By
Katherine - July 29th, 2010
Thinking ahead, Dark Valentine Magazine is planning a first anniversary anthology of all-new stories and art, to be published in the spring of 2011. In the tradition of Ellen Datlow’s great anthologies, we would like it to have a theme. The theme has to accommodate the range of genres we promote, so something like Starships & Stalagmites won’t really work.
We’ve had a couple of ideas but we’d really like to hear what you have to say. You may be saying, “What’s in it for me Dark Valentine? The answer is books. And swag. And whatever else we have access to.
Here’s how we’d like it to work. You send us your ideas. At the end of September, we’ll pick the best of “reader’s choice” and then hold a vote. Even if we don’t pick your idea, the top three contenders will get a gift pile of dark fiction and a Dark Valentine coffee mug. (You can never have too many coffee mugs, can you?) And to go with the coffee mug, we’ll throw in a Starbucks card to fill it.
We want this to be an amazing anthology and amazing anthologies begin with amazing themes. Dazzle us!
Thank you.
By
Katherine - July 26th, 2010
For the Love of God
By Nigel Bird
Photograph by Marzel
Over 200 years we waited for someone to arrive. All that hanging around and it was over in a flash.
“Guard the door,” she said. “Guard it well.” That was 1789.
“Whatever happens, don’t let anyone in.” Her hair was piled on top of her scalp as ever and, if anything, her skin was paler than her usual snowy tones.
When her head rolled to Madame Guillotine in ’93, we had a meeting. Decided to stay on – she deserved our loyalty the way she’d treated us.
To be honest, we never took it that seriously. We had those three dogs just outside the doors, the ones with eyes big as dinner plates, cartwheels and moons. You probably know of them. Didn’t think anyone would manage to get past them. Only reason we were there was to wake them up if anyone turned up with the magic apron.
Given that there were the five of us, we got to take a tour of the gardens or pop in to Versailles every once in a while to keep up with the rest of the world. Read the rest of this entry »
By
Katherine - July 23rd, 2010
The Folly
By Chris Dabnor
He smiled as he poured her weak tea from the slightly scuffed metal teapot.
“When we leave here,” he said, his demeanour unchanging, his voice with a soft melodic quality, “I’m going to take you somewhere quiet and kill you.”
She looked at him aghast, but said nothing, instead drawing her fraying brown cardigan tight around her shoulders. She was startled at the sudden fluttering of a peacock as it splayed out its feathers in the courtyard. The stranger put down the teapot, and, after ensuring that the amount of deep blue cuff showing below the crisp beige suit was just so, picked up the brochure of the Elizabethan manor.
He must be joking, she thought, looking at the man who sat before her, idly turning the pages of the leaflet. He sighed.
“It seems that every house built before 1651 sheltered Charles the Second. His route to freedom must have been circuitous, to say the least.”
She laughed nervously, running her hands down the pleats of her cheap grey skirt. He tilted his head, annoyed by her reaction. She apologised for whatever offence she had caused him. A peahen let out its ugly squawk. He turned to look at it, before turning back to look at her, running the tip of his tongue against the back of his teeth. Read the rest of this entry »
By
Katherine - July 23rd, 2010
Jason Evans (The Clarity of Night) periodically runs flash fiction contests on his blog (there’s one up now) based on photo prompts. (He’s a photographer as well as a poet/writer.) Right now he’s offering a free download of stories that won the 12 previous contests. Compiled by James R. Tomlinson (no relation), the free ebook is available here.
Among the stories you’ll find Dark Valentine contributor Sandra Seamans’ “Civic Duty,” which placed in the 2006 “Midnight Road” competition. All the stories are 250 words or less, so you can get your fiction fix in less than five minutes.
Enjoy the weekend.
By
Katherine - July 20th, 2010
Will the peacocks inherit the earth? Our good friend Marzel of the Dark Artists Guild took this photograph of peacocks casually hanging out in her neighborhood.
What does this image suggest to you? Is it sinister or benign? Is it an image from the future or the past? What’s going on here?
We’d like to know. Using this photo as a prompt, write a story of 500 words or less. The darker the better. We’ll post the best here.
To see more of Marzel’s work, go to her blog, The Play of Light and Shadow and also to the Dark Artists Guild home page.
By
Katherine - July 13th, 2010
Would Wiley please contact me with an address so I can mail the book?
Look for a new give-away next week as we launch the first of our serialized fiction. Details to come.
By
Katherine - June 28th, 2010
Paul Hoffman has written the first in what will be a series set in an unspecified future time when a religious order has created “sanctuaries” where new generations are raised and molded.
A young boy bred to be a killer by religious fanatics seems to be the key in a monstrous plan that is set into motion when he escapes from the prison-like sanctuary of the fanatics—only to fall in love with a nobleman’s daughter.
Published on the 15th of June, translation rights sold overnight to more than 20 countries. Fans of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and will love the book, as will fans of books like Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games.
To win this advanced reading copy of The Left Hand of God, post a comment below, telling us what your favorite (or favorites) series are, and why. Is it the Dune books? Guy Gavriel Kay’s books about the Toronto students who live in an alternate universe; the Narnia Chronicles? What about Asimov’s Foundation series? Ursula K.’s Earthsea trilogy? Let us know. We’ll pick a winner from the people who comment. So post now. And comment on what other people have to say.
By
Katherine - June 28th, 2010
We have 25 fantastic stories from writers like Kaye George, Eric Stone, Nigel Bird, Chris Dabnor, David Perlmutter, and more!
In addition to artists returning from the first issue, we have Alena Lazareva, Sarah Vaughn, Leanne Hannah, Mark Satchwill, and more!
We are now open for issue #3. Deadline is first Friday in November; the issue will be available the first Friday in December.
Material we already have in house will be considered for the next issue.
We have been amazed and delighted by the amount and quality of submissions we’re receiving. Keep them coming!
By
Katherine - June 21st, 2010
BLASPHEMY
By Shane Mullins
Illustration by Susie Hawkins
Ethan Voorhees had always loved his job. He was director of Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Observatory, a beautiful Classic Revival-style building that would be 100 years old in 2012 but whose history reached back into the early 19th century.
He had received his degree in Astro-Physics from the University of Pittsburgh and moved right into a research assistant slot at the observatory in 1976 while he got his PhD. Except for two sabbaticals, one spent in Puerto Rico at the Arecibo Observatory; and twelve months in Hawaii that had more to do with lounging on the beach than serious research, he’d been at Allegheny his whole career.
His specialty was astrometry, which is a fancy name for measuring the position of stars. Ethan was considered the world’s greatest expert on astrometry and he enjoyed that position and the perks it brought. He’d published widely and written a popular science book that had outsold Carl Sagan’s Cosmos but had never been turned into a PBS series. He wasn’t as charismatic as Neil Tyson they had told him. Read the rest of this entry »
By
Katherine - June 18th, 2010
Dark Valentine’s good friend Kelli Stanley (author of Nox Dormienda and City of Dragons) recommends A Twisted Ladder, the debut novel from writer Rhodi Hawk.
Described as a “Southern Gothic,” the story involves family secrets, voodoo, suicide and cutting-edge research into neuroplasticity blended into a savory gumbo where dark magic and cognitive schizophrenia collide.
You don’t have to take Kelli’s word that this is a good read (although why wouldn’t you?). The book comes with fantastic blurbs from Joe R. Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, Tess Gerritsen and Heather Graham (the novelist not the actress).
If you don’t already have the book on your “to be read pile,” go to Amazon.com where you can pick up a new copy for less than $5 (and a used one for pennies). You’ll be a happy reader.
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