Tag: S. J. Chambers

OF PARALLEL AND PARCEL, now available for Pre-Order from Dunhams Manor Press

OF PARALLEL __ 4My short story “Of Parallel and Parcel” is available as a limited-edition chapbook from Dunhams Manor Press. Limited to 50 copies, it is now available for pre-order at $6.50 here at the Dynatox Ministries store. It will ship out in December, just in time to make a good Winter Holiday gift for the Poepathist dearest to you.

Synopsis:

It is only until we are on our deathbeds that all of our various fates are laid out before us. We can finally see where among our probable parallel lives the compass was pointing. The Grand Design of our individual lives, and how they intertwine with others, all becomes clear. This is the last will and testament of Virginia Clemm, who married her cousin Eddy Poe as a tween, and sealed her fate by taking it, and the purloined parcel it arrives in, into her own hands.

About the Publisher:

Dunhams Manor Press is the weird fiction imprint of Jordan Krall’s Dynatox Ministries and has published such illustrious weirdies such as Nicole Cushing, Scott Nicolay, Mike Griffin, and Joe Pulver (just to name a few). It is an honor to be part of this catalogue, and part of this publisher, as he is one of the few publishing a vast array of writers that work within not only the weird and bizarro, but in traditions such as dada and surrealism, including Jordan’s own endeavors in those modernist milieus.

Author’s Notes:

I began writing this story in 2006, while I was working as a newspaper reporter for a weekly newspaper in South Florida. At that point, I began working on this thinking it’d be a novel, but I kept writing off and on, and realized a year later that all I had were scraps. And, that isn’t surprising, because all that survives of Virginia Poe are scraps, which may be why I am so fascinated by her. She is heralded in many circles as Poe’s ultimate muse–the paragon of Poe’s Poetic Principle–and  yet, no correspondence of hers survives, and all we truly know of her are here-says of the Poe family’s friends and contemporaries. Within some of these accounts are hints that Virginia was immensely smart and perhaps a bit conniving, and those minces paired with a quote I found from Marie Louise Shew pointed the way to at least trying to tell the tale of the Virginia I imagined. So, by 2008, “Of Parallel and Parcel” came into being, and it wouldn’t see the light of day until 2010, when it was published in Mungbeing Magazine’s Secrets issue, where editor Mark Givens nominated it for a Pushcart prize. I am delighted that this story is getting a second wind with Dunhams Manor Press, and my Virginia will get to speak again.

THE NEW GOTHIC Giveaway: On Nirvana and the Gothic

THE NEW GOTHIC among all my Nirvana swag from the Tallahassee concert in 1993. Took those photos in the corner with a really crappy $10 camera from Kmart. Oh, the 90s.
THE NEW GOTHIC among all my Nirvana swag from the Tallahassee concert in 1993. Took those photos in the corner with a really crappy $10 camera from Kmart. Oh, the 90s.

So, this week is a big week for Nirvana fans. Today marks the 20th anniversary of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s death and on April 10, the band will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I don’t know if y’all realize, but I’m really into Nirvana. IN UTERO came out just in time for me to throw my twelfth birthday money at it. It, along with BABES IN TOYLAND’s PAINKILLERS and Hole’s PRETTY ON THE INSIDE and later LIVE THROUGH THIS, was one of those albums that changed my life in the way that only music and books and arts can do. Nirvana even came to my town with the Breeders in December ’93, and being at that concert is pretty much on my list of life achievements.

Anyway, as has been mentioned here before, I wrote a short story with my inimitable friend Jesse Bullington that is in Stone Skin Press’ THE NEW GOTHIC: DON’T EMBRACE THE DARKNESS. FEAR IT.  Edited by Beth Lewis, this anthology reassess the Gothic legacy, and as critic Ed Grabianowski put it in a glowing review over at i09:

“I’m not too worried about whether this collection redefines the field. What I can tell you is that editor Beth K. Lewis and the team at Stone Skin Press have selected a terrific set of stories. They hang together, despite disparate elements; each tale hints at the darkness lurking in urban neighborhoods, in old houses, on desolate roads, and in our hearts. Cue Vincent Price’s menacing laugh echoing down a black corridor. There are no castles here, but there’s no sympathy for the devil either.”

Sounds pretty hardcore, right?

The story Jesse and I wrote is called “Dive In Me,” and is about three adolescent girls in the early 90s and their friendship that leads to staring into atramedous pits of both the literal and figurative senses.  Jesse has described it as “Daria goes to Hell,” and I’ve called it a “grunge-nightmare.” It is definitely a period piece, and that hasn’t been more apparent to me than today, on the 20th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s suicide, in which I am definitely feeling kind of bored and old.

The title, of course, refers to my personal favorite Nirvana song “Dive,” which is on Incesticide, and provides something of the “soundtrack” to the ramblings, froggings, and chain smoking antics of the girls in this story.  As a Nirvana fan, I didn’t really want to do anything celebrating death or hype or whatever, I kind of wanted to celebrate how expression can lead to other forms of expression, and so because of the connection with “Dive In Me,” I thought it’d be fun to do a THE NEW GOTHIC giveaway during this big   Nirvana week.

Stone Skin Press is throwing in two copies to my one for a three book giveaway! Deets below.

THE RULES:  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post about either Nirvana or the Gothic–it is entirely up to you. Comments will be open from now until April 10 at 12 EST.  I will choose the best three comments and announce the winners Friday, April 11th at 8 am EST.

I do have one tiny request. The kind i09 review aside, THE NEW GOTHIC hasn’t had many reviews on Amazon, GoodReads, etc.  Obviously, it’s a free country, but if the winners of this contest would be so kind as to give their thoughts, even if you hate it, at some bookish reviewer thing, even if it is your blog, that would be lovely.

Alright. Well, let’s dive in then….