Niteblade

Every year choosing which stories to nominate for the Pushcart Prize is difficult. It’s not any easier this year because, despite the fact we only put out three issues instead of four because I’m very aware that this is the final time I will be nominating work from Niteblade for this prestigious award. Difficult as it was, however, I have made my decisions and mailed the package today so they are final and official.

I am pleased to announce that on behalf of Niteblade Magazine I was proud to nominate the following poems and stories for The Pushcart Prize:

• Candy, Shoe, and Skull; Sallow Flowers Plucked Like Chains by Eileen Wiedbrauk (March 2015)
• What Happened Among the Stars by Beth Cato (June 2015)
• Small Necessary Things by Angela Enos (June 2015)
• Sorry were those your sneakers? by Anne Carly Abad (September 2015)
• The Children of Monsters by Matthew Meade (September 2015)
• The Cicadas of Okinawa by Stephanie Lorée (September 2015)

Congratulations nominees, and good luck!

We are super proud to see several poems and one story from issue #27 of Niteblade show up on Ellen Datlow’s rec list for Best Horror of the Year (volume Seven)!

Megan Arkenberg, “Godfather”

Beth Cato, “Bird Girl” (poem)

Sandi Leibowitz,  “Braiding” (poem)

S. Brackett Robertson, “The Dryad to the Woodcarver”

On a related note, Ada Hoffmann’s poem from that issue, The Mermaid at Sea World, has been accepted into Imaginarium: Best Canadian Speculative Writing.

So. Incredibly. Proud.

Congratulations, ladies!

Long time Niteblade poetry editor Alexandra Seidel has an alter ego and that alter ego has a book out today. Luminous Dreams is a collection of erotic speculative fiction.

Congratulations Alexa!

This one is not for the faint of heart (or our younger readers).

Relax, close your eyes… and dream.

Eight tales, eight sensual dreams of enchantment, wanderlust and lovers’ longings, of searching and finding; these dreams tell of birds of fire, curses that lie like bridges between night and day, and hunger for sweet seduction.

Available Now!

If you are a Niteblade author and have an exciting announcement we’d love to help spread the news. Just contact Rhonda with the details!

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

Submissions are closed, but we aren’t done yet.

Not only is there one final issue yet to come, I’ve still got an awesome announcement or two up my sleeve…

~Rhonda

Wow. Time is doing that thing where it zooms by again. We’re counting down to our final issue and, more immediately, we’re counting down to when submissions are going to close. We’re still open but not for much longer. Please send us your best work by July 31st.

That’s less than two weeks away!

Issue #32: What Happened Among the Stars was released today. In this issue we’ve got farcical science fiction, magical horses, everyday immortals, creeping trees, fairies, close encounters with death and so much more.

Table of Contents:
Small Necessary Things by Angela Enos
Shamaness by Wendy Howe
Jacks by Nicholas L. Sweeney
What Happened Among the Stars by Beth Cato
Monkeyshines by J.B. Rockwell
Carousel Ifrit by Sandi Leibowitz
The Third Sister by Gabriel F. Cuellar
coming home by Senia Hardwick
The Night Wind’s Ballad by Alexandra Erin
The Hanging Tree by Brian Ennis

Available now:

Direct from Niteblade
Smashwords
Kobo
Amazon

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… 🙂

Last month Niteblade became the proud adoptive parent of Pumpkin, from Save the Chimps. Pumpkin was born in a laboratory, taken from his mother before he was two and ‘knocked down’ (anesthetized in what tends to be a very traumatic way) about 180 times and had his liver biopsied at least 23 times. By the time he was five years old, Pumpkin was self-mutilating.

You can read more about his story here.

In 2002, when Pumpkin was about 16 he was rescued by Save the Chimps and has been recovering in their sanctuary since then. These days he no longer self-mutilates and has been spending more and more time outside on ‘the island’ (which is a big thing for chimps raised in captivity).

These things, Pumpkin’s rescue and rehabilitation, would not be possible without donations received by Save the Chimps, and I’m exceedingly proud that the Niteblade family is counted among those donors.

Thank you.

Thank all of you, but an especially big thank you to the authors who donate their payment to help chimpanzees like Pumpkin. Your generosity matters and it does make a difference.

Read more about Pumpkin here.

ETA: This is the second chimp Niteblade has adopted. The first was Rufus.

In the face of Niteblade’s impending closure I invited our contributors to write blog posts to celebrate. Previously John Bruni took me up on the offer, and Cat Jenkins made a post on her blog. Now it’s Pete Aldin‘s turn… with a little help from, uh, Michael Bolton?

Tribute to Niteblade, as sung by Michael Bolton…

I could hardly believe it
When I heard the news today
I had to come and get it from your blog
They said you were leavin’
Someone’s taking you away
No more fae or zombie spores or demon dogs
So tell me all about it, tell me ’bout the
last editions
Then tell me one thing more before I go

[Chorus:]
Tell me how am I supposed to live without you
Now that I’ve been readin’ you so long
What am I supposed to read on train trips
Where am I supposed to catch such artwork
When pdf ezine Niteblade is gone

(Valè, Niteblade!!)