THE JUNKIE MUSE – by Isabelle Carruthers

Wanna read one of the first stories I ever edited? Way back in 2000 I became well acquainted with an exceptional young writer going by the pseudonym of Isabelle Carruthers. She wrote dramitic, psyhologically dark stories that had me and others in our little community at Zoetrope gushing. I selected my fave or hers, “The Junkie Muse” for publication in Zoetrope: All-Story Extra’s 23rd issue in May 2000. All these years later I’m still in love with the story and reflect on it with pride.

Excerpt:

She tried to examine her reflection in the grimy side mirror. Too much mascara, and lipstick too dark, but this was what they liked. Her black dress was damp from the oppressive humidity and clung to her skin like a fungus. She pulled at the fabric awkwardly as she crossed the street to the bar.

The Terpsichore Inn. The lettering on the sign was a dirty smear, barely legible in the glow of a dysfunctional street lamp salvaged from another century. She recognized the name of the Greek muse Terpsichore, the whirler. Classical mythology had once been a great passion, but now this was just a leftover scrap of knowledge from a past life.

Laura shifted the worn denim bag on her shoulder. It contained everything she owned, which wasn’t much. Everything but money, because today they had spent the last of it for nothing, for a high she barely felt. “The Fatal Underdose,” Hayden called it. It was a condition she knew well.
Copyright © 2000 by Isabelle Carruthers
For more, read: The Junkie Muse
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Shivering Sands by Warren Ellis

Mom, can I get this for Christmas? Does it have swear words from that snarky, cranky but uber-talented English writer fellow? Yes. Is it starkly irreverent to conventional thinking? Um, yeah? Does it broaden the mind with outside-the-box viewpoints and thought-provoking ideas. Well, yeah. Will it make you piss your pants while giggling like a school girl? YES!!! Why do you think I want it???

Buy it at Lulu.com

Bob Thurber – Maestro of Microfiction turned Novelist

Please allow me a moment to act like a fanboy regarding the writing of Bob Thurber, whom I’ve always revered as the Maestro of Micro Fiction. Nearly a dozen years ago we made acquaintances and I’ve championed his work since. Now this coming Spring I can finally have his writing on my bookshelf. Paperboy – A Dysfunctional Novel is his debut novel and guess what? It’s a novel made up of 150 short vignettes, effectively what is microfiction, his best stock and trade.

Static Movement Imprint

Static Movement is a small press publisher that is also great at showcasing the work of unknown authors as well as authors who are clearly already on the path of making a name for themselves tomorrow. I have stories in three of the anthologies and I am editing  an upcoming one, Local Heroes. Static Movement will always have a special place in my heart. Books are available on Amazon as well as the Pill Hill Press store. 


           
          

PROMO: Vampires Inc. – by Rick Taubold & Chris Hosey

Rick Taubold is a good friend of mine, so I would be remiss if I did not give a shout out to his and Chris R. Hosey’s Mortal Vampire series, which begins with Vampires Inc. The second book in this trilogy Vampires Anonymous was just released this past August. You won’t get emo, or gothic, or shimmery vamps here. It’s a more realistic take, if you will. Check it out.

Vampires Inc.