Already October. The year ripening, yielding, and still so much ahead. Our careful cultivation of these pages has yielded a frightfully fantastical lineup for you this October — plus some news to share that has us howling with delight. Take a breath. Shall we begin?
1) New fiction, poetry, and more
We’re so pleased with this month’s featured fiction, poetry and reviews. New works published each Friday, and sent to your inbox fresh and piping hot via our weekly email newsletter. You can also get the latest on Twitter, Facebook, and even RSS.
Oct. 1: “Tiger, Dog, and the Bone Broth,” a charming fairy-tale inversion by Ericka Lutz
Oct. 8: “Translation,” a fever-dream of a poem by Erik Bergholm
Oct. 15: A devilish yarn about the secret of the Fab Four’s success by Morbid Curiosity’s Loren Rhoads
Oct. 22: “Model of the City in an Instrumentarium,” an atmospheric and paranoid dark-city tale by Vladimir Poleganov, translated from the Bulgarian by Peter Bachev
Oct. 29: “Creature,” an unsettling little vignette by Morgan MacVaugh
We’ll also drop a review of Dirk Magg‘s lush, gothic, and bloody, bloody, bloody audio adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” comics, and perhaps a few other reviews and essays we have cooking up …
2) Rin Kelly Scholarship recipients
Our friends at the Writer’s Grotto in San Francisco have announced the recipients of the inaugural Rin Kelly Scholarship for Fiction, honoring the late Bay Area writer and journalist Rin Kelly. Congratulations to Nina Dewi Toft Djanegara, Daniel Kuo, Emily Shapiro, and Joe Vigil.
Read the full press announcement and learn more about their winning stories.
3) Open Call for Short Fiction
Our next Open Call for Short Fiction opens Oct. 8 at 12:00 a.m. and runs through 11:59 p.m., Nov. 12. The live link to our Submittable page will be available for the duration via our Submissions Policies page. This year we’re offering a $25 honorarium for accepted works, in advance of instituting a per-word rate. Questions? Tweet us at @FabulistTales.
4) Stupid internet security thing may bollix yr brower
Some dumb thing on Teh Interwebz broke on Sept. 30, which means that you may have to update your browser or OS in order to read this. It’s stupid. Read more here, which, if you can, ironically means your OS is up-to-date and this isn’t a problem for you. Like we said. Stupid.
5) The Fabulist @ Lit Crawl 2021
Hey! Oct. 23 we’re hosting a splendid Lit Crawl reading at Adobe Books in San Frannie, featuring Rona Fernandez, Claire Light, Nick Mamatas and Annalee Newitz. Smashing! Get the scoop hither.
6) ICYMI: Video archives, reader survey, Ajax Green’s Movie Re-Views
• We posted a few archival videos trawled up from the World Wide Web’s coastal oyster beds, including heady readings by Samuel R. Delaney and Ursula K. Le Guin, psychotronic interviews with Harlan Ellison and J.G. Ballard, a splendid reading and animation of Neil Gaiman’s “The Mushroom Hunters,” even Ian McKellan “jamming” with the Fleshtones on Andy Warhol’s 15 Minutes. Check ’em out.
• We’re going to start an ebook subscription program through Patreon, and also a book launch using Kickstarter. Take our reader survey to help us plan for success. Thank you!
• Have you read Ajax Green’s Movie Re-Views? They are among the greatest works of b-movie criticism you’ll find in the digital dustbins of the intertubes. His reviews of Dolph Lundgren in “Red Scorpion,” James Caan in “Thief,” David Cronenberg’s “Shivers” and so many more are truly hilarious, but also bracingly insightful. They’re bite sized and just get funnier as you roll through ’em. Enjoy a handful of these critical-comedic candies.
Take a bite! And welcome, Reader, to The Fabulist, October 2021.
