Tag: Brian James Lewis

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM DAMAGED SKULL WRITER! STARTING OFF RIGHT WITH MY FIRST PUBLISHING CREDIT OF THE YEAR IN “ILL WINDS AND WILD WEATHER” FROM SMOKING PEN PRESS

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Happy New Year all you monsters! It’s your old pal Skull with some good news for lovers of all thing speculative: A brand new Read on the Run anthology has just been released from Smoking Pen Press, and it includes a story from my mortal host Brian James Lewis! How about them poisoned apples? His short story “Too Cold For July” is one of the many great stories included in Ill Winds and Wild Weather, a collection of intriguing pieces that are just the right size for reading while one is riding the bus, waiting for food, sitting in your car while an oil change is happening, or chilling between classes. If you’ve got a few free minutes and an e-pub reader, the Smoking Pen Press has an anthology to help you escape the boring normality of the usual day. In fact, Brian’s story is about a person who likes to hit up thrift shops for cheap music to break their writer’s block. I don’t want to spill the bones, but I CAN tell you that it doesn’t take long for the blocked writer to wish they were back at their boring office. Unfortunately when one is dealing with dark magic, a quick sidestep is pretty much out of the question…

Currently, Ill Winds and Wild Weather is available from Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Gardners, and of course Amazon. Here is the link for obtaining it there: https://www.amazon.com/Winds-Wild-Weather-Smoking-Press-ebook/dp/B0CRTCVBZG There will be a physical ink and paper option available in the next few weeks as well. As always, thanks for following your old pal Skull and his mortal Brian James Lewis at http://www.damagedskullwriterandreviewer.com . You can also catch up with us on Twitter/X @skullsnflames76 . Stay tuned for cool things happening this year, including posts about writing and mental illness, Brian’s upcoming publications in Trajectory, The Iconoclast, and Sunlight Press. There will also be book reviews, and more information about Ill Winds and Wild Weather from Smoking Pen Press.

ONE MORE ACCEPTANCE BEFORE THE YEAR ENDS, AND IT MARKS MY RETURN TO THE ICONOCLAST: A SUPER COOL INDY LIT MAG!

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The accepted nonfiction piece, “Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em” tells the story of how I managed to stay alive and even be deemed “cool” by some seriously badass dudes in a rough New Jersey neighborhood called “the commons”. It’s a mix of humor, tragedy, and how, in the words of the late, great BB King, “Everybody lies a little sometimes.” Writing this story brought back a lot of cool memories and I will be submitting more nonfiction in 2022.

Iconoclast editor-in-chief, Phil Wagner will tell writers what he thinks. So even when you get a rejection, it will often come with a quick note explaining what could have been better. When you’re starting out, this kind of feedback is invaluable. He pays in contributor copies and does business the classic old school way, which I really enjoy. Writers and poets send in a physical submission via the post office, along with a SASE for reply and wait to hear back, just like our heroes did. I was previously in issue 114 with my short story “Finally” and look forward to being in issue # 125 soon!

PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE ACCEPTANCE OF FOUR OF MY POEMS INTO THE “BEAUTIFUL TRAGEDIES 2” ANTHOLOGY COMING SOON FROM HELLBOUND BOOKS!

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I enjoy writing all kinds of poetry, but there’ll always be a large part of my heart dedicated to the dark, speculative, and horror forms. Life itself is often a big horror movie. Maybe it’s a bit more subtle, and there aren’t clowns with chainsaws running through your living room. But how about getting stuck on the highway at two in morning, or having to slip out the backdoor of your girlfriend’s place because there’s a man out front who wants to introduce you to his pals, Smith & Wesson? To everyone who married their high school sweetheart and lived happily ever after, kudos! For the majority of the world, love hurts, maims, and sometimes kills. People commit suicide because their hearts are broken. Beauty is often only skin deep and it’s easier than one might think to find yourself trapped in a real bad spot. I think “Beautiful Tragedies 2” is going to be a book that slices you to the bone but also offers a solace to those in dark places. Damaged Skull Writer will keep you posted on this book’s progress and let you know when it hits bookstores. Until then…be careful out there. Unless you enjoy pain, then by all means carry on!