EEKsclamations
The Official Newsletter of Karen L. Newman
Volume 1, Number 4


Thanks to everyone who voted for me in the 2005 Preditors & Editors Readers’ Poll. My article “How Message Boards Can be Helpful or Hurtful to Writers” finished eighth in the nonfiction article category. It was published in EEKsclamations, Volume 1, Number 3.


EEK OF THE WEEK

Well, it’s really the eek of January 2006 – ballot stuffing in the 2005 Preditors & Editors Readers’ Poll. My nonfiction article was ranked thirteenth according to the final tally link http://www.critters.org/predpoll/tally.html. The official result at http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/perpoll.htm is five places higher. The same discrepancies can be found in some of the other categories. I read on a message board that a novel that originally won wasn’t even published last year, although it was scheduled to be. I give kudos for the organizer of the poll for catching this serious problem and the ballot stuffing.

I can think of three possible reasons for ballot stuffing: some writers were desperate for an award to put on their resume or website, some people wanted to keep others from winning, and some people did it for their own amusement.

I can only hope if ballot stuffing happens elsewhere, that it’s caught like it was in the 2005 poll. If not, what value is an award?


RECENT SIGHTINGS

My work has appeared recently in several places, both online and in print. Please check me out at

The Dark Krypt where my poems “Living Dead Girl” and “Worked to Death” appeared online at http://www.darkkrypt.com/darkkrypttaylesA4.htm and http://www.darkkrypt.com/darkkrypttaylesJ7.htm “Living Dead Girl” won first honorable mention in the Deborah Madden Memorial category in the 2004 Kentucky State Poetry Society Contest.

Poe Little Thing where my poem “The Gardener” appeared in print

Verse Libre Quarterly where my poem “The Man without Arms” appeared online at http://celaine.com/content/index2.php?option=content&ask=view&id=130&pop=1&page=0 This poem, published in a mainstream literary magazine, is based on a real man who begged in front of the Lazarus department store in the 1970s and 1980s in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

The Drabbler where my story “After Astronauts from Earth Arrive on a Planet Covered in Water” appeared in print.

You can purchase these print magazines at either http://www.projectpulp.com or http://www.nakedsnakepress.com.


REVIEWS

My review of Nancy Jackson’s anthology Dream the Dark Majestic was published in Gothic Revue. You can read it at http://www.gothicrevue.com/DreamtheDarkMajestic.html.


NEWS

My latest poetry collection ChemICKals was sold to Naked Snake Press. It is scheduled for release in July 2006.

I was chosen to be a staff editor for Sam’s Dot Publication’s new anthology Appalling Limericks. Submission guidelines should be available in my next newsletter.

I will be the judge for the 2006 Kentucky State Poetry Society Contest in the category “Speculative Poem Award”. Submission guidelines for this should also be available in my next newsletter.


MARKETS

Naked Snake Press is temporarily closed to all submissions.

Flesh & Blood no longer accepts poetry submissions. However, the magazine is open for fiction up to 5000 words.

Champagne Shivers is now open to submissions. A demented nursery rhyme contest is open until February 28, 2006.


THE FINAL REACTION

Little to no writing talent + desperation yields cheating + resentment