Far be it for two writers with similar minds to miscommunicate, but we almost missed our annual connect due to ambiguous messaging. My agenda included a 6PM connection with OU professors at Van's Pig Stand and (next day) 6AM meeting with Tom... but fate would take him to the BBQ joint in the morning looking for me.
We overcame the madness, but are now motivated to spice up our routine next year.
This May, 2019 I had the pleasure of interviewing Anna Spark Smith for BlackGate.com: Disgust
and Desire: An Interview with Anna Smith Spark. Among the dark fantasy crowd, she is known as the Queen of Grimdark. The David Gemmell Awards shortlisted her The Court of Broken Knives. The sequel The Tower of Living and Dying continued the Empires of Dust trilogy (Harper Voyager US/ Orbit US/Can). The last installment called The House of Sacrifice is available Aug 13th! That's now. Fortuitously, she was invited to the GenCon Writer's Symposium; GenCon is the world's largest tabletop gaming convention, this year luring >70,000 guests to Indianapolis, IN. I volunteer for that symposium and was granted a panel slot to extend the interview live. Thanks to Melanie Meadors and Kelly Swails for working the program and running a splendid symposium. Despite well attend sessions throughout the convention, by the time 5pm rolled around Friday, our Q&A drew an intimate crowd (~10). We opened with a reading of her famous introductory chapter to The Court of Broken Knives. The notion of doing a reading was a bit impromptu, so we hadn't a tripod, a professional video recorder, or ability to tune-out the other sessions (thanks to audience member Dirk for stepping up to film). Anna Smith Spark graced us with reading the entire chapter (~10min), which left the room wanting her to just read for the full hour. See insert video. Her reading of the same chapter at a Goth City Festival 2018 is also on You Tube and is breathtaking.
Before I could even finish this post, new fan Michael Farrell found the YouTube recording and posted in the commentary: "this was the highlight of my Gen Con." Mine too. Also in the audience was John O'Neill, founder and editor of Blackgate.com (and Gotham Robot enthusiast). It was surreal to have him present along with Anna Smith Spark; we continued discussions over dinner. BTW, Anna Smith Spark is known for outrageous footwear, and she did not disappoint. Friday, she blessed us with the dragon shoes. More video snippets of the session may emerge as I decompress from an intense convention, but for now please listen in... read our interview Disgust and Desire: An Interview with Anna Smith Spark., and check out her series!
As I attended an annual Surfactant Consortium meeting (IASR) in Norman, OK, I swung by Tom Barczak's art show. His Prophecy of Evarun series is emotive dark fantasy. He's working on the next installment now: "Hands of the Dragon".
He had over a dozen sketches and paintings presented at a boardgame boutique called Loot and XP, a comfortable establishment with snacks and hugs tables... and tons of games to play. "Loot" is a good theme for the trip, since I returned with a sketch of the above painting and Prophecy of Evarun coffee mug. If you are a Norman local, check that out that place.
What started as a chance meeting has turned into an annual join up (list below). Every time we share our muses on weird art and writing.
SE and Tom with the sketch used for the "Bakassas Witch Queen" painting
We had to meet at 6:45AM prior my work meeting and school, and Tom had some of his boys with him in tow. Coffee helped wake a few. Was nice meeting them all.
That's me, stewing about whether or not I could actually by the Bakassas painting
A sampling of other Barczak paintings on display at Loot and XP
Beth W. Patterson and S.E. Lindberg (one of these may be a "Couillon").
A family vacation to New Orleans brought me in close proximity to two authors: Charles Allen Gramlich and Beth W. Patterson (fellow Perseid Press "Hellion" and "Heroikan.")
This post focuses on meeting Beth in person, though the night was really about her fiancee Josh Paxton. He was releasing a CD that night as he performed in the Snug Harbor (album called Standard Deviation). Turns out, Josh has roots in Fairfield, OH...a stone's throw away from my home-base in West Chester. I missed hearing Beth's mastery of the bouzouki.
I have hopes for a submitted sequel to my H1: Dragon Eater's "Legacy of the Great Dragon" called "The Naked Daemon"; it follows the Emerald Tablet (alchemy's philosophers tone) from Ancient Egypt into the Hellenistic Age. Here's hoping for an awesome Heroika #2!
This post captures the Charles & S.E. selfie, the red corona/halo blessing the former. He has been writing adventure fiction for decades, and aims to publish in "every" genre. A sequel to Heroika #1: Dragon Eaters has been incubating for few years (#2 focused on Shieldless/Skirmishers), and if the gods are with us we both will have a contribution.
We discussed everything from (a) Evolutionary Psychology which he teaches at Xavier University, to (b) GRR Martin's short story "The Sandkings" which inspired the first episode in the The Outer Limitsin 1995 (I still have the VHS of that! eh gad, who would imagine that a weird-horror about ants would attract me?), to (c) Beauty in Weird Fiction (Yes, my favorite topic which I interview others on -link), since he recently published an article in WEIRD FICTION REVIEW #7called "The Beautiful and the Repellent: The Erotic Allure of Death and the Other in the Writers of Weird Tales”. I just ordered my paperback copy, and after I read it... I'll be reconnecting with Charles to see if I can lure him into an interview.
The last several years I head to Norman Oklahoma to attend the annual Institute for Applied Surfactant Research (IASR) meeting. What else is in Norman? My friend and author Tom Barczak, a fellow Perseid Press contributor with a poetic, dark style. Barczak is an artist & architect who has a beautiful ability to capture angelic warfare with drawing pencil and keyboard.
Before the seminars started, I squeezed in another Starbuck's meeting. This time I got a glimpse into Tom's sketches for his Hands of the Dragon book...and was allowed to share a bit with you (see below)! And what out! I think creepy surfactant assemblies are inspiring him!
Tom Barczak holding Helen's Daimones : S E Lindberg with Mouth of The Dragon
Tom Barczak & his notebook
The notes read: "A suitable sacrifice .... A cenotaph of blood..."
[click to expand image]
Barczak's Notebook: Hands of the Dragon
Eh gad, is that a micelle?
Of course my mind is focused on surfactants, and what do I see has Tom's notebook? A micelle? That's a spherical assembly of soap molecules, a key technology for detergency. Well he claims his sketch is his visualization of an epic assembly of people as they execute a divine ritual. Anyway, I adore micelle formations, having illustrated them for Prof. Steven Abbott's Surfactant Science: Principles and Practice ... with the app Practical Surfactants (available for free). But they also creepy me out (surfactants can form some scary "living" structures, such as myelins).
So the moral of this story is:
Obey your muse... and be wary of self-assembled structures!
Micelle Illustrations By S.E. for Steven Abbott
Surfactant Packing Illustrations - S.E. for Steven Abbott
Summarizing my first GenCon, and I picked a good one. It was the 50th Anniversary! >80,000 attendees over ~5days (though I only had Saturday to explore). In short, I'll be back next year and will spend more time. Three posts cover my experience:
SEM17121201 Business of
Writing: Hybrid Publishing—Covering All the Bases: From self-pub to large press, they discussed building sustainable writing careers. With Steve Drew, Gail Z. Martin, Linda Robertson, Matt Forbeck.
SEM17121231Writer's Craft: Drawing from
Mythology: Great topic including an author/editor I follow, Howard Andrew Jones. He introduced me to Black Gate in 2010, so I was thrilled to get him to sign the 2011 Spring edition in which he is featured. He was
most passionate about clarifying the loss of character synergy in Star Trek renewals. Cripes, I just saw that artist
Donato Giancola
was at Gencon
(he did the coverart
for Black Gate Magazine's last print issue (#15 2011 spring)..ie
the one in this image). Gen Con was so big, I never got to the Artist alley; Long live Black Gate!
SEM17121205 Writer's Craft: The Art of Adding Details: How do you add details that enrich your story
without going too far and overwhelming the reader? Featuring Steve Drew, Leigh Perry, Mary Robinette Kowal, Kelly McCullough & Richard Lee Byers.
For the last several years I have made an annual trip to Norman OK to attend a consortium on surfactants (IASR). I've been lucky to sneak a snack in with local friend and author Tom Barzcak. He also writes surreal dark fantasy, and is an artist too. This round we took turns speed-drawing as we talked. I drew a portrait of Tom with a shadowy dragon perched on his shoulders and he drew my lead protagonist, the skeletal warrior Lysis! Woo-hoo fan art of Dyscrasia Fiction!
We both contribute to Perseid Press's Heroika and Heroes in Hell series. Always enjoy discussing art and writing with Tom. Below is table of contents of my posts on his work and a great interview about his inspirations.
Nov 21, 2015 ... Last year I took the opportunity to track down Tom Barczak whom I interviewed in 2014 and happens to live there. He has a similar poetic/dark ...
Jun 12, 2014 ... Tom Barczak Interview. This continues the interviews of weird/speculative fiction authors on the themes of Art & Beauty in Fiction. Tom Barczak ...
May 9, 2014 ... Veil of the Dragon by Tom Barczak S.E. rating: 4 of 5 stars “…all seemed like a ghost that he could scarcely remember…” There is a lot to like in ...
Aug 19, 2016 ... Awakening Evarun by Tom Barczak S.E. rating: 5 of 5 stars. Thaumaturgy is associated with deep incantation of magic, and Tom Barczak is an ...
2010: I discovered the Black Gate print magazine by attending a panel at the 2010 World Fantasy Convention and listening to Howard Andrew Jones advocate for the adventure-fiction magazine. I subscribed immediately and got #15, the last print issue. The website for Black Gate (led by John O'Neill) has persisted and remains an outstanding resource for book reviews & perspectives on contemporary and historic dark fantasy. 2015: Author Joe Bonadonna reviewed Lords of Dyscrasia on Black Gate, which was a milestone for me. Authors thrive on recognition and visibility. I adore Joe's weird fiction and Black Gate, so getting acknowledged there, by Joe, was awesome. Scroll down for an excerpt. 2016: At the 2016 WFC, I got to meet John O'Neill, help save his marriage... right before he won a WFC award for Black Gate! Not only did I get a chance to meet John O'Neill, he bought a copy of Lords of Dyscrasia, but I was encourage to sign it "to my one true love." John’s explained on Facebook:
"Thanks for helping save my marriage, Seth!" - John O'Neill 2016
“It's not silly. Years ago my wife Alice asked why
Catherynne Valente had autographed a book to me with "To My One True
Love" (because she'd asked me what she should write, and that was the
first thing that came to mind). I
hastily told Alice, "Oh, that's just how everybody signs autographs these
days."And
so, for the last 15 years I've been begging writers to sign books with "To
my one True Love, John." I have hundreds of them, which I strategically
leave open around our house. Oh
what a tangled web we weave....
Thanks for helping save my marriage, Seth!" - John O'Neill 2016
"S.E. Lindberg is an original voice in fantasy. His prose is lush and colorful, and his style leans toward that of classic literature, without being stilted, self-conscious or pretentious. He has a gift for putting words “down on paper” and constructing sentences that flow with a poetic nuance.
Lords of Dyscrasia (an abnormal or disordered state of the body or of a bodily part) is touted as “Graphic Sword and Sorcery,” but to me it has more in common with the dark fantasy of Clark Ashton Smith and the gothic tones of Mervyn Peake’s first two Gormenghast books. There is some nice Lovecraftian shading to this novel, as well, with a touch of Edgar Allen Poe to lend it a feverishness of tone, and even a psychedelic flavor in style.
While Lindberg channels his influences with a deft hand, he has mapped out a beautifully grotesque world that is truly his own unique creation. This book was described to me as being part of the Grimdark subgenre of dark fantasy, and it is indeed a grim, dark tale.
Lindberg’s “dyscrasia” is a really nasty plague — a disease of the blood that has infected the insectoid and avian elder lords of the Underworld. The disease also affects pregnant human women, who give birth to mutants — hybrids of human and elders — if they don’t die during pregnancy, that is..."
![Harvest of War by [Gramlich, Charles]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61kaF-okV8L.jpg)
