Now he was praying because the Witches’ Sabbath was drawing near. May-Eve was Walpurgis-Night, when hell’s blackest evil roamed the earth and all the slaves of Satan gathered for nameless rites and deeds. It was always a very bad time in Arkham, even though the fine folks up in Miskatonic Avenue and High and Saltonstall Streets pretended to know nothing about it.
Classics that endure! Still here despite the almost year absence. Updates soon.
Happy Independence Day. Enjoying the Twilight Zone marathon on the Sci Fi channel. Two and one-half years since the last post? 2024 half gone? No possible way to recount the struggles, turmoil, and triumphs of that stretch of time. At least not in one blog post. And not now. Many things have been done. Many more are currently in the works. Let’s see if the updates can be more regular. On any subject. As Lin Carter always said, Happy Magic.
DEAD RECKONINGS (Hippocampus Press):
No. 31: “One Pure Writer’s Will” — review of Farah Rose Smith’s Of One Pure Will; “Lamb of God” — review of the film Lamb by Valdimar Johannsson 2022
No. 33: “Dark Nights of the Soul” — review of Matt Cardin’s Journals Vol. I; “The Cabinet of Dr. del Toro” — review of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities 2023
No. 34: “A new Lovecraftian Writer in Our Midst” — review of Tony Lamalfa’s Forbidden Knowledge; “Crossing the Void” — review of Matt Cardin’s Journals Vol. II (includes interview) 2023
No. 35: “A Stuart Gordon Afterworld” a review of the film SUITABLE FLESH (adaptation of Lovecraft’s “The Thing on the Doorstep”) by Joe Lynch 2024
Poem — “Seditious Element Salute 2022” in World On Fire Propagandie 2022
Poem “Creep” in The Alien Buddha Skips The Party Part 2 2022
THE ESOTERIC ORDER OF DAGON AMATEUR PRESS
Random Access Mythosophy #3 (editor/contributor) 2022
Random Access Mythosophy #4 (editor/contributor) 2022
Random Access Mythosophy #5 (editor/contributor) 2023
Random Access Mythosophy #6 (editor/contributor) 2023
Random Access Mythosophy #7 (editor/contributor) 2024
Cover Art for Random Access Mythosophy by Brook Anderson
Fell short of my goal of 12 publications for a tumultuous 2021 but did manage a close amount of 10 for the year. Best wishes to all the editors, publisher, and writers I’ve interacted with or met this year and hope everyone has a productive and successful 2022.
Dead Reckonings No. 29 (Hippocampus Press) “Bedlam’s Children” (review of William Holloway’s BLACKWOOD ESTATES)
Dead Reckonings No. 30 (Hippocampus Press) “Green Hell” (review of the 2021 GREEN KNIGHT film)
“The Good, The Bad, and The Guilty .com” and “A Dog and His Boy” CHILDHOOD’S END double-anthology (Dumpster Fire Press)
Two issues of RANDOM ACCESS MYTHOSOPHY (Feb, Nov) for the E.O.D. amateur press
“Unsung” MARCH PLAIDNESS entry defending Helmet in the 2021 Essay Tournament of Grunge for Marchxness
“White Hellebore” in THE LAST TIME THE ALINE BUDDHA GOT SO HIGH (Alien Buddha Press 2.0)
Print edition of REALMS OF FANTASY RGP SOURCEBOOK III “Perils & Prowess” (Mythopoeia Games Publications)
“The Call of Chapodiphobia” in OCTOPI FROM THE SKY (Dumpster Fire Press).
(Implicit with numerous rejections and unfinished projects).
“Horror is not a genre like the mystery or science fiction or the western. . . Horror is an emotion.” – Douglas E. Winter “That didn’t scare me.” This level of criticism grates my sensibilities. That didn’t scare me. It’s the sort of comment you overhear when leaving the cinema or that you might witness […]
“That Didn’t Scare Me”: Thoughts on Horror Fiction
No posts since March 2020? Really? To claim it was Covid-related would be an understatement.
The year, plague year 2020, has been catastrophic on all levels for many people. I have to report that I have been one of the fortunate ones. As a professor in higher-ed., it has been quite a task alone to work through these times, but many things have happened, and some have fallen by the wayside. In a year of pandemic, upheaval, and tumult, I have been uplifted by all the writers and publishers who have not been daunted by 2020. Here’s my year-end work summation:
Picking up from March 2020 I was scheduled to read some poems for the GRCC Public ENG DEPT Reading Event on Mar 26 but this was cancelled due to Covid. I found a new market with the incredibly prolific and subversive ALIEN BUDDHA PRESS and published the following poems: “Eviscerated” and “Private Hell Perdition” in Alien Buddha Press Gets Rejected, “Nightmare Tracks” in Alien Buddha Press HOUSE OF HORRORS 3, followed with a SONGS OF SELAH podcast reading live on Halloween, and “From The Office Of Dead Letters” THE ALIEN BUDDHA WEARS A BLACK BANDANA.
My work in the Weird Fiction and Art community has continued with: A review of Matt Cardin’s TO ROUSE LEVIATHAN “Epistemological Alchemy” in DEAD RECKONINGS #27 from Hippocampus Press Spring 2020 and reviewed Richard Gavin’s GROTESQUERIE from Undertow Publications “A Weird Tarot Deck” and Robert Eggers’ film THE LIGHTHOUSE “The Light That Never Warms” in DEAD RECKONINGS #28 Hippocampus Press Fall 2020 . I was delighted to be accepted in S. T. Joshi’s new scholarly journal of Weird Fiction with “The Cosmicism of Elfland” in PENUMBRA No. 1 also from Hippocampus Press!
Fell short on a short story publication this year but managed to make my goal of tripling last year’s output. There have been other derailed projects. As lockdowns have devastated the music industry nothing has been done or has happened with THE HICKKICKERS or other music side projects. Along with that, the release of what was REALMS OF FANTASY 2020 by Mythopoeia Games Publications has been delayed to 2021 and will be retitled REALMS OF FANTASY COMPLETE. Lastly, the “Bullets For Breakfast” script is all but over on its path to production.
We have two new cats — VINCENT and VICTOR in the home to make the year and I have been admitted to the Esoteric Order of Dagon (literary branch). Lastly I will be writing in the 2021 MARCH PLAIDNESS competition writing for HELMET and their song “Unsung.”
Accolades to everyone else that has endured through plague year 2020. On to 2021!
I am pleased to announce Mythopoeia Games Publications has made the following RPG supplements I authored available to help with our isolation: “Games are great way to get through isolation. Why not try a new RPG to help pass the time? For the next 15 days (through April 1st) we have made our We Hate Bards tested core Apocalyptic Fantasy RPG E-Book “Wizards & Warriors” pay what you want at DriveThruRPG (that means FREE if you wish) and all our supporting e-book supplements are ninety-nine cents. We may extend this even longer to weather the upheaval in pursuit of games (and adventure). If you play a session share it at Realms Of Fantasy RPG.” Enjoy!
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/155093/Realms-Of-Fantasy-RPG-Sourcebook-I-Wizards–Warriors
The latest issue of Spectral Realms (No. 12 Winter 2020) is available from Hippocampus Press edited by S. T. Joshi featuring the work of today’s greatest working poets of the weird and also includes my poem “Black Wings Return.”
On January 22nd 2020 special one-day only screenings of Richard Stanley’s Color Out Of Space (an adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Colour out of Space”) extended cut will be shown in select theaters across America.
I have been asked to give opening comments for the screening at the UICA (Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts) part of KCAD (Kendall College of Art and Design). It was quite a pleasure to teach this story a year ago at KCAD in Genre Studies: Weird Fiction, learn the film was in production, then have our own theater be selected to house the film.
Review will be posted later.
(PS – special shout out to HPLHS.)
M
Here’s a little recap of my 2019 year in publishing:
“A Look Behind The Challenge From Beyond” — DEAD RECKONINGS No. 25 — Hippocampus Press
“Lovecraft’s Open Boat” — LOVECRAFT ANNUAL No.12 — Hippocampus Press
“You Know Who The Monster Is” (review of Sam L Edwards WHISKEY AND OTHER UNUSUAL GHOSTS) — DEAD RECKONINGS No. 26 — Hippocampus Press
“Perils & Prowess” — REALMS OF FANTASY RPG SIII — Mythopoeia Games Publications
“Bela Lugosi Lives/Daed S’isogul Aleb” — MARCH VLADNESS ‘– Elite 8
“You Are An Anomaly” (review of Brooke Warra’s LUMINOUS BODY) DIM SHORES (via Goodreads) —
Intent to double my work from last year (two publications) and ended tripling 2018. Next year’s goal: double 2019 — for 12 — 1 per month. So far my poem “Black Wings Return” will be in SPECTRAL REALMS No. 12 Winter 2020. Here’s to good start. Best to all the other writers, editors, and publishers I know, have met, or corresponded with and all their works of 2019.
Are we Cyberpunk enough yet?
At long last I am elated to report that Realms of Fantasy RPG Sourcebook III: Perils & Prowess has finally been published. This was a long arduous task and I hope you’ll enjoy what lurks behind the cover. This entire book is illustrated by the one and only Brook Anderson and also ends my work on this version of the game. The link above takes you to DriveThruRPG where you can order the e-book. Hard copies can be ordered directly thru Mythopoeia Games Publications.
There may be more yet before the month is over.
As Lin would say, Happy Magic!
Michael D Miller 