Matt Betts tries to explain himself

I just got a note that "The Book of Tentacles" from Sams Dot Publishing is available for purchase. They accepted a short poem from me called "The Mantle of Power" a while back and it's finally seeing print.

You might guess from the title that all of the stories and poems had to have something to do with tentacles. I figured the natural inclinations for an anthology like this and ran in the opposite direction - I wrote a short western poem featuring gunfighters... and tentacles.

Logical, no?

Here's the table of contents and the blurb:

The Book of Tentacles edited by Scott Virtes and Edward Cox {Sam's Dot Publishing}
It's been over a year in the making, but finally The Book of Tentacles is reaching out for us from the depths of the minds of various writers. It's a perfect bound trade paperback, and if it has something to do with tentacles, it's in here: science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Yes, there are Cthulhu stories. Yes, there's interspecies romance [between writer and squid, for one]. Yes, there are suckers, graspers, vermicelli, carapaces, and strange adventures on land and in water. Come see what Scott Virtes and Edward Cox have assembled for your reading enjoyment.
INTRO by Scott Virtes
"A Lady’s Quick Reference Note on the Tentacle" – Miss Camille Alexa
"Call of the Bailiff" – Matthew Bey
"Professor Hilliard’s Electric Lantern" – Robert J. Santa
"Lab Assistant" – Marge Simon
"A Quiet Neighborhood" – Laura J. Underwood
"In the Octopus’s Garden" – James S. Dorr
"Drosera" – Joshua Gage
"The Temple of Squoad" – Steve Goble
"A Ferrylouper at Stenness" – Christopher M. Cevasco
"Cascade" – Cathy Buburuz
"Hideki and the Giant Squid" – Mark Lee Pearson
"Mishmash: From the Case File of DragonEye, PI" – Karina Fabian
INTERLUDE: Weird Art by Scott Virtes
"Long and black in the middle of the night" – Sharon Bray.
"Low Life" – Clinton Lawrence
"P6 is Burning" – Scott Virtes
"Slightly Pudgy Writer Seeks Foreign Entanglement" – Tyree Campbell
"What Did She Know of Love" – Terrie Leigh Relf
"Taking Root" – Rob Brooks
"Sucker Punch" – Mark Onspaugh
"The Little Sea Maid" – Kendall Evans & Stephen M. Wilson
"One Big Drinker" – Billy Wong
"To See" – Jim Ehmann
"Mr Octopus Hands" – Brian Rosenburger
"Dead Wait" – Carl Hose
"Jar of Peaches" – Terry Hickman
"The Mantle of Power" – Matt Betts
"Blood Amber" – Keyan Bowes
"Ink and Shadows" – Kali Black
"Azure Doom" – William Blake Vogel III
"The Anemone Garden" – David C. Kopaska-Merkel
"The Signal" – Aurelio Rico Lopez III
OUTRO by Edward Cox

Yes. I'm on time for a change. Not a big report today other than to say I haven't used what few writing opportunities that have come my way. The weekend was exhausting, and I still seem to be recovering from it.

Managed to up my wordcount to 28,759. While it isn't much progress from last week, I still feel good seeing that count edge closer to 30,000. Good stuff.

 

28760 / 85000 words. 34% done!

Don't get me wrong - it still looks like a pretty big task!

You can download the latest issue of Shimmer Magazine for free at their site. Shimmer’s always got some great writing, this issue is certainly no exception.

And...

Wendy S. Delmater, Managing Editor of Abyss & Apex wants you to know what all the terminology means when you get rejected.

That is all. Carry on with your Monday!

I finally figured out how to post the video from my cell phone of John Scalzi singing 'Tainted Love' at Millennicon's Karaoke party over the weekend.

You can see it now at my main blog.

Enjoy!