Lawrence Dagstine: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror

I’m featured this month with a reprint in the current issue of BEYOND CENTAURI.  Published quarterly by Sam’s Dot Publishing, Beyond Centauri provides a wonderful mix of poetry and fiction for a young adult and adult audience.  Fantastic artwork and interior illustrations, too.  It’s available now at places such as The Genre Mall.

BEYOND CENTAURI; July 2008

http://www.samsdotpublishing.com/contents.htm

Featuring Fiction & Poetry by: Lawrence Dagstine, Daniel Castlewitz, Meghan Burris, Kimberly Solis, Jennifer Sparlin, Daniel C. Smith, Peter Frohn, Elizabeth Kuelbs, Laura Popp, Pamela Love, T.S. Miller, Kim Sheard, Elyse Salpeter, James Hartley, Gregory Bastianelli, Jennifer Dawson, Lee Malis, Kate Runnels, K.S. Hardy, Sharon Fotta Anderson, Gabrielle Deede, N.C. Whitehead, Terrie Leigh Relf, Karen L. Newman, Kendall Evans, Aurelio Rico Lopez III, and Charlotte E. Bennardo.  Edited by Tyree Campbell.

Other New Entries: “Magazines”

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On a slightly more positive note, I’ve learned who my true friends are.  One peer I know said that two wrongs DON’T make a right [this would be in regard to the recent banning(s)].  So I deleted a post that was just as inflammatory as the misconception that originally led to my banning.  He also said that people tend to perceive you as something that you are not [a little verbose, maybe]. 

We live in a world where there is a lot of jealousy, a lot of arcane and toxic behavior, and where people get kicks out of the damnedest things.  But if there’s one thing I never forgot, it’s who I am.  That’s the most important thing, in my opinion.  While I was inside a church this weekend for a baptism, something which is a beautiful and spiritual event, people were on the outside scheduling an execution, a slow downfall.  This makes the PHOBIA Magazine Interview all the more integral now, I think, and not so much because it’s about me… It’s a matter of crucifixation.

I’m behind about fifteen blog entries, sleepy, but hopefully when I get back I’ll be able to catch up.   Oddly enough, it reminds me of the movie Thelma & Louise.  That movie had one of the BEST endings.  It featured Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, two people going over the cliff together.

Until Next Time,

Lawrence R. Dagstine

Withersin Magazine picked up a piece of mine for 2009/2010.  Published thrice per year by Editor Misty L. Gersley, it’s just one of those professional horror journals that are well-put together and you can’t get enough of.   Each issue is 6×9, 100 perfect-bound pages, and only $20.00 per year for a subscription.  Fiction, non-fiction, art and MORE! Info to be released as I get it…

 http://withersin.com/withersin.htm

Other New Entries: “Magazines”

For those looking for the big day, it’s been scheduled for July 24th.  For those looking for sneak previews, I only have a teaser to offer you at this time… with my thanks, my love, my gratitude… and a prophetic guarantee that two people will become famous from this forthcoming interview…

With that said, if you have any requests, edits, rejections, acceptances, fan mail, hate mail, sex toys, or booze, please send them in to me by July 20th if possible.  Once again, the procedure is on July 24th.  Wish me good luck!

COMING SOON:

PHOBIA Magazine; Issue #1

In-depth, personal Interview with the “real” Lawrence Dagstine: fiction, photographs, art, and a look inside the life and mind of this man, the Small Press, and more…!

(Teaser poster with line-up; not the final cover)

PHOBIA is currently looking at a few UK stockists at the moment.

www.purpleverse.com

www.purpleverse.com/blog

ALSO CHECK OUT OLD ISSUES OF PURPLEVERSE!

 http://www.lulu.com/content/1507751

“It is defeat that turns bone to flint; it is defeat that turns gristle to muscle; it is defeat that makes men invincible. Do not then be afraid of defeat. You are never so near to victory as when defeated in a good cause.”

-Henry Ward Beecher

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

 
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him out to the public.”

 
-Winston Churchill

“There is a special sadness in achievement, in the knowledge that a long-desired goal has been attained at last, and that life must now be shaped toward new ends.”

-Arthur C. Clarke

www.purpleverse.com

Other New Entries: “About Me, Magazines”

The time is almost upon us for other things as well.  My second anthology out of six for the next year, and though the release date hasn’t been confirmed yet, the name of this collection is SATIRICA! Edited by Roy C. Dudgeon — anthropologist, editor, writer — and published by Cowboy Logic Press.  Teaser artwork by Jesus Riddle Morales. 

TEASER BELOW (not the actual cover):

MySpace: www.myspace.com/dudgeon369

Pre-Orders/Ordering Details:

http://www.cowboylogic.net/CLP_Books.htm

Over 24 stories and 110,000 words of Satirical Scifi…!

‘Guardian of the One’ by Roger Haller

Other New Entries: “Books & Anthos”

I’m pleased to announce that BARREN WORLDS Science Fiction Anthology is now available. Edited by Eric T. Reynolds, Hadley Rille’s books, collections, and authors have gone on to be nominated or recommended for the Nebula.  Yesterday, it was on Amazon with a sales rank of 22,000… Right now, as of July 5th, it’s riding at 65,000…!

-BARREN WORLDS SF Anthology-

Edited by Eric T. Reynolds (w. Adam Nakama)

www.hadleyrillebooks.com

Order Here/Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Barren-Worlds-Eric-T-Reynolds/dp/0978514823/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215215694&sr=8-1

Anthology Line-up: Drew Arrants, Adele Cosgrove-Bray, Geraint D’arcy, Lawrence R. Dagstine, Tristan Davenport, Graham Fielding, Ginny Gilroy, C.E. Grayson, Rob Haynes, Jasmine Hammer, Erin Hartshorn, Martin Hayes, Geoffrey Maloney, Mary Ellen Martin, Tracie McBride, Ken McConnell, Kevin James Miller, Shane Nelson, Michael Obilade, Sue Penkivech, Shauna Roberts, Lawrence M. Schoen, Ted Stetson, Gene Stewart, David Tallerman, Andrew Tisbert, Geoffrey Thorne, William Blake Vogel III and Christopher Woods.

Other New Entries: “Books & Anthos”

I’m pleased to announce that the premiere issue of THE ASHEN EYE is finally here.  Edited by Bas De Jong, this print version contains a brand new, supernatural tale of mine between its pages.  There’s some great stuff here, and you’ll find that most of the contributors are recognizable from such sites as Shocklines, MySpace, and more: http://www.myspace.com/asheneye

THE ASHEN EYE, No. #1: PREMIERE ISSUE

ORDER HERE: http://www.ashen-eye.com/store/

Featuring Fiction & Poetry by: Barry Wood, David Price, David Byron, Nickolas Cook, Troy Barnes, Wayne Blackhurst, Jeffrey Buford, Andrew Wolter, Lorne Dixon, Charlotte Emma Gledson, Debra Leigh Scott, Jim Kelley, Lawrence R. Dagstine, Ben Eads, William Couper, Aquilla Rage, Alexis Child, Phillip Stecco, Greg Schwartz, Richard H. Fay, Mark Mihalko, Misty Lackey, and MORE!

Other New Entries: “Magazines”

For those looking for the big day, it’s been scheduled for July 24th.  For those looking for sneak previews, I only have a teaser to offer you at this time… with my thanks, my love, my gratitude… and my apologies in advance…

COMING SOON:

PHOBIA Magazine; Issue #1

(from the creative team behind Purpleverse)

In-depth, personal Interview with the “real” Lawrence Dagstine: fiction, photographs, art, and a look inside the life and mind of this man.  And more…!

www.purpleverse.com

www.purpleverse.com/blog

“It is defeat that turns bone to flint; it is defeat that turns gristle to muscle; it is defeat that makes men invincible. Do not then be afraid of defeat. You are never so near to victory as when defeated in a good cause.”

-Henry Ward Beecher

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

 
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him out to the public.”

 
-Winston Churchill

“There is a special sadness in achievement, in the knowledge that a long-desired goal has been attained at last, and that life must now be shaped toward new ends.”

-Arthur C. Clarke

Well, one publication you can definitely find me in is TALES OF THE TALISMAN with: “The Invisible Enemy.” This would be my second appearance with the magazine.  The Summer 2008 issue, Volume 4-1.  The cover art was done by Laura Givens (I love her work: http://www.lauragivens-artist.com).  Talisman is edited by David Lee Summers.

TALES OF THE TALISMAN

Summer 2008; Volume 4.1

SUBSCRIBE or ORDER HERE:

www.talesofthetalisman.com

CONTENTS: Richard Harland introduces us to a society that didn’t have written language, but rather communicated through scents. Rick Novy takes us off to a world where people race basilisks. Did you ever think your coworkers were mutants? Well, Michael D. Turner takes us to a laboratory where the workers really are mutants! Donna Marie Robb takes us to the world of the imagination and introduces us to the dream painters.  Lawrence R. Dagstine takes us back in time to WW2, where a submarine must battle a giant, mechanical squid built by the Nazis.  These and LOTS of other stories and poems in the Summer 2008 issue of Tales of the Talisman…

PREVIOUS ISSUES FEATURING LAWRENCE DAGSTINE

Other New Entries: “Magazines”

It’s finally here! The spectacular One-Year Anniversary issue of one of dark fiction’s most popular magazines: THE WILLOWS!  And, once again, I am FEATURE AUTHOR.  Only this time I surprise the reader with a title picked out by Frances Rowat, as part of a special subscriber contest.  Set sail with me and editor Ben Thomas, and a plethora of other talent with tales of their own, as I take you on a monstrous World War Two voyage reminiscent of Ancient Greek Myth and Lovecraft’s DAGON!

THE WILLOWS MAGAZINE

May/June 2008 - One-Year Anniversary

ORDER HERE/SUBMISSIONS:

www.thewillowsmagazine.com

Read my story, thanks to Frances Rowat: “The Spires of Shadow and Water”

Featuring Work by: Lawrence R. Dagstine, Andi Newton, Steven Shrewsbury & Peter Welmerink, Skadi meic Beorh, G.D. Falksen, and many more!

Through the work of rising authors like G. D. Falksen, Lawrence Dagstine, and Paul Marlowe, we are also pioneering the genre of “steampunk horror,” in which elements of the golden age weird tale or Gothic romance are combined with an elegant 19th-Century proto-science-fiction aesthetic, such as that embodied by Wells, Verne, and the earliest pulp writers.

Previous Issues featuring LAWRENCE DAGSTINE:

Here’s the links again:

www.thewillowsmagazine.com

www.myspace.com/the_willows_magazine

Other New Entries: “Magazines”

It’s been a year, but I’m back - back in Rachel Kendall’s SEIN UND WERDEN.  Popular among short story enthusiasts and poets in the UK, Sein Und Werden is published quarterly and themed.  However, its basic scope is on works of speculative or weird fiction with a literary feel, surrealism, existentialism, miserablist fiction, and lots more.  Over the years it’s featured some of Britain’s finest short story writers.  This particular issue would be the MAPS Edition… Being and Becoming…

SEIN UND WERDEN

Summer 2008 Theme: MAPS Edition

ORDER HERE/SUBMISSIONS:

 http://www.kissthewitch.co.uk/seinundwerden/sein.html

Fiction, Poetry, & Art by: Jim Steel, Lee Rourke, Peter Tennant, Daniel Y. Harris, Lawrence Dagstine, Brent Powers, W.S. Fisher, Michael Blackburn, Michael Loughrey, Marie Lecrivain, Michael Pittman, Juliet Cook, Patrick Sullivan, John Brewer, Marc Lowe, Laura Forgie, D. Thornburgh, Kevin Brown, Miliana Sesartic, Sean Ruane, Willie Smith, B. Drew Collier, Misti-Rainwater Lites, and Mark Howard Jones.

Other New Entries: “Magazines”

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One Year Blog-a-versary

With that said, I’ve been blogging and promoting magazines for exactly one year today, June 6th; also, famously known as D-Day. Hmm, amazing how time flies…  

I’ll be appearing with a supernatural tale soon — sometime later this summer, I think – in Black Ink Horror #4.  You can pre-order your copy now.  Only a LIMITED NUMBER of copies will be made up.  Reserve yours today…!  This gorgeous looking, semi-gloss print digest will have loads of dark artwork (from the likes of Tom Moran and many others), and over 14 short stories.

BLACK INK HORROR #4

PRE-ORDER HERE: www.blackinkhorror.com

Other New Entries: “Magazines”

First, I’d like to thank my readers and author friends who have emailed recently to see how I am doing in the health department.  I’ve received an overwhelming amount of letters (a couple of hundred, so it may take time to get back to everybody) – and I thank you.  You don’t know how much I really appreciate the support.  The people from  the  messageboards, everyone from the magazine and independent publishing circuits.   Family, friends, and fans… You guys are what makes the Small Press and Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror such a great place. 

Second, for those interested, I have a science fiction reprint in the 7th Anniversary Issue of AOIFE’S KISS.  June 2008, No. #25.  Published by Sam’s Dot Publishing (www.samsdotpublishing.com), who’ll also be releasing a collection of mine down the road.

AOIFE’S KISS #25, June 2008

7th Anniversary Issue

http://www.samsdotpublishing.com/purchasecenter/magazines.htm

Featuring fantastic work by: Mel Hiers, Robert Gardner, James McGowan, Bud Webster, Zia Ahmed, J.A. Pollard, Megan Arkenberg, Angelo Niles, Lawrence R. Dagstine, Christina Amsden, Robert L. Slater, Ryan Bruner, Phillip A. Ellis, David Howerton, Gary Every, Cathy Buburuz, Ami Kaye, Mac Warren Brown, Neal Wilgus, Marge Simon, Rachel Olivier, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Pearl Mary Wilshaw, Tracy Meleca, James B. Livingston, and Sheffield Reynolds.  Cover Art by Dan Skinner. 

PREVIOUS ISSUES FEATURING LAWRENCE R. DAGSTINE

At this time, I’m doing all right.  Just on what you’d call a “Health Holiday”.  Keeping strong.

Other New Credits: “Magazines (formerly Magazine Credits)” 

…Or, in this case, better known as Middle Ear Cancer.  I’m still in the dark myself — and awe — about recent events, and I’ve been doing my own research at night.  So I think it’s only fair that I provide some helpful links and photos, to help others better understand what’s going on.  However, I should say that I first started losing my hearing in my right ear in 2003.  At the time, I thought this was somehow related to my ethmoid sinuses.  It wasn’t.  And I’ve suffered now from an Inner Ear problem on both my left and right side since February 2007, another debilitating condition which I can add to the Epilepsy (diagnosed 1996).  I can’t help but feel that all of this is somehow connected.  My ENT thinks so, too. 

The other terrible condition: Meniere’s Disease.

MENIERE’S: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9ni%C3%A8re’s_disease

Like Middle Ear Cancer, the symptoms of Meniere’s are very similar — except for the ear pain which is excruciating! — and I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy; it’s said that Vincent Van Gogh suffered from it.  The symptoms for me, and I’m sure others, too, consist of the following: Tinnitus, Deafness in either one or both ears (for me, both), fullness or a “pressure” feeling on the affected side(s), a dizzying/foggy feeling in the forehead area of the affected side(s), occasional fatigue and memory  problems (at least for me), nausea and vomiting, and worst of all… VERTIGO!

The ear pain is recent, but vertigo is what makes this conditon horrible to live with.  And it’s not to be confused with regular dizziness or that “feeling of faintness”.  No, sir. Imagine you’re fine one minute, the next it feels like you’re on a carnival ride or a sinking ship… Imagine gravity around you ceases to exist and you hit the floor with a heavy shifting/spinning sensation… Imagine somebody kicking you in the side of the head and throwing your whole equilibrium off, upsetting your balance to the point where you vomit all over yourself and have to crawl with your face glued to the carpet.  Now you’re getting an idea of what I have to live with, and for well over a year.  There is an over-the-counter vitamin called Lipoflavonoids, and while there is NO cure, I have to take this supplement twice a day like my seizure meds.  The vitamin is a last resort to try and “sustain it.”  Once again, there is NO cure.

Middle Ear Tumors: http://www.earsurgery.org/tummid.html

Now let’s throw in a skin growth shaped like a peanut-flavored M&M, on the right side — but keep in mind both my ears are screwed up — located between the middle and inner ear, and pressing on the auditory and vestibular nerves.  It is not benign, but I plan on getting a second opinion regardless.  I’m keeping a positive mind that another doctor will tell me it is pre-malignant.  Either way, a neurosurgeon is the guy who takes the growth out, and since I’m practically deaf already, one eardrum must go.  But it should be known that when it comes to ear tumors, the mortality rate is rather sketchy.  Like I said, trying to keep a positive mind where I’m at.

With that said, the next few months ahead will be filled with LOADS of doctor appointments and possibly going under the knife, but please stop by every so often.  I’ll have stories coming out in over a half-dozen anthologies, and such webzines and print magazines as: Polluto: The Anti-Pop Culture Journal, Midnight in Hell, Written Word, Sein Und Werden, Nova SF, Jupiter Science Fiction, Tales of the Talisman, Black Ink Horror, Aoife’s Kiss, The Willows, and many many more.

Much Love,

Lawrence R. Dagstine

Cited photos: Healthwise Incorporated, Northwestern University…

Are you a fan of Steampunk Horror or steampunk-related clothing and culture? Do you enjoy pulp SF or adventure stories? How about supernatural tales with a Turn-of-the-Century, Lovecraftian feel? Then check out THE WILLOWS! I’ll be Feature Author in their May 2008 Anniversary Issue.  With stories by Lawrence Dagstine, G.D. Falksen, Steven Shrewsbury, Andi Newton, and MORE! Edited by Ben Thomas and Skadi meic Beorh.

THE WILLOWS gets mentioned in THE NEW YORK TIMES:

 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/fashion/08PUNK.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

And congratulations to Frances Rowat for winning the story title contest!

Coming Late May-Early June 2008

THE WILLOWS MAGAZINE ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

PRE-ORDER or SUBMIT HERE: www.thewillowsmagazine.com

Previous Issues STILL Available:

Other New Entries: “Magazine Credits”

From the publishers of Midnight Horror and the folks behind Corpulent Sanity Press.  A new kind of anthology.  Ten fine writers.  Ten fine stories.  Ten to be revealed. 

BLOODY OCTOBER

An anthology inspired by the haunted season…

Edited by Christopher Allan Death

http://midnighthorror.fortunecity.com/bloodyoctober.html

COMING HALLOWEEN 2008

Other New Entries: “Books & Anthos”