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Loathing is a Strong Word to Apply to One’s Self

Published December 19, 2013 by Jennifer Loring

Whatever

I’m a writer and I really don’t have self-loathing in my blood, or in my liver or indeed in any other organ or part of my body (including the brain, which I suspect is ultimately the relevant organ under discussion here). As a result I am more than vaguely annoyed by the declaration above, which comes from a Salon article about “Literary Self Loathing.”

This is not to say that on more than one occasion I have not had doubts or concerns about my writing — the thing that writers do when they’re in the middle of writing a book and they think to themselves okay, honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing and that’s going to be obvious to anyone who reads this thing is something that happens to me…

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TALES OF OBSCENITY #1 PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT

Published April 24, 2013 by Jennifer Loring

image.jpeg SST Publications are proud to announce the release of Tales of Obscenity #1. This exciting debut issue of our new horror & erotic horror magazine features fiction by Jennifer Loring, Angeline Hawkes, Ty Schwamberger, John Everson, Jeremy Terry, M.R. Gott, Christopher Fulbright and J.F. Gonzalez. The beautiful cover art is by David Ho and the full-colour interior artwork and story illustrations are by Luke Spooner, Alan M. Clark, Allen Koszowski, Mike Mabrey, Daniele Serra and Vince Natale. This debut issue also features a ten page, full-colour Mini Gallery from cover artist, David Ho.

The magazine is now available from Amazon US (http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Obscenity-1-Paul-Fry/dp/1909640018/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366793646&sr=1-11) and will be available very soon, in print and eBook formats, from all major retailers.

To celebrate the launch of our new magazine, we have a fantastic special offer for you!

Purchase a print copy of Tales of Obscenity #1 from anywhere at all, and if you like it and would like to pre-order a copy of the Special Limited Hardcover Signed Lettered/Numbered Editions:

Just send your proof of purchase (snapshot/screen shot/scan/photocopy etc.) to mailpfry@gmail.com and we will give you:

£6 off a copy of the Signed & Lettered Limited Edition or
£3 off a copy of the Signed & Numbered Limited Edition!

(Please remember to state which edition you’d like to pre-order: either the Signed & Lettered or the Signed & Numbered and we will send you a PayPal invoice for the new discounted price.)

It’s like you’re getting a copy of the print magazine for nothing or for half price! What have you got to lose! It’s our way of saying thank you for all your support, and if you do like the mag, you might even fancy subscribing. You never know!

This special offer expires on May 6th, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. (GMT).

For more details about the very Special Limited Hardcover Editions please visit SST Publications: http://sstpublications.co.uk/sst/Magazines/Tales-of-Obscenity-1-Hardcovers.html

SST Publications is also proud to announce the publication of our new eNovelette Series.

We will be publishing novelettes as eBooks in the horror, erotic horror, dark thriller and dark sci-fi genres.

Our new eNovelette Series will be a little different as the bestselling titles from the series will be published as comic versions. These will be comic adaptations of the same story drawn by a comic/graphic novel artist. They will initially be released as eComics to see how well they sell.

If the eNovelettes and eComics sell well, there will be a print edition of them published in the future. Either published individually or in a collection containing a few eNovelettes/eComics that we have published in the series.

Novelettes are defined as having a word count of between 7,500 to 17,500 words. They are a great reading length as they are longer than short stories, but not too long as to be read quickly. They’re the perfect length if you’re after a nice, quick and enjoyable read to fill in a few spare minutes. Our eNovelettes will be around the 10,000 word count.

The first three titles are now available for pre-order directly from SST either individually, or together for a special discounted price.

For more info on the first three eNovelettes in the series please visit: http://sstpublications.co.uk/sst/Ebooks/eNovelette.html

Time Enough

Published February 6, 2013 by Jennifer Loring

I am counting the days until June 30. That’s the day I graduate from grad school with a shiny MFA and begin the rest of my life. It’s been a mostly enjoyable couple of years, and I’ve learned a lot, but this term is especially labor-intensive despite having finished my thesis (still needs edits). I’m ready to move on, both from the book and from school. I suppose I wouldn’t feel this way quite so much if the process hadn’t led to the unavoidable neglecting of so many other projects. Since completing my thesis, however, I’ve taken advantage of the opportunity to finish up a novella I began over 2 years ago, and to indulge in pleasure reading again.

But there is one thing I really, really miss and haven’t been able to fit back into my schedule yet. Art. You probably know by now that I have a BA in studio art. I draw, paint, photograph, collage… While I never pursued art as a career, it has always maintained an important role in my life. (And, since getting into the craftier side of things, I’ve become a junkie for Tim Holtz’s Idea-ology stuff.) I’m taking a leave of absence from work April 8 to May 6 in order to concentrate on my final project for school, but that will be the entire focus of my life during that time–as well as allow me to regain some of the sanity I’ve lost after spending 11 or more hours a day juggling school, writing, and my day job. In the interim between the end of class on May 6 and my final residency starting June 25 (with a 3-day jaunt to World Horror Con in between), however, getting back to art will be a major priority. I’ve got two collages-to-be sitting on my worktable already! And I want to get back into making music, which I started over 10 years ago. Maybe give my stuff a proper release on Bandcamp and probably for free.

I do have some good news–I’ve sold another short story. So, as of right now, I’ll have four stories out this year, three of them in anthologies. It’s pretty exciting, and since that leaves me with very few unsold stories left, I’m excited to get back to short fiction. I think short stories will always be my first love.

What about you? What are your passions, and how do you fit them into your life?

From Words to Pictures

Published August 21, 2011 by Jennifer Loring

I’ve written 22,000 words (just on my novel–I’m also 4 pages into a new short story) in the past two months. This accomplishment seems to have spurred my creative energy in general, because now all I want to do is create something. Anything.

A recent post of mine bemoaned the fact that I didn’t have enough time to pursue all of my interests, at least not while juggling grad school and a job. It’s ironic, then, that this month I discovered a new hobby thanks to my dear friend Joy. They are called deco books, and they rose from the slam/friendship book culture of the 80s. The point of deco books, however, is the artwork. While my boyfriend frowns upon them as a waste of time, I value them for their therapeutic and stress-relieving properties. They have also led to a rekindling of my interest in collage and mixed media. My original senior project as an undergrad was to be a massive mixed media piece that was slightly too ambitious for the time frame in which I had to work, and the senior show in general. I always regretted not following through with it, and over the years I did a few more mixed media pieces before abandoning it in favor of writing and illustration.  

Thanks to deco books, I’m creating art again, even if it falls more on the “craft” side of the spectrum at the moment. Just this evening I hand-cut a stack of artist trading cards to challenge myself to work that small (normally I work no smaller than 11×14–these are 2 1/2 x 3 1/2), and tomorrow I plan to buy some canvas panels for collage work. I started an art journal this week as well. I may be stretched a little thin, but I firmly believe that I do not have to sacrifice one of the things I love in order to succeed at the other. Like the ATCs, this will be a challenge to myself. And I think it’s one I can beat.

Summer break, I hardly knew ye.

Published June 5, 2011 by Jennifer Loring

In a couple of weeks I will be starting my second term of grad school. I’m looking forward to it, but damn, I need a vacation. On that note, Zach and I have tentative plans to go somewhere in the fall. I’ve started saving up for it, wherever “it” may turn out to be. We’ve tossed around San Francisco and New Orleans as possibilities. I’ve been to NOLA 6 times already but never to San Fran. I wouldn’t mind a trip back to Seattle, either. My other idea was to take cruise either to Mexico to see the Mayan ruins, or up to Alaska for some whale-watching. All I care about is getting away from work and school for a few days. Mostly work.

Break, though brief, has been fairly productive. I don’t love the story I submitted for residency, but I had no new material. That will be remedied for January residency, as I cranked out two pages of a new story last night. Thanks to “The Universe,” Phil Plait, Ph.D and my obsession with the Degenerate Era of the universe, I’ve started work on a science fiction story about a synthetic human witnessing the beginning of the end. It’s the first thing not influenced by fairy tales (even my thesis uses “Donkeyskin” as the antagonist’s back story) that I’ve written in a very long time.

Tomorrow I begin working on my synopsis, which my mentor advised me to do during break so I could focus on my thesis once the term starts. I’d rather crawl naked through a pit of fire ants, but it’s due at the end of July either way, so I don’t have much choice but to get the thing done. I read a fairly decent book about synopses as my reading component for last term, which did give me a bit more confidence than I have had in the past when faced with this task.

I’m also working on a series of 15×20″ illustrations of Looney Tunes characters. Zach loves Looney Tunes and I thought it would be a cute gift. Marvin the Martian is already hanging on our wall; Wile E. Coyote and Michigan J. Frog are next. I still have a pile of drawings for which I need to do color studies, a 14×17″ Iron Man that needs color, Invisible Woman and Phantom Lady sketches that need to be finished… It is perhaps obvious now that illustration was my intended career once upon a time. 🙂 I will be posting examples on the Art page in the future (I just got the Photography page up, so bear with me).

We have the new turtle tank and will be moving the little green monsters in shortly. The new filter should be arriving tomorrow, at which point Zach needs to build a basking platform and we need to fill the thing (75 gallons, argh). On the bright side, they will have all the space they need to grow to full size, and I will have my living room shelves back so I can put out the rest of my toy collection.

On a final note, I’m hoping to get a new episode of my podcast up by tonight. It’s going to be a good one, so check it out!

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