tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14570032578112059632024-03-14T11:49:23.844-07:00Bloody ParchmentBLOODY PARCHMENT is the literary component to the annual SA HORRORFEST.
www.HORRORFEST.info
www.SHADOWREALMinc.comnerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-7144700133334078722024-01-14T02:08:00.000-08:002024-01-14T02:08:02.371-08:002024 Bloody Parchment short story competition open for submissions<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqob_osOMINMf6GvHCg0eSmHtcU8ACLzO_PkuKBGoa9eySx2U5j4pqaI__HBBHdAl5851-IyPZpSBY5pEQ9tDjmzmxKlEgq_BW6GgL_hz7hYq3MYORvmaAFNSRX5sOVEcq-WSvvmi2QAFw6gTJQmTUoQXJwAFU7vyDNvLZ1dPfxNXhFuSIgSfjhwB67q2/s4800/Bloody%20Parchment%202018%20COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4800" data-original-width="3003" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqob_osOMINMf6GvHCg0eSmHtcU8ACLzO_PkuKBGoa9eySx2U5j4pqaI__HBBHdAl5851-IyPZpSBY5pEQ9tDjmzmxKlEgq_BW6GgL_hz7hYq3MYORvmaAFNSRX5sOVEcq-WSvvmi2QAFw6gTJQmTUoQXJwAFU7vyDNvLZ1dPfxNXhFuSIgSfjhwB67q2/w125-h200/Bloody%20Parchment%202018%20COVER.jpg" width="125" /></a></div><br />With the release of the SA Horrorfest <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Weeping-Walls-Stories-ebook/dp/B0CPXC9X6W" target="_blank">Bloody Parchment: Weeping Walls and Other Stories</a></i>, we are pleased to announce that 2024's short story competition is now officially open for submissions. We will consider <b>dark short fiction</b> in the following genres: horror, fantasy, science fiction, and weird. Word count is 1,000 to 5,000 words, and payment is $25 per story. African authors, whether resident in Africa or residing elsewhere but who are in possession of a passport to an African country, are eligible, as are foreign nationals in Africa in possession of a permanent residency permit. Entries close on October 31, 2024.<p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">Submission Guidelines</h3><p>You are an African author residing in an African country or abroad, with a passport to an African country. Or you are a foreign national living permanently in an African country with a permanent residence permit.</p><p>We have a strictly 'no AI' policy. Generative AI or AI-assisted writing is disqualified.</p><p>Please use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_manuscript_format" target="_blank">standard manuscript formatting</a> (Times New Roman is fine) and supply your submission as an MS Word document.</p><p>We will not consider stories that include gratuitous violence, animal cruelty, racism, sexism, and anti-LGBTI messaging or stories that have an overt ideological agenda (in other words, propaganda or didactic narratives).</p><p>Email entries to <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a> with "Submission: Bloody Parchment 2024" in the subject line. Please include your name, nationality, and country of residence in your query.</p><p>For further information, email <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a></p>nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-52008888156452694342020-10-22T04:42:00.002-07:002020-10-22T04:44:07.883-07:00Winners of the 2018 short story competition<p>Better late than never, SA Horrorfest Bloody Parchment is proud to (finally) announce the winners of the 2018 short story competition. We were able to secure the opinions of such literary luminaries as Efemia Chela, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Toby Bennett, Mame Bougouma Diene, Henrietta Rose-Innes, Ivor W Hartmann, and Hannah Onoguwe, who helped decide which stories made the final pick.</p><p>So, without further ado, first place goes to Stuart Olver, for his short story "At the Mountain's Dying", with joint second place going to Eamonn Naidoo for his short story "The Moth" and Stephen McQuiggan<b> </b>for his short story "Gant's Shortcut".</p><p>Our finalists, who have made the cut for the anthology include (in no particular order) Mike Sharlow, Dave de Burgh, Edward Ahern, Janice Gardiner-Atkinson, Mark Towse, Sergio Pereira, SJ Lucas, and Vanessa Buys.</p><p>Congratulations! </p>nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-54518066564083115872018-06-21T10:14:00.000-07:002018-06-21T10:14:50.855-07:002018 Competition now openWith the current issue of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Honey-Valley-Shadow-ebook/dp/B071YQPQ4F">Bloody Parchment</a> available on a Kindle near you, the SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is pleased to announce that <b>the 2018 competition is now open</b>. We continue to seek the freshest, most disturbing and disconcerting new voices in SFF, with emphasis on tales that wander into the darker side of the storytelling spectrum (SF, fantasy, GrimDark, horror…you get the picture). While this is chiefly an African short story competition, and is focused on the development of up-and-coming voices of African writers, we are open to international entries. <i>There is no entry fee. </i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQPHHRCdYcepSr0cxEqlRGEXWBoMy97yl4J3lmRliSesjP0Pn8zBrhzmV8lfyMoLoMjeb8_xe1NBWnZkWKE65zlkQF9H5IpVD-7j2f-_JUKp938AfjIRyiANSQq-Kcg9nZYD7jaF-Zp5u/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2014+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1068" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQPHHRCdYcepSr0cxEqlRGEXWBoMy97yl4J3lmRliSesjP0Pn8zBrhzmV8lfyMoLoMjeb8_xe1NBWnZkWKE65zlkQF9H5IpVD-7j2f-_JUKp938AfjIRyiANSQq-Kcg9nZYD7jaF-Zp5u/s320/Bloody+Parchment+2014+cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Our categories for this year include <b>flash fiction </b>(up to 1000 words); <b>short fiction</b> (up to 4 000 words); and <b>novellas</b> (between 15 000 to 30 000 words). A winner and two runners-up will be picked among the finalists, for possible publication in a collection. Further details to be announced at the final selection.<br />
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First prize is a full assessment and round of developmental edits for a novel-length work or short story anthology. Runners-up to receive a full, developmental edit for a short story or novella other than their submission. The aim of Bloody Parchment remains the upliftment and development of new authors and the promotion of science fiction, fantasy and horror in Africa.<br />
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<b>What we're looking for: </b>The SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is looking for short stories or novellas that fall under the horror and dark fantasy/SF genres. If it's dark, we're interested. So, yes, if you've written a GrimDark tale in a gloomy secondary world, we're interested. Hell, we'll even look at your vampires and zombies, so long as they don't sparkle and do something a little different from shambling about aimlessly, dropping limbs. Cleverly executed alien invasions have legs. That being said, if the story's impact relies purely on gratuitous violence and rape in order to deliver its punch, rather don't waste our time and yours. Also, for the love of dog, make sure your story falls within the required word count – at least a quarter of our submissions are rejected each year because of this. While we won't reject a well-written submission that's a few hundred words over out of hand (there is wiggle room), don't expect us to read short stories that are way off the mark. Multiple entries are allowed, but chances are good that if both your stories make it to the final round, we will use our discretion to select the one that is the best possible fit for the anthology.<br />
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If you have any questions, feel free to drop the editor, Nerine Dorman, an email at <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a><br />
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<b>CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES: OCTOBER 31, 2018 </b><br />
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To enter, email your story saved as .doc or .rt format to <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a> with "Bloody Parchment 2018" in the subject line of the email. Please include your name, contact details and a short bio so we have an idea of who we're dealing with. Standard manuscript formatting is absolutely fine (12pt Times New Roman, indented paragraphs, double spacing). Please follow this naming convention for your MS: BP2018_[first initial followed by surname] – So if your name is Penny Green, your entry will be titled BP2018_PGreen. If you have more than one entry, number them, so if author Penny has a second MS to submit, it will be named BP2018_PGreen2. Documents that do not follow our submissions guidelines will be deleted unread.nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-65369257886102437032018-04-12T02:25:00.002-07:002018-04-12T02:25:40.366-07:00WINNERS of the 2017 short story competitionIt’s with the greatest pleasure that we announce the winner, runners-up and finalists of the 2017 SA Horrorfest Bloody Parchment short story competition. As always, there were many wonderful stories shortlisted, and our judges had their work cut out for them. So, a big thank you to our judges Blaize Kaye, Diane Awerbuck, Masha du Toit, Louis Greenberg, Tammy February and Efemia Chela.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQPHHRCdYcepSr0cxEqlRGEXWBoMy97yl4J3lmRliSesjP0Pn8zBrhzmV8lfyMoLoMjeb8_xe1NBWnZkWKE65zlkQF9H5IpVD-7j2f-_JUKp938AfjIRyiANSQq-Kcg9nZYD7jaF-Zp5u/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2014+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1068" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQPHHRCdYcepSr0cxEqlRGEXWBoMy97yl4J3lmRliSesjP0Pn8zBrhzmV8lfyMoLoMjeb8_xe1NBWnZkWKE65zlkQF9H5IpVD-7j2f-_JUKp938AfjIRyiANSQq-Kcg9nZYD7jaF-Zp5u/s200/Bloody+Parchment+2014+cover.jpg" width="133" /></a>Our winner for the 2017 competition is Pravasan Pillay, for his short story “The Boy Racer”. Our runners-up are Mlilo Mpondo and Ajibola Ogundiran. Huge congratulations are in order! Our finalists, who will also be included in the anthology, include AJ Flowers, Toby Bennett, Susan Rabe, Domenico Pisanti, Calvin Demmer, Hayden Robinson, Manu Herbstein, Marcelle van Niekerk, Gina Kukard and Elaine Dodge.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Honey-Valley-Shadow-ebook/dp/B071YQPQ4F">Do pick up our most recent anthology</a> for 13 dark SFF and horror tales to chill and thrill you.nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-58156698971773304082017-06-27T12:28:00.000-07:002017-06-27T12:28:06.372-07:002017 BLOODY PARCHMENT SHORT STORY COMPETITION OPENWith the current issue of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Honey-Valley-Shadow-ebook/dp/B071YQPQ4F">Bloody Parchment available on a Kindle</a> near you, the SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is pleased to announce that the 2017 competition is now open. We continue to seek the freshest, disturbing and disconcerting new voices in SFF, with emphasis on tales that wander into the darker side of the storytelling spectrum. While this is chiefly an African short story competition, and is focused on the development of up-and-coming voices, we are open to international entries. <b>There is no entry fee.</b><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8W02sqC0Y-7SQLRjOFF2dkaTSpc5ifhL1V1ZcpEOXuJZ5ZX3qlcJ3QWD2mZjFvMEuRi5qOtiNM49LHjrRCemL7wpw8-dcjop3zYC_fZ4ZV0hHRuMU83t5StvYZjTVleSE7F2UD4rP1I2z/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2014+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1068" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8W02sqC0Y-7SQLRjOFF2dkaTSpc5ifhL1V1ZcpEOXuJZ5ZX3qlcJ3QWD2mZjFvMEuRi5qOtiNM49LHjrRCemL7wpw8-dcjop3zYC_fZ4ZV0hHRuMU83t5StvYZjTVleSE7F2UD4rP1I2z/s320/Bloody+Parchment+2014+cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Our categories for this year include flash fiction (up to 1000 words); short fiction (up to 4 000 words); and novellas (between 15 000 to 30 000 words). A winner and two runners-up will be picked among the finalists, for possible publication in a collection. Further details to be announced at the final selection.<br />
<br />
First prize is a full assessment and round of developmental edits for a novel-length work or short story anthology. Runners-up to receive a full, developmental edit for a short story or novella other than their submission. The aim of Bloody Parchment remains the upliftment and development of new authors and the promotion of science fiction, fantasy and horror in Africa.<br />
<br />
What we're looking for: The SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is looking for short stories or novellas that fall under the horror and dark fantasy/SF genres. If it's dark, we're interested. So, yes, if you've written a GrimDark tale in a gloomy secondary world, we're interested. Hell, we'll even look at your vampires, so long as they don't sparkle. Cleverly executed alien invasions have legs. That being said, if the story's impact relies purely on gratuitous violence and rape for its punch, rather don't waste our time and yours. Also, for the love of dog, make sure your story falls within the required word count – at least a quarter of our submissions are rejected each year because they do not adhere to the word counts. While we won't reject a well-written submission that's a few hundred words over (there is wiggle room), don't expect us to read short stories that are way off the mark in terms of word count. Multiple entries are allowed, but chances are good that if both your stories make it to the final round, we will use our discretion to select the one that is the best possible fit for the anthology.<br />
<br />
If you have any questions, feel free to drop the editor, Nerine Dorman, an email at nerinedorman@gmail.com <b>CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES: OCTOBER 31, 2017</b> To enter, email your story saved as .doc or .rt format to <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a> with "Bloody Parchment 2017" in the subject line. Standard manuscript formatting is absolutely fine (12pt Times New Roman, indented paragraphs, double spacing).nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-39349296696130567662017-05-17T13:59:00.001-07:002017-05-17T13:59:38.771-07:00WINNERS: 2016 SA HORRORFEST BLOODY PARCHMENT SHORT STORY COMPETITIONIt is with great pride that I bring you the final round-up for the 2016 SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment short story competition.<br />
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Taking first place, we have <b>Blaize Kaye</b>, with "Remains of an Old World".<br />
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Runners-up are <b>Brett Rex Bruton</b>, with "The Out of Place"; and <b>Lester Walbrugh</b>, with "For Better or Wors".<br />
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Our finalists, who have the option of going into the anthology, as well as receiving some extremely useful editor notes to help improve their story-telling overall, with guidance from an editor, include <b>Aito Osemegbe Joseph, Shaun van Rensburg, Erhu Amreyan, Jessica Liebenberg, Toby Bennett, Stephen Embleton, Livingston Edwards, William Burger, Mignotte Mekuria,</b> and <b>Janine Milne</b>.<br />
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A very big congratulations to all of you!<br />
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We would like to thank this year's judges: <b>Cat Hellisen, Dave de Burgh, Diane Awerbuck, Efemia Chela, Lauren Smith</b> and <b>Sarah Lotz</b>, who had the difficult task of evaluating the short list.nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-71890999247353880112017-04-12T13:09:00.002-07:002017-04-12T13:09:56.412-07:00BLOODY PARCHMENT 2016 shortlistWe have our shortlisted stories gone through for judging. A huge thank you this year to our judges: Sarah Lotz, Diane Awerbuck, Cat Hellisen, Dave de Burgh, Lauren Smith and Efemia Chela. I'm hoping to rustle up their answers by mid-May, in which we will announce our finalists, runners-up and winner.<br />
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<b>Our shortlisted authors are: </b><br />
Aito Osemegbe Joseph<br />
Alexander Clark<br />
Shaun van Rensburg<br />
Erhu Amreyan<br />
Jessica Liebenberg<br />
Dhee Sylvester<br />
Stephen Embleton<br />
Toby Bennett<br />
Kingsley Okpii<br />
Blaize Kaye<br />
Livingston Edwards<br />
Brett Rex Bruton<br />
William Burger<br />
Lester Walbrugh<br />
Mignotte Mekuria<br />
Janine Milne<br />
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A huge congratulations, folks, and I wish you all the best!<br />
Our next anthology releases soon; we'll keep you posted.nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-10402419179864806802016-06-29T13:16:00.002-07:002016-09-01T12:12:23.279-07:00BLOODY PARCHMENT 2016 SUBMISSIONS OPENWith the current issue of <i>Bloody Parchment</i> available <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Beachfront-Starter-Stories-ebook/dp/B01BFQNIHY">on a Kindle near you</a>, the SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is pleased to announce that the 2016 competition is now open.<br />
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Our categories for dark genre fiction this year include flash fiction (up to 1000 words); short fiction (up to 3 500 words); and novellas (between 15 000 to 30 000 words).<br />
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A winner and two runners-up will be picked, for possible publication in a collection. Further details to be announced on finalisation of the final selection.<br />
<br />
What we're looking for:<br />
The SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is looking for short stories novellas that fall under the horror and dark fantasy/SF genres. If it's dark, we're interested. While we're obviously looking for Africa's best, this competition is open to folks from further afield. If you have any questions, feel free to drop the editor, Nerine Dorman, an email at <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a><br />
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CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES: OCTOBER 31, 2016<br />
To enter, email your story saved as .doc or .rt format to <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a> with "Bloody Parchment 2016" in the subject line. Standard manuscript formatting makes me happy (12pt Times New Roman, indented paragraphs, double spacing).nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-88753592753145813792016-01-08T06:48:00.003-08:002016-01-08T06:48:37.956-08:00Beachfront Starter Homes and Other StoriesFinally, despite a few obstacles cast in our way, we're proud to present the cover of the 2013 <a href="http://www.horrorfest.info/">South African HorrorFest</a> Bloody Parchment finalists. This volume is goes with the title of the winning story by Ruth Browne: <i>Beachfront Starter Home, Good Bones</i>.<br />
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Many thanks to Thomas Dorman and Ronnie Belcher of award-winning BlackMilk Productions for their part in creating this year's cover. Do go check out BlackMilk's short surreal horror film <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NnjqcyLOVQ">La Mia Carne</a></i> over on YouTube.<br />
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<b>This issues's contributors are:</b><br />
Liam Kruger – “The Phenomenology of Iceland: A Romance”<br />
Michelle Barry – “Toast”<br />
Chris Limb – “Scratchmind”<br />
Morgen Knight – “Gods of Old, Anew”<br />
Arno Hurter – “A Place in Time”<br />
Abigail Godsell – “Ordinary Sound”<br />
Matt Hayward – “No One Gets Out of Here Alive”<br />
Doreen Perrine – “Foul Things”<br />
Icy Sedgwick – “Something Wicked This Way Slithered”<br />
Monique Snyman – “Tokoloshe”<br />
Joshua de Kock – “Aquarium”<br />
Ruth Browne – “Beachfront Starter Home, Good Bones”<br />
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<i>Bloody Parchment: Beachfront Starter Home, Good Bones</i> will be released soon by Crossroad Press. Submissions for the 2016 competition will open on June 21, 2016, and close on October 31, 2016. We will accept submissions of dark speculative fiction in two categories: short fiction (up to 3 500 words) and novella (between 15 000 to 30 000 words). Although this is primarily a short story competition geared towards promoting and developing African speculative fiction, we accept international entries. Email <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a> for further information.nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-29354519373687660252015-06-30T05:36:00.002-07:002015-06-30T05:36:51.929-07:00BLOODY PARCHMENT 2015 COMPETITION NOW OPENWhile 2014 resulted in some unexpected challenges (and with the upcoming anthologies from the past two competitions still in production), the SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is pleased to announce that the 2015 competition is now open, only we're about to see some changes afoot.<div>
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We have decided to shift focus from short stories to the novella form, and this year we are looking novella entries of between 15 000 to 30 000 words. If you're not sure of what a novella is, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella">go check out this link</a>.</div>
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A winner and two runners-up will be picked, for possible publication in a collection. Further details to be announced on finalisation of the final selection.</div>
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<b>What we're looking for:</b></div>
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The SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment team is looking for novellas that fall under the horror and dark fantasy/SF genres. If it's dark, we're interested. While we're obviously looking for Africa's best, this competition is open to folks from further afield. If you have any questions, feel free to drop the editor, Nerine Dorman, an email at <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a></div>
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<b>CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES: OCTOBER 31, 2015</b></div>
nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-79157065410443703012014-08-05T00:57:00.000-07:002014-08-05T00:57:08.152-07:00Bloody Parchment 2014 is officially open<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4xgDiIEBVnipqu83JCu5HWtphBJKZ89lC2sbeOi7wfYE5-7NfnCl8ffk0gt7vBaBmJ2bGccNnr_TK_z26ykZL4-MRwZaWmeL4qACdWA4i39GCEBoA7GcfA6SQhnsVwBuIfdKvGQzclMjV/s1600/BloodyParchment+vol1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4xgDiIEBVnipqu83JCu5HWtphBJKZ89lC2sbeOi7wfYE5-7NfnCl8ffk0gt7vBaBmJ2bGccNnr_TK_z26ykZL4-MRwZaWmeL4qACdWA4i39GCEBoA7GcfA6SQhnsVwBuIfdKvGQzclMjV/s1600/BloodyParchment+vol1.jpg" /></a>While the anthology of last year's winners is still in production, I hereby am pleased to announce that the 2014 short story competition is officially open. Do check out our existing volumes. <b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11973202-bloody-parchment-volume-1?from_search=true">Volume 1</a></b> (available as a free read at Goodreads), 2 (<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Hidden-Things-stories-ebook/dp/B008E705X8">Hidden Things, Lost Things and Other Stories</a></i>) and 3 (<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Cellar-Other-Stories-ebook/dp/B00D3KQ0G2">The Root Cellar and Other Stories</a></i>).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHtSijpqTK-LU7y8ZGLuF3VZwh3G3lhc-SGlqXm5KB35stQlMvVX90pWUhNi9dLtEtudG1ntPRTd8typtFpzyctbwPc69XjSiAhE_lUMP0UmAMCUlmkeUtIF3YoFWkh5VM6RD4bFJfzAo/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHtSijpqTK-LU7y8ZGLuF3VZwh3G3lhc-SGlqXm5KB35stQlMvVX90pWUhNi9dLtEtudG1ntPRTd8typtFpzyctbwPc69XjSiAhE_lUMP0UmAMCUlmkeUtIF3YoFWkh5VM6RD4bFJfzAo/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a>The aim of the Bloody Parchment short story competition is to help develop talented, fresh voices in the horror, dark fantasy and weird genres, by offering a platform and signal boost for finalists. Every year we assemble a kick-ass panel of judges who are all movers and shakers in the publishing industry, with such notables as Sarah Lotz, Joe Vaz, Cat Hellisen and others who have helped in the selection process during the past. While we’re yet to announce which publisher will be picking up where eKhaya left off, there is a fantastic first prize up for grabs for the winner: a comprehensive round of edits and manuscript assessment. The two runners-up are each awarded a round of comprehensive edits and assessment of a short story or novella-length work. The winner, runners-up and finalists then have the option to be included in the short story anthology to be released mid-2015.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9UybYD3Y-RSTvv28E5n9wbkXB4_aELsJRhv9l9lFwZs_vCAExDCi8eccRGo1P__Zidp0-oEPTNmlBjJukN5agsWDXhWZBR1_C8WRky21foIdSif6dCGnEABM99igM0bnRaNfFNLlKrRv5/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012+sml+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9UybYD3Y-RSTvv28E5n9wbkXB4_aELsJRhv9l9lFwZs_vCAExDCi8eccRGo1P__Zidp0-oEPTNmlBjJukN5agsWDXhWZBR1_C8WRky21foIdSif6dCGnEABM99igM0bnRaNfFNLlKrRv5/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012+sml+cover.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><b>What are we looking for? </b><br />
Bloody Parchment is looking for short stories of up to 3 500 words in length, in the horror, dark fantasy and weird genres. Yes, this includes flash fiction. Yes, you may enter multiple stories. Yes, we like flash fiction too. LGBT authors of genre fiction are welcome. Stories set in locations other than the US or Europe would tickle us pink. We love diversity. We want to know what moves you, what mysteries fascinate you, what frightens you… So long as your story clearly falls within the horror, dark fantasy and weird genres, you’re good. We want to be unsettled<br />
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<b>What we DO NOT WANT.</b><br />
Fan fiction with the serial numbers filed off: When the <i>Saw</i> movies were popular, my inbox was flooded with torture porn; during 2012 it was various permutations of popular zombiepocalypses. 2013 for some reason saw gratuitous violence against women used as a cheap literary device. Mercifully vampires seem to have gone into remission. Please folks, I know you’re excited by whatever’s currently trending on your Twitter feeds, but if you absolutely MUST play with the tropes, DO put a fresh spin on your offering that will be amazeballs. We want you to dig deep and find something that is truly your own. Content that is clearly aimed to deliberately shock for the sake of wiggling your jollies will be rejected out of hand.<br />
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In addition, stories that do not follow the brief will be rejected too, so no, we do not want your Christian inspirational fiction, 30 000-word novellas, chick lit or poems. (Every time an author doesn’t follow the submission guidelines, a small gremlin curls up and dies.)<br />
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Right, now that we have that out of the way, this is how you enter: mail your short story saved as a .doc file (not exceeding 3 500 words) to nerinedorman@gmail.com before October 31, 2014. Remember to put “BLOODY PARCHMENT 2014” in the subject line. In the body of your email, please give me your real name, pen name, nationality and word count. Good luck! And if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a mail. I don’t bite…much.nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-38853323684542737572014-03-24T14:49:00.000-07:002014-03-24T14:49:04.712-07:00Winners, runners-up and finalists for the 2013 short story competitionOkay, the moment we've all been waiting for. First off, a HUGE thank you to this year's judges, who represent a range of bookish folks, from an avid reader like Barry Gill, to author and bookseller Dave de Burgh, editors and authors Tracie McBride and Louis Greenberg, and author Cat Hellisen. I am indebted to author Carrie Clevenger, who helped read submissions, as we had a record number of entries.<br />
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A huge congratulations to our winner, Ruth Browne, whose story <i>Beachfront Starter Home, Good Bones</i> takes top honours.<br />
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Our runners-up are Chris Limb, with <i>Scratchmind</i>, and Joshua de Kock, with <i>Aquarium</i>.<br />
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Then our finalists (in alphabetical order): Michelle Barry, Mary Finnegan, Abigail Godsell, Matt Hayward, Arno Hurter, Morgen Knight, Liam Kruger, Doreen Perrine, Icy Sedgwick, and Monique Snyman.<br />
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We'll be opening submissions for the 2014 competition on June 21, and if you wish to keep in touch with developments, feel free to <a href="https://twitter.com/nerinedorman">stalk me on Twitter</a>. I'll be posting regular progress bits and bytes there as things progress.<br />
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This year Dark Continents Publishing will be bringing out the anthology, to be released in time for the 2014 South African Horrorfest, but more about that later...nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-19292972051224217482014-02-02T05:19:00.001-08:002014-02-02T05:19:12.404-08:00Bloody Parchment on YouTubeWith judging of the 2013 short story competition currently underway, we thought it only right and proper that we share some of the authors who read at our event that was held at the Book Lounge in Cape Town last year.<div>
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Present were <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoGNUfLZgcU">S.A. Partridge</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_MNNMgtd4g">Joe Vaz</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf2mOZtmsSU">Zane Marc Gentis</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBJ8xOBB5sQ">Nerine Dorman</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71v_yvJ1wGo">Rachel Zadok</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jQlG0zmPTw">Carine Engelbrecht</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRgO33ZrEqc">Diane Awerbuck</a>, Toby Bennett, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us4v0ncMeoE">Henrietta Rose-Innes</a>. Go check out the clips on YouTube. Due to a technical difficulty, we were unfortunately unable to put up Toby's video. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaIOMFxN4GBEIeLTIueAkPZ8wHMkqDRhFX5Y5lJismjS8aiyEB_ElpTv3qni66vj_lStyFpIJWIFnMSMXksczRi-SjZQ5FVeCs5X-5o3AGk-aYIIj9Q5fkFeztEeE1yHvEIzHthyphenhyphenAsPRi8/s1600/Bloody+Parchment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaIOMFxN4GBEIeLTIueAkPZ8wHMkqDRhFX5Y5lJismjS8aiyEB_ElpTv3qni66vj_lStyFpIJWIFnMSMXksczRi-SjZQ5FVeCs5X-5o3AGk-aYIIj9Q5fkFeztEeE1yHvEIzHthyphenhyphenAsPRi8/s1600/Bloody+Parchment.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></a>A big thank you to the awesome <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3553901/">Ric Shields</a> for catching us on film. And once again a very big thanks to the <a href="http://www.booklounge.co.za/">Book Lounge</a> for having us over, and to Paul and Sonja from the <a href="http://www.horrorfest.info/">South African HorrorFest</a> for arranging yet another awesome festival. With thanks to Leopard's Leap Family Vineyards for the wine sponsorship, as well as Penguin SA and Dark Continents Publishing for the prizes that we handed out on the night.</div>
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For those of you who're yet to read the 2012 anthology published by eKhaya, go feed your kindle with this super collection of short tales of horror. <i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Cellar-Other-Stories-ebook/dp/B00D3KQ0G2">Bloody Parchment: The Root Cellar and Other Stories</a></b> brings a fresh crop of horror and dark literature from the most recent South African HorrorFest Bloody Parchment short story competition. From dreary subterranean chambers and angelic visitations to the many-legged horrors of alien invaders and a meeting with the Devil himself, this collection of tales offers readers the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the likes of Toby Bennett (winner), and runners-up Anna Reith and Chris Limb. Finalists include Diane Awerbuck, Simon Dewar, Zane Marc Gentis, Stephen Hewitt, Benjamin Knox, Lee Mather, Glen Mehn, S.A. Partridge, and Icy Sedgwick.</i></div>
nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-61025523536694745922013-10-16T14:41:00.000-07:002013-10-17T01:38:56.069-07:00Bloody Parchment event 2013<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgo5QYKAD1XW7ZwwQvvv9cUlB-H2XrQ-oXo4dBTAtyU_ycRwaJTg9X5cOnR9gXJTSPfIB8c0hj6EgkD8yzcxAtAP1D-gunHcsj7QfiycfZzJqu2jqx3G0p2p9cHT_IU5dPBGFe0SPFAVCU/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012+sml+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgo5QYKAD1XW7ZwwQvvv9cUlB-H2XrQ-oXo4dBTAtyU_ycRwaJTg9X5cOnR9gXJTSPfIB8c0hj6EgkD8yzcxAtAP1D-gunHcsj7QfiycfZzJqu2jqx3G0p2p9cHT_IU5dPBGFe0SPFAVCU/s320/Bloody+Parchment+2012+sml+cover.jpg" width="209" /></a>It’s time to haul out your wizard’s hat, carve your pumpkin and dust off those fake spiders – the SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment event will once again manifest in the basement of the Book Lounge. With the likes of S.A. Partridge, Diane Awerbuck, Toby Bennett, Henrietta Rose-Innes, Zane Marc Gentis, Carine Engelbrecht, Rachel Zadok and Nerine Dorman offering their particular brand of strange tales on the night, you’ll be in for a spooky, Halloween treat. And there will be prizes for the best costume, so come be our best Frankenstein!<br />
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<b>When?</b> October 30.<br />
<b>Where?</b> 71 Roeland Street, Cape Town.<br />
<b>What time?</b> 5.30pm for 6pm.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">For further information about the South African HorrorFest, see <a href="http://www.horrorfest.info/">www.horrorfest.info</a>.</span></b>nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-64766315788547008442013-06-26T01:23:00.001-07:002013-07-03T14:53:01.048-07:002013 Bloody Parchment submission guidelines<br />
As the editor of the SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment short story competition, I am pleased to announce that I’ve opened submissions for the 2013 short story competition. For those of you who’re curious to find out more about our previous finalists and winners, do consider picking up copies of our existing anthologies:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP0LOqqL6IBVtBkZ94L2faM3L95HpJiQ6MZjAZh9tQwIHPqXx_d12yusi2C1FcDqzS2ikSQ7y_m332NC_7RTtNPDng1RNDUbQs3fsIV5vamA7sF4HoJEtgny2wln1zD6WxiFdYeFeBIhbK/s1600/BloodyParchment+vol1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP0LOqqL6IBVtBkZ94L2faM3L95HpJiQ6MZjAZh9tQwIHPqXx_d12yusi2C1FcDqzS2ikSQ7y_m332NC_7RTtNPDng1RNDUbQs3fsIV5vamA7sF4HoJEtgny2wln1zD6WxiFdYeFeBIhbK/s200/BloodyParchment+vol1.jpg" width="146" /></a><b><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11973202-bloody-parchment-volume-1"><i>Volume 1 </i>(free download) </a></b><br />
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<i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Hidden-stories-ebook/dp/B008E705X8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1372233518&sr=1-1&keywords=bloody+parchment">Bloody Parchment: Hidden Things, Lost Things and Other Stories </a></b></i><br />
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<i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Cellar-Stories-ebook/dp/B00D3KQ0G2/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1372233518&sr=1-2&keywords=bloody+parchment">Bloody Parchment: The Root Cellar and Other Stories </a></b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibOnMNLg4JrjWY50oFfKLTyPhNwZpj3xK6YBXy-aZlXzkYQB3dGPhualQ8ZGeYgNKLPZvDisgc_INV-tNeEnmbeaAMqhT_c0htpEjNL5qodo5NwHSYrtaq3t3Q5oywfWedFbgR2k5naq2f/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibOnMNLg4JrjWY50oFfKLTyPhNwZpj3xK6YBXy-aZlXzkYQB3dGPhualQ8ZGeYgNKLPZvDisgc_INV-tNeEnmbeaAMqhT_c0htpEjNL5qodo5NwHSYrtaq3t3Q5oywfWedFbgR2k5naq2f/s200/Bloody+Parchment+2012.jpg" width="130" /></a>The aim of the Bloody Parchment short story competition is to help develop talented, fresh voices in the horror, dark fantasy and weird genres, by offering a platform and signal boost for finalists. Every year we assemble a kick-ass panel of judges who are all movers and shakers in the publishing industry, with such notables as Sarah Lotz, Joe Vaz, Cat Hellisen and others who have helped in the selection process in the past. While we’re yet to announce which publisher will be picking up where eKhaya left off, there is a fantastic first prize up for grabs for the winner: a comprehensive round of edits and manuscript assessment. The two runners-up are each awarded a round of comprehensive edits and assessment of a short story or novella-length work. The winner, runners-up and finalists then have the option to be included in the short story anthology to be released mid-2014 by <a href="http://darkcontinents.com/submissions/">Dark Continents</a>. Authors whose stories are included in the anthology will receive US$20 flat rate payment plus one paperback contributor copy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebwu8UG6wstoQNcm19MVRjkpeJPfFTnhWWBXq08_E2_u-JGwZsPc3qXxKqoyGoo-3EdsZBWbuK-PEWNUHV6OCULS6ktzhyphenhyphenjhVTzXuzcxEZuJv1LAJOmOS8-eFqhIcHw64ayiamJFPDc7j/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012+sml+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebwu8UG6wstoQNcm19MVRjkpeJPfFTnhWWBXq08_E2_u-JGwZsPc3qXxKqoyGoo-3EdsZBWbuK-PEWNUHV6OCULS6ktzhyphenhyphenjhVTzXuzcxEZuJv1LAJOmOS8-eFqhIcHw64ayiamJFPDc7j/s200/Bloody+Parchment+2012+sml+cover.jpg" width="130" /></a><b>What are we looking for? </b><br />
Bloody Parchment is looking for short stories of up to 3 500 words in the horror, dark fantasy and weird genres. Yes, this includes flash fiction. Yes, you may enter multiple stories. Yes, we like flash fiction too. GLBT authors of genre fiction are welcome. Stories set in locations other than the US or Europe would tickle us pink. We love diversity. We want to know what moves you, what mysteries fascinate you, what frightens you… So long as your story clearly falls within the horror, dark fantasy and weird genres, you’re good. We want to be unsettled<br />
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<b>What we DO NOT WANT.</b><br />
Fan fiction with the serial numbers filed off: When the <i>Saw </i>movies were popular, my inbox was flooded with torture porn; last year it was various permutations of popular zombiepocalypses. Mercifully vampires seem to have gone into remission. Please folks, I know you’re excited by whatever’s currently trending on your Twitter feeds, but if you absolutely MUST play with the tropes, DO put a fresh spin on your offering that will be amazeballs. We want you to dig deep and find something that is truly your own. Gratuitous violence or content that is clearly aimed to deliberately shock for the sake of wiggling your jollies will be rejected out of hand.<br />
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In addition, stories that do not follow the brief will be rejected too, so no, we do not want your Christian inspirational fiction, 30 000-word novellas, chick lit or poems. (Every time an author doesn’t follow the submission guidelines, a small gremlin curls up and dies.)<br />
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Right, now that we have that out of the way, this is how you enter: mail your short story saved as a .doc file (not exceeding 3 500 words) to <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a> <b>before October 31, 2013</b>. Remember to put “BLOODY PARCHMENT 2013” in the subject line. Good luck! And if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a mail. I don’t bite…much.<br />
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nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-20732163168162946732013-06-04T11:53:00.002-07:002013-06-04T11:53:33.551-07:00Bloody Parchment buy links<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ2-UHpyVTjBKZ5KlCkxOeZHhpY0jwUeun4pQIumHIwz1y0THuX9B-3PhiA9SMzt6V51QIOvWPz53dHkp2yR1ETLY2M3YETtwVWtdPjtPtTkVWrbL2XNtkJQiwc5urS7CVBexriTZZ_MAS/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012+sml+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ2-UHpyVTjBKZ5KlCkxOeZHhpY0jwUeun4pQIumHIwz1y0THuX9B-3PhiA9SMzt6V51QIOvWPz53dHkp2yR1ETLY2M3YETtwVWtdPjtPtTkVWrbL2XNtkJQiwc5urS7CVBexriTZZ_MAS/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012+sml+cover.jpg" height="320" width="209" /></a>Well, gang, there's a whole range of wonderful buy links to choose from for this year's <i>Bloody Parchment: The Root Cellar and Other Stories</i>. You can go <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Cellar-Stories-ebook/dp/B00D3KQ0G2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1370371579&sr=8-2&keywords=bloody+parchment">feed your Kindle here</a>. Or if you're South African, <a href="http://www.kalahari.com/digitaldownloads/Bloody-Parchments/75579/47454181.aspx">you might prefer Kalahari</a>. And, for those of you who're using Kobo, you can <a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Bloody-Parchment/book-2k3PNZ7j20GJmAzK5ThIcw/page1.html?s=In4t2ziveUemime1iHkpQg&r=2">splash out here</a>. Lekker, hey? (As we say here in South Africa).<br />
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And, never fear, we'll let you know when submissions for the next short story competition open (soon). Start thinking up some dark, dreary and mysterious tales in the meanwhile.nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-8208059137365395502013-05-12T04:16:00.003-07:002013-05-12T04:16:38.832-07:00Bloody Parchment: The Root Cellar and Other Stories<br />
eKhaya, the digital imprint of Random House Struik, is delighted to announce the publication of <i>Bloody Parchment: The Root Cellar and Other Stories</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-96jy_4YWadWYE1d3ZuwwqNeCX3QdWF3frzKthWSGTKrIl43zY4EKrWJP42jwTU_lo90h-5LHFGiRsL8go3NguW27X4KU8nIPtyGSk_PmLH5TvnDcfyQD-l2_MO7eYjufphPMNok4LhDd/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012+sml+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-96jy_4YWadWYE1d3ZuwwqNeCX3QdWF3frzKthWSGTKrIl43zY4EKrWJP42jwTU_lo90h-5LHFGiRsL8go3NguW27X4KU8nIPtyGSk_PmLH5TvnDcfyQD-l2_MO7eYjufphPMNok4LhDd/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012+sml+cover.jpg" height="320" width="209" /></a><i>Bloody Parchment: The Root Cellar and Other Stories</i> brings a fresh crop of horror and dark literature from the most recent South African HorrorFest Bloody Parchment short story competition. From dreary subterranean chambers and angelic visitations to the many-legged horrors of alien invaders and a meeting with the Devil himself, this collection of tales offers readers the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the likes of Toby Bennett (winner), and runners-up Anna Reith and Chris Limb. Finalists include Diane Awerbuck, Simon Dewar, Zane Marc Gentis, Stephen Hewitt, Benjamin Knox, Lee Mather, Glen Mehn, S.A. Partridge, and Icy Sedgwick.<br />
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<i>"You'll be hard pressed to find a stronger anthology of horror stories this year. There's a staggering number of original ideas and talent on display here, as well as several stand-out stories that easily hold their own against work in any genre. And most importantly, they will creep the hell out of you." - Sarah Lotz, author</i><br />
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eKhaya e-books are available in two formats, ePub and PDF. ePub is compatible with most e-readers on the market and is converted for sale in Amazon’s Kindle format. The PDF is a non-reflowable format that reads well on iPads, other tablet devices, PCs as well as the Kindle. The e-book will be available from 1 June 2013 for instant download at a recommended retail price of R70 at Amazon.com, Kalahari.com and Exclus1ves.co.za, among other online retailers.<br />
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BLOODY PARCHMENT: THE ROOT CELLAR AND OTHER STORIES<br />
ISBN: 978-1-920532-31-4 (e-pub) I ISBN: 978-1-920532-32-1 (PDF)<br />
RRP: R70 I CATEGORY: Horror Fiction<br />
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nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-48356282220409007662013-01-21T21:59:00.002-08:002013-01-22T10:25:57.150-08:00Congratulations to 2012's winner and finalists<br />
Wow, what a bunch of stories to have gone through. First off, a big, hearty congratulations to Toby Bennett. Not only is he the winner of the 2012 SA HorrorFest Bloody Parchment short story competition with his story <i>The Root Cellar</i>, but another of his submissions was selected as a finalist—<i>Wants and Needs</i>. He wins a comprehensive round of edits for a novel-length work.<br />
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Our runners-up are Anna Reith, with <i>Counting Seraphs</i>, and Chris Limb, with <i>Alibi</i>. Each receives comprehensive edits for a short story or novella-length work or, alternatively, edits for the first three chapters of a novel.<br />
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Then, our finalists in no particular order:<br />
Diane Awerbuck, <i>Duiweltjie</i><br />
Zane Marc Gentis, <i>Heirloom</i><br />
Stephen Hewitt, <i>Kiss the Butcher's Daughter</i><br />
SA Partridge, <i>Jethro Mackenzie and the Devil</i><br />
Icy Sedgwick, <i>Protection</i><br />
Glen Mehn, <i>The Next Big Thing</i><br />
Simon Dewar, <i>The Kettle</i><br />
Lee Mather, <i>Jamie's Song</i><br />
Benjamin Knox, <i>Strands</i><br />
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Then, a huge humungous thank you to our judges. Sarah Lotz, Joe Vaz, Carrie Clevenger, Kelly (It's a Book Thing blog), Shaun Swingler and Cat Hellisen all offered their time to read over the entries and help in the decision-making process. And this year was tough. Trust me. Also, once again, many thanks to Louis Greenberg of eKhaya, for yet another year, and, as always, to Paul Blom and Sonja Ruppersberg, who bring us the SA HorrorFest annually, without fail.<br />
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Lastly, though I'd love to send out personal responses to everyone who entered, due to the volume of entries we received, I will not be able to notify those who didn't reach the final round. Many thanks to all those who submitted stories. I'll announce the opening for the 2013 contest later this year.nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-33816457227968204552012-12-06T10:30:00.001-08:002012-12-06T10:30:30.476-08:00Brett Bruton's Hidden Things, Lost Things #guest<br />
<b>First a news update for those of you wondering what the status of this year's <i>Bloody Parchment </i>short story competition is. November was my reading period during which I graded the entries and made up the selection that went through to the judges. </b><br />
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<b>What were my criteria? First off, I had to ask myself whether the story could fit the bill for horror or squeak through on the tailcoats of dark/urban fantasy. And you'd be surprised at how many authors clearly ignored the fact that horror/dark fiction was the theme. (No. Really.) Then I looked at originality. Torture porn, stories that were derivatives of movies/TV series that are currently popular, or stories that had absolutely no point, these didn't pass muster. Perhaps the most telling reason for rejection was stories that technically still needed a lot of work (as in, if you use ampersands instead of the humble "and" and structurally need a lot of work mastering the mechanics of writing).</b><br />
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<b>That being said, I think the judges are going to have a tough time this year. I'm overwhelmed by the high quality of writing. The judges will be sending in their scores by the first week of January, by which time I'll be sending out the rejection letters... And will be mailing the lucky 13 who'll make it through to the anthology.</b><br />
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<b>And now, without further ado, I'd like to welcome the author of the current anthology's title story, Brett Bruton.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZjus3zhB6vEWhs1XYH64hWwCNF_5LmaRfgNPDrbxuANa7SgvZKrjoR3ZZrG36McR6VVZ-eCbkzDSU3vlUUGvtTPML6VwLJhtgucd4GvHgu8dw4o88wPqQopI5qH7A7woeiWi8GsybB5AL/s1600/Brett.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZjus3zhB6vEWhs1XYH64hWwCNF_5LmaRfgNPDrbxuANa7SgvZKrjoR3ZZrG36McR6VVZ-eCbkzDSU3vlUUGvtTPML6VwLJhtgucd4GvHgu8dw4o88wPqQopI5qH7A7woeiWi8GsybB5AL/s320/Brett.jpg" width="232" /></a><b>So, Brett, tell us a little about yourself.</b><br />
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Born and raised in the Eastern Cape. Studied fine art, English and modern fiction at Rhodes University. Played in one rock band, then another. Occasionally, I blog. Am currently living in Cape Town, South Africa, and working in advertising. It was the only industry that offered me free beer.<br />
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<b>Tell us a little about the background of your story.</b><br />
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I have a love/hate relationship with sci-fi. Much like pulp fantasy, too many authors use sci-fi as an excuse to get away with wildly improbable scenarios. Character stuck on a roof surrounded by ray-gun toting goons? Suddenly his boots have jet-boosters and his belt doubles as a gyroscopic stabiliser, because fuck logic, this is science fiction.<br />
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Good sci-fi, however, makes logic work for it. It carefully and subtly layers the sciences involved until you’re forced to look at it and go, “Yeah, that’s plausible.” It takes small bits of things you know and carefully reorganises them to create something that is both familiar and yet entirely alien.<br />
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That’s what I tried to do with <i>Hidden Things, Lost Things</i>. Rather than write a scary story built on everything the reader didn’t know (‘horror of the unknown’ and all that), I wanted to create something so familiar that, when he or she sits down to watch television, or curls up next to a loved one, they can’t help but wonder. I didn’t want to tell readers that monsters exist; I wanted to suggest how they could.<br />
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<b>Are there any interesting anecdotes relating to its creation?</b><br />
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Nope. Sorry.<br />
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<b>What do you like about horror as a genre?</b><br />
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The characters. The horror genre is built on good characters, people in the story that you can empathise with. The simplest story can be made terrifying with the right players, and if you can convince your reader that your character is scared, you’re far more likely to scare your reader.<br />
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<b>What scares you?</b><br />
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Taxes. Death I’m kinda okay with.<br />
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<b>Where can people find you online?</b><br />
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You can read my humour blog, <a href="http://thesecreases.blogspot.com/">These Creases</a>, although it’s in desperate need of an update.<br />
You can also follow my private ranting on Twitter at @BrettRexB.<br />
You’ll have to decide which is scarier.<br />
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Purchase Bloody Parchment electronically at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Hidden-stories-ebook/dp/B008E705X8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354818408&sr=8-1&keywords=bloody+parchment">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.kalahari.com/digitaldownloads/Bloody-Parchment/75579/45763451.aspx">Kalahari.net</a>, and <a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=bloody+parchment">Kobo </a>or <a href="http://www.booklounge.co.za/">in print at the Book Lounge</a>.<br />
nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-30112339526052701512012-10-19T03:25:00.001-07:002012-10-19T04:28:13.100-07:00Bloody Parchment Event 2012<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Nbhz_b7814LuxvNuwn41PcWnRWzO26yCOBSLbxOSMrjFu7NX6VyLPcIpCsEb4GJSX8Iovq8WlnXMnMYSjRFvfKx4EaTT2k2Qj-x04PXikpFKqJEpAvf7qEkeqgQ6nvblQPtFEysRq-Cr/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Nbhz_b7814LuxvNuwn41PcWnRWzO26yCOBSLbxOSMrjFu7NX6VyLPcIpCsEb4GJSX8Iovq8WlnXMnMYSjRFvfKx4EaTT2k2Qj-x04PXikpFKqJEpAvf7qEkeqgQ6nvblQPtFEysRq-Cr/s1600/Bloody+Parchment+2012.jpg" /></a></div>
Join us for this year's <a href="http://www.horrorfest.info/">SA HorrorFest</a> Bloody Parchment event when a selection of Cape Town's top local authors thrill and spook us with their horror-themed drabbles (a short story of exactly 100 words). Contributors include Sarah Lotz, Lauren Beukes, Dave Chislett, Louis Greenberg, Cat Hellisen, Joan De La Haye, Maya Teresa Fowler, Toby Bennett and others. Dress up like your favourite ghoul and join us for cupcakes and thrills at the <a href="http://www.booklounge.co.za/">Book Lounge</a> (71 Roeland Street, Cape Town), on Friday, October 26, 5.30pm for 6pm.<br />
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RSVP with the Book Lounge at <a href="mailto:booklounge@gmail.com">booklounge@gmail.com</a> and, if you have any questions, feel free to email <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a>nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-68825986173222948082012-10-09T13:26:00.000-07:002012-10-09T13:26:18.453-07:00Except for Bryan... Austin Malone's vision #guest<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPblgPPUP6jHhaUbKMtkFF38M0v6uSA7-gLtzjY_t67E7G_YVUle3wrplRneJKI4fjR2AkrtZWDoU63Usv-T4xgsCqSU-BWIVCPEXZYBDJf8OGzN31v8oxh4Il-YSUs2u177iSNdtDZLHJ/s1600/Austin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPblgPPUP6jHhaUbKMtkFF38M0v6uSA7-gLtzjY_t67E7G_YVUle3wrplRneJKI4fjR2AkrtZWDoU63Usv-T4xgsCqSU-BWIVCPEXZYBDJf8OGzN31v8oxh4Il-YSUs2u177iSNdtDZLHJ/s320/Austin.jpg" width="252" /></a><b><i>Today I welcome another of our </i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Hidden-stories-ebook/dp/B008E705X8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349814306&sr=8-1&keywords=bloody+parchment">Bloody Parchment</a><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Hidden-stories-ebook/dp/B008E705X8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349814306&sr=8-1&keywords=bloody+parchment"> </a>anthology finalists, Austin Malone, who's the man responsible for the chilling tale, Except for Bryan. So, Austin, tell us a little about yourself.</i></b><br />
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I'm a new writer with a lifelong love for speculative fiction. A native of New Orleans, I live in Texas with my wife and daughter. I enjoy chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, Belgian ale, and my favorite color is purple.<br />
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<b><i>Tell us a little about the background of your story.</i></b><br />
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As a child of the 80s, raised by parents who are devout horror fans themselves, I've been increasingly dismayed by the current trend to oversaturate the genre with zombies and torture-porn. I saw this anthology as an opportunity to reclaim horror for the genuinely creepy and disturbing tales that kept me awake at nights as a kid.<br />
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<b><i>Are there any interesting anecdotes relating to its creation?</i></b><br />
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Well, my job is such that I spend about six hours a night listening to podcasts. Some of my favorite ear-candy is the old time radio dramas from the 40s and 50s. While pondering what to write about, I came across an old episode about a woman who transfers the souls of her enemies into marionettes, and in listening, I rediscovered a fundamental fact: Puppets are creepy. I was also annoyed by the Xmas decorations that were popping up like fungus all over town in mid-October, and suddenly Krampus decided he wanted in on the story. For those unfamiliar with Santa's demonic little helper, Google is your friend.<br />
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<b><i>What do you like about horror as a genre?</i></b><br />
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In real life, the things that frighten us on a day-to-day basis are largely intangible. Unless presented with a direct threat, we tend to exist in a state of perpetual anxiety, unable to confront the things we fear. Not so in horror fiction. There, we always have the chance to face our fears. Even when the odds are stacked hopelessly against the victims, they can at least point to a tangible source and say, "There. That's the bad guy, right there. Overcome this, and we all get to live happily ever after, or at least until the sequel comes out."<br />
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<b><i>What scares you?</i></b><br />
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Once, while in a veterinary waiting room, I saw an elderly woman with a rabbit on her lap. She was feeding the rabbit strips of bacon, and I found myself unaccountably unsettled by this. So. Yeah. Little old ladies who keep carnivorous bunny rabbits... Brr.<br />
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<b>Where can people find you online?</b><br />
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Like most writers, I keep a trunk full of misshapen mutant brainbabies who have never seen the light of day. This trunk can be found at <a href="http://www.austinmalone.livejournal.com/">http://www.austinmalone.livejournal.com</a>. I'm also on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/austin.malone.982?fref=ts">Facebook</a>, if folks want to drop by and say hi there.<br />
nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-16868868602990846172012-09-23T00:41:00.001-07:002012-09-23T00:41:32.793-07:00Mico Pisanti and Fluoride in the Water. #guest<br />
<b>Today I welcome Mico Pisanti, who shares a little about his world and his story, <i>Fluoride in the Water </i>which is part of the current <i>Bloody Parchment </i>anthology. </b><b>G'day, Mico, tell us a little about yourself.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivSDV_gkeutozGVy1X5B2XfNnv5U-buPaNhbqLBiN60EomufK0p0Onasp02ci9Odk9dUgY10egtzKgYXAXhGm6fg0Shy2QloNibsWOUNmSv2bGILDj4w4PZAo7tayFAv7Ba-kcEBXBww1w/s1600/Mico.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivSDV_gkeutozGVy1X5B2XfNnv5U-buPaNhbqLBiN60EomufK0p0Onasp02ci9Odk9dUgY10egtzKgYXAXhGm6fg0Shy2QloNibsWOUNmSv2bGILDj4w4PZAo7tayFAv7Ba-kcEBXBww1w/s320/Mico.jpg" width="320" /></a>I am a child of the eighties, and therefore I count myself privileged to have grown up listening to radio first. Television followed later. This for me allowed the theatre of the mind to develop, and this was re-enforced by my mother who loved books and passed that on to me. Stories remain, in whatever format or medium, my first love.<br />
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<b>Tell us a little about the background of your story.</b><br />
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All I can remember about the genesis of this story was hearing laughter from a distance and thinking how lonely that sound can be if you’re in a certain state of mind. From there on the story grew organically, and I dare say, heavily influenced by writers such as John le Carre and Brett Easton Ellis. I had a fun with the detached narrative way the protagonist/antagonist’s thought processes worked.<br />
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Also, this story was my way of making sense of the senselessness of crime in our country, and maybe we all needed a shot of fluoride, like that Korova milk they serve in <i>The Clockwork Orange</i>.<br />
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<i><b>Are there any interesting anecdotes relating to its creation?</b></i><br />
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All my friends and family thought I was unhappy in my marriage: which I wasn’t. It’s like Stephen King says, sometimes you write the worst case scenario of your deepest fears to draw a magic circle around yourself, so that it will never happen. <br />
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<b>What do you like about horror as a genre?</b><br />
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I think horror allows a person, whether they’re reader or writer, to encounter their fears. Facing them head on can be therapeutic, even a rush. Also, as a genre, horror does not limit you. <br />
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<b>What scares you?</b><br />
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Losing the people I love.<br />
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<b>Where can people find you online?</b><br />
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Facebook, I guess.<br />
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<b>Submissions are open for this year's anthology are open until October 31. <a href="http://bloodyparchment.blogspot.com/2012/07/volume-two-unleashed-plus-opening-of.html">Find out more here</a>, or feel free to direct any questions to <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a></b></div>
nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-5998729366594028922012-08-30T13:19:00.005-07:002012-08-30T13:19:54.375-07:00Joan De La Haye and Death Express #guest<br />
<b>Today we welcome South African author Joan De La Haye, one of the contributors to this year's anthology. So, Joan, tell us a little about yourself?</b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4ZemkfbOBEeSCA4b7ud4hwYtk9AjSe71p0KU-NjcPVjfkEPKfn6drPQb02V1ixcDXYpjmHd9CDBPqEdnIYAnV09JB5sxli52axezlCapYyn17qAW2Nbzf6vo3kWwoUW_Hv31KVj8owKQ/s1600/Joan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4ZemkfbOBEeSCA4b7ud4hwYtk9AjSe71p0KU-NjcPVjfkEPKfn6drPQb02V1ixcDXYpjmHd9CDBPqEdnIYAnV09JB5sxli52axezlCapYyn17qAW2Nbzf6vo3kWwoUW_Hv31KVj8owKQ/s320/Joan.JPG" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joan De La Haye</td></tr>
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<b>JDLH: </b>I'm one of the very few South African authors living in Pretoria. Most SA authors seem to live in Johannesburg or Cape Town, heaven only knows why. My focus as a writer is predominantly on horror, but I have been known to also write some very twisted thrillers. I also spent most of my childhood living in Germany and Austria, beautiful countries. My writing tends to be rather dark and my sick and twisted sense of humour has a habit of making it's way into my stories.<br />
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<b>Tell us a little about the background of your story.</b><br />
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<b>JDLH: </b>I wrote it quite a long time before I heard about the <i>Bloody Parchment</i> anthology. The story sat on my laptop waiting for me to figure out what to do with it. It was rather patient with me, I have to say. I wrote it just after I got divorced, which is probably why it's so dark. Anyway ... the story is about a couple who go to an amusement park in Johannesburg. They go on a scary new ride that no one will talk about and scary things happen.<br />
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<b>Are there any interesting anecdotes relating to its creation?</b><br />
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<b>JDLH: </b>I wrote it shortly after I'd had a conversation with a woman who'd had an affair with a married man. What got to me, was the woman's absolute stupidity in thinking that the guy was going to leave his wife for her and that they would live happily ever after. I got home and <i>Death Express</i> was born.<br />
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<b>What do you like about horror as a genre?</b><br />
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<b>JDLH: </b>I love that there are no hard and fast rules in horror. I can let my dark side out to play and that is rather liberating and lots of fun.<br />
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<b>What scares you?</b><br />
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<b>JDLH: </b>Stupidity! And the thought of being burnt alive.<br />
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<b>Where can people find you online?</b><br />
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I can be found on my blog: <a href="http://joandelahaye.wordpress.com/">http://joandelahaye.wordpress.com/</a><br />
And Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/JoanDeLaHaye">http://twitter.com/JoanDeLaHaye</a><br />
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<b>This year's competition submission deadline is October 31. Find out more about the submission guidelines and this year's anthology <i><a href="http://bloodyparchment.blogspot.com/2012/07/volume-two-unleashed-plus-opening-of.html">here</a></i>.</b></div>
nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-45474618061586646542012-08-19T12:46:00.002-07:002012-08-19T12:46:17.643-07:00Lee Mather, the man behind Masks #guest<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqyT-cn6x5b2CXEx_-TV9YH68nyWlELVI42XCOF-Dl1VOnWyJoAwriE66VQVUDzIoMQ1FlXUiSL0b9wEnLv1qze-R-IHACDTHg2hKXhQaHJ87_RvzNfnrSRDM6AwzmhmXFRHcav6DDtNsw/s1600/Lee+Mather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqyT-cn6x5b2CXEx_-TV9YH68nyWlELVI42XCOF-Dl1VOnWyJoAwriE66VQVUDzIoMQ1FlXUiSL0b9wEnLv1qze-R-IHACDTHg2hKXhQaHJ87_RvzNfnrSRDM6AwzmhmXFRHcav6DDtNsw/s320/Lee+Mather.jpg" width="320" /></a>Today we welcome one of this year's anthology contributors, Lee Mather.<br />
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<b>Tell us a little about yourself.</b><br />
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<b>LM: </b>I'm a 34-year-old writer and business graduate from Manchester, England. I have works published in horror, urban fantasy and science fiction. My fiction tends to have a dark heart.<br />
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<b>Tell us a little about the background of your story.</b><br />
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<b>LM: </b>Masks is my contribution to the anthology. The story features a celebrated actor who is terminally ill. He receives a series of cryptic notes that hint at a terrible choice coming his way, a choice that might lead to a cure. I wanted to write something that touched upon our various faces, and how better to portray this through an actor.<br />
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<b>Are there any interesting anecdotes relating to its creation?</b><br />
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<b>LM: </b>I wrote this story on my honeymoon of all places! I'm not much of a sunbather, and rather than read by the pool, I decided to write. It's pretty weird to see the outcome, which is a horrid little tale, and think that it started life in the Malaysian sunshine. I had a pen in one hand and an ice-cold Mojito in the other…<br />
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<b>What do you like about horror as a genre?</b><br />
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<b>LM: </b>To be honest, I like any story that makes me feel, irrespective of genre. Horror doesn't have to be something that is shlocky or full of cheap thrills, but it should leave you with that raw, punched in the solar plexus feeling. Horror is best done when, as a reader, you have a reason to care about the outcome of the story. Pain and fear and grief are very real, very potent aspects of our lives. With a horror story, you hopefully get to experience these emotions from a safer place.<br />
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<b>What scares you?</b><br />
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<b>LM: </b>Pain, physical or mental, inflicted in my loved ones, and me helpless to protect them. Oh, and spiders. I hate the little bastards.<br />
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<b>Where can people find you online?</b><br />
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Anything you might want to know about me can be found at <a href="http://www.leemather.org.uk/">www.leemather.org.uk</a><br />
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Read up more about the current issue of Bloody Parchment and the submission guidelines <a href="http://bloodyparchment.blogspot.com/2012/07/volume-two-unleashed-plus-opening-of.html">here</a>.<br />
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nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1457003257811205963.post-16049924751919133402012-08-02T14:01:00.003-07:002012-08-02T14:01:39.434-07:00Toby Bennett's world of horror #guest<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIw8ZA7piFS6l60-rIxE_dqyaUKH9lDGIHtEZ10Pc2VBUxKYpsN-kS2vAN21EcrqT5YBIiE5E6096CE_MeZuxWrAhwXKGqm9hyHgl5B_it9qQGmywaNv_vYkn1cBDAugVmmLYb7UqidsTE/s1600/Toby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIw8ZA7piFS6l60-rIxE_dqyaUKH9lDGIHtEZ10Pc2VBUxKYpsN-kS2vAN21EcrqT5YBIiE5E6096CE_MeZuxWrAhwXKGqm9hyHgl5B_it9qQGmywaNv_vYkn1cBDAugVmmLYb7UqidsTE/s320/Toby.jpg" width="288" /></a></div>
The Mother City of Cape Town has had horror quietly going about its business in the shadow of the Hoerikwaggo in the shape of Toby Bennett, one of last year's Bloody Parchment short story competition finalists.<br />
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A born-and-bred Capetonian, Toby says: "I was born in Cape Town back in 1976 and loved stories from an early age. I’m not sure if my relationship with horror was always a good one since I can remember some pretty strong nightmares as a child. My first memories actually involve a couple of scenes from the original <i>The Amityville Horror</i>, I was too young to really understand what I was seeing at the time (my parents had taken me into the drive in as an under two) but that didn’t stop the bloody hand prints sticking, if you will forgive the pun. It took a viewing of <i>The Omen 2 </i>and an increase in vocabulary before my parents actually realised that I was sure there was a coven owls waiting to pluck out my eyes while they slept.<br />
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"So that was the start anyway, since then I have written six novels and various short stories. I’m not keen to be tied down to one particular genre but I’m a definite fan of the supernatural and unusual. I hope that comes across in my work, I certainly consider my job done if I can take people out of their own world, even just a little, and give them a glimpse of something new." <br />
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The background of Toby's story treads some familiar ground for those who love the genre. He says: "I think the inspiration or at least context for the story should be familiar to anyone who has a passing acquaintance with HP Lovecraft. I’ve always thought that the monsters you don’t, or can’t, see are far more terrifying than the ones you can. A werewolf is just a big dog and these days, god help us, vampires sparkle in the sun; real fear lurks in an empty room where you are completely alone but don’t feel it. You look into the mirror and ask, 'is this me?' or turn suddenly in the hope of catching a glimpse of what might be watching you, worlds away, but somehow tickling the corner of your senses and running tentacles lightly over the back of your neck. The unseen and the unknowable are at the heart of true terror, everything else we have made up to fear, ghosts, goblins or gods, are just ways to give shape to something more profoundly disturbing to us: the emptiness and the unknowable things that might dwell within. <i>A few withered leaves</i> is an attempt to tap into some of that fear and a question I have always asked myself, 'If I could turn round quickly enough what might I see following in the wake of my shadow?'"<br />
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As for what Toby loves about horror as a genre, he says: "Like I said human beings have a need to quantify and catalogue the things that go bump in the night. Horror taps into something primal and can be so many different things for different people. The one thing I think we all have in common is that no matter how terrifying something gets we don’t want to look away. Perhaps it’s similar to the way that some people take a morbid interest in serial killers. Once you’ve read a story or understand the ‘rules’ of a monster it seems less frightening, so horror really does offer us a kind of catharsis and ironically even a defence against our deepest fears. That’s the cerebral answer, another way of looking at it is that it can be fun to create a character and then five minutes later come up with a reason why something might want to eat them."<br />
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And in answer to the million dollar question most horror authors can give some pretty creative answers--What scares you?--Toby says: "Mice so depraved that they wear red shorts held up by suspenders! Also being asked to provide pictures of myself. Otherwise I’m fine… when I’m awake."<br />
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Check out Toby's website at <a href="http://www.thedragontower.co.za/">www.thedragontower.co.za </a><br />
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The majority of his written works are available at Amazon, but he's also on Facebook.<br />
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Find the Bloody Parchment anthology <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Parchment-Hidden-stories-ebook/dp/B008E705X8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343941174&sr=8-1&keywords=bloody+parchment">here</a>.<br />
<br />nerinedormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12885964421325041778noreply@blogger.com0