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Monday, November 5, 2018

SEASON UNMASKED issue

art by Jason Barnett



Welcome to our twenty-third issue of the FREEZINE of Fantasy and Science Fiction, SEASON UNMASKED.  It ran from October 25 (beginning with Edward Morris's street-smart, futurist vision of the great American poet Hart Crane under the influence of lysergic acid diethylamide at his typewriter late one night in 1941—rendering an alternate timeline story that got the author nominated for the Pushcart Prize in Literature in 2011) until late Halloween night on the 31st, when we ran John Shirley's classic Halloween story from the award-winning anthology October Dreams (published in the year 2000 by Cemetery Dance).   I began this issue of our zine by announcing at the beginning of the month in our FaceBook public group that submissions were open right up until Devil's Night; i.e, it was put together on the fly, by the seat of our pants, yet another "impromptu issue" and it ended up  having yielded seven stories, overshooting my expectations by first, bringing our venerable cyber-rag back to its true roots as a vehicle for short stories and artwork of the dark fantastic, and secondly, all seven stories were top-notch, in my book.

As readers of this webzine already know, we are a non-profit endeavor begun nine years ago during the summer of 2009 when I managed to get a few authors who were also punk-rockers to help me jump-start a new digital fanzine for the 21st century. The idea germinated on the old John Shirley message boards at darkecho.com; read our first issue here, which serialized daily in July, 2009. 

Below are all seven stories from SEASON UNMASKED in the order in which they appeared.  Simply click on the titles, bylines, or the image below them to be taken directly to the stories themselves, now archived for posterity in the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.  Note that all stories in the freezine are easily shared by email, blogger, twitter, facebook, pinterest, or G+, or by virtue of their url-address (easily copied and pasted). This fanzine has been built for a world wide community of science fiction, fantasy, and horror readers to easily share on their preferred online platform, and has been designed to be easily read on smart phones. Authors and artists retain the copyright to their work. The freezine does not pay its contributors any money. This is an online social utility creative writing workshop to be disseminated for the purpose of promoting both established and aspiring writers and artists, and for the free reading pleasure of the international community of world wide web surfers. 

Without further ado, here are the seven stories conjured up from the aether by the ☠ October, 2018 ☠ issue, SEASON UNMASKED:



One Night In Manhattan
by  Edward Morris
photo of graffiti by Shaun Lawton



Sacri-fees
by Konstantine Paradias
art by Prince Satyrn



Dead Clown and Magnet Head
by Daniel E. Lambert
photo from unknown source



Again and Again
by Phoenix
art by Jason Barnett



Click Clack, Click Clack
by Keith P. Graham
art by Bonita Barlow



Many Silvered Moons Ago
by Tim Fezz
art by Jason Barnett



Mask Game
by John Shirley
art by Jason Barnett



A hearty shout-out of Thanks goes out to every writer and artist who contributed to the SEASON UNMASKED issue—our twenty-third in nine years. That's an average of nearly three issues per year, which fits directly into the trinary philosophy of which I have been a major proponent since being targeted by the Nanofleet sent back in time to us during the year 2009 by a mysterious cadre of human beings surviving far into the future on an off-world colony in our solar system, presumably. It's not clear if this group of scientists and survivors are transmitting from Ceres, Titan, Ganymede, or possibly our own moon orbiting what apparently may be a devastated Earth. Yet their intention of having possessed me to put out this complimentary, ad-free fanzine during this particular juncture of our overtly politicized  history comes as no surprise, to me.  They are merely trying to re-divert our arrested attentions from becoming overly mired in moneymaking toward smelling the wild roses of writing and art for their own merit, in a subtle yet potentially effective method to redirect our attentions to things that matter more than getting caught up in a world-wide distraction from the better things in life. At least, this has been my own take on what the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction happens to be all about.  See, I began working at the University Hospitals and Clinics in Salt Lake City in the Radiology department seventeen years ago, and my best guess is that being around this radiology equipment (we have state of the art MRI and CT scanners among the most sophisticated in the world) somehow affected the incoming stream of neutrinos carrying nanocomputers and by some perturbation of their electromagnetic gravitation, settled into my bloodstream and seized control of my neurons in order to get me to put out this radical electronic magazine. 


Edward Morris is a Pushcart Prize in Literature nominee (2011, for his story "One Night In Manhattan"—featured in this issue of the Freezine)—and he's also been nominated for the 2009 Rhysling Award and the 2005 British Science Fiction Association Award. His fiction has appeared in The Children of Gla'aki: Tribute Stories to Ramsey Campbell's Great Old One (Dark Regions Press, 2017), Return of the Old Ones: Apocalyptic Lovecraftian Horror (Dark Regions Press, 2017),  The Starry Wisdom Library: The Catalogue of the Greatest Occult Book Auction of All Time (PS Publishing, 2014), Legacy of the Reanimator (Chaosium, Inc. 2015), and has co-authored a novel with David Agranoff (one of the co-founders of the Freezine) titled Flesh Trade (CreateSpace, 2017), a post-cyberpunk thriller that is on my personal list to order and read next.  


Konstantine Paradias is an author well-versed in writing stories for the literary realm of neo-noir Lovecraftian fiction.  His tales have appeared in many anthologies over the past several years, including last year's Return of the Old Ones: Apocalyptic Lovecraftian Horror, 2016's Cthulhusattva: Tales of the Black Gnosis (Martian Migraine Press), 2014's outstanding anthology World War Cthulhu: A Collection of Lovecraftian War Stories, and the forthcoming Transmissions From Punktown, ed. by Brian M. Sammons due out from Dark Regions Press (in honor of Jeffrey Thomas's iconic collection of tales Punktown (Ministry of Whimsy Press, 2000)).  The Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction remains grateful and thrilled to have Konstantine added to our constantly growing battalion of authors. His story "Sacri-fees" remains an excellent addition to the freezine's canon.  

Daniel E. Lambert teaches English at California State University, Los Angeles and East Los Angeles College. His writing appears in Silver Apples, Easy Rider, Other Worlds, Wrapped in Plastic, and The Daily Breeze. He has been featured in a lot of anthologies, including When Worlds Collide (Ildy Lee, 2013), Flash It, and Daily Frights 2012, to name just a few. His latest book is Mere Anarchy: Dreams, Nightmares, Questions, and Futures (2016) and is available on Amazon as a paperback or electronic version. The Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction sees a kindred spirit in Daniel, and welcomes him with open arms. His story "Dead Clown and Magnet Head" is a favorite of mine, and I'm very happy it has found a home archived here in the freezine.  Thank you, Daniel, for taking a chance with us. 

Phoenix is an author from Salt Lake City, Utah who 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. He first appeared in issue #22 of the freezine, DREAM & REALITY (which serialized in September, 2018) with his marvelous poem "Wanderers."  The Freezine is very pleased to have Phoenix join the ranks of bonafide story writers with this edition's painful and personal tale of extreme redemption, "Again and Again." Phoenix is a good friend of mine and I want to give him a shout-out and a "high-five" from here—you rock, Phoenix! 

 Keith P. Graham is a speculative fiction writer, blues harmonica player, beekeeper, co-founder of the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and has published over sixty stories across a wide variety of forums.  It's safe to say that without Keith, the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction would not be what it is today.  His latest tale, the emotional "Click Clack, Click Clack", appears here for the first time. Thank you Keith for helping me keep this 21st century digital fanzine alive and thriving for the past decade. 

 Tim Fezz is a punk rocker extraordinaire from the Philly area. He's an online friend of mine with an elusive and mysterious past. His story "Many Silvered Moons Ago" arrived on Devil's Night—just in the nick of time to be accepted and included for the big day—Halloween.  The way Jason Barnett's illustration ended up being paired with the story bespeaks volumes toward the enigmatic manner in which each issue of this freezine is constructed. Granted, I was staying up late feverishly formatting the html and text for the various stories to be posted for this issue, and as I scanned Jason's artwork for an appropriate illustration, little did I know just how perfect the one I did end up selecting would turn out to be. It wasn't until after Fezz's story went up that I noticed the silvered moon in Barnett's artwork. Thanks Tim for jumping in on this issue at the last minute; without your story, the overall emotional impact would have been lessened.  We're glad to have you join our motley crew of veteran authors. 

 John Shirley is the Bram Stoker award-winning author of the collection of stories Black Butterflies: A Flock on the Dark Size (Mark V. Ziesing, 1998) as well as the progenitor of cyberpunk and the author of such a wide variety of original novels, screenplays, movie novelizations, comic book novelizations, and videogame tie-ins (see the best-selling novelization Bioshock: Rapture (Tor books, 2011) for just one example) as to leave anyone who scrutinizes his canon of work jaw-dropped and speechless.  He co-wrote the screenplay (along with David Schow) for the 1994 movie The Crow, among many other achievements. His horror novels Cellars (1982), In Darkness Waiting (1988), and Wetbones (1991) are landmark works in the genre and have all enjoyed being reissued in updated versions and remain in print today. John is a co-founder of the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction along with David Agranoff, Keith Graham, and Johnny Strike (RIP), and I remain grateful for his having continually submitted original, never-before-published stories to the freezine as well as very rare or hard-to-find reprints.  His latest story featured in this issue, "Mask Game," (originally appearing in Cemetery Dance's acclaimed collection October Dreams (2000), comes alive in the SEASON UNMASKED issue accompanied by an illustration by Jason Barnett that fits this Halloween tale perfectly.  I'll have you know that I hand-typed the entire story from my beat-up trade paperback edition of October Dreams. I worked feverishly on that transcription beginning Devil's Night and finishing just in time to publish it for our climactic Halloween story. A million thanks to John for all he's done for us here, without you there's no way this online venture would've ever gotten off the ground. The BloodHost—or NanoHorde, as I sometimes refer to them—must assuredly remain in your debt in their alternative timeline of the future.  As of the story "Mask Game," John now has nine (count 'em) stories archived in our stellar webzine.  
Thanks to Jason Barnett, Prince Satyrn, Will Ferret, and Bonita Barlow for allowing their art to be contributed to our ritual October endeavor.  Below are the images that graced the topmost banner art of our zine—that is, the various covers—throughout it's development last month. Until next time, this is your friendly editor in chief signing off.   
  ~Shaun A. Lawton.  





illustration by Jason Barnett

art by Jason Barnett


art by Will Ferret


art by Bonita Barlow


art by Bonita Barlow

illustration by Jason Barnett






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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.