New Online Fiction Recommendations: Jodi MacArthur and Chris Allinotte

There’s a slew of awesome new fiction available from two very talented writers, Jodi MacArthur and Chris Allinotte. Don’t ask me how they pump out this much quality stuff. My guess is these two maniacs never sleep. Anyway, I wanna make sure you haven’t missed any of it. So get to clicking the links.

JODI MACARTHUR
This Texas-dwelling chick is all teeth and nails. She knows the flavor of your skin. Her words have sharp points and she’s not afraid to stab you in the face with them. I’m still wiping away blood and stitching myself up.

I’ve been reading Jodi’s work for over three years and she never disappoints. She’s able to transport the reader to whatever insane world she’s living in at the time. Mark my words, one day she’s gonna be sipping a hot cup of blood beside Stephen King himself. Besides the links below, you can find more of her work here at the cauldron of evil she calls a blog.

MANTRA at All Due Respect, Issue #16

BLACK, WHITE AND RED ALL OVER at In Between Altered States

FREE MERCURY at Beat to a Pulp

CHRIS ALLINOTTE
Chipping away at the frozen tundra in Toronto, Chris slowly inserts splinters of ice under the reader’s fingernails. I, for one, am grateful for the pain. In addition to penning stories about hellfire pie and sewer-dwelling, man-eating creatures, he is also editor of the anthology, Eight Days of Madness. It happens to be a free anthology you can download here.

You can read all about the Canadian creator himself and his work at his blog, The Leaky Pencil. I’ve often wondered exactly what was seeping out of that Leaky Pencil of his. Now I know. It’s blood.

PICK YOUR OWN PUMPKIN at Thrillers, Killers ‘n Chillers

MONKEYFISH at MicroHorror

SEX AND BEER at the Flash Fiction Offensive

TEMPTING MORSELS at Lily Childs’ Feardom

New Poetry and Micro Fiction up at Cavalcade of Stars

I have a series of brand new poems and micro fiction up at Jeanette Cheezum's Cavalcade of Stars. In Jeanette's own words, the Cavalcade is "A place to read fiction and poetry from some of your favorite online writers. Don't be surprised if you see some of mine sprinkled here and there."

Each week, The Cavalcade offers a platform for writers to share their words. Today, it's my turn. You can find my poems, Taffy and Labor, and my micro fiction, Other and I Don't Care if We Ever Do Laundry Again here.


You can find Jeanette Cheezum's work at Hampton Road Writers and at Six Sentences.

Jeanette, you're a gifted writer and a lovely woman. Thank you for printing these works!

Trestle Press Author, McDroll talks about her crime fiction book, Kick It!

It's been a long while since I've featured a writer here at A Rage. Having recently joined the Trestle Press family myself, it is my pleasure to have fellow Trestle Press short story writer, McDroll stop by and provide you all with the lowdown on her crime collection, Kick It. McDroll is quite obviously excited by this publication and shares with us, "To have a book published is a magical experience that very few people ever get to achieve, but thanks to TRESTLE PRESS and their amazing outlook on the revolution of digital publishing which is about to hit readers around the world like a literary tsunami, more amazing writers will be able to get their writing out there to an ever increasing digital audience.

My first collection of short stories, KICK IT has just been published this week and my goodness, I certainly did get a kick from seeing my book up there for sale on Amazon. KICK IT is a collection of 5 short noir / crime stories with a little twist of Scottish humour thrown into the mix.

Three of the stories have my favourite character, DC Gemma Dixon, strutting her stuff around the crime scene of Glasgow. New to CID, Gemma has to learn very quickly to stand up for herself in male dominated environments where as the newbie she gets some of the roughest assignments on offer.

I love having fun with Gemma as she banters with her fellow officers, making sure that she asserts herself and doesn’t take any of their cheek.

My other two stories deal with our perceptions of people and I attempt to show how far off the mark we can be when we don’t take the time to dig a bit deeper into ‘hidden stories;’ the secrets that people keep close to their chests as they go about their daily lives. So much can be going on beneath a person’s outward shell and I try to uncover some of these tales.

So I hope you check out my first ever e-Book and please let me know what you think!"
Let's get to know a bit more about the mysterious McDroll (aka. Fiona Grace), shall we?
1. Who is McDroll?

To begin with, going back about three years; McDroll was the silly name I came up with when I started tweeting. I wanted a name that would combine the fact that I am proud to be Scottish and indicate that my tweets would contain a certain amount of ‘tongue in cheek’ humour. Like most nicknames it kind of stuck and now that’s how most people on-line know me.

I think it’s quite memorable and a bit different so perhaps it will help me to get noticed!

When I’m not writing / reviewing, I teach and have been a primary school head teacher for the past 23 years, I know, I don’t look old enough! Cough

I live in Argyll, Scotland which is easily one of the most beautiful places in the world, steeped in history from prehistoric standing stones to Celtic crosses and castles and countless lochs and glens.

I sit at night, laptop on knees and write about murders…well, what else would I do?

2. Why crime writing?
I’ve always wanted to write as far back as I can remember and over the years I’ve had various disastrous attempts that just didn’t work. My writing was boring, bland and twee. I had come to the conclusion that I just didn’t have what it takes.

Then I joined Twitter and quickly discovered that there were lots of writers around the world tweeting about their writing. They would discuss their difficulties, the characters they wrote about and the struggle to get published.

Slowly I crept into this circle of talented people and as I have always been a rabid reader of crime fiction, I thought that if I couldn’t write then at least I could review and be a little help to those with talent struggling to get noticed.

Eventually some very kind people asked if I wrote. After the initial, ‘no, no, no,’ I decided to give the writing lark another go but this time try to write within the crime genre….and that’s all it took. My years of reading crime have somehow helped me understand how to write the type of story that people seem to get a lot of fun out of reading.

3. Who do you read?
I’ve really enjoyed reading No One To Hear You Scream by Julia Madeleine, another Trestle author. She takes you on a trip to a beautiful house in the remote countryside, the most beautiful spot imaginable and in this amazing setting creates the home to die for. If you love browsing through House and Home magazine then you'll pretty much have seen the type of house she creates. What more could anyone ask for? Oh yeah...the owner murders his girlfriend and buries her body in the woods at the back and he’s built the house on the back of his drugs money. He's one of those Irish guys that (WARNING) women, don’t ever go near because he's got a twinkle in his eye, he can soft soap the pants off you and then he'll garrote you when he's bored and toss your body aside. And he's gorgeous (I was thinking Patrick Dempsey with an Irish accent and a couple of days' stubble.)

Anyway, twists of fortune and all that, Rory Madden (that's the Patrick Dempsey guy) ends up in jail and loses all his money and his house that he loves more than anything in the world gets sold from under his feet and Rory vows to get it back come hell or high water. Pity the family who bought it and my, do they have their own troubles!

I love Julia’s ability to weave a wonderful story that just doesn’t allow me to put down from start to finish.

4. What’s next?
I’m hoping to have another collection of short stories KICK IT AGAIN out soon and then move onto a serialization of a novella that I’ve been working on for some time. More ‘Gemma’ stories are in the pipeline and you will be able to meet Gemma again in BRIT GRIT TOO, soon to be published by TRESTLE.

Many thanks to McDroll for making the time to be here with us. It's been a true pleasure!

You can visit McDroll at her blog site here, and for .99 cents you can purchase Kick It for your Kindle on Amazon. You can also follow her Twitter tweets @McDroll.

Why You Shouldn’t Buy My Book

In the advent of my publisher, Panic Press suddenly calling it quits, there are some unresolved issues. For one thing, my book, The Man of Shadows is still available in certain markets. If you purchase the print and/or the Kindle version, I won’t receive any compensation for it. Translation: At this time, please don’t buy my book in print or e-pub form from anywhere or anyone. Secondly, there are a lot of angry writers from the Panic Press line who are battling for reimbursement of unfulfilled orders and unseen royalties, so I can easily feel my rage beginning to froth at the surface again, and I’m trying to remain moderately professional about the entire ordeal.

The small press is a wonderful resource for aspiring authors to see their work published, but if you’re not careful it can also turn and bite you on the ass. As I still retain all rights to my work, my hope is to have another publisher pick my book up, dust it off, and make it available on their shelves. Yes, I know I can self-publish, but it just won’t feel the same to me… you know what I’m saying?

In general, and this is cumulative to this situation and my growing weariness with publications, I feel a bit like a home in need of a makeover. Maybe I’ve reached a crossroads. There are definitive choices to be made. Either way, The Man of Shadows will be slipping back into the darkness for awhile.

-Angel

5x5 Fiction ISSUE THREE: Avoidance, Allowance, and Animosity is live!

5x5 Fiction ISSUE THREE is live!

ISSUE THREE: Avoidance, Allowance, and Animosity.

A.A. 1998 (a poem)

1.
It’s awful this morning. The windows are gray,
air pinpricks skin with cactus familiarity.
I do not recognize the disease.
The mattress is torn and the gods of love
are nervous. I cannot sleep here.
You left me huddled between pillows,
soaked in liquid thoughts.
These aren’t notes I dare sing.
I’m typing this far from the wagon’s table.
The coffee is tepid in the mug,
your lipstick still smeared red on the rim.

2.
My fingers strum the aluminum can
of an imaginary beer. This is the melancholy
of poets, balancing bar stools
on the tips of our noses, clowns
packed into Volkswagens
twelve to a case.

3.
The greeting card would say, I miss you.
Blake would ask, Did He who made
the Lamb make thee?
I just need to know
where you hid the keys
to my car.


Copyright ©1998, Angel Zapata

9/11: One Possible Future (a poem)

It’s no longer the cosmic shock
so much like late frost kills early buds;
but rather acceptable sadness,
the realization all leaves fall.

It’s no longer the rhythmic flag sway
(America this, that, or them),
the extravagance of anger
became a cross, a mosque, a scar.

It’s no longer about people—
twin towers are labeled: Data, Debris;
ashes in barrels and potpourri bowls,
such casual causalities.

The ground went from zero to sixty;
clock hands hid seconds, seized time,
shook sand over sleep-swollen eyes—
now nothing more than holiday.

It’s a calendar X, a movie, game—
that’s the cold, hard reality;
check this box to initiate pain
and pilot those ill-fated planes.


Copyright ©2011, Angel Zapata

This poem was inspired by the Poetry Matters Celebration word prompts: Reality check, pain, sadness, shock, anger.

Panic Press and House of Horror are Kaput

In this here this moment and gone the next publishing world we live in, another horror publisher bites the dust. Editor, Sam E. Cox, the woman behind both Panic Press and House of Horror, has announced on a Facebook thread that, “…no more books will be going on to Amazon. Panic Press and HoH have gone into liquidation. I’m sorry but there’s nothing I can do, but everyone who has ordered from me will get their books…”

Sam was recently hospitalized for undisclosed health concerns. Upon her return, she faced a slew of technical problems. “I’ve had issues with both Paypal and Lulu,” she wrote on her Facebook wall, “and my e-mail was hacked. Basically what happened is I got into debt with Paypal spending more than what I had…”

It’s incredibly sad news for all of the supportive readers and the authors in the Panic Press and HoH family. Sam also states, “…of course I will be canceling all the books on Lulu and turning them over to the authors, but can’t until I’m done ordering and sending out books.”

Author and Rainstorm Press editor, Lyle Perez has offered to help. “If Sammi is willing,” he announced on Facebook, “I can take over the anthologies that never saw print and release them with my publishing company, Rainstorm Press. I’d hate to see these anthos not see print because of funding issues.”

Panic Press and House of Horror has been the catalyst for many newbie writers entering the publishing world and its absence will definitely leave a hole in our horror community. Sam has been a wonderfully gracious editor and friend. I wish her all the best.

As most of you know, my book, The Man of Shadows is part of the Panic Press line. I’m not sure what this means for its future availability, but I’m hoping it gets picked up by another publishing house. Only time will tell.

-Angel Zapata
8.23.11

Putrid Poetry and Sickening Sketches (Volume 2), Available Now!

I'm delighted to say the paperback, Collaboration of the Dead Presents Putrid Poetry & Sickening Sketches (Volume 2), is now available for purchase on Amazon and Createspace.

Product description:
"Poetry and Zombies... Art and the Undead... Terms that may not seem to go together, but after seeing what the living dead poets have placed on these virtual pages with their rotted hands, you just might think again. What you hold in your hands is a fan-freaking-tastic collection of zombie-themed poetry and art some names you probably know as well as some new writers you may not know. Either way, you are in for a treat! Bon appetite! See, it rhymes... Featuring Putrid Poetry by Angel Zapata, Carey Burns, D.G. Sutter, Gerald Rice, Jamal K. Luckett, Jeffrey Angus, Karime Limon, Matt Nord, Michael C. Dick, Mike Mitchell, R.M. Cochran, Rebecca Besser, Reina Sobin, Rich Boorman,Scott Emerson, Suzanne Robb, Trevor Smith, William Cook and William R.D. Wood Featuring Sickening Sketches by Christopher Bonnette, Dennis Bower, Matt Nord, Rich Boorman, Rob Sacchetto, Rodrigo Obon and William Cook, who also offered up to sick cover illustration!"

Editor, Matt Nord has produced a stunning anthology of excellent poetry and absolutely spectacular artwork! If you're a zombie enthusiast, this is the book for you. Plus, you'll get to read my poem, "The Zombie Creed."

Also, be sure to pick up Matt Nord’s Tainted Tales & Rotten Rhymes for your Kindle, only .99 cents!

Product description:
“This anthology is chock full of stories with zombies, cannibals, zombies, killer birds, zombies, homicidal clones, zombies, evil ghosts, zombies, serial killers, zombies, murderous mermaids and, you got it, more zombies! … Oh yeah, and poems…”

Poetry Resurrection: The Immaculate Conceptionally

I’ve recently returned to writing poetry. My goal is to complete a chapbook in the next few weeks or so. I’ve also gone digging in the attic for some of my older work. There was one box up there stuffed with old notebooks, napkins, cereal box tops, and utility bills— all loaded down with my scrawl. This is when I still used pencil, ink, and a Brother typewriter versus the plastic letters of my keyboard. Some of them are unbelievably awful, but there are others that continue to sing. In the next few weeks, I’m thinking I may share some with you. The following small work was written twenty years ago.


The Immaculate Conceptionally

The soft wood,
then a fracture in your dark.
Light footfalls on broken toes;
thickets lean against grassy slivers
of silver moonlit bone.

Soon the thrush
takes flight with the swallow
beneath the gold shelter of skin.
The flurried feathers of thick lashes
thumb and thrust.


Copyright © 1991 Angel Zapata