The Ides of March: ‘Cipher Sister’ Table of Contents Floats to the Surface….

 

Cipher Sister

Table of Contents

Darcy and Lucy among the Flowers by Alexander Davis

 Lucky by DB Cox

 The Cipher Sisters and Kid Nosferatu Dance the Bally-Kooch by Edward Morris

 Mickey Slim by Chris Deal

 A Witch in West Kansas by W.P. Johnson

 Mercy by Rebecca Brown

 1951 by Matt McGee

There’s no Business Like BLANK by Xander Stronach

That’s Showbiz by Jason Lee

1971 by Ken Goudey

Real Lookers by Audrey Hare

Dance, Darling by Richard Thomas

Regular Earharts by Andrew McElrath

You & Me by Adam Autin

Saga Sideshow by Tone Baker

 Chance Meeting at the Back of the Apollo Theatre, Harlem, NYC by Sek Han Foo

Asymmetry by Amanda Gowin

 Sister is the Sister by Edward J Rathke 

Well Hello There, Cipher…

ooooh, things are getting fun. Mike and i compiled the final list of stories for the collection (and no one even threw a punch! negotiations on the list went really smooooth) and the acceptances/rejections have been sent. i feel really good about all of it. weird to get so many stories – not to mention so many COOL stories – from such a specific prompt. so we’re on our way!

next is artwork, contracts, proofreading….

but still, pretty early in the New Year.

i feel super-important. like i need a special hat that says “EDITOR” on the brim, and i should keep a clip-on tie nearby at all times so when i read/discuss/work on anything involving the Cipher Sister stuff i can grab my hat and tie and immediately look professional and efficient. the hat would cover my hair-horns and the tie would cover  (or at least neutralize) the stick-on tattoo i currently have on my neck.

here’s a quick synopsis of what the collection will be like, pulled from Thunderdome:

CIPHER SISTER follows a simple premise inspired by a true story:

“The sheriff’s department in El Dorado County broke protocol this week and released the names of two deceased residents without notifying their relatives.

The problem is they can’t find any relatives of the twin sisters who were found dead inside their South Lake Tahoe home last week.

The bodies were discovered on Feb. 27, according to the sheriff’s department. Authorities say they most likely died within a short time of one another of natural causes.

The sheriffs haven’t been able to locate the next of kin of the women. Apparently throughout their lives, they always listed each other on all official forms.”

Their names are Lucy and Darcy.

We’re putting their lives back together in imperfect fragments.

 A collected history based purely on hearsay and conjecture. We know when they were born. We know when and where and how they died. What happened in between?

or, if you’re more into a visual representation of the tone, here’s the pinterest page i cobbled together:

http://pinterest.com/mandajunemiller/cipher-sister-a-collection-2013-thunderdome-press/

it’s essentially a bunch of stories about the lives of two very, very mysterious ladies. no Black Dahlia, no true crime – just peeking through eighteen different keyholes at eighteen imaginary moments….

‘Trotlines’ in Menacing Hedge, Spring 2012

the Apocalypse is probably not going to be nearly as exciting as we hope. even if there ARE zombies.

my take on that:

http://menacinghedge.com/spring2012/entry-gowin.php

also, Menacing Hedge is awesome in general. You can download the whole Spring Issue for Kindle/Nook etc. check out this cover:

Menacing Hedge Spring 2012

 

 

ThunderDome REVAMPED!

Thunderdome just had an overhaul. The site is sexy and easy to navigate, and there are lots of new projects – wander around:

http://thunderdomemag.com/index.php

keep peeking around for news – i’m about to become a co-editor. so far that job has entailed digging up pretty photos from my hard drive, but i have a feeling it’s going to get a BIT more intense than that. for now, here are the updated links for my stories in the Thunderdome:

“Teetotaler” http://thunderdomemag.com/component/k2/item/44-teetotaler

“Fever” http://thunderdomemag.com/component/k2/item/25-fever

“Tin Man”  http://thunderdomemag.com/collections/the-collective-speaks/writers-in-residence-warmed-and-bound/item/100-tin-man

Congrats, Mike, on a site well done!

LA1K (In Search of a City: Los Angeles In 1,000 Words)

BUY HERE!!

 http://thundadome.com/LA1K/ 

 

BOOKED REVIEW AND INTERVIEW WITH MIKE:

http://www.bookedpodcast.com/2011/11/30/episode-53-michael-paul-gonzalez-and-in-search-of-a-city/

 

and NOW, i name drop:

 Table of Contents

Ryan Wilson – “American Trash”
Stuart Gibbel – “Break on Through”
Craig Clevenger – “Obsolescence”
Nik Korpon – “South of Thirteen”
Dennis Cruz – “Smile Now, Cry Later”
Pela Via – “Bathhouse”
Stephen Conley – “Don’t Feed the Animals”
Grigori Black – “This Was Heaven”
Doc O’Donnell – “Your Personal Apocalypse”
Nikki Guerlain – “Sick Ticket”
Patrick Verhagen – “Swim”
Craig Wallwork – “El Bordello Alexandra”
Nicholas Merlin Karpuk – “Ahm’s Bay”
Nik Houser – “Subtitles for a Silent Film”
H.R. Tardiff – “Walls in the Sand”
Richard Thomas – “The Jenny Store”
Bob Pastorella – “Alexandra”
Simon West-Bulford – “Project Asmodeus”
Jay Slayton-Joslin – “The Fantasy of California vs. The Reality of London”
Amanda Gowin – “Gilded Bones”
Chris Deal – “Padre Nuestro”
Boden Steiner – “Here”
Gordon Highland – “Fry Girl”
edward j rathke – “All the Dreams You Dreamt Retold”
Michael Paul Gonzalez – “Tidal”
Victor Bengtsson – “Venice, Forever”

Thunderdome – “In Search of a City: Los Angeles in 1,000 Words” – the anthology is coming…

that’s right. it’s almost here. like, think near Thanksgiving. it’ll be available through amazon and the thundadome site. it will feature 26 incredible stories by 26 incredible authors, each of those stories in some way about L.A., each of those stories exactly 1,000 words long. and overflowing with incredible photographs by the editor himself, one Mr. Michael Gonzalez. so, this holiday season you now have something else to be thankful for: a picture book with awesome stories. here’s a sneak peek photo:

i’m not even going to name-drop on the authors included. that will come soon enough. for now, i give you just this one photo, and the imagined sound of me dancing in my socks on linoleum while singing (poorly) ‘Hold On’ by Wilson Phillips…

Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down (featuring pumpkins, coffee and Gaga)

this is the most freakishly busy and not-falling-apart i may have ever been. i mean, i’ve been lots busier than this in my life – more lists on my palms and crammed in my pockets, more things scribbled in pen and pencil in smaller then even smaller lettering turning little calendar squares into something resembling boxes overfull of springs, less sleep, more night-thinking, etc and on and on – but the difference is i’m ENJOYING this frantic autumn.

my body is always tired and i can’t turn my brain off at night – so i drag myself out of bed on ‘brain break’ nights to scribble lists, revise, send emails, read – and i keep forgetting what day it is and there are bags under my eyes. once again, the weird difference: this is pretty fun.

the fact that all the things i’m doing are completely voluntary (except laundry and matching my son’s constant amazement that the mere switch of a word –  i.e. 2 PLUS 3 is 5, but 2 BESIDE 3 is 23 – can change the meanings of things in spectacular ways) plays a part, i know, but i think something has shifted. i don’t feel frantic – yes, i know i’m manic. but the coil is not so tight and i’m perfectly capable of sitting still.

tomorrow and tuesday are adam’s first soccer games, wednesday and friday are Bug rehearsal – i’ve never coached soccer and haven’t been on a stage in over a decade, but it’s cool. i’ll wear tube socks the first half of the week and cut fake lines of coke the second half and be happy about it. friday morning while adam’s in dance class i’ll try and read but instead send myself reminder emails from my phone and check messages.

there are profound things here, profound clockwork adjustments that have been made – but it’s past noon now and the time i thought i would have to ruminate on it a little has been cut short…

i can dig it. it makes me cranky but i can dig it – in five minutes i’ll be ejecting kiddo’s gaga dvd for the day and rustling up clean clothes for the birthday party in a couple hours and i won’t remember to be cranky because i have lines to go over with eric and a story to revise and sci-fi scenes to finish (at 9pm each night i grease my phalanges and crack my wrists, take a deep breath and hope for the best) these nights after dark, and halloween costume possibilities saved in another tab and ghost lights and fake blood to put on the windows, and jerseys to wash and….

happy autumn. happy survived the apple festival. happy tired brain body – i would not stay this pace this course forever, but the lack of quaking on my insides foretells a longer life than i expected, i think.

 

 

 

Bunnies, Rats, Ferrets and Me by Doc O’Donnell

http://thundadome.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=126:bunnies-rats-ferrets-and-me&Itemid=56

Sepp by J David Osborne

http://thundadome.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=124:sepp&Itemid=56

Here Is Nowhere by Edward J Rathke

 

http://thundadome.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=123:now-here-is-nowhere&Itemid=56

Tin Man by Amanda Gowin

http://thundadome.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=122%3Atin-man&Itemid=56

Truckstop Magic by Chris Deal

http://thundadome.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=121%3Atruckstop-magic&Itemid=56 

Mr. Wadsworth and the Flea Circus by Craig Wallwork

 

 

 

 

 

 Mr. Wadsworth and the Flea Circus

(first in a series of 8 stories/posts on Thundadome featuring authors from Warmed and Bound – next on Monday, by Chris Deal!! also i’ll be doing the accompanying site photos for the stories – EXCEPT this one, sorry craig, i begged in late for the job)

 

Warmed and Bound (The Babe With the Power)

aaawwwwwww, yeah. a whole box. they smell like sex and cigarettes and macaroni and cheese…

i have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.

Warmed And Bound: release date & cover photos – and too much back story

all right. i’ve run in circles, peed a little, danced the dance of Cinderella’s stepmother in the hot iron shoes – only, if that were a happy experience – carried the kitten to the bathroom because she’s afraid of the dark, put the kiddo to bed and sang Suzanne Vega to him until my throat is ragged, planned the things i want to say to my husband at 2am about his unwavering faith in me … i think i’m ready to sit still for a moment and say “Holy shit. This book. How the hell did I end up in this book?”

it will be available FRIDAY JULY 22nd for $15.95 on amazon.com (ebook details soon)

and the book – these people – go meet these people: http://welcometothevelvet.com/forums/

and the book site – get over there, too, that’s where the NEWS lives:  http://warmedandbound.com/

under the photos in this post lives the little acorn of misery, love and inspiration that led to the girls that led me by the hand into this book….

i’m going to be doing a few questions for Jay Slayton Joslin (along with the other amazing people in this list) but here’s the extended and sappy answer to ‘the’ question:

Where did I get the story?

the answer is ugly. think a new baby and insomnia and a sister you rarely see but miss painfully – and think total seething anger for this sister, because in your head is this beautiful ethereal duo tapping their toes and waiting to be drawn in the shapes of letters. they have nothing to do with your family issues. all you can do is resent the bitterness you do NOT want to bleed into this innocence. so you miss your sister. and bite your cuticles and have recurring dreams about peculiar trees. what happens? giving in, what always happens…. you can tie off your fingers at the first digit but the story will only hold so long. the twist ties and kite string snap and through the blood under your fingernails, you watch the core of a something indescribably beautiful take shape in the hate and love and need – and the trees. “The World Was Clocks.”

three years later, everything has changed – but Heather, this story was always for you.