Niteblade

Archive for the ‘TOC’ Category

Wow. It’s our final issue. It all feels so surreal, I don’t even know what to say.

Thank you to everyone whose work has graced the pages of Niteblade, and to everyone who has worked (behind the scenes and otherwise) to make this magazine amazing. Thirty-three issues. Every one of them on time and as scheduled. That is no small feat. Thank you!

Special thank yous to:

Marge Simon — Niteblade would not be the same without your art, that distinctive style you’ve lent to our pages.
BD Wilson — We’d have never seen 8 years (8 years!!) without you. Thank you for talking me out of closing this magazine down so many years ago and for taking over all the web-based stuff. You’re awesome.
Alexandra Seidel — From slush reader to poetry editor to friend. You are amazing and I’m so pleased to have been able to work with you for so long.
Jonathan Parrish — Without you Niteblade wouldn’t exist. You’ve supported me in everything I do, but you’ve really gone above and beyond when it comes to Niteblade. Offering moral, financial and technical support and doing more work behind the scenes than anyone will ever know. Anyone but me, that is. Thank you. You’re amazing and I love you.

And especially thank you to our readers. Without you this would all be pointless and I have really and truly valued your support through the years. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

This final issue has two covers based on Sandi Leibowitz’s poem, The Island of Crows. That is because cover designer, Jonathan Parrish, wanted to do one in our newer style and one in the style we used way back when it all began. The interior layout of the downloadable copies is also a hybrid between the old style and the new.

I hope you enjoy our final issue, the table of contents look like this:

Table of Contents:

The Cicadas of Okinawa by Stephanie Lorée
Sorry, were those your sneakers? by Anne Carly Abad
Be Civilized: A Baba Yaga Story by Megan Branning
The Island of Crows by Sandi Leibowitz
The Children of Monsters by Matthew Meade
The Mirror Window by Alicia Cole
Mary by Andrea DeAngelis
The Labyrinth by Selena Bulfinch
The Garden Arch by Joshua Steely
Coyote in Long Island City by Sandi Leibowitz
Bubbles and Goats by Robina Williams

~Rhonda

Our dark fairy tale-themed issue is amazing, and it’s available now 🙂

Contents

Candy, Shoe, and Skull; Sallow Flowers Plucked Like Chains by Eileen Wiedbrauk
Fruits by Sandi Leibowitz
The Men in the Wall by Rhonda Eikamp
Sefiria the Lesser–A Tale From The Secret Egyptian History of Murtadi, Son of Gaphiphus by Darius M. Klein
Hunger by Sandi Leibowitz
A Curse and a Kiss by Eric J. Guignard
Snip. Clip. Whip. by T. Fox Dunham
Et je ne pleurais jamais les larmes cicatrisantes magiques; c’est seulement un mensonge joli: Aarne-Thompson Index No. 310 by Elizabeth R. McClellan
The Flight of the Silk Moth by Zoe McAuley
All the Better by Lissa Sloan
Caught by Sandi Leibowitz

As you can see, we could have sub-titled this issue ‘The Sandi Leibowitz Special’. This is what happens when you read submissions blind… 🙂

Issue #30 is alive and kicking! This one is pretty amazing and features monsters, traditional and otherwise, living nightmares, modernized hauntings, and subtle horror that will give you chills. The be specific, the table of contents looks like this:

Abominable Snowman by Ada Hoffmann
Cold by Thomas Wood
Nameday by Anne Carly Abad
A Million Miles Away by Christian Riley
Vampyrics by John Philip Johnson
Bindings by Jamie Killen
The Art by Sandi Leibowitz
Three Little Words by Sealey Andrews
Ghost Engine Updates an Ad for Angry Spirits by Anne Carly Abad
Date of Death by Stone Showers

It’s also available in more places than ever before. Check out this list:

• Niteblade Website (previews only until we hit our fundraising/sales goal)
• Niteblade Shop (.pdf, .ePub or .mobi)
•  Smashwords
• Amazon
• Kobo

So amazing! You won’t be disappointed.

I am incredibly proud to announce the release of the September 2014 issue of Niteblade — Porcelain Doll.

This issue (which is #29 for those of you keeping track at home), contains:

St. Winifred Medical Center, Abandoned by Joshua Gage
Shelba’s Brood by M.E. Garber
The Gate of Horn by Megan Arkenberg
Dancing with the Departed by Anna Zumbro
Porcelain Doll by J.A. Grier
There She Stands by Nathaniel W. Phillips
Awakened by Sandi Leibowitz
Lena’s Confession by Kristi Brooks
Valediction for the Dungeon Master by Mark Jones
The Crew by Doug Blakeslee

It’s a great selection. It’s interesting to watch how themes emerge from the slush pile and I feel like this issue has strong flavours of hauntings and love… and sometimes the both together.

You can preview all the stories and poems at our website — Niteblade #29: Porcelain Doll and if that intrigues you, pick up a downloadable copy at the Niteblade Store (which means we don’t have to pay anyone commissions) or, if you prefer, at the following third party websites:

Porcelain Doll at Smashwords
Porcelain Doll at Amazon
Porcelain Doll at Kobo

It begins with a subtle titillation of curiosity…
groaning floorboards at the dark end of the hall…
the rising musk of something savage…
cloven hooves on cobblestones…
a quivering chill…
And then there’s no going back!

From the mists of antiquity to the edge of madness, the handpicked original fiction of Niteblade Magazine spans the finest reaches of Horror and Fantasy writing. Each issue features short stories and poems that intrigue, terrorize, inspire, and do not let you go!

June’s issue is a riveting mix of selections that soothe with a feather’s touch and wrench you back around with white-knuckle intensity. It’s the full experience and the full release of horror and fantasy at its most compelling.

This issue contains:

Clotho by L.S. Johnson
The Summer I Fell In Love by Aaron Polson
A Means for the Journey by Erin Cole
Monstrovarious by Adam Armstrong
Stone City Old as Immeasurable Time by Kelda Crich
The Bitter Gourd’s Fate by Anne Carly Abad
Looking-Glass Lover by Sara Norja
Labyrinth of Sand by Sandi Leibowitz
My Siren by Amelie Daigle

You can check out the teasers on our website right now. The full stories and poems will be available once we reach our sales/donation goal of $50 for this issue. If you just can’t wait (and who could blame you), you can pick up a downloadable version of this issue right now for $2.99. Not only will that place a full digital copy in your possession immediately, it will push us closer to our goal so other people, not able to purchase their own copy, will be able to read it online for free sooner rather than later. Win/Win 🙂

Niteblade #28: Looking-Glass Lover

I always think each issue we produce is better than the last, and this is no exception. Issue #27: The Mermaid at Sea World is definitely one of the strongest line-ups we’ve ever put together. You’re going to love this one, I guarantee it!

What if you had power over death? Or, if bleeding could transform you into something new altogether? From dryads to mermaids to lycanthropes to zombies, the stories and poems contained here offer musings on these creatures and much more. So sit down with a cup of tea, a warm blanket, and a book light—these tales will transport you to far-off fantasy worlds and into the forgotten corners of the darkest minds. It is Niteblade, where the strange and unusual lay down their roots.

Includes:

Bird Girl by Beth Cato
Godfather by Megan Arkenberg
The Dryad to the Woodcarver by S. Brackett Robertson
Hunt of the Damned by David Stegora
The Mermaid at Sea World by Ada Hoffmann
Crossing the Veil by Jamie Lackey
the queen’s pauper by Anna Sykora
You Kill Me by Milo James Fowler
Braiding by Sandi Leibowitz
Hold My Hand by K. A. Mielke

Issue #26 of Niteblade is a theme issue. Earlier in the year we held a fundraiser and one of the perks donors could choose was to pick the theme for our December issue. An generous donor who would like to remain anonymous, donated $100 to Niteblade for the chance to pick the theme for this issue and they chose ‘Ghost Stories’. They especially wanted winter ghost stories, but were open to any type of haunting tale.

After reading through a great many submissions the poetry editor, Alexandra Seidel, and myself (with the help of our fabulous fiction slush readers Alexis and Samantha), have put together a fantastic line up of ghostly verse and stories. This is a big issue packed full of spooks, spectres and all manner of things that will send chills up your spine.

Table of Contents:
House 5 by Adele Gardner
Memory Walking by KB Lawrence
A Fixer-Upper by Amanda C. Davis
Soldier’s Return by Robert Dawson
Envying the Dead by Francis W. Alexander
The Isle of Skye by Adele Gardner
Hot Biscuits by Elizabeth Archer
Hanashi Ukemi by Kenneth Kao
A Voice, Independent by Christos Callow Jr.
Dead Letters by Sandi Leibowitz
Heaven & Earth by Adrienne J. Odasso
Pushed Out by Jay Wilburn
Wintery Silence by Shari Jo LeKane-Yentumi

Issue #25: Alice Underground gets its title from a phenomenal poem by Brittany Warman and sports one of my favourite covers of all time! We certainly aren’t growing complacent as we grow older here at Niteblade, this issue packs a hell of a wallop:

Lady Mary Speaks of Dreams by Sandi Leibowitz
With The Band by Carl Barker
Bitter Mnemosyne by Sara Norja
Jonesy by Evan Purcell
Alice Underground by Brittany Warman
Starry Night by David Luntz
Le Cirque by Jess Simms
the moon, so low by Dan Campbell
The Kiss of Legend by T.H. Lee
This man by Erik Amundsen
Empire of Ash by Cameron Johnston
Not Too Bold by Shira Lipkin

You can purchase your copy of our latest issue directly from the Niteblade Store, or Amazon (coming soon to Kobo).

In other exciting news, due to the generosity of our authors we have raised enough money to adopt a chimp from Save the Chimps. I will make a post about that next week and we will hold a vote to pick exactly which chimp we’ll be adopting.

June 2013 brings us issue #24 of Niteblade. This one is entitled, Forbidden Island, and it’s pretty fabulous. Check out this ToC:

Compassion, During and After the Fall by Cory Cone
Forbidden Island by J.A. Grier
The Imago by Carly Berg
The Travelling Dead by Keith Kennedy
The Peculiar Fruit of the Savage Chinchilla by Kate Duva
Where We Died by Shira Lipkin
Little Stitches by M. Shaw
An Unexpected Review by Michele Bannister
Shifting Sands of Blood by Rebecca Harwell

We seem to have ended up with a bit of a zombie theme for this one, but that is certainly not all you’ll find. We’ve also got exotic places, tiny people and bizarre pets. There’s something inside for every fantasy and horror lover. If you don’t believe me check out the teasers we’ve got waiting for you.

You can pick up a copy of this issue at our Store where you can purchase Forbidden Island in several formats (.pdf, .mobi or .epub). It will also be coming soon to the Amazon page for Kindle as well as to Kobo. If you’d rather read it online, you can make a donation (from the sidebar on almost every page on this site) and once we reach our sales/donation goal of $40 we will release the website version for free to everyone.

What’s more our generous authors have donated a total of $25 this issue, added to the $35 from our previous issue that brings our current total earmarked for Save the Chimps to $60. Once it reaches $75 I will match that donation and Niteblade will “Adopt a Chimp”. It looks like that will be a reality very soon.

Issue #23 is looking fabulous! I’m sure you’ll agree 🙂

This quarter we have five poems and five stories and each is better than the last.

Table of Contents

Gathered Augury by S. Brackett Robertson
Infectious by Lilah Wild
Blodeuwedd by Virginia M. Mohlere
For the Dead Travel Fast by Ramón Paso
The Storm Rises by Dan Campbell
Locket by Kristi DeMeester
Destination by Ken Poyner
The Whipping Tree by Pete Aldin
before by Lynn Hardaker
Letting Go of the Children and Moving On by kaolin fire

As mentioned before in our Miscellanea update, this year rather than offering our writers the option of donating their payment to Duotrope we gave them the option of payment via Paypal or a donation to Save the Chimps. So far we have $35 worth of donations heading toward the chimps. Once that number reaches $75 I will match it and Niteblade will adopt a chimp.

March 2013 – Blodeuwedd