"Mother Sewing" from the Winter 2011 Issue of Tainted Tea

Pencil, Shane R. Toogood, Feb. 2011

Afternoon Shorts: "The Machine"

"A stop motion macabre fairy tale about a robot who enjoys his power. It's awesome. And if you enjoy fairy tales, robots, animation, or just life itself, then you should watch this video.



Thank you, Channel Frederator!

I must remember to tell Shane R. Toogood.

And if you know a kid who might find this scary, then you should show it to him because March is Scare a Kid month, at least, according to R. L. Stine's Twitter.

Kickass Trailer: "My Bloody Valentine" (circa 1981)

Aside from Halloween, I think that Valentine's Day is one of the scariest holidays. After all, it has a certain naive charm and reeks of a pseudo-happiness. And, of course, it carries all of the elements to a good slasher flick. Hearts, Joker-grins, crimson red, pollination, fornication, obsession...love.

Call me the Scrooge of V-Day, but I never understood the fascination with one day devoted to loving someone. Perhaps it's because I'm more spontaneous and stubborn and don't want to have to dote on someone just because everyone else is. The ironic thing is that I am romantic. And as a writer I think we should write a love poem. Not just any love poem, but a horror love poem. Think about the things that I mentioned above (the thumping hearts, the splashes of red, sex) and write your poem about the scary things about being in love. Upset stomach, sometimes attempting to please someone and not being the real you...think of it as an erotic poem by infusing metaphors without the Eros language (or maybe you want to get sensual).

Here is mine:

life began to spin out of control, a whirlwind

of what felt somewhat familiar.

Emotions?

heart beating at hummingbird speed

stomach growing teeth, chomping

at my insides.

bowels sprouting talons and giant wings,

digging into my abdomen,

tearing the skin and

flapping away

failed attempts at regaining balance

refraining from slipping through the Hell Mouth

opening beneath Pike Place Market.

sweat blinding

shadows morphing

serpents snapping long noses, teeth like

shards of glass.

breathing through my nose

into the hole that was once my stomach

proving useless

and collapsing onto the cold cement.

Now that we have written, here is a trailer to the 1981 horror film My Bloody Valentine.

Vote for the Coloring Contest Winner

In addition to my recent post on the coloring contest, new writer Patrick Wensink needs your help. He's narrowed it down to 13 finalists (including Tainted Tea editor Shane R. Toogood and photographer J.Toogood) , and you can vote on your favorite here.

Voting closes December 17.

"Sweet dreams are made of this..."

Taken from my blog:

I am writing a character-driven novel and in order to understand my characters I want to know everything about them. One thing I never thought of is: what do my characters dream about? Do they have nightmares? Wet dreams? Dream in color? Black and white?

Write a dream sequence. (The beauty of this exercise is that it doesn't need to make ANY sense as it is a dream.) Next, grab a dream dictionary. What have you learned about your character? Just let your subconscious write this for you. Maybe you'll be surprised at what you find out.

I did this exercise for my main character--the anti-hero. I put lots of thick fog in the dream and found out that he was walking through life disoriented. Funny enough, he is! Good job, subconscious.

Addendum to Shane's Post

Here's a brief video, about paranoia and other scary things. Not by us, but this delightful woman, Katy Towell.



And just a reminder, though we are set for the first issue of Tainted Tea, there are still many issues to be printed. We're still accepting on a rolling submission basis, so don't forget to submit your work.

Recommended Reading II: Shane's Picks

This list took a bit to compile. I've read a lot of short horror stories, but here are a few that I love and could read (and actually have read) numerous times.

• "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson
• "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving
• "Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker
• "A Ghost's Story" by Mark Twain
• "Genesis and Catastrophe: A True Story" by Roald Dahl
• "I'm Not Martin" by R.L. Stine
• "The Professor's Teddy Bear" by Theodore Sturgeon
• "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
• "Kittens" by Dean Koontz
• "Mirriam" by Truman Capote
• "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

6 Easy Steps to Maintaining Your Craft (and Sanity) While in School

Papers are building up like plaque on teeth. Extra curricular activities and volunteer work bring a burden, not to mention going to frat parties! Your brain has to settle after being jolted from one class to the other.

You sit at the computer and try to get those voices that have been nagging at you all day onto paper. The warming sun is drawing nigh, barely casting it’s rays through the sheets of Post-It notes sprawled over the window (History presentation: Oy!; French test: Mon dieu!).

Wincing as if you’ll turn to dust as the sun brushes your skin, you utter those six infamous words from your pursed, tired lips: “I’m too tired. I’ll write tomorrow.”

This is where I scream-(Noooo!)- and you plead for my help. Follow these six easy steps and you too will maintain your craft.

ESTABLISH A BOND WITH OTHER YOUNG WRITERS

Being a young writer can get stressful as people don’t always take us seriously. Befriending other young writers can help reduce that stress. They understand just what you’re going through whether they’re in school or not.

With your “writing buddy,” as my friend and I call ourselves, exchange tips and criticism. You can meet writing buddies anywhere. I met my writing buddies through school and MySpace.com.

TAKE A FREE ONLINE COURSE

Make sure that the writing course is free. Writing is supposed to be fun, not a hole in your wallet. Online courses are better because they’re done on the Internet and at your own pace. Try www.absynthmuse.com for some free, fun courses geared towards young writers.

Not only will these courses give you a chance to interact with other authors, some experienced, others not, but it will give you a chance to shine and better your art. And they’re free!

WRITE A SENTENCE A DAY

Buy some spiral notebooks in bulk at a wholesale store (it’s cheaper that way). In that notebook you’ll keep all your writing.

When you start to write that first sentence most likely you’ll keep on writing. In no time a story will have blossomed.

Ask someone to buy you The Write-Brain Workbook: 366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing by Bonnie Neubauer, or The Pocket Muse: Ideas and Inspirations for Writing by Monica Wood for your birthday, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.

The books have writing prompts and inspirational quotes to keep the juices flowing and help you through the dilemma we call “writing.”

GIVE YOURSELF A GOAL

You have academic goals, why not have writing goals? Tell yourself that you want to write at least one short story by the end of the semester. Don’t worry if it’s just a first draft. Like wine, you have to let your story age before the editing stage in order to get the best quality.

You can set your goals higher such as writing a novel, but write at least one short short--a story between two and six pages long. If you write the short short and you hate it, at least you wrote something.

PERMIT YOURSELF TO INDULGE IN YOUR TALENT

You shouldn’t punish your talent. Let it roam free and just write! While others schedule time to work out (or make out), why not enjoy your own hobby?

Learn to time manage and sneak writing into your daily planner. When at lunch or sitting in the park, observe and write.

What do you see? What do you smell? How does the air taste? Ask yourself all these questions and more. Step outside of the cubicle! One answer to your plethora of questions can set your mind into full throttle, resulting in a beautiful story.

HAVE FUN

Stephen King once wrote in an article written for The Writer’s Survival Guide: “Ask yourself frequently, ‘Am I having fun?’ The answer needn’t always be yes. But if it’s always no, it’s time for a new project or a new career.”

Writing should be fun and stress-free, and most of the time it’s one or the other (and one out of two ain‘t bad). Find new and exciting ways to keep yourself enthralled in your writing.

Make character sketches of your favorite cartoon character; make word anagrams; write out of your genre.

And when you feel like giving up because school or work or lack of loving from your friend with benefits pushed you out of the writing zone, find a quote or phrase to keep yourself going like The Little Engine that Could (“I think I can, I think I can…”). Dory, from Disney/Pixar’s film Finding Nemo, inspired me to use “Just keep swimming.”

So before the sun rises, let your thoughts rise instead. Follow these six easy steps and not only will you maintain your craft while educating yourself, but you’ll maintain your sanity.

*Originally published in The Communitarian

Recommended Reading: Shane's Picks

Kris and I are book gluttons. We inhale books, gorge ourselves in stories and bathe in all their glory, so it's only natural that we share some of our favorite works with you:

• "The Gold Bug" (or pretty much the complete works) by Edgar Allan Poe
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman
• Fear Hall: The Beginning and Fear Hall: The Conclusion by R. L. Stine
• Black Hole by Charles Burns
• Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural Selected by Marvin Kaye
  
• Grimm's Fairy Tales
• Sharp Objects: A Novel by Gillian Flynn
• The Best American Erotic Poems from 1800 to the Present Edited by David Lehman
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
• The Poet's Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux
• On Writing Horror Edited by Mort Castle
• Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  

Man, I could go on. Those are a few off the top of my head. For my full list, please visit my Web site. I'll continue to update them as I continue to read. What are your favorite books? Do you like any of the books on my list? What do you look for in a good book? (Personally, I'm a sucker for characters. If the character is believable, you can put them in any situation--even if it sucks.)

Next time I'll give you my favorite short, horror stories. But until then, sing along with me: "Butterfly in the sky..."

In Summary...

Over the last few blog posts, we here at Tainted Tea have made many decisions on the content we are accepting for our new literary magazine. So, here it is, in one handy blog post:

Tainted Tea is a horror literary magazine brought to you by Shane R. Toogood and Kris Fossett's company, SHAKE Publishing.

We are looking for:

• Short stories
• Photographs
• Paintings
• Sketches
• Collages
• Actually, any sort of art we can print
  
• Narrative poetry
• Movie Reviews

See our previous post on submission guidelines. There will be an updated submission guidelines post soon.

Please, email all submissions at TaintedTea.Editors@gmail.com. If you have any questions about the magazine, writing, art, or anything, feel free to contact us.

"Thrilled me--filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before"

Now accepting narrative poetry!

Please see previous post for submission guidelines, and try to keep all poems under 10 pages. (Editor's note: We cannot read nor publish the next Rime of the Ancient Mariner.)