It seems that after an unavoidable delay, Spectral Realms #9, featuring my publication debut with the poem Thalía, shall finally be available for order from Hippocampus Press! Just go to http://www.hippocampuspress.com, click Journals > Spectral Realms > #9 and order yours today!
Front cover of Spectral Realms #9 (artwork by Dan Sauer).
I was checking up on Spectral Realms #9 to see what the latest info was on it’s availability, as it seemed to be in limbo for a while. Apparently, it has new cover art by none other than Dan Sauer, of The Audient Void, one of my favorite current genre artists! The new cover (featured below) is a much more appropriate integument for my vampire poem, Thalía, than the provisionary cover they had before. At present it seems to be sold out, but hopefully Hippocampus pulled contributor copies as neither I nor any of my fellow contributors have received one yet.
In retrospect, this would have been perfect artwork for the next issue, which shall feature both my Gargoyle poem and Morbidezza. Especially since the back cover features giant bats (also mentioned in Thalía by the way) and a tower house, both of which feature in Morbidezza.
Cover art for Spectral Realms #9 (cover by Daniel V. Sauer)
I am beginning to rethink my poetry collection…again! I think I may call it The Manuel Arenas Poetic Omnibus and just have a section with my poems not included in the other two booklets, which I shall call MiscellManny. Currently I am dealing with renovations in my apartment, so I have been a bit remiss in keeping up on that. Once the holidays pass I will get on it and try to have something publishable ready by the end of January. It will be limited edition though as I do not want to have any conflict of interest with the various publications which have been gracious enough to accept some of the poems featured therein.
On second thought, an omnibus collection would imply the chapbooks had been printed previously. Maybe it should be Manny’s Book of Shadows! Like my blog. We’ll see…
My friend, artist Thérèse Lavery, has a site where she sells some of her designs for t-shirts, throw pillows, and sundry accessories. She is very talented and her whimsical designs include taco cats, and people-spice drinking pumpkins (my personal favorite). Check her out at…
https://thereselaveryartist.threadless.com
Fall Sale!
Got an update from Mr. Kelly on his progress with our Krampus chapbook:
“Cut all pages for etching press art to be inserted into Krampus book today. 500 pieces by hand…quicker than using Cricut cutter. Enough for 50 copies of chapbook. Burning two plates for book tomorrow… rolling out images tomorrow. Started at 6 am this morn…finished with cutting at 6 pm. ( three hour nap after lunch ). Working all day tomorrow on press images. Sunday I will rest…after spider takedown*.
“10 piles of 50 count paper. Going for four different images per each time I roll out with press. 200 images . 1/2 of images needed for insert pages. Might take two days I figure…but it’s time to rock and roll.
10 piles of 50 count paper.
“Will send photos of four plates set up on press. Should be interesting to see how many 4 plate runs I can do in a day. If I get 25…I’ll be happy…
* Shelob, the spider at the Alwun House. I actually helped take it down with Mr. Kelly, Mr. Lyons, and Mr. Dixon the Sunday after Hallowe’en.
It seems my poem, “My Bantam Black Fay” was accepted for inclusion in “SPECULATIONS: POETRY FROM THE WEIRD POETS SOCIETY”. Not sure what the circulation will be like on it, but it’s nice to be acknowledged. I will keep you all informed of any updates.
While brainstorming for my prose-poem, Rosaire I envisioned an epic denouement which I thought was entirely of my own invention. It wasn’t until I began to picture it in my mind’s eye when I realized there was a whiff of familiarity in it. Although my idea isn’t identical to it, I believe the inspiration for my epic ending may be partially inspired by the 3rd act in the Dark Fantasy novel “The Black Wolf” by Galad Elflandsson, which I have reviewed on here before. Mr. Elflandsson stumbled upon my review and agreed with my assessment of his novel and we ended up becoming pen-pals. When I told him about my recent epiphany he was amicably dismissive and said, in reference to my post which included a shot of the cover art from his novel, “you poor thing…nevertheless…you’re more than welcome to whatever comes to you from the above…”.
Trade paperback copy of The Black Wolf by Galad Elflandsson. [1980, Centaur Books]. Cover art by Randy Broecker.
Cyäegha, Summer 2016
I also based some of the werewolf attribute details in Rosaire on historical accounts from Montague Summers’ 1933 treatise on lycanthropy, The Werewolf in Lore and Legend. In particular I was thinking of the 17th century teenage lycanthrope Jean Grenier. I am almost done with the story, but not quite. I felt I needed to add something to it before it is ready, and I want to give it some serious thought before I write anything else. Of course, I’ll keep you all posted on any developments.
The Werewolf in Lore and Legend by Montague Summers [2003, Dover Publications]
photo by S.J. Griffin
