Wicked Shadow Press: "Masks of Sanity - The Monster Within" - ANTHOLOGIES!

Let it be said Wicked Shadow Press is slowly dominating the horror anthology market! Their anthologies focus on a particular theme, keep to that theme, they make their books beautiful both inside and outside, some times with art, give each title collectible value (I saw one book fetching $95.00 on Ebay few months back), and they have heavy exposure in India. The next title is no exception, and I…

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"Me, a Hero" published the Masks of Sanity anthology

My psychological horror story Me, a Hero has been published in the Masks of Sanity: Hidden in Plain Sight anthology by Wicked Shadow Press. It’s a story about a man who joins the search for a missing girl in hopes of making an appearance on the local evening news.

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All the Comics 2019

Series I read as they came out:

Archie Assassin Nation Batman Universe Black Panther By Night Catwoman Die Exorsisters Ghosted in L.A. Ghostspider Giant Days Gwenpool Strikes Back Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy Invisible Kingdom Laguardia Last Stop on the Red Line Lazarus: Risen Lois Lane The Magnificent Ms. Marvel Man-Eaters Monstress Ms. Marvel Once & Future King Paper Girls Pretty Deadly: The Rat Redlands Sabrina the Teenage Witch Sleepless Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider Spider-man and Venom: Double Trouble Steeple Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl The Unstoppable Wasp West Coast Avengers The White Trees The Wicked + the Divine

Graphic Novels & Trade Paperbacks

The Life of Captain Marvel Margaret Stohl Carlos Pacheco Batgirl Vol. 4: Strange Loop Hope Larson Sami Basri Jessica Jones: Blind Spot Kelly Thompson Mattia De Iulis Doom Patrol Vol 2: Nada Gerard Way Nick Derington Kim Reaper: Grim Beginnings Sarah Graley Batman Vol. 8: Cold Days Tom King Lee Weeks Hilda and the Troll Luke Pearson Batwoman Vol. 3: Fall of the House of Kane Marguerite Bennett Fernando Blanco X-23: Family Album Mariko Tamaki Juann Cabal Andre the Giant: Life and Legend Box Brown How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less Sarah Glidden Get Your War On David Rees March Book One John Lewis & Andrew Aydin Nate Powell Barbarous Vol 1 Ananth Hirsh Yuko Ota Barbarous Vol 2 Ananth Hirsh Yuko Ota March Book Two John Lewis & Andrew Aydin Nate Powell March Book Three John Lewis & Andrew Aydin Nate Powell The Real Folk Blues: A Cowboy Bebop Fanbook Anthology ed. Zainab Akhtar Batman Detective Comics Vol 2 The Victim Syndicate James Tynion IV Alvaro Martinez Off Season James Sturm Kiss Number 8 Colleen AF Venable Ellen T. Crenshaw Cleopatra in Space: Fallen Empires Mike Maihack Batman Detective Comics Vol 3: League of Shadows James Tynion IV Marcio Takara The Hero Business Season Two Bill Walko When I Arrived at the Castle Emily Carroll The Weather Man Jody LeHeup Nathan Fox The Girl Who Married a Skull & Other African Stories ed. C. Spike Trotman ed. Kate Ashwin ed. Kel McDonald ed. Taneka Stotts F*ck Off Squad Nicole Goux Dave Baker The Breakaways Cathy G. Johnson Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me Mariko Tamaki Rosemary Valero-O'Connell Batman Vol. 9 The Tyrant Wing Tom King Tom Taylor Mech Cadet Yu Volume Two Grek Pak Takeshi Miyazawa Sincerely, Harriet Sarah W. Searle The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire Part One Michael Dante DiMartino Michelle Wong Avatar The Last Airbender: Imbalance Book Two Faith Erin Hicks Peter Wartman Snotgirl: vol 2: California Screaming Bryan Lee O'Malley Leslie Hung Skyward: Vol 1 Joe Henderson Lee Garbett Shuri: Vol 1: The Search for Black Panther Nnedi Okorafor Leonardo Romero Crowded: Vol 1: Soft Apocalypse Chrisopher Sebela Ro Stein Ted Brandt I Hate Fairyland: Vol 1: Madly Ever After Skottie Young I Hate Fairyland: Vol 2: Fluff My Life Skottie Young I Hate Fairyland: Vol 3: Good Girl Skottie Young I Hate Fairyland: Vol 4:  Sadly Never After Skottie Young California Dreamin' Penelope Bagieu Runaways: Best Friends Forever Rainbow Rowell Kris Anka Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles Mark Russell Mike Feehan My Brother's Husband Gengorah Tagame Rice Boy Evan Dahm FTL Y'all ed. C. Spike Trotman ed. Amanda Lafrenais Gothic Tales of Haunted Love ed. Hope Nicholson ed. S.M.Beiko The Immortal Hulk: Or is he both? Al Ewing Joe Bennett X-23: X-Assassin Mariko Tamaki Diego Olortegui Ant-Man and the Wasp: Lost and Found Mark Waid Javier Garron Power Man and Iron Fist: The Boys Are Back in Town David Walker Sanford Greene Iceman: Thawing Out Sina Grace Alessandro Vitti Iceman: Absolute Zero Sina Grace Robert Gill Song of Aglaia Anne Simon Batman Detective Comics: Vol 4 Deus Ex Machina James Tynion IV Alvaro Martinez Harley Quinn: Broken Glass Mariko Tamaki Steve Pugh The Immortal Hulk: The Green Door Al Ewing Joe Bennett Power Man and Iron Fist: Civil War David F. Walker Flaviano Cosplayers Dash Shaw Bad Machinery: The Case of the Modern Men John Allison Is This How You See Me? Jaime Hernandez a city inside Tillie Walden The Immotal Hulk: Hulk in Hell Al Ewing Joe Bennett Slowly but Shirley Catalina Rufin Stage Dreams Melanie Gillman Homunculus Joe Sparrow Verse Book One Sam Beck Laid Waste Julia Gfrorer Gorgeous Cathy G. Johnson Cosmoknights Hannah Templer The Hard Tomorrow Eleanor Davis Pumpkin Heads Rainbow Rowell Faith Erin Hicks Funky Town Mathilde Van Gheluwe Pleading with Stars Kurt Ankeny Avatar The Last Airbender: Imbalance Book Three Faith Erin Hicks Peter Wartman The Love Bunglers Jaime Hernandez Spider-man Life Story Chip Zdarsky Mark Bagley Are You Listening? Tillie Walden November Matt Fraction Elsa Charretier Rusty Brown Chris Ware Dangerously Chloe Volume 3 David Lumsdon Jason Waltrip The Astonishing Ant-Man: Small-Time Criminal Nick Spencer Ramon Rosanas Doctor Aphra: Aphra Kieron Gillen Kev Walker Moonstruck Grace Ellis Shae Beagle

Minis

Maids no. 1 Katie Skelly Frontier #18 Tiffany Ford Two of Us Jessi Zabarsky Visiting Alivia Horsley Sobek James Stokoe Resort on Caelum Wren McDonald Boogsy Michelle Kwan Frontier #19 Hannah Waldron Maids no. 2 Katie Skelly Frontier #20 Anatola Howard Minotaar Lissa Treiman Pass the Baton Hana Chatani Cry Wolf Girl Ariel Ries At the Edge of the Stream at Dusk Jen Lee Cavity Michelle Theodore Hsthete Melanie Gillman David, I Love You Eileen Marie The Cutest Curse Laura Terry Churn Amelia Onorato An Eye for an Eye Kimberly Wang Women on Paper: 3 Stories Anna Christine Liminal State Maria Photinakis Melusine, The Collector and the Gift of the Pearls Edie Voges Infinite Wheat Paste Issue 3 Pidge Anew Dillon Gilbertson Anastasia Longoria Big Wally James McGarry Sam Bennett Frontier #21 Derek Yu Frontier #22 Tunde Adebimpe

Graphic novel is a stupid term that often encompasses things that are not novels, but I used it as a blanket term for anything comics I read that were bound rather than stapled. Minis are shorter works, stapled, and generally self-published by the artist, or done by a small press like Shortbox or Youth in Decline. I was totally lazy about crediting creators on series because my actual list for that is a grid, keeping track of each issue. Similarly, when listing creators on trades, I tended to only list writer and artist which is enough for some books, but sometimes there are many more, inkers, and colorists and letterers, and maybe I’ll do better next year.

Support your local library, your local comic shop (especially Hub Comics if you’re in the Boston area), and indie comic shows like MICE. 

Tuesday’s Treats is a weekly blog post dedicated to newly released books that I’m most excited for. (Books are in no particular order.)

All books featured this week will be released: JAN 8th

1. The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air: 2): Holly Black (goodreads) (book depository)

The first book in Holly Black’s The Folk of the Air series, The Cruel Prince was one of my most anticipated reads of last year, so it’s only fitting that it’s sequel is on this year’s list. After the cliffhanger ending, I’ve been impatiently waiting for the sequel to arrive. Now that it’s here, I cannot wait to see what happens with Jude and Cardan.

YA Fantasy; Little, Brown/Hachette, Hardcover (US)

2. Slayer (Slayer: 1): Kiersten White (goodreads) (book depository)

GIVE ME ALL THE BUFFY INSPIRED BOOKS!

YA Paranormal Fantasy; Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster, Hardcover (US)

3. The Girl King (The Girl King: 1): Mimi Yu (goodreads) (book depostiory)

Sisters Lu and Min have grown up knowing who they were going to be: Lu is destined to become the Empire’s first female ruler, and Min is destined to live in her shadow. But when their father names their cousin, Set, the heir instead, Lu and Min’s entire lives are thrown off course. Determined to reclaim her throne, Lu goes on the run to find allies — and an army — where she meets Nokhai, the last surviving wolf shapeshifter. Meanwhile, Min stays at court and her hidden magic awakens; a magic so powerful that it could secure Set’s reign, or allow her to claim the throne for herself.

YA Fantasy; Bloomsbury, Hardcover (US)

4. Two Can Keep a Secret: Karen M. McManus (goodreads) (book depository)

The latest novel from last year’s breakout author Karen M. McManus, Two Can Keep a Secret follows Ellery as she moves to Echo Ridge, a seemingly perfect small town that is hiding some big secrets. The main problem: most people in Echo Ridge aren’t good at keeping secrets, even the dangerous ones…

YA Mystery/Thriller, Delacorte Press/Random House, Hardcover (US)

5. Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America: Ibi Zoboi [Editor] (goodreads) (book depository)

An anthology best described as a showcase of “diversity within diversity,” Black Enoughis a collection of seventeen stories from various authors about what it is like to grow up Black in all different parts of America. The best kind of reading, in my opinion, is reading from different viewpoints than your own. So, I cannot wait to dive into this one.

YA Contemporary Fiction, Short Stories; Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, Hardcover (US)

6. In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children: 4): Seanan McGuire (goodreads) (book depository)

The fourth book in the Wayward Children series follows Katherine Lundy, the group’s therapist who claims to be eighty-years-old despite only looking like she’s eight. Katherine is a girl who likes to dream and likes numbers. Finding a doorway to a paradise seemingly made for her, she ventures through a doorway to the goblin market where deals of all kinds are made.

Fantasy; Tor/Macmillan, Hardcover (US)

7. We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World: Malala Yousafzai (goodreads) (book depository)

In We Are Displaced activist Malala Yousafzai shares her story as an Internally Displaced Person in Pakistan as well as the stories of other girls she has met who have been pushed out of their homes.  

YA Nonfiction – Biography; Little, Brown/Hachette, Hardcover (US)

8. A Cathedral of Myth and Bone: Kat Howard (goodreads) (book depository)

I read Kat Howard’s An Unkindness of Magicians two years ago, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Her latest book, A Cathedral of Myth and Bone is a collection of sixteen stories all about different myths, retelling them in new and exciting ways. I’m so so excited.

Fantasy, Short Stories; Saga Press/Simon & Schuster, Hardcover (US)

E. Kristin Anderson: Inside Us Is an Earthquake

And Still He Will Be Remembered as the Believer

                                                (after The X-Files)

 Believe in ghosts—      the ones that whisper in your ear late at night

in the office         the ones that pull at your childhood        like a storybook

and a chilling draft.      Believe in flying saucers       because you’ve seen

the bright lights yourself       felt the empty-full feeling       of tractor beam

 paralysis     had time disappear in the middle of the road.          Believe

in conspiracy—      Cancer Man scowling in the corner       filling an ashtray

with ash            in a cloud of smoke            your informant shot

in cold blood        your questions affirmed but unanswered.       Believe in

 shapeshifting and skin-walking and faith healing and the undead      but save

your suspicion            for rape.               I’ve seen Agent Scully slide photo

after photo       of bruised women         across your desk.       The marks

on their wrists from restraints         the pale, cut lip.         Their purple thighs.    

 And I’ve seen you reject the evidence—        rape by spirits and invisible entities

is always           unsubstantiated.         False claims are        the weapon of angry girls.    

Still you click through these slideshows      of crop circles      and monsters.     

      Still                you describe this evidence that only you can see

 Chase a rumor of a close encounter       

a vampire      el chupacabra       to the ends of the earth       but a human woman    

is where you’ll draw your line       and find a hoax.       File the evidence in a drawer.                 

                                                        Believe only in yourself.

  Dress it Like a Romance Dress it Like We Drew it Pretty

                                                (after The X-Files)

 Pull down the blinds and close the curtains.               In that house we let

nothing in.         In that house         we feign quiet and sunlight has to sneak

by with a winter draft.       In black and white this paints a perfect landscape.

 Where there’s a legend            there’s fire.        And Scully, you know the raw

science of genetics so profoundly that it screams in your blood.      Tell me

why we make monsters         on purpose                 forgive their trespass      

 dance with them and decide this is normal.        I hear you on the recording

color stripped from your language.            I hear Cher on the recording, too

her voice a storm        around the song of a creature I’m asked to forgive.

 Father and father and son           crime after crime        as the song plays and

the poison fills the air with white smoke.             I know reality when I see it

and I can always hear the lie.         Turn off the TV this time.          Listen.

 I cry   because I can.        I lie flat on my back remembering in the dark because

I can.        I know which songs speak truth     and I know how ugly is so easy

to uncover that its presence is almost comical.         Scully, there are photos and

 we flip through them           knowing that even the pictures we took ourselves   

are little lies.         And we are in the rain again and because I can I collect it

in my hands as the house burns down        and I wait for Cher to sing because

 I don’t want to hear         when the monster explains his own harmlessness

and I pretend that the stars have gone out because        Scully          the man

you harbor is      indeed a man          and as cruel as those who robbed you of

 your body and your womb.      We are not theirs.       So how can this story end

with the music surging and science gone       and a rush of joy      and a dance and

if I keep my eyes shut      if I put a Cher record on     can I change my own end?

Inside Us Is an Earthquake and a Refuge and a Riot

                                                (after The X-Files)

 I walk into the ditch          as myself—        there are still daises in the grass

if you look close enough.      Desires.       If you look close enough       Mercury

is in retrograde.      Actually,      the retrograde is there whether you look or not.

Agent Scully warns about the horrors we can imagine       in moments after trauma.

 But in this cold town it is impossible to quiet the voice            of a man who would

drown you out     with charm.      Remember:    Trauma is there whether you look

or not.       I know the places where I can see my breath     and I am a Sagittarius

with a Leo moon.        This is true no matter what you believe         about the stars.

 I used to read my horoscope in every magazine           mark my lucky days on a

calendar.            But my magic did not boil over in the school gym.    I never dug up

a field looking for something to burn—      though under the right circumstances

I can lose my mind      or my temper:    the stars       a well-timed pop song       a man

 making me roll my eyes so hard I can foresee my own afterlife.       Don’t even try

to change the channel tonight.     Scully mumbles into her lit cigarette     (as if a good

woman is without vice)    and I want to tell her       she’s right         in every other town

but this one       on any other day.       And she finally erupts       and slams the door    

 and hits the gas.       We all feel the perfect alignment       the horror of feminine will

somehow backed by the universe at large.         I let the grass speak its truth but I

make room for smudged eyeliner and astrologers.       I make room just in case of some

bizarre miracle. It’s so dark. It’s fine. It’s whatever Mercury wants for us this winter.

 If All I Know Is Howling How Can I Breathe In a Quiet Room?

                                                (after The X-Files)

                                                                It’s raining and I’m missing

even without leaving home.          I melt into a photo—       this is the medium

in which we exist now.        I miss the whine of the Polaroid      the magic of

watching an image slowly appear          even my expired film creating its own

 erratic boundary.                   I have never thought a photo         into the film    

but I do think often of the practice of lobotomy       the women just like me

with so many troubling thoughts that men          of a certain generation would

                                         pierce our eye sockets to quiet us.

 Scully, you understand            unruhe            even as you assess the horror of this

CAT scan           the blighted places gone forever          the unrest of women chased

into the shadows again and again.           Scully, you speak the language of fear

because fear         is adrenaline         is a weapon           is yours.

 And when you drive away from the dead          it is not elegiac          there is no

compassion for Death       for those who would cast a shadow on our wicked teeth     

the animal pull to resist this at every possible turn             blurring ourselves

                                                 into any sunlight provided.

 I imagine, Dana, that you struggle to sleep            awake to bear witness to yourself

in case you are ever missing again.        And I wonder whether unruhe is a curse at all.     

I cannot know any other self      cannot reach behind my eyes.        And this photo

I’ll keep for myself—      a sort of mirror to watch over whatever self survives.

E. Kristin Anderson is a poet, Starbucks connoisseur, and glitter enthusiast living in Austin, Texas. She is the editor of Come as You Are, an anthology of writing on 90s pop culture (Anomalous Press), and Hysteria: Writing the female body (Sable Books, forthcoming).  Kristin is the author of nine chapbooks of poetry including A Guide for the Practical Abductee (Red Bird Chapbooks), Pray, Pray, Pray: Poems I wrote to Prince in the middle of the night (Porkbelly Press), Fire in the Sky (Grey Book Press), 17 seventeen XVII (Grey Book Press), and Behind, All You’ve Got (Semiperfect Press, forthcoming). Kristin is an assistant poetry editor at The Boiler and an editorial assistant at Sugared Water. Once upon a time she worked nights at The New Yorker. Find her online at EKristinAnderson.com and on twitter at @ek_anderson..

COODE STREET PODCAST’s early World Fantasy Award 2018 nominations include Peter S. Beagle & Jacob Weisman, Ellen Datlow, Ellen Klages, Tim Powers, and Jane Yolen

In the post announcing Episode 325 of COODE STREET PODCAST, they do the unusual.

We don't usually get to this, but in a rare moment of organisation, we're providing a combined copy of Jonathan [Strahan] and Gary [K. Wolfe]'s draft World Fantasy ballots below. These will change (they're drafts) but it may serve as a useful pointer to some good reading etc.

Their suggested ballot included several books from Tachyon writers and editors.

World Fantasy Awards 2018

Life Achievement

Gardner Dozois Howard Waldrop

Novel

Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr, John Crowley (Saga) Wintertide, Ruthanna Emrys (Tor.com) The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, Theodora Goss (Saga) A Skinful of Shadows, Frances Hardinge (Macmillan; Amulet) The River Bank, Kij Johnson (Small Beer) The Night Ocean, Paul La Farge (Penguin) The Changeling, Victor LaValle (Spiegel and Grau) The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, Philip Pullman (Knopf; Fickling UK)

Long Fiction

The Twilight Pariah, Jeffrey Ford (Tor.com Publishing) Mapping the Interior, Stephen Graham Jones (Tor.com Publishing) Agents of Dreamland, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Tor.com Publishing) Passing Strange, Ellen Klages (Tor.com Publishing) Mightier than the Sword, K.J. Parker (Subterranean) The Process is a Process (All its Own), Peter Straub (Subterranean)

Short Fiction

“Probably Still the Chosen One“, Kelly Barnhill (Lightspeed 2/17) "This is Our Town", John Crowley (Totalitopia) “Come See the Living Dryad“, Theodora Goss (Tor.com 3/9/17) “The Faerie Tree“, Kathleen Kayembe (Lightspeed 11/17) “The Smoke of Gold Is Glory“, Scott Lynch (The Book of Swords) "The Resident", Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body and Other Parties) "Sidewalks", Maureen F. McHugh (Omni) “Carnival Nine“, Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 5/11/17) "The Lamentation of Their Women", Kai Ashante Wllson (Tor.com)

Art: Rovian Cai (Black Feathers) and Dave McKean (Mad Hatters)

Anthology

THE NEW VOICES IN FANTASY, Peter S. Beagle & Jacob Weisman eds (Tachyon) Black Feathers, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Pegasus) Mad Hatters and March Hares: All-New Stories from the World of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Ellen Datlow ed. (Tor) The Book of Swords, Gardner Dozois, ed. (Bantam; HarperCollins UK) The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories, Mahvesh Murad & Jared Shurin, eds. (Solaris US; Solaris UK)

Collection

You Should Come With Me Now, M. John Harrison (Comma) Dear Sweet Filthy World, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean) WICKED WONDERS, Ellen Klages (Tachyon) Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado (Graywolf) Down and Out in Purgatory: The Collected Stories of Tim Powers, Tim Powers (Baen) Tender: Stories, Sofia Samata (Small Beer) THE EMERALD CIRCUS, Jane Yolen (Tachyon)

Artist

Rovina Cai Kathleen Jennings Gregory Manchess Victo Ngai Omar Rayyan

Special Award, Professional

Irene Gallo, for Tor.com Publishing Joe Monti and Navah Wolfe for editing Saga Press Jonathan Oliver for editing at Solaris The Locus Publications editorial team for Locus: The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Fields

Special Award, Non-professional

Scott H. Andrews for Beneath Ceaseless Skies

For more info about THE NEW VOICES OF FANTASY, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Camille André

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

For more info on WICKED WONDERS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

For more info on THE EMERALD CIRCUS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

Now available in ebook and print on demand via Storytellers Vault, in Kindle ebook via Amazon, and in Nook ebook via B&N: Haunting Shadows, the fiction anthology for Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition!

Remember those nice stories they told you about what’d happen after you died?

They were wrong.

There is no Heaven and there is no Hell. There’s only the Underworld, with the ravening maw of Oblivion at the bottom and the impossible dream of Transcendence at the top. And, somewhere in between, are scores of Restless Dead.

Are you ready to join them?

This collection of stories is inspired by Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition. You’ll explore the Underworld, roam the streets of Stygia, the eternal city, visit a haunted museum, and walk new and exciting locales. This anthology includes tales by classic and new Wraith authors such as Richard Lee Byers, Jackie Cassada, Rich Dansky, Monica Valentinelli, Catherine Lundoff, Joe Nassise, and more!

Also available in advance PDF via Storytellers Vault: Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed for Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition!

Awakening is a blessing. It’s pure enlightenment, arcane knowledge, untold Mysteries, unimaginable power.

Awakening is a curse. It’s all-consuming addiction, existential despair, desperate loneliness, dangerous hubris.

Awakening is knowing you can do whatever you want, and then doing it. Damn the consequences if you like, but your damnation doesn’t erase them. Bending reality to your will intoxicates you, but you’re not the only one who can. Staring into the Abyss frightens you, but if you can just learn enough and work hard enough, you can conquer even that – can’t you?

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed includes:

Full entries for Awakened antagonists that you can pick up and use in your chronicle, with traits, story hooks, and more

Second Edition rules for Banishers, the Rapt, Scelesti, and the Tremere

A guide for Storytellers to help run scenes of conflict between mages

Sales

DriveThruRPG’s massive GM’s Day Sale is now running! Deep discounts on thousands of products site-wide, including hundreds of products from your favorite publisher*!

Sales include Mage: The Ascension, Exalted, Scion, Chronicles of Darkness, Trinity Continuum: Æon, Pugmire, and much more!

*Assuming that it’s Onyx Path

Scarred Lands products for Pathfinder (the Scarred Lands Players Guide and The Wise & The Wicked 2nd Edition) are upwards of 90% off from Indie Press Revolution! Both products are an incredible $5 each!

Kickstarter Update

We wrapped up the Kickstarter for Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition last week! We reached our $25,000 funding goal in under three hours, and are currently at $101,564, or 406%! Our thanks to the 1,997 backers!

We ended with the following stretch goals:

Hunter Storyteller Screen

Tending the Flame: Cells: A chapter on navigating Tier One hunter society. Compacts: A chapter on navigating Tier Two hunter society. Conspiracies: Eight expanded Tier Three hunter writeups.

The Ascending Ones archive: A bundle of Hunter 1e products, including Night Stalkers, Blood Drive, Dark Eras: Fallen Blossoms

Malleus Maleficarum scrolls: A bundle of Hunter 1e products, including Spirit Slayers, Bad Night at Blackmoon Farm, Under the Skin

Records of the Lucifuge: A bundle of Hunter 1e products, including Mortal Remains, Block by Bloody Block, and Tooth and Nail

Council of Bones Transcripts: A bundle of Hunter 1e products, including Witch Finders, Spearfinger, and Dark Eras: Doubting Souls

At-cost Backer T-shirt

Digital wallpaper

Hunter Tier One Jumpstart

Our next Kickstarter is for Legendlore and launchestomorrow!

Did you miss one of our previous Kickstarters? The following Kickstarted products are still open for preorders via BackerKit:

Scarred Lands: Creature Collection 5e

They Came from Beneath the Sea!: They Came from Beneath the Sea! rulebook

Trinity Continuum: Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Realms of Pugmire: Pirates of Pugmire

Exalted: Lunars: Fangs at the Gate

Chronicles of Darkness: Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras 2

Chronicles of Darkness: The Contagion Chronicle

Chronicles of Darkness: Deviant: The Renegades

Chronicles of Darkness: Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition

Community Spotlight

The following community-created content for Scarred Lands has been added to the Slarecian Vault in the last week:

The Pleasure City of Shelzar

Your product could be here! Have you considered creating your own to sell?

The following community-created content for Realms of Pugmire has been added to Canis Minor in the last week:

Your product could be here! Have you considered creating your own to sell?

The Storypath Nexus is now open to Trinity Continuum and Æon products! The following community-created content for Storypath has been added to the Storypath Nexus in the last week:

Your product could be here! Have you considered creating your own to sell?

POST APOCALYPTIC BOOKS: "Apocalyptales, Judgment Day!" - Wicked Shadow Press

NOTE: This anthology was late to press because of the holidays. The book will most likely have debuted January 2024. Hence the tardiness of this website post plugging it. It’s most likely safe to say this is my last story appearance of 2023. And what a year it has been. A small press book deal, two professional-identifying markets, and a TON of print and ebook anthologies. 2023 marked my return…

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New Comics for Wednesday, October 11 2017

ALL AGES COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS     ANGRY BIRDS GAME PLAY HC     $12.99 ALL NEW CLASSIC ARCHIE YOUR PAL ARCHIE #3     $3.99 MARVEL COMICS DIGEST #3 THOR     $6.99 MARVEL UNIVERSE GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #23     $2.99 MARVEL WORLD OF READING THIS IS THOR SC     $4.99 PLANTS VS ZOMBIES LAWN OF DOOM HC     $9.99 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #86     $2.99 SPONGEBOB COMICS #73     $3.99 SUPERMAN & MISERABLE ROTTEN NO FUN REALLY BAD DAY HC     $14.99 WRAPPED UP #1     $3.99      YOUNG ADULT COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS     COADY & THE CREEPIES TP     $14.99 LADYCASTLE TP     $14.99 STAR TREK BOLDLY GO #12     $3.99 STAR TREK NEW VISIONS WHAT PAIN IT IS TO DROWN     $7.99 STAR TREK TNG MIRROR BROKEN #4 (OF 6) (VARIANT AVAILABLE)     $3.99      MARVEL UNIVERSE COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS     UNCANNY AVENGERS #28 (LEGACY)     $3.99 GENERATIONS CAPT MARVEL & CAPT MAR-VELL #1 2ND PTG     $4.99 DAREDEVIL #27     $3.99 DESPICABLE DEADPOOL #287 (LEGACY)     $3.99 DEFENDERS #6 (LEGACY)     $3.99 FALCON #1 (LEGACY)     $3.99 GWENPOOL #21 (LEGACY)     $3.99 HOWARD THE DUCK TP COMPLETE COLLECTION VOL 04     $34.99 HULK #11     $3.99 GENERATIONS BANNER HULK & TOTALLY AWESOME HULK #1 3RD PTG     $4.99 INHUMANS ONCE FUTURE KINGS #3 (OF 5)     $3.99 MS MARVEL #23     $3.99 MS. MARVELS FISTS OF FURY ILLUS CHAPTER BOOK     $5.99 GENERATIONS MS MARVEL & MS MARVEL #1 2ND PTG     $4.99 RUNAWAYS #2     $3.99 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #789 (LEGACY)     $3.99 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #12     $3.99 UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #25     $3.99 WEAPON X #9     $3.99 ALL NEW WOLVERINE #25 (LEGACY)     $3.99 X-MEN BLUE #13 (LEGACY)     $3.99      STAR WARS COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS     STAR WARS DOCTOR APHRA #13     $3.99 STAR WARS SCREAMING CITADEL TP     $17.99      DC UNIVERSE COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS     BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #15     $3.99 DETECTIVE COMICS #966     $2.99 BATMAN FLASH THE BUTTON DELUXE ED HC (REBIRTH)     $19.99 BOMBSHELLS UNITED #3     $2.99 DARK NIGHTS METAL #2 (OF 6) 2ND PTG     $3.99 DARK NIGHTS METAL #3 (OF 6)     $3.99 DEATHSTROKE TP VOL 03 TWILIGHT (REBIRTH)     $16.99 DEATHSTROKE THE TERMINATOR TP VOL 03 NUCLEAR WINTER (RES)     $24.99 DEMON BY JACK KIRBY TP     $29.99 FLASH #32     $2.99 GOTHAM CITY GARAGE #1     $2.99 HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #30     $2.99 INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US YEAR FIVE TP VOL 03     $16.99 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #16     $2.99 JUSTICE LEAGUE AN ADULT COLORING BOOK TP     $15.99 MISTER MIRACLE #3 (OF 12) (MR)     $3.99 RAGMAN #1 (OF 6)     $2.99 RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #15     $3.99 SUICIDE SQUAD #27     $2.99 SUPER SONS TP VOL 01 WHEN I GROW UP (REBIRTH)     $12.99 SUPERGIRL #14     $3.99 ACTION COMICS #989 (OZ EFFECT)     $2.99 NEW SUPER MAN #16     $3.99 SUPERWOMAN #15     $3.99 WILDSTORM MICHAEL CRAY #1     $3.99 WONDER WOMAN #32     $2.99 SCOOBY APOCALYPSE #18     $3.99      ACTION/ADVENTURE COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS     ALL TIME COMICS CRIME DESTROYER #2 (MR)     $3.99 ALTERS #7 (MR)     $3.99 ATOMAHAWK #0 (MR)     $5.99 BABYTEETH #5 (MR)     $3.99 BIRTHRIGHT #27     $3.99 BLACK CLOUD TP VOL 01 NO EXIT (MR)     $9.99 BLACK SCIENCE #32 (MR)     $3.99 BRIGGS LAND LONE WOLVES #5 (OF 6)     $3.99 CATALYST PRIME NOBLE VOL 2 #1     $3.99 COMPLETE SCARLET TRACES TP VOL 02     $23.99 CROW HC GN     $29.99 DAN DARE #1 (MR)     $3.99 DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA #5 (MR)     $3.99 DYING AND THE DEAD #6     $3.99 ETERNAL EMPIRE #5     $3.99 FAMILY TRADE #1     $3.99 FIGHTING AMERICAN #1     $3.99 FIRST STRIKE #5     $3.99 GALAKTIKON #2     $3.99 GHOST MONEY #3 (OF 10) (MR)     $3.99 GOD COMPLEX #1 (MR)     $3.99 GRASS KINGS #8     $3.99 GROO PLAY OF GODS #4     $3.99 HARBINGER RENEGADE #8     $3.99 HARROW COUNTY #26     $3.99 HARROW COUNTY TP VOL 06 HEDGE MAGIC     $17.99 HELLBOY & BPRD 1955 OCCULT INTELLIGENCE #2 (OF 3)     $3.99 HELLBOY IN HELL LIBRARY EDITION HC     $49.99 JIMMYS BASTARDS #4 (MR)     $3.99 KINGSMAN RED DIAMOND #2 (OF 6) (MR)     $3.99 KULL ETERNAL #2     $3.99 LAZARETTO #2 (OF 5)     $3.99 LOST FLEET CORSAIR #4 (OF 4)     $3.99 LOW TP VOL 04 OUTER ASPECTS OF INNER ATTITUDES (MR)     $16.99 LUTHER STRODE COMP SERIES HC (MR)     $49.99 NEIL GAIMAN AMERICAN GODS SHADOWS #8 (MR)     $3.99 NOBLE TP VOL 01 GOD SHOTS     $14.99 OVERWATCH ANTHOLOGY HC VOL 01     $19.99 PENNY DREADFUL TP VOL 01 THE AWAKING     $16.99 RAT QUEENS TP VOL 04 HIGH FANTASIES (MR)     $14.99 REDLANDS #3 (MR)     $3.99 RETCON #2 (MR)     $3.99 ROYAL CITY #6 (MR)     $3.99 SACRED CREATURES #4 (MR)     $4.99 SCALES & SCOUNDRELS #2     $3.99 SEVEN TO ETERNITY TP VOL 02 (MR)     $16.99 SHEENA #2     $3.99 SLAM NEXT JAM #2     $3.99 STUMPTOWN GN VOL 01 ($10 EDITION) (MR)     $10.00 TERMINATOR ORIGINAL SERIES TEMPEST & ONESHOT HC     $39.99 TREMENDOUS TRUMP (ONE SHOT)     $4.99 WALKING DEAD HC VOL 14 (MR)     $34.99 WICKED & DIVINE #32 (MR)     $3.99 WOODS #36     $3.99 WORMWOOD GOES TO WASHINGTON #1 (OF 3) (VARIANT AVAILABLE)     $3.99 YOUNGBLOOD #6     $3.99 ZERO GIRL TP     $19.99      SMALL PRESS COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS     BAKING WITH KAFKA HC     $19.95 COMIC BOOK STORY OF VIDEO GAMES GN     $18.99 COMIC SHOP RETAIL MAVERICKS WHO GAVE US NEW GEEK CULTURE     $26.95 MICHAEL CHABON ESCAPISTS TP     $19.99 GENERATIONS GN VOL 01     $14.99 GOOD TIMES ARE KILLING ME HC     $21.95 KOBANE CALLING GN     $19.99 LETTERS FOR LUCARDO GN VOL 01     $15.00 NEPTUNE GN     $14.00      ART BOOKS     JUXTAPOZ #202 NOV 2017     $6.99      GAMES     ATARI CENTIPEDE GAME     $39.99

"Me, a Hero" accepted into the Masks of Sanity anthology

My psychological horror story Me, a Hero has been accepted into the Masks of Sanity anthology by Wicked Shadow Press. It’s a story about a man who joins the search for a missing girl in hopes of making an appearance on the local evening news.  Since the girl disappeared, some of her friends had turned her regular table in the corner of the coffee shop into a makeshift shrine, with a large 8×10…

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'Abbey Rose' An Excursion Into The Malevolent World of The Munsens

~Review by Billy Goate~

Live Photos by Javier Armendariz and Travis Heacock (B&W)

I've always had a soft spot for the MUNSENS, going back to the 'Weight of Night' (2014) days.   My first opportunity to meet and interview the Denver band came during their 2015 tour stop in Eugene, and the performance did not disappoint.   They're an affable bunch; down to earth dudes who enjoy skating, photography, and leveling concert halls with ripe riffage.

In the intervening years, Mike Goodwin (bass, vocals) and Shaun Goodwin (guitar) have teamed up with a new member to the Munsens clan for a second record, 'Abbey Rose' (2016) -- a dark, dramatic huddle of tracks averaging +/- 10 minutes each.

I asked Mike for some background on the new EP.

"Following the release of Weight of Night we didn’t play for quite a while," he recounts, "as our original guitarist Jon decided he was going to live in Asbury Park, New Jersey full-time and wasn’t going to be able to come out to Denver to join us permanently, or even periodically, as we’d done throughout the history of the band."

The hunt was on for a replacement.

"Shaun and I continued to write and were set on finding the right person to join us, rather than rush a new lineup together.   Ultimately, we decided Shaun would move from drums to guitar and we would bring in a new drummer."   The two met Graham Wesselhoff "through our friends in Cloud Catcher and we’ve been running with it from there.   We are thrilled to have him in the band."

These mods to the lineup "played a significant part in the construction and sound of Abbey Rose."

I confess, it did take me a while to get into this record, though I've generally found this to be the case with compositions that operate on a grand scale (Dopesmoker being a prime example).   The Munsens are clearly going for the long game with Abbey Rose, preferring a carefully crafted climate of fear and loathing over quick thrills.   These insistent riffs burrow deep into the subconscious, baptizing us into a world of the uncanny.

Stylistically, let me just say how great it is to hear honest-to-goodness, bass-driven doom.   So much of the genre has become dominated by the guitar that it's easy to forget that the bass is so much more than a compliment to the rhythm section.   The capacity of the bass to step up to a leading role is something that, by now, has been amply demonstrated by duos Swamp Ritual, TVSK, Year of the Cobra, and the great Norwegian quintet Reptile Master.

Now, it's time we tackle this beastly anthology track-by-track...

1. You're Next

Abbey Rose by the Munsens

The album opener is a dank, brooding number, with seething vocals that drip with spite and hint of revenge.   "You're Next" and the pieces that follow are send backs to the classic ballad.  No, not the power ballads of '80s hair metal fame.   I have in mind dramatic stories set to song, like the unthinkable tale of Goethe’s Erlkönig, scored so powerfully by Franz Schubert.   The tradition reached a pinnacle in the 19th century, but saw revival in early blues and the folktales Bob Dylan.

There's definitely something sinister afoot in the epic before us.   We feel its stench in the raspy strain of the singing, the prominence of its black hearted baseline, and that dense wall of sound surrounding us.   There's a real sense of presence here, owing in no small part to the live recording (something the Munsens have insisted on for both EPs).   We have Jamie Hillyer of Module Overload to thank for capturing the ambience, as it were, of an empty church hall draped in shadows.   Dennis Pleckham of Bongripper put on the finishing touches, mastering at his Comatose Studios.

"You're Next" has developed quite a bit since I filmed the Munsens performing it year before last at Old Nick's Pub.   "Though it was written prior to Graham’s addition, his drumming has given the song a new feel," Mike observes.   "Shaun and Jon also have much different guitar playing styles.   Shaun had the structure and theme of that song in his head for quite some time, but it didn’t really take shape until we began jamming it out with the new lineup."

Wade in the water Cast your eyes on the sea Looming in torture Beyond the still of the leaves

As I listen, my chest tightens; my throat is seized with dread.   Clearly, I've become entangled in the tentacles of my own imagination, as I did at 12 years old when I swore that a lanky, medieval Satan was hiding in my closet.   The song "can be probably taken a few different levels," Mike tells me, "but that’s up to the listener."

Notwithstanding the ambiguity of interpretation, I found it helpful that the Munsens included lyrics for this release (obscure as they may be).   Personally, it's beyond annoying when a band withholds the words to their songs.   I understand the reasoning, but it really distracts from the listening experience when I'm left to guess what the hell's being said.   But I digress...

"We are psyched on how it turned out," Mike reflects, "though I think we all wish we had a bit more time to work on it, particularly with the drums. We thought they could have been 'larger.'   The lack of time to experiment the way we wished was part of the reason we released Abbey Rose as an EP, despite the running length."

2. Abbey Rose

Abbey Rose by the Munsens

Following "You're Next" comes the record's namesake, which is "framed around The Abbey Rose, a place that yields the image and world an individual desires, or thinks they desire, at the price of having to live with that persona infinitely."   The mood is reinforced by Mike Goodwin's ominous cover photo of an institution frozen in the clutches of night.

The cobblestone is rigid Yet it yields not a glimpse nor a sound The street offers no entrance No, the guests here, go around

The subtext of "Abbey Rose," we're told, is "the insufferable narcissism of our modern age, pushed to extremes by digital personas.   The additional irony lies in that the individual is able to attain and admire all they ever wanted, but are unable to present it to the world around them, the reason they desired such an appearance in the first place."

Curious about this worldview, I pressed Mike for details.   "I imagine a dismal view of the chaos and absurdity around us," he says.   "Lyrically, I wanted this EP to have something of a common thread, and 'You’re Next,' 'To Castile,' and 'Abbey Rose' are a bit similar in that they address a life spent pursuing something that doesn’t exist.   Or should the outcome indeed exist, is it worth the sacrifices endured to achieve it?"

Ultimately, "Abbey Rose" is an admonition against "flawed personal motivation, the groupthink of society, and religious zeal."

3. To Castile

Abbey Rose by the Munsens

"To Castile" takes "the slightly enlightened perspective of someone who has finally realized that it is all just an empty pursuit.   But even when staring the end in the face, they are still wrapped up enough in the bullshit that they continue to play the role.   It has a religious bend, through a fictional letter from Joan of England to her father Edward III from the Port of Bordeaux, while her envoy her swiftly killed by the plague."

I look from high out in the night This fright, it will be mine

The smart pacing of this song and its placement on the EP helps to establish an interconnected narrative.   It's something that really differentiates Abbey Rose from other records.   Admittedly, it is difficult to put something this cohesive together, let alone write a competent concept album that doesn't come across as a loose collection of songs.

4. The Hunt, Part II

Abbey Rose by the Munsens

The clear standout of the record for me is its final track, which guitarist Shaun Goodwin says is "about an evil being that haunts a village."   Part I of "The Hunt" actually began on the prior EP, where "the story is told from the perspective of those haunted by this witch.  They rally to hunt her until finally capturing her ('We’ve got the witch, the high is ours')."   Part II is told "from the evil being’s point of view, as she returns to haunt those that thought they had defeated her."

I will never die I will always rise I will haunt again There will be nothing left This is revenge

As with previous stories, there's an underlying meaning: "It's a metaphor for the evils in life that we each encounter -- addictions, bad relationships, etc. -- and the highs and lows that come along with them."

Mike elaborates: "Part I tells of the elated feeling after seemingly overcoming these wicked vices.   Part II brings the return of such evils, as they so often do in our lives.   Both tracks, and the riffs/lyrics in these tracks, are structured in such a way that you can feel these high and lows as the witch is hunted, defeated, and then encountered once again in stronger force."

We definitely get this impression from the guitar play, which now steps up to a more prominent role.   Shaun's riffmaking is teeming with emotion, building and building to a perfectly choreographed climax.

"Perhaps this metaphor does not hold true for everyone, but it represents a battle that many of us face on a daily basis.   I guess it can be interpreted as 'the hunt' for mental peace."

Thus ends our tour through the imposing Abbey Rose. If you dig it as much as I do, there's more to come.   "I’d say this album is a lot more thought out than anything else we’ve released, but our upcoming full album -- out late summer-- will feel more complete."   The band concludes, "We’ve also been looking to further define our individual sound in a realm that can feel increasingly contrived and this EP, in our opinion, is a greater step in that direction."

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SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS: "Invasion The Dark Side of Technology Vol. 2" - Wicked Shadow Press.

Wicked Shadow Press really outdid themselves this time in a two volume series of science fiction and miscellaneous speculative tales surrounding dark technology, deadly machines, artificial intelligence, and science that can enslave us or kill us. Easily one of my ten favorite anthology covers of all time. Both books in the series are edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty, and some of the proceeds…

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CRIME ANTHOLOGIES: "Murder on her Mind Vol. 1 & 2" - Wicked Shadow Press

I am pleased to announce that I have a Brand New Crime Story, one of vengeance, from the point of view of the disturbed killer. This story features a female too, and is pretty much the theme of Wicked Shadow Press’s new offering: “Murder on her Mind Vol 1 & 2.” Yes, it is a TWO-BOOK Series. I am in Volume 1 (just below). Remember, I am one of the headliners in the first book only. But I recommend…

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FLASH FICTION ANTHOLOGY: "Flash of the Dead" Wicked Shadow Press

Pleased to announce I have a flash fiction piece, along with 52 other authors, in the new Wicked Shadow Press anthology: FLASH OF THE DEAD. All the pieces contained within this book are “micro tales” under 1500 words in length. Also known as the short-short, in story form, that is what flash fiction essentially is. Small, QUICK stories, that you can read on the bus or subway on your daily commute…

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NEW DARK ROMANCE ANTHOLOGY: "Soulmate Syndrome Vol. 1 & 2" - Wicked Shadow Press

My latest credit comes to the dark and doomed romance anthology series, Soulmate Syndrome! Volumes One and Two. My story, a tale about forbidden love (the kind you cherish but can never have), curses, affliction, and lycantrhropy, can be found in Volume One. The name of the story, “The Romance of Vegada.” Just who and what are the Wolves of Caliente? Why is the love in my story, at its core,…

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"You Are Reading This Story" accepted into the Creatures of Habit anthology

My psychological horror story You Are Reading This Story has been accepted into the Creatures of Habit anthology by Wicked Shadow Press. It’s a self-referential piece of metafiction about a writer trapped by his own words. This story begins at the end.

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