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Thursday, December 31, 2015

KRAMPUS YULE ISSUE #19





     Welcome to the KRAMPUS YULE ISSUE of the FREEZINE of Fantasy and Science Fiction.  This has been the 19th issue of our submersible literary rag tag webzine, and as such, marks a profound disturbance in the Force.  We all should know by now what an enigmatic and powerful numeral 19 happens to be.  So for those writers and artists which managed to get in to this extra special Christmas "Horror" issue, congratulations.  It would not have been possible without the likes of you.  We enjoyed 4 (count 'em) stories stuffed into this online digital stocking.  They are (in order of appearance) A SILENT NIGHT (FOR A DEMI-GHOUL) by Vincent Daemon, FINNY MOON by Keith Graham, GROUND PORK by Gene Stewart writing as Art Wester, and MONKEY MAN by Johnny Strike.   To read each of these stories, just click on the images below associated with them, and enjoy some fiction free of the typical ravages of the profiteering publishing and advertising industry.  


     The FREEZINE continues to function as an available antidote to the corporate vampirism which actively drains our creative community of originality while paralyzing aspiring authors with trepidation and confusion insofar as the general business of publishing these days is concerned.  For those who feel that is using hyperbole or going too far, suffice it to say the FREEZINE is just a fun vehicle for creative writers and readers to play around with.  


     We've been going strong now for six years ever since July of 2009, when John Shirley was gracious enough to submit his previously unpublished novella SKY PIRATES to help launch our collaborative online vessel. That novella is still archived in sixteen easy-to-click-through installments, and remains a wonderful homage to both Edgar Rice Burroughs' manner of writing and that of Rafael Sabatini's creation, Captain Blood, rendered into a sort of Golden Age space opera replete with all its most satisfying elements.  So be sure to begin reading it as soon as possible if you haven't already; you'll be glad you did, and furthermore, you may easily share Part 1 by utilizing the widgets below it for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogger, or share by email.  When you share the stories or chapters archived in the FREEZINE, you are personally helping spread the word for their authors, thereby doing them the service of providing them with more exposure.  

     By no means has the FREEZINE ever relied on nor associated itself with paid advertising of any sort, nor does it profit in any way aside from spreading happiness and satisfaction among its dubious clientele.  A quick search of the Blog Archives in the right margin as well as the Archive of Stories and Authors located just below it will reveal some astonishing writers and artistry, among them best-selling author A. A. Attanasio (who generously gifted us with a ten-part serialization of his short novelette SWIMMING IN THE GHOST RIVER, now archived in the previous edition of our webzine, the PENTAQUARK ISSUE #18).  You'll even discover a brand-new, previously unpublished story by none other than Misha Nogha called JUPITER RING in that now legendary issue, along with yet another new and previously unpublished short story that was too "on the nose politically" for mainstream publishers to accept, WHERE THE MARKET'S HOTTEST, by John Shirley, which features a brilliant full color illustration by none other than Serhiy Krykun, awarded BEST ARTIST in the Spirit of Dedication category by the European Science Fiction Society for the year 2015.   

     And now on to the four stories featured in our present KRAMPUS YULE ISSUE:  



by Vincent Daemon

     The KRAMPUS YULE ISSUE may not have even happened if it weren't for Vincent Daemon getting ahold of me and asking if I had anything planned for December.  I told him I was hoping to cobble together one final issue for 2015, so what did he have in mind?  Why, nothing less than a Holiday Horror Hoedown, as it turns out.  After he sent me his short novella A SILENT NIGHT (FOR A DEMI-GHOUL), I became excited about the prospect of yet another serialized story (in 15 installments, no less) to headline this DECEMBER issue. I was particularly excited to find that in fifteen chapters, the story would serialize perfectly beginning on Monday, December 7th to conclude exactly on Christmas day, Friday December 25.  A perfect daily countdown concluding on Xmas.    

The challenge facing me as chief editor and overseer of the FREEZINE was to come up with at least fifteen separate pieces of artwork in such short notice. I thought to myself, "Why don't I just search far and wide across the interwebs and locate pertinent street graffiti art which might represent characters and scenes from the story?" And Eureka! thus were stumbled upon the 13 pieces of graffiti I discovered online (including a couple which I myself photographed right here in SLC: utilized in chapters IV, V, and VII), plus the 2 pieces of original artwork by Kara Koma (chapters II and XIV), who has now returned to the art fold here after having illustrated one of Vince's previous serials, OF CADENCE AND WEATHERED STATUES.  

We are supremely grateful for Kara's ongoing contributions, so thank you Kara for being bold enough to supply your art to our growing legacy.  And a decisive Thanks goes out to Vincent Daemon for having contributed his 8th story to our immortalized webzine. Without you leading our crew of Freezine Veterans Vinnie, this ship would most likely have begun sinking into oblivion awhile ago.  I hereby grant you the title of Vice Admiral of our growing craft of iconoclastic anthologies (which makes John Shirley the Admiral).   


FINNY MOON
by Keith Graham

     The second story in our KRAMPUS YULE ISSUE comes from another Freezine Veteran author Keith Graham, who has gifted us with his short story FINNY MOON, about a crusty group of fishermen who manage to capture a mermaid.  Ok, so that's a minor spoiler, so what? You can already tell there's a damn mermaid in the story from looking at the wonderful artwork which was cooked up on the spot by our gifted and original artist, Shasta Lawton.  So go ahead and read the story already and find out what happens.  This marks our 5th story with Keith, who is a fellow beekeeper and from what I've heard, plays a mean blues harp to boot.  Thanks a million Keith for your contributions to our growing website here, and we are all grateful you participated in this impromptu winter issue of our zine. May your bees and blues flourish in 2016. 




GROUND PORK
by Gene Stewart writing as Art Wester

For our third entry found stuffed into our proverbial Xmas Stocking of Stories, we have Gene Stewart's second appearance in the FREEZINE writing as Art Wester for his tasty treat for the Holidays, GROUND PORK.  He provided the illustration to this tale of horror and we are very happy for his contribution.  Without participating writers like Gene and all the others to reach deep into their own stockings of hidden away stories, this blog would've most likely surrendered itself to the depths of forgotten oblivion years ago.  Thank you Gene very much for participating in our online creative writing workshop slash webzine slash artistic forum for free and unbridled expression in the craft of science fiction, horror, fantasy, and general all around storytelling which we all hold in such high regard.  The more writers who get involved and the more readers who subscribe, follow and share the stories permanently archived in the FREEZINE of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the more exposure the aforementioned authors and artists will get, and the more fun we'll all have together on this digital sailboat bound for glory.  Which brings us to our fourth and final tale in this stuffed holiday stocking of surprises:





 MONKEY MAN
by Johnny Strike

Thank goodness Johnny Strike got a hold of me during the very midst of December, while halfway through our slowly cultivated KRAMPUS YULE ISSUE.  He sent me MONKEY MAN, an excerpt from his unpublished novel called The Society.  

"Christmas holidays come to Istanbul as well as fluttering snowWith the Blue Mosque behind that snow it's quite a magnificent site. But today, dear readers, it's summertime, and we find Strike's latest anti-hero outside of Istanbul deep in the woods, and in a brand new predicament."  Thus was the brief intro Johnny suggested I kick off his story excerpt with, and we are all happy to have been given a glimpse of his next literary project. Search the drop-down archives here in the right hand margin; you'll find this to be the fourth (count 'em) story supplied by the legendary frontman of the classic Bay Area punk band CRIME, as well as published author of at least one novel and many short stories. William S. Burroughs said of Johnny Strike's writing: "These are maps of real places. That is what marks the artist, he's been there and brought it back."  With kudos from the Priest of Cool himself, it's only a matter of time before Johnny strikes back with another novel for his rabid readers.  Thanks Johnny for helping once again to keep this literary vessel afloat.  Happy New Year to you and everyone else involved in the creation of this latest issue of the FREEZINE.  

[The graffiti image of the 3 monkeys is from Camperdown Sydney, Australia street art, original photo courtesy of Neerav Bhatt, taken on Dec 19, 2012.  Image modified by yours truly in Photobucket, to bring out the sharper colors and contrasts, as well as cropping the image for a better look and fit.  The image is a Creative Commons-Attribution-Noncommerical -ShareAlike 2.0 Generic image free to be shared, copied, and redistributed in any medium or format.  All graffiti images used in this issue are Creative Commons-Attributions free to share and use for non-commercial purposes; if there are exceptions to this rule, I'll rectify that later by editing this post and giving credit where it's due. Meanwhile,  thanks to Gary from Pocono Photo Shoot for giving me permission to display his 5-star ceramic skull ornament depicted at the top & bottom of this page.  I purchased one myself from Zazzle.com and customized it with the legend HAPPY KRAMPUS on the back, and colored the back chocolate brown.  Follow this Zazzle link to purchase one for yourself to commemorate this edition of the FREEZINE, if you wish.  For any street art or graffiti that I appropriated for this issue that may yet require attribution, please be patient while I do my best to track them all down and then enter the street artist's name or any pertinent details such as who snapped the photo or which city the graffiti came from, and I'll insert those right here in this section.]  



~ And That's A Wrap ~


for 
the 19th 
Issue of

the FREEZINE of
Fantasy and Science
Fiction
  


~ A Happy & Prosperous
New Year To You All ~





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Archive of Stories
and Authors

Callum Leckie's
THE DIGITAL DECADENT


J.R. Torina's
ANTHROPOPHAGUS


J.R. Torina's
THE HOUSE IN THE PORT


J.R. Torina was DJ for Sonic Slaughter-
house ('90-'97), runs Sutekh Productions
(an industrial-ambient music label) and
Slaughterhouse Records (metal record
label), and was proprietor of The Abyss
(a metal-gothic-industrial c.d. shop in
SLC, now closed). He is the dark force
behind Scapegoat (an ambient-tribal-
noise-experimental unit). THE HOUSE
IN THE PORT is his first publication.

Sean Padlo's
NINE TENTHS OF THE LAW

Sean Padlo's
GRANDPA'S LAST REQUEST

Sean Padlo's exact whereabouts
are never able to be fully
pinned down, but what we
do know about him is laced
with the echoes of legend.
He's already been known
to haunt certain areas of
the landscape, a trick said
to only be possible by being
able to manipulate it from
the future. His presence
among the rest of us here
at the freezine sends shivers
of wonder deep in our solar plexus.


Konstantine Paradias & Edward
Morris's HOW THE GODS KILL


Konstantine Paradias's
SACRI-FEES

Konstantine Paradias is a writer by
choice. At the moment, he's published
over 100 stories in English, Japanese,
Romanian, German, Dutch and
Portuguese and has worked in a free-
lancing capacity for videogames, screen-
plays and anthologies. People tell him
he's got a writing problem but he can,
like, quit whenever he wants, man.
His work has been nominated
for a Pushcart Prize.

Edward Morris's
ONE NIGHT IN MANHATTAN


Edward Morris's
MERCY STREET

Edward Morris is a 2011 nominee for
the Pushcart Prize in literature, has
also been nominated for the 2009
Rhysling Award and the 2005 British
Science Fiction Association Award.
His short stories have been published
over a hundred and twenty times in
four languages, most recently at
PerhihelionSF, the Red Penny Papers'
SUPERPOW! anthology, and The
Magazine of Bizarro Fiction. He lives
and works in Portland as a writer,
editor, spoken word MC and bouncer,
and is also a regular guest author at
the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival.


Tim Fezz's
BURNT WEENY SANDWICH

Tim Fezz's
MANY SILVERED MOONS AGO

Tim Fezz hails out of the shattered
streets of Philly destroying the air-
waves and people's minds in the
underground with his band OLD
FEZZIWIG. He's been known to
dip his razor quill into his own
blood and pen a twisted tale
every now and again. We are
delighted to have him onboard
the FREEZINE and we hope
you are, too.

Daniel E. Lambert's
DEAD CLOWN AND MAGNET HEAD


Daniel E. Lambert teaches English
at California State University, Los
Angeles and East Los Angeles College.
He also teaches online Literature
courses for Colorado Technical
University. His writing appears
in Silver Apples, Easy Reader,
Other Worlds, Wrapped in Plastic
and The Daily Breeze. His work
also appears in the anthologies
When Words Collide, Flash It,
Daily Flash 2012, Daily Frights
2012, An Island of Egrets and
Timeless Voices. His collection
of poetry and prose, Love and
Other Diversions, is available
through Amazon. He lives in
Southern California with his
wife, poet and author Anhthao Bui.

Phoenix's
AGAIN AND AGAIN

Phoenix has enjoyed writing since he
was a little kid. He finds much import-
ance and truth in creative expression.
Phoenix has written over sixty books,
and has published everything from
novels, to poetry and philosophy.
He hopes to inspire people with his
writing and to ask difficult questions
about our world and the universe.
Phoenix lives in Salt Lake City, Utah,
where he spends much of his time
reading books on science, philosophy,
and literature. He spends a good deal
of his free time writing and working
on new books. The Freezine of Fant-
asy and Science Fiction welcomes him
and his unique, intense vision.
Discover Phoenix's books at his author
page on Amazon. Also check out his blog.

Adam Bolivar's
SERVITORS OF THE
OUTER DARKNESS


Adam Bolivar's
THE DEVIL & SIR
FRANCIS DRAKE



Adam Bolivar's
THE TIME-EATER


Adam Bolivar is an expatriate Bostonian
who has lived in New Orleans and Berkeley,
and currently resides in Portland, Oregon
with his beloved wife and fluffy gray cat
Dahlia. Adam wears round, antique glasses
and has a fondness for hats. His greatest
inspirations include H.P. Lovecraft,
Jack tales and coffee. He has been
a Romantic poet for as long as any-
one can remember, specializing in
the composition of spectral balladry,
utilizing to great effect a traditional
poetic form that taps into the haunted
undercurrents of folklore seldom found
in other forms of writing.
His poetry has appeared on the pages
of such publications as SPECTRAL
REALMS and BLACK WINGS OF
CTHULHU, and a poem of his,
"The Rime of the Eldritch Mariner,"
won the Rhysling Award for long-form
poetry. His collection of weird balladry
and Jack tales, THE LAY OF OLD HEX,
was published by Hippocampus Press in 2017.


Sanford Meschkow's
INEVITABLE

Sanford Meschkow is a retired former
NYer who married a Philly suburban
Main Line girl. Sanford has been pub-
lished in a 1970s issue of AMAZING.
We welcome him here on the FREE-
ZINE of Fantasy and Science Fiction.


Owen R. Powell's
NOETIC VACATIONS

Little is known of the mysterious
Owen R. Powell (oftentimes referred
to as Orp online). That is because he
usually keeps moving. The story
Noetic Vacations marks his first
appearance in the Freezine.

Gene Stewart
(writing as Art Wester)
GROUND PORK


Gene Stewart's
CRYPTID'S LAIR

Gene Stewart is a writer and artist.
He currently lives in the Midwest
American Wilderness where he is
researching tales of mystical realism,
writing ficta mystica, and exploring
the dark by casting a little light into
the shadows. Follow this link to his
website where there are many samples
of his writing and much else; come
explore.

Daniel José Older's
GRAVEYARD WALTZ


Daniel José Older's
THE COLLECTOR


Daniel José Older's spiritually driven,
urban storytelling takes root at the
crossroads of myth and history.
With sardonic, uplifting and often
hilarious prose, Older draws from
his work as an overnight 911 paramedic,
a teaching artist & an antiracist/antisexist
organizer to weave fast-moving, emotionally
engaging plots that speak whispers and
shouts about power and privilege in
modern day New York City. His work
has appeared in the Freezine of Fantasy
and Science Fiction, The ShadowCast
Audio Anthology, The Tide Pool, and
the collection Sunshine/Noir, and is
featured in Sheree Renee Thomas'
Black Pot Mojo Reading Series in Harlem.
When he's not writing, teaching or
riding around in an ambulance,
Daniel can be found performing with
his Brooklyn-based soul quartet
Ghost Star. His blog about the
ridiculous and disturbing world
of EMS can be found here.


Paul Stuart's
SEA?TV!


Paul Stuart is the author of numerous
biographical blurbs written in the third
person. His previously published fiction
appears in The Vault of Punk Horror and
His non-fiction financial pieces can be found
in a shiny, west-coast magazine that features
pictures of expensive homes, as well as images
of women in casual poses and their accessories.
Consider writing him at paul@twilightlane.com,
if you'd like some thing from his garage. In fall
2010, look for Grade 12 Trigonometry and
Pre-Calculus -With Zombies.


Rain Grave's
MAU BAST


Rain Graves is an award winning
author of horror, science fiction and
poetry. She is best known for the 2002
Poetry Collection, The Gossamer Eye
(along with Mark McLaughlin and
David Niall Wilson). Her most
recent book, Barfodder: Poetry
Written in Dark Bars and Questionable
Cafes, has been hailed by Publisher's
Weekly as "Bukowski meets Lovecraft..."
in January of 2009. She lives and
writes in San Francisco, performing
spoken word at events around the
country. 877-DRK-POEM -




Blag Dahlia's
armed to the teeth
with LIPSTICK



BLAG DAHLIA is a Rock Legend.
Singer, Songwriter, producer &
founder of the notorious DWARVES.
He has written two novels, ‘NINA’ and
‘ARMED to the TEETH with LIPSTICK’.


G. Alden Davis's
THE FOLD


G. Alden Davis wrote his first short story
in high school, and received a creative
writing scholarship for the effort. Soon
afterward he discovered that words were
not enough, and left for art school. He was
awarded the Emeritus Fellowship along
with his BFA from Memphis College of Art
in '94, and entered the videogame industry
as a team leader and 3D artist. He has over
25 published games to his credit. Mr. Davis
is a Burningman participant of 14 years,
and he swings a mean sword in the SCA.
He's also the best friend I ever had. He
was taken away from us last year on Jan
25 and I'll never be able to understand why.
Together we were a fantastic duo, the
legendary Grub Bros. Our secret base
exists on a cross-hatched nexus between
the Year of the Dragon and Dark City.
Somewhere along the tectonic fault
lines of our electromagnetic gathering,
shades of us peel off from the coruscating
pillars and are dropped back into the mix.
The phrase "rest in peace" just bugs me.
I'd rather think that Greg Grub's inimitable
spirit somehow continues evolving along
another manifestation of light itself, a
purple shift shall we say into another
phase of our expanding universe. I
ask myself, is it wishful thinking?
Will we really shed our human skin
like a discarded chrysalis and emerge
shimmering on another wavelength
altogether--or even manifest right
here among the rest without their
even beginning to suspect it? Well
people do believe in ghosts, but I
myself have long been suspicious
there can only be one single ghost
and that's all the stars in the universe
shrinking away into a withering heart
glittering and winking at us like
lost diamonds still echoing all their
sad and lonely songs fallen on deaf
eyes and ears blind to their colorful
emanations. My grub brother always
knew better than what the limits
of this old world taught him. We
explored past the outer peripheries
of our comfort zones to awaken
the terror in our minds and keep
us on our toes deep in the forest
in the middle of the night. The owls
led our way and the wilderness
transformed into a sanctuary.
The adventures we shared together
will always remain tattooed on
the pages of my skin. They tell a
story that we began together and
which continues being woven to
this very day. It's the same old
story about how we all were in
this together and how each and
every one of us is also going away
someday and though it will be the far-
thest we can manage to tell our own
tale we may rest assured it will be
continued like one of the old pulp
serials by all our friends which survive
us and manage to continue
the saga whispering in the wind.

Shae Sveniker's
A NEW METAPHYSICAL STUDY
REGARDING THE BEHAVIOR
OF PLANT LIFE


Shae is a poet/artist/student and former
resident of the Salt Pit, UT, currently living
in Simi Valley, CA. His short stories are on
Blogger and his poetry is hosted on Livejournal.


Nigel Strange's
PLASTIC CHILDREN


Nigel Strange lives with his wife and
daughter, cats, and tiny dog-like thing
in their home in California where he
occasionally experiments recreationally
with lucidity. PLASTIC CHILDREN
is his first publication.