Pimp A Friend Friday: Jackie Chin

My friend Jackie Chin hosts the wonderful and always entertaining Zombiepalooza Radio Live. I’ve been fortunate to be a guest, and I’ve enjoyed it without fail. She asks thoughtful, in-depth questions and it’s really something to tune into weekly.

Jackie wrote the book Practical Paranormal: The Untold Secrets to Mastering Self and Your Surroundings. I’ve picked it up and can’t wait to dive in! You can purchase the book on Amazon.

Have you ever thought about someone and soon after the phone rings and it’s them? Have you ever wanted to connect with the spirit world but don’t know where to start?

Everyone has the ability to connect to the spirit world or to unlock their own spiritual abilities. This book offers insight and practical advice for the beginner as well as those who are more advanced to expand their spiritual journey.  You will also get insights on how to develop your gifts through meditation, cleansing your personal energy and bringing a level of balance to your life without gimmicks, huge expense or new age chatter. 

Jackie Chin is a professional international psychic/medium based in Warren, Ohio 

www.psychicconnextions.blogspot.com 

 

Where Nightmares Come From! And A Reading!

Today is the launch of Crystal Lake’s WHERE NIGHTMARES COME FROM anthology! In celebration, I did a reading from part of my included essay, titled “Bringing An Idea To Life Through Language.”  I hope you enjoy.

It’s finally here! WHERE NIGHTMARES COME FROM: THE ART OF STORYTELLING IN THE HORROR GENRE is now available in paperback and Kindle: http://getbook.at/Nightmares1

“Dip in to any section of this book and you will learn something. High praise, but a true statement.” – William F. Nolan, Logan’s Run

“Not since The Art of War has there been a book more suited to lead you, the storyteller, into (literary) battle.” – Jess Landry

Featuring in-depth articles and interviews by Joe R. Lansdale (Hap & Leonard series), Clive Barker (Books of Blood), John Connolly (Charlie Parker series), Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King (IT), Christopher Golden (Ararat), Charlaine Harris (Midnight, Texas), Jonathan Maberry (Joe Ledger series), Kevin J. Anderson (Tales of Dune), Craig Engler (Z Nation), and many more.

Don’t miss out…
Amazon: http://getbook.at/Nightmares1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/…/36544568-where-nightmares-come-…

Follow the Where Nightmares Come From Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/NightmareAnthology/) for regular updates, sneak peeks, links, interviews, and more. Or subscribe to the Crystal Lake newsletter: http://eepurl.com/xfuKP

 

 

Gamut BOGO Promo!

Chocolates for Valentine’s Day is awesome, but chocolate AND great literature? Even better! For the month of February, Gamut Magazine is doing a special Buy One, Get One event. For every subscription you buy, you’ll receive a second subscription to give to someone you love. Gamut pays ten cents a word for our acquired work and you’ll find fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Help support a magazine that supports authors. You can find that great deal here.

The Inaugural Issue of Gamut is Live!

I can’t believe it! This has been a long time coming. Gamut magazine is now live!

If you have a subscription to Gamut, feel free to log in and read the wonderful first issue. It’s simply beautiful.

If you bought ebook format, you should have already received those.

And if you’re simply curious to see what we have to offer, come check out the sample stories on our site. Might I suggest you start with the very first story submitted, chosen, and published, Love Story, an Exorcism by Michelle E. Goldsmith.The art was created by Luke Spooner.

Gamut Magazine Reopens Tonight!

Gamut Magazine is scheduled to open to submissions tonight at midnight, CST. We’ll remain open until we receive 300 submissions, and then we’ll close. Gamut has chosen to cap submissions at 300 a month for two main reasons. 1) We want to reply in a timely manner, hopefully in 31 days or less, and 2) we don’t want to suffer staff burnout. One we reach 300 subs, we close while we get everything read. Last month we reached 300 submissions in 14 hours, so you might want to be quick to submit.

The staff put together a wishlist of things we’d like to see, and a few suggestions of things we’d prefer not to. These are: more psychological, magical realism, diversity, hooks and endings that matter, ghostly atmosphere, poetry in general, speculative in general, actual non-fiction. Less telling, gore, misogyny and hate, waking up to start a story, cliche and formulaic stories, goofy humor, needlessly purple prose, violence without redemption, slow starts, less genre poetry, less exposition, camp/satire, rape/abuse, etc.

We’ve already chosen some gorgeous stories, and I hope you’ll send us yours! Please remember that we read blind, so follow the guidelines and strip your information from your work. I can’t wait to see what you send!

Gamut Reopens Tomorrow!

Has it been a month already since Gamut first opened its doors? Gamut has chosen to cap submissions at 300 a month for two main reasons. 1) We want to reply in a timely manner, hopefully in 31 days or less, and 2) we don’t want to suffer staff burnout. One we reach 300 subs, we close while we get everything read. Last month we reached 300 submissions in less than 24 hours, so you might want to be quick to submit.

The staff put together a wishlist of things we’d like to see, and a few suggestions of things we’d prefer not to. These are: more psychological, magical realism, diversity, hooks and endings that matter, ghostly atmosphere, poetry in general, speculative in general, actual non-fiction. Less telling, gore, misogyny and hate, waking up to start a story, cliche and formulaic stories, goofy humor, needlessly purple prose, violence without redemption, slow starts, less genre poetry, less exposition, camp/satire, rape/abuse, etc.

We’ve already chosen some gorgeous stories, and I hope you’ll send us yours! Please remember that we read blind, so follow the guidelines and strip your information from your work. And please don’t send me messages saying, “Mercedes, my story is the one about the pink unicorn who dances the flamenco. Please watch for it in the slush!” We choose to read blind for a reason, so please respect that.

I can’t tell you how excited I am about this endeavor. This is a time of stunning art, where we’re able to read, write, and share things in a way we couldn’t do before. I love it. Just adore it. Write on, my friends.

 

 

The “Strong Like Butterfly” Ebook Launch! And Win A Free Book!

 

The savvy and force of nature Pauline Campos has edited a wonderful new ebook titled Strong Like Butterfly.  It’s a painful and victorious collection of stories from strong women who are overcoming and even celebrating adversity. I’m honored to be included.  My story “Heavy Like Grief” was written three months after losing my girls. It was tough to write, but oh-so healing.

Pauline wrote a great post about the book here.  Also leave a comment on that post and enter to win a FREE SIGNED COPY of either Beautiful Sorrows or Winter Wonders.

Strong Like Butterfly drops today on Smashwords.

Stay strong and beautiful, friends.

 

10 Word Review: The Vampire Defanged: How the Embodiment of Evil became a Romantic Hero

The Vampire Defanged: How the Embodiment of Evil became a Romantic Heroby Susannah Clements.

Wonderfully researched, but extraordinarily academic. A thesis on Twilight? Yikes.

Shock Totem Dr

Oh, I would so live here.

Ten Word Review: The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head

The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head: A Psychiatrist’s Stories of His Most Bizarre Cases by Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan

Cool, interesting cases; uninteresting protagonist. Schmaltzy dialogue made me cringe.