Monday, 9 August 2010

Seven Miles to Kidwelly

Seven Miles To Kidwelly

posted Friday, 4 June 2004

Thomas Hopper, self-confessed architect and teetotaller, decided to ignore the illogicality of the competition's rules as he did not want to become a snake with its tail in its mouth like the other entrants. If the City authorities wanted the place re-designing, they should not tie brilliance down with dogma and endless ribbons of red tape. And Hopper, if nothing else was as clean-cut as his profile was sharp. Uncaring of fog and folly, he would wind the lanes of the City, eyes awake for a likely cornerstone, a precocious river’s bending or an unknown cathedral’s hazy spire.

He knew his candidature should be based on a river scheme . . . circling St. Paul’s with a wondrous moat or entering its very portals, curling from aisle to aisle through a straddling church for worshippers to hymn across its surging shores. That was centuries ago. . .

***

“Jack’s in the salt-cellar Gammy ga ga,” was chanted by the marchers as they wended between the East End streets. Incidents and causes had been forgotten since the demonstration started in the years following the war. All that was known stemmed from a Messiah in South Wales tying himself to the railings of Llanelly’s town hall . . . a trek that spent itself even before the enthusiasm died. The call was taken up; the chords were struck and echoed from mind to mind along their collective sewers.

“Jack’s in what bleeding salt seller?” scorned the gossips as they churned along the streets in ungainly array. They were off to the pub near St. Paul’s tube station, to quaff the new brew. Their banter reverberated along the cobbled wharves and lean-to warehouse ways, as the night drew black clouds across the sky in the shape of a giant necromancer.

In the snug, later, the gossips doffed their caps and did what they knew best:-

“You know who broke the dome in two?”

“Was it the war, wasn’t it, yobbo?”

“No, ol’ Tom Hopper – he did it while all the burghers slept off a drunken foray.”

“Mere pipe talk . . . git Guv!”

One particular gossip, with a homely hat seemingly sewn to his head, signed halt to the idiosyncracies that pub talk characteristically embodied:-

“It was the night that the Great Railway Station exploded and the train careered driverless through the square mile . . .”

“.. . . like a beast off the river . . .”

“ . . . ending up in the pews!”

Chortle guffaw chuckle.

Old Tom Hopper popped his head over the bar-counter and scowled. Taunts were thrown at him by the motley locals and the landlord, Matthew Shakewell, poked his tongue out at him in mock salute. And drinks inspired a royal flush and a crate of laughter.

But colour drained from all the faces, as night drew on. Arthurian figures and Welsh wizards, etched on the bar mirrors, faded in the afterglow of yet another sudden blackout drill . . . and tongues wagged and coiled to tales of deeper myth and machination. Hours on . . .

“Well, nuncle,” said one nearest to Tom’s hangdog brows, “tell us of the shapes in the sky . . .”

Tom fetched a cough, broke a pork scratching between brown teeth and chose a word to start off:-

“Wings . . . and scales across the nose of the storm. Cometh the Great Old Ones, mighty as the mountains of Scotland, and stretching from Cardiff to Croydon, casting their mammoth shadows and dire doom across the heartland of our squares and inns’ swinging signs. Jack and Jill went up the hill but ne’er was the top in sight. A pinch over yon shoulder, and ‘scape the tomb’s very dungeon . . . not in mine eye though, for it’ll sting, it’ll weep, and I’ll then not warn off the signal shapes . . .”

“You told them that, nuncle?”

“I told ‘em till I was blue in the chops . . . they strung me over the railings for preaching witchdom, and others too in far off lands within our seas were broken-backed for swearing out the shapes . . . in the darkening skies of our green and pleasant land.”

A tear budded at the corner of old Tom’s deep well . . . and he told of a river of his dreams, where gondola-steamers would stretch their paddle-wheels to the strong wine of song.

The locals gathered in close formation as if to hear the ensorcellements of Tom’s tales. They crowded in so tight, that only his voice could be heard piping . . . until even that stopped.

A black sun was coughed from the throat of dawn, as the drunkens barged home, their wings folded tight above their nodding heads to protect them against the shedding of the sky.

Published in 'Cerebretron' 1987.
This was my second ever published story and the title derives from a black and white snapshot of me as a little kid standing by a milestone saying: 'Seven Miles To Kidwelly'. Like a lot of my stories then, it was inspired by my own novella 'Agra Aska' written in the early eighties and by my unpublished novel 'The Visitor' written in the early Seventies. The story leaves a lot to be desired!

comments (1)

1. Paul Dracon left...

Tuesday, 2 August 2005 9:19 am

The point I got from this story was this: He works all day, and then at night, he gets drunk and talks of magic.

Works for me!

Posted by wordonymous at 1:13 PM EDT

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Sunday, 31 January 2010

CERN Zoo
'The Virtual Revolution' on BBC2 TV last night says World Wide Web (WWW) was invented in CERN. Seems therefore a good name for the Internet: CERN Zoo?

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_cern_zoo_page.htm

Posted by wordonymous at 1:49 PM EST

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Sunday, 11 October 2009

My new stories in 2009

Over a thousand new and previously published stories by DFL:

http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/reinvented_wheel.mws

NEW STORIES IN 2009:

All Endings Are Happy: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/all_endings_are_happy.htm

KNOTS: All Endings Are Happy: http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?p=15898

A Cthulhu Mythos Story: http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/a_cthulhu_mythos_story.mws

GLIMPSE: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/01/glimpse.html

Drowsy With Divinity: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=80029030&blogID=464312875

And The Exploding Marrow: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/and_the_exploding_marrow.htm

Diary of a 21st Century Drunk -

Entry One: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=136537694&blogID=466078745

Entry Two: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/entry_two.htm

Entry Three: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/01/man-oba.html

Entry Four: http://weirdmonger.livejournal.com/109295.html

Entry Five: http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=2526

Entry Six: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=145421249&blogID=467220266

Entry Seven: http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/the_knot_of_knots.mws

Entry Eight: http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2009/01/30/on-the-poe.html

Ligottus: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/ligottum.htm

Derivatives: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/02/derivatives.html

The Fubbcuckle: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/name_for_the_credit_crunch.htm

Yesterday Was A Funny Day: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/yesterday_was_a_funny_day.htm

The Stumbling Fear: http://shocklinesforum.yuku.com/sreply/98667/t/Credit-Crunch-recession-or-depression-.html

Build A Character - http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=2615

The Orchard - http://www.ligotti.net/showpost.php?p=17395&postcount=1

Demolish A Character: http://www.ligotti.net/showpost.php?p=17426&postcount=3

5 Apr: The Art Gallery: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/04/art-gallery.html

9 Apr: Naan Bread & Slippers: http://weirdmonger.livejournal.com/109682.html

12 Apr: Cern Zoo: http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/?entry=345388

17 Apr: The Drains Are Blocked: http://weirdmonger.blogdrive.com/archive/299.html

2 May: Celliano: http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=2878

15 May: A Handbag: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/05/handbag.html

http://weirdmonger.livejournal.com/110014.html 'Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" by the Clacton Writer's Group (14.5.09)

24 May: Éclaircissement (a poem): http://www.ligotti.net/showpost.php?p=21796&postcount=319

19 Jun: Last Song: http://weirdmonger.livejournal.com/110864.html

19 Jun: The End of the Pier: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_end_of_the_pier.htm

21 Jun: Taught by Masters: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/06/taught-by-masters.html

29 Jun: Made From Passion: http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/made_from_passion.mws

11 Aug: Tea and Biscuits:

http://weirdmonger.livejournal.com/114066.html

16 Aug: A Candle Dream

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/a_candle_dream.htm

17 Aug: The Art of Caring for Candle-Dreeamers

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_art_of_caring_for_candledreamers.htm

10 Sep: Rods & Mockers

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/rods__mockers.htm

15 Sep: Two Old Gents

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/two_old_gents.htm

25 Sep: Another Two Old Gents

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/09/another-two-old-gents.html#links

26 Sep: Yet Another pair Of Old Gents

http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/yet_another_pair_of_old_gents.mws

8 Oct: The Two Old Gents Have Flights Of Fancy http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/10/two-old-gents-have-flights-of-fancy.html

11 Oct: Pirate

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/10/pirate.html

Posted by wordonymous at 9:37 AM EDT

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Tuesday, 18 August 2009

DFL reviews

SPECIFIC LINKS FOR ALL MY REVIEWS ARE SHOWN FURTHER BELOW ON THIS PAGE

Mark Valentine to me about review of 'The Nightfarers', quoted here with permission:

"The way you turn the pages of the book releases ideas and images that present the stories freshly even to me."

HERE: Latest Discussion / Comments on DFL Real-Time Reviewing (started 31 July 09)

HERE: Ramsey Campbell: "Awed by your thoughts, Des - I'll say no more."

HERE: Des, your reviews are almost as well-written as the book themselves. Well done, sir.

Allyson Bird HERE: "This is such a unique experience. It's like having my own subconscious talking to me."

Neil Williamson's blog HERE. "Had an interesting experience this week of watching an “as live” review of The Ephemera taking shape as it was being read."

Tim Nickels' website: HERE: The full effects of this revelation have yet to manifest themselves... and yet the truth, little by little, is seeping out: a Major Excavation by an eminent Field Expert was conducted over several days in May 2009. His results may be found HERE...

Jai Clare to me about review of 'The Cusp of Something', quoted with permission:

"Your comments were very insightful and I particularly loved that you got the placing of the last story and all it contained and meant for the collection."

Simon Bestwick HERE: "Des, just wanted to say a heartfelt thankyou for this ongoing review. Very grateful. And oddly touched."

Joel Lane (in blog comment on actual review page): "Des, thank you for these thoughtful and heartening comments. I mean the stories to find some resonance in the concerns of readers as well as my own concerns – so, for example, the fact that some of these stories strike you as referring implicitly to the Internet may not reflect my intentions, but it shows that you're relating the stories to what you think and feel about the world. Which is exactly what I would hope for. Cheers!"

Gary McMahon: HERE: The legendary Des Lewis has seen fit to assemble a stream-of-conscious review of my latest collection.

Matt Cardin's blog here about the DFL review of his book: HERE. "So here’s a sincere thanks to Des for his perceptive and insightful reading of my work."

A review of DFL's review of Ligotti's book below: HERE. "If you're looking for a brief romp through weird literature and the banker Meltdown, or have wondered what one weirdmonger on the fringe thinks of another wordsmith of the high weird, then you have found your destination."

HERE: "Des you make me want to buy books. My dream is to have you one day do one of these enlightening reviews about a collection of my stories. Brilliant stuff!"

Paul Meloy: HERE: "Des, this has been an absolute pleasure! Delightful, unique, touching...an honour. I predict these stream-of-consciousness reviews will become the essential thing to have and be in great demand! Thanks for taking the time to do this, Des!" and LATER publicly on the same thread: "I have to say I'm awestruck by the amount of hits this review is getting. It says so much about the respect Des has as a renaissance man of strange otherness. If I wore a hat, it would probably be a fez. And I would lift it to you, Des."

Allen Ashley HERE: "....an astonishingly detailed and complimentary review of my collection “Somnambulists” by the wonderful writing and editing legend Des Lewis. All I can do is to recommend that you have a look at it if you have 10 or 15 minutes to spare. [...] Thanks again to Des for such a great review and thank, of course, to Andrew for helping make it all possible in the first place."

August 2009: Simon Strantzas: HERE: "Fascinating stuff!"

EDIT (22 APR 09): These reviews have developed into what I now call Real-Time Reviews of Books. The more recently dated ones below show this development more markedly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 2007: DFL's review ('On The Hoof') of Thomas Ligotti's 'Conspiracy Against The Human Race': HERE

with TL's reply.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nov 08 - Jan 09:

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/glyphotech_by_mark_samuels.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/beneath_the_surface_by_simon_strantzas.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/omens_by_richard_gavin.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/divinations_of_the_deep_by_matt_cardin.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/rain_dogs_by_gary_mcmahon.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/teatro_grottesco_by_thomas_ligotti.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/how_to_make_monsters_by_gary_mcmahon.htm

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(3 Feb 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/tamar_yellin.htm - Tales of The Ten Lost Tribes

(17 Feb 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_reach_of_children__by_tim_lebbon.htm

(21 Feb 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_impelled__other_headtrips_by_gary_fry.htm

(7 Mar 09): World Wide Web And Other Lovecraftian Upgrades - by Gary Fry

(11 Mar 09): Beneath The Ground - edited by Joel Lane

(15 Mar 09): UNBECOMING And Other Tales Of Horror - by Mike O'Driscoll

(20 Mar 09): The Ephemera - by Neil Williamson

(25 Mar 09): Somnambulists - by Allen Ashley

(29 Mar 09): The Villa Désirée and Other Uncanny Stories - by May Sinclair

(11 Apr 09): Sanity and Other Delusions - by Gary Fry

(12 Apr 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/sleepwalkers__marion_arnott.htm

(15 Apr 09): ISLINGTON CROCODILES by Paul Meloy

(20 Apr 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/mindful_of_phantoms.htm by Gary Fry.

(6 May 09): The English Soil Society - by Tim Nickels

(6 May 09): The Cusp of Something - by Jai Clare

(15 May 09): Visits To The Flea Circus - by Nick Jackson

(27 May 09): Mostly Monochrome Stories - by John Travis

(30 June 09) Bull Running For Girls - by Allyson Bird

30 June 09: Allyson Bird HERE: "The title story is set in late June 2003 - '4,000 dead in Spain and over 18,000 in Italy by the end of summer.' It really is a strange coincidence that you are reading it today of all days. It is cooler up here on the moors though.
It's an important experience for me - reading your real-time review. I'm very much alongside you as you write."

5 July 09: "That was quite a journey Des and it was a wonderful experience to take part in the small parallel observations too. I read the real-time review of that last story and shed a tear too."

(6 July 09) The Terrible Changes - by Joel Lane

(9 July 09) Pictures of the Dark - by Simon Bestwick

(16 July 09) ANONthology (HarperCollins)

(20 July 09) Primeval Wood - by Richard Gavin

(25 July 09) Ghosts and Grisly Things - by Ramsey Campbell

(30 July 09) The Exaggerated Man - by Terry Grimwood.

(30 July 09) Cold to the Touch - by Simon Strantzas

(1 August 09) Bloody Baudelaire - by R.B. Russell

(2 August 09) The Night-Farers - by Mark Valentine

(17 August 09) Black Static - issue 12

Real-Time Review of 'Weirdmonger' by DF Lewis" by DF Lewis

"As I turned the pages I had the feeling that, step by step, I was following the map of a sick and broken mind. Line after line, the author of those pages had, without being aware of it, documented his own descent into a chasm of madness. The last third of the book seemed to suggest an attempt at retracing his steps, a desperate cry from the prison of his insanity so that he might escape the labyrinth of tunnels that had formed his mind."

from 'The Angel's Game' by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

============================================================

PS:

Review of the TWELVE NOVEL SERIES: Warriors of Love (begun 30 July 09)

Mark Samuels' WHITE HANDS: http://nightshadebooks.com/discus/messages/8/752.html?1227381699 (June 2003)

Real-time notes on Robert Aickman: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/robert_aickman.htm

Posted by wordonymous at 3:10 PM EDT

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Friday, 19 June 2009

Last Song

Richard Strauss wrote Four Last Songs for Soprano and Orchestra. Many think he is related to Johan Strauss of Vienna Waltz fame – but nothing could be further from the truth.

Is anything further from the truth than anything else? Truth is relative, some seem to believe. A moveable feast. A convenience. Their whole life is geared – at least subconsciously – to the fact that Truth is a matter of opinion rather than an intrinsic, unswerveable incontrovertibility. Life would be a misery if strait-jacketed by a so-called certainty of truth. Life is best when one can shift it about on the table, its various facets changing with the light or the angle of viewing it – ballooning one minute, shrinking the next. Truth can fall off the table and creep about of its own volition, now a rodent-like truth, later a ghostly truth, sometimes merging with the carpet itself or becoming just another indistinguishable aspect of its pattern.

Music can carry an intrinsic truth, however, an ineluctable noumenon of its own. Not the music itself, but an emotion in its weave that no listener can avoid. Nobody can compare that emotion felt by one listener to the emotion felt by another. Reality is only viewed via a single mind. Your mind. That is the only truth, your relationship with your own mind. A mind that can only be the same mind that observes it.

So, dear Richard Strauss, how can there be more than one last song? Perhaps, the last song becomes the next last song that becomes the next last song that becomes the next last song, or halfway through the song, then halfway through the rest of the song, or halfway through the rest of the rest of the song, ad infinitum, ad absurdum, with the listener moving from mind to mind, self to self, last song to last song – and we can therefore live forever, square-dancing inside a sound-woven song-space with four unseen, unreachable corners.

Posted by wordonymous at 9:05 AM EDT

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End of the Pier

At the end of most old piers there would be an even older theatre where some of our favourite comedians, singers and novelty acts performed every summer. The gurgle of waves against the wooden pillars joined the silence when the theatre finally closed down as all of them did ... eventually. But, of course, even in their heyday, winters were not a time to be at the end of the pier. The waves grew noisier, even outblasting the band’s accompaniment of the Bachelors or the King Brothers or Edmund Hockeridge or Dickie Valentine or Marion Ryan or Dorothy Squires... Today, they were but memories. Yet, who have we here, walking towards the end of the pier, as the snowflakes crowd in like the ghosts of killer bees? It is short enough to be Charlie Drake, but dressed more like Hylda Baker who is followed lugubriously by a tall man called Cynthia, Hylda’s stooge. “Be soooon, I said, be soooon...”. “Hello, my darlings.” “HHHHancock’s Half Hour.” There is nobody there at all. No, that’s a lie. I am there, unseen, unfollowed, only made visible by the human-shaped shape within the snowstorm. I start singing aloud to prove to myself that I am there at all. I wonder who I was all those years before. Was I famous? Did I get cameo parts on TV like the Arthur Haynes Show. Was I – God forbid! – Mr Pastry? No, I suddenly started stamping up and down the boardwalk to blot out the surging tides beneath. I start shouting but the snow fills my mouth. I dance, I sway and, even at my age, I somersault and leapfrog others of my kind. And they leapfrog me. Suddenly, the derelict theatre lights up – fleetingly – and we follow each other into the foyer and the well-remembered auditorium, now tiered with hard shadows instead of stalls. Tommy Cooper stands in the upper circle, uncharacteristically serious, sad-looking, silent, but still wearing his red fez. Or is it Tommy Trinder pretending to be someone he is not? I take off my Norman Wisdom cap - sodden with melting snow - and am the first to clamber on the rickety, creaking stage. I am determined to bring the house down. “Why am I such a fool?” I shout at the stacked shades before me. And the voice echoes back: “Because you are not only a has-been but you always were.” But to have been is better than never to have been at all. I smile. Everyone should visit their own end-of-the-pier at least once in their life. Alma Cogan sits in a box watching me. But now I have gone. Not back into the snow. But into the dark cold skies of my new beginning. Nobody claps. Not even Alma.

Written yesterday as a speed-witing exercise at the Clacton Writer's Group and first published here.

Posted by wordonymous at 8:21 AM EDT

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Sunday, 7 June 2009

Secret Wheel 1

Secret Wheel (1)

For ease of navigating your reading of THE TENACITY OF FEATHERS 180,000 word PAIR OF NOVELS (THE HAWLER and KLAXON CITY), please consult the post linked from the first comment made here: http://blooking.blogspot.com/2007/07/hawler.html

To read the rest of Des's recent novels and novellas for free: http://www.myspace.com/nemonymous

Selection from Weirdmonger Wheel: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2006/05/weirdmonger-wheel-selection.html

DFL Collaborations:

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/dfl_collaborations.htm

Des on BIG BROTHER:

http://www.ttapress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=182&start=0

Themed Quotations taken from DFL work by kind third parties:

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/themed_quotations_made_from_dfl.htm

DFL's comments on each chapter of 'Odalisque' by PFJ:

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2008/06/odalisque.html

**THE HOOP GROUP**: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=80029030&blogID=388791909&Mytoken=00EF4D61-5804-4E96-89C0ABCA3F83A6072945663

**THE TEAPOT MOVED THREE TIMES**: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=136537694&blogID=443535219&Mytoken=BC180B0A-B5D5-4CD2-9B72A1540C5281E48599977

Candlemass Stories: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2006/07/candlemass-stories.html

My Work Is Outside The Box: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=138197636&blogID=290895527&Mytoken=05C1A277-90E7-4441-BE8E32418BB444DF94290267

The Epifany of the Augusthog (not APOCRYFAN): http://www.nightshadebooks.com/discus/messages/8/7074.html?1185448886

WORK NOT STRICTLY DONE, BUT NO FURTHER ATTEMPTS WILL BE MADE: http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=1208

Pick's Model: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=80029030&blogID=443537245&Mytoken=EA2AE098-2517-4630-91F3C2E1AFCAB06912889211

DFL's NOVELS & NOVELLAS TO READ ON-LINE:

http://www.myspace.com/nemonymous

================================

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_tsarinas_wintercoat.htm - The Tsarina's Wintercoat

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/a_disowned_spontaneity.htm - A Disowned Spontaneity

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2004/06/breakfast-at-noon.html - Breakfast at Noon

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2004/06/mentioning.html - The Mentioning

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2004/06/afternoon-tea.html - Afternoon Tea

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2004/07/splints.html - Splints

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2004/08/loss-of-loss.html - The Loss of Loss

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2004/09/old-scratch.html - Old Scratch

what's this?

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2004/09/next-files.html - The Next Files

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2004/09/jeans-soire.html - Jean's Soiree

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2004/09/death-sweat.html - Death Sweat

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2004/09/parcels.html - Parcels

http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2004/09/no-circumstances.html - No Circumstances

Posted by wordonymous at 5:21 AM EDT

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Secret Wheel 15

Secret Wheel (15)

Over a thousand new and previously published stories by DFL:

http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/reinvented_wheel.mws

NEW STORIES IN 2009:

All Endings Are Happy: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/all_endings_are_happy.htm

KNOTS: All Endings Are Happy: http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?p=15898

A Cthulhu Mythos Story: http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/a_cthulhu_mythos_story.mws

GLIMPSE: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/01/glimpse.html

Drowsy With Divinity: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=80029030&blogID=464312875

And The Exploding Marrow: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/and_the_exploding_marrow.htm

Diary of a 21st Century Drunk -

Entry One: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=136537694&blogID=466078745

Entry Two: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/entry_two.htm

Entry Three: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/01/man-oba.html

Entry Four: http://weirdmonger.livejournal.com/109295.html

Entry Five: http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=2526

Entry Six: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=145421249&blogID=467220266

Entry Seven: http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/the_knot_of_knots.mws

Entry Eight: http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2009/01/30/on-the-poe.html

Ligottus: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/ligottum.htm

Derivatives: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/02/derivatives.html

The Fubbcuckle: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/name_for_the_credit_crunch.htm

Yesterday Was A Funny Day: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/yesterday_was_a_funny_day.htm

The Stumbling Fear: http://shocklinesforum.yuku.com/sreply/98667/t/Credit-Crunch-recession-or-depression-.html

Build A Character - http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=2615

The Orchard - http://www.ligotti.net/showpost.php?p=17395&postcount=1

Demolish A Character: http://www.ligotti.net/showpost.php?p=17426&postcount=3

5 Apr: The Art Gallery: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/04/art-gallery.html

9 Apr: Naan Bread & Slippers: http://weirdmonger.livejournal.com/109682.html

12 Apr: Cern Zoo: http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/?entry=345388

17 Apr: The Drains Are Blocked: http://weirdmonger.blogdrive.com/archive/299.html

2 May: Celliano: http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=2878

15 May: A Handbag: http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2009/05/handbag.html

http://weirdmonger.livejournal.com/110014.html 'Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" by the Clacton Writer's Group (14.5.09)

24 May: Éclaircissement (a poem): http://www.ligotti.net/showpost.php?p=21796&postcount=319

STRICTLY NOT FICTION BUT THESE ARE NEW DFLisms NEVERTHELESS:---->

Nov 08 - Jan 09:

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/glyphotech_by_mark_samuels.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/beneath_the_surface_by_simon_strantzas.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/omens_by_richard_gavin.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/divinations_of_the_deep_by_matt_cardin.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/rain_dogs_by_gary_mcmahon.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/teatro_grottesco_by_thomas_ligotti.htm

http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/how_to_make_monsters_by_gary_mcmahon.htm

(3 Feb 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/tamar_yellin.htm - Tales of The Ten Lost Tribes

(17 Feb 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_reach_of_children__by_tim_lebbon.htm

(21 Feb 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_impelled__other_headtrips_by_gary_fry.htm

(7 Mar 09): World Wide Web And Other Lovecraftian Upgrades - by Gary Fry

(11 Mar 09): Beneath The Ground - edited by Joel Lane

(15 Mar 09): UNBECOMING And Other Tales Of Horror - by Mike O'Driscoll

(20 Mar 09): The Ephemera - by Neil Williamson

(25 Mar 09): Somnambulists - by Allen Ashley

(29 Mar 09): The Villa Désirée and Other Uncanny Stories - by May Sinclair

11 Apr 09): Sanity and Other Delusions - by Gary Fry

(12 Apr 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/sleepwalkers__marion_arnott.htm

(15 Apr 09): ISLINGTON CROCODILES by Paul Meloy

(20 Apr 09): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/mindful_of_phantoms.htm by Gary Fry.

(6 May 09): The English Soil Society - by Tim Nickels

(6 May 09): The Cusp of Something - by Jai Clare

(15 May 09) Visits To The Flea Circus - by Nick Jackson

Still in reading/reviewing:

"Real-Time Review of 'Weirdmonger' by DF Lewis" by DF Lewis

===========================

Below is a passworded site. The story titles are embedded in the links' addresses.

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/15/test.html An Uneasy Death

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/16/head_on_the_block.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/17/a_meadow_s_anticking.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/18/the_mask_of_satan.html with PF Jeffery

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/19/critters_innards.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/21/useful_trick_of_the_trade.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/22/this_hand_s_to_give_the_other_to_take.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/23/like_eve_s_apples.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/24/nothing_in_between.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/25/the_last_indulgence.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/26/like_birth.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/27/a_mortality_tale.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/28/cabin_fever.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/05/31/the_shape_of_shame.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/06/01/late_night_jamming.html with Gary Couzens

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/06/03/blocks_of_language.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/06/04/the_bad_bananas_caper.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/06/09/static_ataxia.html with Paul Pinn

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/06/11/boys_on_the_brink.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/06/13/the_fearbroker.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/06/17/the_parthenogenesis_of_paul.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/06/21/jack_the_ratter.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/07/03/sisohpromatem.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/07/09/nonshalon.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/07/23/clad-bone.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/08/03/the-beach-hut.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/08/14/tendring-hundred.html with Margaret B Simon

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/08/24/behind-the-counter.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/09/02/culling-no-fungus.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/09/16/wings-within-wings.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/09/28/the-cut-of-words.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/10/07/little-maids-all-in-a-row.html with David Mathew

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/10/13/the-last-story-in-the-book.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/11/04/the-long-bonesof-dream.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/11/22/all-fingers-and-thumbs.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/12/19/an-erstwhile-bet-gilroy.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/01/12/kc-30.html Klaxon City 30

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/02/04/father-figure.html with Scott Urban

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/02/28/gulpswollen.html with Craig Sernotti

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/03/22/holiday-romance.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/03/31/the-infinite-cuckoo.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/03/31/the-prurience-of-prudity.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/03/31/pythona.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/03/31/dreamaholic.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/03/31/in-an-eastern-city-square.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/04/19/idle-s-children.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/04/27/chuckleberry-grin.html with Rhys Hughes

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/05/14/curves-and-corpses.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/05/24/the-mansion-with-two-bedsits.html with Stuart Hughes

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/06/13/the-lost-blurb.html with MF Korn

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/06/14/the-weird-monger-x.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/07/11/a-titanic-breed.html with Hertzan Chimera

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/07/11/aspen.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/07/11/best-days-of-one-s-life.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/07/11/a-sack-of-santa-extended-version.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/07/11/passiflora.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/07/11/raw-youth.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/07/11/adultery-s-underside.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/07/11/the-black-drought.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/08/02/a-fester-of-mysteries.html with Simon Clark

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/09/16/the-meaning-of-life.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/12/04/know-thy-enemy.html with Scott Urban

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/12/07/bad-moon-rising.html with Stuart Hughes

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/12/10/errors.html with Paul Pinn

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2006/12/19/the-virgin-the-valentine.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/02/05/menage-a-deux.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/02/09/miscreant-in-moonstream-the-story.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/02/09/midnight-encounter.html with PF Jeffery

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/02/09/meticulously-prepared-for-madness.html with Stuart Hughes

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/02/19/pest.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/03/10/more-give-than-angles.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/03/17/the-maypole.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/03/17/twice.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/03/17/the-sayings-of-earth.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/04/30/murky-s-tales-part-three.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/04/30/murky-s-tale-part-two.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/04/30/murky-s-tales-part-one.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/05/05/tongue-in-cheek.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/05/05/the-misshapen-one.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/05/18/hide-and-seek.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/05/18/for-pfj-liii-rewritten.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/06/22/the-best-of-all-possible-worlds.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/07/17/sunset-of-stings.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/07/24/crab-paste.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/07/24/nits.html with Paul Bradshaw

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/07/24/sisters-in-death.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/07/24/worms-and-words.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/07/24/mugger-s-rent.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/07/24/lardy-dar.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/07/24/the-zodiac-of-murkales.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/07/24/the-gaze-strip.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/08/19/sordid-limbs.html with Tim Lebbon

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/08/20/how-shall-i-put-it.html

http://simplon.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/08/22/the-loving-brush.html

Posted by wordonymous at 5:20 AM EDT

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Sunday, 31 May 2009

Weirdmonger Pt 2

'The Weirdmonger' Real-Time Review

CONTINUED FROM HERE.

A Brief Visit To Bonnyville (1995)
“‘Which way in?’ asked the guide.”
You can ask that again! This is an ostensibly substantial story about a visit to the seaside, written, I recall, immediately after my move in 1994 to the seaside of North East Essex (where I was originally brought up in the Nineteen Fifties) - after living in a South London / Croydon no man’s land for 22 years as a Company Pensions expert. It turned out to be longer than a brief visit to the seaside, as I am still here!
The story is now too salacious for my taste and imponderable. But I am now just another reader. Not a very sympathetic one. It does have its enticing moments of conundrum and inscrutable vision, however. ‘Claura and the Gulls’ would have been a better title. In a strange way, it now strikes me as very Restoration Comedy with disguises and inferred asides and set-piece tableaux.
“At a point where two prayers cross.” (20 May 09)

Caretaker (1993)
Upon re-reading this recently (for reading aloud purposes on-line), I decided this was my favourite prose poem of all time and of all writers. But I have a very narrow definition of prose poem.
It tells of a communal gas oven where its caretaker operates inside it arranging for wool to be pulled over our eyes that it is a beauty parlour. And then wheeling my readers in. Haw Haw.
Treat both triumph and disaster as impostors – Kipling a‚? (20 May 09 - 2 hours later)

The Chaise Longue (1998)
I suddenly thought - I’ve been second-guessing an earlier self of mine above – and I should be reviewing each story in the cold light of today... as it appears on the page uncluttered by any memory of creating it.
This story then has a strange mixture of Pinteresque / Ivy Compton-Burnettesque dialogue as a misguided sticking-plaster for a relationship under ancient duress. Fustian to the nth degree. An experiment in re-coupling the de-coupled. With a sting in its tail. It does strike me as being a powerful scenario, splatting the fiction-reading-head with a de-boxed but still fully ripe wine-bag.
“...decked out in a floral print frock that hugged her bosom tightly enough for the nipples to show through even a heavy-duty brassiere.” (21 May 09)

The Christmas Angel (1995)
This, for me, is a DF Lewis classic. Quite perfect within his own then perceived terms. With the most pathos in any story’s ending that can be squeezed into Christmas Day’s start. Didactic about a then future credit crunch as well as free-wheelingly ‘l’art pour l’art’.
“Unfurling its sugar-glass wings, like silver spider-webs, it peered down with pearl-bead eyes at the piles of presents at the foot of the Tree.” (21 May 09 - 3 hours later)

Dark They Were And Empty-Eyed (1995)
An incantatory monologue of dungeon-dark buffet and pain, whereby the I plops from its socket, just as, indeed, many of this book’s story narrators nil out (pre-figuring the concept of Nemonymity in 2001?)
“... my own mind’s bony meat haven...” (22 May 09)

The Dead (1995)
A Joycean (I guess) dinner party, where items of furniture have finger-holes like ten-pin bowls – and prandial conversation has bizarre innuendo. There are skeleton girls and/or servants haunting the backdrop. It means far more than one would ever expect from that summary! Now after 14 years can I scratch more than just its surface. Also, this story’s Ligotti-like ending is the loosest ending, I feel, that has appeared at the end of any story – ever.
“There was silence, save for the wireless’s residual fidgets of warming down.” (22 May 09 - after 4 hours)

Dear Mum (1990)
A SF story in the form of a letter from a man on an exploratory spaceship to his Mum back on Earth. In hindsight, a sort of email. A bit like Dr Wormius opening the sash-window with his back?
It is potentially very good with a highly poignant ending but it’s not quite carried off, I feel.
“Apparently, immortality’s only half of it.” (23 May 09)

Digory Smalls (1989)
If it is possible at all for there to be an externally favourite or most well-known story by DFL, this possibly one of them. A master and his ‘disabled’ servant explore the interlocking attic-systems of a large house, with horrific and absurdic results. A family’s generations ooze back and forth over time...? An amorality tale. Fiction for fiction’s sake. It certainly remains startling, even to me!
“‘Come, Mister Smalls, no time for larks. We only have a few more attics to negotiate.’ He looked askance at me.” (23 May 09 - 2 hours later)

I am trying to summarise the stories real-time-reviewed so far ... in an ambition to match my own apparent success at identifying leit-motifs and gestalts when conducting such reviews on other writers’ books. So far I seem to have drawn a blank with ‘Weirdmonger’. Possibly, then, as an interim measure, we all have attic-systems to traverse towards our eventual heaven – heaven being, for me, an optimum thought that is one’s last thought before expiring. One needs to face the genuine monsters as well as the absurdities of existence: facing them out by absorbing them (but are you the parasite or them?), eventually becoming ‘the old man of the sea’ who perhaps takes on board one’s own internals like the experiences, illnesses, sadnesses, joys etc. of your previous selves (as well as taking on board, altruistically, externals like loved ones and you readers and, by so doing, their internals) along with oneself in the journey or quest for that optimum thought. (23 May 09 - another hour later)

'WEIRDMONGER' REAL-TIME REVIEW CONTINUED HERE (24 May 09)

CONTINUED FROM HERE

Dognahnyi (1991)

This is scatology as an incantatory and deeply-textured language of religion OR a blueprint for one of humanity’s sewer systems to work via the innards of various giant birds...

Internals and externals in symbiosis.

A tripartite war between life and death and the insidious state that is not really either.

“...it had inserted its sting in his crookback, thus putting down roots towards what it considered to be its sexgoal; the throbbing mush of the host’s heart.” (24 May 09)

Effervescent (1995)

“It was as if the truest reality was within herself, which it was her duty to release, for the benefit of others. In return, they gave her the sweet distillations of themselves.”

That seems to bear out my first attempt at a leit-motif for the hindsight of this book so far.

This story, too, seems to be far better than I remember it to be. A commune with some participants lacking sense as well as senses. The Dinner Man... A police raid. There seem to be inner truths here galore. A story that needs to be worn ... and visualised, too, as if you were in the story yourself as a blind person.

“Raspberryade was a euphemism...”

“Twilight often summoned stragglers from their late-lyings, who subsisted simply because they’d forgotten to die.”

“The law didn’t like late-risers.”

“...her tongue was almost a second soul. She even could taste with the ends of her teeth.” (24 May 09 - 2 hours later)

Egnis (1995)

Just for the record, this was the one story I wrote a number of years before I started seriously writing and submitting stories in 1986 in which year I had my first story published (‘Padgett Weggs’ – that also appears later in this ‘Weirdmonger’ book).

‘Egnis’ is a strange story, to say the least. About John Egnis staying with his two aunts by a lake resort, his family of wife and children elsewhere, some loose connections with Pepys’ diary, drug smugglers, and guilt – and some really passionate prose that I recall (self-intentionally!) was painfully carved out in the raw old days before I got into my writing rhythm.

Re-reading it coldly today, I sense it is about the ‘internals’ and ‘externals’ of character within a Trojan Horse as part and parcel in a quest for a ‘literary’ meaning more meaningful than the reality it reflects.

“...in an unsubtle little girl way, as she tried to sleep, as she tried to recall the face of her father, as she finally succumbed to the same sleep her father slept, without dream or hope of waking.” (24 May 09 - another 2 hours later)

Encounters With Terror (1995)

A man’s rite of passage from childhood, denoting his various encounters with Terror, ever drawn back to a ‘present moment’ of being caught short in bed during the Nursery Night. Yearning for a Proustian mother’s kiss ...plus a crush on a servant girl. Paralleled by his toy clock-work train going in circles ... a tripartite war of life and death and something that is neither - as echoed beyond and within this book’s context. Many of these stories suffer from their shortness of the writer’s breath... A question of taste.

“The corpse of the soldier Francis had just killed groaned in death as if it were a fitful nightmare he sleeped. The belly gaped upon wriggling innards as if these were new sexual organs the corpse wanted to be fondled and loved.” (25 May 09)

Find Mine (1998)

A letter to ‘you’ disguised as a story so that when it’s published its intended yet unknown recipient can read it. The ‘synchronised shards of random truth and fiction’ certainly come into play here. And a tripartite war between love and hate and something that is a combination of both.

As an aside, did you know that when you wake up tired and drained even after an apparently good night’s sleep that’s when you’ve been visited by a vampire who’s just had a party in your soul...

SPOILER: “So as to avoid readers of this letter skipping to its end, before reading it as a whole, I’ve decided to conceal my epistle’s valedictory in this particular paragraph.” (25 May 09 - 2 hours later)

First Sight (1995)

A flash fiction of a wink. An eye-patch, when hanging up, looks like a spider with all its legs running into one. Eyelid wing. And someone subsumed by self-harming upon discovering the nature of one’s identity as narrator.

“He revolved like a clown’s head on a seaside pier with a two-way neck...” (25 May 09 - another hour later)

'WEIRDMONGER' REAL-TIME REVIEW IS CONTINUED HERE.

Posted by wordonymous at 8:47 AM EDT

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Sunday, 24 May 2009

Cone Zero Under Way

CONE ZERO UNDER WAY

« H E » email

posted Monday, 14 April 2008

Complete with a cone shadow

"Fallow be thy names." -- Matt Cardin

LINK (Dec 2008): "a flawless anthology"

For orders, please see after small picture below.

4th JULY 2008: CONE ZERO has arrived. Contributors' copies and first orders have been despatched.

5 July 2008: First impressions by Cone Zero writer Kek-W.

21 July 2008: First independent comments on the CONE ZERO book: http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2008/07/magazineanthology-review-nemonymous.html -- It gives this rating: "Highly recommended and is easily a pioneer of the genre."

23 July 2008: 'CONE ZERO' YOUTUBE: http://www.ligotti.net/showpost.php?p=10904&postcount=51

28 July 2008: **FREE** CONE ZERO CASH COMPETITION

7 August 2008: Cone Zero's 'prequel' anthology book: Zencore nominated for BFS Award.

15 August 2008: First full review of 'Cone Zero': http://www.magicalrealism.co.uk/view.php?story=89&issue=11 : "Well, I'm usually wary of saying things like this, but I expect to see Cone Zero on the lists of this year's best anthologies. It will richly deserve any such place." that was my hundredth published review; I'm glad it was for such a good book.

1 September 2008: Individual's recommendation of Cone Zero for Nebula Award.

4 September 2008: THE FIX REVIEW: 'cone zero' ... the transition from reality to something else—fantasy, dreams, maybe madness.

10 September 2008: CERN PROJECT experiment under way - with safeguards provided by Cone Zero: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/cone_zero__cern_project.htm

13 September 2008: Impressions by Cone Zero writer Colleen Anderson.

29 September 2008: Guidelines for Cone Zero's sequel anthology: CERN ZOO issued here:
http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/cerne_zoo__guidelines.htm

1 October 2008: SF REVU review here: http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=8176 :- "Overall, the stories are well-written and engaging, and the best of them inspire introspective paths of thought, or simply won't leave your memory once ensconced therein."

1 November 2008 - Another review at the bottom of the page below. (Despite not liking SF, the reviewer still seems to love a lot of the stories!)
http://www.horrorworld.org/november_2008.htm

4 November 2008: Another review linked from here: http://www.fright.com/edge/cone_zero.htm - "A wildly unexpected, utterly unpredicatable anthology of horror, sci fi and who-knows-what!"

1 December 2008: http://distanceswimmer.livejournal.com/1082.html - REVIEW THAT STARTS: "ConeZero is many things, perhaps first and foremost an anthology of fantastic fiction from the UK, the 8^th in a series, edited anonymously by majordomo Des Lewis, whose claims to fame are also many, including, quite possibly, an utterly unbreakable record for the most short fictions ever published by a single author in the independent press. Add to this his markedly odd vision, akin to a herky-jerky whirling disco mirror ball with distinctly uneven facets alternating flashes of dada, surreal, fabulist and existential light through a churning mist from someplace the other side of the Twilight Zone. And then there is his sense of…what? Purpose? Humor? Identity? Mood? Prankishness? Even the “8” of “Nemonymous 8” is turned on its side, like a faux infinity symbol, yet it is still very much an 8 turned on its side."

6 December 2008: http://charlesatan.livejournal.com/480332.html - ...it features some really cool, off-the-top stories that tingle my sense of wonder and excitement as well as fulfilling my requirements of well-written fiction in the literary sense of the word.

12 December 2008: Future Fire Review:
"a flawless anthology": http://tinyurl.com/5ovc8v

31 December 2008: http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2008/12/feature-charless-top-five-for-2008.html -- Nemonymous: Cone Zero edited by D.F. Lewis - One of most refreshing magazine/anthology I've read in recent years (of course that could just be due to my ignorance) and each story is distinct and makes an impact. Besides, between the anonymous authors and the "cone zero" concept, how could you fail?

31 December 2008: Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #23 File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
For example, the magnificent DF Lewis pays good rates for the contributions to his superb Nemonymous anthologies. ...

15 Feb 09 (Link: HERE): "There's another cool review of Nemonymous 8: Cone Zero over here on the Dreaming of Babylon site...which reminded me what a terrific antho this is. It's slowly been soaking up some great reviews over the last few months - if you haven't got round to buying a copy yet, then you really should do."

[The full 'Dreaming of Babylon' review is currently housed HERE ]

25 February 2009: Cone Zero Review: The Pros of Critical Reading

28 February 2009: A review by a lady called Conda

4 March 2009: Link: Sorting out a few personal favourites from this anthology is more difficult than usual, for more than one reason. First, the standard of writing – of sheer honest-to-God storytelling – is so high. This anthology is a magnificent achievement, with hardly a dull page in it. The second reason is that infuriatingly there are four stories with the same damn title.

5 March 2009: Link: Denemonizations of the Authors !!!

5 March 2009: Author Blogs: John Grant's Naked Truth - Bob Lock's Who Was That Masked Man? -http://grantwamack.blogspot.com/2009/03/revelations.html - http://colleenanderson.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/writing-cone-zero-authors-reviews-2/ - (9 Mar 09) http://neilhudson.livejournal.com/94477.html to which another author replies: "Isn't it a joy that we can now, without shame, step forward and raise our faces to the open sunlight . . .?" - (12 Mar 09) http://stephenbacon.co.uk/2009/03/12/apologies-for-the-indulgence/

3 April 2009: 'Cone Zero' has been long-listed on the Voting Form for the British Fantasy Society awards for Best Anthology: http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/images/stories/bfalonglist2009.pdf
Plus Kek-W's story and Neil Hudson's story in the Best Short Fiction category. Kek-W's blog: http://kidshirt.blogspot.com/2009/04/cone-zero-british-fantasy-society.html

5 Apr 09: Neil Hudson's blog: http://neilhudson.livejournal.com/96426.html

The Cern Zoo Page (Cone Zero's sequel book): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_cern_zoo_page.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

===============================

ORDERS: GB Pounds: inclusive of UK postage or Surface Mail:

(A) CONE ZERO = £10

(B) ZENCORE = £8

(D) A, B or C above plus one or more of the previous ‘Nemonymous’ anthologies (1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) will be an additional cost of £3 for each anthology. (£5 per anthology if not part of A, B or C.)

Multiply any total amount above by 1.3 for Air Mail instead of Surface Mail.

UK orders of £18 or more will also receive a free ONLY CONNECT paperback.

Payment by Paypal to DF Lewis at bfitzworth@yahoo.co.uk

=========================

Stories in Cone Zero:

"The Fathomless World"
"The Point of Oswald Masters"
"Cone Zero" (page 23)
"Cone Zero" (page 33)
"Cone Zero, Sphere Zero"
"An Oddly Quiet Street"
"Always More Than You Know"
"Cone Zero" (page 129)
"Going Back For What Got Left Behind"
"Cone Zero" (page 147)
"The Cone Zero Ultimatum"
"Angel Zero"
"How To Kill An Hour"
"To Let"

Past Nemonymous anthologies and spoilers for authors' names: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemonymous

ZENCORE: Details HERE.

Some review quotes regarding Nemonymous (2001-2008): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/nemonymous_reviews_2001__2008.htm

Cones in Art & Literature: http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=1905

More visible cones: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/cone_zero_search.htm and http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/more_zeroing_in_on_cones_or_conesindisguise.htm and http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/cones_from_a_cone_zeroist.htm

General Nemonymous page: www.nemonymous.com

Past covers: http://www.myspace.com/weirdtongue

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 14 April 2008, I finally contracted 14 stories and 14 different authors for the CONE ZERO book (Nemonymous 8) with about 90,000 words.

I am very excited about the stories with which I have been graced. But disappointed by the inevitable need to reject many other brilliant stories written on this multifaceted theme.

Re the latter, one author with a rejected story wrote to me today (15 April 2008): ...but then to be left with a cold dead cone zero in the hand, the centre melting, the cone soggy at the edges, dripping from the bottom… sigh. Perhaps there should be a cone zero graveyard, ghosts of the ‘almost’ stories hovering in their own pixilated purgatory… nemonymously anonymous forever.

DFL Silly Idea
The Baser Pulps - Nemonymous - Weirdmonger Wheel - Weirdmonger (Prime Book)
There are many worse ways of life than contented failure - Robert Aickman

==================

Suprematism has extended the apex of the finite visual cone of perspective into infinity. It has broken through the 'blue lampshade of the heavens' [...] has swept away the illusion of three-dimensional space on a plane, replacing it by the ultimate illusion of irrational space with attributes of infinite extensibility in depth and foreground.

- El Lissitsky (1925) 'A. and Pangeometry'

==================

"The 'wavering Zero' is the generative core of being and slime."
--Iain Hamilton Grant from "Being and Slime: The Mathematics of Protoplasm in Lorenz Oken's 'Physio-Philosophy'"

I notice a review of COLLAPSE Vol IV (Urbanomic 2008) mentions:
"the nemonymous horror of Ligotti’s fiction"

I intend to adapt this page gradually in the shape of the official CONE ZERO. It will be edited and re-decorated as things progress. It's not a static blog entry in that sense, although this paragraph will remain untouched (14 April 2008).

comments (8)

1. Weirdmonger left...

Tuesday, 15 April 2008 5:54 pm

I've suddenly realised why I've been calling the ZENCORE book iCONIC in its advertising campaign since last year. Almost as surprising as realising that CONE ZERO is a near anagram of ZENCORE!

I feel as if I'm broadcasting on a long-lost LOST video...

2. Weirdmonger left...

Wednesday, 14 May 2008 10:53 pm :: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/cone_ze

Attempts to find the real Cone Zero start at link above.

3. Weirdmonger left...

Sunday, 8 June 2008 10:55 am

Last night on the Dr Who episode of 'Silence in the Library', she whispered his name in his ear.

Nemonymous?

The greatest Who ever!!! And I watched the first episode when first boadcast in the sixties. :-)

4. Weirdmonger left...

Tuesday, 10 June 2008 3:44 pm

There were composite cones and pyramids either alone or surmounting cylinders and cubes or flatter truncated cones and pyramids, and occasional needle-like spires in curious clusters of five. All of these febrile structures seemed knit together by tubular bridges. --H.P. Lovecraft (At The Mountains of Madness)

5. Weirdmonger left...

Monday, 16 June 2008 8:39 am :: http://tinyurl.com/572lhx

New Cone Memorial opened today. See above link.

6. Weirdmonger left...

Saturday, 5 July 2008 5:55 pm

If one reads CZ from beginning to end, you will defeat the Credit Crunch simply by allowing it to be sucked up into Cone Zero.

7. Weirdmonger left...

Thursday, 14 August 2008 7:09 pm

I hope the latest international crisis doesn't push the whole world into cone zero.

8. Weirdmonger left...

Thursday, 23 April 2009 7:43 pm :: http://www.pcdmisforum.com/showpost.php?

A new 'cone zero' has just appeared at link immediately above.

Posted by wordonymous at 3:40 AM EDT

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