The new issue of View From Atlantis is here and we’re raiding tombs with poetry from Harris Coverley, Nicholas De Marino, John H. Dromey, and Jason Hardy, plus fiction from DJ Tyrer and Matthew Wilson.
Update
21 JunThings are moving slowly, here in Atlantis. Due to ill health, I am only awake about half the time I used to be and, when I am awake, I’m going at half-speed, meaning I’m only getting about a quarter of the work done that I should. In this sweltering weather, I’m even more sluggish (I’m definitely a winter person!) and getting less done.
The 5-7-5 Haiku Journal continues to be posted – indeed this weekend sees two new contributors join the site (Morag Elizabeth Humble’s first haiku is already online and Millicent Bee’s will go live tonight). Submissions are always open.
I have been tardy with View From Atlantis, with two themes-worth of submissions awaiting replies, but a new theme will online soon, and I should be answering the other shortly. The Mummy/The Mummy Returns theme closes at the end of today, but there are three more lined up for submissions.
There are two tasks I hope to get to soon, soon here probably being in July: finally answering the submissions for the Decadent Poetry Booklet from last year (my apologies to everyone who is still waiting) and responding to order queries – there are several (both recent and older) that I need to respond to, and, again, I am sorry for the delay. Referencing orders, I must alert you that due to increases in postage for overseas orders, I have no choice but to raise costs. Anyone who has queried about an order before now will, if possible, have their order arranged under the old price, but any forthcoming orders and order queries will be under the new rates, as soon as I have them sorted out.
There will be a call for submissions for the Hallowe’en Booklet soon, so keep an eye on the site. Other submissions will eventually reopen once I have cleared out more of the backlog.
Getting Spooky… Getting Strange…
13 JunThe Peculiar Hauntings issue of View From Atlantis is now online! Enjoy strange and spooky fiction from Harris Coverley, Ken Poyner, and K. A. Williams, plus poetry from Nicholas de Marino, John H. Dromey, David Edwards, and DJ Tyrer.
Facebook Foul Ups
7 JunIf you are a visitor to the Atlantean Publishing Facebook Group, you may have been wondering why my recent post about two new contributors to the 5-7-5 Haiku Journal only had the first, without the promised second link in the comments. Unfortunately, in the few seconds between my first post and the completion of my second (which should have had a link to the haiku by Donald Zappone), Facebook decided to ban me from posting to groups for unspecified ‘suspicious activity’. Apparently, I am banned until mid-September, which means I won’t be able to add any new posts to the group (although I am still able to allow posts by others).
Without knowing for certain what the reason for the restriction is or what I can do to solve it (officially, when I check, Facebook claims I have no restrictions on my account and all the links it provides for me to fix it just lead to the unhelpful help page rather than the promised pages), there is nothing I can do but wait and hope that my posting rights are restored as promised in September. So, until then, you will be better served coming here for information about the press and its publications.
Urban Fantasy/Horror Review: A Soul A Day
22 AprA Soul A Day
By Todd Sullivan
ISBN 978-1649050298, 369pp, pb, Nightmare Press
Available from Amazon in paperback and on the Kindle
Why is he cupping a decapitated head in his hand?
Well, you don’t get a more blunt opening to a dark urban fantasy than that, do you? And, yet, the sentence isn’t quite what it seems, which makes for a good description of A Soul A Day. (To find out exactly what is going on with that head, you’ll have to hop over to Amazon and check the sample.)
A time of change and turmoil is upon the Gwanlyo as their power and prophecies threaten to unravel…
A Soul A Day is an urban fantasy/horror story about vampires, but like Todd Sullivan’s fantasy trilogy, also reviewed on this site, which stands out from the pack by being set in a fantastic realm inspired by Korea, the story takes place in South Korea, rather than the more usual American setting for such fare. The urban Korean setting isn’t that different from those most readers will be used to, either by direct experience or via film, TV, and book, and some of the characters are American, but it allows the author to give things a bit of twist rather than blandly following existing paths, whilst avoiding alienating readers who might have found a more exotic setting and cast of characters alienating.
The Gwanlyo is the organisation of vampires that controls the Korean night, but one of their own has taken it upon himself to save the souls of those his masters have chosen to recruit, doing so in the only way possible: by killing them! As the Gwanlyo’s recruitment is predicated upon predictions and precise timetables, the sudden spate of deaths threatens to throw their entire way of unlife into chaos. And, that is only one of the problems looming out at them from the neon-drenched darkness…
There are plenty of urban fantasy stories and roleplaying games featuring vampires, but A Soul A Day manages to stand out both by virtue of its setting and the brutally-bureaucratic, yet mystical, nature of vampire society, and by the unusual nature of its plot in which one of the undead seeks to end the recruitment of mortals into damnation, definitely a step away from the more-romanticised vampire of much urban fantasy.
Alongside the story of Min Jae’s quest to save others from becoming damned like him, and his recruitment of Hyeri, a vampire serial killer to his cause, a move that involves a daring prison break, there is a demon on the loose in the shadows of Seoul, the misadventures of a pair of vampires set the task of recruiting a human into the undead ranks of the Gwanlyo, a vampire grooming a mortal lover in the hopes of illicitly turning her and starting a new life together in exile, and much more.
There is a lot going on in this novel, but it all pulls towards a momentous conclusion that sets up the possibility of a sequel whilst leaving the reader satisfied with how things have played out.
Fun and thrilling, A Soul A Day is a great new vampire novel. Highly recommended.
From Antarctica to the Stars!
19 MarTwo new issues of View From Atlantis have been posted recently.
Issue 136 takes us to the South Pole where we encounter the horrors hidden in the ice and snow. (Look for an Arctic sequel coming soon!)
The most recent issue, issue 137, leaves Earth behind and takes us on a (somewhat bungling) journey to the stars as we boldly go… somewhere…
As the backlog of submissions clears, new themes will be opening to submissions in the near future – keep your eyes peeled!
We want you for Haiku!
16 MarThe 5-7-5 Haiku Journal needs submissions! On a normal day, the site publishes three posts. Each post usually had one haiku (or tanka, etc) by one poet, but sometimes two or three poets will have their pieces posted together or more than one piece by a single poet will be showcased. As you can see, this means the site needs at least three pieces every day to maintain its momentum. That’s twenty-one pieces a week. The 5-7-5 Haiku Journal goes through accepte work quickly – which means we need more, lots more!
So, if you have any interest in haiku or other forms of Japanese poetry, and are willing to stick to a strict syllable count, why not send some my way? (If you write haiku or tanka but don’t follow a strict syllable count, you’re more than welcome to submit it to Awen when it is open to submissions, or View From Atlantis, if it fits a theme; I’m not against these forms!)
So, if you feel inspired, get writing and help keep the site going!
Awen 131 is here!
24 FebThe new issue includes poetry from Gary Beck, Sarah Mahina Calvello, Manasa Reddy Chichili, Diane R. Duff, Mark Hudson, Colin Ian Jeffery, Celine Rose Mariotti, Martina Matjevic, SchiZ, Rachel Turney, DJ Tyrer, and Matthew Wilson, plus a prose poem by DJ Tyrer. Download your copy here.
After Holmes, Pons!
4 FebYou may not be familiar with August Derleth’s Holmes-like detective, Solar Pons, but Belanger Books has a new anthology of fiction featuring the great investigator is now Kickstarting and includes Atlantean Publishing’s editor’s Titanic-linked tale, The Adventure of the Abyndon Sapphire. If you’ve enjoyed any of DJ Tyrer’s Sherlock Holmes stories, you’re bound to like this too! Don’t miss it!
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