Welcome to Blood Red Pens!!!
Biting Midnight is a new collection of dark fantasy/horror poetry by Maria Alexander and Christina Kiplinger-Johns. The book is published by MediumRareBooks.com
Welcome to Blood Red Pens-- Spring, 2009!! Edition
Before we go any further, look who is at Blood Red Pens! Click the link and see if there is anything YOU can do to help!!!
Is it reaaaly 2009? Well, at least we can still look at Freddie Mercury above and read some lyrics. I am a Mercury fan! He was so creative with writing many of the songs Queen performed. For those of you who don't like him, just close your eyes for a second on the page.
In the Land of Literature, Cemetery Dance Publications is gearing up for an exciting publishing event. "Stephen King: The Non-Fiction" In case you didn't know, Cemetery Dance also sells books, etc. on EBAY. I bid on one book set, but was out bid. Maybe next time.
The Science of Stephen King, by Lois Gresh and Robert Wineburg, is an entertaining explanation of the more scientific aspects of King's fiction. C'mon, you know that you wanted to hear about the scientic aspects!!! For those of you who have been wondering about the awesome power Carrie had, this just may be the place to get some answers. According to the press release, anyway. This book will sells at $16 at Cemetery Dance Books. Stephen King Spills the Beans, multiple authors, looks like the book I will be running to buy. This volume is a collection of interviews that King has done over his career. Not interviews where King was the interviewer, rather interviews where King is the interviewee. Anyone who reads Entertainment Weekly with any regularity, knows that Mr. King is a man of many words :) This book sells at $15 (CDB)
Speaking of King, I recently bought "1409" on DVD on Amazon. Yeah, I am just an internet infant! Anyway, if you haven't seen the director's cut--you must watch it. Also the alternate ending. I am still not sure which ending I like best!!!
Finally, I told you last time: Remember when you heard all of that talk about King possibly Recently, I received a copy of "Bestial", by Ray Garton. For folks unfamiliar with Garton, he is an award winning horror writer who has penned several titles for children as well as adults. "Live Girls" one of his early novels lured me in. "Night Life" is it's many years later sequel. Then, there is Ravenous and what I have just received; Bestial.
Just a whisper: I hope you all are taking advantage of The Horror Book Club. Leisure Books has been doing this club for quite a while. You get 2 new, just published by Leisure, books for $10.50 (I think, it may be 10.20). www.dorchester.com or by phone 1-800-481-9191.
For those Christina Rosetti lovers, here is something special I ran into while surfing the web... http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4m3ho_christina-rossetti-five-poems-set-t_music
We Are Under Reconstruction... I have been up to some exciting stuff and some of the excitement has to do with some of the people I have been in contact with.
and best news right now is writer Michael Largo, who just saw his first book, Final Exits, step away from the Bram Stoker Awards with a Stoker. Our talk with Largo is more about Final Exits and here it is. By the time Michael Largo sat down to write “Final Exits,” one of the 2006 Bram Stoker Award winners in the category of “Superior Achievement in Nonfiction,” he had already achieved literary notoriety as well as a following. With fiction and poetry frequently appearing in “literary” or “little” magazines like Bloody Muse, New Earth Review, Manx Fiction, Solas, Wings, StickyKeys, Pauper, Shank, Writer’s Choice, Harpweaver, Ashtray Angels, Plaintext, Creativity Magazine, Unlikely Stories, Indite Circle, Pocol Press (Anthology, Unusual Circumstances) and Spark online, Largo is known by his readers to lean toward the darkness in his work. Largo’s portfolio shows more than 200 poems, stories and essays published. And then there are the three novels on the list. Southern Comfort, Lies Within and Welcome to Miami are three adventure and intrigue novels by the writer. All three tales are set in Florida, which is where the New Yorker now resides with his family, and all three tales (though not horror) seem to have a dark streak running through them. In “Final Exits,” Largo does more than lean toward darkness. Among a cornucopia of jobs, Largo has served as; former editor of “New York Poetry,” East Village, NYC, tavern owner, deckhand on a sea-going tugboat, video producer, certified builder and researcher/archivist for the film company Allied Artists in Atlanta, GA. “Final Exits” was Michael Largo’s first nonfiction endeavor. His second is The Portable Obituary which is funny and instructional at the same time! CJ: What was your first published piece and what were you paid for it? ML: The first writing I sold was poems. In college I was studying science and I remember selling a poem for twenty-five dollars called The Wake, that went “Kneeling before a wax figure/ they tell me it’s you” —about death, of course, and thinking, screw chemistry as a way to unravel the mystery, poetry can do it, words can get to that transformation in a way a beaker or Bunsen burner could not. I changed majors. CJ: Tell me about the fruition of “Final Exits;” the journey from the thought to the book.
ML: It was the clinical aspect of death, in particular, how a death is described that seemed to have no standard answer. One time there were six or seven of us packed into a small car on the way to a concert. We were on an elevated portion of the Gowanus Expressway traveling at least 60 mph through the borough of Brooklyn in New York City when the hatchback popped open. My best friend fell from the car and he bounced over the guardrail to the street below. He was still alive when we got off the next exit and sped back to where he lay, but he died shortly after of what was deemed internal bleeding. That cause of death written on the death certificate only told a fraction of the story. As unexpected and freaky as this was, it happens. But there was no way to know how many others died from these bum door locks failing, no standard records of so many causes of death both bizarre and common. There were a number of other times I was at the ringside seat of the Reaper Show and instead of asking why—because no one knows—I asked the next best question—How do we die? To attempt at an answer, I began Final Exits. CJ: How long did it take to create “Final Exits?” ML: I started it in 1994 and it was sold to a publisher in 2003, but that deal soured. Good thing, in retrospect, because I reworked it and HarperCollins bought it in 2004 and Final Exits was finally published in October 2006 the way I had envisioned it, as an illustrated encyclopedia. CJ: Where did the majority of the entries come from? ML: I have a sixty page bibliography in the book, which is only the tip of the blade. The entries came from death records primarily, government sources, insurance records and legal files, not to mention a mini-library of books and 12 file cabinet drawers of newspaper clippings on the subject I’ve collected. CJ: How hard/easy were entries to gain?
ML: Every one seemed to have an interest in concealing death statistics, or on the other hand, embellishing the facts if more deaths were required. The ones that exaggerated death numbers, for example, wished to gain additional funding for research or an advertising campaign and required greater mortality numbers to deem their work relevant. (Think of the current anti-tobacco lobby commercials.) But mostly it was like pulling teeth. Take the bad hatchback lock incident; the car manufacturer did not want these statistics to go gently into the good night. CJ: Which entry is your personal favorite?
ML: I like freaks: the tallest, the fattest, the shortest and all the oddities of human nature. I am fascinated to see how they survived, lived and died. Considering the peculiar handful of marbles they were given to play with, learning of their fates is inspiring. CJ: Which entry is your least favorite? ML: The homeless and the John Does and Potter Field entries and the research I needed to do was ultimately sad, though now I give a buck to any panhandler who asks. CJ: What kind of reader do you envision as the perfect reader for “Final Exits” and why? ML: Everybody is interested in death, even if they say they are not. An accident on the highway, even after it’s been moved to the shoulder, causes a traffic jam while people slow down to take a look. On the surface Final Exits is like that. But one reviewer astutely noted that each entry is like a short story. I like that and had tried to write it that way. CJ: “Final Exits” is a departure from your earlier work because it’s nonfiction. Was it easier or harder to write than fiction and/or poetry and why? ML: Much harder than fiction because I needed so many facts before I could complete a section or death entry. Sometimes one sentence required three different sources. But I got into the research the way an archeologist would get a buzz, I’d imagine, finding a fragment of bone and dusting it off for the world to see. I would usually start each day reading poetry and writing some lines, because that is really freeing and primal in a way that reminds me of the essentialness necessary to write anything good. CJ: How has authoring “Final Exits” affected you? ML: It was a challenge that most said I was crazy to keep at so long. So, when I see this 500 page book, I learned that persistence is the real equalizer, and that it is important to write in what you believe. Delving into the subject matter has made me look at life differently. I don’t think I’m immortal or at least as bullet-proof as I did in my roaring years. Shit happens in a second, so I don’t squander time or worry as much about stuff that won’t be important in a week from now. CJ: What motivated you to complete the work once you start writing? ML: It’s the work itself. Nonfiction is easier to keep going at until the end. Fiction has its own life and I have five or six manuscripts of 100 pages or more that I could find no way to continue. Some of these, in reality, were just long short stories. CJ: If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing and why? ML: I’ve worked at too many different jobs over the years that I think I’ve tried nearly all the possibilities except brain surgery. I can think of nothing else I’d want to do, and hope to write until the hammer comes down. CJ: What is the best writing advice you ever received? And who was it from? ML: I like Stephen King’s On Writing. But I think the best advice is in the file, a very thick one I might add, of all the rejection letters I received. It worked in reverse. The more I got the more determined I was. Screw’ em and just keep at it. CJ: What is coming up? Where can we see your work? ML: My second book was released in September 07—The Portable Obituary: How the Rich, Famous and Powerful Really Died. The ultimate cause of death is the most concise epitaph of a person’s life. Portable Obituary covers the demise of cultural icons from the dawn of history to the present. You can get updates at www.finalexits.com A big thank you goes out to Michael Largo for an interesting interview. Thanks for your time./> Speaking of Fictionwise, this service offers freebies of some fiction and numerous authors can be found there. In addition to Pamela Sargent, you can find Ray Garton, and many others. If you visit, you won’t be disappointed. * Anyone who saw my reading at the NEO Artists Beatnik Night--thanks for clapping :) I read Monticlair, a poem which appeared on this page about two years ago as well as in a publication in London a few years ago, and two poems from my Poe period. The poems were a result of inspiration from visiting Poe's home and grave in Baltimore. Many people don't know this, but I lost an emerald stone from my ring somewhere in Poe's house! The funny part of this story is that the headpiece of Poe's headstone also had a problem staying in place. After falling out a few times, the entire headstone was moved to Poe's house. So far, there hasn't been a problem... Does this phenomena mean anything or is it just me??? And remember that we always love to hear from you. Our email is: BloodRedPens@hotmail.com. Later, Chris
Check Out These Places!!!
Horror Writers Association
Where you can find my current work:
is over 600 PAGES in length, easily making it the most comprehensive review of Stephen King's non-fiction works, many of which you've never read or even heard of before -- and it even includes the complete text of a very rare essay written by Stephen King! This signed & slipcased oversized Limited Edition is Rocky Wood's official companion volume to the fan acclaimed Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished so make sure you order a copy today to complete the set!" --from a recent newsletter. http://www.cemeterydance.com 
getting together with a musician and writing a musical play? Guess what????? The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County is the title of the play King wrote with John Mellencamp. Still no word on this and I will be checking around, okay...snooping around. I'll let you know what I find out!!
Conversation with Michael Largo
He surrounds his work with darkness, as he instructs in “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How we Die.” Quickly, the book gives him esteemed authority on the subject, while the reader is dying to know more,
*
What do you think? Drop a few lines about anything you want to talk about Horror...(English only)
Drop me a line and let me know what you think...
Recommended: Future Bestsellers
Lots of friends here!
Dastardly Deathcups Division.. (Our Story)
Sunnyside At Midnight.....
November Orphic-Chronicle
Other Poetics
Freelance Writers Organization-Intl.
Cleveland Artist's Network
Ahhhhhh..Some Poetry!
