I received my copies of Issue 5, Ethereal Tales in the mail today. For a small, independent zine, I was impressed with the overall quality. The cover is nice and glossy, full color, too. I was even sent an adorable little button which reads, "My work was published in Ethereal Tales, Issue Five."
I will be wearing it proudly ;)
The best part for me is the fact Bleeding Apple happens to be on page 13. Yeah, I'm probably the only one who finds that deliciously funny, but I can't help it. Page 13!
I highly recommend ordering Ethereal Tales.
Direct link for Issue 5
Showing posts with label Bleeding Apple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bleeding Apple. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Bleed for Me - Lily's Halloween Affair
The doors are open! Let's start this with the perfect image.
Spooky and eerrily cute at the same time.
Spooky and eerrily cute at the same time.And here's the never before seen excerpt of Bleeding Apple:
“Ah, screw it,” he said to the blood seeping into the snow. Just one night. Failing to find any firewood, he warmed himself with a lit cigarette. After the last smoke was reduced to the filter, the stench of burning glue filling the air around him, he fell asleep sitting up. He dreamed.
They're making love and the knife is there. “Hold it up to my throat,” she hisses. He can't. “Then choke me,” she pleads. She wants him to strangle her until she loses consciousness. He won't. “You promised,” she cries. And he did. And there you have it. Get your copy of the zine today, available at Ethereal Tales!
Stop by anytime today or tomorrow to chat, hang out, or just to say hello. May everyone have have a spooky good time!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Yolanda Sfetsos - Faithless
Yolanda is an author from the other side of the world, the wonderful world of Oz. Australia, this is. She's an eclectic author who touches on a number of subjects, all of them “otherworldly.” I decided to consult Merriam Webster on this and found the second definition rather interesting. 2 : devoted to intellectual or imaginative pursuits
Yes, that's Yolanda – writer, mother and otherworldly.
Her novel Faithless, published with Damnation Books, describes Alyce Kerr's world – a faith healer possessed by a demon. And this made me quite curious...
Interview with Yolanda Sfetsos
Yolanda: Firstly, thanks for having me here today, Lily!
Lily: The pleasure is all mine! What possessed you to write about demon possession? (Sorry, couldn't resist the play on words).
Yolanda: Lol, love the play on words. Well, demon possession is actually a subject that I’ve tackled before in several of my stories. I find it fascinating, scary and totally freaky. So, I decided to take possession and twist it around to another level, because Alyce actually chose to conjure and bind a demon to herself. The demon didn’t force its way into her.
Lily: That's quite a different take on demon possession. What's the inspiration behind Faithless?
Yolanda: The inspiration for Faithless was the act of faith healing. I think it’s a strange, bizarre, yet interesting concept, so I got to thinking... imagine there was someone who could do that for real? But she had to pay dearly for it because the power came from a demon. I mean, it has to come from somewhere, doesn’t it?
I started researching and when I found the demon, Buer, the story took shape in my mind.
Lily: I must say, I love the title – direct and capturing, much like the cover. How did you think of it?
Yolanda: Oh, yeah, I love the cover. It was made by Jessica Lucero and she did a fantastic job!
As for the title, Alyce is someone who helps people by curing diseases and other health issues. With her healing, she encourages faith in others but she doesn’t seem to have much faith in anyone or anything, especially not in herself. Most of her big life decisions were made on a whim and when she was angry or desperate enough to go through with something without thinking. I felt that the word Faithless – lacking faith – was perfect for Alyce’s story.
Lily: I agree, it fits well. Any plans for a sequel?
Yolanda: Yes, Faithless is actually the first book in the Alyce Kerr, Faith Healer Trilogy. Damnation Books will release the second story, Careless, in March 2010, and the final book, Boundless, in June 2010.
They both continue the bleak story of Alyce, Ross, and Buer. Things continue to get a little more complicated for all of them. I'm also toying with the idea for a spin-off featuring a character introduced in Careless.
Lily: Ooh, new characters and spin-offs are always fun. On your website, you describe an interest in “otherworldy” writing subjects. What exactly does “otherwordly” entail?
Yolanda: When I was looking for a tagline for my website, I found it really hard to find a string of words that captured the stories I tell because I write in so many different genres – urban fantasy, paranormal, horror, futuristic, and even Sci-Fi. So there wasn’t anything that I could think of as an umbrella to cover all of those genres. Then I stumbled on the word otherworldly – Not belonging to the real world; unnatural; odd and unfamiliar – and felt that it fit perfectly.
That’s the one thing all of my stories have in common – there’s always something odd, paranormal, and dark about them.
Lily: It definitely fits. So what's in Yolanda's future?
Yolanda: Writing’s in my future. The ideas keep coming, and I’m having a blast getting them out of my head.
As I mentioned before, I’ve got a few upcoming releases with Damnation Books – including a zombie story, or two in December, not related to Alyce Kerr's world. As well as from Samhain Publishing and ImaJinn Books, so I’ll be pretty busy editing and promoting. I’ve also been busy writing a YA novel that’ll probably end up being a trilogy and several urban fantasy ideas that are slowly taking shape.
Keeping busy is the main thing I can see in my future. :)
I wish you all the luck with your endeavors, Yolanda, and thanks so much for stopping by!
For more information about Yolanda Sfetsos, visit her website: http://www.yolandasfetsos.com/
Faithless on Damnation Books: http://www.damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615720354
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Faithless/Yolanda-Sfetsos/e/9781615720347/?itm=2&usri=f
This is the last interview for the October Virtual Tour. Huge thanks to everyone who got involved. This has been a lot of fun! Best of luck to everyone!
Visit this blog tomorrow for an all day party, closing the virtual tour and celebrating Halloween. I'm announcing the upcoming release of Issue 5 of Ethereal Tales, which will have my never before seen short story Bleeding Apple. Stop by this blog anytime to chat, hang out and read an excerpt of Bleeding Apple which I will post here for the first time!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Big Announcements!
Ethereal Tales provides what they call, Sneaky Peaks. Previews of the content for the next issue and it just went live yesterday. Here is the excerpt used for Bleeding Apple:
"Go to hell,” she says, “maybe then you'll understand.”
His eyes fill with tears. “Maybe I don't want to understand.”
There's a knife lying next to her moon face. Seven inches, gleaming steel. His fingers around the black handle, stiff and cold. Eyes closed, words of encouragement whispering out of her barely moving, pale sapphire mouth. Is it his resolve that's stiffening even more or his fingers? He touches her long hair with the tip of the blade, and it gets caught. She shouldn't have used such cheap black hair dye. He sighs, his brow creasing into a worried frown.
"Now, for me,” she whispers urgently.
He looks at the knife through a blur and his tears drop on her breasts. He moves the knife to her thin throat and presses down. Blood. Hot and steaming, explodes into his eyes, up his nose, into his screaming mouth, screaming, too much blood, screaming black.
On the first morning of Peter's death, he didn't wake with a gasp or a shout. He only had an overwhelming feeling of resentment. He turned his head to the nightstand. The alarm clock should have woken him up. It would have if Peter had set it properly, which he never did. He bought the small red alarm clock on the advice of a co-worker. An overpriced device from Tokyo, he was positive he spent far too much money on the damned thing. He still hadn't figured out all of the functions and, of course, its failure was always stupidly obvious. He set it on snooze instead of buzzer. He set it on six p.m. instead of six a.m. He stared at the empty spot next to him on the bed. His wife hadn't returned from the hospital, he realized as the early morning fog faded. Yes, the alarm should have woken him up. Inanimate objects were so uncooperative.
This isn't the excerpt I'm posting on Oct 31, that will be something different ;)
And now for the really big announcement! I was drafting a new short story the other night and I got an idea. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be interesting to follow a writer from conception until publication? So, starting the beginning of November, I'm posting every detail of this experiment. Watch as I pull my hair out and tortured myself as I write the story, then do what I can to get it published. I'm doing this because I want to give people the chance to see all the work involved. Creative writing really isn't as easy as it looks. But for me, it's all worth :)
I have a bit of an advantage, truth be told. I wrote a version of this story I have in mind about 2 years ago, but I put it on the backburner because it just didn't feel ready. Now I'm ready. It needs a major rewrite and I'm actually quite excited about this. I love the idea for the story, and now I feel I'm ready to do it justice.
With a fair bit of work and a whole lot of luck, I just might get this one published :)
"Go to hell,” she says, “maybe then you'll understand.”
His eyes fill with tears. “Maybe I don't want to understand.”
There's a knife lying next to her moon face. Seven inches, gleaming steel. His fingers around the black handle, stiff and cold. Eyes closed, words of encouragement whispering out of her barely moving, pale sapphire mouth. Is it his resolve that's stiffening even more or his fingers? He touches her long hair with the tip of the blade, and it gets caught. She shouldn't have used such cheap black hair dye. He sighs, his brow creasing into a worried frown.
"Now, for me,” she whispers urgently.
He looks at the knife through a blur and his tears drop on her breasts. He moves the knife to her thin throat and presses down. Blood. Hot and steaming, explodes into his eyes, up his nose, into his screaming mouth, screaming, too much blood, screaming black.
On the first morning of Peter's death, he didn't wake with a gasp or a shout. He only had an overwhelming feeling of resentment. He turned his head to the nightstand. The alarm clock should have woken him up. It would have if Peter had set it properly, which he never did. He bought the small red alarm clock on the advice of a co-worker. An overpriced device from Tokyo, he was positive he spent far too much money on the damned thing. He still hadn't figured out all of the functions and, of course, its failure was always stupidly obvious. He set it on snooze instead of buzzer. He set it on six p.m. instead of six a.m. He stared at the empty spot next to him on the bed. His wife hadn't returned from the hospital, he realized as the early morning fog faded. Yes, the alarm should have woken him up. Inanimate objects were so uncooperative.
This isn't the excerpt I'm posting on Oct 31, that will be something different ;)
And now for the really big announcement! I was drafting a new short story the other night and I got an idea. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be interesting to follow a writer from conception until publication? So, starting the beginning of November, I'm posting every detail of this experiment. Watch as I pull my hair out and tortured myself as I write the story, then do what I can to get it published. I'm doing this because I want to give people the chance to see all the work involved. Creative writing really isn't as easy as it looks. But for me, it's all worth :)
I have a bit of an advantage, truth be told. I wrote a version of this story I have in mind about 2 years ago, but I put it on the backburner because it just didn't feel ready. Now I'm ready. It needs a major rewrite and I'm actually quite excited about this. I love the idea for the story, and now I feel I'm ready to do it justice.
With a fair bit of work and a whole lot of luck, I just might get this one published :)
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Ethereal Tales - Bleeding Apple
I'm very pleased to announce my short story Bleeding Apple has been accepted for publication in a special anniversary edition of Ethereal Tales - a fantasy zine based in the UK.
I'm being published again!!!
Ahem, sorry, I'm just so freaking excited :D
The issue will be released on Oct. 31. I will be making a post to announce the release, as the final date of the October virtual tour.
Happy Halloween!
About Bleeding Apple - Follow Peter as he deals with necrophilia, his wife's absence and a trip to hell.
I'm being published again!!!
Ahem, sorry, I'm just so freaking excited :D
The issue will be released on Oct. 31. I will be making a post to announce the release, as the final date of the October virtual tour.
Happy Halloween!
About Bleeding Apple - Follow Peter as he deals with necrophilia, his wife's absence and a trip to hell.
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