“Pain and beauty, our constant bedfellows.”

“I remember one time when we’d just come up to the village from hunting shells on Polemy Beach and I dropped a monstrous conch on my foot.  I howled with pain, and a tree ahead of us exploded with blue and yellow macaws.  My father, who could see that I didn’t know either to attend to my foot or the feathered fireworks, laughed and whispered, ‘Pain and beauty, our constant bedfellows.  Young as a I was, I understood.”

— from “Griffin & Sabine, An Extraordinary Correspondence,” by Nick Bantock

 

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I am reading Stephen King at midnight.

It’s a borrowed book and a rainy late night in June.

The old song really is true.  “The best things in life are free.”

 

Those generous Englishmen …

… they just can’t stop giving away e-books!  Dagda Publishing’s free fiction giveaway for Kindle users has been extended.

There are some great titles for the taking.  I’m a little on the fence about that hack New Yorker, because he’s starting to approach formula. (Seriously?!  ANOTHER prophetic dream sequence?!  That guy watched a lot of “Twin Peaks” in the 90’s, didn’t he?! And what’s with the wolf imagery again?  Was he bitten by one as a kid?!)

Still, there are some amazing stories being told by folks like Laura Enright, J.C. Collyer, Andrea Hinchey, Dennis Villelmi, Jamie Burnette, and many other talented creators.  Check out the offerings — because there are a lot of things to whet the appetite of any science fiction or horror fan.

From Dagda Publishing:

“Our free promotion has been so successful, that we have decided to extend it for a couple of days, so don’t worry if you think you missed out on picking up our fiction titles for free, you can still grab your copy until tomorrow! Follow the links below to download. We love you all.

http://www.amazon.com/Touch-The-Sun-Laura-Enright-ebook/dp/B00IMSSFDG

http://www.amazon.com/Dogs-Dont-Bark-Brooklyn-More-ebook/dp/B00GR4FUU8

http://www.amazon.com/All-Hail-Flesh-Various-Authors-ebook/dp/B00I12PZH2

http://www.amazon.com/Tuned-Dead-Channel-R-Davey-ebook/dp/B00FARIMP8

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“Our Room In Brooklyn,” by Eric Robert Nolan

I’m still celebrating Dagda Publishing’s “first birthday” (I’m snapping up the free fiction titles as quickly as anyone else), and I hope that their staff and editors get a nice break now that the publishing house is a year old.  (They do work hard, really.)

I myself am worried about the “Terrible Twos.”  Is that when they start yelling and throwing their spaghetti against the wall, and picking things up and saying “MINE?”

Seriously, though, Dagda is a wonderful independent publisher — they are a tremendous boon to new and emerging writers, to whom they extend invaluable opportunities for exposure.  I know I am very fortunate to have had Dagda help me find my voice and reach an audience.  Here’s a link to one of the first poems I published with Dagda, “Our Room In Brooklyn.”

http://dagdapublishing.co.uk/2013/04/10/our-room-in-brooklyn/

Dennis Villelmi on Philippe Blenkiron’s “The Pustoy”

I harbor a resentment against Dennis because his book reviews read better than my prose.  

Nevertheless, I’ll put that aside and share his review here of Philippe Blenkiron’s “The Pustoy.”

It sounds like an incredible book — and a real treat for science fiction fans.

Here is Dennis’ review at Amazon.com.  Click the link just below it for “The Pustoy” on Amazon, and consider picking up a copy for yourself:

“From across the pond, and stepping out of the prosaic and into, rather masterfully, the poetic is a work that is horrific, hermetic, Stalinistically reminiscent and…disturbingly quite possible. In Philippe Blenkiron’s, “The Pustoy,” (the latest offering from UK’s Dagda Publishing) we have before us world where metaphysics is no more immune to the malevolent policies of totalitarianism than has been the study of physics. Enter Lev Solokov, the new Prime Minister of a Britain that clearly has lost whatever Arthurian hope it may have had left; so much so that it has elected a man with a Russian name in which “Solo” foreshadows the terrifying autocracy to come. When first he mounts the rostrum of history it is to report to the public that Science has proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a.) the human soul does exist, but b.) some have soul and some don’t. Those falling into the latter category are “pustoy.” a Russian word for ’empty.” And therein lies the horror, as Solokov casts his own soulless shadow over the Isles, drawing the same dividing line that we have seen in the former Soviet Union, Hitler’s Germany, Pol Pot’s Cambodia and so forth.

“Brilliantly written in a poetic form that pulls the reader along and into the darkness of this narrative, “The Pustoy” is a book that should be on the shelf or on the Kindle carousel of everyone who lends ample thought to the most important “what if” questions.
Certainly, what Mr. Blenkiron has given us is a window into the future that, unless we heed the warning signs given us by history and philosophy, will surely open and through which will come the chilled draft of dystopia such as only autocrats can offer. When reading this at the cafe, library or city park, do well to look around you and imagine your surroundings suddenly awash in the colors of incarceration and despair; do that and you will have gotten to the heart of “The Pustoy.” This is a book that can and should be read looking through the lenses of past and present, thinking both of Stalin, or Himmler, as well as Putin and, maybe, some as of yet unseen leader who will arise here…in the democratic West. Accolades, and nothing but, to both Philippe Blenkiron and to Dagda Publishing UK for this truly bewitching work.”

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My November 19th, 2013 Interview with BlogTalkRadio’s “Journal Jabber.”

If you’re on the fence about whether to download “The Dogs Don’t Bark In Brooklyn Any More,” that … makes little sense if you’re a Kindle user, because it’s free for a limited time at Amazon right here:

But if you’re still on the fence, you can hear me chat it up with the wonderful Angela Yuriko Smith on BlogTalkRadio’s “Journal Jabber” Internet radio show:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/journaljabber/2013/11/20/novel-debut-eric-robert-nolan-with-the-dogs-dont-bark

All Hail the New Flesh by Dagda Publishing

Reblogging this — some very kind words from A.K. Hinchey about Dagda Publishing’s “All Hail The New Flesh,” which is downloadable for free for Kindle users until Wednesday.

Here’s the link to Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/All-Hail-Flesh-Various-Authors-ebook/dp/B00I12PZH2/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1401753681&sr=8-1&keywords=all+hail+the+new+flesh

akhinchey's avatarThe Torn Page - A K Hinchey's Writing Blog

 Where to even begin with this book? As previously mentioned this is the new anthology from the epic Dagda Publishers. It contains within thirteen futuristic tales of dystopian Worlds and technology gone mad; and my God it’s a cavalcade of creative goodness that has your mind soaring from a mix of imaginative stories and language so delectable you feel full just from the one reading.

I had initially intended to speak of only one or two of the stories within but I now know that is a distinct impossibility. Many of the stories called out to me in various ways that has my mind returning to each tale again and again. You may think I am going overboard with my description but believe me, pick up a copy, you’ll be in my mind set before you know it.

I must begin with the story from one of my best friends…

View original post 1,543 more words

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.

I seen some weird $**+ in this town.

“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” BECAUSE I HAVE A FREE SCIENCE FICTION-HORROR E-BOOK!!!

And you can too.  Dagda Publishing is giving away its dystopian shorty story collection, “All Hail The New Flesh,” to anyone who has a Kindle.  It’s part of the independent publisher’s first anniversary celebration, and its various fiction titles are all downloadable for free until Wednesday.  “All Hail The New Flesh” can be found right here:

For more information on all the other great free titles for Kindle, see Dagda’s website here:

http://dagdapublishing.co.uk/2014/06/02/happy-birthday-us-details-free-kindle-fiction-sale/

“All Hail The New Flesh” includes an entry of my own, entitled “At The End of The World, My Daughter Wept Metal.”  Here’s a synopsis: “An astonishing medical breakthrough spells the end of humanity.  And its first victim is the object of a father’s love.”

Yes, it’s another end-of-the-world tale — you know, the happy-ending bedtime stories that I’m known for. (Read it to your kids!!!) But  this time out, our plot-driving world-killer isn’t super-intelligent wolves or zombies, it’s … well … go read for yourself.  (Hey, it’s not like we’re charging you anything, are we?)

A friend and reader here in new York commented just this morning, “Man, E., it’s always the end of the world with you!  YOU’RE A POST-APOCALYPTIC MOTHERF****R.”

I … love that. I might just take those last two words and rename this website.

Have fun with the book — maybe if you can get sufficiently absorbed in it, you can succeed in getting that R.E.M. song out of your head.

“THAT’S GREAT — IT STARTS WITH EARTHQUAKES, BIRDS, SNAKES AND AEROPLANES!  LENNY BRUCE IS NOT AFRAID!”

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