No, this isn’t a terribly good picture. And the lack of scale here prevents the viewer from appreciating this spider’s immense size. (They’re huge in Southwest Virginia.)
But I still like the way that mark on its back makes it look like a fanged orange cyclops in this picture, don’t you?
My best guess is that this is some variation of an orb weaver spider, but don’t hold me to that.
Happy Autumn, guys! I’m happy to be able to mark the first day of fall with an autumn poem published by The Piker Press!
As always, thank you, Editor Sand Pilarski, for allowing me to join The Piker Press’ fun and friendly creative community!
You can find the poem right here.
I remember being fairly unimpressed with “Squirm” (1976) as a kid, but maybe that’s because I saw it on television in the 1980’s. (It might have been a bowdlerized version deemed safe for broadcast.) The movie was just a disposable, lower-budget 70’s monster flick with a what seemed like a hastily conceived plot device — some downed electrical lines had the unlikely effect of turning ordinary earthworms into wriggling man-eaters that attacked en masse.
“Squirm” evidently scared at least some people, though. A pal of mine on Facebook said it really got under her skin when she was a girl. She couldn’t eat spaghetti for weeks after seeing this movie.
Hey, if the film wasn’t exactly terrifying, you’ve got to admit that its plethora of international marketing posters was damned artistic. Check ’em out below. I believe they’re what today’s kids would describe as “metal AF.” That second one has some genuinely discomfiting Freudian undercurrents, but still.
Just a reminder, guys … if you care to keep track of my various poemy-type things or strange stories, you can always check my Future publication page right here at the blog. If somebody doesn’t keep tabs on me, I’m bound to get into trouble.
I hope you all are looking forward to a terrific Autumn!
I got some great news tonight — I’ll get to see my poetry featured in Scars Publications’ Down in the Dirt magazine for a third time. My poem “The Writer” will appear in the May 2020 issue.
The poem will also appear this week at the Scars website. (The publisher produces both Down in the Dirt and cc&d magazines.) Finally, “The Writer” might also be featured in future Down in the Dirt collections; the magazine regularly reprints selected poems in anthology format. (I was lucky enough last March to see my poem “hens staring upward” reprinted in The Flickering Light anthology following its initial publication.)
Thank you, Editor Janet Kuypers, for allowing me to join the range of talented voices that are regularly showcased by Down in the Dirt!
(It was really damned cool.)
This was the massive rainbow late yesterday afternoon in front of Mill Mountain. The video doesn’t do it justice. It was super-bright and it was gigantic. It looked like it was hitting the ground just a few blocks away.
If you look carefully, you can see a second rainbow arc above it at right.
There was a pretty neat sunshower preceding it as well.
I’m quite happy to share here that Synchronized Chaos will soon feature two of my science fiction/horror stories and one poem.
The stories are “Shine Now, Fiercely, Forever” (my time travel horror tale) and “At the End of the World, My Daughter Wept Metal” (my nanotechnology horror tale). The poem is “An Altogether Different Slumber.” All three of the pieces dovetail nicely with the editorial inspiration for Synchronized Chaos — the mathematical concept of chaos theory. (It really is a unique online creative journal, and I encourage you to check it out.)
— although you kinda can’t tell from the photo. I should have stuck a coin beside it for scale.
Insert the Dune joke of your choice, people.
Why the giant bugs, Roanoke?
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 