An Offering of Ink & Feathers— A Poetry Chapbook

It's my pleasure to announce the publication of my poetry collection, "An Offering of Ink & Feathers." The print version is available now on Createspace and the Kindle version through Amazon. Most of the poems have never been published in print or online.

An Offering of Ink & Feathers is a chapbook of twenty-four poems. It begins with the flight of a moth and the sacrifice of its fragile body. This incident sparks a series of events— physical and spiritual— that takes our author and readers on a journey through love, marriage, fatherhood, divorce, and ultimately to the very brink of death.

I'd like to thank author/artist, Gabrielle Faust, for providing me permission to use her gorgeous artwork for the cover.

And thanks to my fellow writers and readers who have encouraged me along the way. I hope my words will find a place in all your hearts.

Hypothermic Writer Seeks Shelter

As most writers know, the majority of small press and independent publishing markets don’t pay a writer anything. No money at all. Many publishers are unable to or won’t provide a contributor copy as token payment either. This is known as submitting work to a “for-the-love market.” Payment is exposure only. I know ‘exposure’ is supposed to represent the writer’s work appearing in some form of mass media for the benefit of a reader’s eyes. But ‘exposure’— per the Merriam-Webster dictionary— can also mean “the condition of being unprotected, especially from severe weather.” This doesn’t sound anything like ‘love’ to me.

According to the National Homeless Organization.org, “’Between 1999 and 2002, hypothermia-related deaths, totaling 4,607 in number, occurred in all 50 states in the United States (CDC 2006).’ (Note that this does not appear to be specific to homeless; it would include folks lost in the woods, etc.).”

I don’t know about you, but wandering around lost in the woods totally sucks. I don’t want to be homeless or freeze to death. I’d also like to stop shivering.

I guess I’ve just been feeling a bit cold lately and I’m tired of exposing myself. I think it’s time to go back inside the house and sit in front of the fireplace for a while. Yeah, that’s better. I’m feeling a lot warmer already. And oh my, is that an old typewriter…

“Another 100 Horrors” is now available from Cruentus Libri Press!

“Another 100 Horrors” is now available from Cruentus Libri Press in print and for Kindle! 100 writers have contributed horror stories told in exactly 100 words. You can read my tiny tale, “Howl,” within its pages.

Thanks goes out to editor, Kevin G. Bufton.

Also featured is fellow writer, Erin Cole, and her story, “Hide-and-Seek.” If you've never read any of Erin's work, you are missing out on an extremely talented writer. She's author of the mystery novel, "Grave Echoes" and the horror collection "Of the Night." Her work can be found published all over the internet too. You can read her masterful crime story, "7 Seconds," at All Due Respect, for free!

 

Mara, Mara on the Wall at Yellow Mama

My latest story, “Mara, Mara on the Wall” is live at Yellow Mama. The June #38 Issue is jam-packed with incredible fiction and poetry. Go on and spend some time there.

Cindy Rosmus, editor of Yellow Mama, offered me great feedback on my submission. I’m really happy with the end result. Thanks, Cindy!

And a whopping thanks to Paul “Deadeye” Dick for the slammin’ photo he created. It perfectly complements the story.

Poetry Rewind: oh touch me you fool

Digging out some old pieces of mine that were published in printed journals, pre-internet submissions. This 4-line poem was accepted for issue #81 of The Lilliput Review back in 1996.

The Inevitable at One Forty Fiction

Proud to say, One Forty Fiction has published another one of my micro stories, The Inevitable. If you haven't spent any time on their site lately, do so. You can read a dozen stories in about 5 mins.

Submissions are open and guidelines can be found here.

Weather-Plagued at Necon e-Books

I'm happy to report my story, Weather-Plagued, received an honorable mention at Necon e-Books for their monthly flash fiction contest. It will also be included in their year-end anthology. You can read my story, all the other winning and honorable mentions, and view guidelines here.

They are now accepting submissions for their May contest. The theme is "A Recipe for Horror (Food and Drink)." Per their web page, "This is purposefully another very broad topic — your story must simply center somehow around food or drink (eating, cooking, restaurants, vineyards, distilleries, gardens, grocery shopping, etc.). However, a word of warning in advance — much like the culinary arts, our judges are going to favor "gourmet creativity" over "fast food convenience" when it comes to this theme. In other words, if you take an obvious approach to link food to horror (like cannibalism or zombies eating brains), you better knock our socks off! After all, we published a novel about gourmet canibals (THE EPICURE by Holly Newstein & Ralph W. Bieber, available HERE and also as part of our HAUTALA/NEWSTEIN BUNDLE), so the bar's already been set extremely high! Our standard 100 word count limit applies."

Living the Hero Dream at The Story Shack

Devlin was one of thirty-two people who answered the newspaper ad for Superhumans— with REAL powers only— wanted for secret society squadron. My superhero story, Living the Hero Dream, is live at The Story Shack.

My sincere thanks to editor, Martin Hooijmans for publishing it, and to illustrator, James Brown for bringing my characters to life.

The eBook for 10 Days of Madness is now available!

Chris Allinotte has released the 10 Days of Madness anthology.

Book description:

The Madness is Back!

The third annual "Days of Madness" short story anthology is back with twenty new short-short tales that explore the extremes of the human condition, and beyond!

Ride shotgun with a distraught father as he floors it down the highway in pursuit of justice.

Answer the "Babysitters wanted" ad in your local paper, but be ready for the game of your life.

When frogs scream like crickets and mermaids become reality, you've in for a wild ride through ten days of madness.

Features new stories from the pens of Richard Godwin, Benjamin Sobieck, Anthony Cowin, Angel Zapata, J.J. Steinfeld, L.W. Salinas, Matthew Wilson, Jack Horne, Donald J. Uitvlugt, and Chris Allinotte.

Purchase it here.

The Housekeeper reviewed at The 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly

Another surprise review of my crime poem, The Housekeeper, over at The 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly. It's always wonderful to hear a reader's perspective on one's work. Read it here.

"The 5-2 John Ricotta reflects on Angel Zapata's "Housekeeper", as performed by our friend, Deshant Paul, on Day 27 of 30 Days of The 5-2." —Gerald So/editor

You can read the first review at Michael Arnzen’s Gorelets here.