Ahhh...Sweet Blurbage to My Ears...













I just wanted to share the latest with you! Thanks for indulging me...

Wickedly Yours,
Fran

LATEST NEWS:

Novella Scheduled for Realease – Summer 2006!

From the press release at Insidious Publications:

Mama’s Boy, by Fran Friel

Deep within the confines of Penn’s Asylum waits a scarred and broken man with a seemingly non-existent past. Found burned and unresponsive twenty years prior, Frank Doe’s dark secrets have remained locked away in mute silence. That is until Rebecca, a beautiful young doctor newly assigned to the wards of the asylum, steps in to unlock and scour Doe’s psyche for answers about his past. Shocking revelations bring about the doctor’s own troubled history, opening a long-closed set of wounds that she herself must face.

A novella of deep, dark and disturbing images, Mama’s Boy is a story you won’t soon forget. Perhaps it will even unleash your own wounds lying just below the surface. Will you withstand the demons inside?

This is a perfect bound Novella. Illustrated by Zach Pennington, Tom Moran, Jason Beirens & Zach McCain, edited by April Miller, Chris Hedges and Paul Danda and layout-design, printed and bound by Insidious Publications as well as an introduction by author, James Newman. This Novella is a Signed and Numbered Limited Edition, 100 Copies.

The book is hand made and hand bound. High gloss soft cover, full color interior illustrations, French parchment end paper, linen signature sheet and is signed by the author, all artists and author, James Newman.

"A fun, old school psych ward confessional full of blood and betrayal where you can't tell who are the inmates and who are the keepers."--Tom Piccirilli, Bram Stoker Award winning author of Headstone City and November Mourns

"Fran Friel's MAMA'S BOY is a gripping, disturbing, and more- than-slightly twisted debut novella. Though you may feel the need to shower with boiling water afterwards, Friel accomplishes the fine art of making you squirm--big time--without being needlessly graphic. A demented winner from a very promising new author."--Jeff Strand, author of PRESSURE and (CASKET FOR SALE (ONLY USED ONCE)

"Mama's Boy is compelling, suspenseful, and disturbing as hell! Fran Friel has made a fan out of me!"
- Brian Knight, author of King of Souls and Hacks.

Omaha - If you're in the neighborhood...



I love artists almost as much as I love writers, so when I saw this image on dizzykid's (incredible artist, btw!) profile at MySpace, I had to find out more.

From The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts:

Kent Bellows

Event Time: March 3 - May 28, 2006

"Exceptional and perceptive. Flawless and masterful. Such words are commonly used, but fail to describe the works of Kent Bellows, whose painting and printing techniques captured character and persona as few artists before him. The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is extremely pleased to present Kent Bellows from March 3 – May 27, 2006, an exhibition featuring works from Bellows’ close friends and long-time collectors, all of whom came to appreciate the artist’s relentless pursuit of his next great work as well as his generous, caring spirit. The Bemis Center will also present Kent Bellows: A Celebration on Saturday, March 25, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. This special event is a public opportunity for family and friends of Kent Bellows to celebrate his life and work. This event is free and open to the public.

"Born in Blair, NE in 1949, Bellows grew up in a home where art, literature, music and theater were prized. Although he attended the University of Nebraska, he considered his parents to be the most important influence on his art. Renowned for his figurative portraits, Bellows demonstrated a keen ability to capture detail and an even greater compassion for the human character. Whether male or female, he captured all the strength, dynamism, fragility and vulnerability inherent in the human condition.

"When New Realism developed during the 1970s and ’80s, Bellow became a master of its sub genre Sharp Focus, sometimes also referred to as Meticulous Realism. In the essay “Get Real” published in 2000, Virginia Anne Bonito commented: “Bellows’ technique is noteworthy; he is among the most skilled masters in the medium of graphite on paper, and he has recently translated his meticulous approach into the oil medium. His images in graphite on paper challenge the viewer’s belief that they are not 'art' photography.” Forum Gallery, which has offices in both New York City in Los Angeles and is one of the leaders in the field of contemporary figurative art, represented Bellows and labels him “America’s greatest master of figurative drawing.”

"Bellows exhibited his first paintings in the Old Market in 1970 and 1971, and although he developed a reputation as an artist of international rank, he remained in Nebraska and painted from his studio in Omaha. In an interview with The Reader in September 2005, Mark Masuoka, Executive Director of the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, reflected: “People know how significant of an artist he is. When anyone makes that kind of an impact, they become a cultural icon. People who aren’t from Omaha, when they hear the name, think, ‘Jun Kaneko lives there. Kent Bellows lives there.’ That an artist of that level lived here — that’s huge.”

"IN MEMORIAMA former Bemis Center Artist-in-Residence in 1988, Bellows’ work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Toledo Museum of Art, to name a few. Sadly, Bellows passed away in his home in September 2005 at the age of 56. Generous to family, friends and artists alike, the Bellows Family has requested that those interested in making a contribution to the Kent Bellows Memorial Fund contact the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts at 402.341.7130 for more information."

For more images of Kent Bellows' art, take a look HERE, but only if you find the nude human body beautiful as a subject of art.

Wickedly Yours,
Fran Friel

The Horror Library Wants You! by RJ Cavender

I'm posting this message for my dear friend and colleague, RJ Cavender:




















Friends of +The Horror Library+

Can I ask a favor?

Pass on the word, if you like +The Horror Library+...that's all.
Or, if you're a writer...come join us!

It's going to be a VERY busy time for +The Horror Library+ coming up. We're going to be debuting TWO NEW COLLECTIONS:

+Horror Library+ Volume I

Butcher Shop Quartet

And our sister company company Dark Recesses Press, has an incredible PDF download magazine that you can get copies of complimentary, just for the time being!

Thanks much, thanks for being our friend, and we hope to see you soon in our office at Zoetrope if you're a writer!

To join The Horror Library workshop over at Zoetrope Virtual Studios, simply sign-up (it's free and easy) and then do a member search for me, R.J. Cavender, and send me a request to join the HL office. Once accepted, you can workshop your stories and interact with the general population of our office.

I'd venture to say we're one of the larger 'horror writer communities' outside of the Horror Writers Association. And...we don't charge a membership fee! Stop in and check out what the group has to offer you.

Also, feel free to join my community on MySpace.Com! Not as much workshopping, as there is just plain goofing around, but I've met some great writers and artists on there as well.

But, please...pass the word on. +The Horror Library+ has done well over the years from word-of-mouth referrals, and it's really in our fans' hands to tell friends and writers about our site and online community. We appreciate your support, we really do.

R.J. Cavender
www.horrorlibrary.net
www.myspace.com/horror_library_net

There's always room for more...bodies.

BLOODSTONE in Braintree!


Yes, you can find BLOODSTONE in Braintree this weekend!

My Shocklines friend, author Nate Kenyon, will be signing and entertaining the fans this Saturday, April 15th, from 2-4 pm at the B. Dalton bookstore in the South Shore Plaza Mall, Braintree, MA.

Here's just a taste of what's been said about Nate and BLOODSTONE:

“A dark thrill ride, layered in an atmosphere of dreamlike unease and disturbing imagery… characters that are so three-dimensional they threaten to step off the page…a debut that will live on in your nightmares long after you’ve finished it.”
- HORROR WORLD

“A dark, disturbing, white-knuckler of a page-turner!”— DOUGLAS CLEGG, author of The Priest of Blood and Afterlife; Bram Stoker and Horror Guild Award winner

“Bloodstone is a stunning debut. The writing is smooth and refined, the imagery striking and vivid, and Kenyon proves adept at involving the reader and dragging him or her along for a very dark, very disturbing ride.”— TIM LEBBON, Bram Stoker and British Fantasy award-winning author of Face, Desolation and Berserk

Watch the BLOODSTONE Video Trailer for the book and be sure to visit Nate from 2-4pm at the B. Dalton in Braintree, MA this Saturday. If you can't make it to the signing, you'll find BLOODSTONE HERE (free shipping), and everywhere great books are sold!

Wickedly Yours,
Fran Friel

That Cover Freaks Me Out!

That cover freaks me out! Oh, but in such a good way. And dang, the stories are just as bad...and yes, in a good way, too.

Don't miss Issue 3 of Dark Recesses Press! And the price is right...FREE! How's that sound? AND for a VERY reasonable fee, you can also get the high resolution CD-ROM version (available soon!) at Shocklines, complete with original music and an interview by yours truly (yes, me) with the wonderfully wicked author, James Newman.

Buy a copy and help make sure our writers and artists get paid. All proceeds go back to the contributors! Yup, we editorial schmucks work for glory and accolades only. So if you have any of those...they're very WELCOME!

For a limited time you can get Dark Recesses Press at the free-download page: www.DarkRecesses.com.

The new CD version will be available soon at Shocklines.com. In the meantime, you can still purchase Issues 1 and Issue 2.

Enjoy!

Wickedly Yours,
Fran Friel