Performing in Petaluma, October 29th!

I haven't been doing too many readings and performances this year, and this will definitely be my last one for October, where I'll be reading selections from DEMONSTRA at Aqus Cafe at 189 H Street, Petaluma. Ross E. Lockhart will be the host as I join Constance Ann Fitzgerald, Spike Marlowe, Christopher Reynaga and Andrew Goldfarb, aka The Slow Poisoner for what's sure to be an evening of horror, terror, and weirdness, one way or another. Free, but it's definitely good form to buy a drink or two at the bar while we're all at it. :) See you there!

Photostudy: Wat Lao Saophuth, Sacramento

Here are a few shots from a recent visit to the Wat Lao in Sacramento. You can see several of the classic figures of Lao mythology and folklore here, including guardian Nyak and Nak, and a Buddha guarded by the seven-headed Nak Mucalinda. It's a spacious compound off of Gerber Road in the southern quarter of Sacramento. It's worth a visit if you can make it out there.

Asian American horror poetry?

So, it's Halloween season and as good a time as any to ask: What are some of your favorite examples of Asian American horror poetry?

Personally, I'd certainly cite collections like Burlee Vang's 2010 collection "The Dead I Know: Incantation for Rebirth," from Swan Scythe Press. Bao Phi's "The Godzilla Sestina" is also another example, as is El Guante's "Haunted Studio Apartment" spoken word album from Tru Roots. El Guante's "Love In the Time of Zombies" is a well-known standout of his.

Barbara Jane Reyes has a number of pieces I think are worth considering that employ a number of elements we might find within horror poetry. I'd also look at the work of Wei-Ming Dariotis and Lee Ann Roripaugh.  Cathy Park Hong's Dance Dance Revolution is a post-apocalyptic work, so I can see some questioning whether different movements within it can be classified as a "horror poem" within the conventional sense. But I think it's worth a look.

Who else would you recommend lately?

New short story coming in October: The Dachshunds of Tindalos.

Just in time for the season, my all-new 100-word horror short "The Dachshunds of Tindalos" was published in the collection Spooky Halloween Drabbles 2014, this month, edited by Roy C. Booth and Jorge Salgado-Reyes. Available only in e-book format it will arrive on October 15th at Amazon.

A drabble is short fiction with exactly 100 words. They do not necessarily include the title in the word count. The attraction of a drabble comes from its brevity and the challenge of creating something interesting with heavily restricted word counts, which is particularly difficult for prose writers, but not necessarily for poets.

The contributors to Spooky Halloween Drabbles 2014 include: Chris Acevedo, Allan B. Anderson, R.L. Andrew, Ashraf A. Abbas, Colleen Aune, Timothy Bateson, Tabitha Baumander, David Beard, Mitch Berntson, Kerry E.B. Black, Rose Blackthorn, Cynthia Booth, Revelin Booth, Rex Booth, Roy C. Booth, Robert Breen, Raven Brun, Rebecca Brun, William Brun, Carol Caputo, Peggy Christie, Duane E. Coffill, Stryder Dancewolffe, TL Decay, Anna M Dobritt, Doug Draa, Deb Elliot, Terry Faust, Scott Forst, Elaine Frei, R.A.M. Graham, Terrance Griep, Morgan Griffith, Kristen Gruber, Jay Hartlove, William Hiles, Steve Hopstaken, Rose Johnson, Zachary Kapsch, Aletha Kenney, Robert Kirk, Thomas Kleaton, Axel Kohagen, Debbie Manber Kupfer, Cyndi Lord, Ken McGregor, Kayleigh McKenzie, John F. Mollard, Kate Monroe, R.J. Davies Mornix, Jaime Munt, Victori Pickett, Melissa Prusi, Dyfedd Rex, R. Thomas Riley, Jo-Anne Russell, M.M. Schill, Mike Schoenberg, Genta Sebastian, Maggie Secera, Jorge Salgado-Reyes, MontiLee Stormer, Janni Styles, Tyler Tork, Sophie Tynan, Justin Wagenberg, Robert Ward, Kirsten Weiss, Chuck West, Donna Marie West. Ben Westlie, Jason D. Wittman, Brian Woods, Tom Woolery, Maig Worel, Conrad Zero and myself.

So that's a lot of value for 99 cents.

Editor Roy C. Booth was born in Bemidji, MN on August 26, 1965, and is a 1983 graduate of Pillager High School. Roy holds college degrees from Brainerd Community College (AA, 1986) and Bemidji State University (BA EnglishSpeech-Theatre, 1989 MA English, 1998), and student taught scriptwriting for the English and Theatre Departments while attending BSU.

Roy is also a published author, poet, journalist, essayist, and scriptwriter with 47 plays published with 615 productions worldwide in such cities as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas, Houston, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Louisville, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton (Bermuda), Edinburgh, Manchester, London, Paris, Nice, Milan, Bern, Gdansk, Warsaw, Durban, Mumbai, Bangalore, Tehran, Dehra Dun, New Dehli, Dhaka, Bangkok, Tianjin, Tokyo, Quezon City, Kelapa Gading (Indonesia), Perth, Melbourne, Wellington, and Brasilia.

Roy recently had a small acting role in the film North Country and has directedacteddesigned presently 200 theatrical productions to date. Roy currently lives in Hibbing, Minnesota with his wife Cynthia (also a published playwright) and their three sons, and is the owner/manager of Roy's Comics Games of Hibbing and Bemidji, Minnesota.

Jorge Salgado-Reyes is a Chilean/British science fiction author and private investigator. Born in Temuco, Chile, Salgado-Reyes left his country of birth at age seven in 1975 due to the military coup. He was subsequently brought up in the United Kingdom. Changing residence frequently with his family as a child, Salgado-Reyes became somewhat of a lone wolf who read science fiction from a very early age. After spending his adolescence in Mozambique, he returned to the UK where he completed his further education. Having left school aged 18, he worked for various security companies as a store detective and under-cover operative until an assailant stabbed him in the course of his work. After being made redundant in 2006, he started his own detective agencies, Salgado Investigations and Allied Detectives (subsequently sold in 2013). Salgado-Reyes became a member of the Guardian Angels, London Chapter in the mid-nighties rising to the rank of Assistant Training Coordinator. Salgado-Reyes is a Fellow of the World Association of Professional Investigators. Salgado-Reyes is also an amateur photographer specializing in landscapes, night photography and glamour. In 2011, Salgado-Reyes began writing his first novel, The Smoke in Death's Eye, still in progress. It combines elements of cyberpunk and hard-boiled detective fiction.

Hmm. This seems like a long post for a collection of extremely short fiction. Ah, well. A big thanks to everyone who's been involved in this undertaking! And welcome to October!