The Launch of Megazanthus Press

[Nemonymous]

The 'Scriptus Innominatus' book is really the launch of the Megazanthus Ress - with the background of 'Nemonymous' in past years whereby exactly 100 original stories from new and old writers have so far been published and paid for.


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You may be interested in knowing that 'megazanthus' is a word I invented in 2003 as a hybrid of 'magazine' and 'anthology' coupled with below...

Me-gaza-nth-us

Me: the cult of 'me' ... as denied by Nemo
Gaza: Eyeless In ...(as in Aldous Huxley) ... I-less?
nth: to the nth degree - symbolic of infinity
Us: the Jungian archetype of ourness and timelessness and collaboration and shared universes


"The nemo is an evolutionary force, as necessary as the ego. The ego is certainty, what I am; the nemo is potentiality, what I am not. But instead of utilizing the nemo as we would utilize any other force, we allow ourselves to be terrified by it, as primitive man was terrified by lightning. We run screaming from this mysterious shape in the middle of our town, even though the real terror is not in itself, but in our terror at it."
-- John Fowles (from 'The Necessity of Nemo' in 'The Aristos' 1964)

[Spotbowserfido2]

Mr. Lewis,

Congratulations and best of luck with your new venture! I have performed a rather obscure canine ritual which should help to insure the success of Megazanthus Press. Being the seventh pup of a seventh pup certainly has its advantages...

Three wags of the tail (and that which shall not be revealed),
Rover

[Karnos]

I would like to take this oportunity to state my joy of having picked up yesterday (finally) my copy of "Weirdmonger". However, being in the office makes it a tad bit difficult to start reading it...being on the internet at working hourse is already risky enough.

[Nemonymous]

Thanks, Karnos!

Now an announcement:
The only horror fiction anthology book ever that can run a competition quite like this;
http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2007/07/zencore-competition.html

An historick nut to crack.

[Nemonymous]

ZENCORE IS A TRADE PAPERBACK BOOK NOT A MAGAZINE!

Trust me, those who enjoy reading Ligotti, will enjoy most of this anthology. So please excuse this blatant 'advert'.

Book for sale here:
http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/nemonymous_seven.htm

For auction:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=002&sspagename=STRK%3AME SE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=120143887418&rd=1&rd=1

Bumps for Books:
http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/bumps_for_books.htm

[Nemonymous]

In the latest edition of 'Book and Magazine Collector', there is a very strange little piece about anonymity in literature and is headed 'Secret Stories by Nemo' instigated by the recent publication ZENCORE (Scriptus Innominatus) published by Megazanthus Press 2007.
'Book and Magazine Collector' is a very smart regular booklet that has been going years in UK. Of course, ZENCORE does feature a story about a book collector!


Free books by simpling putting messages on message boards:
http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/bumps_for_books.mws

==========================
Nothing to do with Megazanthus Press, but whilst writing I thought I should give you this news:



Two commentaries:
http://blog.myspace.com/thelurkerintheshadows
http://blog.myspace.com/hoverbananas

One of them said:
"Possibly the most gruesome tale in the collection is also distinctive for being the shortest. D F Lewis's "A Pie With Thick Gravy", packs so much horror into so small a story that the effect is truly stunning, transforming an everyday food item into...well, just don't read it at dinner."


Black Book can be ordered here;
http://www.freewebs.com/mortburypress/
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[candy]

Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to post here to let you all know that I have received Zencore. It is a truly amazing work of art. I have only read two stories in it so far but I swear it is calling to me. I would like to congratulate Des on this fantastic book. It is highly recommended by me!!! Thank you Des for the great book!!!

Candy

[Calenture]

Quote

I decided to pick three stories at random and do mini-reviews, not bothering to mention which stories are attached to which thoughts (the titles are my own) Brendan Connell

Brendan Connell's review certainly catches the spirit of his subject. But the Tangent Online review by Jim Stratton is very perceptive. I was tempted to quote yards of it in this post. Fugly is another winner. Lenore and Pete have a miserable relationship. Pete’s attitude is “out of sight, out of mind”. Lenore tries to accommodate him by concealing things as nicely as possible. One night something breaks in through the bathroom window. It’s not human and it’s hurt and it appeals to Lenore’s protective instincts. Both Steel and Stratton liked this one, Jim Stratton wrote “’Fugly’ is another of the true gems of this collection, one of the successes of the experiment.” Jim steel: “It’s a cracker.” I liked it, too.

The Nightmare Reader: “Over the years I had come to realize that, through a process born initially of suspicion... my thoughts were being transmitted across time and space to be recorded in a journal by a boll weevil-shaped creature bearing the name Old Rothrad,” So begins this journey into madness. At Thomas Ligotti Online, Slaweck (Yellowish Haze) writes that he likes this story because “I love to experiment with dreams myself and enjoyed the cynical tone of the story.” Jim Stratton thought that it was “An interesting presentation, but overlong and less than engaging.” I thought there was an interesting story here struggling to emerge from the dense writing. The sentence which I partly quoted to start this actually ran for a couple more lines before my edit. Overwriting is probably the problem with a few of these stories. A love of words sometimes overpowers the storytelling, resulting in lack of focus. There are tersely told stories here, and those are usually my favourites. But this same love of words seems to be precisely what appeals to so many Nemonymous or Zencore readers.

There’s no problem with overwriting in The Secret Life of the Panda as Denis does his best to stay out of life’s way, then is thrown abruptly into it when he has to cope with an emergency. Will becoming an active player in life change him? I think there’s something a bit “John Updike” about this one, if memory serves me.

Upset Stomach: Another good one as Todd gets that bloated feeling and gives birth to a horror in the toilet at work. Entertainingly funny and in the best possible taste, it’ll be interesting to see if anyone owns up to writing this one.

The Awful Truth about the Circus: Nothing ever happens in Carly Carmichael’s life. The world is passing her by and she’s been praying for a miracle for weeks, when she sees the poster advertising “PROFESSOR MUSTO’S AMAZING THREE-RING CIRCUS!” The story has a small-town background and plot which shows certain similarities with those of Ray Bradbury, but without much of the Bradbury magic. The circus could hardly be more different to the one in Something Wicked This Way Comes. I quite liked it, though, as it’s an honest enough story, simply told.

Red Velvet Dust: “One morning Chelsea woke, knowing exactly where her mother was, and that they needed to talk, immediately.”Twenty years after the death of her mother, Chelsea has still not come to terms with the death. Chelsea is a dramatist, and when she needs another actor for her new play, she straight away thinks of her mother and asks her to join the cast. Death, clearly, presents no obstacle to the true thespian.

The Coughing Coffin: A bunch of old duffers are passing the port at their club, when Major Guthrie begins one of his many strange anecdotes, this time about the visit he made to the vault of Morstan House. His friend Hadingly-Scott has died, and the Major wants to pay his respects. But in the vault, he is disturbed when he hears the sound of coughing which apparently could only have come from the sealed casket.This one’s marvellously funny and the plot accomplishes the amazing feat of emulating the flight of the incredible oozlum bird, which as we all know flies in ever decreasing circles, until... well, we won’t go there.

James Stratton writes that: “The Coughing Coffin is the cleverest tale of the collection, built around a joke within a joke within a joke...”

More to come...
You can get Zencore here.

[G. S. Carnivals]

As one who has "won" Zencore! and the five previous Nemos, Only Connect, and Weirdmonger, I can now say that I've run the board in regard to D. F. Lewis' generous "books for bumps" offers. This is analogous to "money for nothing and chicks for free." Again, I urge you to check out the link which is des' current signature. No spam or other crapola will ensue, just freebies from one of TLO's best friends. Post haste, post hastily, but post. The clock ticks.

Edit: The ephemeral DF Lewis signature has evolved. Try this instead:
http://weirdmonger.mindsay.com/bumps_for_books.mws

Very cool books!

	TLO THOMAS LIGOTTI ONLINE

[Nemonymous]

Thanks, Phil!

Annd now: Zencore has seven 'Honourable Mentions' for 'Horror' half of 'Year's Best Fantasy & Horror':

"Torsion,"
"Mmm-Delicious,"
"Undergrowth,"
"Fugly,"
"Terminus,"
"Mary's Gift, the Stars, and Frank's Pisser,"
"England and Nowhere,"