Platform 58

Art at Platform 58:




All Platform 58 issues can be viewed or purchased here

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Platform58 Anthology:

Containing artwork from issues 011 - 015 (over one million online views), and including 261 pieces of art by 164 international artists, the Platform58 Anthology is now available in softcover and hardcover formats at Blurb.

Paraphilia Magazine V

Paraphilia Magazine V

I am enormously pleased that my written work - “Automata Exhibition” - is included in the current issue of Paraphilia Magazine. Originally written about a year ago, around a sequence of paintings by the incredibly talented Siolo Thompson, I am fantastically pleased that three of Siolo’s paintings accompany my work, and am deeply honoured that one of these is a completely new canvas painted for this project.

Once again Paraphilia have produced an electric issue that puts the predictable tedium of most other journals to shame. A fantastic collection of words and images, Issue V also includes a fascinating 24-page interview with legendary Stooges’ guitarist James Williamson.

Free pdf download of the magazine – and previous issues – can be found here:

http://www.paraphiliamagazine.com/magazine.html

There is also an excellent article in the Manifesto section of Paraphilia – a highly recommended read:

The Heart-ache and the Thousand Natural Shocks

Many thanks to Dave and Díre @ Paraphilia

Paraphilia Magazine Issue Five contributors:

CHIKUMA ASHIDA, SID GRAVES, JOHNNY STINGRAY, CAROL TORRES, JIM LOPEZ, MICHAEL K, MICHAEL CANO, CHARLES PLATT, AUDREE FLYNN, BRIAN BLUR, ANDREW MABEN, THOMAS HASTINGS, DM MITCHELL, CHRIS BRANDRICK, JANA, CLAIRE GODDEN-ROWLAND, MALCOLM ALCALA, CRAIG WOODS, MAX REEVES, SUE FOX, DIRE MCCAIN, EVITA CORBY, DAVID BRITTON, CRICKET CORLEONE, RICHARD A. MEADE, SALENA GODDEN, GUTTERSAINT, GENE GREGORITS, PABLO VISION, SIOLO THOMPSON, BRIAN ROUTH, PATRICIA WELLS, MICHAEL BUTTERWORTH, RICK GRIMES, HANK KIRTON, RICH FOLLETT, DARIUS JAMES, DESTINY MCKEEVER, NICK TOSCHES, JOHN BARRYMORE, CHRIS MADOCH, CLAUDIA BELLOCQ, ANGELA SUZZANNE, RON GARMON, KATE MACDONALD, MARY LEARY, DOLOROSA DE LA CRUZ

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And many, many thanks to Siolo…

Siolo’s website (for information about many multimedia projects) can be found here:

http://www.siolothompson.com/

Image: “for pablo” by Siolo Thompson



“Live Alone” by Isaac Thompson – animation by Siolo Thompson

With written work published in numerous journals, prestigious gallery showings of fine art painting, a starring role in 3rd Eye Film’s forthcoming “The Sheets Must Be Silk”, the phenomenal success of the “Live Alone” video (over a million hits, front page prominence on both YouTube and I-Google, inclusion in the 2009 International Festival of Film and Technology), Siolo is currently expanding her one woman empire by working on her next project: “Darkland Homecoming – A Kobicho Tale” – hand painted backgrounds, objects and characters with digital animation.

The Making Of “The Sheets Must Be Silk” Slides – starring Siolo Thompson

Producers - Lucien Flynn & Will Chase
Executive Producers - Ben Andrews & Rodrigo DeMedeiros
1st Assistant Director - Gale Benning
Director of Photography - David Barbosa
3rd Eye Film

MungBeing 28

Highly pleased that the new issue of MungBeing showcases three examples of my artwork for Epic Rites Press. Although I do not like to talk about the process of how created, I do provide some incidental background - and tangential musings - relating to the artwork. View, and read, here. And find out more information, or buy the books, here.

Many thanks to Mark for continued support of my work at MungBeing. With average issue hits in excess of 90,000, MungBeing continues to be one of the most high-profile, and successful, journals on the internet.

But, in much the same way that anyone purchasing Harper’s Bazaar in the Fifties, would – should – head straight for the Flannery O’Conner stories featured, the following links converge into a collection of work that rises above all else.

Jennifer Chesler at MungBeing:

The Gum Incident

The Baker

A Letter I Got In Prison

Thanatopis

Pam And Brad

Sickening Remains

Deux

Skeleton Shmeleton

Transcript Of Interview With Jennifer Sparks

Fictionaut

The stage is set.

The curtains are pulled back.

Fictionaut removes the privacy barriers to allow access all areas.

Read “It Is Not Gravity Which Pulls Us Down” here, and “Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!” here.


My Fictionaut profile can be found at http://www.fictionaut.com/users/pablo-vision

New cover art for forthcoming Epic Rites Publications

cover art & design for rob plath’s there’s a fist dunked in blood beating in my chest
(epic rites press)



cover art & design for amanda boschetto’s badlands (epic rites press)



cover art & design for david mclean’s hellbound – expanded version (epic rites press)



cover art and design for the epic rites journal – issue one (epic rites press)



cover art and design for jack henry’s crunked (epic rites press)


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Full resolution & full sized images can be viewed at http://www.myspace.com/pvdemo

More information of the above books can be found at http://www.epicrites.org/

syndrome

New audio track: “syndrome”

The tension is created in the drum loops; dynamic movement propelled by alternate panning and processing; feedback and harmonic sound pad (homage to martin hannett’s work for joy division) positioned to the right.

Best listened to at volume, sat in-between the speakers with bass turned up (or sub woofer on)

Preview at:

http://www.myspace.com/pvdemo

The Broken And The Damned – Jason Hardung – Epic Rites Press

Forthcoming at Epic Rites Press:

The Broken And The Damned – Jason Hardung – Epic Rites Press

“The Broken and the Damned by Jason Hardung is a love poem for the schools of lost children. The story of a boy waiting at the corner of lost and found for the light of his mother’s eyes to change to gold. A long drive into that dark episode we call father that always finds us where we live. These hungry poems will inhabit you like a junkie’s old leather coat. The fix is the verse. They need to be held and read out loud to your delinquent heart. Hardung’s history packs a .38, does time, rides shotgun with a Cadillac moon singing liberation lyrics that will provide a solid rush, that feeling you get when you first feel the poem enter the bloodstream.” – S. A. Griffin

More Details at:

http://www.epicrites.org/

Image: front and back cover art and design by pablo vision

Whilst I Was Not Here…

Heavy Bear

Delighted to be the cover artist for Issue Two of Jane Crown’s Heavy Bear. Artwork can be found here Click on the cover to enter the zine and view contents – much good stuff there, including a review of ‘a bellyful of anarchy’ by David McLean.

Be sure to check out the most candid and informative biography [to date] of featured artist ‘pablo vision’ here



Paraphilia Magazine

The always vibrant and exciting Paraphilia has got yet another issue up – this one issue three. Includes my piece “Psychology In The Cubicle”, but, as with all issues, absolutely excellent from cover to cover. Why not download all three issues for free here? That way you would also have issue one which includes “Babushka” – essential reading…



Saatchi Gallery

Some new and some old artwork can now be viewed at the Saatchi Gallery – including the semi-famous ‘flying cocks’. Semi-famous these cocks might be, but semi-hard they are definitely not…





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Epic Rites Publications

A Bellyful Of Anarchy – Rob Plath



“With a bodybag full of bloody memories, broken dreams and tormented visions of the future, American poet Rob Plath trudges through the darkened alleyways of your moral highground - a bellyful of anarchy is a tour de force dissection of a world gone rotten.” - RD Armstrong, Lummox Press

“A BELLYFUL OF ANARCHY IS AN ABSOLUTE MONSTER THAT WILL LEAP FROM YOUR BOOKSHELF AND KICK THE SHIT OUT OF EVERY OTHER BOOK IN YOUR LIBRARY”

More details at:

here and here

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Hellbound – David McLean



…infamous for leading his readers deep into the shadowy woods of the human psyche and leaving them for dead, mclean offers a tight collection of poetry centred around clive barker’s popular hellraiser franchise…delving deep into the hellraiser mythology david does not merely interpret it, he reinvents it – making it distinctly his own…quite possibly the coolest chapbook you will ever buy…

“mclean’s poetry has always kicked your balls until you puked; with this volume you’re choking on blood and praying for replacement” - Jack Henry, d/e/a/d/b/e/a/t press & Heroin Love Songs

“Get yourself a copy of Hellbound - it’s a strangely righteous read in a tumultuous world.” - Jane Crown, Heavy Bear

More details at:

here and here


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Frostbitten – Mark Walton



The first volume of the workers in blood series, Frostbitten continues to attract rave reviews…

“Mark Walton's poems fizzle with energy and capture the modern gay experience in all its many guises.” - Paul Burston, author (Shameless, Star People, Lovers & Losers, The Gay Divorcee, etc) and journalist (Time Out, The Guardian, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Independent on Sunday, etc)

“I found Frostbitten lucid, harrowing and compelling. It's a cogent and passionate first collection shot through with hard-won self-knowledge.” - Paul Magrs, author (Marked for Life, Never the Bride, Twin Freaks, Something Borrowed, Conjugal Rites, BBC Doctor Who series, etc)

More details at:

here and here

speed is of the essence

well, not long since back from cyprus, i am soon to be offline again, heading over to france for a while. speed seeming to have been the essence of the time in-between, it will be nice to slow down for a bit, and hopefully recover somewhat.

so quickly:

mighty pleased to have done the cover art/design for david mclean’s hellbound. forthcoming on epic rites. look out for news and reviews there soon. for now, a quick preview of what it will look like can be seen here


very excited that my piece “psychology in the cubicle” will be appearing in issue three of the very vibrant and distinctly different paraphilia magazine. issue three possibly out whilst i am away, but issue one (which includes my piece “babushka”), and a similarly fantastic issue two, can be found here oh, and those flashing images there are my work too. aren’t i clever/annoying?

also thrilled that the new issue of heavy bear should be out soon. will be cover artist and featured artist. i think.

delighted that my work will appear in the crossing chaos enigmatic ink anthology – “quantum genre on the planet of arts” – possibly out around september. more info later.

and, because i can’t stress it enough, very, very excited that a bellyful of anarchy is available for advance orders. see post below, or simply just click here

i fought the loire and the loire won...

a bellyful of anarchy

click, motherfuckers, click: a bellyful of anarchy

it is with great excitement and pride that everyone at epic rites unleashes a bellyful of anarchy upon the world.


click, motherfuckers, click: a bellyful of anarchy


i wanna write books that make people ignite
my pages, smear the ashes beneath their eyes
like war-paint & go out to scalp
the false wig from society's vain skull

- rob plath


click, motherfuckers, click: a bellyful of anarchy


place your advance order for a bellyful of anarchy today and receive a limited edition my bones bully my brain broadside - numbered and autographed by rob (first 100 orders only)



click, motherfuckers, click: a bellyful of anarchy


for details of purchasing, sample poems, reviews, dates for NYC book launch readings, links, and more – just click: a bellyful of anarchy

ON VACATION

Taking another break.

Apologies for many things not responded to / neglected – but highly unlikely to be any different on my physical return.

Good vibes to all.

Heavy Bear

Highly delighted that I will be the cover artist – and featured artist – for the next issue of Heavy Bear.

The current issue of Heavy Bear is up here, and very impressive it is too. The current cover art is excellent, and the biography of the cover artist - “cipher – the panic artist” - makes very interesting reading.

cipher -the panic artist’s website can – and most certainly should - be viewed here

Paraphilia Magazine

Well, taking a short break from taking a break, I’ll quickly say a few things.

Delighted that the first issue of Paraphilia Magazine is now available as a free download here

Filled with many exciting written pieces and images, and a very impressive line up of artists – this all looks very exciting indeed. So get clicking, and get downloading!!! Too much stuff to mention – but bloody hell, it’s even got music and multimedia legend, Steven Severin (yes, as in Siouxsie and the Banshees), in there too. How cool is that?

My own piece is called “Babushka”, and it is on page 37, and it is one of those gentle understated pieces suitable for all the family to read.

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And moving on briskly, dead pleased that David McLean’s “of dead snakes” is now available to buy, or download for free, here, and some great reviews and info can be found here

And moving on with indecent haste, very pleased that Mark Walton’s “Frostbitten” is available to purchase from the Epic Rites Bookstore here, and reviews and samples of Frostbitten can be found here

Buy both David McLean’s “of dead snakes” and Mark Walton’s “Frostbitten”, and get my cover art absolutely free!!!

And over at Epic Rites it seems like there is a new and mysterious person now occupying office space – a cacophony of chainsaws emanating from behind the office door – just what the fuck is he building in there?

The Misunderstood

A bit of a departure from what I should be doing, but…really desirous for a bit of a break from routine, last night found me listening to The Misunderstood’s “Children of the Sun” on repeat play, and at appropriate volume (i.e. very loud!!!), and accidentally reinterpreting a photo of the band from 1966.

This morning finds me exceedingly excited that this image is now on display in the band’s blog and can be viewed here - and, of course, if one clicks back to the profile, one can hear “Children of the Sun”, the equally awesome “I Can Take You to the Sun”, plus four other tracks.

Massive thanks to Rick and the guys for digging this!!!

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Rock Music critic Jade Hubertz wrote in a 1998 review, "When it comes to the Misunderstood, I have no shame and offer no apologies. "Children of the Sun" is the GREATEST psychedelic track of all time and it's CRIMINAL that the band was taken down in its prime."

In his "Peelenium" (Greatest Songs of the 20th Century) John Peel lists The Misunderstood for 1966, as follows, PEELENIUM 1966: 1. Leonard Cohen - The Sisters of Mercy, 2. The Beatles - And Your Bird Can Sing, 3. The Misunderstood - I Can Take You To The Sun, 4. Jimi Hendrix - Red House, 5. Otis Redding - Try a Little Tenderness.

John Peel also told Index Magazine in 2003, "If I had to list the ten greatest performances I've seen in my life, one would be The Misunderstood at Pandora's Box, Hollywood, 1966. It was the only time I've seen an audience reduced to impotent silence".

***

Certainly, in my opinion, “Children of the Sun” and “I Can Take You to the Sun” stand alongside The Who’s “My Generation” and “I Can See For Miles”, The Byrds’ “Eight Miles High”, and The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows”, Cream’s “I Feel Free”, Hendrix’s “Hey Joe”, The Creation’s “How Does It Feel to Feel”, Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play”, The Pretty Things’ “Talking About The Good Times”, as not only tracks which stand out as crucial in the development of music – but tracks which sound as absolutely electrifying now, as they did then.

More info about the band can be found at www.themisunderstood.com

The incredible story of the early life of Rick Brown is told in “Like, Misunderstood” – available from Amazon here

Epic Rites

I am very pleased to announce that I have moved into virtual office space at Epic Rites.

My office door can be found on the main Epic Rites website here. “A New Experience In Food Retail” can be read there.

Clicking on the pablo vision icon/middle finger image on the main page will open the door to my office. “type you fucker, just type…” can be read there, and the artwork for Rob Plath’s “a bellyful of anarchy”, Mark Walton’s “Frostbitten”, and David McLean’s “of dead snakes” can be viewed in full glorious Technicolor. “The House Of The Dead Man” currently completes the written work on show. The office can also be directly entered here. But that would not be half as much fun.

I will be sure to update this blogspot when I put some new stuff up.

There’s all sorts of tremendously exciting things happening at epic rites:

virtual office space also occupied by Wolf Carstens, Rob Plath, Karl Koweski, and RD Armstrong…

links to the Frostbitten website, Rob and Jack America radio show (and archives), Epic Rites and The Thin Edge Of Staring journals, and all sorts of upcoming events and happenings – including the upcoming Riverwood Poetry Festival (five days of destructive madness in Connecticut at the end of June)…

and a very exciting schedule of titles to be released by Epic Rites Press. Watch this space (well, not this space, but the Epic Rites space, obviously)…

Sein und Werden – Philias and Fetishes – reviewed by Grace Andreacchi

Very, very excited by the excellent review of the print edition of Philias and Fetishes by Grace Andreacchi.

The review is a wonderful piece of writing in itself. Sein und Werden has always been a fantastically respected journal, and – as Grace so rightly says – Sein und Werden is going from strength to strength. I’ve said below that this is the absolute highlight of all the things I have been involved in – and this pleasure is not really to do with my own contribution.

There is a story of Jimi Hendrix getting on stage with Cream back in 1966. Jimi had only been in England for a week. Eric Clapton simply walked off the stage in shock to gaze in absolute awe at Hendrix, and said to Chas Chandler afterwards, “Is he always that fucking good?” I’m certainly no Eric Clapton – but I so know how he must have felt!!!

I truly believe that this issue will become highly collectable – and purely because of the content. I will be writing more about this when I catch up with things.

Read Grace’s review here

Grace’s rather impressive Wikipedia entry is here and her website is here

Buy Philias and Fetishes here

Don’t read the review, and don’t buy the journal here – and make the conscious decision to make your life blander than it need be.

Even the most devout of believers, when saying ‘Grace’ before a meal, ought to recite Grace’s review in full – because even God would find it impossible to not ‘do an Eric Clapton’ in this instance.

Black River Publishing – Literary Bitch

Very pleased that a submission from an eternity ago (one I had forgotten about) has gone up in Black River Publishing’s first issue of the online journal Literary Bitch. An older piece too. As Jethro Tull say in the liner notes for their 1968 album, ‘this was how we were playing then – but things change’ – however, in the case of Jethro Tull they immediately changed into a band so embarrassingly awful, that it is hard to comprehend just how good ‘This Was’ is. Fucking hope the changes I am making are for the better, rather than Jethro’s parlous descent!

Anyway, you can read “Hollywood Blood Bat Fiasco” here and you can read David McLean’s lyrically sensitive, and fragrant, poem “the night smells of piss” here

Misc Update

Seems like much exciting stuff is happening while I’ve been kind of snowed under with things (but not, unfortunately, snowed under in some cocaine kind of way; nor in the way that a few inches of snow can bring London’s airport, bus and rail network to a complete standstill (that kind of way is the sort of retrogressive progress that can put a vehicle on the moon many decades ago, but replaces high-speed internet with carrier pigeons - or allows Chuck Palahniuk to be considered as anything other than predictably mediocre)).

Well, I’ll try and catch up with my shit as soon as I can in subsequent posts. But briefly: I stopped writing stuff at the end of November – I may, or may not, return to doing this in the future. I’m taking a break from it – but if I enjoy the break from it too much – who knows? It is not really my intention to do much submitting of stuff to zines from this point on. There are a few ancient and outstanding submissions that might filter through – but many journals die, lose submissions, don’t get them (but not in a ‘you just don’t get it, man’, kind of way), or (quite possibly) struggle to tactfully say: ‘this might be the biggest pile of shit anyone has ever sent us’. There will be occasions – often idiosyncratic – where I do occasionally submit. Mostly I just want to be doing something a bit different. I am not writing a novel, and I never will – it would be fucking awful (and fans of Chuck might then grunt about pots and kettles – or, more probably, gesticulate inarticulately to that effect).

I’ve been doing some artwork for book covers recently, and enjoying that tremendously – although, once again, a bit swamped with things. I guess the reason for putting this shit on my blog is just to say to the various people I have said ‘no’ to for various things of late - or anyone feeling ‘neglected’ on various ‘networking’ sites – it is not any kind of arrogance: I’m often just very busy and very lazy. But, of course, without any inconsistency, keep the suggestions coming in – I might be up for doing something, or else get an enormous sense of self-importance saying ‘sorry, can’t do’! (A perfect win/win situation for me, that more than compensates for any hurt caused to anybody else!)

I’ll be shortly moving into virtual office space at Epic Rites – and will say more about this when I’ve got some stuff together to put up. I am massively honoured to be joining some kick-ass people there, and secretly hoping for inappropriate sexual harassment from anyone with the slightest inclination. There are a number of really fucking exciting things happening at Epic Rites\Epic Rites Press, so extremely pleased to be involved with some of this. Wolfgang Carstens has been fucking awesome to work with – and matches ‘monster’ ambition with a lot of fucking hard work.

So, if there is brevity with a lot of my stuff, excuse the brevity with the exciting stuff I mentioned at the start of what is not a particularly brief post:

David McLean’s Of Dead Snakes should be out very soon at Rain Over Bouville, and, I believe, the excellent novella – Henrietta Forgets – forthcoming with Isms Press. There is already tons of great stuff you can buy (and links to many great pieces online) – so you know where the link is to Autoerotic Elegies…

Constance Stadler has got two excellent and powerful collections out – or out soon – Tinted Steam and Sublunary Curse. Check out the reviews and links for info at Connie’s blogspot…

Antony Hitchin has got The Holy Hermaphrodite coming out soon, and other exciting things in the pipeline – keep up to date with all of this at Antony’s blogspot…

And finally, but the exact opposite of least, very excited that one of my two most favourite journals is out and live – there is a link to a truly astounding collection of pieces in the link to Jennifer Chesler in MungBeing (on the right-hand side), that demonstrate why 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 and 24 is my favourite numeric sequence.

Hell, I’m sure there must be loads of other stuff that I have forgotten to mention – but if one considers that this morning I put some bread in the microwave to defrost for three minutes, and went to put some rubbish/garbage out while waiting, and, on my return, I thought the beeping of this ‘special’ oven was the smoke alarm going off due to the excessive smoking of menthol cigarettes – or, that every five years or so, I have to ask my mother if she had killed someone (when in fact this was my father) – one must conclude that I’m just not very good at retrieving information from - and retaining information in - my brain, and am some sort of idiot savant (well, maybe half true)…

cover art for david mclean’s of dead snakes – rain over bouville publications

Very excited to have been invited to do the cover art for David McLean’s forthcoming book “of dead snakes” (Rain Over Bouville Publications).

As some may know/suspect, I spend a lot of time painting David’s face on the computer – but usually when I get caught in the act of doing this, it results in being called pervert, and barred from various internet cafés. This time, my latest release is not going to ooze down the screen, but be on the cover of the demented, depraved, deviant’s book.

You should buy this book when it comes out – which should be very, very soon.

But don’t just take my word for it – Misti Rainwater-Lites and Constance Stadler want you to buy it too – it says so here (along with other essential info).

Being a bit of a fucktard I have no idea how to upload images here at any kind of reasonable resolution – so the cover art can be viewed here.

Clockwise Cat

Clockwise Cat has struck issue number twelve and very pleased that my piece “Damaged Girl” is here.

I reviewed some books written by other people. Buying books can help the authors buy expensive drugs, and it helps kills trees. Trees take oxygen out of the atmosphere and replace it with carbon monoxide. So that’s two reasons for buying books. Other reasons can be found by reading reviews.

There is a review of the deranged and demented David McLean’s Pushing Lemmings here. There is a review of the angelic Amanda Boschetto’s Angels in Hell here. And there is a review of Christopher Nosnibor’s The Plagiarist here. Christopher has previously expressed an impatience to read my posthumous work – so I consider it my duty to continue with my 60 cigarettes a day habit.

There is an impressive list of contributors – but because my fingers are too cold to type – I will just say be sure to check it out – and mention that the prominent promoter of the pope, David McLean, has a sizeable number of poems there, and several reviews, including one for the wonderful Sein und Werden, which can be read here. The review is for the Memento Mori issue, and very astutely describes my own complex relationship with the Lord.

I have heard and seen herds of Christians sing ‘The Lord Is My Shepherd’ with great gusto. Rejoice, sheep, rejoice.

Anyway, back to Clockwise Cat, and a post with a lot of here’s – one can read a story about ‘me’ by Mark Mika here. Mark specially commissioned Goya to do the illustration for this piece.

frostbitten – mark walton – epic rites press

Very excited to have been invited to do the artwork and design for the Workers In Blood chapbook series (Epic Rites Press). The first one in the series will be Mark Walton's Frostbitten.

The artwork can be seen here – just scroll down a bit (the artwork for Rob Plath’s A Bellyful Of Anarchy is also on this page).

But, books are about content – not covers – so I’ll echo and endorse what is being said at Epic Rites about Frostbitten:

"Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: "Of all that is written I love only what a man has written with his blood. Write with blood and you will discover that blood is spirit." The epic rites workers in blood chapbook series showcases work by artists whose medium is blood.

The first entry in the series is Frostbitten by Mark Walton, winner of the 2008 London Poetry Slam! Championship. Mark does not merely write with blood, he wields his pen like a scalpel - marbling away fat and dead tissue with surgical precision.

Frostbitten is not merely a collection of poetry, it's the literary equivalent of open heart massage.

Frostbitten will be available in February 2009 from the epic rites bookstore, Amazon, CreateSpace and other venues yet to be announced. The price is $10 USD. A percentage from every book sold will be donated to Mark's favourite charity, the Terrence Higgins Trust, a charitable organization that helps those affected by HIV/AIDS. Thus, every book purchase will not only support Mark's work, epic rites press, but also a lot of individuals who could really use a bit of help."

I'll just add that there will be some really strong and exciting work coming out in this series – and this is going to be a killer book to launch it.

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Massive cheers to Wolfgang Carstens at Epic Rites – the amount of work he has done in the last few weeks is simply astounding: a multitude of things going on at the Epic Rites site, many exciting books forthcoming, two different online journals (The Thin Edge of Staring and the second issue of Epic Writes online), and much more besides.

There is a link to Epic Rites on the right – and always loads of exciting stuff going on – be sure to check it out regularly.

Epic Rites Journal #2

Tremendously excited that the second Epic Rites Journal is up and live. A stellar line up of writers – with poetry and prose by the likes of Rob Plath, RD Armstrong, Mark Walton, Misti Rainwater-Lites, Erin Reardon, Tracy Landers, Dale Winslow, Chris Madoch, Mike Meraz, Karl Koweski, William Taylor Jr, DW Rindahl, Zack Wilson, Michael Keenaghan, Jason “Juice” Hardung, Wolfgang Carstens, Melissa Hanson, Craig Podmore and Jack Henry.

My piece – The Great Religion – can be read here. An awesome reading of the piece can also be heard here.

The journal also includes three fascinating and candid interviews with Andrew Taylor (Erbacce Press), RD Armstrong (Lummox Press), and Jack Henry (d/e/a/d/b/e/a/t press).