Five speculative anthologies

Pill Hill Press is going to be pretty busy these next few months, reading for all these anthologies:

- The Four Horsemen: This anthology will be broken up into four different themes -- conquest, war, famine, and death. (Specify which section your story pertains to when you submit.) Payment is 1 cent per word plus a copy for stories 500-5000 words long. Deadline is December 31st.

- Quest for Atlantis: For this anthology, submit Atlantis-themed stories written in the third person, 1000-10,000 words long. Payment is 1 cent per word (up to $50) plus a contributor's copy. Deadline is February 28th, 2010.

- Love Kills: This anthology will be filled by means of a contest. The top three winners will receive $125, $50, or $25, and anyone whose story is chosen for publication will be mailed a copy of the anthology. The editors are looking for "SCARY stories, written in third person, featuring the theme LOVE KILLS: MY BLOODY VALENTINE." They want stories 2000-6000 words long. Contest deadline is January 15th, 2010.

Read the full Pill Hill Press submission guidelines before submitting to any of these anthologies or contests.

Northern Frights Publishing is also open for anthology submissions. They are currently reading for two science fiction anthologies, War of the Worlds: Front Lines and Timelines: Stories Inspired by HG Wells' The Time Machine. General guidelines for both anthologies are the same -- stories up to 8000 words will be accepted, with unpublished stories being preferred. Payment is 1 cent per word, up to $50, plus a contributor copy. Deadline for both anthologies is December 31st.

UPDATE: Through the holiday season, the "Holiday Deals" section on the sidebar (between "Market News" and "Current Contests") will highlight cheap prices and good online deals for anything related to haiku, horror, reading, or writing.

Paper Crow, a couple of holiday deals

If you've never heard of Paper Crow, that's probably because the first issue just shipped out recently. Paper Crow is a new speculative poetry journal that came out with a bang. The debut issue includes work from many well-known poets -- Marcie Lynn Tentchoff, Marge Simon, Joshua Gage, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, J.E. Stanley, and Karen L. Newman are only some of the names you will recognize when you read through the table of contents. The issue includes plenty of good poetry, especially a short visual poem by Ken Goodman.

Paper Crow is also a good market to submit to -- payment is 25 cents per line (minimum of $5) plus two contributor copies. The editors are reading submissions through the end of January. (Scroll down the Paper Crow page for guidelines.)

With the holidays approaching, it's time to start thinking about presents. If you're anything like me, you'll want to get as much online as you can so you don't have to set foot in a crowded store. Here are a couple of sales going on right now:

Amazon's Sci-Fi Extravaganza ends Monday the 23rd. Get science fiction movies and TV box sets at deep discounts (some DVDs are over 60% off). V for Vendetta (a great movie) is only $6.49.

If you're looking for books, AbeBooks currently has a 10% off promotional code you can use (visit the page to get it) now through November 30th.

Once you've found your holiday gifts, you'll need to wrap them... ThinkGeek.com has some unusual choices in wrapping paper, including zombies and "ChristmasBots."

For everyone's convenience and to make the headache of shopping a little easier, I'm going to start a list of haiku, horror, or writing-related deals and sales over on the sidebar, right under "Market News" and "Current Contests." I'll try to keep it updated as often as I can.

Book review: Breathers, by S.G. Browne

It seems like a new zombie novel is being written everyday. Many of them are the same -- zombies come back to life, attack people, eat people, and cause major havoc. But Breathers, by S.G. Browne, is a totally different kind of zombie novel (sort of).

Breathers is a zombie novel in the sense that it's "about" zombies. In fact, it's much more about zombies than any other zombie novel I've read. The book delves into social, political, and humane issues that focus on the undead but could really pertain to any minority in some way. In addition to being somewhat allegorical, Breathers is hilarious.

Andy Warner is a zombie. He died in a car crash and came back to life, much to his family's (and his own) surprise. He's not the first person to reanimate, and like all the other zombies, Andy is treated like a pariah.

Breathers chronicles Andy's undeath, giving readers valuable insight into the mind and spirit of a modern California zombie and his struggle for equality. The book is written in the first person present tense, which works well for this story and which the author has a genuine knack for. S.G. Browne's conversational tone and darkly comic first-person narration are strongly reminiscent of another talented author, Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Choke).

Browne has a keen ability to bring his characters into sharp focus, which -- even though they're not alive -- makes them real to the reader and keeps the story flowing along. Never before have zombies been so easy to sympathize with and so natural to root for.

Breathers starts off slow, as a drawn-out flashback, but the story builds toward a roller-coaster climax that any horror fan will enjoy. The book will also appeal to readers who like dark humor and those who love to see the underdog put up a good fight.

In the words of the main character: "Is it necrophilia if we're both dead?"

Acorn, Vicious Verses, tinywords

I haven't had much time to read lately, but I have managed to skim through two things -- the current issue of Acorn, and Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes, the book of zombie poems from Coscom Entertainment.

Acorn #23 is, of course, filled with good haiku. There is a very poignant poem by C. William Hinderliter, and a nice pairing of two unrelated haiku by Peggy Willis Lyles and Jennifer Gomoll Popolis. Robert Epstein has a three-word haiku that takes the form's brevity to heart.

There are many more poems in this issue, including two good ones by Timothy Hawkes, and some of the other contributors include Gary Hotham, Chuck Brickley, Ferris Gilli, and John Elsberg.

Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes: Zany Zombie Poetry for the Undead Head doesn't have as many haiku as Acorn (though surprisingly it does have a few, including two of mine) but it does contain a lot of good zombie poems. This collection is a follow-up to Bits of the Dead, an anthology of zombie flash fiction.

Not every poem in the book is a winner, but there is definitely something for everyone (well, everyone who likes zombie poems). There are limericks, a couplet, and even a "Zombie Love Sonnet." Humorous poems occupy a lot of pages, including some good ones by W. Bill Czolgosz, J.H. Hobson, and Zed Zefram. Charles Gramlich has a haunting poetic tale of Gettysburg, and Michael Kriesel's haiku sequence "Last Year" is excellent. "Reanimation" by Casey Quinn is one of the best poems of the book, short and sweet with an eerily nursery-rhyme-like rhythm. Albert Melear's "Say Cheese" is another good one, with graphic description and a good use of line breaks.

Some other notable poems include Rich Ristow's parody of Dylan Thomas, "Rage, Rage in the Dying of Twilight," Paul A. Freeman's long poem "Payback Time," and Lester Smith's "Git Along, You Zombies," which offers a unique way to make zombies useful to society. Vicious Verses has over 135 pages of zombie poems -- plenty for any horror fan to chew and digest.

Ed Markowski passed along some good information today -- tinywords is making a comeback, and it's currently open to submissions. In its new incarnation, it will include all forms of micropoetry (not just haiku) as well as artwork. Read the complete submissions guidelines here.

HWA column, Vicious Verses

J. Bruce Fuller's recent HWA Column, "Imagination and Persona in Horror Poetry," can now be read over on his blog (which he has recently updated, so check out the new look). It's a great article, plus it includes a sneak peek of his poem "28 Blackbirds at the End of the World," which is being made into a chapbook by Bandersnatch Books (due out sometime this month).

Speaking of books, Coscom Entertainment has just released Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes: Zany Zombie Poetry for the Undead Head, a book of zombie poetry by some of the genre's best writers. I just got my contributor's copy and haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I did glance through the table of contents and I saw names like Charles Gramlich, Keith Gouveia, Rich Ristow, Steve Vernon, and Michael Kriesel. If you're looking to get your holiday shopping done early, it would make a good present for a zombie or horror fan.

Amazon is having a Sci-Fi Extravaganza right now, so if you need to stock up on science fiction DVDs, now's the time.

28 Blackbirds, an Ezra Pound anthology contest

J. Bruce Fuller's haiku series, "28 Blackbirds at the End of the World," appeared in Scifaikuest last year and was subsequently nominated for a Rhysling Award. Now, Bandersnatch Books has decided to make it into a chapbook -- and rightly so -- which should be available sometime in November. Any fans of haiku or speculative poetry should check it out.

Bandersnatch Books is also currently seeking submissions for a new anthology, themed around variations on Ezra Pound's famous haiku-like poem, "In the Station of the Metro." They are looking for "something 100% original that touches the spirit of the original poem, albeit in a haunted/ghostly context." This sounds like a pretty cool anthology to be a part of. Payment is 25 cents per line plus a contributor's copy, and submissions will remain open until the anthology is filled (which might not take very long).

For those looking for places to submit haiku, here are links to submission guidelines for some online haiku journals (all non-paying):

- Chrysanthemum
- The Heron's Nest
- Notes from the Gean
- Simply Haiku
- Roadrunner Haiku Journal
- Shamrock Haiku Journal
- Sketchbook
- Riverbed Haiku