Jack Frost's Wake (part XXXI)
Plain text: is you.
And in the spirit of the season . . .
Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this year's story as much as Marianne and I enjoyed creating it. I'll be posting the entire story in plain text on All Saints Day.
Immediately above: Yes, that's me, standing where someday I will be buried in a shallow grave.
*
.
Jack Frost's Wake (part XXX)
Plain text: that the dead soul whose wake they're celebrating
CONCLUDED TOMORROW
And just a reminder . . .
The second-ever blue moon chapbook put out by Dragonstairs Press goes on sale tonight at 5:54 p.m. Philadelphia time. That's moonrise. After moonset tomorrow morning, 7:17 a.m. tomorrow, no more copies will be sold. At midnight Saturday, any unsold copies will be burned.
Because the blue moon and Halloween overlap, Blue as the Moon contains several seasonal horror flash fictions. It will cost $12 within the US and $14 elsewhere, postage included.
You'll be able to order it via Paypal tonight at the Dragonstairs website here. But not before 5:54 p.m.
*
I don't think I've come close to doing this book justice. But I can say that I loved reading it, and that it deserves as wide a readership as it can get.
I could quote gobs of the interview here. But I'd rather you read it in context. You can find the review in its entirety here.
And because we're almost at the end of the serial . . .
Jack Frost's Wake (part XXIX)
Plain text: and, indeed, the ultimate sentence that you realize
CONTINUED TOMORROW
And just so you remember . . .
Blue as the Moon, Dragonstairs Press's latest chapbook goes on sale tomorrow at 5:54 p.m.--that's moonrise for that rarity of rarities, a Halloween Blue Moon. In honor of this event, Blue as the Moon will only be available until 7:17 a.m. At the subsequent midnight, the manuscript, foul matter, and any unsold copies will be burned. The video of the immolation will be posted online.
*
.
What exactly is a blue moon? Well, the older definition was the fourth full moon in a single season. Later, it came to mean the second full moon in a single month. Both meanings are honored today but only the second one applies here.
In Iceland, there's a tiny imprint named Tunglið (Icelandic for Moon) that only publishes books on a full moon and always in an edition of 69. They offer them for sale only for the one day and burn all unsold copies immediately after
This so charmed Marianne Porter who is, I periodically have to remind people, not only the editor but the publisher, proprietor, and sole power behind Dragonstairs Publications (I am only the in-house content provider), that she decided to do the same. But because putting out a publication a month is a draconian schedule, she decided to publish a chapbook limited to 69 copies, with all unsold copies to be burned at the end of the day, once in a blue moon.
Literally.
The first such chapbook, titled Blue Moon of course, went on sale March 31, 2018. The bonfire of the publishing vanity was held at midnight.
The next blue moon after that will be this week, on October 31--Halloween. So I wrote a horror-themed series of short-short fictions, flashes, for a new chapbook titled Blue as the Moon. It is 8 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches, hand-sewn, signed, and numbered. It will be available for thirteen hours, starting at 5:54 p.m. this Friday, October 30 (moonrise) to 7:17 a.m. on Saturday, October 31, 2020 (moonset). The fire and burning will be held at midnight on Halloween evening. Philadelphia time, it goes without saying.
Because Marianne is no fan of seasonal blue moons, the next opportunity to get one of these extremely ephemeral chapbooks will be on August 31, 2023.
Ordering information will go up on the Dragonstairs Press website on Friday. You can find it here.
Oh, and it's $12 in the US, $14 out of country, postage included.
And because the serialization must go on . . .
Jack Frost's Wake (part XXVIII)
Plain text: It is only as you reach the final paragraph
CONTINUED TOMORROW
Above: Blue as the Moon, then under construction. The chapbooks are now assembled, sewn, and stacked, and the matches are ready.
*
Jack Frost's Wake (part XXVII)
Plain text: you grab each leaf as it falls, reading avidly.
CONTINUED TOMORROW
*
.
Jack Frost's Wake (part XXVI)
Plain text: Scurrying after Jack Frost's coattails,
CONTINUED TOMORROW
*
Jack Frost's Wake (part XXV)
Plain text: A good time is had by all.
CONTINUED TOMORROW
Above: I hope it's obvious that a stone cemetery woman indicates the end of a paragraph. It is? Good.
*
.
Jack Frost's Wake (part XXIV)
 | ||
Plain text: They perform dreadful deeds.
CONTINUED TOMORROW
*
.Jack Frost's Wake (part XXIII)
Plain text: They dance and leap and howl.
CONTINUED TOMORROW
*
And . . .
Jack Frost's Wake (part XXII)
Plain text: Cemetery wine is poured and drunk, and whiskey from Hell’s own cellars.]
CONTINUED TOMORROW
Top: Photograph by Beth Gwynn
*
.
Jack Frost's Wake (part XXI)
Plain text: Oh, things get rowdy then!
*
.
Jack Frost's Wake (part XX)
 |
Plain text: and other ghastlies to toast the memory of some departed soul.
CONTINUED TOMORROW
*