I feel as if I don’t brag enough about how amazing Sarah Walker’s artwork really is. She designed and created a glass blown piece of art, inspired by a Cyber God of mine that sits on my desk to this day.

In an earlier post, I talked about my story Night Worms which I was writing for A Walk in a Darker Wood edited by Duane Pesice and Sarah Walker. The story that will actually be appearing is called, The Untold History of the Grimorium. An early work of prose I put together a few years ago about an ancient tome whose text was the first to mention the dreaded Cyber Gods. This anthology allowed me to revisit the piece, edit, and add new parts to the history. I’m very happy with how it turned out and hope you all get a chance to read it.

On top of it all, Sarah has designed some dreadfully appropriate artwork to go along with the story. It’s dark, sinister, and alluring. Make sure you get your copy when the book is available. Release date TBD.

This post is very much overdue, considering my sporadic musings here. At any rate, I’ve kept busy writing, working on a lot of projects conjuring various new Cyber Gods, prose poetry and yes, even some short stories.

As I’ve talked about, 2020 has been a year of growth and reflection, but also a year of pushing myself to try new techniques and styles. I’m pleased to announce that my prose poem He Who Saves One Life was recently accepted into Door is a Jar literary magazine, edited by Maxwell Bauman. Their publication focuses on making literature accessible to all readers, regardless of genre, so I was particularly excited when I found out my piece found a home here.

Another reason that his acceptance sparked some joy more than others, was because this poem was one of the first instances where I openly explored my Jewishness in a creative space. Generally, my Jewishness hasn’t been a focal point of my work. In some conversations with author, John Baltisberger, I’ve been reflecting on this and hope to dig deeper into the spaces of Jewish horror (for some further reading on the subject of Jewish horror, here’s a good article from Tablet Magazine that gives some insight into the genre.) I look forward to having others read this piece once it’s available. It will appear in the Spring Issue (2021).

Finally, I’ve had the pleasure of announcing that a prose cycle I wrote titled The Static and Black Lectures was accepted to be published in Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine. This piece started out as an experiment of one poem, growing into five, transforming into a cycle of ‘lectures.’ Told by pupils of the mysterious and dark professors, Static and Black, I wanted to take the reader along a bleak journey through the broken, jagged lectures of these two terrifying figures. This piece is slated for publication in a future issue of Penumbric, so keep your eyes peeled. My plan is to write another series of ‘lectures’ at some point in the future, but we’ll see.

I’m also aware my site needs some updating with regards to my forthcoming publications and what is currently available. Those updates will be coming soon.

That’s all for now.

Stay safe, write on, and Happy Halloween!

Greetings!

Neon Hemlock Press’ new imprint Baffling Magazine is live and available for your consumption. It is an online quarterly publication for queer speculative / weird fiction. The first issue features my flash fiction piece, Cellars, Caskets, and Closets.

Within the universe of the Cyber Gods, I’ve attempted to manufacture a new breed of liquescent mirrored terrors, pulled from some of my own experiences.

You can view the first issue here:

Baffling Mag #1