Bruce Bethke & Stupefying Stories

by Angelique Fawns

 

Ever wonder where the term “cyberpunk” comes from? Bruce Bethke is the creator. The term was born when his story story “Cyberpunk” appeared in Amazing Stories in November of 2023. But that’s not all this influential author (and musician!) is known for. He wrote the award-winning novel Headcrash and created Stupefying Stories, an online and print magazine run under his Rampant Loon Press imprint.

 

I met Bruce Bethke when he purchased my short story “Graveside Dining” which you can read for free here:  https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/2023/10/graveside-dining-by-angelique-fawns.html

I love this market so much, another of my strange stories goes live on Saturday, March 9th:
https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-hangover-and-hag-by-angelique-fawns.html

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Michael La Ronn: Finding Kickstarter Necromancy

By Angelique Fawns

 

Michael La Ronn has launched a Kickstarter for his “The Good Necromancer” Urban Fantasy Series and is off to a magical start. His modest goal of $200 funded in fourteen minutes! How do you practice the dark arts and remain a good man? La Ronn’s series explores this very question.

Here is a blurb from his first person protagonist. “So here I am, back in the game. You know, making deals with grim reapers, casting dark spells, binding souls to dead bodies for protection. Typical necromancer stuff. But I’m channeling my powers for good this time. When I’m done, this demon will beg me for mercy.”

La Ronn, writing under the pen name M.L. Ronn, has published over 90 science fiction & fantasy books and self-help books for writers. I met him at the Superstars Writing Conference this February and was immediately drawn to his quiet confidence and knowledge. 

He’s running his very first Kickstarter and I sat down with him to learn more.

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Getting into the Groove with Andrea Hairston

An interview with Andrea Hairston 

By Sarah Elliott

 

Would you like to dive into the night-riding, bear-meeting world of an award-winning fantasy writer? Put on your dancing shoes and get ready to meet the music-loving author of Archangels of Funk. Drop the needle to the record – let’s go!

 

Andrea Hairston is a novelist, essayist, playwright, and the Artistic Director of Chrysalis Theatre. She is the author of Redwood and Wildfire, winner of the 2011 Otherwise Award and the Carl Brandon Kindred Award, and Mindscape, shortlisted for the Phillip K Dick and Otherwise Awards, and winner of the Carl Brandon Parallax Award. In her spare time, she is the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Afro-American Studies at Smith College. She has received the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts Distinguished Scholarship Award for outstanding contributions to the criticism of the fantastic. She bikes at night year-round, meeting bears, and the occasional shooting star.

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The Horror Tree Presents: Author Interview – Cassondra Windwalker

By Lionel Ray Green

Author and poet Cassondra Windwalker begins 2024 with the publication of What Hides in the Cupboards, a powerfully evocative modern gothic novel about regret and grief. 

The book is set for release Jan. 30 by horror and crime publisher Unnerving and is available for pre-order on Amazon.

What Hides in the Cupboards is about a ceramic artist named Hesper Dunn who’s moved from Chicago to New Mexico with her husband Richard following an accident. Their new house is cursed with a tragic history, leading Hesper down a dark path where she encounters ghosts of the past.

Windwalker, whose previous works include Idle Hands and Hold My Place, is also an accomplished poet. Her collection The Bench, available through Evening Street Press, won the 2020 Helen Kay Chapbook Poetry Prize for its “documentary-like precision.”

Windwalker agreed to an exclusive email interview with Lionel Ray Green for The Horror Tree about her new release and her award-winning poetry collection The Bench.

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Jonathan Maberry: Keeping us in suspense!

By Angelique Fawns

 

Jonathan Maberry’s thrilling creations cross genres and entertain us on many platforms. His V-War series on Netflix had me binge-watching episodes late into the night until the final bite was delivered. That was my gateway drug. Now I am a ravenous fan with an insatiable appetite. Good thing Maberry is prolific. He is a New York Times best-seller with countless novels, anthology editor, comic book writer, executive producer, playwright, magazine writer, teacher, and mentor. Not to mention a tireless champion of helping other writers and creatives navigate the genre world. 

 

I attended a workshop with Maberry at the beginning of the year called “Pitch & Sell Novels, Comics, Short Stories, and More!”  It was frankly amazing. I wanted to know more about this giant in the industry.

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The Horror Tree Presents: Author Interview – Helen Power 

By Lionel Ray Green 

 Canadian author Helen Power followed up her award-winning debut novel The Ghosts of Thorwald Place with another supernatural thriller, Phantom. 

An academic librarian living in Saskatoon, Power uses her eclectic background – she has degrees in forensic science, environmental studies, and library science – to enhance her storytelling. She is also an avid reader and reviewer and runs the Power Librarian book blog. 

Power agreed to an exclusive email interview with Lionel Ray Green for The Horror Tree about her novels. 

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Hart Seely, Captaining AHOY Comics

by Angelique Fawns

You know what I find as satisfying as a bite of chocolate cake and a comfy couch? An hour spent with an AHOY Comic. In these pages you’ll find a place where the weird and the sublime rule. Created and promoted by industry experts, (Marvel, National Lampoon, etc) these professional, imaginative, and highly artistic offerings are the perfect bite-sized reading material. Some of the series include: Acid Chimp vs. Business Dog, Second Coming, Justice Warriors, Ash & Thorn, Billonaire Island, and Edgar Allen Poe’s Snifter of Terror.

 

I met Hart Seely when he purchased my comedy short “The Dead Seller’s Market” which you can find in Project Cryptid #4. In a past life he was an award-winning reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and sold satire and articles to The New Yorker, The New York Times, National Public Radio, and National Lampoon. Now he publishes AHOY Comics, and you can buy these mags on Amazon’s Comixology, or find them in some local comic stores. He agreed to answer a few of my questions about his comics and career journey.

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Mary Robinette Kowal & The Spare Man

By Angelique Fawns

 

Hugo, Locus, and Nebula Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal is one of my favorite author/teachers in the speculative world today. I’ve taken a few of her courses and been blown away by her insightful approach to storytelling and unique ways of dealing with hiccups in the creation process. She agreed to talk to me about her book, The Spare Man, a 2023 Hugo Award Finalist sci-fi mystery. 

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