Monday, April 26, 2010

Spotlight Weird: Shock Totem Magazine



Well, to kick off my new weekly feature, Spotlight Weird, I decided to start with my friends at Shock Totem: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted (clickable). As you can see by the picture of issue one, shown above, it's a beautiful magazine. However, there's a lot more to Shock Totem than wicked cover art and quality binding. The magazine is chock full of excellent stories, interviews, reviews and an interesting little nugget called "Howling Through the Keyhole", a section in which each author gives a little background to the fine stories published in the issue. These authors will literally blow your mind... they sure did mine. Even though only one issue has been released thus far, issue two is just around the corner and I kid you not, it's well worth going back and buying issue one as well as issue two. K. Allen Wood, editor of the magazine, is a great guy and he and the other "Totemites" have impeccable taste in fiction, art, and music. And they have great senses of humor, which is always a plus.

I'd recommend this magazine to any reader who loves horror, fantasy and all things weird. And if you happen to be a writer of those things... bring your A-game. Shock Totem might be new, but don't expect left-over-like stories. These tales are top-notch and are more than worth the cover price of the mag, $5.99 USD (plus shipping, of course); very low for a magazine of this quality. I've paid more for genre mags that look about half as good. Go visit the site, take a look around... buy issue one. Then buy issue two once it becomes available. You absolutely will not be sorry.

In addition to the magazine, there is also a nicely growing little community, Shock Totem Forums (clickable), where you can meet all the great people who work at the magazine and some who just hang out (like me). Also, Shock Totem hosts a themed flash fiction contest every two months and forum membership is required to take part, so if you're a writer who does a little flashing, keep it in mind. Just something fun to do, with possible publication as one of the prizes (the details are available on the forum). You can check out K. Allen Wood's blog, The Eyesore Times (clickable), for insight on the man behind the mag, for a good laugh (he is a funny, funny guy), or just to keep up with what's going on over at ST.

Now, as you may have noticed, this was not posted on Saturday. I decided to make "Spotlight Weird" a Monday event. So, check back next Monday for the next edition of "Spotlight Weird". Wednesdays will be a personal post from me, and Fridays I will join K. Allen Wood and Kara McElhinny, among many others, in posting weekly word counts so we can hold each other accountable. Thanks for reading and hey... as always...

Peace & Love
~Effie

9 comments:

  1. Aw, shucks. I'm all teary-eyed.

    Okay, that's a lie. But thank you, Effie! Really appreciate the pimpage. =) And Spotlight Weird is an excellent idea, too. Wish I'd thought of it. Haha.

    But seriously, thank you. =)

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  2. Totally welcome, K. Wood I heart on your mag pretty hard. It's the perfect magazine for me, as a reader, and that's saying something. I love short stories as it is, and even though there are tons of mags for horror and dark fiction, I've rarely come across one I've enjoyed from cover to cover. But I did enjoy ST from the time I opened it to the time I put it down... finished and satisfied. Y'all deserve the pimpage.

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  3. Hey Sweets great post!

    I haven't gotten my copy yet *blushes* but now that I'm back from my trip I'm going to rush righty over to the shoppee and get me one! I can't wait.

    And everything you said speaks true of the magazine, and the editors! They are all great, funny people.

    Great post hon! I don't think you're going to have a problem coming up with new ideas at all *wink*

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  4. Good post, Effie. Shock Totem deserves being pimped.

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  5. "I heart on your mag pretty hard."

    Really doesn't have the same feeling if you say it with your eyes closed, huh?

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  6. Totally agree, Shock Totem kicks ass. I was impressed as hell by the quality. I hope they're around forever like Weird Tales and a few others! Besides the mag itself, the kindness of the team is really something special. Great post, Effie!

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  7. Great pimpage for a fabulous magazine and forum. :D

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  8. Awesome...totally awesome!!

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  9. Hey, what an awesome review! Rock on. :D

    -Mercedes

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