I Puncture Him All Over – new story on Macabre Cadaver

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 1 Comment

Continuing on with a busy week of stories coming out. My fairly bleak short story I Puncture Him All Over has just been published on the ever-varied Macabre Cadaver. It’s a more brutal and graphic story than I normally write, but stylistically I’m very happy with it. My thanks, also, to editor Emmanuel Paige for his suggestions which have helped to strengthen the story from the original version I submitted.

My short “reading for writing” review was to be on The Engine of Recall by Karl Schroeder, but I’ll do that next week, assuming normal service resumes.

Social Media for the Undead – new story on MicroHorror

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 1 Comment

Heck with it – this is a busy week for stories of mine, so I’m abandoning my regular features, such as they are, to broadcast announcements. A new story – Social Media for the Undead – has been published on the MicroHorror site. This is a quick, fun piece of flash fiction. Well, ironically fun I suppose, perhaps loaded and pointed, but anyway I hope you enjoy.

Normal service will resume as soon as possible.

Butterfly Kisses in House of Horror issue 10

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 1 Comment

My longer horror story (ie, not flash) “Butterfly Kisses” has been published in issue 10 of the extraordinary House of Horror. S.E. is a masterful and enthusiastic editor and the site is full and busy and entertaining. Thanks to Shane, who selected the story for the issue.

I know Tuesday is usually music to write to – I was going to review The Geometry of Night by S.E.T.I. – but I’ll do that later. I figure announcements and self-promotion can over-ride. Unless something unusual happens I’ll review Geometry on Friday.

Clarity Moss 1862 – new Venus Vulture track on ReverbNation

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I’m gradually in the process of releasing new ambient tracks during the year, while I focus on writing. The new track Clarity Moss 1862 is a quiet seven minute excursion with some occasional drum patterns and low-key melodies. Hopefully interesting enough to be engaging, discrete enough to be ignored.

Clarity Moss is a fictional character, of Slovenian and Irish ancestry. As a child she came to Canada via the US in the early 1800s and went on to become a bookseller and keen amateur natural historian. She did a lot of work cataloguing of fish species in Canadian rivers, some believe the most comprehensive work of the time. The notes were never published, but found amongst her letters and documents by her children after her death in 1862.

The track, as with the others on the ReverbNation page, is available to stream or download for free.

(Thursday is usually my “reading for writing” day, but really I’ve been reading two things lately: student portfolios, and a review book which is kind of embargoed until the review comes out, so next week then. I’m going to take a little break from the blog over Easter – back on Tuesday)

Stone Goddess – podcast

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 3 Comments

My story “The Stone Goddess” originally published in Horror Through The Ages, the first anthology from Lame Goat Press, has been read by Barry J Northern in the new Lame Goat Podcast. Barry does an excellent job – his pacing and tone is wonderful and really does the story justice.

The Stone Goddess Podcast

Barry is creating a fantastic archive of podcasts from Lame Goat publications – “Lacerta” by Jodi MacArthur, “Beserker” by Deborah Walker and “Their Dark Master” by Mark Anthony Crittendon, with more to come.

Mikronesia – Tissue Paper Ghosts

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The Gears of Sand label has an eclectic mix of recordings. Mikronesia’s album Tissue Paper Ghosts is one that straddles the lines – at times a bit glitchy, at other times quite drone based. The last track “Remember / Home” is both the longest (around 10 minutes) and quietest, and probably my favourite, and a great way to close out the album. Wonderful to write to – edgy enough to keep me alert and busy.

Green Zone is not Bourne, nor should it be

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I got along to see Green Zone and enjoyed it for what it was – a well-paced political/military thriller. Some of the promotion for the movie – guns levelled, helicopters crashing and the star/director combo – seems to suggest that this is just Bourne by another name. A pity because it stands on its own as well-made cinema. Perhaps they should have made it before Ultimatum?

Pecha Kucha trainwreck

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 2 Comments

Whew, after weeks of being overwhelmed and consumed by my preparation for the Pecha Kucha event at Te Manawa, it’s done and over and wrecked. I had fun, even if I got a bit caught up in the talking and losing track of where I was, having decided to abandon my notes and talk to the slides, a little technology glitch, talking about things before the slide arrived, then talking backwards about slides which had already passed, I stumbled and careered through the 6 minutes forty and ended up back in my seat breathless. Wow, it was much harder than it had looked, but hugely worthwhile. The other speakers were inspiring and entertaining and informative, so it was a good night.

My talk was about Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville and his invention of the phonautograph, and the recording he made, and writing and the Infrequency project with Scott de Martinville’s recording, and ambient music and computer art. There were some photos taken, so I may be able to get hold of them and make them available somewhere. I took a video too, but that may well stay in the vault.

Now, on with the tutoring.

Unplugged – anthology of science fiction and fantasy

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Unplugged is a cool idea: a print collection of science fiction and fantasy stories that originally appeared online. As with any anthology, there are stories that appeal and stories which don’t, but overall the standard is pretty high. My personal favourite is “Snatch Me Another” by Mercurio D. Rivera – great pacey writing, a cool idea (a neat twist on the idea of alternate universes. There are some known writers here – Cory Doctorow, Nancy Kress, etc. – and also some less established names. There’s a handy list at the back of the volume with the original websites – some no longer functioning, but an intriguing resource. A cool description on the back cover too “unplugged surfs the web so you don’t have to” – that’s good, ‘cos I’m thinking lots of us (ie me) could do with a little less web time and a little more A.R.

Music from Alien Cities by Venus Vulture used on book trailer

~ Sean Monaghan ~ 2 Comments

James Kay Publishing has used some music from the Venus Vulture ep Alien Cities in a cool book trailer. The trailer promotes Derek Bullard’s book Mayan Moon which I hope to read soon.

The Alien Cities glitchy space-music feel seems to suit the trailer, especially since it’s tied in with some music by Thomas Andersson which is more uptempo and melodic (you can tell easily which music is mine and which is Thomas’s).

It’s cool to be part of this kind of thing – Venus Vulture music being linked back to science fiction writing. Alien Cities remains a reasonably popular download, especially considering it’s early work and I haven’t really put much promotion behind it. Bizarrely the ep cover is by far the most popular image on my flickr site – it has been viewed 10x as often as my next most popular image.