I end up writing a mad gothic love(?) poem instead. I'm not sure why. This trips up the fiction, but it's so much fun that I can't stop.

[It dawned upon me why this was happening. I addressed it in the July 26, 2009 entry. Trauma can do a number on your mood and memory, but art can do wonders for peace-of-mind.]

TRUE-LIFE HORROR, PARTS ONE AND TWO

I polished up a half-conscious FB post about my daughter and mailed it to Six Sentences. Fun site. Literary snack machine.

Read: BANK

[I lied in my last post. As soon as I'd logged off, I found a call for ghost stories. The anthology was put together to benefit the American Cancer Society. No closing date. I finished one that I'd been toying with and sent it, only to find that they had stopped taking subs already. Wish I could have been part of that. On the plus side, though, I now have a ghost story ready to submit.]

AND BREATHE...

I'm going to have a new poem, EMOTIONHAUSEN, in the forthcoming "Stonewall" issue of Danse Macabre, scheduled to go up Aug 1. Danse Macabre is an online literary journal. I'll post a link as soon as it's published.

I took the day off from writing (except for a single paragraph I banged out to get an idea rolling). I've been so busy writing and submitting work lately that I needed to take a step back and get things in order.

I did, however, submit an unpublished short story to a small press magazine and a group of actors in the UK, who read them live at monthly events, then publish both written and audio versions online. What a terrific idea. That makes six submissions--some reprints for anthologies--in the past two days.

I have a crime story in my head that I'll probably write tomorrow.

If I can hold out that long....

MOTHER

MY MOTHER IS NOT MY MOM is up at The Flash Fiction Offensive, online sister to Out of the Gutter Magazine.

We've been getting mail for the same woman since we moved into our current house--about 3 1/2 years now. Central VA has abandoned, rundown farmhouses all over the place. People build new houses and just let the old ones rot where they stand.

I love Marshmallow Fluff, by the way--especially as part of a Fluffernutter sandwich--but didn't think I could legally use that name.

Read it here:
MY MOTHER IS NOT MY MOM

CANDY GIRL

CANDY SANGRIA went up at Powder Burn Flash yesterday. This started as a fake news story I wrote after skimming a friend's wall:

"Southern Belle's fall from grace through the nightmarish underworld of strip clubs, fruity drinks and rock-n-roll ends tragically with the discovery of her body in a pool of 'burnt red' liquid early this morning. Candy Sangria, as she was known to clientelle..."

Writing that made me want to flesh it out. The short story makes me want to do more. I have a poem, attributed to the late Candy Sangria, pending at another site.

THE SAD, SAD TALE OF CANDY SANGRIA