Warning: This isn’t a very bloody book, however there are a couple scenes that deal with animals. If you have any sort of animal sensitivity…. this might not be the book for you. You’ve been warned!
Marsha’s fascination with displaying corpses in her home started in an innocent fashion.
Now, bored with her wealth, she has found that she enjoys fusing human bodies and animals together.
When her loyal maid, Sylvia, stumbles upon her secret, how will she react?
How do you imagine Mila?
People who have hired help surrounding them eventually begin to not think of them – at all. They are merely a tool, an object in the background – not a human being, not a friend, and most definitely not something to be worried about.
This is how Sylvia is seen by her whiny, and overly demanding boss. She is disrespected by Marsha daily, yet dismissed as nothing to be concerned about. Not even when Sylvia is tasked to take care of the east wing, and Marsha’s special collection.
Beauty is in the eye of the creator.
Eventually Sylvia begins to believe that with her knowledge she has the upper hand, and the power struggle begins!
Who will emerge the victor, the boss, the HBIC (Head Bitch In Charge)? Well, the title isn’t ‘Sylvia’s Sinister Salon of Sin’, is it?
Daniel Brewster tries not to panic as he paces around the corpse of the old woman. He could hear Mike’s voice in his mind… “Get the job done, Danny-Boy! What’s done is done.” His brother’s voice doesn’t help to calm him down, though.
With his brother is in jail, and his mamma – who resembles this old woman in a remarkable way, off in the home where Mike sent her five years ago, Danny is lonely.
At home, he sorts through the meager haul that he lifted from the old woman. He’d even removed the ring from her slowly cooling finger.
Thirty bucks. Thirty measly dollars, and a few trinkets that couldn’t be worth much of anything. The ring he took off of the old woman’s finger, though… THAT was pretty snazzy.
Was it worth her life?
Danny is feeling woozy. He forgot to eat, and his body was chanting ‘pay the price, pay the price…’ Mike said that big guys like him needed to watch their sugar. Mike said that low blood sugar would make him feel really bad.
As he reaches out to grab an apple, his hand brushes across something else, something that’s definitely NOT an apple!
He touches …wth?! The old woman’s face?!
That’s not possible!
She’s dead! I killed her!
Danny Boy cries, and cries, and cries. He misses his brother, and wants him to come home – he’d get that old woman to leave!
When Danny answers the ringing phone the next morning, he’s relieved, and surprised, to hear Mike’s voice on the other end. Mike has a big surprise for his baby brother!
Danny Boy lowers the phone in his hand, and slowly turns to look down the hallway – and at the bloody footprints .
The links for this issue, the ones that I’ve had for ages, just decided to NOT work anymore. They were working a week ago, but… Not anymore. ::sigh::
You can see all the info about this issue HERE, but the download link on that page is also broken.
E-mail Katherine Tomlinson for magazine information, or connect via Facebook
ABOUT DARK VALENTINE ~
Dark Valentine is a quarterly journal devoted entirely to dark fiction, which we define as any story in any genre that is disturbing, provocative, haunting, scary, dangerous, or any combination of those things.
Think of classic stories like “The Mummy’s Paw,” “The Open Window,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Lady or the Tiger?” Think of Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” Harlan Ellison’ “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” J.D. Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” and Tanith Lee’s “Because Our Skins are Finer.”
The world is a dangerous place, as full of shadows and moonlight as it is sun and blue sky. We want the stories that come from the dark places—words that sear and scar and bewitch and bedazzle. Words that are as dangerous to hear as they are to tell.
Tell us a story.
Visit the noted sites to view more art by Larry Nadolsky
Not my usual kind of post, I know.
But, these Creative Chaos paintings, done by Vadi Tkachev, kick a little ass! They’re created using acrylic, ink, spray paint, & markers.
Original post by Igor Ovsyannykov
If you’d like to see more of these, click HERE to view the original From Russia With Love: Staggering Illustrations by Vadi Tkachev post. Vadi Tkachev is an artist, designer, and illustrator from Moscow.
Part Tim Burton long before there was Burton, part Edgar Allan Poe long after Poe, this ‘children’s book for adults’ is my new favorite thing! The Gashlycrumb Tinies: A Very Gorey Alphabet Book was published in 1963, and is just one of more than 40 books that Gorey published in his lifetime. Meaning… I have some catching up to do! His work, which spans over six decades, is collected in four excellent volumes entitled Amphigorey — I, II, III, IV — a play on the word amphigory, meaning a nonsense verse or composition.
I cannot express how awesome I think these are! My next sewing project will be a quilt of his illustrations, maybe with a throw pillow, or two, of my favorites! The following are illustrations from A Very Gorey Alphabet Book.
Along with writing and illustrating his own work, Gorey would occasionally illustrate existing literature, like classic fairy tales, H. G. Wells’s War of the Worlds, and T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. But Gorey, unbeknownst to many, also designed dozens of book covers, including a number for some of literary history’s greatest classics during the paperback revolution, primarily while working at the Doubleday art department between 1953 and 1960.
The amount of cool information I found, while Googling Gorey and his work, was endless! There is way too much for me to share here, but if you’re as interested as I am, you can start your search here – http://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org – or just do a random Google Image search to see what you’ll find!!
Many thanks to my friend Ora Crawford, for introducing me to the wonderful world of Edward Gorey & The Gashlycrumb Tinies!
These words may bring visions of museums and libraries to mind,
but that is not where I’m headed. Not this time.
“A MORTAL WORK OF ART”
In the summer of 2003, Shelly Jackson put out a call for people to be part of a 2095-word story published exclusively in tattoos, one word at a time, on the skin of volunteers.
The first tattooed word (SKIN, the story’s title) is on Jackson’s own wrist and subsequent words are slowly being issued in story order, based upon applications Jackson feels speak to her.
I’ve become obsessed with this project.
The story is a closely guarded secret and the volunteers are able to read it only after they’ve been inked. If she has her way, the complete text of SKIN will never be made publicly available, in print or online.
Once a chosen person has gone through the forms, contracts, non-disclosures, etc. & gets their ink, from that point on, they are referred to as ‘Words’. Participants will receive a signed and dated certificate confirming their participation in the work and verifying the authenticity of their word.
Tens of thousands of applicants for a 2095 word story makes me think that my chances of being accepted into the project are pretty slim, but, this project is… alive, for lack of a better term. And, as life is apt to do… it ends. The story may never be fully realised, as it seems possible that before the last word has been “born” one of the others may have died. The author is quite aware that many of her words could outlive her. But this seems to be part of her grand design, an integral part of her artistic vision: “As words die the story will change; when the last word dies the story will also have died.”
A side note on the death of her ‘words’ – “The author will make every effort to attend the funerals of her words.”
* Further information available here -http://www.ineradicablestainstain.com/
That is one version of combining art & literature.
The art becoming the literature.
And, although that is what inspired this post, I’d like to talk about different types of literary tattoos. There are a gazillion examples of this on the web.
Some beautiful, some horrendous, some inspiring, some fun…
Paying homage to a favorite author… Yes it is real and yes it did hurt along my pinky right there. I’ve had numerous people stop me and ask what is on the side of my hand and when I show them I always get a laugh. I got it because I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes and this is his original Corn Pipe that he used to smoke. I also wanted to have it somewhere to make it completely original. I can honestly claim FIRST! My artists name was Scott Fearin of Delta 9 Tattoo here in Indianapolis, IN. #PipeTattoo
Or, a certain book that changed your life.. The Library of Congress call number for J.D. Salinger
Some people choose poetry…
They may cause others to stare… But, you know why they’re there!
(I’m reluctantly adding pics of my vampire bite tattoo here, because I hate how it turned out. My love of vampire lit started at a young age, and my obsession took over with Anita Blake. Sadly, it has become my most hated piece. Especially when tweens approach me and say something moronic, like ‘Team Edward’. I hate those people.)
***************
I wish I could find an artist to fix these, without making them bigger & uglier. ::sigh::
***************
Literary quotes have become a huge market.
This is a tattoo from Stephen King’s Bag of Bones, from the quote: “When an imaginative person gets into mental trouble, the line between seeming and being has a way of disappearing.” I have always liked this quote, and, since it is one of my besties favorite books… I chose this example…
And, this ‘Fear & Loathing… ‘ one just kicks ass… Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas tattoo.
Done by Ryan @ White Lion Custom Tattoo in Toowoomba, QLD, Australia
I could post hundreds of inspirational literary quotes…
“Question everything. Learn Something. Answer nothing.”
“One flew east, One flew west, One flew over the cuckoo’s nest.”
And, of course, one of the best…
“STAY GOLD”
The best tatts are ones with meaning. Something special, unique to the bearer. It could be something as simple as a date, or as elaborate as… something big and elaborate.
One of the coolest tatts I’ve seen lately is this – Matt Shaw’s Happy Ever After ink, done at Dragstrip Tattoos (run by a nice woman called Laura) in Bitterne, by Alex.
Do you perceive it as the author’s skin being pulled back, to show the story within? OR, do you see it as the story bursting out of the author, too powerful to be contained? Either way… it speaks.
This one marks a special occasion, the authors first publication date –
I would love to see your ink! What, when where, why…
Post links in the comments.
Any authors wanting to duplicate Shelly Jackson’s project, I’m down!
One last thing… Grizz, how strange is this?! Unless I ran across a random picture of you while Googling… It’s bizarre!
The details are not the details. They make the design.
~ Charles Eames By Nikki Hickman
Living Life To The Fullest! FEARLESS ~ from Nikki Hickman Nikki Hickman ~ Artist / Media Design Student
Currently, Nikki is a part time college student, majoring in media design. She is an artist by hobby, and also enjoys photography. Surprisingly, this is the first website she has designed on her own! Show some support to a fellow patron of the arts. Stop by her website and check out her work, all comments are welcome, and appreciated. Share the page with other artists & art enthusiasts, too! FEARLESS ~ NIKKI HICKMAN
If you enjoy what you see here, and on the new site, check her out on her Tumblr account ♥ She is one of my favorite bloggers to follow!
The Bloody Book Blogger 