The Shine Journal

Very pleased that my piece “Bad Touch” is now up at The Shine Journal.

And perfect timing for this piece to go up too – I have spent the last 48 hours typing ‘all work and no play, etc” (actually typing ‘etc’ rather than the stuff about Jack (figured it would speed up the manic typing process and give me many, many more pages)) – and the 48 hours prior to this were spent playing good touch/bad touch with myself. So all I need to do now is figure out what I am supposed to do with this axe – Eugene tells me to go to the Vatican…

The Shine Journal is a great looking online zine – and I was tremendously pleased with the speed of response.

***

Happy New Year to all my loyal disciples, btw.

The Great Religion

Extreme lo-fi recording of Wolfgang Carstens reading my piece “The Great Religion” on the Rob and Jack Radio show can be heard here

A spontaneous – but awesome – reading (over the telephone) set over one-take guitars layered on primitive guitar loopers (the internal memory running out in the middle of the overdubs). The music was only intended to remind me of some chord changes I wanted to mess about with – but (and only because of the reading) I think it works quite well

a bellyful of anarchy – rob plath – epic rites press

Massively honoured to have been invited to do the cover art (scroll down a bit) and design for Rob’s forthcoming book – a bellyful of anarchy.

Briefly paraphrasing what is being said over at Epic Rites (‘cos they say it so much better than me):

“This book is going to be an absolute monster: 250 pages that are going to jump from your bookshelf and kick the shit out of every other book in your library - THIS is Robert Plath at his very best.

Rob and Wolfgang Carstens have carefully sewn together each monstrous limb. They plan to unleash their monster in March 2009...

...but this motherfucker is tough and it may very well break free of it's shackles before then. You have been warned!

A percentage of all book profits will be donated to H.O.W. (helping orphans worldwide) which helps children worldwide that have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS.”


Well, what I say is this fucker is going to be one awesome collection – impossible for it to be anything else. And I’ll be sure to be saying more when the book becomes available. For now, just very bloody excited.

***


The image is constructed like a Frankenstein’s monster from the work of artists/anatomists andreas vesalius, govard bidloo, gérard de lairesse and juan valverde de amusco.

You could say the rope/noose like Rob’s thin vertical lines of poetry. Or something about the cadaver inside waking up. Or books/knowledge/aspirations/order/etc all pointing to the final destination of us all. Or maybe pointing to the guts of man, and the guts of the book. Certainly the dissected horizontal man is not going to be ferried across to the other side (below is just the void). Hell, you can even see the abc’s on the guy’s ribs – still fresh with blood…

But you can’t judge a book by its cover (although I’d be somewhat sceptical of any book with a Norman Rockwell cover) – and it is the guts of this beast that are going to do the ass kicking. !!!!BEWARE!!!! & !!!!BUY!!!!

***

Massive thanks to Wolfgang and Rob for inviting me along for the visuals – I am very proud to be involved.

And big thanks for the nice shit said about me on the last Rob and Jack radio show of the year – including an awesome reading of my piece – The Great Religion – by Wolfgang.

Sein und Werden - Winter 2008 – Philias and Fetishes

Excited beyond words that the latest print edition of Sein und Werden is now out and available. I have not been submitting much of late – and purely because I cannot think of anything to top this.

Featuring a piece by Jennifer Chesler (it might have taken about 2,000 years – but finally a ‘JC’ worthy of worship – and one who truly performs miracles every time she writes). I have got something in it. And that depraved deviant David McLean also. And a very impressive sounding line-up from the bios.

Each copy will be ribbon-bound and have a different cover. I think there are a few reasons why this will be highly collectible in years to come. Buy a copy (only £3.50/US$7.50/5.10EUR) – or several – details here.

And do check out the online content – some great stuff there too.

MungBeing 23

Extremely pleased that Mungbeing 23 is now up and live. There is some excellent artwork in this issue, as well as prose, poetry, music, and an eclectic mix of other stuff not so easily definable. You can read my piece – Impermanence – here. Once again includes gratuitous use of the ‘u’ word.


There are also links on the right to my stuff in previous issues – a sequential run: 20, 21, 22, and 23.

Numerically speaking the MungBeing sequence 15, 17, 18, 19, 21 and 22 does not conform to the Golden Proportion – but the highlights of each of these issues represents a more important and elevated kind of perfection.

Umbrella

Umbrella

Very pleased that Umbrella’s second anniversary issue is now up and live. A great publication – so very chuffed that a couple of pieces of non-typical artwork are in this issue. There are links on the right-hand side – cover and contents page.

Please remember that the images were produced by a skilled stunt artist (covered from head to toe in lucky heather) and should not be tried at home. Each year thousands of people suffer all manner of minor misfortunes due to the opening of umbrellas inside buildings.

I have also recently put a few more pieces of art up here

The Poetry Warrior

Most delighted that my piece – There Are Always Reasons – is now up at The Poetry Warrior. You can read that here

Much great work in this issue – including Antony Hitchin, Luis Berriozabal, Karl Koweski, Rob Plath, Constance Stadler, and many others.

Most definitely worth checking out.

Lyrics at Lit Up

Really pleased that an account of my time inside has gone up at Lit Up Magazine. Written by the great Verless Doran, it demonstrates that if you’ve got music in your soul you can always make the time pass sweetly. You can read it here

X o X Reviewed

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About X o X (But Were Afraid To Ask) by Django Fucktard

[stub]

In pablo recidivision’s (much misunderstood) masterpiece ‘X o X’ the artist poses some interesting questions - indeed, the first ‘X’ is an epistemic epiphany of demi-existentialism in itself. By drawing on some of the concerns of the Pre-Raphaelites and subverting this with Post-Neo-Bauhaus spatial architecture he paints a compelling study of the paradoxical limitations of expansive au courant minimalism. The ‘X’ is not so much ‘X’ but an accusation that reveals the vacuity of the current non-noumenal mimesistic cultural malaise. Many who first saw the piece were actually unaware that the two occurrences of ‘X’ were non-interactive-sub(as in non)-functioning (and therefore phenomental pre-archaic aporias) hyperlinks to different dimensions of philosophical preternaturality (always challenging (by super-valuing) the multi-dichotomised deconstructionism) and psychological quasi-manipulation. Clearly the ‘o’ in the centre of the landscape plays on Orpheus and is a savage pro-conceptualised-anti-cognitional satire on Blumenburgian-Ricœurensian-Carnapalisms -- it is, however, that which orbits around ‘o’ that still causes the most controversy with readers who lack the faux-intellectual-pseudo-sophistication to appreciate one of this decade’s most influential works.

[expand]

Black-Listed Magazine

Most delighted that my piece – The Cure (and The Smiths (but only twice, briefly)) – is now up at Black-Listed Magazine. A great deal of thorough research went into this piece. It can, and should, be read here.

Really very impressed with the ultra-fast response time. And it is a great looking zine with tons of stellar talent up already – including Rob Plath, Adelle Stripe, Christopher Nosnibor, Joseph Ridgewell, Ben Myers, Matthew Coleman, Mike Meraz, and many more.

Heroin Love Songs Vol. 4

Very excited that Heroin Love Songs Vol. 4 is now up and live. I thought it was Vol. 5 – but I was wrong.

I have written a beautifully understated and mature piece about how children can transform one’s life into something quite special. I usually don’t like to blow my own trumpet (not when there are so many people queuing up to do it for me) – but the comment left on this piece pretty much says the same thing. But I might be wrong.

Anyway, it is called Fuck-Drops Make Entity, and can be read here.

Loads of good stuff in Vol. 4 – including David McLean, Rob Plath, Jack Henry, Wolfgang Carstens, Karl Koweski, Misti Rainwater-Lites, Richard Wink, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal - but many, many more, which must make the print version – available here – an absolute bargain.


Also very pleased indeed that Jack has sent off a Pushcart nomination for my piece – Breaking The Boy – which appeared in Heroin Love Songs Vol. 1.

La Morte Vivante – David McLean

There are some excellent reviews (written by Rob Plath, Felino Soriano, Travis Blair, Misti Rainwater-Lites, Puma Perl, and Jack Henry) of David McLean’s La Morte Vivante, which can be read here.

Once again this sounds like it is going to be very exciting stuff. It is out very soon – it is bloody inexpensive ($5) – and you can pre-order at the above link too (limited editions numbered and signed).

So get in the fucking seasonal spirit and buy now (some of the proceeds may go towards the realisation of white xmas dreams in snowy Sweden).

The Poetry Warrior

The Poetry Warrior are going to be running one of my things in issue 2, and that’s something that pleases me. A very quick response too – something that always makes me happy. More about this when it goes live.

Side of Grits (Rural Messengers Press)

Extremely excited that my piece – she came too early, and left us in the morning – is now up at Side of Grits. There is an awesome collection of writers in this first issue – and some very, very tasty work. There is a link on the right, but my story is here, and some very revealing information about me is here, and the main menu is here.

I really do recommend checking out the menu – plenty of reasons for lit gastronomes to keep coming back for more.


Appetizer

Bradley Mason Hamlin
Justin Hyde
Karl Koweski
Dollhouse
Richard Wink
Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal
Puma Perl
Chris Stanifer
pablo vision
William Taylor Jr

Southern Fried

Julie Buffaloe-Yoder
Shaindel Beers
Moe Seager
Mary Ann Loesch
Judy Brekke
Scot Young
Mathias Nelson
Jim Fuess

Lunch Special

Luis Rivas
Joseph Ridgwell

Hot Plates

Cecelia Chapman
Paul Corman-Roberts
Mathias Nelson
Misti Rainwater-Lites
Christopher Robin
nth Position
Joseph Reich
Michael Grover

Late Nite

Joseph Goosey
Ross Vassilev
Cecelia Chapman
Misha Firer
Kenneth Pobo
Peycho Kanev
Joseph Veronneau
Simon Friel

Beverages & Dessert

James Babbs
Miles J Bell
Brad D. Green
Kill Poet
Joel Sweeney
Dan Provost
Chris Deal
Tim Murray
Aleathia Drehmer

Bare Back Magazine

Very pleased that my account of being left alone in the house - when I was so much older (I am younger than that now) - is now up and ready for reading at Bare Back Magazine – the link on the right should take you directly there – or you may have to state that you are over eighteen in order to read it first. Contains gratuitous scenes of stamp collecting and building crystal sets. You have been warned.

Heroin Love Songs

There is a nice warm cotton wool feeling surging through my veins right at this very moment. And that is because my beautifully benign piece – Fuck-Drops Make Entity – has just been accepted for Heroin Love Songs. I think this will be Volume Five – and probably out in the middle of November. But if you are desperate for a bit of brown (right here, right now (and I speculate that Brighton’s fat ‘slim’ boy would not have been so fat if…)) there are links (on the right) to the online (you have to scroll down a bit – but plenty of good stuff to scroll through anyway) and to the print version of Volume One.

One of the very pleasing things about Fuck-Drops is that it is exactly 666 words long – each of them filled to the brim with an almost Christian-style love of life.

Big cheers to Jack - the former owner of the most kinky afro ever – for ultra fast response time. I like editors who say yes, and say yes quickly. They make me happy. The others just make me make voodoo dolls.

And remember children: Heroin is good for you. Well, this kind anyway…

Epic Rites

Exceptionally pleased that my piece - The Great Religion - will be appearing in the next issue of Epic Rites – Workers In Blood. And always most impressed at the lightening-fast response time.

Issue 2 is already looking pretty damned fine, and will include work by Rob Plath, Chris Madoch, Mark Walton, Zack Wilson, D.W. Rindahl, Misti Rainwater-Lites, Melissa Hansen, Karl Koweski, Michael Keenaghan and Wolfgang Carstens - as well as interviews with Andrew Taylor (Erbacce Press) and Jack Henry (d/e/a/d/b/e/a/t/ press).

There’s loads of exciting stuff happening over at Epic Rites – virtual office space now being occupied by Rob Plath, Wolfgang Carstons, Chris Madoch, and Karl Koweski – as well as a whole host of multimedia goings on – and links. I recommend paying a visit. There is a link to Epic Rites’ home page on the right, and a link to Issue 1. I will, of course, be saying more about Issue 2 when it goes live.

Review: Pushing Lemmings – David McLean

Pushing Lemmings – David McLean
erbacce-press (£6.95)

The lemmings did not jump, but were pushed instead by a rotating platform, and not into the Arctic Ocean, but the much less impressive Bow River. So, just as you cannot trust Disney, it is prudent to be sceptical about many ideas promoted by those who first decide what they want to believe, and then secondly construct a philosophy based on these faulty foundations.

Pushing Lemmings explodes many myths (mostly the spurious meanings and invalid associations that stupid, and unquestioning, people cling to and wear like a mangy old fleece (quite possibly in order to resemble sheep outwardly as well as inwardly)) with wonderful intolerance and delightfully disrespectful verve.

‘my blessed devils’ tells it like it is:

i hope the blessed devils
and accursed bacteria
that live in me scratch runes
on my hollow sounding bones
that the replete ghouls may read
a lesson of profoundest negativity
when they plow through the meat
machine me and see nothing
inside any of us, like life, just death
and insanity dressed in night


But, with 118 poems, in this collection, there is tremendous range of subject matter and style – astoundingly so – and I have a great fondness for those poems which majestically incorporate the profound and the profane, the poetic and the epistemic, and deviance with the downright piss-funny. ‘maybe creation’ is a good example – a poem which later goes on to suggest that god was heaven’s token nigger. It kicks off thus:

maybe creation was recursive
and circumstance were the demiurge
that put a cosmos in a plastic bag
whirled by the world-wind
that blew a million words
together to impersonate a holy
logos a minute

the cosmos stitched together
like a bag that held a horde
of innumerable universes
popping up like querulous
quarks, strange and charming
in the harmless void,
before light invented night
and black was an impotent
eternity

but questions of why have no home
in science, which is poncy ontology
not manly metaphysics that rips
gibberish like hair waxed from time’s
private tits


Elsewhere there are poems where ‘societies are clumps of cancerous tissue; open wounds full of gross necroses we call people’, and there are poems where one is just as likely to meet Butters Scotch as one is Wittgenstein as one is at danger of being ‘chased by a hateful winged clit’, and it is the genuinely unexpected twists and turns in this collection that make it inordinately pleasurable to read.

McLean can be undeniably elegant, as in ‘like illusion’:

as if words
bounded us
as if a subjectivity
lived this hollow “me”

or he can be irresistibly beguiling, as in ‘foeti and nipples’:

disgusting as any abortive
morphology words are foeti
are poems are miscarried
philosophy and worrying
about punctuation is saying
shit I hope this abortion
has nice nipples


And for someone who question words themselves (or describes poems as abortions in jars), he uses the fuckers in a most truly original and thought provoking way.

This, most assuredly, is a book you should buy. Do so - it is exceptional.

It can, and should, be purchased here.

Umbrella

Very pleased that Umbrella are going to be using a couple of my images in their Winter 08 issue. One of which will be the cover. I like that a lot. There is a link to Umbrella on the right.

Eviscerator Heaven #4

Highly delighted that Eviscerator Heaven #4 is now up and available as a free pdf download. There is a link on the right. Two different downloads – part one and part two – and I have two different pieces in part one. The full list of contributors is:

Part One

Jaie Miller
Felino Soriano
Eden
Craig Podmore
Gail Gray
Karl Koweski
Pablo Vision
Jacqui Corcoran
Petra Whitely
FEATURE POET: Duane Locke

Part Two

Duane Locke: Interview with a Legend
Isaac Seal
Melissa Hansen
Patricia Carragon
Christopher Nosnibor
Kaplowitz
Linda Washington
Alexandra Ryan
Misti Rainwater Lites
Brett Milstead
Gillian Prew
Bertrand Damien
Melanie Browne
Thomas L. Vaultonburg
Andrew Taylor
Brittony Fay-Johnson
Dan Miles



In heaven, everything is fine, [no doubt] you got your good thing, and I’ve got mine [well two actually – as stated above].

Clockwise Cat 11

A once again excellent collection of poems, fiction, art, polemics, reviews, essays, and other stuff, including poems (prose that has been bravely, and adventurously, chopped up by people on commission to hit the enter button on their laptops) by David McLean, Amanda Boschetto, AJ Kaufmann, Felino Soriano, and loads others.

There are reviews of rob plath’s there’s a little hobo in my heart who forever gives the finger to humanity, and of Misti Rainwater-Lites’ Pretty Red Berries – both written by Mr McLean (but not, thankfully, that smoking apostate the Marlboro Man). Both these books sit on my bookshelf – so you can consider that a double endorsement.

Loads of other good stuff there, especially The Price of Pieces by Mark Mika. This is a story about me. And the colossus image above the story is highly appropriate and suitably respectful. Most of this piece is based on true facts (although it is an exaggeration to say that I write ten stories a day – doing so would encroach unacceptably on my porn-viewing time (however the description of my pants is 100% accurate – although a definite breach of confidence (which I am prepared to overlook on this occasion))). I do, of course, make an absolutely captivating muse. And I am glad to find that Mark is still happily frolicking in the Californian sea with his loving and lazy cat.

Clockwise Cat 12

Very pleased that Clockwise Cat 12 will not only include my slab of fiction – Damaged Girl – but will be running two of my reviews – Amanda Boschetto’s Angels in Hell and Christopher Nosnibor’s THE PLAGIARIST.

So three big cheers for Alison Ross for taking these – and for responding so very quickly. I will pay secret homage, tonight, by listening to the very best Cure album ever released – Curiosity (a cassette-only bonus that came with Concert) – and very atmospheric it is too.

Review: THE PLAGIARIST - Christopher Nosnibor (Clinicality Press)

THE PLAGIARIST is quite possibly the most extreme anti-novel in print, and as such definitely requires a different kind of reading, and certainly an abandonment of traditional expectation. For readers willing to embrace the chaos that is our reality, and for those emancipated and adventurous enough to adapt and evolve their manner of reading, it is also a very rewarding novel – anti, or otherwise.

The influence of William Burroughs, Kenji Siratori and Stewart Home are evident, but this is no mere homage: this raises the levels more than one beyond ten, stamps on all of the pedals, lets the feedback wail uncontrollably, and creates an almighty, and sometimes painful, assault on the reader.

The book does have a beginning, and it does have an ending, and there are characters – Ben (who struggles through the bombardment of information, disinformation, and the mutated and twisted maelstrom of words), and his ‘guide’ or ‘misguider’, THE PLAGIARIST – but beyond this, it is exceptionally uncompromising. Probably thinking in terms of Trout Mask Replica and Bitches Brew, being played simultaneously, may give some indication. It is also frighteningly similar to sitting at one’s desk, subjected to an irate telephone conversation in one ear, an impatient and demanding boss in the other, a background of random phrase from co-workers, a screen filled with urgent emails and bizarre pop-ups, the mobile vibrating incessantly in the pocket, pneumatic drills and fumes flooding through the open window, and the rising anxiety travelling up your spine like a tube train. It is like the onslaught of the 21st Century approaching complete meltdown and system overload, as experienced by apes that have had no time to evolve any kind of coping strategy.

The bulk of the book uses cut-ups of spam emails, written texts (some of which regarding the nature of narrative), advertising, news stories, and, what seem like, snippets of overheard conversation. There is great use of repetition, sometimes mutated slightly, or not so slightly, to propel meaning and chaos. Sentences, and even words, collapse and collide; the already abstracted becomes increasingly more so. Often there is a sense of great alienation from the words – the polar opposite of engaging – sometimes it is distinctly uncomfortable and unpleasant to read – there are times, when looking at the number of pages ahead, it may seem impossible to continue. But back to sitting at the desk – back to our own lives – back to our own personal hell (because although Ben is a character, he is everyman: he is me as I am you as you are me as we are all together): it is hell because there is no escape: there will be four more days to endure this week - there will be thirty more weeks to endure this year – there will be twenty more years to endure, etc – and even in the context of one day, the bombardment at the office will be replaced by the bombardment of conversations on the tube, advertisements, the leakage of music from headphones, etc – and, arriving at the ‘sanctuary’ of home, this will then be replaced by the bombardment of three kids – one screaming, the other asking perpetual questions, another bleeping away at a games consul, the TV blaring (the adverts louder and more obtrusive), etc, etc, etc. Lives and circumstance, of course, may be different, but the background of white noise is no background at all – it is ourselves who are the almost ephemeral background of our own existence; if we have identity or a ‘self’, then mostly we have no time and no peace, in which to discover it.

But although a lot of THE PLAGIARIST is far from an easy ride, there are many blissful moments, where lines from lyrics (some obscure, some not so) fall (pun intended) from the page – like tangents to segments of stored memory that are good (and in the context of the novel, as in the life it echoes, reassuring). There are also many sections where linear and conventional narrative and excerpts are used to great effect, particularly two variations of the same money and information scam, and an advertised vacancy for a Regional Sales Manager. In some ways these sections are like a welcome respite from the chaos and the madness, but also, a very effective reminder that madness is most prevalent in that which is often considered normal and acceptable.

It seems reasonable to me that an anti-novel may require an anti-reader, and there are many approaches that can be taken. One of the lyrics embedded is from Joy Division’s Atrocity Exhibition, and taking guidance from the preface of JG Ballard’s book of the same name – “…simply turn the pages until a paragraph catches your eye [and] if the ideas or images seem interesting scan the nearby paragraphs for anything that resonates in an intriguing way…” – could be one approach. Reading the start and the end in conventional manner, and then rapidly scanning the rest (but still in order – because there are definite patterns to the occasionally mutated repetition – and the subliminal effect will more resemble our real-time assimilation of information), is another.

Even with the most conventional of plot driven novels, each reader will have their own associations and reactions to what they have read, and they will have their own set of values, and understandings (and misunderstandings), which will inform the interpretation, so certainly with THE PLAGIARIST, the relentless bombardment and assault of the senses, and the extremely non-conventional nature, will render interpretations and reactions as varied and as chaotic as life, and the book, itself.

THE PLAGIARIST is not a book you would want to read in bed before sleeping. It is not a book you would want to read from cover to cover in one sitting. And it is not a book that will make Dan Brown revise his approach to writing. But it is a book that could change your approach to reading, and a book that should make you more aware of the world around you, and hopefully less tolerant and accepting of the hell imposed on us all.

Further information, including an excerpt and purchase details here

Bare Back Magazine

Very pleased and excited to have just had The Secrets of Women accepted for inclusion in the November issue of Bare Back Magazine (an online monthly erotic magazine dedicated to erotic news, stories, fantasies, poetry, reviews, art and much more). There is a link on the right.

The spreadsheet that keeps track of my submissions tells me that I have now had over 50 pieces published in the last year. So might celebrate both things with copious amounts of alcohol. And looks like I am going to be in cigarettes for at least another month – so will celebrate that by chain smoking.

Review: Angels in Hell – Amanda Boschetto

Angels in Hell – Amanda Boschetto

blackbook madness, vol. 3 (d/e/a/d/b/e/a/t press $7.50)


Probably the first poem by Amanda Boschetto that I read was ‘the sun and the night’, and that was enough to become hooked. Delighted, therefore, to find it included in this mightily fine collection. It starts


“the sun is gazing behind the trees,
licking their woody clits,
by day

by night the trees rape the roads
while the street shines black and dark,
oblivion is faith reversed
in god’s seedy eyes”


and it continues in genuinely astounding manner: naturally poetic, and, more importantly, free of the forced academic techniques and philosophical clichés that render most poetry as unexciting as a Sunday sermon. And like all good addictive stuff, it seems only right that you should get the first taste for free, and pay thereafter – $7.50 hardly being the sort of amount that necessitates the pawning (or porning) of one’s grandmother for this sort of fix.

36 poems in total, and all of them very worthy of inclusion – this is a collection not cut with crap, but instead, is the finest high-grade, with a rather nice tingly buzz.

‘twat-mothers’ and ‘fucked stars’, like many of the poems in this collection, manage to make many seemingly contradictory things coexist – the unbearably uncomfortable with the disrespectfully humorous, the vividly horrific with cold desolate beauty, and the intensely intimate with the kind of philosophy that is brutal, honest, and - above all else - real.

You get to be an old bastard like me, and a certain fatigue starts to set in – poetry, like music, suffering mostly - not from that which is truly awful - but that which is good, but not great; that which sounds or reads like so much before it. And this is why Angels in Hell is such a refreshing kick, with ‘tacky trees’, ‘god’s amnesia’, ‘fleshy bones’, ‘cynical ghosts who jump between tattered tea-bags and drink beer from rusty old cans’, ‘feckless unloving trees’, ‘smelly darkness’, and tramps fighting futilely ‘over god’s last blow job’, demonstrating that in order to write, one needs to see the world with clear and original vision - one needs to have something to actually say.

These poems are filled with cancer and anxiety, death and the void, and drunken love with pizza for breakfast; poems where nights, days, trees, and the moon are painted without romantically nostalgic deception; poems where the beauty is in seeing things as they are, not as they are not, and never were; poems that express and question, in equal measure, life – the living and the dying. But, of course, much more besides.

Sometimes they end like ‘mirrors and the evil that surrounds them’


“but mostly, i try not to
stare into that mirror for too long,
memory is enough
and memories i have,
too much”


and when they do they resonate very deeply.

Some say that the angels in hell were thrown there because they got bored shitless in heaven, and rather sensibly wanted to have sex with women on earth, others say they were cast out with that other fallen angel, but such debate is like adults talking rather seriously about the tooth-fairy. But I do suspect that those who do not buy this book will be forever tormented in a lake of fire.

Angels in Hell can be purchased at lulu or, probably, at d/e/a/d/b/e/a/t press , and more information about Amanda Boschetto can be found here.

The Shine Journal

Very please that The Shine Journal are going to be using one of my things. Should go up in January, I think. More later when it goes live. And really very pleased with the ultra fast response time from them. That sort of thing always makes me happy.

MungBeing 22

Always very excited when a new edition of MungBeing goes live. Issue 22 is up now, and there is a link on the right. Featuring prose, poetry, essays, music, and some very excellent artwork, it is well worth checking out.

My piece is called Things Behind The Sun – and I am quite pleased with it (mostly because it uses the ‘u’ word (twice)). There is also some excellent art by Kim Richardson and Anne van der Linden that I really like for different reasons. But, really, plenty of good stuff throughout.

Nostradamus started churning out the Almanacs around about 1550. Stupid people like to cream themselves over taking these vague and bolloxsome prophecies and applying them to any number of events that have happened since. Stupid people also like the bible. I, however, made a very specific prophesy, here on this page, dated September the 15th 2008, in which I stated that Jennifer Chesler’s piece – A Letter I Got in Prison – would be the absolute highlight of the issue. And so it has come to pass – exactly and precisely like I said it would. You can read that piece here – and you should – it is exceptional.

I have recall of seeing The Mars Volta play at The Academy, in Manchester, just after they released De-Loused in the Comatorium. It was gloriously chaotic – perhaps like what Syd’s band would have been like live – and exciting enough for me not to get too sad about the demise of At the Drive-In. You can hear The Mars Volta’s version of Nick Drake’s Things Behind The Sun here.
There seem to be a number of interesting covers by The Mars Volta to check out elsewhere – Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Pulled to Bits, and the Sugarcubes’ Birthday. Apparently the ‘Volta’ bit of the name comes from Frederico Fellini’s description of a changing of scene, or a turnaround, in his films.

Epic Rites – Workers in Blood

Very pleased that Epic Rites (Issue 1) is now up and ready to read. There is a link on the right. Featuring five poems by Rob Plath, and work by Chris Madoch, Wolfgang Carstons, Zack Wilson, Samantha Ledger, Mark Walton, M.C., D.W. Rindahl, Craig Podmore, and JCM. My own piece was written in thirty minutes of anger unleashed – during a period of great mental instability – there are a couple of dodgy lines in it – but, possibly, and hopefully, the intent still shines through.

All in all, it is a most excellent, and uncompromising, collection, and well worth checking out.

On a completely unrelated matter, I find it necessary to put, unequivocally, on record, that Portishead and The Pop Group represent the finest music to have come out of Bristol.

Rural Messengers Press

Most specially pleased to find my first posthumous acceptance in my inbox this morning (death is always the best career move). This acceptance is from Rural Messengers Press, and they are going to be using my piece in Side of Grits. The piece they will be using is She Came Too Early, And Left Us In The Morning.

I have also sent them a picture of myself. Now that I am dead I am less concerned with my image being used. In life, I thought that my devastatingly good looks would distract people from the exceptional nature of my work; that I would, once again, become a sex object. But I only have to worry about necrophiliacs now. And worry I do not, for I am dead.

I will be saying more about Side of Grits when it goes live – but for now there is a party in my death-shroud, and you’re all invited.

Obituary

pablo vision/pablo recidivision (June 2007- September 2008) R.I.P.

Sir pablo vision was deputy governor of …fuck it, that’s not right – but he is dead (and thank fuck for that) - it says so here (not the ‘thank fuck bit’ – that would be disrespectful). You will find a very moving list of the fallen: brave men and women, killed in artistic action…and it seemed to me that they lived their lives like lots of candles in loads of wind…

(You have to click on the above link, then click on the link there, and then click on the Obituary link, and then…)

Sein und Werden

Very excited and pleased that the online issue of Sein und Werden (Memento Mori) is now up. There is an amazing collection of stuff there – words and art and all kinds of crazy stuff. I dig it. You can dig it too by clicking on the link on the right.

I will be saying a lot more about the print issue when I have read it – I have got the Witch’s Keys in this. There is, as always, a very exciting line-up in print – so looking forward to this very much. Link on right for getting your unworthy mitts on this. And you should.

Anyway, for now, the online SuW showcases some art I did called ‘Postcard of the Hanging’. I was mightily pleased to find it on the same page as Mr McLean’s poem ‘death’s entrance’ – excellent, of course, but also so perverse that god gets a capital G. And what a bargain (for you, dear reader) – you can simply click this link and see/read both. And I think fitting that the two should be together – for it was the voices in Mr McLean’s head that told me to hang naked woman in my cellar (they were more than willing, and all was consensual, so very glad to have ignored my therapists advice not to do such things).

There is also a review of David McClean’s Cadaver’s Dance by editor Rachel Kendall – you can read that here – you should – and then you can buy it – which you can do here or here or here – you should.

You can also find a link to some other poems at SuW – and why would you not want to read something called rat-foetus blues? (Not wanting to give anything away, but I creamed the screen when I got to the fifth.)



Online:

Toothsayer by Laura Forgie
Ideas of Murder in Vermont by Jonathan Woods
Death in Disneyland by Ross Brodie
Gypsy With Child by Phil Doran
Fete by Juliet Cook
Window to Life by V Ulea
Treatment with Possible Pardon... by Bryson Newhart
Doll # 4 by John Brewer
The Pathology of Perception by Kris Pittman
Thirty Days of Bellesgrant and Zerxaquarius by Yarrow Paisley
Nausea by April Michelle Bratten
Let's Become Like Birds by Laura Forgie
Spaghetti Fiction by Phil Doran. Review by Rachel Kendall
Session by J E Stanley
Beyond First Taste by Colette Jonopulos
Asystole by Sherry Musick
Teratophobic Man by Christopher Allan Death
Death's Entrance by David McLean
Postcard of the Hanging by Pablo Vision
Pretend That We're Dead by Alison J Littlewood
Cadaver's Dance by David McLean. Review by Rachel Kendall
The Devoid by Philip Clark
Sally Mann: What Remains by Rachel Kendall
Mother by Dan Smith
The Mouth of the River Rat by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal
1938 WPA Poster by B Drew Collier
Mr Pressure Loses His Mantra by J L Dale
The Early Moon Pressed An Eye To the Window by B Drew Collier
Death's Antidote by Grace Andreacchi
DeadMeatDeadWoodLiveFlies by Sherry Musick
Consider the Percocet by Greg Gerke
Himself Rustic Breath by Solo Hawkins
Noon by Brenton Rossow
Manhattan Transit in July by Adele C Geraghty
Guillotine Promenade by Carrie Crow
Dark Dualism by Hana Sustkova
Quantum Work As a Type of the Experimental Fiction by V Ulea

Neonbeam 6

Very excited that the new issue of Neonbeam is now out. There is a free download – but I am going to wait until I read the print version (priced at an absolute give-away of £3.49) because of how wonderful the previous print issue was. I will, therefore, be saying more about this later. There are links to the free download and the print option on the right – for those sensible enough to not wait.

As always some pretty shit-hot people in this thing, and it is always an excellent publication.

Very much looking forward to reading:

Fiction by:

Christopher Nosnibor, John Oliver Hodges, Gillian Taber, Michael Ray Laemmle, Christian Roberts, Adrian Ludens, Kevin P. Keating, and Pablo Vision.

And poetry by:

David McLean, Rob Plath, Felino Soriano, Darryl Salach, Gary Beck, Joseph Reich, Patience Wieland, Geoff Stevens, Jack Henry, James S. Wilk, Ernest Williamson III, Robert S. King.

Interviews:

NB talks to past contributor Gregory L. Hall about his new horror fiction orientated web project


Neonbeam 5 is still up and available (links on right) – there is a short run down of content in the previous posts – although, to preserve a certain deviant's modesty, I neglected to mention the nude picture of David McClean in this issue. But seeing that he is now understandably proud of this, I feel it ok to share a little known fact about the expanded dimensions of issue 5: these were changed just in order to accommodate his err… physical dimensions. Because I always like to steal other people’s ideas I tried submitting a poem that was written on my own penis for Issue 6 – but, apparently, one word poems are not that popular.

MungBeing 22

Very excited that I have another piece going up in MungBeing – Things Behind The Sun. I will be saying more about this later when the issue goes live – but using my powers of prophesy I already know that Jennifer Chesler’s piece – A Letter I Got in Prison – will, once again, be the absolute highlight of the issue.

Unlike usually vague prophesies that others may give, I am confident, given the date stamp of this post, that I will be proved unequivocally correct.

You can read previous pieces at MungBeing by Jennifer Chesler in the link on the right. You should.

I have also been enjoying listening to The Mars Volta’s version of the Nick Drake's Things Behind The Sun.

Epic Rites

Really massively pleased that Epic Rites will be including my poem – America: Ignorance is no Excuse - in their first issue. And very pleased that they have the balls and enthusiasm to use something so political. A great ultra-fast response from Wolfgang Carstens too (who said: “America is an incredible poem. I had planned on rocking the boat a little - not tipping the fucker over.”)

My thing is, of course, wonderfully subtle and understated, and shows a great deal of respect to Palin and her sympathisers/apologists (all the respect they deserve: i.e. none).

I do have concerns that Ginsberg may rework my poem, use his powers of time travel, and get his published fifty so years before mine – but the life of an artist is never easy…

Sarah Palin

A small selection of the well-documented views of Sarah Palin are apparently posted here: http://sarahpalin666.blogspot.com/

It makes disturbing reading. But I suggest that you do.

Clockwise Cat

Really excited that I am going to be returning to Clockwise Cat – Issue 12.

A little bit of tangential science for you: clocks (and, therefore, time) go one-way in the northern hemisphere, and the other direction in the southern – and time stands still on the equator. I share this fact with you now, because, if Sarah Palin’s influence continues to grow, the effects of Coriolis on time will be negated by the progressive return to a flat earth.

I will provide a link to Issue 12 of Clockwise Cat when it goes up – provided that the Internet has not been removed as an abomination to the eyes of God and Palin. Knowledge and information are indeed a very dangerous inconvenience to some.

Fissure Magazine

Very pleased to have one of my things going into the next issue of Fissure Magazine (Shadow Archer Press).

I can feel the cracks starting to appear in the society’s resistance to my inevitable world domination. I have a three-part plan – similar to that of the Underpant Gnomes – I have stage one figured, and stage three (already stated) – I just need more coherency for the middle bit. But knowing, therefore, that I am two-thirds the way there is quite a good feeling. And I am inspired by how someone as disgustingly abhorrent, and absolutely barking mad, as Sarah Palin seems to be able to appeal to the (m)asses.

Eviscerator Heaven

Really excited that Eviscerator Heaven are going to be running two of my pieces in Issue 4. Once again especially pleased with the lightening fast response time.

I am sure that this issue will have a great cast of writers. Issue 3 certainly does (at a quick glance): David McLean, Amanda Boschetto, Rob Plath, A.D. Hitchin, Jack Henry, Luis Cuauhttemoc Berriozabal, Karl Koweski, Si Philbrook, and others. So well worth checking out the free pdf download. You should be able to navigate to it from the link to Issue 2.

Bad Marmalade

Very pleased that Bad Marmalade have just posted one of my pieces – Letter To A Stranger. There is a link on the right-hand side. It does lots of swearing and all that sort of jazz/jizz. My mummy does not like it. I have no idea why. I thought parents were supposed to encourage their offspring – not give them all sorts of negative feedback (and cut off their inheritance). I just think it frightfully ungrateful – I won’t be writing about her again, if this is the way she reacts. Except for that one where she gets her cock stuck in the vacuum cleaner.

On a separate note Linda J. Washington’s forthcoming book, Hybrid (d/e/a/d/b/e/a/t press), is going to be sporting the cover I designed – aren’t I clever and multitalented? Doing all that stuff with cover bleed and DPI as well the design.

I would say more about other stuff – but my laptop screen needs a good clean – Mr. McLean’s been talking dirty again.

Review (of sorts): there’s a little hobo in my heart who forever gives the finger to humanity – rob plath

there’s a little hobo in my heart who forever gives the finger to humanity – rob plath – blackbook madness, vol. 1 (d/e/a/d/b/e/a/t press)

This, appropriately enough, is the first volume in the blackbook madness series – and a fucking-damned fine collection it is too.

Poems that burn with intensity and leave the scars indelibly branded in yr brain. Poems that attack the madness of the (m)asses, and most of the ‘underground’ pretenders, with the force of a clenched fist – not just in intent, but in the unrivalled style in which they are written. Poems that decimate the watered down talents and lives and ambitions of most of the written wastage that others outpour in the delusion that the recycling of pastiche has any kind of relevance to anyone. Poems that show if you punch those keys with enough anger that they can hit harder than any fist. Poems that question the futility, and the misguided clinging to hypocrisy and busyness, of the lives that many live, all the while unaware of the cadaver waking up inside them. Poems that show a genuine and unflinching bravery, but also can surprise with tenderness and real beauty, and sometimes open the trapdoors with the unbearably harrowing. Poems that can make you think. Poems that could make you change the way you look at life through the traditional lenses that distorts culturally accepted madness into accepted normality. Poems that you can read again and again and again.

But what poems are about, or what they represent to the different people who read them, amounts to nothing unless the actual poems themselves are good. And all of the poems in this collection are scorchingly brilliant. I have said elsewhere, in comment on one of Rob’s poems, that if he had decided to forge a career in advertising he would have been a millionaire – the sheer number of new, twisted, and exciting images and ideas that he comes up with in just one poem, would be more than enough for most other poets to fill an entire volume with. Thank fuck he writes poems, rather than adverts – although I suspect they would be the most disturbed adverts ever made.

The titles alone fuck all over the inarticulacy and unimagination of the many pretenders who can wear the clothes, and even walk the walk – but not, unfortunately, talk the talk. Titles like (and this is random): ‘a metaphor to get you through straight razor days’, 'flip your zippo, bitch & shut up’, ‘poetry is scars bathing in milk’, ‘hulk hogan & dry humping’, 'norman rockwell can go fuck himself’, or ‘ignoring sunsets & not admiring stars’

I would quote some examples. But I’m not going to. Enough fuckers read Rob’s stuff for free, on his own sites, and in the many journals he has been published in – you should just fucking buy the book. There is a link on the right to d/e/a/d/b/e/a/t press.

For anyone unaware of Rob’s work there are examples in the two linked sites in the Highly Recommended Writer’s section.

Sein Und Werden

Considering that getting into the journals and magazines that I really like is the only thing that prevents erectile dysfunction from completely dominating my life – you can imagine the throbbing tumescence that I am currently experiencing as a result of having a written piece – The Witch’s Keys - going in the print edition of the next Sein Und Werden AND some art – Postcard Of The Hanging – going up on the next online edition of same journal. And further considering that there was already a sizeable semi defiantly lingering from being in the last print edition of SuW – I would advise clicking on the link for that edition – both online and print being very excellent. There is a small review of the content of the print somewhere in the past posts.

I will have something much more sensible (depending on my mood or state of inebriation) to say when the issue goes live.

I’m just saying – YEAH, really -- loud and proud.

Neonbeam 6

Most wonderfully pleased and excited that one of my stories is going to be in Neonbeam 6. This is always a great publication – and the print version of Neonbeam 5 (which I was lucky enough to be in too) is the best printed object that my stuff has appeared in – so I am pretty confident that Sammi will be doing a great job with the new one. Because issue six is the next issue that means that issue five is the current issue. (For the benefit of Amanda Boschetto’s husband.)

I will be saying more about this issue when it comes out – and provide links and all that jazz. I am positive that it will have great stuff in it. There are links to either the free download or print version of issue 5 on the right.

Zygote In My Coffee

Oh yeah!!! Zygote In My Coffee is up and online, and I got one of my things in this. I am pretty damned pleased about that. There is a link on the right if you want to know about my erectile dysfunction. Or you can send me a private message and I can send you the pictures. Seriously, this issue gives me a real boner. Stuff by Jack Henry, Lisa LaTourette, and many others, plus the regular columns, Bat Shit Crazy by Misti Rainwater-Lites, and Observations of a Dumb Polack by Karl Koweski.

Info about the ‘69’ flipbook chap series too.

And archives of Rob Plath’s and Jack Henry’s internet radio show.

Zygote is always one cool mofo – so check it out, fuckers…

Clockwise Cat

At a time when my life is going seriously off the rails (not such a bad thing to deal with for myself – even suicide only brings forward the inevitable – prevents the nasty gods from killing you with cancer – but somewhat disturbing because of the damage to others), and a time when I have not been writing shit, not really been reading shit, not really been submitting shit, not really been doing anything other than spinning plates on a tightrope (and no funumbalist I), it seems like one of my older pieces has gone up at Clockwise Cat. Something I would not have been aware of if I had not been stalking McLean’s blogspot (although I still have not found the Go Private button).

There is a link on the right for Clockwise Cat. And link on the right for Autoerotic Elegies if you want to see if you can find the Go Private button.

Also in this issue – which (of course) I have not had time to fully read – I find there to be an excellent piece by Craig Sernotti, some fuckery by Jack Henry [ahah], three poems by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, and best of all, a review of Misti Rainwater-Lites’ Dripping Milk by David McLean. The book sounds great, and the review manages to review Misti’s work, and give a great glimpse into the seriously maladjusted (by conventional standards – so, therefore, pretty fucking well-adjusted, by my standards) attitudes of the man that both Sweden and Wales are proud to have has their ambassador.

Loads of other stuff. Poems, and stories (some themed with an absurd bent, some not), reviews (of books and music), visual art, polemics and essays. I know I will be eager to read more – so get some pussy by clicking that link. And do it now.

MungBeing 21

I am very excited to have Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! just go up at MungBeing 21, along with some artwork (Pablo Fanque’s Circus). There’s all sorts of stuff going on in this piece – click on the link on the right for your free ticket.

I would say more about my piece – but I am much more excited that Jennifer Chesler’s work, Thanatopsis, is also in this issue. The sheer beauty, and note perfect, writing is simply breathtaking. Don’t read what I have to say about it – read the piece instead. There is a direct link to her work on MungBeing in the Highly Recommended Writers section on the right-hand side.

I would urge you to read the other pieces as well…

Pam and Brad (MungBeing 19)
Sickening Remains (MungBeing 18)
Deux (MungBeing 17)
Skeleton Shmeleton (MungBeing 17)
Transcript of Interview with Jennifer Sparks "Immortals Are Not Our Gods" (MungBeing 15)

…you will not regret it. Unless you don’t like things that are too good. Unless your ego is threatened by real genius.

THE – Quotes Issue

Most excellent!!!

Despite not been sending much stuff out recently – got another piece gone up at THE. For the Quotes issue. Sandwiched between Lincoln and Goethe quotes is something that I wrote ages ago. Given the ignorant and hypocritical clacking jaws of the press, starting up once again, about the McCanns – somewhat topical. Seems like not knowing things, and not knowing people, is the ultimate authority to pass judgement.

My thing is called News of the World. Link on the right.

Also work by:

Matt Finney – And Afterward – he kicks off with a Hemingway quote.

Howie Good – A Great Perhaps – assembled like a good kind of Frankenstein’s monster from the last words of Leonard Bernstein, Jean Cocteau, Marco Polo, Richard Halliburton, George Engel, L. Frank Baum, Vincent van Gogh, Theodore Roosevelt, Rabelais, and Heinrich Heine.

David Lawrence – Dissent – about a button that says “Dissent is patriotic” and some strong musings on much stuff.

Todd Moore – dillinger ds – pretty damned cool by my tastes.

Bad Marmalade

Always very pleased to have my stuff go up on Bad Marmalade – a rather out of character piece – Old People In Love – just gone up – link on right. There is a cool illustration by John Mingo to go with it.

There will be another piece going up there during Flash Fiction Week.

Doubly pleased, therefore.

Eviscerator Heaven – Issue #2

Most pleased that the very talented A.J. Kaufmann has included my piece in the second edition of Eviscerator Heaven. A wonderfully quick response – and the thing is already available as a free pdf download. Click on the right to get words for free.

That most well endowed word stud, David McLean, tells us what Love Is at the start, and I give you A Good Fisting at the end. I therefore like to think of this thing as a sandwich – with the work of Ray Swaney, Yvon Cormier, Howie Good, Ray Succre, Corey Mesler, David LaBounty, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, Felino Soriano, Amanda Faith, Travis Blair, Richard Wink, Brittony Fay Johnson, and Michael Aaron Casares providing the filling.

When I was younger I always wanted a sandwich with Anita Pallenberg and Michele Breton - with me as the filling. Or with Edie and Nico. But Eviscerator Heaven looks pretty tasty – and you can dine out for free. And a hell of a lot more savoury than what a sandwich with Edie and Nico would be like now.

Bad Marmalade

Very excited to have another one of my pieces accepted by Bad Marmalade for forthcoming use. They are also calling for more submissions of Flash Fiction to be used sometime in August. The most popular pieces will end up in the forthcoming fiction booklet – to be distributed free in a few major cities in the UK. So if you think that kind of exposure might be a good thing – send your best stuff to Jim at Bad Marmalade. There is a link on the right (to one of my older pieces) Blood On The Tracks – you should be able to navigate to the submission email address from there.

THE – Theme Issue

Exceptionally pleased that THE have accepted another one of my pieces for the upcoming theme issue – Quotes. I think the deadline is August 1st for submitting poetry or flash for this theme. Previously published is ok and there are full guidelines for submission on the site – check out the link on the right for details. If they get enough good submissions there will be a printable download, and if not, accepted pieces will just go up online. Some good people have been in THE – so why not check it out?

Eating Your Night – David McLean – Papadildo Press

Paperback book £6.61 / $12
Available now from lulu
109 pages, 8.5" x 11", and nice shiny black wipe-clean cover


This is another absolutely excellent collection of poems. My intention was to read the entire thing before posting any kind of review. But that was not to be. And the reason is the same reason you should stick your hand in your pocket and buy this book.

Sure, with over 550 published poems all over the web and in print, you can read some of his work for free, but having this stuff in print, and being able to take your time over each one is a pretty awesome experience. And being able to reread the things is bloody rewarding too.

The scope of many of the poems would render any attempt at a conventional review longer than the book itself. Check out what I have said about just one poem included in Sein and Werden (previous post) and you might get an idea of what I’m talking about. Better still, if you are from Mars, and have not read his work, click a few links on his blogspot (link on right-hand side) for a quick taste, and then get your sweaty paws on this book, and fucking feast.

Check out the disturbed deviant’s site for more info – about this book, and review by Misti Rainwater-Lites - and for reasons why you should part with some more cash for Cadaver’s Dance (Whistling Shade Press) which is also out, and available for purchase at Amazon.com and Alibris.com.

Up The Staircase

I am very pleased to have my story Bad Touch just go up in the Summer Issue of Up The Staircase. There is a link on the right-hand side. Looks like there is plenty of good stuff in this thing. Particularly enjoyed Melissa Mann’s story Touch Sensitive, and pleased to see poetry there by Gillian Prew and Samantha Ledger. Plenty of other stuff too, that I have not had time to read yet. Essays and literary reviews as well.

Debris Magazine

I am absolutely delighted to have had my short story – Conversations With Mother – just go up in the Summer issue of Debris Magazine. It is another great publication, which I am very proud to have my work in.

Also up are short stories by Aleathia Drehmer, Teresa Tumminello Brader, and Carl Palmer. All of which are excellent. Poetry and prose, artwork, reviews, and travel writing also in this issue. Be sure to check it out. Link on the right.

THE

I am very pleased and excited to have two pieces up at THE – a flash fiction piece ‘My Sister’ and a poem ‘She Said She Said’. There is a link down below. There is plenty of good stuff to be read there too - including four things by Misti Rainwater-Lites, one by Jack Henry, two poems by editor Craig Seronotti, and three poems by David McLean (just to whet your appetite before you buy Cadaver’s Dance – which is now up at amazon.com and alibris.com – more details to follow). As said, lots of other stuff too – a great site – and bloody brilliant response time.

MungBeing

I am most excited to have both Ignorant Art Ism (a more than slightly perverse write) and Transmigration Triptych – The Abhorrence of Symmetry (artwork) in MungBeing 20. There is a link on the right – should you feel so inclined. And why the fuck would you not? This is an excellent multi-media site – and all of the issues contain some great work.

Please search out Jennifer Chesler on MungBeing and read all of her pieces there. There is also a link on the right-hand side in the Highly Recommended Writers section. She is (and by far) the most outstanding and exciting literary talent I have ever read. And this is not on of those prevaricating ‘one of the best’ type statements casually written on the back of novels. On discovering her work about a year ago, I was instantly of the opinion that she is the most important artist writing today. Nothing I have read since has come close to altering my opinion.

The linked pieces only represents a small taste of the most astounding body of work I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

Neonbeam 5

I have just received my copy of Neonbeam 5 – and this thing looks really great – 8 ½” square – nice shiny cover – looks a bit like a graphic comic book– with cover art (Girl in the Fire) by Scott Springer – the double column layout inside really suits the pieces – and many internal illustrations. There is, as mentioned before, a free pdf download available – but this is a really nice object to be in possession of. And priced at £3.51 (probably about $7) – this book is a great bargain. 78 pages of entertainment! I get described as ‘insanely talented’ in the introduction – so a book with great understated integrity.

My short story ‘Almost Lovers’ twists around the various preconceptions and prejudices in typically sublime style! Also includes three excellent poems by Rob Plath (‘hulk hogan & dry humping’, ‘who the hell is groucho marx?’, and ‘wine compass’), two awesome poems by the deranged deviant David McLean (‘i do not’ and ‘words are like snow’). There is also an interview the mad fucker, in which he talks about alcohol, religion, philosophy, poets, myspace, age, what makes him happy (and surprisingly this is not something illegal), and other stuff. There are also two photos (one which looks supremely demented) that will defy even the most heterosexual men not to facepaint.

There is a great introduction ‘Parity for Squares!’, by Neonbeam editor, Sammi Leng, a dark humour/mixed genre story by Gregory L. Hall (Death Farm), poetry by Felino Soriano, The Doomsday Book by George O’Gorman is a very non-standard story that involves the Holy Grail, poetry by Robert S. King, an interview with Jeremy C. Shipp (author of the novel ‘Vacation’, novella ‘Flapjack’ – featured in the Bizarro Starter Kit, and writer of short film ‘EGG’), poetry from William Doreski, a wonderful short story ‘Bath Time at La Chapel Blanche’ by Richard James (somewhat in the territory of Murakami – but still uniquely his own style), poetry from Colin James, ‘What Lies Beneath’ is a great story by Paul Weinburg that is hard to say too much about without giving away many of its secrets, poetry by Aaron A. Polson and Bruce Harris, a delightful short story by Sammi Leng herself – A Matter of Taste – a story very much to my tastes, ‘ID’ by Peter A. Balaskas is a longer fictional piece which starts with a Shakespeare quote about killing all lawyers – certainly made me warm to the piece straight away, poetry by Darryl Salach and Alan King, and a very intriguing story by William de Rham (‘Last Run in Zermatt’).

There are links to both the free download and for purchasing in print on the right-hand side. Considering how good this thing is in print, and the price, I would recommend the later most heartily. Spend money and kill trees, I say.

Cherrypicked Hands

The debut issue of Cherrypicked Hands has just gone up online – link on the right – not had time to read what is there yet – but a quick glance reveals that David McLean, Stacy L. Welch, Richard Wink, and Simon Philbrook are in this issue – so it’s got to be good. My own piece is called The Time Accountant – a celebration of life and conventional work and of the human spirit. Or probably not. Misanthropic humanist is what I am.

Zygote in my Coffee

Most excited to have one of my things accepted by Zygote in my Coffee. I am sure I will have much to say about this issue when it goes up – there is always plenty of great stuff in Zygote – columns as well as stories and poems and stuff. You should check out the current issue – click the link – and then click on the nude chick…

Sein Und Werden

Sein Und Werden – Summer 2008 – Sein, Cos, Tan – is now out and available to buy in print. Just read through my contributor’s copy this morning – and it is quite a trip. Editor, Rachel Kendall, has just gone straight into my top ten of awesome women, purely as a result of producing such an exciting, and absorbing, collection.

Filled with short stories, flash, poems, and the magnificently indefinable, it is a collection that can provide entertainment beyond a single read. It is about 58 pages – but starts on minus figures – and sticks two fingers up at any conventions. Includes graphs. And diagrams. And equations (like mystical runes). And artwork. The written pieces touch on surrealism, abstactism, jism, existentialism, and many other isms. Some very clever fuckers have contributed to this – but all highly readable, and thought provoking.

Surrealistic Pillow Book is my own contribution. It includes accountancy terminology among other things.

Matrices, by David McLean, steals the show – a bit of an epic – that covers so many things: Sheol, Nivea, a possible Placebo reference, philosophy, religion, meaning (and lack off), words in latin (and italics), and joyfully blasphemous depravity, just to list a few. A fucking ‘meaty’ read, that turns seamlessly from the profound, to the obscure, to the outrageously funny, and back again.

The Potter, by Brenton Rossow, and Shadows by V Ulea (Vera Zubarev), were both particularly engaging, and moving. Pathology Sex Monsters, by Ross Brodie, is an absolute scream – a great use of scientific and biological terminology to describe some hardcore fucking.

The entire thing is highly refreshing because of the many approaches, and styles.

The online edition – with different content – is also very much worth checking out.

There is a link on the right to Sein Und Werden – current issue – for browsing the online content – and info on how to part with £3/$6/3.90 Euros (+p&p). There is also information about the theme for the autumn issue – why not unleash your own madness?

Full list of contributors:

J E Stanley
Pablo Vision
Jane Thompson
Andrew Lundwall
Sherry Musick
Aaron A Polson
Irene Frenkel
V Ulea
John Brewer
David McLean
Ross Brodie
Adam Hinton
B Drew Collier
Juliet Cook
Brenton Rossow
A J Kirb
Rachel Kendall

Parasitic

There is a new issue of Parasitic up (there is a direct link on the right-hand side) – and I am very pleased and proud to have my work included.

The current issue includes:

New Header Image by Shaun Garrod
gretchen by karl koweski
wrong by melissa mann
damaged girl pablo vision
the girl with pink socks by mikael covey

and previous work includes:

First Line Last – A Cut-Up

by Yu-Han Chao, Joe Dunthorne, Paul Ewen, Steve Finbow, Amy Guth, Stewart Home, Travis Jeppesen, Paul Kavanagh, Haidee Kruger, Toby Litt, Melissa Mann, Martin Millar, Ben Myers, Kevin O’Cuinn, Joseph Ridgwell, Adelle Stripe

William Burroughs cut ups

Summer ‘87 by Matthew David Scott

Vortex by A.J. Kaufmann

Me, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Daughter by Joseph Ridgwell

‘Western Night’ by Rob Plath

Parasitic is clearly some monster beast – and Zack Wilson has done an excellent job in attracting such a stellar list of writers – and been especially kind in allowing a dumb chancer like me to share this stage. Considering this must only be the second time I have not offered cash or sexual favours along with my submission – I am a bit pleased.

Don’t read this – read Parasitic – all of it – and then send them you very best stuff.

BLANK (B&W Film Short, 22 mins)

And just because I get bored, I do get bored, in the flatfield, etc. I remembered that I’ve got an additional music credit – under yet another pseudonym – in Steven Young’s ‘BLANK’ (2002, 22 mins) – shown at Slamdance Festival Utah, Kinofilm Festival Manchester, Toronto Online Festival (winner dark-edged short), and several airings on Propeller TV. My own contribution, it has to be said, is somewhat minimal, more sound effects, than music, but I think this film is excellent.

BLANK includes drug-addled vampires, psychotic wheelchair-bound swingers, testosterone-crazed neighbours, bugs, transvestites, and a demented, and truly disturbing, preacher. Filmed in black and white, it is intensely claustrophobic, unsettling, displacing, and disturbing. Watch out, too, for some highly specialised porn – the film is not without humour – I recall having the mock-ups for these magazines lying around when my mother came to visit – but it is not like I have any kind of reputation to uphold so don’t remember giving any explanation. Early on in the film, a very irritating neighbour appears – accompanied with a very, and purposefully, irritating jazz soundtrack – much satisfaction was had by creating this ‘muzak’ – however, please do not let this put you off watching beyond these early scenes.

To watch the film in full (22 minutes – remember?) click on the ‘BLANK’ link on the right-hand side.

Don’t you fancy a change from seeing words? Don’t you get bored in the flatfield?

His other films include ‘HALY SAINT’ (2004, 33 mins) – shown at New York Film Festival, Glastonbury Film Festival, and Fantastic Film Festival Manchester. His latest film ‘ABSENTIA’ (2007, 60 mins) is a unique marionette science fiction odyssey – it is also as mad as fuck. Earlier films include ‘HEADS’ which involves aliens invading Earth in search of drugs and sex – I used to have the full-sized prop – the swinging pub sign for ‘The Tethered Freak’ in my old house. I also recall his teenage effort ‘JURASSIC LAWN’ being piss funny – but we all did a lot of acid and speed and weed then – and we were young. [Because we're young, because we're gone/we'll take the tide's electric mind, oh yeah? oh yeah! Because we're young, because we're gone/we'll scare the skies with tiger's eyes, oh yeah? oh yeah!] But I am a sad old bastard now.

Steven Young also used to front ‘The Big White Stairs’ – psychedelic art-rockers – with several sessions on Mark Radcliffe’s evening slot on Radio 1 – and is still actively involved in ‘The Magic Otters’, among other projects. He was the drummer for Space Head’s Roadburn Festival (Holland) appearance (along with Hawkwind and Ozric Tentacles, etc). He also produced and recorded an attempted resurrection of ‘The World of Twist’ from his own studios – fronted by the late Tony Ogden (famous for wearing a leather shirt in Dry Bar/ The Hacienda [Manchester, so much to answer for] – before the fairly legendry appearance performing The Storm on Channel 4’s The Word).

Heroin Love Songs

Journal of Heroin Love Songs is now up online and print version available to buy – links to both options on the right.

The print version is priced at £3.16 and this is what you get:

Printed: 60 pages, 8.5" x 11", saddle-stitch binding, black and white interior ink.

“A journal of avant-garde, underground, no bullshit, fuck you poetry from around the world.”


This great new venture by Jack Henry kicks off with a stellar list of contributors – really pleased to have my work included alongside David McLean, Rob Plath, Amanda Boschetto, Misti Rainwater-Lites, and very pleased that the great author, and writer of prose, Verless Doran has debased himself enough to write poesy and get his work in this thing. With so much stuff going on right now – I have not had time to read all of this – but the full list of keyboard-bashers is:

george wallace
zach moll
zack popour
kami
danielle rose
allorah wyman
michael grover
dan provost
puma perl
david mclean
jason “juice” hardung
misti rainwater-lites
pablo vision
leigh pierce
rob plath
lester allen
craig sernotti
rose morales
linda j washington
wayne moser
thamyris jones
simon philbrook
amanda boschetto
yvon cormier
verless doran


I think there will be another issue in August – so start saving up your best stuff…

Bad Marmalade

I am also very pleased that one of my things is going to be in Bad Marmalade again – this extraordinarily energetic multimedia site is always a vibrant place to visit – and they are very supportive of their artists.

Various Stuff

Exceptionally pleased that the awesome Clockwise Cat have been kind enough to take We Look Like Someone You Would Not Want To Meet for issue ten. Clockwise Cat is always well worth a visit. As well as poetry and prose, there are reviews of books that you would probably want to spend money on by that temptress David McLean.

Up The Staircase have been kind enough to use Bad Touch for their upcoming summer issue.

Melissa Mann has recorded an audio version of my story A Day In The Life (the piece chosen by guest editor Mark SaFranko for inclusion in Beat The Dust.

A secret glimpse of my world is now showcasing in The New York Review – written by a great friend – and talented writer – Mark Mika - you can check it out in the Lies That People Have Told About Me section. I am optimistic that there might be other pieces about me elsewhere in the future. I like being a muse. It is so much easier than writing myself. And I make a great muse. I am beautiful and with many levels of intrigue and almost blindly brilliant talent. And my unassuming down-to-earth nature make me a very accessible and identifiable superhero for the plebs and the (m)asses.

Explorsion are using some of my artwork for their forthcoming print edition. There may be a gallery showing – but I am having difficulty keeping track of all that is going on. Whatever happens, I’m pretty excited about this.

My work is to be included in the forthcoming Dogzplot Flash Fiction Anthology – this should be available to buy in paperback form in July – more info in the dedicated blog.

Instant Pussy

Information about Instant Pussy – put together by the absolutely awesome Misti Rainwater-Lites. There are links to both options somewhere on the right. I would also recommend putting Misti’s name into the search-box – and taking a look at the many wonderfully titled works available to buy there.

But, back to the pussy:

Instant Pussy NuMeRo uNo w/out artwork – purchasing (£3.30) or free download

Printed: 73 pages, 6" x 9", perfect binding, black and white interior ink


This version does not contain any eyeball raping artwork or pornography. This would make an excellent chew toy for your poodle or whatever kind of dog or other animal you call your own.


Instant Pussy NuMeRo uNo w/ artwork – purchasing (£10.10) or free download

Printed: 92 pages, 6" x 9", perfect binding, full-colour interior ink

This right here is the reincarnation of Instant Pussy, ya'll. Not just anybody can get inside the Pussy. Only the sexy people. And, of course, DOES contain the eyeball raping artwork or pornography. Including a nude chick w/ dick (or man w/ tits – whichever way you care to define). I always wondered what Jack Henry really looked like. Now I know.


Contains work by Rob Plath, David Mclean, Amanda Boschetto, w. alt burns, Karl Koweski, Juliet Cook, Jack Henry, and many, many others. Loads of good stuff in this – so good that I have some regrets about being completely intoxicated when I wrote and submitted my pieces. Oh well, you gotta live dangerously.


My own pieces are Bad Shit And Angelina Jolie and Time Travellers From The Future – and they have been kind enough to use some artwork too. It is, of course, absolutely great to be in the Pussy.

Gloom Cupboard

I was pleased to receive my copy of Gloom Cupboard recently. They were kind enough to drop their standards to allow room for one of my stories – but otherwise this is an excellent collection, which includes work by:

Ben Ashwell
Ben Barton
Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal
Lance Curran
Cyndi Dawson
Michael Estabrook
Joseph Farley
Barry Graham
Michael D. Grover
Thomas Healy
Antony Hitchin
Doug Holder
Nicole Isabella
Karl Koweski
David LaBounty
Anthony Liccione
Michael McCoon
David Mclean
Tony Nesca
J. Michael Niotta
Greg Oguss
Leigh Pierce
Rob Plath
John Rocco
Craig Sernotti
The Poet Spiel
Chris Stanifer
Davide Trame
Jim Vacca
And lastly, and least, some chancer called
Pablo Vision

The price of this collection is £3.99 (UK lucre), which includes p&p and you can buy it from Erbacce Press by clicking on the Gloom Cupboard link on the right. There is much good stuff by many good artists – but if you need convincing to buy something that contains both Rob Plath AND David Mclean – then I would be wasting my time to say anything more!

You would be a fool and a madman not to buy Rob Plath’s Squeezing Blood From The Alphabet whilst you are there (Erbacce Press) – my own copy is already dog-eared from repeated reading – so hell – buy two copies.

The wise will be keeping their eyes open for David Mclean’s forthcoming book “Cadaver’s Dance”, which should be out anytime soon – probably sticking “Cadaver’s Dance” into your search engine (including the quotation marks) from time to time will yield better information, should I continue to neglect updating this page. The poor should start saving their money, or start stealing food in order to finance what, I am sure, will be an essential purchase.

DOGZPLOT FLASH FICTION 2008 ANTHOLOGY

I am delighted to have my work included in the forthcoming DOGZPLOT FLASH FICTION 2008 ANTHOLOGY – this is set to go to print in July 2008 – and will be a beautifully bound 5.5 by 8.5 paperback – the price, I believe, will be $8 (that’s US barter beans, btw).

This will include many excellent pieces by

rosanna armendariz
ristaa abouradi-hoffman
bill barr
jane timm baxter
shaindel beers
matt bell
luis c. berriozabal
justin blackburn
cl bledsoe
aaron burch
david byron
zachary c. bush
yu-han chao
jimmy chen
dawn corrigan
mikael covey
todd michael cox
angela davis
robert a. dollesin
verless doran
elizabeth ellen
heather fowler
scott garson
anne germanacos
barry graham
joseph graham
gregory heaney
joe holtaway
jamie jones
rebecca kanner
stefan kiesbye
jamie lin
michele matheson
kevin michaels
shayn nicely
j.r. pearson
brandon potter
andrew powers
misti rainwater-lites
gina ranalli
vita l. sacksby
peter schwartz
sarah smarch
hannah smart
claudia smith
simon a. smith
kim teeple
beth thomas
j.a. tyler
pablo vision
jan windle
amandine williams-abraham
deborah wood

The cover art will be by Jordan C. Brun


More details, when I know them.