It’s been a little while since our last update. Summer, that desolate season, tends to take it out of us here at MMP HQ and we are only just now getting back into the general swing. Also, we get it into our collective Head that somehow news-y type updates require a certain explosive quality with lots of bright and also shiny. Bundles of informational excitement. And when that combustibility isn’t right there on the surface, we tend not to bother with lighting what fuse there may be.

News is news, though, and as Martian Migraine Press readers, you deserve to hear it, preferably when it happens. And so, here is some. We’re taking to calling these NEWSCLUSTERS now: morsels of chewy stuff, hopefully tasty, possibly explosive. Consume at your own risk.

First off: MMP authors spreading their contagion elsewhere! Our author S R Jones has submitted a story called The Other Side of Zero to the zombies-in-Canada anthology Dead North, coming out from Exile Editions in the fall 2013. And Justine G has a story being considered by Dagan Books for the second edition of their hugely popular weird erotica anthology Cthulhurotica. It’s called In The Stacks and it is pure Justine, just the way we like it. We’re excited for our boy and girl and we’ll announce how they do with these submissions as soon as we hear!

Justine G announces BLACKSTONE Shorts

With our glands still ringing from the free promo back in August for Justine G’s RED MONOLITH FRENZY (Book 1 of her BLACKSTONE Erotica series), we’re happy to announce that sales of both Books 1 and 2 are doing well, and that Book 3, YELLOW SIGN BOUND, should be available by the end of October. We’d love a release for Halloween, natch, but Justine has her speaking tours and other dark what-not keeping her busy, so that’s a tentative release announcement, understand. She’s not the kind of lady we’d feel comfortable rushing. What with the hexing and all…

Good news for BLACKSTONE fans, however! Miss Geoffrey has told us she has a number of short pieces written, featuring characters in the BLACKSTONE universe. Ever wonder what the sorceress Anicka and her cretin brother Kamil get up to in the summoning circle? Curious as to what took place between Professor Gravesend and Cranston in the shadow of the Black Stone? How did the gorgeous ice-queen Yvette fall under the spell of Evangeline Waite?

The devil is in the details, friends, and SUMMONINGS: Blackstone Shorts will provide those in decadent packets of dark eroticism and darker magic. Each short tale (between 3 and 5000 words) will link up with the main BLACKSTONE narrative, filling out the incredible tale of one woman’s insane quest for cosmic power and mind-blowing sex. SUMMONINGS: Anicka and Kamil is first up! Expect that disturbing little gem in the first week of October.

When The Stars Are Right: skawt chonzz and the Rise of R’lyeh

Our author and poet/spoken word artist skawt chonzz has sent us some initial material towards a non-fiction book of what he’s calling “R’lyehian Spirituality”: when you strip away the goofy horror from Lovecraft’s fiction, and then go a step further and excise the half-assed pseudo-magical practices accrued to HPLs Mythos by the post-modern geek consumer, what are you left with? According to chonzz, a remarkable set of antinomian practices and a way of moving through the world that could perhaps be described as a kind of “dark side Zen”. Is Cthulhu an emergent property of human consciousness? What is the Black Gnosis?

When The Stars Are Right: Towards An Authentic R’lyehian Spirituality will be our first release in both ebook and print editions, with a release date and book launch party in Victoria, BC on August 20, 2013. Yes, Lovecraft’s birthday. Of course. We’re fairly excited about it, actually: this is not another faux-Necronomicon. More an examination of Lovecraftian themes and theology, some of which chonzz has touched on in poetic-fashion with his acclaimed chapbook R’LYEH SUTRA. We’re lining up our print connections and speaking with illustrators, even.  Updates as they happen.

Sparlock In The Trash Bin, Sadly…

And now a bit of awful news to finish: our plans for an anthology of tales of and about Sparlock the Warrior Wizard have come to naught, and all for lack of interest. Sparlock, for those who don’t know, is the cheap plastic toy that debuted in a hilariously unaware indoctrination video “for kids” put out by the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society this past summer. You can find the video here… we don’t know what we expected really. Perhaps a deluge of submissions from former and ex-Jehovah’s Witness apostate writers spinning hilarious and trenchant takes on Sparlock, Caleb, Caleb’s mom and the infamous ‘Tower? Yes. Yes, that’s exactly what we expected. Also, it’s what we didn’t get. So, sadly, The Chronicles of Sparlock is not a thing that will happen. Submissions are closed.

Interested in Martian Migraine Press output so far? Check out our Bookstore or pop over to this Amazon page and peruse!

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