Two Forums, One Market, and... that's it

Since Whispers of Wickedness will be closing down in the near future, all of its forum members (including me) will need to find a new place to share ideas*, communicate with others in the speculative genre*, and find new markets*.

* translation, "not do housework"

To that end, I would like to bring two other online forums to everyone's attention. The first one is rather new, but is also based in the UK and is hosted by a genre magazine. It is the Twisted Tongue forums, and while it doesn't have many members yet, it is still growing. One of the neat things about this forum is that it encourages poets to post poems for discussion or criticism.

The second forum I would like to mention is called Spatial Distortion, and it's hosted by the fine folks who bring you Aberrant Dreams. It's been around a little longer and has more participation, and (like Whispers) it provides a channel to give feedback on poems and stories published in the magazine, which is great for both the authors and the readers to compare and discuss.

Both forums are free (otherwise I wouldn't be mentioning them!) and neither one will be mad at you if you cheat on them and go to the other one too.

I'd also like to mention a new dark fiction and poetry magazine that's putting together its first issue -- The Ashen Eye. It's still taking submissions, and while it doesn't pay contributors (yet), it does offer a $10 prize to the best poem and story (and $5 for the best artwork) in each issue. The only way small magazines like this one can afford to pay contributors is by support from readers and writers, so think of a submission now as an investment in the future.

Some poems up online

Here are a few poems that have been posted online recently:

- an untitled horrorku up at Scifaikuest. (Another one is included in the print version.)
- "The Reaper" over at Aberrant Dreams. They have a cool new webzine format where you can read the poems and then rate (and discuss) them in the forum.
- "The Pumpkin Man" and "Hall of Shadows" in issue #1 of Niteblade.
- "Skeleton" in the final issue of Blood, Blade, & Thruster.

If anyone else has any recent publications, feel free to share (and plug!) them here.

Some poem acceptances

Got a few poems accepted for upcoming issues of Space & Time, Niteblade (new issue up in December), Frogpond, Cemetery Moon, and Illumen.

Also, I have a poem in the current issue of Aberrant Dreams (which is a webzine now), and they've set up a forum so you can talk about whether or not you like any of the poems and stories.

If anyone is a fan of car poetry, here is a neat little contest sponsored by the Towe Auto Museum. The website lists the deadline as November 10th, but I heard it's been extended to December 1st. Any participants selected for inclusion in their contest anthology will receive a contributor's copy.