AUGUST 2009 NEWS

I've been concentrating lately on getting the poetry side of my writing life in order, trying to create some momentum.  Magnapoets [http://magnapoets.typepad.com/magnapoets_free_verse_and/], the web-journal hosted by Aurora Antonovic that I normally write for, is on its usual summer hiatus, until after Labor Day, so I need to vary the outlets for my poetry.   I was able to get "Forsaken: the Carthaginian Quartet" posted in Sondra Ball's AUTUMN LEAVES web-journal [www.sondra.net/al/vol13/1313Forsaken.htm] and I have to admit, I'm proud of the piece.  My most recent pieces at Magnapoets, "Seagull On a Cross" and "An Evolutionary Anxiety", have been less melodramatic/operatic than my usual work with its postmodern-leanings.  There's a more contemporary bent to the poems: they're more alliterative, infused with more metonymy, even a touch more political than what I have written in general.   Pieces like "In the Nighthouse of the Emperor" and "Ashurbanipal's Gat" are more narrative-driven, but the recent stuff is more in line with poems like "Diagnosing the Sickness, A Causational Wedding", "The Isolation of the Albino Peacock in Spring", "Dissent, Loathing and Sausage Casseroles" and "No Bird With Razor-Wire Plumage Can Find Heaven".  Sometimes I feel more like a reporter or a social satirist than a poet, and, in those poems, it shows.   With "Forsaken", though, I seem to have returned, if only briefly, to my lengthier, more dramatic, "epic" poetry roots, like the poem "The Sacred Shall Weep and the Fallen Will Sing".

Anyway, I've entered a couple of poetry contests now, bolstered by the relative success of my chapbook "Condemned of Heaven" [http://www.lulu.com/content/6215598], for which I received an Honorable Mention through the contest hosted by ADAGIO VERSE QUARTERLY [http://www.geocities.com/adagioversequarterly/].

I doubt I have much of a chance given the sophisticated calibre of the work other poets will be bringing to the competition, but, hey, it's worth trying just to see how I do...

And I've made several entries of which I'm proud to my new writing/poetry web journal called "This Strange Fruit" at http://thisstrangefruit.typepad.com/this-strange-fruit/

On the horror-suspense writing front, I'm 50,173 words into the novel NOCTURNES IN PURGATORY (which was formerly titled "Purgatory is Bleeding" and which was originally going to be a chapbook-novella), a Quinn & the Moon-Chosen adventure.  Vampires Rule, dontcha know... Not nearly so far along as I'd like after the amount of time that has passed since I began it, but it's all about quality as opposed to speed.   I'm thankful I've gotten as far as I have since my regular day job's work schedule has been so busy, stressful and time-consuming.

Continuing in a vampire-related vein, I'm working on creating entries for "Codex Sacrilegium Nocturnus" and the "Book of the Last Embrace" to further flesh-out the back-history of The Moon-Chosen.

I've been doing deeper research into Quantum Physics (!), specifically M-THEORY, and N-Dimensional Space mathematics to try and create a richer foundation for the science and technology in my WITHERED LAND universe.

I've also been working further on developing the backstories and character sketches for my projected urban paranormal series "The EVE SAINT Investigations", which features a gun-toting, woman private investigator who just also happens to be a guilt-ridden, reformed, cannibalistic Wendigo -- hehn, hehn. Fun stuff, that.

I've also been revisiting and revising my steampunk occult-thriller project, "The Blackchapel Wax House".   It's coming along very nicely and I'm having fun developing and populating my imaginary world of "South Asmodeus".

My Author BIO for BY LIGHT UNSEEN MEDIA is up for the novel KRYMSIN NOCTURNES at http://bylightunseenmedia.com/armsteadbio.htm .   And I'm waiting for the first round of publisher's edits for the novel KRYMSIN NOCTURNES from Inanna Arthen.

Hmmmn, that's all I can think of for now that's actually worth talking about.   There are another three projects still on the back-burners that I haven't made much time for, but that I DO intend to work on as soon as time permits...

More on those some other day.

All for now!

FEBRUARY 2009 NEWS

An OVERDUE update:

I feel I should apologize for the length of time between communications regarding the progress of my projects, ideas, and publications.  I have been working, though not quite as diligently as I should, on various projects already referred to in earlier posts, but principally on PURGATORY IS BLEEDING, on reinvigorating my poetry and on attempts at retaining a Literary Agent (MAJOR frustration there, let me tell you!).

Naturally, the publishing industry has been anything but immune to the vagaries of the economy, so book houses are less and less interested in taking on any new products by new authors and they certainly show little interest in Horror fiction, which has always been a niche-product to a limited (though rabid) buying audience.  In turn, this reflects the focus literary agents take in representing authors: if they must dabble in popular fiction or genre fiction, then mystery and suspense thrillers are always welcome at the table, science fiction is an easy sell, but horror is a guest from a bad neighborhood across those proverbial tracks.  Everyone in the industry is looking for more of the tried-and-true: stuff that has a large and easily identified demographic.  And, to continue on down the food chain, the already dwindling buying public of readers is less and less likely to spend money on books by Newbies unless the book gets a big boost by way of an aggressive marketing campaign from the publisher.

What's a new author to do?

Time to think outside the box... but definitely not a time to quit.

I have been lucky enough, in my poetry writing endeavors, to work with the editorial staff at POETRY LIFE & TIMES online magazine[www.poetrylifeandtimes.com] on many occasions and the scarily-talented -- and very discriminating (tastefully-so) -- Editor there, Robin Ouzman-Hislop  [www.authorsden.com/robinouzmanhislop] offered me a position with the magazine as one of the Featured Poets In-Residence.   Obviously, I jumped at the opportunity.  The upcoming Spring 2009 issue will see my first work there in that capacity!

So, anyway, back in late Autumn of '08 I entered a poetry chapbook competition hosted by the kind and talented folks at ADAGIO VERSE QUARTERLY [http://www.geocities.com/adagioversequarterly/], (Patricia Gomes, You RULE!), submitting my cycle of poems entitled CONDEMNED OF HEAVEN.  The competition completed in late December '08 and the winner was announced, a writer named JUDITH SKILLMAN for her chapbook "Any Kind of Kindling" [http://www.geocities.com/adagioversequarterly/p21.html].  Along the way, I took an Honorable Mention!!

Without further ado, here is a look at the cover art and a link to the URL for the poetry chapbook CONDEMNED OF HEAVEN:

http://www.lulu.com/content/6215598

And, regarding progress on the novel-writing front, PURGATORY IS BLEEDING, a new Montgomery Quinn & the Moon-Chosen adventure, is at 35,103 words out of a projected 64,750.

So that's all I have to report for now...   Take care and ALL of the Best in everything you do!

NOVEMBER 2008 NEWS

A short update:

Work on the Quinn/Moon-Chosen novella "PURGATORY IS BLEEDING" has reached 29,518 words --- not shabby, all things considered.   The story is featuring a seldom used secondary character, "Cold Janey" Ulrich, who first appeared in ENDLESS NOCTURNES.  Interesting how when I bring her into the mix, the story's innate supernatural elements (I mean, after all, Quinn is an immortal, mutant warrior and Ms. January Ulrich is a renegade Bloodwitch, an outlaw opposed to her former vampire Apollyonu masters...) take a back seat to a more hard-boiled detective vibe.  I just felt that the usual cast of characters, Ashton Brazil & Sam Carstairs and Professor Patricia Silver, have seen quite a bit of the limelight in prior novels (in Nocturnes and Neon & Bleeding Twilight, while Prof. Silver even has a solo outing in the novel Darkness Fears).  Additionally, I feel that "Purgatory Is Bleeding" is potentially a more disturbing type of urban paranormal adventure than my usual Quinn outings.  I'm not concentrating so much on the intrigues and interactions of the Moon-Chosen Gather-families as I am the relevation that there are powerful elements of human evil that Quinn has yet to actively confront.  I think that I'll probably wind up with a longer novella than I originally planned.  I feel like I've got another 10 - 12,000 words (easily) left in this story.  Having some fun with the tale...

In the meantime, I've done some additional really deep research for fleshing out the universe I've created in THE WITHERED LAND novel.  This story has potential to take my writing to places I've always wanted to go.  The so-called "high-concept" sci-fi novel has always been attactive to me and I never wanted "The Withered Land" to be just another fantasy/quasi-sword & sorcery pastiche.  I look forward to being able to devote more time and energy to this one...

TRYNE, the slightly insane, occult/cybernetic woman-warrior I created long ago, feels more and more like a reinvigorated concept as I toss around background plot ideas, sci-fi technology elements important to the story and develop story arcs.   She'll be a different type of speculative fiction heroine for sure:  as I mentioned earlier, she IS just a bit insane... Not quite at the scripting stage just yet.   Gotta get those other stories finished first.

Oh, and an additional note: I have become an member of the World Futurist Society, a nonprofit educational and scientific organization, where I intend to specialize in socio-technological forecasting.  Through its magazine, "The Futurist", other media, seminars, and interaction among its members, the WFS provides a neutral forum through which members investigate/hypothesize/synthesize how developing social, economic and technological trends could shape the future.  It's a natural step for me and one that I've been thinking about for some time, but a step I have procrastinated taking, afraid of getting involved "over my head".

What the hell... why not?  If not now, when?  We'll see where this leads.

Anyway, in case anyone's interested, that's what's cooking now.

Take care of yourselves and stay sane!

AUGUST 2008 NEWS

Sometimes people ask me "Hey, Joseph, whatcha working on?  Can we expect anything new relatively soon?" and usually my answer is just to grumble something profane under my breath.  What with my regular day job work schedule and just everyday life, it's hard to produce quality work as quickly as I'd like.   Time is at a real premium and I am a HUGELY picky so-and-so who doesn't like to put out second rate work just to "keep my name out there".  Writing is a craft and I take it seriously.  I work hard at getting better at it.  If something I create reads like crap, I won't seek to publish it:  I don't want my name on it.  And if my name IS on it and it sees the light of day then, while you may not like it, you can rest assured it's the very best work I could produce at that time.

'Nuff said.

So here's what I'm currently developing in Tha Lab...

Works in Progress:

Novels --

* The Withered Land [dark fantasy/scifi] ... (18,000 words and counting)
* Bloodblossoms, 2nd Volume in The Porphyrricon [urban paranormal] ... (5500 words and counting)
* Medusa's Wrath [mystery/suspense thriller] ... (67,000 words and counting...)

Novellas --

* Purgatory is Bleeding, (a tale of Quinn & the Moon-Chosen) [urban paranormal] ... (3600 words and counting)

Ideas in Development --

* Tryne [science fiction/adventure/espionage] ... (series titles & outlines, plot synopsis, character sketches complete)
* the Eve Butcher series [occult paranormal] ... (series synopsis, character sketches complete)
* Blackchapel Wax House [steampunk/occult thriller] ... (reworking/redeveloping, historical research, synopsis, plot, 6,300 words written so far...)

There's other stuff, ideas and concepts I'd like to try out, floating around in an embryonic state at the back of my mind, but none of that is worth mentioning until I can move these items off my To-Do List.  The above list constitutes what I intend to complete.

And now that I look at it, I think there's a lot of fun yet to be had with these projects...

Thanks for asking!
 

FEBRUARY 2008 NEWS

It's been too long... Really, it has.  

I've been steadily working away at a trio of projects, but, since I admit that I'm not much of a blogger, I've had precious little to post regarding News.  I'm a "results-oriented" kind of a person: I like to post something whan I actually have something of value to share.  Words aren't worth anything if they become a Be-All and End-All of themselves -- they have to mean something or they lose their impact.  So, as a general rule, I don't journal unless there's something worth journaling about.

So here goes...

KRYMSIN NOCTURNES, An Adventure of QUINN & the MOON-CHOSEN

KRYMSIN NOCTURNES, all 84,600 words of it, is in the Final Draft stages and has been presented to a publisher for consideration for their 2009 schedule.  I am happy they have shown interest in the project and I am happy with the fact that this latest Montgomery Quinn vehicle has rock-solid storytelling and an edgy, angry energy that separates it, and Quinn, from the growing pack of "paranormal" vampire fiction out there.   This isn't a paranormal romance, this is Vampire Noir: adventure, introspection, horror, and suspense laid upon a believable framework.   The Moon-Chosen are back and the Borrego Bay cities of West Sussex and New Barrington will never be the same!

THE WITHERED LAND

THE WITHERED LAND saga has grown into a strange and wonderful amalgam of sci-fi, occult adventure, Lovecraftian horror, and swashbuckling adventure!   It has been a pleasure of world-building with more and more history and details emerging as I write!  I'm at the 18,000 word point.  Though the story is not yet done, this tale of vengeance and redemption at the Broken Fringes of the Known Universe has shaped itself into a thrilling, classic epic with grand, memorable characters!

STAY TUNED for publication dates...!

Additionally, my novella AGONISTES ETERNUS can be found HERE, at the site "AnthologyBuilder": http://www.anthologybuilder.com/viewstory.php?story_id=489  where other, shorter, dark and unsettling tales from the Book of Dark Memory wille eventually appear.   CHECK IT OUT when you have a chance!

And, on the poetry front, MAGNAPOETS, the online web-jopurnal to which I frequently post free-verse, has evolved into a truly stylish print 'zine featuring work by me and other new poets.  HERE is the magazine cover and a link to subscription information:

http://www.magnapoets.com/magnapoets/subscription-information.html

That's all for now, but there's more coming and PROMISE not to let so much time drag on between posts and announcements!

Take care!

MORE JULY '07 NEWS

There this story I started, a long time ago, an entry in the WITHERED LAND series... I'd wanted it to be a novella, maybe 25-30,000 words and in it I would explore a little more of the concept in this wierd little world I'd created.   Nothing major.   Not a big deal.   But fun.   Strangeness for strangeness' sakes.  Kind of a throwback to the legendary Wierd Tales magazine and Robert E. Howard with a generous dose of William Gibson thrown in to provide a more modern twist.   But things (read that : LIFE) conspired to take the wind out of my sails and so I never got back to work on the story.   My work on "HAR' QWENNE: Hunters of the Withered Land" was at a major, major stoppage -- no notes, no ideas, not a new word written for what was originally about 10 months.  That 10 months has grown into 16 months.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I absolutely HATE to abandon a project once I've begun it, once I've invested some time and energy into bringing it into being, no matter how incomplete or embryonic the idea may be.  I'm a realist -- I know some things aren't meant to be.  I know some writing projects serve as nothing more than exercises that can propel your talent and your craft to the next level.  You resign yourself to the fact that some of the words you place on the page are just junk..., a warm-up for something else.  Takes some of the sting out of not getting things done.  Some.  I still don't like abandoning ideas.  I was really getting down on myself about his one...

It's the OCD.

So then imagine my surprise when I had, for three nights in a row, a serial-dream about it.  No kidding.  Really.  An actual Part One- Part Two - Part Three loosely interconnected dream set within the fragile, fuzzy confines of that partially written story.

I'm not into dream interpretation. I'm not an "intuition" kind of a guy.  No Oracles speak to me.  I don't really believe in "Magick" nor predestination nor any sort of "ordained fate".  I'm a pretty hard-nosed, scientific, skeptical, mathematically-precise, directed & purposeful kind of a guy.

However, things, unusual and unexpected things, DO happen.   I DO believe in evolution...

"HAR' QWENNE: Hunters of the Withered Land" has evolved into something far grander and more complex than the little tale of fantasy-adventure I had originally imagined.  I mean, it's big now... the scope has grown considerably.

The Withered Land has taken on whole new meanings and aspects in my mind.

And I'm liking it. Oh yeah.

It's gonna be a big honkin' metaphysical adventure-quest/surreal horror saga.

15,000 words and counting as of right now. It'll probably be 7 or 8 times that length when completed.

And, No, it'll probably be as thorny and wierd and unmarketable a cross-genre sell to an agent or a publisher as ever it was.  It'll be hard to categorize.  It'll be complicated and violent and dark.

And I don't care.  This feels right.  This is true to the evolution of the tale.

It's gonna lumber forth belching flames and stomp on the terra...

I've no real reason to write any of this, other than the fact that I feel a whole lot better knowing the story is no longer doomed to languish undeveloped in the back of my mind.

Blame the OCD...

JULY 2007 NEWS

At long last -- RAW MEAT sees publication! 

The extreme horror short story collection features some of the most imaginative and dangerous writers in horror fiction today!  38 tales of horror and fear, featuring a Forward by Michael Laimo and new fiction from James Newman and Deborah LeBlanc.  Among the stories in RAW MEAT is my dark and savage techno-horror tale "And the Killbird Sang of Flesh and Pain".

Look for it HERE: http://www.blackinkhorror.com/sideshow.html

JUNE 2007 NEWS

QUINN IS BACK!!

On the dark boulevards of the Borrego Bay cities of New Barrington and West Sussex, corruptors and killers stage violent campaigns to grow their illegal empires...

In the glittering decadence of modern corporate boardrooms, unscrupulous power brokers and financiers concoct murderous, illegal schemes  to wrest control of billion dollar businesses away from their legal owners...

And in the glitzy, rock 'n' roll-fueled, drug-infested nightworld of the bayside sister cities, deadly, lethal secrets infect the night...

Fear rules.  Vengeance rages.  Something ancient, evil and inhuman rules the nights of these twin metropolises -- something that shouldn't exist.  They call themselves "The Moon-Chosen".

Vampires.

This is the world of Montgomery Quinn, the grim, immortal soldier and crusader known as "The Adversary"!

ENDLESS NOCTURNES is the latest adventure in his fearsome continuing saga...

Due for an early-July 2007 release, ENDLESS NOCTURNES is the thrilling successor to the novels NOCTURNES & NEON, BLEEDING TWILIGHT, and DARKNESS FEARS, and it continues the mythology of the Moon-Chosen vampires, also known as The Apollyonu, and their brutal warfare with the haunted, immortal, mutant Olympian, Montgomery Quinn, Humanity's reluctant protector.

Check it out!  Available through Amazon Online, Barnes & Noble Online and Borders.

http://www.amazon.com/Endless-Nocturnes-Tale-Quinn-Moon-Chosen/dp/0595456340/ref=sr_1_1/102-4195936-2689738?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185480767&sr=

APRIL 2007 NEWS

I haven't posted any news in a while, most of my stuff is still in-progress right now, but I still I thought I'd share...

My tech-horror novelette, PANDORA'S GATES, (originally scheduled to come out through Wicked Karnival's Grafix merger), saw publication in the March 2007 edition of CHIMAERA SERIALS [http://www.chimaeraserials.com/index.html]... it's a story in the "Book of Dark Memory" series.

My poem "We Darkened Few Laugh With Needle-Sharp Joy" has been selected to appear in POE LITTLE THING # 7 for which Donna Taylor Burgess is anticipating a Fall 2007 release!

Yeah, I know this doesn't have anything to do with Horror or Suspense-Thrillers, BUT...

My media-rant essay "Televised Lithium" is online at Aurora Antonovic's MAGNAPOETS web-journal:

http://magnapoets.typepad.com/magnapoets_essays/

And my poems: "Villainous Saints in the Hausdorff Dimension", "Soft Clocks" and "Mud Psalm" appear in the MAGNAPOETS' "Free Verse" section, http://magnapoets.typepad.com/magnapoets_free_verse_and/2007/04/index.html.

MAGNAPOETS is a web-journal ("invite-only", I'm sorry...!) project from the highly-respected Ms. Antonovic, a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet.

ON THE HORIZON:

I finished a NEW entry in the Moon-Chosen/Quinn vampire-noir saga and it morphed from a standard length novella into a 52,000 word long novella/short novel. The novella is titled ENDLESS NOCTURNES. I am very satisfied with the final product and that is a VERY rare thing for me.  It's an exciting, moody, fast-moving, noir-thriller.  It is in the process of being published and I will post more on the release date after I get a look at the galleys...

I'm a little over a quarter of the way through re-writing KRYMSIN NOCTURNES (25,800 words to-date), another in the Montgomery Quinn/Moon-Chosen series, which will eventually be a full-length 90,000 word epic. I've already started sending out queries and synopses ... as I stated in a post on another part of this forum: it's hard to find a market for vampire stories unless you're going the paranormal romance or humorous-horror route and, sorry, my Moon-Chosen series is action-suspense vampire-noir all the way. Hoping it will find a home by the time I finish it, which probably won't be until early this summer at this rate...

I'm almost finished with my mainstream project: MEDUSA'S WRATH, a long serial killer mystery-suspense novel (89,900 words so far & the 3rd draft). This project has been a real bitch: lots of police procedural research, abnormal psych/behavioral criminology research and forensics research. Not to mention that the original file for the story was destroyed due to infection from a Trojan virus (and I was changing computers, so I lost my backup file, too) and I had to recreate everything from the incomplete first draft hardcopy I had tucked away.

For about a year, maybe a wee bit longer, I've been intermittently polishing & adding free-verse pieces to a loosely-connected catalogue of poems I call the "Condemned of Heaven Cycle". I think I may have mentioned this once before, over on the old Carnival of Wicked Writers board.

Anyway, "Condemned of Heaven" is a series of non-traditional, horror-centric poems wherein I explore the themes of murder, insanity, spiritual betrayal, sexual deviancy, torture and death in cinematic-style narrative. I'm up to 26 pieces in the series now and I've completed my Introduction and Afterword. The manuscript is definitely Book format.  Shopping around for a small press publisher (Hey, who ELSE does poetry books now-a-days?) currently...

THANK YOU ALL very much for your forbearance! Take care, folks, and THANKS for listening!

JANUARY 2007 NEWS

HAPPY NEW YEAR to Everyone!

I have 4 poems apearing in the January 2007 edition of Poetry Life & Times magazine:
 
* Endymonia Winter
* Covenant in Acid Shadow
* Molotov et Mortiis
* Unsacred

Check it out HERE: http://www.poetrylifeandtimes.com/featuredjan07.html

DECEMBER NEWS

My December 2006 interview with Horror/Dark Fiction author Michele Lee can be read at the following URLs:  http://www.michelelee.blogspot.com, http://leatherzebra.livejournal.com, and http://www.myspace.com/darkauthormichelelee

Many THANKS to Michele for the opportunity and for her wonderful questions!

NOVEMBER NEWS

AT LAST!   NIGHTFLESH, Volume One of THE PORPHYRRICON, has been released!

The dark and violent saga of Moon-Chosen rogue vampire Klaw Cavanaugh is finally in print!

Klaw Cavanaugh, small-time crook and sometime assassin masquerading among human society, a vampire in service to powerful Nero Serranova, a ruthless and machiavellian vampire prince in the Borrego Bay underworld of the Apollyonu, uncovers a bloody plan for revolution that would result in shredding the secret truce between humans and vampires.

Dismayed, Cavanaugh enlists the aid of fellow vampire Lucraysha Radcleff, herself haunted by a past she is driven to atone for, and rogue intelligence agent Jordan Pride, an operative of the Urban Crimes Crisis Control Force’s “Freak Show” unit, which covertly handles vampire crime.

Josiah Kreed, a policeman within the rival Demonic community, has Klaw and associates under surveillance with orders to terminate them if their investigation threatens the power of the Demonics.

Klaw knows Serranova’s diabolical plot that can only end in disaster for his species. He rebels, recruiting the other adventurers. So begins a desperate and tension-ridden quest to topple Serranova and bring him to dark vampiric justice.

The first in a trilogy of novel-length adventures, this novel begins a nightmarish voyage deep into the labyrinthine secret world of the Moon-Chosen vampires, revealing more about them and their sinister history than has been previously told in their legends.

CHECK IT OUT!

OCTOBER NEWS

RED BENEDICTION is finally here!

The latest novel-length chapter in the eerie and violent underground series has been unleashed!

The Infernals have returned in all their alien, demonic fury and only the courage of a burnt-out Metro homicide detective in northern California stands between them and their plan to create a charnel-house Hell on Earth!

RED BENEDICTION, A Tale from the Book of Dark Memory [ISBN 0-595-41584-9]

http://www.amazon.com/RED-BENEDICTION-Book-Dark-Memory/dp/0595415849/sr=1-1/qid=1160154647/ref=sr_1_1/102-8044817-201 6163?ie=UTF8&s=books

ADDITIONALLY:  File under "Strange But True -- Apparently some WIKIPEDIA researcher out on the Web, probably doing research on the subjects of "Living American Horror Writers" and "Vampire Hunters" (these are, so far as I can tell, Wikipedia categories), ran across my work and decided I was worthy of inclusion in the WIKI Online Encyclopedia.   Articles were created about both me and my creation, the character Montgomery Quinn.   One of my comrades at the CARNIVAL OF WICKED WRITERS message board let me know about this...  And, honestly, the entries are pretty darn accurate!  It's a VERY strange feeling to see this -- flattering and humbling, but STRANGE nonetheless.

As I commented in my YAHOO Group message forum: "I'm not dead yet."

You can find the entries HERE:  Me -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Armstead , and Montgomery Quinn -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Quinn

MORE October 2006 News --  

Briefly, New poetry publications... my poems:
* Drinking Flesh,
* Pierced, and
* Tasting Fire, Electric Kiss
will appear in the November 2006 issue of FLUTTER Magazine, editted by Sandy Hiss.

NEWS September 2006

"HELLO!" to All and I hope Life is treating everyone well!   It's been a while since I've posted any news...

Here's what's is currently in process --

My poems "The Wind Cries Through the Cathedral of Shadow" and "Simulacrum of Emptiness" will appear in the November 2006 edition of Sondra Ball's AUTUMN LEAVES online magazine.

My poems "A Shadow Across the Membrane" and "Disciples Wandering the Wastes" will appear in the December 2006 issue of the poetry ezine SubtleTea, edited by David Herrle.

My poem "No Pollinating Here" has been accepted at THE HARROW, but no publication date had yet been set. More on that later.

A re-issue of my novellete "Church of the Broken Cross" (an adventure of Montgomery Quinn & the Moon-Chosen) will appear as a two-part serial in consecutive issues of THE HARROW online magazine, beginning next month.

The new Infernals horror-suspense novel "RED BENEDICTION, the Next Tale from the Book of Dark Memory", is under consideration for an early 2007 publication at Zumaya Press.  We are in discussions to perhaps run the series of "Book of Dark Memory" novels through Zumaya.   More on that as it becomes available...!   

The novel MEDUSA'S WRATH, Volume One of "The Hyde Scenarios" suspense-thriller trilogy, is under consideration for publication at Sourcebooks, Inc. Publications.   Waiting to hear back to see whether or not  they will have room in their 2007 publishing schedule for the series.  It might wind up being a Spring 2008 publish date... more on that as I get it.

All for now!   My best wishes to everyone!   'Till next time...

MORE June 2006

Just a quick note --

I have a pair of poems appearing in the July 2006 issue of the new online magazine FLUTTER. They are: "Serenity's Agony" and "The Virtue of Breaking Crystal".

Flutter is an interesting new venue. Check it out HERE:
http://www.freewebs.com/rarepetal/currentissue.htm

ADDITIONALLY,  my poem "Bye Polar" gets the MiPORadio treatment courtesy of Didi Menendez's  [WWW.MIPOESIAS.COM]  jazzy, dreamy streaming online radio program THE GOODNIGHT SHOW, the June 28th Edition.  You can find it HERE:  http://didimenendez.blogspot.com/ 

JUNE 2006

Just a quickie update:

My poems (non-horror oriented, sorry if that bothers anyone!) "The Katana's Edge Transfixes My Eye (Sharp Prayers)", "The Laying of Dark Hands Upon the Masses", and "The Straw Man in the Flames of the Sky" appear in this month's [june 2006] edition of POETRY LIFE & TIMES magazine.

This is a fine little publication showcasing many writers that has been published monthly since September of 1998 -- showing a lot of longevity for an ezine dedicated to various forms of modern verse!

Check it out HERE:  http://www.poetrylifeandtimes.com/current.html

MORE MAY 2006 UPDATES:

One more thing, though not directly related to Horror fiction:

The online ezine "The Blueprint-An Assemblage of The Fifth Element" has accepted my poems "Exit Wounds As an Element of String Theory in Autumn", "An Interruption in the Alchemy of a Falling Penny", and "Thorn" for publication in their JUNE 2006 issue.

The 'zine is located here: http://www.freewebs.com/theblueprintreview/

MAY 2006 UPDATE:

Sorry that it has been so long since my last update -- I've been busy and a little preoccupied with other parts of my life, but I always try to stay on-track and get work done!

Update:

My novella "Pandora's Gates", part of the Book of Dark Memory series featuring THE INFERNALS, was ACCEPTED for the Wicked Karnival/Grafika Press Second Series* for 2007-2008! This is way kule...

This is where a Grafika artist will illustrate a single story by one author. We're talking Full Page illustrations. The end-product will be saddle stiched (stapled) books less than 52 pages including ads. (3 to 4 ads in back of book). All books are soft cover and author's choice of size:

Standard Comic (6.625x10.25”)
Magazine (8x10.5” and over)
Mini (5x8” and under)


I am stoked! This will be a fun project!

ADDITIONALLY...

My full-length novels RED BENEDICTION, A Tale From the Book of Dark Memory, and NIGHTFLESH, Volume 1 in the Porphyrricon Trilogy, are at my agent who is shopping them around for an actual brick 'n' mortar publisher.

My story NIGHTBLOODED will be up on THE HARROW in the July 2006 issue. YEAH, Baby!

Putting the final edits on the first novel in THE HYDE SCENARIOS suspense trilogy (non-horror crime thriller), MEDUSA'S WRATH, for a publisher who is actually excited with the series.

And I finally took the plunge and created a MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/grymmscape

Visit me, say "Hello!", let me hear yer guns, Boyz!

Projects still in-process:

* WHISPERING KRYMSIN, a full-length novel, the sequel to NOCTURNES & NEON
* ENDLESS, a novella, another tale of immortal vampire hunter Montgomery Quinn, a.k.a. The Adversary
* BLOODBLOSSOMS, the 2nd volume in the PORPHYRRICON trilogy

And that's it for me so far...

I hope to have more to share with you all!

Feeling good today... my 15,000 word novella "AGONISTES ETERNUS, A Tale from the Book of Dark Memory" has been ACCEPTED by Meat Grinder Press for the upcoming 2nd issue of their magazine --- look for a June or July release date!

This is a big thing with me because I'm quite proud of the story, it's big and violent with splashy, operatic, cinematic scene painting and very, very dark subject matter, but it was having one HELL of a time seeing publication because of its length... apparently novellettes and novellas are a difficult market (they SHOULDN'T be -- there is a long literary tradition for stories exceeding the 7500 word short story length, while being shorter than the 40,000 word novel length parameter, especially in Horror; anyone ever heard of "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", "War of the Worlds", "A Christmas Carol", "The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym", "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath", "At the Mountains of Madness", and in modern times "The Mist", "The Langoliers", and "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", "Cabal" and "The Hellbound Heart" to name a few...).

Anyway, I literally shopped this story all over hell and gone, and getting many "nicely done, but this isn't a good fit for our catalog/magazine/anthology" rejections and a few "couldn't you make this shorter?" requests before finally sending it to the folks at MeatGrinders.

Thank Heavens!

I'm looking forward to this baby seeing print...! Whew!

JANUARY 2006 UPDATE:

Wow, it's a brand-spanking New Year...!   Time flies, and occasionally crashes and burns -- but that's another story.  Just wanted to take a moment to share what I've been up to:

My poem "Exit Wounds As An Element of String Theory in Autumn" was selected as a runner-up in the Web Del Sol/IBPC Monthly Poetry competition for December 2005 (there's always a lag when they post these). A hard nut to crack, let me tell you!

If and when you've an opportunity, cruise by and take a look:

http://www.webdelsol.com/IBPC/winningpoems.html

And my poems "Frontal Lobe Seizure: A Stroll To the Museum in the Rain", "You Shall Know Us By the Tears in the Thunder", and "A Rhinocerous Scarab On a Grandfather Clock" will see publication in the upcoming March 2006 issue of UNDERGROUND WINDOW.

And, last but certainly not least, my short story "The Darkness of Exalted Flesh" (an entry in the "Book of Dark Memory" series) will see publication in May 2006's WICKED KARNIVAL #7. Woo-hoo!

NOVEMBER 2005 UPDATE:

My  latest short story, THE ANATHEMA GALLERY, is up at The AlchemyPost ("Where shades & syllables transmute"), a new literary magazine showcasing poetry, art, essays, and cutting edge (though NOT necessarily horror) fiction.  Check it out HERE:

http://www.alchemycove.com/shortstNov05.html

ADDITIONALLY in November:

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Just wanted to let everyone know my surrealist-suspense short story "Like Knives, the Jewels of Her Skin", appears in the December 2005 issue of UNDERGROUND WINDOW!

Check it out HERE:  http://www.undergroundwindow.com/armsteadlikeknives1.html

UNDERGROUND WINDOW is an always interesting and challenging magazine of cutting edge writing.  When the urge strikes you, give it a read -- you won't be disappointed!

OCTOBER 2005 UPDATE:

Just to let you know what's going on in my world --

The poems:
* "A Prayer for the Nihilists (Bad Children Blues)"
* "A Cathedral Was Flown to Ninevah"
* "Embryo in the Mirror"
* "And CrystalFace Well Met"
...will appear in the November 2005 edition of UNDERGROUND WINDOW magazine.

The poems "Jian" and "Enigmaphrenia" will appear in the November 2005 edition of AUTUMN LEAVES online journal.

THE HARROW magazine has slotted the REVISED version of my story "The Stones of Its Walls" for its February 2006 issue.  The story has been reworked to include itself into the "Book of Dark Memory" mythology of THE INFERNALS series.

...AND there is BIG news forthcoming soon about my modern vampire crime-thriller trilogy (The Porphyrricon: NIGHTFLESH, BLOODBLOSSOMS,and HELLFANG) set in the "Nocturnes and Neon" Moon-Chosen universe! 

More soon...!

ADDITIONAL AUGUST 2005 UPDATE:

*The short story "Love Song For A Meat Orchid" will appear in the Wicked Karnival Halloween Special Edition to be published in late October 2005.  Maximum Kuleness!

AUGUST 2005 UPDATES:

Here is what I've been up to:

* Book reviews of Clive Barker's novels THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW, EVERVILLE, and IMAJICA up at STACI LAYNE WILSON's About.com Horror Fiction pages, in the "Everything Clive Barker" section (http://horror.about.com/od/everythingclivebarker/). You can read the FULL reviews for all three works at FANTASTICADAILY ONLINE (http://www.mervius.com/).

* The short story "The Lullaby of Tiny Naked Angels" will appear in Issue #5 of THE WICKED KARNIVAL magazine.

* I have two poems published in the August 2005 issue of UNDERGROUND WINDOW online 'zine: "Edge Dancing/Latex Roses" and "Dali in Japan" [http://www.undergroundwindow.com/armsteadaugust05.html], and another poem, "The Language of Ice in an Old Photograph", published in the August 2005 issue of POETIC VOICES magazine [http://www.poeticvoices.com/Poetry/0508poetry.html]. I'll have yet another two poems published in the November 2005 issue of the online 'zine POETIC DIVERSITY: "Matador to Midnight Waters" and "No Savior in Triage".

*The short story "The Saint of Bloodstained Children" will appear in the November 2005 issue of Poetic Diversity Magazine.

*My long techno-horror story "And the Killbird Sang of Flesh and Pain" was accepted into the Wicked Karnival RAW MEAT Anthology for December 2005!  The Wicked Karnival folks are some of the most talented and discriminating horror fiction authors and publishers around, so inclusion into their upcoming anthology is a terrific validation of the strength of this story!

*Success!  My paranormal crime-thriller novellette MANDRILL PARK was accepted at THE HARROW for the October 2005 issue of the award-winning ezine! MANDRILL PARK made the rounds to quite a few publishing houses --- I had real faith in the story ---before I decided I'd try my luck submitting it to an online fiction magazine and I couldn't be happier with the results!

On the IN-PROGRESS front...

* 70% finished with the final draft of the Suspense-Thriller MEDUSA'S WRATH, the first novel in the HYDE SCENARIOS trilogy, and beginning the excrutiatiing process ofsearching for a publisher. Ugh. Luckily, I have a couple of bites from a couple of mainstream brick 'n' mortar houses who are looking for an edgy serial killer franchise, but who do not have much of a record with publishing horror per se. We'll see how that works...

* Almost finished (about 88%) with the final manuscript for the novel RED BENEDICTION, The Next Tale in the Book of Dark Memory, which is the next novel-length installment of the loosely-connected THE INFERNALS horror series. This one has been a bit of a toughie -- a real dark, hard-assed book filled with conflicted and ugly characters and a lot of violence (Gee, like that's all that different from PAINMAKER? Riiiiight...). Red Benediction started out planned as a 9,000 - 12,000 word novellette, but just grew organically, becoming bigger and bolder. I've already started shopping it around...

* The 11,000-word novellette "AGONISTES ETERNUS, a Tale from the Book of Dark Memory" (The Infernals series), is being shopped around right now for a publisher. Might have to go the chapbook route with this one because of its length.

That's all for now. I hope to have more news for you soon!
*************************************************************************************************************

About a PAINMAKER sequel and future tales of the Infernals...  THE INFERNALS WILL RETURN! Yes, there WILL be a SECOND and a THIRD part in the BOOK OF DARK MEMORY series featuring the "Infernals" and they will all continue to feature our dear eye-patched Chief Inspector Captain Cornelia Pettijohn-Fuller, formerly of Britain's MI-6, the final survivor of XPETE's doomed "Facility A-11".

The Second novel is entitled DEATHMONGER.

The Third novel is entitled SLAUGHTERGOD.

ADDITIONALLY, there is currently a novella entitled RED BENEDICTION that is another tale of Evil Embattled in the eternal war against The Infernals, although the protagonists and situations therein are NOT connected with the adventures of Cornelia Pettijohn-Fuller, only with the Infernals themselves.

******

Will there ever be a NEW Montgomery Quinn adventure?    YES!!  There is a sequel in the works for our favorite mutant immortal vampire-hunter and his soul-draining war-staff!   Originally planned with the title "Nocturnes and Ferals", but now retitled WHISPERING KRYMSIN, this novel with unveil more about Quinn's past and how he set off on the deadly path of his vendetta against the Gather-families of the vampiric Apollyonu.  A lot will be revealed about the nature of Olympians.   Set as before in the fictional twin coastal cities of New Barrington and West Sussex, WHISPERING KRYMSIN will feature the cast of characters from NOCTURNES AND NEON in a new adventure in Quinn's war against the MOON-CHOSEN familes.  This full-length novel will maintain the timeline continuity established in the loosely-connected horror series and pick up eighteen months after the events of NOCTURNES AND NEON and Professor Patricia Silver's solo adventure in the novel DARKNESS FEARS.

******

THERE'S A RUMOR YOU'RE WRITING A MAINSTREAM MYSTERY SUSPENSE THRILLER... 

YES, I am!  It is actually a suspense TRILOGY --   THE HYDE SCENARIOS, a Three Part (3 novels) suspenseful Serial Killer/Conspiracy thriller wherein a government-sponsored genetic experiment produces in-vitro fraternal twins possessed of enhanced physical senses, psychological aggressiveness and cellular regenerative abilities.  The children are raised until grade school within a special government facility that lays the template for them to be used as weapons in a future urban guerilla wargame scenario, and then they are submitted for adoption to different families.  Separated and raised apart as a test of “nature versus nurture”, the children grow to adulthood as vastly different people, one child shy, studious, nurturing, inventive, artistic and socially conservative, while the other is aggressive, gregarious, ambitious, charmingly cunning, brilliant and sociopathic.