Nerine Dorman’s Year in Review

One of the great people I have had the opportunity to get to know over the past two years is South African author and editor Nerine Dorman. Her popular blog This is My World has plenty of author interviews, WIP updates, opinion pieces, and reflections on music. Check out her recently published year in review.

  I first met Nerine on Facebook back in 2010, and she graciously agreed to read and review my novel “Let It Bleed“. She liked it (whew!), and we found out that we had a lot of things in common. Voila! Social media friendship success story!

Since then, our working relationship has continued to grow and expand. In January 2011, right before I exited from Dark Continents Publishing, one of the last projects I launched (with the divine Ms. Tracie McBride) was the successful Darkness and Dismay series of e-book novellas which included Nerine and her co-author/co-partner-in-crime Carrie Clevenger’s Blood and Fire. Simultaneously, Nerine was editing the South African Horrorfest’s Bloody Parchment: Lost Things, Hidden Things and Other Stories, which happens to have my story “The Woman Who Sold the World” in it.           

Next year, I’m looking forward to reading Blackfeather and Camdeboo Nights from this talented author. Keep up the incredible work, girl!

Tangled, Blue

Just sharing an accomplishment that I am rather proud of-

My story “Tangled, Blue” has been published in the newest issue of Dark Moon Digest. Issue 10 of this Horror Fiction Quarterly was published December 13, 2012 by Dark Moon Books, and is available for purchase on Amazon.

The editors at this magazine are first rate – I ca’t wait to read some of the other stories featured in this issue. Hope you check it out.

Blinded by the Light

Hello, friends.

One of my all-time favorite subjects to discuss and contemplate is religious arcana and ancient mysteries. I am particularly fond of obscure theories or mythologies which attempt to explain the unexplainable, and will spend hours trying to analyze and understand what people with much higher IQs then my own have presented as fact.

World creationism myths, European royal lineage intrigues, Gnosticism, paganism, paranormal and UFO conspiracies, secret government societies… I love it all. But the one subject that I am truly passionate about is the scholarly debate surrounding most Catholic/Judaic/Christian Arcanum which claims to prove/disprove or reveal academic insight into the origins of religion and religious demagoguery. Brian Allan discusses the Shroud of Turin in his excellent article Christ, The Shroud, and The Rainbow Body first printed in Brian Allan’s Voodoo Visions from Paranormal Magazine.

Within the context of his article, he gives considerable attention to the many legitimate theories which exist regarding the fabled Shroud, and provides interesting details on several scientific studies which indicate that UV light effects DNA, thus indicating that a photographic image could be created if the subject matter emitted enough light and enegry in a single, intense moment.

Allan explains the information in easy-to-read language, and withholds his own opinions on the subject. A unique and carefully written essay that allows the reader to make their own decisions about the legitimacy of the Shroud of Turin.

Beloved Bookstore Cats

Shakespeare Bookshop opposite Notre Dame

There is nothing more comforting then a bookstore – unless it is an independent bookstore with a cat mascot. In her recent article about 10 Excellent Bookstore Cats, Miss Cellania treats her readers to international list of beautiful felines who live among the stacks of books in their various bookstores.

With names like “Trouble” and “Spike”, these cats have developed passionate followings in their communities. Many of them have their own twitter accounts and Facebook pages. After all, if you have to follow someone’s tweets, why not follow a book-loving cat who makes reading recommendations and lists their hobblies as ‘eating and sleeping’?

The topic of cats and bookstores generates lots of hits on the search engines. Want to meet a few more delightful literary feline friends? Check out this article featuring Cleo from the bookstore of my Alma Mater in Manhattan, KS and  this one about NYC bookstore cats. The LA Times has a sweet photographic essay featuring books and the cats that love them. Enjoy meeting these kitty superstars, and let me know if I’ve missed your favorite cat from your favorite bookstore!