The second officially confirmed contributor to The Ashen Eye is Barry Wood, a Canadian. The following is an excerpt from his short story titled Warm Milk which will be published in the premiere issue of our magazine:
Before I was put in the institution, I had asked Momma not to leave me one day. I told her I was scared.
“Of what, darling?” she asked.
“The beast,” I answered.
She had taken me into her arms and hugged me. “There’s no beast, dear. Mommy has to go to work after I scrub the floors, Bobby.” She kissed me. “Please try to understand. Now I have to get the kitchen floor cleaned.”
Her bright red hair was tied up in a ponytail with a white ribbon. I was angry that she was going to leave me. She was on her knees on the kitchen floor. She didn’t hear me creeping up behind her. I whacked her so hard on the back of her head with that piece of two-by-four that I heard her head crack and the board snap. Then I ran to the porch. I grabbed the handsaw daddy had used to cut up a deer the year before. Its shiny jagged teeth glistened.
When daddy entered the house, he froze, dropping his bucket. Warm milk ran along the floor, mixing with the blood.
Barry Wood lives in Nova Scotia, Canada, where the above story is based. His short story titled Nowhere to Go is being published by award-winning short fiction digest Postscripts #14 in England, Spring 2008. He’s had several short stories published locally and on the Internet.
To know more about Barry, please go to www.barrywood.net, or email him at barrywood@eastlink.ca. His mentors are authors Charlotte Vale Allen and Thomas Ligotti.
An audio-cassette collection of his 1999 chilling tales, called “Barry Wood’s Short Stories,” is available for purchase.
The first officially confirmed contributor to The Ashen Eye is Vampire poet Aquilla Rage.
Her dark and sensual poetry sharpens the senses and evokes visions of places whose beauty can only be truly appreciated after dusk. Her captivating words transform into emotions and for just a brief moment we can even smell the surroundings she has drawn us into. Aquilla Rage is one of those talented people who has the ability to paint elaborate and enchantingly sinister dreamscapes in but a few words.
We could waste many more words attempting to describe her work, but it’s better to simply experience it for yourself:
Waiting
by Aquilla Rage
I sat next to you all night,
moonlight shone through the stained glass
casting soft indigo shades on your tomb
hoping you would rise to walk with me once more
fearing that I would be alone once again in the darkness
Recent snow had fallen making the night still
only the sound of wolves in the distance called out
they also cry a longing song,
I stroked your catafalque softly as once I caressed your cheek
the marble as arctic as your touch, a sweet memory
laying my head against it, I listen, waiting for you to emerge
ready for absolution, to embrace you once more
but no sound, no flicker of vital force
I sat next to you all night
as I will for eternity, and linger
This is but a taste of things to come and another one of her magical works will be featured in the premiere issue of The Ashen Eye.
If this poem has made you hungry for more, you can find more of her works on her website www.aquillarage.com and on her MySpace page http://myspace.com/aquillarage.
A collection of her dark words, called “The Auctoritas Doctrine”, is available in print. If you would like to order a copy, please click on the banner below.
