CHOICES finished

I dedicate this one to my father. Just finished it this morning. Waiting to hear on a submission. The story of a child and the choices he is faced with when first confronted by the supernatural.

SAIL to be published

January 3, 2016 in Schlock! Webzine. Thank Gavin, thank you to the UK to launch a long and strange tale of possession.

Link and cover to follow.

SAIL a new story

Is just being written. Here is the inspiration for this still in development tale.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/02/asia/north-korea-ghost-ships-japan/index.html

Poem TIRED completed

Now we look for a publisher.

The Remote Viewing Experiment A Success

Incredible results. We are still sifting through. More work to follow but if this can be duplicated and refined what a weapon to have in the arsenal.

Congratulations to the team.

The more work we do in the occult realm the better we understand our world, the richer we make our writing and the more effective we become going forward.

Congratulations again team.

FULL has been published today, right here

From Rogue Planet Press

Free e-book available Now through the 28th

from HORRIFIED PRESS.

To be published November 23rd.

Great cover and I am honored to be inside. Courtesy of HORRIFIED PRESS.

Me and Arthur want a word with you on

Lurid-lit

http://www.lurid-lit.com/2015/11/book-review-works-of-arthur-machen.html

Getting Caught UP: COLD republished.

Thank you for re-anthologizing my short story FREE SF, FANTASY AND HORROR FICTION NEWSLETTER #50.

Getting Caught Up: MARBLE EYES republished

Thank you for re-anthologizing my short story FREE SF, FANTASY AND HORROR FICTION NEWSLETTER #43.

A Blast From The Past

http://artscum.org/surreal-grotesque-9-online-magazine/

The Perfect Home by Yours Truly is a part of this ezine

NOW YOU SEE HER has been published

www.dreadfullittlepress.com

The Martha Wright disappearance is examined.

We have been interviewed....

Thank you Fiona Mcvie....

http://wp.me/p3uv2y-4vq

Congratulations to Saugus Winners

http://www.saugus.net/Contests/Halloween/2015/

It was a thrill again to be a judge. See you next year.

Saugus Ghost Story Contest

Just finished my judging duties for the 2015 contest. A lot of great stories turned in this year by the children from the elementary to the middle and the high school levels. Rough to pick this year...

I am back on Lurid-lit...

Trolling the world of Graphic Novels. MASTEMA the creation of Curtis M. Lawson and Alex Chung battles to the forefront.

No Silliness Here Tonight

I found out today that two attorneys I respected and were a help to me at points in time had passed. Because of my current situation, of which many of you are aware, I have been out of the loop and essentially living in a cave in the wilderness.

To Joe and Ed R.I.P.

Thank you for your guidance, your laughs and counsel. I am so very sorry.

Jack of No Trades #3 is out in paperback on Friday BUT

be careful your cat isn't around the copy with a glass of water...

 otherwise you will have BAD LUCK.

I am back on Lurid-lit.com

With a hidden gem from our forgotten past. Stop by.

Jack of no Trades

still unprofessional. It also doesn't look good that the publisher and editor inserts his own story into the collection. I wonder how many other stories were spilled upon.

Mr. Kitty says, "It would be a shame if this blog were wiped out by water."

Milford, Connecticut Cancels Halloween

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Milford-schools-ban-Halloween-6565263.php

'nuff said

Writing Class Tip Number Two: Nothing's Sacred

Has he destroyed your manuscript today?

You know no one believes the proverbial my dog ate my homework trope. An email could have been closely on the heels of the great flood. There is a contract involved here that  the publisher voided when he inserted his own piece in favor of mine. There is a contract that this publisher ignored. What does that tell other writers and artists about business practices?

No matter what their affiliation, after all it takes only a membership fee to be in a guild, Sturgeon was right on, however he should have included publishers.

On a Brighter Note....

Thank you Artist Extraordinaire Gary Wray for the amazing painting of my alter ego...

Writing Class Lesson For Tonight -- Professionalism: You Won't Find It Here

Toward the end of 2014 my short story BAD LUCK was published. The story has had a rather unusual history but when it was finally published it garnered a lot of critical praise. A prior publisher who decided to pass on the story contacted me in January 2015 claiming that he did not reject it, he actually wanted it and the rejection letter was a mistake

Jack of No Trades Productions now wanted the story and we agreed it would be in their October issue of 'Nothing's Sacred'. The story, as promised, would be in the first slot.

Nathon Allen Balka, editor in chief then explained the virtues of the Horror Writers Association and how wonderful this issue would be in October.

It is October and the issue is being promoted on his site. My story doesn't appear.

After two email inquiries here is the main portion of the response:

"Once I receive a submission, I print it out because it's easier for me to read. When NS2 was complete, I had your story printed out. One night I left it sitting on the kitchen table and went to work. When I came home the following morning, I discovered that one of my step kids had also left a large cup of water on the table --- which got knocked over by our cat. By the time I got to it, the sheets of paper had fused themselves together and were unreadable so I threw it away. I took a three month hiatus to work on my own stuff, during which time I didn't think about anything dealing with Nothing's Sacred. The first thing I did when I returned was delete all of my old emails to start fresh with submissions . Eventually, Bad Luck fell through the cracks because I didn't have a with to retrieve it, which is why it is not in Nothing's Sacred Vol. 3."

Mr. Balka has not reached out to include the piece in a future issue. I wouldn't consent to it anyway considering how this magazine is run.

Another Two Sentence Story.....

I like them. They are fun. I am bringing this one into my class.

http://www.twosentencestories.com/my-cousin-emily/

Read MY COUSIN EMILY, published today.

I have an OFFERING for you on Lurid-lit.com

Brought to us in a promotional volume from THE SINISTER HORROR COMPANY. Check it out.

MASTER OF TIME is here

Published by THIRTEEN O'CLOCK PRESS

THE BRAKEMAN is here

Published by THIRTEEN O'CLOCK PRESS

TELEVISION TIME is published

Here today in THE FABLE ONLINE

http://www.thefableonline.com/2015/10/issue-8/

Issue 8

Aptly Titled

Well FALSE ALARM was a FALSE ALARM of sorts. Re-write number two just completed; although I am told the concept is good and the script will be produced.

Yeah, right H. P. LOVECRAFT

If FACEBOOK is good for anything and frankly it isn't good for anything, you find these little tests to compare yourself to whomever and whoever and sometime whatever.

The most recent is for writers to enter the texts, a few paragraphs, and the magical analyzer will tell you who write like.

I did it twice.

I took a satirical piece I wrote fifteen years ago; one that is finally being published and only being published now because I couldn't find a satirical magazine to send it to. ANYWAY, on that piece I was told I write like COREY DOCTOROW.

I then took an article I had just written and just had accepted. Not a piece of fiction, but a straight article. 'I write like' H. P. LOVECRAFT.

Yeah. I know I am good, but that good?

Well a foreign critic in a seminar discussion once made the parallel to all of us horror writers as bands. In that comparison he said that while the rest are playing rock n' roll, some better than others, my stories were different and compared me to PINK FLOYD.

Yeah...right.

Halloween in Massachusetts, Saugus that is....

I am pleased and honored to again be named a judge again this year for the SAUGUS GHOST STORY CONTEST.

www.Saugus.net

FALSE ALARM will be broadcast in 2016

Just got the word. Details to follow...

TELEVISION TIME to be published

My non-horror, non-science fiction short story TELEVISION TIME, a satirical take on politics and the idiot non-informed electorate will be published by THE FABLE ONLINE on October 1st. Details and a link to follow.

A Lot in The Hopper

While personally this has been a horrible year in every respect. We have a lot waiting release. The best is yet to come.

The script for FALSE ALARM is completed

One re-write so far. But the script is done. The re-write deleting one character has in fact allowed the other characters and the overall narration to flourish. More to come.

Tragedy

To the trolls let me say, yes this is going to be cliché ridden. To the trolls, please go live a life without judgment on others because in a sense you are no better than the common domestic abuser.

The tragedy in Nevada yesterday involving the Constaninos goes beyond the paranormal community.

It is simply a tragedy. Three people are dead long before their time and the horrible ripple to the survivors is beyond description and love once again has been overwhelmed by control and hate.

Life never works out as planned, such is the journey. We are never in control. We only think so. We paddle along with the current in search of still water. But serenity in life is love.

BAD LUCK republish on schedule

According to the publisher JACK OF NO TRADES PRODUCTIONS. Both the print and e versions still scheduled for October release.

I am back on Lurid-lit....

With L A SYKES and SHOTGUN THERAPY. Come on give it a shot....

http://www.lurid-lit.com/2015/09/book-review-shotgun-therapy-and-other.html

A CROWD is in print...

http://www.schlock.co.uk/pb/wp_f09d612c/wp_f09d612c.html

SILVER THREADS is here and published...

By THREE MINUTE PLASTIC

http://threeminuteplasticmag.blogspot.com/2015/09/silver-threads-by-joseph-j-patchen.html

A CROWD to be published....

by SCHLOCK! WEBZINE. Details to follow....

MASTER OF TIME will be on the stands September 30th

The X2 anthology is a month away. Links to follow.

SILVER THREADS to be published

In the new THREE MINUTE PLASTIC. Next week, Details and link to follow.

I hear The BRAKEMAN coming.....

He's coming round the bend. The publisher reports that the anthology KILLER TRACKS is on the way. More details to follow...

Freakcidents is on LURID-LIT.COM

Another day and another review. Come and read about Michael A. Arnzen's FREAKCIDENTS. Poetry rules today.

Article to be published....

My article on the mysterious Martha Wright disappearance will be published in BOSLEY GRAVELS CAVALCADE OF TERROR. Publication date to be announced.

I am back on Lurid-lit but Lost....

I review Sarah Langan's Chap Book THE LOST and you need to read it to see what I have found....

http://www.lurid-lit.com/2015/08/book-review-lost-by-sarah-langan.html

And here is the link to COGNIZANT

http://www.schlock.co.uk/index.html

Cognizant is here and here is the cover

Trigger warnings from the slush pile?

Now I see some publishers want advanced warnings before an editor reads a manuscript of trigger words. Since the publishers I am referring to are in horror, well, isn't that ludicrous?

We write about fear, blood, death, mutilation. We write about torture, fright, decomposition...

If an editor has 'issues' when reading something--stop reading it; get help; get pharmaceuticals and a cup.

We are writing horror. If horror scares you to the point of a nervous breakdown, read mysteries. Most modern mysteries are bland and can be figured out in three pages.

My God we are a pathetic lot aren't we.

Trigger warnings are censorship and should be trampled. Any editor or any publisher that posts this garbage should be run put of business for attacking your right to free speech.

Trigger warnings are not progressive, they are regressive and repressive.

Wake up.

#Hiroshima GIVE ME A BREAK

As you are I also on Twitter and came across this gem. In this thread swarms of moon-bats are declaring Harry Truman's decision as 'the greatest act of terrorism ever'. What this string clearly demonstrates is a total lack of intelligence and complete naivety into human nature.

Do you want to measure a public school education? Read this thread and realize no ruler will be required.

And by the way there is no mention of Pearl Harbor or World War II or the atrocities brought by Japan in the far east.

AND finally, I have a bet those posting have no clue who Harry Truman was. I added him.

A Forgotten Classic Comes to Lurid-lit

The 19th century poem with 20th century art is on www.lurid-lit.com NOW.

One of the best covers ever.....

COGNIZANT to be published

In the next issue of SCHLOCK! WEBZINE. Details to follow.

Welcome back THREE MINUTE PLASTIC!!

One of my favorite reads and publisher of two of my stories is back after a long absence:

http://threeminuteplasticmag.blogspot.com/

I am back on the airwaves, digitally

of course, at SURREAL SERMONS #38 cooking up some Ceepypasta with the SOVIET SLEEP EXPERIMENT. Yes,  read it.....

  http://jeremy-maddux-9.podomatic.com/entry/2015-07-25T12_53_57-07_00

LURID LIT is back and so is the Zombie Apocalypse....London style

This week I review DAVID BRINSON'S debut novel, DEAD SOUTH. The dead walk a lot and everywhere...

My Literary Birth Was In England

Here is a link:

http://zinewiki.com/Wark

If anyone can hook me up with back issues I would appreciate it. My ex-wife threw them all out.

Editors sure don't know everything

Especially writing.

Look I hate rejections and thank the Lord I am getting less and less every year. But when an editor turns down a piece not on its merits but solely on how warm and cuddly the feel is, is derelict in the duty required for the project.

It is ridiculous. And if that same editor won't expand intellect beyond the shallow and literal then that person should stick to hateful tweets.

As an editor myself I may personally hate something but see the artistry and creative voice within enough to accept the piece. I have opened dialogues with writers to be sure I am reading the piece correctly as opposed to simply berating the author with my own ignorance.

There is a big difference in all of our talents. Some of us write and some of us type.

Rest In Peace MICROHORROR

Nathan Rosen has announced the flash fiction horror e-zine has scared its last person. I have written him to see I can take the reigns while he is away. He did ask for volunteers.

So What The Hell ARE You Doing

We have commissioned pieces we are writing. Details on those will follow.

I feel humbled and honored to be approached and to be asked to contribute pieces.

I am spending time focusing on poetry for the at-large works. There is the opportunity in the works for contributing song lyrics, but more on that at a later date.

Stuff is coming out. Stay tuned.

I Have Nothing Against Self Publishing

But I do have something against the arrogance of many of these self-publishers who have an attitude that they are policeman, judge, jury and executioner.

I encourage people to get their work out there no matter what; and that includes self-publishing but the question of quality is certainly higher with a third party publisher.

Milford Adult Ed Redux

We are in the catalog again, but rest assured if this class doesn't fill we will pull it. In my area of Connecticut there is a premium on self-publishing an those self-publish ironically look down on those of us who don't.

Yeah, that is the case. Most Connecticut writing classes are taught by those who self-publish.

Such can certainly explain the quality of literature here.

Why do I have to do this?

All these longwinded writing genius creators spew and spew that you HAVE to write at least 1,000 words a day to be a great writer.

Enough.

There is a large difference between writing and typing. Writing is crafting and two hundred well crafted words are better than the stream of conscious turd in a punchbowl collection many of these self described authors could ever regurgitate.

Write comfortably. Write meaningfully. Write well.

Write and don't listen to these people.  

RUSSIAN SLEEP EXPERIMENT will be podcast

My take on the infamous real, unreal, not real experiment will be a part of the next SURREAL SERMONS and yes I will appear as the narrator of the segment. Details to follow.

CLOSET to be published

This is the vampire tale alluded to in my prior post. It was accepted today as the lead off story in an anthology revolving around an apartment building. Details to follow.

Vampire Tale

Just finishing one urban tale scheduled to be in an upcoming anthology. Details to follow.

BABY'S BREATH will be reviewed on LURID-LIT Tomorrow

Check out tomorrow morning!!!

Two for 2016

No politics here, just noting that POLLY WANTS MY SINS and SWITCH are slated to be in Weirdbook issue #3 in the Spring of 2016.

Lurid-lit is back with THE BOOK OF WEIRD

My review of Mark Slade's anthology appears now....

I got mine today.....

where  is yours..... WELCOME SORROW and FLASHED.........

Lurid-Lit IS BACK.......

with TIM BRYANT'S "CONSTELLATIONS".......

Updated again

And what a good feeling after the wilderness we were in. We are being published at a good clip again. We are blessed. See the updates here and at josephjpatchen.weebly.com

PAYING FORWARD is re-published.....

Thank you THE BLOOD, THE GLORY AND THE GRACE for re-printing my PAYING FORWARD & promoting THE CARNAGE CONSERVATORY https://erickeyswriter.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/paying-forward/

On Sale Now.......

I have two stories in this one....

Scared?

You should be.

http://carnageconservatory.com/

I am Happy, Pleased and Humbled to Announce...

That I have just been named Associate Editor of THE CARNAGE CONSERVATORY. The June edition launched today after being on hiatus for over a year. I want to thank EMILY SMITH-MILLER for the faith she is showing in me and I am excited to be a creative voice in this outstanding horror publication.

PAYING FORWARD has been published

In THE CARNAGE CONSERVATORY

http://carnageconservatory.com/2015/06/17/paying-forward/

Welcome back.

BURP has been published

In THE CARNAGE CONSERVATORY.

http://carnageconservatory.com/2015/06/17/burp/

Welcome back.

The Link to WINK

http://www.schlock.co.uk/pb/wp_012a02b7/wp_012a02b7.html

Don't blink.

Why is it?

That with all the cameras on all the phones we can't get a photo of bigfoot? That with all the cameras on all the phones we can't get a clear photo of an extra-terrestrial?

Why is it that every time I turn on my computer I can view the naughty bits of every possible celebrity yet the abducted cannot produce a photo of the spaceship in which they were probed?

I know why.

You do too.

Enough with Roswell!!!!

Why does every paranormal podcast, as opposed to actual radio shows, obsess about Roswell? Why do they drone on and on about what we already know and already knew?

I guess it is the same problem in Hollywood, that being a complete lack of originality and intelligence.

Wink is in print....

And here is the cover

R. I. P. CHRISTOPHER LEE

There is little I can add other than to thank him for all the amazing performances over the years and cementing my love for horror through Hammer. Christopher was and still is a hero of mine and will be missed.

But thankfully he will live on in film.

THE GOLDEN BOUGH is reviewed on LURID-LIT today

A golden oldie is dusted off and given the props it should have as a seminal piece of literature.

AFTER TASTE to be published

In HORRIFIED PRESS' upcoming vampire anthology titled ONCE BITTEN. Details to follow.

WINK to be published

in SCHLOCK! WEBZINE. Details to follow..... I think it is one of the creepiest stories I have ever written.

Warlords is a Hit!!!

Just announced by Horrified Press that this book will yield royalties. Thank you to all who purchased this anthology; an anthology that I am in. Thank you.

Cover for DEEP SPACE DOGFIGHTS uncovered.....

Coming out June 18th. This anthology contains two of my stories FLASHED and WELCOME SORROW.

I will be on the SURREAL SERMONS radio show

Details to follow. I will be discussing one of the most interesting of the urban legends: The Soviet Sleep Experiment.

FLASHED to be published.

It will be my second story in the anthology titled DEEP SPACE DOGFIGHTS from Rogue Planet Press. Coming out soon.

HOUNDS BOUNCE WHEN THEY BARK has been published

My short story HOUNDS BOUNCE WHEN THEY BARK has been published by FARTHER STARS THAN THESE. Thank you Earl Wynn,
http://www.fartherstars.com/2015/05/52115.html

Nothing supernatural but it will terrify you....

Join me on THE CHAIR

https://twitter.com/theCHAIRhorror/status/601753209946898432?cn=ZmF2b3JpdGVfbWVudGlvbmVkX3VzZXI%3D&refsrc=email

AND YET ANOTHER BELATED THANK YOU TO SF SIGNAL

The November 8, 2014 issue highlights and links to my horror story MARBLE EYES as originally published in MICROHORROR. Thank you.

And another belated THANK YOU to SF SIGNAL MAGAZINE 1.16.2015

for highlighting our science fiction tale OPERATION DESTINY originally published and linked to FARTHER STARS THAN THESE.

Belated Thank You to SF SIGNAL MAGAZINE

We only just became aware of this but my story COLD was featured in this best of list FREE SF, FANTASY AND HORROR FICTION FOR 2.28.15. COLD was originally published in Microhorror and the link was so provided. Thank you.

Thank you AUTHOR ALCOVE

For selling my book FEAST OF THE DEAD.

Thank you WILD TEXAS GEAR SHOP

For having my books Ugly Babies #1, Aliens, Sex & Sociopaths: The Best of Surreal Grotesque, The Black Hand Supremacy, Tales For The Toilet, and Corpses Don't Bleed all for sale.

The New Carnage Conservatory is coming...

Get ready for the blood on June 1st. Get ready for a major announcement as well.

We haven't forgotten you or forgotten to post

Just dealing with life, moving from city to city and dealing with a divorce. We are still here and will be going forward. Catch us on Twitter too @josephjpatchen 

The website SHORT OF THE WEEK is reviewed on www.lurid-lit.com

We go movie this week on lurid-lit.com. Not Hollywood---real movies. Independent movies and independent movie shots to be specific. www.lurid-lit.com right now!

Failure, A Vignette

There is little to be said. It is so obvious. Yes. It is so blatantly obvious. So obvious to any self important intellectual. Failure is so many things. Failure is pervasive. Failure is so obvious you smirk at it every turn.

Failure can be a lack of stuff. Failure can be the rut of a daily life. Failure can be accomplishments you feel are boring. Failure is all about vengeance and possessing a desire to deceive and manipulate.

Failure is the branding of the pathetic by those who profess success.

But don't the barometers of comparisons run cold?

Yes, but unlike your base trash level view of what is important0. Unlike the cocky swaggering intellectualism you profess to wallow in, I have learned failure is tied to self-loathing; the skeleton that is the base of the pretty flesh of success.

There is nothing philosophical, theological or spiritual about it.

You'll find out

Anonymous-9 is back on Lurid-lit!!!!

www.lurid-lit.com is back this week with @_Anonymous_9 's DREAMING DEEP; a modern treatment of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos.

THE FALL OF CTHULHU is a hit!!!!

Sale for the anthology are exceeding expectations. Finally some good news in this the darkest of years. Thank you all.

The Podcast SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE is on LURID-LIT now!!!!!!!!

That is www.lurid-lit.com you all.

On The Road Again......

So during this time of lock out and legally forced oppression we have decided to jump back into writers' groups for entertainment. I think groups are a good idea from time to time; to get one self out of the solitary status that is writing and try things out on the road.

I have started in Stamford with two groups and my poison is a piece already published, in fact published twice and critically acclaimed titled WHEELS BUNDLED IN RUBBER.

I chose a piece already published to demonstrate what I write as opposed to what I am currently experimenting with.

Reaction to the massively non-horror market has been mixed. An older crowd enjoyed its simplicity, its poetry. We had quit a marvelous critical discussion.

But a younger crowd hated it since it failed to touch on the question of bias in society. No I wasn't dealing with bias, I was dealing with the question of man making war against man and man's proverbial inhumanity against man.

These millennial children seemed to be stuck in a more microscopic view of societal ills; those they feel only involve them directly.

This is why the culture is doomed and this is why fewer people actually read to broaden their horizons rather than back their view of the world.

Shame.

Next week is New Haven and the wheels will be on the road again.

Editor's Notes: So You Think You Are A Writer

For the third time in a month I came across an illiterate masquerading as an intellectual. This phenomenon is also known as a story about young writers and their puffing.

One discussion on Goodreads demonstrated the hate for other genres when twenty something horror groupies condemned Hemingway, Faulkner and Steinbeck for their lack of horror on their resume.

I had a discussion with a bizarro devotee who told me that his genre was the only one that matters. Twain, Poe, Lovecraft he continued were hacks --- literature has to be modern to be relevant.

And the third, well I think this parade of idiocy has shown enough floats.

You can't be a writer without a literary love and a literary background. It is that simple. It shows in your writing or I should I say typing...

Before you can judge the best read the best. Trends are simply that -- trends and popularity fades when those people die. We should be writing for the ages and not the shallow pseudo intellectual who puffs his or her literary resume especially when they don't have books on their own shelves.

Easton Writer's Workshop

Enjoyed myself tremendously this past month and look forward to the May installment. Sound critiques and fine writing. Check it out.

punkPunk! is reviewed on Lurid-lit.com

My column returns to www.Lurid-lit.com with a review of punkPunk! edited by Andrew Hook from Dog Horn Publishing.

FAIRNESS is in print!!

The anthology WARLORDS OF THE ASTEROID BELT is on the shelves. My short story FAIRNESS is included.

Buy it here:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/rogue-planet-press/warlords-of-the-asteroid-belt/paperback/product-22135816.html

TENSION wins an editor's award of such.....

INKITT editors have chosen TENSION to appear among their site listings. We are happy and say thank you so very much.

http://www.inkitt.com/stories/11495

THE GREETING has been published

Here and today.

RIDE is on the stands

RIDE is here and on sale now. Horrified Press tells me they simply 'missed' putting in MASTER OF TIME. The omission therefore not being purposeful. MASTER is slated to be in a follow up anthology later this year. That should clarify it.

Correction

The publisher for CROSSING OVER dropped MASTER OF TIME. I am told it was missed. The story will now appear in an upcoming anthology titled X2. Details to follow.

DIRTY HANDS and HIT to be republished in an AUDIO BOOK

  Out on April 30th. We are so pleased, honored and humbled to be included in a collection that started as a podcast, then was published as an anthology and will now be an audio book.

CROSSING OVER is on the stands

Purchase it here:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thirteen-oclock-press/crossing-over/paperback/product-22117938.html

for MASTER OF TIME an RIDE

From THIRTEEN O'CLOCK PRESS an imprint of HORRIFIED PRESS.

We cleared 15,000

hits and I want to thank everyone for stopping by for this little blog that struggles. The best is yet to come.

The 4077th is podcasting but this is not a M*A*S*H UP

WWW.LURID-LIT.COM is the place for my column about a podcast that returns us to the golden days of radio with something more literate and more entertaining than many books could ever be.

Up now.

REJECTED now in paperback!!!

Thank you ACA Books.

https://www.createspace.com/5371971

The cover for the CROSSING OVER anthology is unveiled.....

Coming soon.....

Happy Easter the backdrop to the paranormal and ghost story

And on the third day he rose again...

Okay, don't anybody get their knickers in a bunch but why don't we approach the crucifixion of Jesus Christ like any other haunted tale? A man died and was raised from the dead. His spirit was seen by others in the context of a message he brought to them.

Is it because of the context of religion or is it because Christ made for a friendly visitation?

Whatever your take the question should be raised. Historically we knew the man existed. Historically we know about some of his activities and his associates.

I argued this once as a child during catechism. Sister was not amused. But if someone, rises from the dead and someone is called The Holy Ghost...I mean you have to have the discussion.

CROSSING OVER from HORRIFIED PRESS will hit the stands....

April 10th with my stories MASTER OF TIME and RIDE. Links will follow.

Apil Fools...

The news tells me the day was extended or we confused Ground Hog Day with yesterday and today.

WHY HORROR? Has been published

http://www.promotehorror.com/2015/03/why-horror.html

At Promote Horror dot com

ONE TO THE OTHER is officially in print

ONE TO THE OTHER is out go to HORRIFIED PRESS and buy yours today.
http://www.horrifiedpress.com/

Good Reads updated

We are getting there....

Website updated

We have finally had a chance to organize our Lurid-lit work. It's all updated at josephjpatchen.weebly.com

I Review the Movie RECURSION on lurid-lit.com right now!!

I turn the pages off to review a short. Check it out.

 

TENSION is published

As part of INKITT'S RUNNING SCARED Horror Contest. Drop and eye on it.

http://www.inkitt.com/stories/11495

Editor's Notes: As I Return To Writing....

Amidst the Hell that is my life right now, I have found that Twitter is coming in quite useful as a tool. The brevity of space is forcing me to get the rhythm back, to get the flow open.

The riffs are word plays, some serious, some comedic, but all fun.

I am going through a bad time now. Illness in the family, my marriage and world gone. With my life in ruins many have decided to tee off on me, but Twitter is allowing me to find something that makes me happy.

It's a great tool to practice on.

ONE TO THE OTHER is coming soon.....

from Horrified Press

Amazon Author Page

Updated. http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0094KM06O?ref_=pe_584750_33951330

I Review THE RISING DELIVERANCE on LURID-LIT now!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am back on www.lurid-lit.com with my review of Brian Keene's THE RISING DELIVERANCE from Deadite Press.

Catch it.

New cover for REJECTED

and AMERICAN DEATH...

ONE TO THE OTHER is one step closer to print.....

I just signed the contract with HORRIFIED PRESS. Details to follow.

AMERICAN DEATH is published and out now!!!

From ACA Books

http://www.amazon.com/Rejected-Jo-Anne-Russell-ebook/dp/B00UARXUUU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426092591&sr=1-1&keywords=rejected

Check us out on TWITTER

where we riff.....

https://twitter.com/josephpatchen

Are We Becoming Obsolete In Our Time?

For the most part it seems that, as far as platforms are concerned, that websites were replaced by Facebook and blogs have been replaced by Twitter. Just recently I was invited to enter a contest where the story could only fit in a comment box.

While I am a great fan of brevity, my fear is that we have fallen out of love with the written word. That the emotions we seek to evoke will become as impersonal as a post it note.

While it is true that the art of writing lies in finding the right word, that simple word shouldn't shield the reader from the greater, broader experience.

If we continue in this trend a symbol will someday replace language. If you think I am crazy just look at signs on your local road.

Words shouldn't be spared but embraced; but embraced in a natural flow and rhythm that can only evoke emotion in the reader be it love, hate and/or comfort.

The Anthology CROSSING OVER Is Out To Press

MASTER OF TIME and RIDE will be part of this book as published by Horrified Press. Release date will be quite soon.

AMERICAN DEATH is alive and published

ACA Books has announced that REJECTED has gone live. More details t follow. This anthology includes my short story AMERICAN DEATH.

Oh Yeah....

Yeah. We've been rather low profile for a few weeks and the reasons, plural, will soon have a resolution. We are still here and will continue posting. Point being we are far from dead.

COLD has been published

By MICROHORROR http://www.microhorror.com/microhorror/author/joseph-j-patchen/cold/

Editor's Notes: Creative Writing, we don't need no stinking creative writing

My class has been suspended because of lack of interest. Okay no problem, but a gentleman recently contacted me stating that he decided against my class in favor of self-publishing. This concerned me.

We all know I have nothing against self-publishing but please people let's not rely on self-assessment solely to determine our voice.

Sounds ridiculous right? But let's be fair, the vast majority of anything is generally bad. And rejection is a great teacher. Do we want to be better or prolific?

I want to be both and I want to be pushed and critiqued.

I want to know my work exists because others like it rather than knowing I can afford $50.00 for a cookie cutter cover.

Dare to dream. Dare to fail.  

Editor's notes: Simplicity

I am always  amazed at the simplicity of the human mind. Or should I say the simple minded. Why do we need labels to determine what is good or bad or best?

A recent writers' group discussion that sucked me in had to do specifically with this issue. The vast majority of writers took the stance that if a story or author appeared in a 'best of' anthology well they are considered the best and damn the rest.

We all know that many best of anthologies are a poor man's award and awards are the arbiter of talent.

Just ask Cary Grant and Jerry Lee Lewis. And look at all those book awards that Lovecraft won.

We all like to win awards. They are nice. But arbitrary and certainly not the only measure. After all Kanye West has 21 Grammys and Pink Floyd 1. Does that mean Kanye is a more influential and greater music talent than the Floyd?

Ah, the new math.....

Website Update

josephjpatchen.weeblycom is not only updated it has breaking news of stories and articles coming out. Catch it!!!

I review THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF NEW HORROR!!!

And its the 25th Anniversary Edition to boot!!! All on www.lurid-lit.com NOW!!!!

Cut That Deal

It started with Robert Johnson at the Cross Roads and continued down that fine line driven by Jerry Lee Lewis. AC/DC then ran down that Highway....I've been told I have no soul so how can I make a deal?

From Harper' Weekly June 16, 1877 Fly Sweet Angel of Death Fly.....

Found this on Facebook. Amazing piece of art.

ONE TO THE OTHER to be published

In the anthology THE FALL OF CTHULHU from Horrified Press. Details to follow.

Thank you INKITT

of Germany for listing me as a writer to watch out for.....

Weebly website updated

josephjpatchen.weebly.com has been updated. Stop by. Thanks.

SCREAMING, MASTICATION AND DEATH is out

 in both paperback and e form. From Thirteen O'clock Press.

Book Review: Frankenstein REC by Costas Zapas, Column Books, 2014

Is on www.lurid-lit.com now!!!!

Offline for a week or so......

Life sometimes overwhelms and this has been the case to begin this month. We have been offline. My apologies. More will follow. We have a number of projects in the works and because of the hiatus a number of projects have left us behind. So it is back to the salt mines.... 

THE COVER.....

SCREAMING, MASTICATION AND DEATH is out!!!

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thirteen-oclock-press/arachnophobia/paperback/product-22018682.html

From Thirteen OCLOCK PRESS.

THE ILLITERACY OF HORROR to be published

My article about editors and literary versus pulp horror will be published in BOSLEY GRAVEL'S CALVALCADE OF TERROR. Details soon.

WELCOME SORROW will be published

in ROGUE PLANET PRESS' DEEP SPACE DOGFIGHTS due out in the spring. Details and links to purchase to follow.

HOUNDS BOUNCE WHEN THEY BARK to be published

In FARTHER STARS THAN THESE the science fiction ezine on May 21, 2015. More details and a link to follow.

MY DEAD is published

 In the January 18th issue. But you can't look inside here--go to Schlock! or Amazon. Plug. Plug.

Cover Posting #3

This book is currentky out of print but houses my anti-zombie zombie comedy Mr. Friedenhandler.

Cover Posting #2

I really do miss it. It was a fun place to read and to write for.

Cover Posting #1

I really miss this magazine.

I know I must be sick because this photo brings me comfort

Interlude: Mourning

He tried putting his best face forward, compartmentalizing his loss and dread. Robotically attending to his daily routine, overwriting and underthinking every simple task he was aware he wasn't alone. He saw the ghosts. He saw the reminders. He heard the fleeting thoughts surrounding her. Her voice. Her laugh. That lilting giggle.

All the time he kept reminding himself that she really didn't care. That it all was a show.

But his pride intervened and the ghosts multiplied overwhelming him, shaking his emotions.

It would be easier to die. It would be easier to die now without any more pain.

But then she would win.

Editor's Notes: The Muse

A romantic concept that many of us embrace and try to pigeon hole on a loved one. But understand as you study the history of literature that love is not what creates the best works, it is loneliness and despair.

True love is fleeting and life is fragile. Relationships are volatile and most of our choices are mistakes.

The only muse is within. It is the voice in your head and heart that drives you. It is not a woman or your dream lover--it is the spark within.

Never fool yourself or perhaps try it so that in the loneliness and despair that will follow when she walks out the door for that younger and sleeker model you'll find that great work deep down in your gut.

Interlude: I Lost A Friend Today

Or did I? I worked closely with someone who I thought was a friend but over the last few weeks I began to doubt whether this person was truly in my corner. Today a simple misunderstanding occurred one that I did not cause but one I corrected because of the negligence of another. The person who caused the problem was dealt with decisively yet my friend who was not hurt by this negligence or even threatened by it turned on me without any kind of explanation requested.

I lost a friend today? No I lost someone who was dishonest with me; who secretly didn't respect me. I lost someone who was pulling the wool over my eyes and was using me.

At first I thought about mourning, and a part of me will, but mostly I now understand that I am better off without the leech.

AMERICAN DEATH to be published

Just sold it to ACA BOOKS. Details to follow. It is expected to be in their anthology in March.

josephjpatchen.weebly.com has been updated

Finally but more is coming....

OPERATION DESTINY is published

Today on FARTHER STARS THAN THESE, today:

http://www.fartherstars.com/2015/01/11515.html

BAD LUCK to be re-published

By JACK OF NO TRADES in October 2015 which will be their second issue of the year. Details to follow.

My Eulogy for WEIRD TALES is on Lurid-lit.com

And if they are interested in selling the magazine to me, I know I can revive it. But check out my column on www.Lurid-lit.com.

MY DEAD to be published

In two weeks in SCHLOCK! WEBZINE. Details to follow.

PSYCHOMANTEUM and THE DRAW have been published

THE BLACK HAND SUPREMACY which includes thos stories has hit the shelves. Go to LULU.com for your copy to read my two tales PSYCHMANTEUM and THE DRAW.

See what happens if World War I had an alternative ending......

The Black Hand Supremacy Anthology IS OUT NOW!!!!

Editor's Notes: It's Amazing To Me...

How many writers are more concerned about how many words they have written in the course of a day, month or year rather than what they have sold or published. True, creating the product is important, but a story in a drawer or a manuscript on a shelf means little unless it is out there for consumption.

Many writing instructors stress the churning of verbage each day, as if we would forget how to type or hold a pencil, or howmto take the top off a pen if we skip a day.

Quality over quantity. Revise. Cut. Prune. And get it published.

The true measure of a writer is not some arbitrary counting of words, it is how those words are strung and what impact they have on a reader.

Editor's Notes: Life Experience And Writing

With almost everyone claiming the tags 'author' or 'writer' as their surname a lot of clarification needs to enter the equation as to who is truly authentic and who is a mere characterture.

I think this is necessary because the mere glut of words churned out each day and the 'writers' who pride themselves on writing so many words, so many things, most of which don't even see the light of day have choked us.

Our culture is largely based on garbage. Our art and entertainment are the equivalent of fast food with very little lasting value other than bloat.

As most of you are awere I write largely fiction. I look at what I wrote at age eighteen and in my twenties and hold it up against what I write about today and there is no comparison. The richness  of how I tell a story is shaped not only from my experience at writing but my experience at experience. My imagination has been shaped by my life experience and situations I have found myself in and people I have met all along this journey. When I teach writing I urge my students to draw upon their wells of people, places, and occurrences in their lives to drive their vision. You are what you write. Your signature is there in every piece and your personality and history is the life's blood to what you create.

Before you can conquer the world I think you need to see it.

Lasting literature only happens when their depth not self-serving and fanboy fanaticism over shallow and tired tropes. We all need to strive for more both in our lives and in our writing.