London (UK 1994)

Wonders in the Dark

by Allan Fish

London (UK 1994 81m) DVD2

A testimony to Rimbaud

p Keith Griffiths d/w Patrick Keiller ph Patrick Keiller ed Larry Sider narrated by Paul Scofield

The style is a familiar one. Patrick Keiller’s equal part billet doux and j’accuse to the capital introduced us to the fictional alter ego of Robinson, or at least did so by proxy. Keiller would make more films about Robinson, but the first remains easily the most poignant.

A narrator, a weary traveller, working as a seaman on a cruise ship, docks back in London on the request of his old friend, cohabitee and lover Robinson, whose urgent summons has our traveller guessing at what is troubling him. He hasn’t seen Robinson for seven years when he arrives in January 1992, and finds him in despondent mood, hoping for a change of government in the forthcoming General Election, but fearing the worst…

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Ladies of Horror Flash Project – #Horror #author Christina Sng @ChristinaSng @darc_nina #LoH #fiction

Spreading the Writer's Word

The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!


Image_03_July2021The Carnival
by Christina Sng

The carnival was closed
But the monsters remained—
Sitting in the shadows
Waiting for the stragglers,
The lost, the homeless.
They waited for Yelena
Who stayed out
To avoid her father
Even when her friends
Reluctantly left her
As the sun slowly sank
Into shadows.
She felt safer at the carnival
Than at home,
Even with the monsters,
Even with the shadows.
She stayed quietly
Until she melded
Into the metal plates
That made up the rides,
The fairy floss machines
Rich with rainbow color,
Sugar speckles splattered
Around the enclosure,
Giant stuffed animals
Lined up as prizes,
Smiling, happy,
Exuding sheer joy.
The tarot cards
And the crystal balls
Telling a version
Of her future that shone—
These were the pulsing
Heart of the carnival
While the monsters
Folded between shadows
Were its teeth, its maw,
Its flesh…

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Déjà vu?

France & Vincent

williamson fin cop monsal dale churches 077

We had been here before. There was both a sense of continuity and unreality as we stood looking out over the valley. No, I am not describing some mystical experience. We’d been here the day before… and on a couple of other occasions… and still we hadn’t even come close to seeing the sites we were looking for. This time we were trying yet another way into the valley, following the steep descent of a woodland path whose unprotected edge drops through the trees and down to the river. We wanted to reach the limestone outcrop that looks so much like a castle from a distance and to which both legend and archaeology had drawn our attention.

hob's castle 2

We wrote of giants in Heart of Albion and saw how the myths of so many systems use them as a metaphor and how the memory of a race can compound history and…

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DEADLY VEILS BOOK ONE: SHATTERING TRUTHS – 34

Kyrian Lyndon

Chapter Thirty-four

T 

here’d been no sign of trouble, no drama, since the fiasco at the Inn and getting home that night, so I’d begun to relax some. Home became my safe haven. After a week of this gratifying peace, however, Joey called with devastating news. Evidently, Gianni had found Tommy unconscious after a heroin overdose. He started CPR immediately but lost him within minutes.

The news stunned me since, aside from the angel dust episode, I’d never seen Tommy high on drugs. If there had been any sign of him using, I’d missed it. It seemed unfair. It always seems unfair. He was twenty-one, for God’s sake, and had lost so much.

“Yeah, he had problems with it in the past,” Joey told me. “I didn’t know until he started again recently. I can’t believe it, man.”

After hanging up the phone, I sat on my bed with my face…

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#Bookreview – Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

What Amazon says

Since its original publication in 1936,Gone With the Wind—winner of the Pulitzer Prize and one of the bestselling novels of all time—has been heralded by readers everywhere as The Great American Novel.

Widely considered The Great American Novel, and often remembered for its epic film version,Gone With the Windexplores the depth of human passions with an intensity as bold as its setting in the red hills of Georgia. A superb piece of storytelling, it vividly depicts the drama of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

This is the tale of Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled, manipulative daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, who arrives at young womanhood just in time to see the Civil War forever change her way of life. A sweeping story of tangled passion and courage, in the pages of Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell brings to life the unforgettable…

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DEADLY VEILS BOOK ONE: SHATTERING TRUTHS – 33

Kyrian Lyndon

Chapter Thirty-three

I 

t was about the third week in March when Farran told me she’d come close to losing her virginity to Tommy. She said they ended up arguing over something unrelated, so it didn’t happen. 

When I pulled into the Cove parking lot that night, Tommy and Nico sped in on their bikes and pulled up alongside me. They invited us to the Meadowside Inn and led the way as I followed.

The Inn was beautifully eerie, and the nearby beach looked inviting. It was dark and chilly, but we had seen the last of the winter snow. The streets had cleared, and spring was days away.

Valentin was behind the bar when we walked in. Farran rushed to hug and squeeze the stuffing out of him, leaving him to smile affectionately like a pet had ambushed him or a child.

After kissing me hello, he held my hands…

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Treasuring Poetry: Meet poet and author Miriam Hurdle

Writing to be Read

Today, I am delighted to host poet and author Miriam Hurdle for the July edition of Treasuring Poetry.

Welcome Miriam Hurdle

Hi Robbie,

I’m delighted to be your guest on Writing to be Read to talk about poetry.

Which of your own poems is your favourite

Among the published poems in Songs of Heartstrings: Poems of Gratitude and Beatitude, several poems are my favorites in equal measure for different reasons. One is in the section of Songs of Marriage, one in Songs of Tribute, and one in Songs of Inspiration.

The time I wrote this post, my heart turns to the poem “Healthy Grieving” in the section of Songs of Tribute.

Healthy Grieving

Randy and my husband were true friends.

No appointment needed for

a barbeque, a movie or a game, just

knocked on each other’s door.

The conversation could go anywhere,

no worry about apologies.

When one needed…

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Three Forks to Midnight

The Sanguine Woods

I think I’m like some weird strain of nesting pack rat. In every home I’ve ever lived in since I was a kid, I’ve managed to slowly over a year or two create an odd little curvy nest. What the whole fuck? One I had years ago was an actual Wiccan altar tall and glittering at which I prevaricated daily foretelling and doing black magicy things. But usually—or really actually mostly (that’s a shitload of adverbs)—it begins as a makeshift shelf for my books. I’ve always owned a lot of books. Then like a literary fungus from some hellcat Stephen King vignette starring Adrien Barbeau it begins to … creep and grow and curve around into the same freaky boomerang shape! I put one little lonely book in a corner. And, Majesty.

#mykryptonitebites

My Nest. Photo (c)2021 by Sanguine Woods.

Hot Foot Fetish Ken in His Trunks from Mattel’s sister…

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NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER!

Memoirs of a Midnight Masochist

PSX_20210715_210548

After much anticipation, Monstrum Poetica is officially scheduled for release September 2, 2021!

Available from Raw Dog Screaming Press, this poetry collection features monsters from around the world, and includes an introduction from New York Times Bestselling author Jonathan Maberry. You don’t have to wait until Sept 2 to order it, of course. All preordered copies will include a signed bookplate, so if you want a signed copy, now is the time!

Full details about the collection can be found over at Kendall Reviews, as well as the full cover reveal. The cover artist is Steven Archer, and I am really excited about this, so be sure to go check it out! A link for the preorders can also be found there.

I spent a LOT of time talking about this project, and the time has finally come to share it with you. I am so proud…

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Stone Marker (a novel in parts) by Sanguin Woods. Pt. 1

The Sanguine Woods

Well, here it is. My first serial novel.

The idea is not a new one. Dickens did it. Doyle did it, too, with Holmes. I think Le Fanu did it with his horror tale “Green Tea”. Most recently, Stephen King brought it back with his serialized The Green Mile, followed by horror writer John Saul’s novel in six parts: The Blackstone Chronicles.

I feel very close to Stone Marker. Yes. That’s his real name. He has parts of me in him. And, friend, he also has parts of you in him. He is, perhaps, all of us who write and read and live lost in the horror of words–in the horror that is their power, and their potential…for both good and ill.

I hope you’ll come back for installment 2 in late April, where Stone confronts not only “raghead”; but also his own past, well, some of it, anyway; and…

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A new painting

Robbie's inspiration

My blogging friend, Smitha Vishwanath, started painting at the beginning of the pandemic last year. I have been watching her improve and stretch her creative wings with oil paints and watercolours and I am amazed by her progress and talent.

A couple of months ago, one of her paintings caught my eye and I bought it from her. Smitha was very obliging and arranged for the painting to be couriered to South Africa from Mumbai in India.

This painting of a group of barren trees in the snow really spoke to me.

I chose this painting as I love the contrast of the stark and bare trees in their snowy setting with the rising sun. The darkness of the tree trunks and branches and the bluey greys of the snow and shadows make the gorgeous brightness of the yellowy sun creeping up into the sky all the more warm…

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Smorgasbord Book Review – #WWI – #Historical – Sheep On The Somme: A World War I Picture and Poetry Book by Frank Prem

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

I have read and reviewed the poetry collections of Frank Prem and I was honoured to be asked to review his latest release, a profoundly moving photographic and poetic tribute to the Australian soldiers who fought so bravely in World War One.

My own grandfather served in the army for three years and was in the reserves when war broke out.  He was called up in 1914 serving in the Royal Engineers. He was killed on November 2nd 1918, after being wounded three times.

Sheep On The Somme: A World War I Picture and Poetry Book  – in hardback and paperback this is a memorial to those who endured the horrors of the Battle of the Somme.

About the Collection.

In this Picture Poetry collection, journey with the AIF, the ANZACS and the German and French armies at war on the Western Front during the Great War of…

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