HALLOWEEN: SURVIVAL TIPS!

Whoever came up with the idea of mixing candy with ghouls was a genius -- what a great combo! Actually, some people think it was the Celts who came up with the idea. But most cultures around the world seem to have a day where they pay tribute to their departed, usually in an attempt to fend off any mischievous spirits with scores to settle. In Europe this is called All Saints Day or All Hallows Day.

These days, it all seems to be in good fun, and with each year Halloween appears to be gaining in popularity in Australia. Sadly, though, like most good things, this festive occasion is being usurped by corporations -- yes, these are the same stores and supermarket malls that start lining their shelves with Christmas decorations in July. What can you do? You can't really complain too much because if it weren't for the commercial side of it, we'd be hanging home-made decorations off our doors, probably something made from woven reeds and coconuts. It is what it is, my friend.

So on this eve of All Hallows Day, I thought you might be interested in some trivia about the occasion; I trawled the net and this is what I was able to come up with:

Fact 1: The reason why most historians attribute Halloween to the Celts is because the Celts believed that the barrier between the living and the dead grew thin as the New Year approached, which for them was around October, and so they lit giant bonfires in order to appease the gods and any wandering dead (I say what's the use of having a reputation as a big, tough, savage warrior if you're going to turn into a blubbering mess on New Year's eve?)

Fact 2: There really are such things as Vampire bats (but they don't look anything like Edward Cullen from Twilight) They terrorise farmers in South America and drink the blood of their livestock.

Fact 3: Rumour has it that William Shatner's face was used to make the mould for the mask worn in the classic horror film Halloween (The Shat is a legend; when I grow up I want to be just like him!)

Fact 4: In case you're wondering why all the fuss at your local K-mart or Wal-Mart: Halloween candy sales supposedly average around $2 billion each year in the US alone (My tummy's hurting already -- so is my wallet!)

Now, here are some tips from me on how to have a safe and incident-free Halloween:

Tip 1: If you live in Brazil, don't go trick or treating dressed as a cow or a sheep. It might seem like a good idea when no one in your street is able to recognise you, but, Dude, you won't be looking so smart when that Vampire bat is CHOMPING on your butt!

Tip 2: If you're about to walk up someone's driveway to do a bit of trick or treating and the name on the letterbox is Charlie Manson or Josef Fritzl -- RUN, Dude! Those aren't Halloween sound effects coming from inside his house.

Tip 3: If you ring the doorbell and the guy who answers isn't wearing any clothes -- RUN, Dude! Chances are that's not some kind of ultra-thin, skin-coloured, closest-thing-to-being-naked Halloween costume he's wearing. And, Dude, even if it is, does it really make the situation any better? Think about it.

Tip 4: If you happen to run into some guy with a strange, shambling walk while you're trick or treating, and he asks you to pull his finger as part of a Halloween prank, but the skin peels off in your hands (and it turns out to be real) -- Don't bother running, Dude. You're SCREWED!

With those happy thoughts in mind, I wish you all a very pleasant Halloween.

Whaaa ha ha ha!

WOW! IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?

In 1977 the Ohio State University picked up what has become known as the "Wow!" signal. The signal was detected by Dr Ehman using the University's "Big Ear" Radio telescope. Dr Ehman had been working on the SETI project at the time. The mission of the project was to search the universe for evidence that we are not alone. The duration of the signal was 72 seconds. Dr Ehman circled the signal on the printout and wrote "Wow!" in the margin, which is how the signal got its name. Dr Ehman searched for it again, but was never able to find it.

Why am I telling you this? Because recently I discovered that this blog has a "stats" feature. This feature allows me to see where my "hits" are coming from; it tells me in which countries I have the largest audience, which sites are directing traffic to my blog, and what search terms are commonly used to find my site. When I first printed and viewed these stats I felt a little like Dr Ehman must have felt when he detected his famous signal. I definitely wanted to scribble "Wow!" in the margin.

The stats indicate, for example, that over the last couple of months my blog has been viewed by people from Australia (my home country), the United States, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, South Korea, South Africa, Ukraine, Philippines, Italy, Latvia, Peru, Russia and the Netherlands. My biggest audience seems to be the United States (cheers folks!) followed by Australia, which comes a close second (come on Aussies -- where the bloody hell are ya?). Interestingly, more Pakistanis and South Koreans have viewed my blog than Brits.

I always knew that readers were visiting my site because the digits on the hits counter were steadily on the rise. But I must confess that the revelation that people from all over the world are reading my work made me quite emotional. And I thank each and every one of you for giving me the motivation to keep churning 'em out. I welcome you all and sincerely hope that you have enjoyed kicking around my literary playground; feel free to return any time.

But there is one thing that perplexes me a little: with all this traffic and activity going on, why are only a few of you leaving comments? Writers are needy people, if you haven't noticed. We write for the same reason that actors get up on stage: to please our audience. If you don't let us know that you're there, we can't tell if we've done our job right. So register as a follower of the blog. Or just leave a comment. Tell me where you're from; what's happening in your neck of the woods; what you think of my stories; the "King of Tides" Series; the blog site in general. Tell me about the things you'd like to read about. Heck, tell me about the weather! Just make some noise!

Commence transmitting the Wow! Signal now ... Big Ear is listening.

WHERE DO I BEGIN?

What a whirlwind of literary activity the last few months have been.

The first gusts of the maelstrom hit around July when my short story "2109" earned an Honourable Mention in the flash fiction category of this year's AHWA Shorty Story Comp. It sure does feel great to have placed two years in a row. Congrats are due to Christopher Green and Jason Fischer who took out the comp this year and to all the very talented AHWA writers who participated.

June saw "The Last Roast" making it into print for the third time. It was published as a reprint by Twisted Tongue in issue 16. There's something about that story that I can't quite place my finger on. But whatever the secret ingredient is, it's turned it into a damn good yarn. I just wish I could distil that "something" and use it to drizzle over some of my other work.

In July I continued to delve into the world of micro fiction with "Bad Blood" making its debut in Flashes in the Dark. Writing micro fiction is hard work. It's a bit like trying to pen haiku on a grain of rice.

Also in July my ghost story "I came Back" hit unsuspecting household computer screens when it saw the back-lit light of day at House of Horror.

The cyclonic activity continued in August when The New Flesh informed me that "Mangeni's Lullaby" had been selected for inclusion in their Year One Anthology, which is now available on their website.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any better, the legendary Stephen Studach confirmed that "Dirty Laundry" (probably the best work I've ever produced) had been accepted for publication in an anthology edited by Stephen called 100 Lightnings. The anthlogy is being published by Paroxysm Press. I have a great deal of respect for Stephen. I know that he sets the bar very high, and that means that his anthology is promising to be of mind-blowing quality. I can't wait to see the final product.

The publication credits continued to tumble in during September with "In this Life or the Next" making it into Issue 14 of Sex and Murder Magazine. This story can also be downloaded from their website.

"Playing with Knives", a story with a bit of sting in its tale (excuse the pun), is available for your reading pleasure in the Autumn/Fall edition of Midnight in Hell, which is out now.

More recently "Happy as Larry", which is my attempt at an Australian-flavoured horror tale with a twist of sci-fi, seemed to cause quite a stir at Thrillers, Killers 'n' Chillers. Also during this month "Natural Selection" has made its debut appearance on TKnC. You can read this story on their website right now. It's set in South Africa, and it's about a safari tour that turns out to be no walk in the park. If you get the chance, check it out and let us know what you think.

And now for the big news: my novelette "Digging for Dandelions" is due to be released as a chap book. The publisher has yet to set the release date, but it's currently expected to hit the market later this year. So keep an eye out for it.

Phewww! That about sums it up. I sincerely apologise to those who frequent this blog for not having posted updates sooner. As you can see, I have had my hands full of late.

I especially regret not having had the time to post the second instalment of the "King of Tides" series. You can rest assured, however, that I'm on to it; I hope to have instalment 2 up in the next week or so.

Mmmm, I wonder what Luke and his friends will find when (or should I say "if") they arrive at the mysterious column of smoke. I bet you think you know the answer. But I'm also prepared to wager that you're dead wrong. I wonder.

"KING OF TIDES" SERIES BY EUGENE GRAMELIS

CHAPTER 1

***

"The heart of a man to the heart of a maid,

Light of my tents be fleet,

Morning awaits at the end of the world,

And the world is all at our feet."

-Rudyard Kipling (1885-1936)

***

PART 1: "TOWARDS THE PLUME"

Luke lifted his heavy sneaker out of the muddy sand and sunk it back into the bog in front of the other. With every step the sludge held onto his foot tightly, releasing it only after a game of tug-of-war. It had been like that for hours (thwump! as he pulled his waterlogged boot out and shlump! as he stuck it back in). He'd lost all feeling in his toes. And now his legs felt like they were dragging boulders.

The letters spelling out Luke's last name--Wakefield--on the back of his baseball jersey were barely visible through the grime and layers of ash. He wore his backpack over his front torso to shield him from the oncoming rush of wind. His sneakers had been blue once. They were Nikes. Top of the range. His Mom had given them to him on his sixteenth birthday, last April. The boots would have set her back about four hundred bucks. Luke was pretty sure she'd be dead -- or gone -- like the rest of them. He wanted to cry, but his face was too numb.

A sharp, stinging gust tugged at his wet hair and clothes. He was surrounded by a nightmare. No skyline. No buildings. No people. Nothing. Just a ghostly darkness and soggy, blackened earth shrouded in a grey-purple haze as far as the eye could see. And looming in the distance, barely visible, was their only beacon of hope, the only discernible landmark: a long, black plume of smoke extending high into the bleak stratosphere like the funnel of a tornado.

A mixture of cold rain and powdery ash sheeted from the sky. It was everywhere: in his hair, on his clothes, up his nostrils. Something caught Luke's attention. He kneeled and pulled an object out of the ash. It was a brown beer bottle. When he tipped it, sand, gravel and green sludge dripped out. He let the bottle fall back to the ground.

They had been making their way towards the plume since it had happened. But the darn thing never seemed to get any closer.

Renaldo thought this was a bad idea, but was too claustrophic to stay in the tunnel. Luke wasn't exactly sure this was a good idea, either, but right now there seemed to be a shortage of good ideas.

The game had been called in the seventh inning thanks to the mercy rule, sending the team back to the awaiting busses early.

It had been just before noon when all hell broke loose.

After they had forced open the back window of the wrecked bus, their only other option had been to stay at the scene with their team mates until help arrived. They had waited for about two hours, but there hadn't been any sirens or flashing lights. Not even an automated emergency broadcast over the PA system. No one seemed interested -- or able -- to come to their rescue. Luke had felt like a trapped rat in that tunnel and hadn't been keen on staying holed up in that tomb any longer than he had to. The Coach had warned them not to go, but his leg had been broken, and there wasn't much he could do to stop them. That was when the realisation had set in that he would have to resort to self help if he wanted to see daylight again; Luke had been prepared to take his chances with whatever awaited him on the outside.

When they had crawled out of the escape hatch leading from the tunnel they'd been met by a fierce wind and an otherwordly darkness. There had been so much dust in the air that they could scarcely take a breath. Then the dreaded ash-rain had started to fall.

They had found the little girl in the Boston Tunnel while they were searching for a way out. She had been alone in the dark, sitting on the blacktop beside an abandoned Chrysler. They had heard her soft whimpering. Luke, Renaldo and Gerald -- who was also affectionately known among the team as the Fat Kid -- had been taking turns giving the girl piggy-backs since they'd crawled out of the manhole. But now it was just Renaldo and Luke doing the carrying (currently it was Renaldo's turn) because the Fat Kid had given up. They had left him laying in the mud about eight or nine miles back. They had refused to leave him behind at first, and they'd dragged him by the feet while he pleaded with them to just let him be. So, reluctantly, they had left him behind, promising to send someone to get him when they found help. If they found help, Luke now thought. The Fat Kid's whining was still buzzing in Luke's ear: My shoe's stuck! My back hurts! I have a stitch! I'm hungry! I'm dizzy! I'm going to faint! That was all they'd heard since finding their way out of the tunnel, and Luke was horrified to find that a part of him was glad for the relief. Luke knew that the odds were the Fat Kid wasn't going to make it, but would their own fate be all that different?

Now Luke, Renaldo and the girl settled back into silence. And Luke welcomed it; mostly because he was afraid to talk. Conversations led to questions. Questions with no answers were frightening--especially the one weighing most heavily on his mind:

Where in God's sweet name had the world gone?!

So instead of talking Luke continued to trudge through the mud, his sole focus: putting one foot in front of the other.

Thwump! and shlump!

Perhaps they had made a mistake leaving the bus. But he needed to know what was going on. The world he had known had disappeared. And so had the people who had been living in it. They had all simply... vaporized. Bafflingly, the sun, too, had vanished, plunging them into an unnatural gloom. Boston was gone, the great city and its suburbs replaced by the charred wasteland that now encircled them.

The mysterious column of smoke was still an unfathomable distance away.

Each step was bringing them closer to answers.

Thwump! and shlump!

Each step was probably also bringing them closer to death. But Luke figured they were dead anyway if they stayed here in the freezing mud. So they might as well keep moving.

Here there was nothing, but towards the plume there was fire.

And where there is fire, Luke reasoned, there is something for it to consume.

(c) Copyright Eugene Gramelis, 2010

***

I hope you enjoyed the first instalment of "King of Tides". This is a work-in-progress. New posts will appear periodically. So please feel free to let me know what you think of each piece as I put it up.Your comments are highly valued and much appreciated.

COME WARM YOUR HANDS BY THE FIREPLACE

"Cold Hands, Warm Heart" (originally published by New Flesh Magazine) is now live at Flashes in the Dark. I like this shorty. It's short, but I think it taps into some primordial fears that we never seem to grow out of. See what I mean:

http://flashesinthedark.com/2010/06/04/cold-hands-warm-heart-by-eugene-gramelis

PLAYING WITH KNIVES

My latest story "Playing with knives" is due for release in the Autumn/Fall Edition of Midnight in Hell in September this year.

Bad things happen when you play with knives --especially at Midnight... in Hell!

http://www.midnightinhell.com/

MEAT ME AT NINE FLASHING IN THE DARK

"Meat Me at Nine", first published in Flashshots and later The New Flesh Magazine, is now live and in its third edition at Flashes in the Dark:

For those that haven't read it yet: http://flashesinthedark.com/2010/05/22/meat-me-at-nine-by-eugene-gramelis/

MANGENI'S CURTAIN CALL

I am pleased to announce that Flashes in the Dark has picked up "Mangeni's Lullaby" (originally published by The New Flesh Magazine), and will be posting it on their ezine on 22 June 2010.

For your daily dose of horror flash fiction double-click here: http://flashesinthedark.com/

IT'S ALL IN THE MIND

My flash piece It's All In the Mind is due to hit the screen at Flashshots between 16 and 18 May 2010, so keep an eye out for it:

http://www.gwthomas.org/flashshotindex.htm

While you're there, check out the new Flashshot book:

THIRTY SECONDS IS ALL IT TAKES... OR MAYBE A LITTLE LONGER

The long-awaited debut of Thirty Seconds is finally here! Check it out at Afterburn SF:

http://www.afterburnsf.com/?p=198

Meat Me at Nine ... Again

Meat Me at Nine (which was originally published in Flashshots earlier this year) has hit the screen again at the New Flesh Magazine. Have a read:

http://newfleshmagazine.blogspot.com/2010/05/dean-was-supposed-to-meet-her-at.html

REVIEW OF ME#3 BY SCARYMINDS

I happened to stumble across a review of Midnight Echo # 3 on http://www.scaryminds.com by Jeff Ritchie, horror connoisseur and critic. It's the first I've been able to find on ME#3, which of course containts two of my flash pieces: Labour Pains and Dirty Laundry. As far as reviews go, ME#3 seemed to hold its own; here are some choice quotes from the review:


"...The real bonus with Issue 3 is an amazing twenty two stories contained within the pages. There seems to have been no set selection criteria, besides quality prose, for the stories and they range in length from some hard hittting flash pieces to a couple of fairly long stories..."


"...Rule of thumb I guess, the prose is pretty top notch so I guess the poetry is probably good as well..."


"...Naturally there were a few stories that stood out...Another flash piece, Labour Pains by Eugene Gramelis, caught me completely by surprise, didn't pick the ending there at all..."


A lot of the credit for this beautifully packaged publication goes to our editor Stephen Studach, and of coure the many writers and other contributors, who gave their heart and soul (some literally) for the greator good of the publicaiton. I tip my hat to them.


You can read the whole review at:

http://www.scaryminds.com/reviews/magazine05.php

Scaryminds is a great site, full of articles, interviews, reviews and resources with a strong down-under theme. Check it out.

Fair's Fair in Print

And by the way, dear Reader, issue 10 of House of Horror has now been released. If you enter the house by knocking on the link below and walk down the steps leading to the basement, you'll find a piece called "Fair's Fair" by Yours Truly. Enjoy.

http://www.houseofhorror.org.uk

Mangeni Sings Her Lullaby on New Flesh!

As the month of April dwindles in the moonlight, "Mangeni's Lullaby" has made it to print. This is a short piece with a bit of a bite. It's definately not your traditional bogeyman-in-the-closet type of horror, but I think it has a resonating sadness about it, and it is more than a little unsettling because it pokes into an area we don't like talking about: what we as humans are capable of when the thin veneer of our comfort zone is stripped away.

If you get a moment, why don't you double-click on The New Flesh Magazine's link below, have a read, and leave a comment:

http://newfleshmagazine.blogspot.com/2010/04/we-hear-cracking-of-their-guns-long.html

It's All in the Mind

I am pleased to announce the upcoming publication of my second Flashshot in as many months. Like the title to this post suggests, this bite-sized cocktail snack is called "It's All in the Mind". It's due for publication on 10 May 2010, so keep an eye out for it and tell me what you think. Here is the link to Flashshot's webpage:

http://www.gwthomas.org/flashshotindex.htm

PS: Have a safe and happy Easter!

Into S & M?

Greetings, dear Reader. Some good news: that sweet baby of mine "Labour Pains" has been picked up by Sex and Murder Magazine and is running hot off the press as we speak. You can download a free PDF of Volume 1, Issue 9 from S & M's webpage or buy a paperback print copy. Won't hurt to wonder arround S & M's site for a bit, either (okay, maybe it will just a little--but in a good way, the kind that makes you ask for more!) Here is their web address:

http://sexandmurder.com/_____current_issue.html

Who You Gonna Call?

It's almost April already, can you believe it? This year seems to be flying by. Maybe it's because I'm in my tumultuous mid-thirties now and it feels like my life is just whizzing past my eyes. A couple months back I tried to gently apply the brakes by taking some time out, during which I visited Featherdale Wildlife Park, near Blacktown, with my family and a friend I went to school with.

In the days leading to this excursion I had been reading about the alleged ghost sighting at Picton cemetery: a photo taken by a tourist had supposedly captured the image of two children who had died some 60 years apart playing among the headstones. I was sceptical about the picture. Someone's been mucking about with Print Shop, I thought. But, admittedly, I still found the story more than a little unsettling.

Anyways, while gawking at the diverse array of fauna on display at the park, I came across a trio of owls huddled together on a tree log. They looked pretty sinister and scary so I decided to snap off a pic or two for the blog. When I looked at one of the images on the camera there was a grey orb in the lower right-hand corner of the photo--faint but definately there.

Paranormal investigators have always associated orbs with ghosts. So what? I thought. Probably just a fluke--a dust particle, most likely.

I snapped off a couple more pics. And what should appear before my disbelieving eyes but more orbs. This time there was no mistaking it: there was a huge, bright one in the middle of the image and a couple of dazzling smaller ones floating around, as if to say, "No you weren't imagining things the first time, buddy, and it was no fluke, either!" What a freaky thing! My very own ghost sighting!

When I got back home I did a Google search to see if I could uncover a little history on the park, perhaps I would find something that would explain these mysterious orbs. There wasn't much. Thus ended my eventful detour from the hustle and bustle of the rat race.

Now, who else would I want to share this experience with, dear Reader, but you? Feast your orbs--I mean eyes!--on these critters:

All is Fair at House of Horror

More good news!

"Fair's Fair" has been accepted for publication by House of Horror. It will be making its debute in issue 10, which by my calculation is due in March 2010.

By the way, you should take a bit of wander around House of Horror's site; man, that is one freaky place - with sound effects and all!

And while you're at it, have a look at the current rag - issue 9. It's a Valentine's special; it's free; and there are some very good yarns in it. What else could you ask for?

http://www.houseofhorror.org.uk

Cold Hands, Warm Heart & New Flesh!

This little nugget has been picked up by The New Flesh.

"Cold Hands, Warm Heart" will go live on 8 February 2010.

If you get the chance, have a read of it and let me know what you think:

http://newfleshmagazine.blogspot.com/2010/02/when-i-was-ten-i-liked-reading-by.html

How's This for Deep, Huh?

This thought just occurred to me:

How do we know God really exists when all we have is His word for it?

Meat Me at Nine

Okay, boys and girls. Listen up: I’m officially a Flashshooter.

What is a Flashshooter? I hear you ask. Let me explain. It’s someone whose fiction has been accepted for publication in Flashshot, an on-line magazine that provides the reader with daily doses of micro fiction.

For a story to qualify as micro fiction it has to be 100 words or less. And let me tell you, if you think writing a novel is hard, try coming up with a plot that you can resolve in as many words as it takes to write the accompanying bio.

It’s like creating an entire world inside a single drop of water.

One word of warning though; it can be quite addictive.

My first attempt at this is called “Meat Me at Nine”.

I’d like to tell you more about this piece, but I'm afraid the teaser would end up being longer than the story itself.

“Meat Me at Nine” will appear in Flashshot sometime in March 2010. You can keep an eye out for it by visiting Flashshot’s homepage:

http://www.gwthomas.org/flashshotindex.htm

Next Stop: Midnight in Hell

Well, this year is certainly off to a good start.

Next Stop: Oblivion, a short story I wrote while holidaying in Nelson Bay during the New Year break has been picked up by Midnight in Hell, an awsome on-line mag. The story will be appearing in their Spring 2010 Edition. Check out their site:

http://www.midnightinhell.com

I imagine that Hell is a pretty scary place at the best of times, but at midnight... who knows what could happen.

A Doorway to Endless Possibilities!

Welcome to 2010, dear Reader! Glad to see you made it. I read somewhere that the month of January is named after the god “Janus”—the god of doors. January is not only the gateway to the New Year, but a doorway to endless possibilities!

It is with a sense of wonderment and adventure that I sit here now and consider those possibilities:

There is the 2010 AHWA story competition. My mission is to cobble together a couple of decent entries for that. The deadline for submissions is in May, so I better get cracking. I didn’t realise how tough the competition is; and really didn’t expect to win last year. I was very surprised when I did. I would have been happy with a commendation. But you know what they say: if you aim for the stars, you might find you can't quite reach, but you won’t end up with a hand full of dirt, either.

My focus this year is to re-write some of my earlier stuff, which, for obvious reasons, I had trouble placing, and try and find appropriate homes for those stories. But overall I would like to spend less time on short stories and more time on completing some longer works. Short stories are fun (and they will always serve as a nice little escape for me), but bigger and better things await!

On another note, I spent some time with the family at beautiful Nelson Bay over the Christmas–New Year break. While I was there, I came across the scariest looking tree I’ve ever seen. Thought I’d share a pic of it with you; see if you agree:

Best wishes for the New Year, dear Reader. And remember to squeeze as much out of the next 365 days as you can!