Author: playhaus2015

Xmas is coming! Kill Claus! available as an eBook

Kill Claus!

In case you’re really sick of Christmas already, you might be interested in my book Kill Claus! A surreal science fiction tale inspired by bizarro fiction, the novel follows a young man named Sesam on a journey through a far distant, post-apocalyptic future in which “the Claus” is a fearsome monster that regularly culls the “human” population. After Sesam’s village is destroyed, he is forced to cross a forbidding landscape to get revenge on “the Claus.” On the way he runs into zombie Christmas trees, a mutant reindeer, flying jellyfish, a tribe of living snowmen, and many more strange creatures before he gets to the North Pole, where he must confront the Claus. A friend of mine called it the “most disturbing book” he’d ever read. High praise, indeed.

Kill Claus! is available in paperback and kindle formats from Amazon. Just follow the links if you’re interested. It’s also available from Lulu as a discounted paperback, an eBook in ePub format, and an eBook in PDF.

Three poems accepted in Chiron Review

Just got an email from Chiron Review notifying me that they had accepted three of my poems for publication in the Summer 2017 issue: “First Day On,” “Tonight’s Window,” and “Hit the Shoes.” It will be a long wait, but it’s pretty exciting for me, since the last time they published my work was in the 90’s.

Poem on the Resistance Poetry Wall

Yesterday I posted my poem “Soup du Jour (Election Year)” to the Resistance Poetry Wall. Looks like my post was number 129.

A page on the 100 Thousand Poets for Change blog, “The RESISTANCE POETRY WALL has been opened in response to the call by many for an open place to post poetry and art about the recent USA elections. Poets and artists from around the world are invited to post their work here.”

If you have a poem related to the election, you should post it! If you don’t already have a poem, write one!

I wrote “Soup du Jour” several years ago, but it still seems prescient of the 2016 election results, where nihilism seems to have ruled the day. All this past year, I’ve been sending that poem out, thinking a journal would grab it for its timeliness. But no luck. Right now it’s out at another journal, likely to be ignored.

Anyway, if you read it, note that the line spacing was removed by the blog platform. I think the line spacing added to the movement and energy of the piece, but it means the same thing without it.

Two poems in Clockwise Cat #35

Just found out that Clockwise Cat Issue 35 went live on October 16. The journal includes two of my poems: “Egg Raid on Midtown” and “Just to Be a Hobo” on pages 17-19. You can find a link to the issue here. Clockwise Cat is an online magazine published via Yumpu, so it reads like a print publication.  Lots of neo-surreal poetry and full color collage art amid reviews and rants, making a dynamic mix.

Big Amazon Score: 100 copies of my own book for $1 each

It still amuses me to think of the time I bought 100 copies of my own book, Savage Night and Other Stories, for $1 each on Amazon. Looking back at my Amazon orders, this was on April 1, 2011.

I caught the sale at the right time. Amazon was listing my book for $3. I assume they had warehoused a few stock copies due to the success of my earlier book, Mondo DC. Now they had unsold copies to get rid of. On a whim, I placed an order for my own book, requesting 100 copies. I had to order the books in batches of 33, with one batch of a single copy. I figured they would cut me off based on the number they actually had in stock. But no.

They sent me 100 copies of Savage Night.

Savage Night and Other Stories

For me, this was a no-brainer. Kind of. My royalty rate on Xlibris, where I had self-published Savage Night, was $2 per copy. So eventually I got a check from them covering two thirds of the price I paid Amazon. My net cost was $1 a copy.

Of course I have roughly 98 copies of the book left in my house. If anyone wants one, let me know. I’m sure we can work out a fair price.

This actually happened a second time in May 2015 with the second book I published through Xlibris, Spells of Coming Day. Amazon listed the book for $4, and I tried to order 100 copies. However, the bookseller had learned their lesson. I was only able to buy 4 copies at the reduced price. Of course, I still have those sitting in my house.

Spells of Coming Day

Every now and then, I check the Amazon listings for my books. I haven’t seen any big sales lately. But it’s remarkable how many third party sellers are offering my titles, usually at prices far higher than either Amazon or Lulu list them. I’d like to know how that’s supposed to work. But in some way, it’s flattering to think that someone listed my book in their catalog, hoping to make a little bread. I’m sure it’s a win-win for them: if one sells, they just have to order it from Lulu (or Xlibris or AuthorHouse) and then send it out, reaping big profits.

Since I rarely see any royalties from my own books, I guess they aren’t selling too many copies. Somehow, it all seems like a commentary on today’s publishing industry.

 

 

Flashback: Two poems in TAPJoE

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That time The Anaprocrustean Poetry Journal of Enumclaw (TAPJoE) published two of my poems in their Spring 1988 issue. “Tshotsholoza Kylezondawo, Vyabaleka” is an isiZulu phrase meaning “Work steady, the train is coming,” as mentioned in Athol Fugard’s play Siswe Banzi is Dead. I wrote this poem while attending a performance of the play back in the 80’s at Virginia Tech. Double flashback! The other poem they published is “Seed” (below). These were the first of my poems accepted for publication outside Tech’s student lit rag, Silhouette.

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Three poems in Otoliths 43

Otoliths 43, the Southern Spring issue for 2016, just went live on October 30. A great ezine based in Australia with lots of visual poetry, asemic poetry, and plenty interesting textual stuff. I’m particularly inspired by the visual work of John Bennett (and his collaborators), Jim Leftwich, Texas Fontanella, and differx.

I love reading this journal. So I feel very honored to have three poems appear in the e-pages of this issue: “Checklist for the Next Whatever,” “Seasons of Flight,” and “Springtime Effigies.” You can read them here.

Also, the print version of Otoliths 42, which contains two of my poems, just went live in two parts: a black and white half and a color half. They’re available here.

Flashback: One poem in Exquisite Corpse

img_1959That time my poem “Christmas is Over” was published in Andrei Codrescu’s Exquisite Corpse, No. 50 1994/95. This was my second appearance in the journal. Very bummed it doesn’t exist anymore. I love the closing image of Santa Claus jumping up and down in a chimney on fire. That’s what happens when you’re in the zone.

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Flashback: One poem in Chiron Review

img_1949That time Chiron Review published one of my poems, “Thought He Had the Skinny,” in Issue #46-47, Spring/Summer 1996. Looking at this now, it’s funny how it has that Bukowski type horse racing thing going on, which is possibly why it got accepted. I definitely was reading a lot of Bukowski back then, but I’ve never been to a horse track. Ridiculously amazing issue, though (see cover below).

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