I've been looking for a copy of Robert Bloch's legendary novel Psycho for a long time now, in bookstores and online and anywhere else I could think of. The other day I stopped into my local used bookstore just for a peek, and they actually had a paperback copy of the book (in pretty good condition) for just $2.50. So now I finally get to read it, as soon as I finish Red by Jack Ketchum and Kyrik: Warlock Warrior by Gardner Fox.
While I get back to reading, here are some speculative magazines that I've found to be open to scifaiku/horrorku/speculative haiku, or whatever else you want to call them:
- Cemetery Moon
- Dreams & Nightmares
- Fear & Trembling
- The Magazine of Speculative Poetry
- Mirror Dance
- Necrography
- Niteblade
- Scifaikuest
- The Shantytown Anomaly (scroll down for submission guidelines)
- Star*Line (reopens January 2009)
- Tales of the Talisman (formerly Hadrosaur Tales)
- Twisted Tongue Magazine
Also, in case you hadn't heard already (like me), Necrology Magazine is no longer with us, and Dark Jesters (which is still reading until Nov 30th) has had their fill of zombie stories. So send that zombie western you've been working on somewhere else.
I'm surprised Psycho was so hard to find. I got my copy many moons ago, of course. You'd think it would be reprinted.
ReplyDeleteI've got some stuff ready to go to Star*Line when they open.
Charles - it looks like there were many many reprints of it, I just could never find one. The one I finally got is a "Now a major motion picture" copy, from after the movie was released.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for Star*Line too. I was all set to submit when they were supposed to open back up in July.
Greg, you know, I had always been under the impression that Psycho was originally a short story and was later flushed out into a novel but, after some searching, I must be thinking of another book.
ReplyDeleteI've read a bunch of Bloch's early fiction when he was still under the tutelage of Lovecraft and it was very good, indeed.
Don
Don,
ReplyDeleteI've never read anything else by Bloch, didn't even know he was mentored by Lovecraft. Guess I've got some reading to do!
Greg, you definitely have to check it out, Lovecraft and he killed each other off in dueling stories, quite funny and they had a great time with it.
ReplyDeleteHere's the volume from Chaosium that collects all his early Lovecraft stuff:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/robert-bloch/mysteries-of-worm.htm
Don
Don,
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty fascinating! Makes me realize just how much I don't know. I don't have the money for that collection right now, but I added it to my list of books to buy. Thanks!
As for speculative haiku markets...
ReplyDeleteI've had good luck with:
a fantasy themed haiku to Goblin Fruit.
various space haiku to Astropoetica.
Abyss & Apex
Deborah - thanks for the suggestions. I just recently submitted some scifaiku to Astropoetica and Abyss & Apex. I didn't think of trying Goblin Fruit with any ku... thanks!
ReplyDeleteHere's the ku Goblin Fruit published:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goblinfruit.net/spring07/faceinmirror.html
nice one... thanks for sharing! the way a haiku should be... just enough words to say what needs to be said.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Lone Star Stories once published two of my scifaiku.
ReplyDeleteEric is interested in scifaiku and he even writes it, but will want at least a pair, and he's notoriously selective with ANY poems he publishes.
The good news is that he rejects things so fast that you don't have time to get used to the idea of having it there.
Here's the link to those two scifaiku:
http://literary.erictmarin.com/archives/Issue%2012/scifaiku.htm
In this case, I didn't submit those together. I had sent a batch, he wanted the xenophobe war one, but wanted something to go with it so that the scifaiku wasn't alone on the page. So, I just sent him a batch of ku and he picked one.
So, you might try submitting some there.
I like that xenophobe one. I've sent some scifaiku to Eric before... he hasn't taken any yet, but he always says keep trying. Guess I'll do that!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the list of scifaiku markets. I've just discovered the form and I'm wondering where to foist my poems next. ;)
ReplyDeleteJulie -
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the scifaiku! It's a great form, and there are plenty of magazines and websites eager to publish them.