Time Sensitive Call For Submissions: “We Will Not Be Silenced”

Bruised But Not Broken, Whisper and the Roar, Indie Blu(e), and Blood Into Ink are joining forces to publish an anthology about the lived experience of sexual harassment and assault. We believe that it is more important than ever before that more voices speak out and reclaim their strength by owning their survival stories. All contributors, female and male, can submit up to three pieces of creative work- these can include; Poetry, Prose, Essay, Short Fiction, Prose, or original Artwork, but should be limited in length (under 1,000 words) considering that this is an anthology. You will be notified if your work is accepted. Please do not consider nonacceptance as any diminishment of your experience, but as with any publishing venture, we must try to fit the individual pieces together into a strong whole.

  • Submission of previously published pieces is acceptable if you still own the rights to your work.
  • Artwork can be submitted in black and white OR color but all artwork should be black and white compatible.
  • Using a pen name or publishing anonymously is acceptable.

All submissions should be sent to bloodintoink2017@gmail.com by midnight, Monday, October 15, 2018.

Book Review: Kindra M. Austin’s For You, Rowena, by Mariah Voutilainen

Kindra Austin’s For You, Rowena uncovers a mystery about love and relationships, and how loss can come back to haunt you.

By Mariah Voutilainen

Given a choice of literary genres, mystery is never my first to pick up.  Perhaps it is the constant and nagging question in the back of my mind: “How did the author create such a puzzle that I can’t immediately solve?”  The details, perfectly interlocking, lead to an ending that is usually satisfying, but leaves me somehow disappointed with my own inability to catch the culprit before the final chapter, or worse, obsessing about tiny clues in an attempt to solve the crime.  For You, Rowena was a different type of mystery for me:  I didn’t wonder so much at the intricacies of how a crime was planned or carried out; Kindra Austin set the scene and created characters so fascinating and sympathetic that the only question in my mind was “How did it come to this, and how will it end?”  This book goes beyond the machinations of an interesting mystery; it is a stirring exploration of human behavior.

Austin excels at character development through the course of the novella; the titular character, her lovers, and supporting players change very believably, very humanly.  This is especially true of Rowena.  I found her completely unlikeable from first mention; yet as I learned more about her, I grew to understand her attitude of seeming detachment and aloofness, to look beyond the words coming from her mouth and see the revelation of her true character through the actions she takes.

Mara, Lucas and Adrian, Rowena’s friends and lovers, are equally fascinating and surprising in their strange love for a woman whose idiosyncrasies and (at times) warring attitudes simultaneously repel and attract them.  Caught in the gravity of Rowena’s sun, their orbits are elliptical, closer and farther at times, but always revolving around her.  At times, I wished I could enter into the intrigue myself—to step for a moment into Mara’s slippers, or perhaps be a fly on the wall.  Either way, I was equally pulled into Rowena’s circle.

To delve deeper into the novella for this review would require revealing the storyline and its marvelous twists and turns, so I will refrain from spoiling your read.  Austin’s novella, much like her poetry, is full of the imagery of smoky rooms and cocktail kisses, dark evenings and secretive places.  The story of crime was artfully entwined with emotional and romantic loss that touched the deeper spaces of my heart.  Ultimately it left me with a buzz of satisfaction, and the surprise that my detective intuition was not far off.

For You, Rowena, is available on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.

Mariah Voutilainen, co-editor at Indie Blu(e), writes poetry and prose about all manner of things at www.reimaginingthemundane.wordpress.com.

Nicole Lyons Reviews Nicholas Gagnier’s Founding Fathers

I have been shook, and I have been rocked, and I have been swallowed by a book, and an author, and my own divisive and inclusive thoughts, after the fact.

With Founding Fathers, Nicholas Gagnier takes his readers to the darkest places where most of them have always been afraid to go on their own, and he has me leading the pack because he enthrals me and fills me with such a twisted dichotomy of ‘Oh my God, no’ and ‘Oh my God, yes’ and I am stuck, as I imagine all of his readers are, somewhere between ashamed and awed, begging for more and pleading for him to stop.

Founding Fathers hits hard, and it scrapes away any pleasantries and ‘how do you do’s’ within the first 100 pages. Nicholas Gagnier has a pulse on the times and rides the waves of our society, unapologetically and with truth so ugly it can’t help but be anything other than beautiful.

Nicholas Gagnier and Founding Fathers is a siren call of our times, a wicked truth and an ugly hope we all struggle with. Founding Fathers taps into the signs of our times and our ugliest motivation, and it is a glaringly beautiful representation of how and why we as a society have ended up where we are. It begs the question: is this who we are, is this who we will be, is this everything we have yet to become.

Nicholas Gagnier has weaved fire into Founding Fathers, and I dare anyone who reads it to step away and try not to check themselves and everything they believe.

Founding Fathers will be released by Blank Paper Press on October 9, 2018

Dena Daigle Reviews Love, Lies and Lullabies by Ashley Jane

I must admit, before I was introduced to Ashley Jane’s debut book of poetry and prose, Love, Lies and Lullabies (released on July 30, 2018), I had not yet had the privilege of indulging in her work; but after opening the cover, which is adorned with raw yet beautifully soft imagery, I am an instant fan.

Ashley opens this collection with the lines, “We painted with words, immortalized our souls with ink, sold our hearts to the masses,” a brilliant tagline sure to entice any admirer of words. We are then whisked into the whimsical realm of romance, where we experience both the beauty of the fall and the not-so-elegant reality of relationships in the book’s first section, Love.

In this section, Ashley brings us along the journey of a wounded heart that once settled for far less than deserved until coming to the realization that everything she ever wanted was right before her very eyes.  Ashley describes the “quick descent” one experiences when falling in love and puts perfectly into words what we feel in a new relationship, when struggling to find balance between the urge to stay and the instinct to run- a battle of the mind and the heart that anyone who has ever been scorned by love can relate to. But in pieces like Fragmented Heart we experience the patchwork art of careful hands willing to gently put the pieces of a once shattered heart back together.

I practically fell in love myself when I read the poem Lesson in Love, which reads:

“You hold me under velvet skies,
tracing each of my scars
and reminding me
that I am stronger because of them,
leaving me enough of those shadows
to rebuild myself
with bits of love.”

And although in Love is Messy, Ashley says “we try to define it, but it is not meant to be defined,” I believe she describes Love rather perfectly in this aptly titled section.

In the second section, Lies, we relive the pain of betrayal that adheres to our bones like mortar to the bricks we then stack high around our broken hearts.  As Ashley shares with us the misadventures of seeking happily-ever-after in fraudulent fantasies portrayed by “actors who use hearts for a stage,” we are reminded to take caution in the quest for love. She perfectly explains the way we lose ourselves when we become wrapped up in the pretty little lies we allow ourselves to believe against our inner knowing. I love the way Ashley reclaims her power by learning to “filter through the fallacies” in Self-Taught and then seals the deal by scrawling the lying muse’s name into her “little black book” and tossed away the key. My inner goddess cheered with joy as I celebrated that victory!

Lullabies, the last section of this incredible compilation, serves as a beautiful reminder that our inner light is always ready to illuminate the darkness when we are. Its dreamy vibe is filled with magic and mystery, the moon and stars, and an oceanic sky of endless possibilities to soothe the soul.

Ashley Jane’s Love, Lies and Lullabies is a must have for every poetry collection.

Love, Lies and Lullabies is available at Amazon.

Indie Blu(e) Welcomes Susan Conway

Susan M. Conway is an indie author from Auburn, Georgia, USA. Her debut novel, “A Life of Whoredom” was published in August, 2018. Other publications include two short story fiction ebooks, available on Amazon and Kindle. She is currently working on Life After Whoredom, a sequel to her debut novel.

Susan has been writing since grade school. In 2012, she began working on A Life of Whoredom. Initially, it was a blog that she was encouraged by her fans, to turn it into the novel that it is today. She is an avid reader, gardener, and meme hoarder. She can be found either going on adventures with her family, or lying awake at all hours of the night laughing at memes-even though she swore she was going to bed by 10 PM.

Follow Susan on

Instagram: @AuthorSusanMConway

PUBLISHED WORKS

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

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Deeply seductive and profoundly compelling, A Life of Whoredom weaves the tale of a troubled young woman from rural South Carolina, desperate to heal and seeking her truth, when she meets a mysterious older gentleman who captivates her heart. Taking her by the hand, he leads her into the belly of the BDSM lifestyle. Their torrid affair rips the veil back, exposing the risks and rewards of alternative lifestyles surrounding kink and fetish. A Life of Whoredom, is a tragic love story with a very provocative twist, that will embed itself in your heart, staying with you long after you have turned the last page.