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Friday, December 31, 2021

☼ iSsuE 30 ☩ De☾ember | 2021


 

     Welcome to the thirtieth issue of the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. This summer will mark the thirteenth year of our mutual odyssey together reading the fantastic fiction and poetry of a host of talented writers both young and old, established and new, award-winning and veritably unknown. 

     As the editor in chief of this virtual magazine, this online fanzine, this hyper marked up tesseract of riveting artwork and illuminating prose, this veritable labyrinth of hidden chambers with secret portals interconnecting and leading into deeper sub-terrains of what I've dubbed the Blogdom of Thorns, I welcome all who have stepped in before with fondness and gratitude, and I especially welcome any new souls who may have stumbled into this tricky domain of shifting fictions. 

   Creative writing remains the realm we happen to share between our crossed swords and overlapping hearts.   It's with tremendous sincerity and gratitude that I would like to say Thank You to the four contributors to this,  our 30th  "De☾ember | 2021" iSsuE:  two writers + two artists of inestimable creativity and blinding talent.  

   To A. A. Attanasio, I couldn't summon the words to thank you enough for your willingness to contribute to our freezine over the years.  You have paid delicate attention in the form of leaving gracious comments under many stories over the years, in addition to having allowed me to showcase your stunning fiction.   I consider you to be one of the most important science fiction authors that ever lived.  Your genuine spirit of camaraderie and heartfelt desire to play with us has fulfilled me and kept my own passion for writing and communicating with other beings ignited throughout the years, and I will always remain grateful for your cyber-friendship, which in my view transcends mere flesh and enters into the solid state of eternity.   Let's cut to the chase:  thanks for allowing me to plunder your own blog for these word tidbits and micro-fictions to share with the barest fraction of the world to skim over and read or absorb at their leisure.  If there are any Istari left in the world of writing today, I consider you to be tantamount with Gandalf the Grey.  You will always be my Stormcrow.  Thanks. 

   To John Shirley.  What can I say.  Somehow I transcended the veil between cyberspace and real life when I decided to trek to San Francisco all of those sixteen years ago to see you read in a fantasy and science fiction bookstore on my birthday.  You were gracious enough to invite me to dinner up the street with your wife and allowed my friend, Andrew Phillips {RIP}, to tag along.  Since then we've met at various writing conventions out west, partied together in Oakland with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and hung out together at my friend Adam Bolivar's house in Portland, Oregon to put on a puppet, poetry and rock'n'roll show of the Weird at the HP Lovecraft bar, to name a few highlights of our friendship.  Without you there would be no Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.  Your generosity in allowing me to publish Sky Pirates those thirteen years ago when we started this webzine will never be forgotten, not to mention your consistent contributions to our raglit zine over the years.  You and Vincent Daemon have contributed the most to our sub-literary pirate ship, and I can't thank you enough for your bright spirit and sharp, incisive stories brimming with realistic characters and the most vivid, cutting prose I've had the pleasure of discovering in my life. Thanks for letting me C&P select flash fictions from your blog this time around to present here in the freezine. 

   Someone referred to this blog as my passion project recently, and yes that's exactly what it is. In the past year the blogger forum removed email subscriptions, which at first seemed like a bad thing, as no one could continue receiving the stories and posts in their Inbox anymore, but then I realized this development is really more like cutting the umbilical cord and truly setting our zine Free.  Hence the disclaimer attentive readers will have noticed having recently gone up below the banner art:  

You have been invaded by the freezine of fantasy
and science fiction. You no longer need to sub-
scribe. We are already subscribed to you.  

I like the notion that the Freezine now only remains tied to readers if they should mirror the passion I myself have for creating it and keeping it going.  This digital periodical remains a sort of secret that only a select few among us may be led to, and if you happen to be one of those, welcome to the fold. 

   I have not and will not monetize this blog, nor involve money into it, preferring to focus on our passionate drive to merely present good stories with fantastic artwork for surfers of the world wide web to stumble upon and discover, and share if they see fit.  If no one bothers to do so, that's okay because like all of my poetry and writing, I do this for myself first and foremost, as what I like to consider being the ideal model of a reader. As for the self-promotional aspect of being able to easily share individual posts and stories on social utility networks such as Twitter and Facebook etc., well that goes without saying and as far as I'm concerned should be filed under the "intuitively obvious" category.  Any established or aspiring artist or writer who submits their short stories or poems and artwork to the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction will obviously be able to share it and promote their writing and art to their heart's content.  That's part and parcel of the whole point of this webzine's existence. 

   Reading and writing remain my foremost passion in life, aside from raising my son and loving my wife, and I'm having a wonderful time putting out this digest and seeing who among the writers out there might be drawn into its meta TOC, eventually.    

  Thanks to my friend Charles Carter for taking on the role as current resident artist at the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.   Your massive experience in using various open source computer programs such as VQGAN + CLIP and many more have resulted in what I consider to be the most remarkable digital art I've ever seen (and I mean that with sincerity).   That's why, for the past four issues (since the September, 2021 issue # 27) I've focused on having your art primarily dominate.  Not only does it dovetail perfectly as the backdrop for the developing "nanotheme" threading through the evolution of this zine, but it really dynamically accentuates everything I personally love about science fiction and its ancillary subgenres (such as cyberpunk, slipstream, etc).  

  Thanks to Jeff Jordan for allowing me to use a reproduction of your original painting that I bought last year for my own story.  I knew I'd be able to use it for some contribution here, but honestly I didn't anticipate that it would end up working for one of my own pieces.  I'm very proud of how it all came together and remain grateful for your permission to use it.  

     It's a brand new day in an original year that will continue catapulting us forward into undiscovered territories as well as our long accustomed routines.  May everyone who read this far remain blessed in this existence and be afforded the opportunity to seize the reins of our life together to make the best of what fate has in store for us.  

   Happy New Year to all, and to all a good day. 


   Please follow the hyperlinks below to their respective stories now archived in this De☾ember, 2021 issue (artwork for this issue graciously provided courtesy of Charles Carter and Jeff Jordan).


by A. A. Attanasio



by Shaun Lawton



by John Shirley




The Nanochronicles: 4
Reports from the bloodHost





Click Below to begin iSsuE # 31 of 

3 comments:

  1. So glad to be a part of it! Great work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Data Lore. Your contributions are integral. Thank you for participating!

      Delete
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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.