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Friday, September 29, 2023

40th iSsuE: F♢☇☇ | 2☯23

     Welcome to the celebratory 40th issue of our ongoing web periodical, the FREEZINE of Fantasy and Science Fiction.  Since its inception into a subdermal fraction of Earth's global consciousness just over fourteen annular revolutions ago of the host planet orbiting humanity's wandering G-Type main-sequence star, ourSelf (as dichotomous representatives of the bloodHost), otherwise referred to as the nanoHorde, tentatively offer what might best be described by your kind as 'a simulacrum of pride' in having successfully arranged for this latest issue of stories and art to grace the world wide web in the manner which our progenitors intended, which is to say, entirely devoid of corporate association, meaning by a forum free of advertisements polluting the margins and without the concurrent gravitational associations ordinarily applied to commercial ventures.  

      Welcome, our primogenitors, welcome to 





Table of Contents:
titles and images hyperlink to their respective stories




by Keith Graham



Fisher's Nocturne
by Shaun Lawton


The House at the Coast
by Icy Sedgwick



TWO TECHNO TALES
by John Shirley



American Ghost
by John Claude Smith




                                   Hello everyone, it's your friendly editor in chief, here on my Freezine weblog, hosted by blogger since April of 2009, now entering our fifteenth year of presenting a curious hybrid of online open forum creative writing workshop and cyber-fanzine designed for aspiring and established writers and the concurrent host of endless readers. 

   Our patron saints include (but are not limited to) the late Harlan Ellison, who's credo was "the writer must get paid," and Philip K. Dick, whose impact on the burgeoning science fiction scene may never cease reverberating altogether.   Of course we as creative writers have our own motley array of personal influences, and my own would be too extensive to comprehensively list here, but for me I'd have to say that my personal "ground zero" is Ray Bradbury, since first being exposed to his lyrical genius when I dared to open up the weathered and worn Bantam paperback copy of The Illustrated Man I'd discovered on my parent's bookshelf at the tender age of eleven. 

    It was that first story, The Veldt, that so captured my imagination and sent a disturbing thrill into my prepubescent guttiwuts.  And then of course, all the stories that followed, which launched me on my Bradbury obsession, collecting all his books of short stories until the day I read Fahrenheit 451, and my heart was seized under its magical spell.  When I read Something Wicked This Way Comes, that truly lit my aspiring writer's soul aflame, for it remained my favorite novel for years to come.  Some other novels I really loved were S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, William Golding's Lord of the Flies, and John Gardner's Grendel, to mention a few favorites.  By the time I reached high school, I discovered John Crowley's Beasts, along with a veritable cornucopia of fantastical writers and their lyrical fever dreams, too many to recall or list here. 

    But enough of that.  I'm here to thank our four contributing authors for daring to showcase their writing in the freezine.  The nanoHorde, those digital fingerprints of the future, touching down through my brain and this plastic Acer computer keyboard to send the urgent message out there, are still contacting me, and if you haven't figured out what that underlying message is, well it's all been encoded in our modern English language, archived in this very blog, and ultra-hilit through the underlying thread of editorial comments concerning the bloodHost and their decidedly outlandish mission, which would never have been transmitted from the future year 2045 (or thereabouts) if it hadn’t been for the Hydrox Tesla Station and its nine human occupants orbiting Ceres.  

    Just as it would never manifest without the contributions of its participating writers.  Thanks first goes out to Keith Graham, who's stuck by my side since even before the inception of this too often obfuscated cyber-rag. I really am indebted to your friendship and influence on our digital fanzine.  Here's to future success paving the way forward with ad-free stories and art as outlined by the mysterious nanoHorde, which has possessed us to do this thing. Your story's perfect to start this latest issue rolling, so thanks for contributing once again. 

    I'm so happy to feature another story by Icy Sedgwick, for it was twelve years ago, back in May of 2011, that we published her story The Porcelain Woman.  That was another time, another place, altogether removed from the present seething reality we all find ourselves in now. That's just the way the universe actually works.  Some call it the multiverse, and as far as I'm concerned, it's all the same thing.  It's just hardly anyone gets even remotely close to its center enough to see the whole thing with their eyes closed.  This is a terrific tale you've penned and sent us, Icy, thank you so much for returning to the party! 

   This issue had its nucleus formed when John Shirley sent me TWO TECHNO TALES to help celebrate its fortieth edition.   I'm happy with the cover image that I was able to render with the help of Deep Dream Generator and my patented 'universal colorizer' style template (which is a smartphone's photo of an abstract color analog painting done by my wife, Shasta) and some plain text prompt to urge the ai-ware along.  Making digital graphic art from words and photos has become my favorite new hobby, synthography.  While apparently many people online seem to have allowed themselves to get really rattled up by its array of implications, I myself am grateful I was born to be alive during this initial rise of ai and its myriad applications.  Thanks John for remaining our Polaris, the star which ever guides us forward through our mutual creative writing dream together.  Without you, well you already know what they say.  It would be dead in the water.  

     And finally, thanks to our long standing cohort in this emphatic endeavor.  John Claude Smith has contributed his fourth story with us now, after many years of being part of our close knit group of rag tag writers.  It really just fell into place with a natural precision I find just a tad uncanny, tbh.  The way I was able to generate the iconic psychedelic image which to me, suits the title and theme of the story so well, it seems as if it were really meant to be.  I can't thank you enough, my friend, for digging in deep and submitting what I consider to be one of your most classic tales.  It really caps off this issue with style. 


The Freezine Returns After A Series Of Moments. 
Stay tuned. Catch up. Good night. Reach out.




freezinefantasysciencefiction@gmail.com

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  next up the
October Issue 
begins, click to read:
THE BLIND GIRL'S SUMMONS
by Marge Simon 
     
only on the Freezine of 

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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.