Niteblade

Archive for 2009

We love Niteblade readers. We really, really do. We think you rock, and you are one of the big reasons we, as writers, poets, editors and artists do what we do. With that in mind, we wanted to give you all a little something during this holiday season.

Please accept this free download of the .pdf version of our December 2008 issue, “Oh, Christmas Tree” with our appreciation. Have a wonderful holiday season and we’ll see you right here again in the new year.

Oh, Christmas Tree

Just a super quick update on the current status of submissions. Poetry subs are up-to-date for up to December 6th and fiction is caught up to October 22nd.

I’m reading Niteblade submissions today. All day. That is the only thing I will be doing. If you’ve sent a submission, watch your inbox, hopefully you’ll hear from me soon.

Taking inspiration from Holly Root who was seeking to empty her query inbox, I’m going to tweet about my progress. Unlike her I don’t actually expect to empty my mailboxes today but I’m going to make a pretty big push. If you want to read my progress it will be here Rhonda Parrish. I will try to update hourly.

A quick note about the status of submissions 🙂

Any poetry submitted before 10/26/09 has been read and responded to as has any fiction submitted before 9/28/09. If you submitted after those days, I haven’t gotten to your sub yet, if you submitted before and haven’t heard back from me, please query.

A teenage couple who will never grow up, and married couples together too long. The epitome of beauty, and a dream of dragons. A unique Christmas tree, and the secret behind the Clauses’ immortality.

Seen in with a not-quite-mad hatter, and out with a wish for the dawn, the tenth issue of Niteblade brings back some of the year’s favourites. Along with tales based on an image by Marge Simon, this collection of stories and poems plays around the edges of naughty and nice.

Nothing to Dread is finished and available for purchase as either a paperback or a download. I’m incredibly pleased with this connection and I hope you will be too.

As I grow into my role as editor, I become aware of, and capable of, things that the year before I was not. One of those things is the Pushcart Prize. Niteblade has published a lot of fantastic works this year and it was my pleasure to nominate six pieces (the most we were allowed) for this year’s Pushcart Prize.

Niteblade nominees, for works published in 2009:

And Yet Stars Still Existed by Beth Cato
Christmas’ End by Jamie Lackey
Following Rabbits by Gregg Winkler
Gender Characteristics by F.J. Bergmann
Dream Spinner by Robert E. Keller
What’s For Dinner? by Ash Krafton

Congratulations everyone, and good luck!

Who Mourns for the Hangman? By S. A. Bolich

"Who Mourns for the Hangman?" by S. A. Bolich

Published by Damnation Books

“Who Mourns for the Hangman?” is a novella by S. A. Bolich set in the 19th century. A hangman by the name of Scraggy Barton has been called to a town in order to hang a young man known only to him as “Young James.”

Scraggy is a hangman with a reputation.  His noose glows with the power of providing justice to the people.  If his noose glows, the person is a criminal, worthy of the death that he is about to receive.  Having received a letter regarding this “Young James,” the noose glowed stronger than it had in the past.  But will Scraggy be able to let it do its job?

This novella is extremely rich in imagery. While most writers and books on writing tell new writers to stay away from it, Ms. Bolich has masterfully used smidgens of dialect to color her story so that the readers’ suspension of disbelief even easier.  The emotions of Scraggy Barton as he is faced with a situation that he never once expected are clearly described and heavily felt in the stomach of the reader.

The characters in “Who Mourns for the Hangman?” are fully fleshed out and visible in the mind’s eye as the reader ingests the words of the story.  And, to answer the titular question, it is we, the readers, who mourn with the hangman as he remembers his life and choosing his work of distributing justice over that of being a father to his son, a husband to his wife.

I will be searching out more of Ms. Bolich’s work.  You can find her online at her website, The official site for S.A. Bolich and follow her writing blog, Words From Thin Air.

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Kari Wolfe is a freelance author, reviewer and stay-at-home mother of the cutest little girl in the whole wide world (ok, she is a little biased).  You can contact her directly at kari.j.wolfe (at) gmail.com and can find more of her work on her blog, Imperfect Clarity.

Pekinpah: An Ultraviolent Romance
Book Review by Jonathan Parrish

Pigshit.

A recurring theme, hammered into your head. You wallow in it, you might say.

I couldn’t be happier. Possibly as happy as a porcine in feces. Possibly my own.

D. Harlan Wilson’s Pekinpah: An Ultraviolent Romance is not a happy read; so (to paraphrase Gary Larson) if your fridge is covered in Family Circus cartoons, you will not like it. If, on the other hand, you thought Naked Lunch was one of the best reads you’ve had, then this book has a lot of potential for you.

The book is an homage to director Sam Pekinpah, the master of slow-motion ultraviolence – a director whose imagery persists in your memory. Single scenes stake claims in parts of your mind even when the movies as a whole fade (while Convoy has not remained intact in my memory, the cafe fight scene has).

Appropriately then, Wilson weaves words into a brutal tapestry, creating a presence that will remain with you long after you stop reading. Pekinpah is confrontational and crude, with clipped sentences and stark images. The images are gritty and the progression is erratic, a series of prose paintings.

“Sky the color of uncooked fowl. Dead signage with no titles. Abandoned. Expansive gravel pit. Tread marks from pickup trucks. Tumbleweed. Skeletal trees, skeletal bushes. Telephone poles. Dead smokestacks on the outskirts. Cinderblock outhouse and concession stand in the middle of the pit, haunted by the ghosts of hotdogs, caramel corn,  candy bars, Slurpees, eight lb. bowel movements… The movie screen looms over the pit. A dispossessed employee.”

The chapters describe what could be perceived as a series of scenes from a hypothetical movie. As Sam Pekinpah is no longer with us, the movie would, if it was ever made, need to be directed by David Lynch and it would be more disjointed than Eraserhead. John Woo, despite taking the mantle of slow-motion ultraviolence, would make the movie too pretty.

“Last line of the chapter—a quotation—a string of dialogue—a dark, gravely voice-over with a faint air of empathy and caring:… “We must first understand violence before we can control it.””

As disjointed as the individual pieces are, the chapters in Wilson’s book all come together into a melange, an existential love-letter to Sam Pekinpah. A more than fitting tribute. Strange. Erratic. Captivating.

The upcoming Niteblade anthology, to be released in December, has got a title and an official table of contents.

The title was suggested by BD Wilson and I think it’s perfect. This anthology will be titled Nothing To Dread. It plays with the cover image and is pulled from the poem, “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

Table of Contents:
Dead Again Tomorrow by T.J. Tranchell
Intelligent Designs by Alec Cizak
Alien Beauty by Guy Antibes
Of Warmth, Of Dragons by Michael R. Fosburg
On Its Own by Suzanne Sykora
Whipped by Paul Ingrassia
Blackened Borderland by Peter Diseth
Dead Teenagers at Make-out Point Joe L. Murr
Dream Spinner by Robert E. Keller
A Moment Before, A Moment After by Brian Rosenberger
Unsuitable Replacement by Jonathan Pinnock
Gender Characteristics by F.J. Bergmann
Sentry by Greg Schwartz
Untitled by Greg Schwartz
Family Jaunt by Lucien E.G. Spelman
The Homecoming by Lynette Mejia
Following Rabbits by Gregg Winkler
Anonymous Advice to Prospective Students of the Northern Witch by Donny Wankan
Oh, Christmas Tree by S. Alan Fox
Christmas’ End by Jamie Lackey
The List by Amanda Davis
Bait Worms by Aaron Polson
Night Lights by Aaron Polson
And Yet The Stars Still Existed by Beth Cato
Christmas Bloodbath by Beth Cato

Here’s a special Halloween treat for all those that love pen and ink or charcoal artwork, with a little bit extra. No tricks here; within the House of Chamberlin dwell lusty vampires, hungry werewolves, macabre musicians, and deadly dragons. Therein you may find creatures of darkness rendered in black and white, perhaps with just touches of added colour to better bring out their eerie and often bloodthirsty natures. As you stumble further down its halls, this strange artistic abode of the fantastic and horrific might  even surprise you with a flash of full-colour brilliance.

And who is master of this weird and wild house? An Alaskan with an interest in comic books and cartooning, Ric Chamberlin is the creative soul residing at the heart of the House of Chamberlin. Ric utilizes pen and ink, pastels, and charcoal to create his marvellous works of fantasy, horror, and whimsy.

Now, enter through those doors and enjoy!

More of Ric’s art can be seen on his DeviantART Site:
Ricky-Roo302.

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