Mar
4
Slowly the first deadline approaches. You still have until the end of march to send in your work, if you want to have a chance of being included in the premiere issue. Everything that is submitted after that will automatically be considered for the second issue of The Ashen Eye.
We’ve received a staggering amount of submissions, but unfortunately can only publish so many of them per issue. Because we don’t want to outright reject all submissions that didn’t get accepted in a given period, we’ve decided to give a number of submissions a second chance. If your work did not get accepted or rejected during the reading period for a particular issue, your submission will automatically move up and be considered for the next one.
We will of course notify the respective authors when this applies and they can choose to either wait and be considered for the next issue or retract their submission if they don’t wish to wait.
To keep everyone up to date on what’s happening, here’s the count so far:
Fiction: 8 works accepted – 2 to 7 slots remaining depending on length.
Poetry: 6 works accepted – 4 to 6 slots remaining depending on length.
We’ve also found our feature/cover artist of the premiere issue. When everything has been made official we will, as usual, gradually announce and feature information about the contributors on our website.
A big thanks to everyone that already has submitted. Without you, small presses like ours wouldn’t exist. Keep it up!
Mar
2
We were contacted by Ben Eads, the creator of the dark fiction spotlight podcast, and asked if we would like to be interviewed. Of course we wouldn’t let a chance like that get away from us! Ben interviewed Bas de Jong, our very own editor in chief, during a lengthy and interesting online session.
Ben’s an incredibly enthusiastic podcaster and fan of dark fiction. We were honored to be involved in the dark fiction spotlight’s first audio interview.
Have a listen to the final result at Ben’s MySpace page and don’t forget to keep an eye on his podcasts.
Feb
28
He swept a hand over the roof of his car. It looked like finely ground particles of rust in the palm of his hand. Wasn’t the surface of Mars supposed to be covered in stuff like this? He stared at the particles, fascinated. How could it have been carried on the wind when there hadn’t been so much as a light breeze for the best part of a week? And yet it was everywhere; hair, clothes, roofs, drifting in through open windows; this strange phenomenon had become quite a talking point in Billy’s Bar. Jack made a fist, and then unclenched it. The sand left a russet stain on the palm of his hand.
***
All of a sudden it was night, sheeting with rain, and Jack was gripping the steering wheel of his car. The night was dragging and he had two more pizzas to deliver. He was cruising down the main drag, glancing at the prostitutes who hung out on the street corners. Most of them were addicts trying to earn enough for their next fix. Half of them looked as if they were going to collapse at any moment.
Then he saw something in the corner of his eye and jammed his foot on the brake.
***
He blinked; then found himself back in the present day, staring at the particles of sand.
“Weird!”
Then the strangest thing happened. The particles seemed to dissolve, as though seeping into the pores of his skin. In seconds the sand had gone; even the red stain, which had marked the palm of his hand, had vanished.
What you’ve just read is an excerpt from Dave Price’s short story titled A Town Built on Dreams, which you will be able to find in the first issue of The Ashen Eye. David Price is an ex coal miner who started writing for the small press in 1995. Since then he’s had over 70 stories published in such diverse magazines as “Not One of Us”, “Nasty Piece of Work”, “Kimota”, “Shadow Writers”, and “Dream Zone”.
Between 1997 and 1999 David Price was the editor of dark fiction magazine “Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque”. In 2001 a collection of his stories, titled “Evil Eye”, was published by BJM Press (now Rainfall Books)
Click here to visit David Price’s website.
Feb
25
Dark Fiction author and enthusiast Ben Eads has recently started "The Dark Fiction Spotlight" Podcast. Ben started this Podcast to support, and provide extra exposure for, new, unknown and underground authors of dark fiction and the presses that publish them. Since The Ashen Eye was basically started for the exact same reason, we felt it was our duty to support Ben’s endeavor.
If you want to keep up to date with what’s going on in the dark underground, head over to Ben Eads’ MySpace page and subscribe to his Podcast so you won’t miss a single episode! You won’t regret it.
Feb
22
Our next contributor is fiction author David Byron. David has had numerous short stories accepted for publication in magazines such as Dark Recesses Press and Fantastic Horror. He is also the author of the book “Lucid Nightmares” and the moderator of NVH magazine {New Voices in Horror}. His short story titled Petrifaction will be published in the first issue of The Ashen Eye. The following is an excerpt from that story:
“These are fabulous!” Alicia said. She turned toward Henry and asked, “May I touch them?”
Henry smiled. “Of course.”
She ran a slender hand down the side of one of the males.
“That one is Stephen,” Henry told her.
Alicia looked at him queerly. “That seems such a plain name for such a beautiful statue. But I guess if David can be David, then he can be a Stephen.”
Jake seemed only slightly taken aback by his girlfriend’s admiration of the tall naked statue, and appeared content to admire the women. He got down on his knees in front of one, face to crotch and made a rude gesture with his tongue. Alicia slapped the back of his head.
“Hey,” he protested as he stood, wiping the dust from the knees of his jeans.
They each moved to opposite sides of the room, content in mutual admiration of both sexes of the specimens.
“They’re so…anatomically intricate,” Alicia said. “Who’s the artist?”
“A local fellow. He prefers to remain anonymous until the unveiling,” Henry said.
“Well, he’s very good. To carve stone and polish it this way and still leave every crease, every bulge in place. It’s astonishing.”
“Yes. Astonishing.” Henry gave the door a nudge to shut it slightly and walked toward the center of the room. The kids didn’t seem to notice; they studied the interior of a specimen that sat in two pieces. The top half rested flat on the floor, with the bottom half in a kneeling position sitting beside it.
They whispered to each other, and Henry moved closer.
“That’s a liver,” Alicia was saying. “I don’t think these are…”
Henry pulled two syringes from his pocket, flicked off the plastic tips with his thumbs, and plunged one into each of the kid’s necks.
“What the…” Jake didn’t even have time to finish his sentence before the succinylcholine chloride took effect. Both of the kids lay on the floor, eyes open. This was one of Henry’s favorite parts of the process.
To order a copy of David’s book, “Lucid Nightmares”, please click here.
Feb
14
Our next fiction contributor is named Troy Barnes. Troy lives in a small coastal town called Penguin, in Tasmania, Australia. He is 35 years of age, married, and writes at night while working a full time job, managing a retail hardware store, during the day. One of his short stories, titled Family Matters, has been accepted for publication in The Ashen Eye’s premiere issue. Here’s a short excerpt to whet your appetites:
When Dean woke up he wasn’t really sure why. Sometimes you just have a feeling that you shouldn’t be sleeping. A subconscious thought that tells you something is happening. Jimmy was standing silently near the end of the bed.
“Everything okay there, Jimmy?” he asked his son through half open eyes.
His tiny silhouetted frame just stood still in the shadows, his face as blank as an unused blackboard. Dean sat up in bed.
“Jim?”
“Daddy. The baby isn’t going to cry anymore.”
Dean woke up as though his body had been hit by a pulse of lightening. Jimmy wasn’t standing by the bed like he had seen seconds before. It was all just a strange dream. Something his mind had made up all by itself. He tried to steady his heartbeat by resting his head back down on the pillow. He rolled over to cuddle up to Jane but to his surprise she wasn’t laying beside him. It was unlike her to wake during the night unless something was wrong.
The baby isn’t going to cry anymore.
Dean moved up and sat on the edge of the bed. The house sounded quiet but then there was a slight muffling coming from down the hall. He moved slowly towards the sound of the noise. The small glowing lights plugged into the power points provided just enough light to know his surroundings. He reached the far room nearest to the front door. The television was turned on but the reception was only static. The noise was more obvious now. It was a slurping sound, like someone was drinking soup from a tipped bowl.
“Are you okay, honey?”
Jane was still naked. She was crouching down at the end of the sofa, facing away from him as if looking for something. He yawned a little and moved closer, tilting his head to the side a little to try and see what his wife was doing.
“What are you doing up this late?”
She shot her head around in a speeding blur and stared directly into her husband’s eyes. He took a step backwards as his mouth dropped with a terrifying rupture of reality. She had a look if intense insanity in her bloodshot eyes. Her mouth, overcome with swollen teeth, was covered in red and black clotted blood, and her skin was pale and void of life. Dark stains were scattered around where her bare body was kneeling.
Troy’s debut novel, called "Deadlight", was released in March 2007, and has since been read all around Australia, and also in the USA, Denmark, Japan and Switzerland. He has been lucky enough, through sheer determination, to personally pass on copies to actor Eric Bana, and Leigh Whannell - From the Saw movies. His short story "Blender" soon followed and was included in the horror anthology, Concrete Blood, released in the USA. After this came "Alley Kat", included in Darkened Horizons Issue 2, and "The Diary of Norman Dicker" in the invitation only, Darkened Horizons - Halloween Edition.
Troy’s second novel, “Monochromacy”, will be released mid 2008.
To find more information or to order a copy of “Deadlight”, please visit Troy Barnes’ MySpace page or his official website, www.troy-barnes.com.
Feb
12
Another three works have made the grade. As usual, we will announce the contributors when everything has been officially confirmed. We now have a total of four accepted stories and two accepted poems, which means there’s still lots of room to be filled in the magazine. We’ve been receiving some great submissions and, if this keeps up, it’s going to be one hell of a first issue.
Keep sending in your works people. Who knows, if we get enough quality material to work with, we may even have to reconsider our projected release date.
Feb
7
The third officially confirmed contributor to The Ashen Eye is multi-talented poet, horror fiction writer and musician Alexis Child.
Alexis Child hails from Toronto, Canada; horror in its purest form. She works at a Call Crisis Center befriending demons of the mind that roam freely amongst her writings and lives with a Calico-cat child sleuthing all that goes bump in the night.
She has been kind enough to allow us to feature one of her blood-chilling poems to introduce you to her work. Another one of her poems will be featured in the premiere issue of The Ashen Eye.
Corpse Grinder
by Alexis Child
Memories chase after him like a murderer’s glove,
bruised and bloodied. Fugitive thoughts are nighttime
shadows springing from an abnormal mind, the wrong
shade of red. Scarcely remembered are the others, like a
child standing with its face pressed, distorted against glass.
Darkness closes in as a ravenous crow, sadistic urges
a devouring flesh. Emotionless eyes laugh coldly,
"Either way they die." Driving down the long highway,
he hunts for prey like the hawks he holds in high esteem,
bleeding offerings to the broken moonlight, nothing
less than the blatant face of death embracing itself.
Alexis Child’s poetry and fiction have been featured in numerous online and print publications, including Sinfully Twisted Magazine, Black Petals, Tales of the Talisman and Whispers of Wickedness (featuring an interview with the writer). Her first collection of poetry, titled “Devil in the Clock”, is now available in e-book from Purpleverse Publishing. Book in print coming soon.
To visit her website please click here.
Feb
1
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.
Jan
30
Another two submissions have have been selected for publication in our premiere issue. As soon as everything has been made official, we’ll announce who the authors are and feature some of their work right here on our website.
We’re still steadily receiving submissions, thankfully making our job a little harder every day. Keep it up folks.
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