BIBLIOGRAPHY.....NEWS...REVIEWS

PHOTOGRAPHS...POETRY...GRAVES...LINKS

uesday May 13, 2008

"Red lips are not so red as the stained stones kissed by the English dead." Wilfred Owen

Well finally something new to report (no one ever said I was a fast writer). My World War 1 short story, I AM THE SHADOW THAT WALKS THERE, has sold to the anthology Unspeakable Horror: From The Shadows Of The Closet. I'm thrilled to be a part of this book soon to be published by Dark Scribe. You can check out my bio page and photo on their site right here!

And speaking of World War 1, the title of my story is taken from a poem by Wilfred Owen. I kept two of his poems taped to my desk as I worked and they helped me immensely with this story. Please take a moment to check out the Wilfred Owen site with all of his war poems. He began writing after suffering shell shock and a stay in a war hospital. His first book was published posthumously (he died in battle just a week before the war ended). His work is painful, heartbreaking and filled with a passion only a soldier who suffered firsthand in battle could express.

I have another new piece currently in consideration and am working on a murder mystery.

And remember the anthologies Dark Arts and Dead Cat's Traveling Circus both contain recent stories of mine and are still available to purchase.

In my library at home.

ednesday September 5, 2007

"Happiness leaves such slender records; it is the dark days that are so voluminously documented." Truman Capote

It has been a long time since I have updated my site due to what I shall refer to as a walking-nervous breakdown. Well, what kind of writer would I be if I didn't fall apart on occasion? But all is back to my version of normal. I have one story currently being considered by a magazine and I am working on a new one titled A DRAWING-DOWN OF BLINDS. This one is a dark mystery that takes place in England near the end of World War One. I've had to do a lot of research for this due to my complete lack of war knowledge.

I recently discovered and purchased the Oscar Wilde DVD box set containing BBC versions of many of his best plays along with a wonderful version of Dorian Gray. This set also includes a first-rate documentary on Wilde. If you're as big of a fan of Wilde as I am, pick up this collection.

Lord Byron, the queen of the house!

ednesday August 31, 2006
"Whither is fled the visionary gleam/ Where is it now, the glory and the dream." William Wordsworth

I recently discovered the website Very-Clever.com and found two lovely reviews of my work I thought I might share. And I'd like to thank the readers for their kind words.

One of the year's best

Michelle Scalise is one of the best newer female horror writers to hit the circuit in years. Pick up her first collection and you'll see just how creative and unique her fiction can be. She moves easily in her voice and theme from Southern weird gothic fiction to smooth and sultry dark erotica that will melt your brain. Pick this book up now! Highly recommended!

The Lady Can Write!

Michelle Scalies makes one heck of a statement, weaving a tapestry of several different prose styles, including a pretty hot erotic "girl on girl" tale that is sure to raise your eyebrows (at the very least). Yet she cut her teeth on horror prose, and it shows. Elegant, disturbing, fluid, nasty--altogether quite an impressive debut.

And here is a photo of the newest member to our family, Edgar Allan Poe.

uesday August 29, 2006

"Yes, in spite of all, Some shape of beauty moves away the pall From our dark spirits." Keats

The latest issue of DARK DISCOVERIES is out right now with my story Three Floors Down We Cleanse The Soul. Pick up a copy right here at Shocklines.

And in other happy news I just learned that my novellete THE BEAUTIFUL ONES from Crimewave #8 received an honorable mention in YEARS BEST FANTASY AND HORROR.

hursday March 16, 2006

"One cannot always keep an adder in one's breast to feed one, nor rise up every night to sow thorns in the garden of one's soul." Oscar Wilde

My news this week is that my story THE BEAUTIFUL ONES from Crimewave magazine has made the Preliminary ballot in long fiction for the Bram Stoker award and has received some really wonderful reviews. I have short stories coming out soon in Devil's Work and Dark Discoveries.

unday Feb. 5, 2006
"Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak Whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break." Shakespeare

My story THE BEAUTIFUL ONES which appeared in the latest issue of Crimewave has received a few Stoker recommendations in the long fiction category. This comes as a nice surprise since Crimewave is a UK magazine that most readers in the US are not aware of. If you are an HWA member and you'd like to read the story, please email me at Darkiss566@aol.com and I will send you a copy as a RTF attachment. And if you'd like, scroll below and see what some reviewers have had to say about the piece.

hursday Jan. 31, 2006
"You don't know what it is to stay a whole day with your head in your hands trying to squeeze your unfortunate brain so as to find a word." Flaubert

Here's what a few reviewers have had to say about my story THE BEAUTIFUL ONES which just appeared in Crimewave 8 (a trade paperback magazine that is receiving glowing notices):

"In "The Beautiful Ones," Michelle Scalise takes us back in time to Victorian London for the first person tale of a failing poet and playwright who is secretly gay and addicted to chloral, which causes vivid hallucinations. When one of his associates—a more successful playwright named Childe—is arrested for indecency for cavorting with young, male prostitutes, our protagonist must decide whether to publicly come to the aid of his friend, or suffer what he is in silence. Or does the chloral have other plans?This is a well-written story. Scalise does a wonderful job of painting a different time period for us and has peopled it with sympathetic characters who are fully realized." TANGENT ONLINE

"‘The Beautiful Ones’ by Michelle Scalise is a story that works on many levels. The narrator is a failed playwright and wannabe aesthete, who lives on the fringes of the Edwardian gay in-crowd, the ‘beautiful ones’ of the title. He is haunted by visions of a drowned woman, the wife of Childe, an Oscar Wilde character facing the same kind of trial that the great man did. Mrs. Childe is very much alive as the visions are induced by chloral, the drug of choice for the beautiful and sophisticated. The aesthetes are portrayed as desperate, elegant, and persecuted – but also have their delusions about themselves revealed. They hand hard faced rent boys roses and quote poetry in an effort to gild a lifestyle that is self centred, shallow, and exploitative, devoid of any loyalty, affection, or genuine emotion. When the crisis comes, both Childe and the narrator are abandoned by their friends. The most honest assessment of them comes from a renter who betrays them : ‘pretentious fops pretending you were better than me.’Threaded through this story is another one: that of Childe’s wife, a pathetic creature who loves her husband and retains her devotion to him although she is of no importance to him. She is fated to be a ‘shadow drifting past his window,’ an object of mockery to his witty friends (her dress sense is despicable, apparently, and her loyalty and devotion of no account). The narrator’s visions turn out to be premonitory – for all the excessive emotion and dramatics of the aesthetes, it is she who commits suicide, quietly and without fuss. The haunting of the narrator is really a battle with his inner self. Marriage with a suitable girl who bores him is on the cards. He knows the damage done to Mrs. Childe, but he tries to love his fiancée (after all, her father will finance his latest play) but in the end is torn hopelessly between his desire for men (eerily explored in dream sequences) and the security of the camouflage of marriage. The denouement is shocking and it is impossible to know who to feel most pity for. " Laura Hird THE NEW REVIEW

"The Beautiful Ones, by Michelle Scalise is set in Victorian London, and recounts the terror of persecution lived by a drug-addicted, homosexual, playwright." TANGLED WEB UK REVIEW

I've recently sold stories to DEVILS WORK and DARK DISCOVERIES. Look for them both to appear sometime this year.

In closing let me express my heartfelt thanks to friends and family for the many condolence cards, flowers and emails, all of which helped us through an awful time.

hursday Jan. 26, 2006

"Forever honour'd, and forever mourn'd" Alexander Pope

I haven't updated in a couple months due to the sudden death of our beloved pug, Criswell.

unday November 6, 2005
"Great writers create; writers of smaller gifts copy" Somerset Maugham

Lot's of news this week. First of all, Here's a picture of Tom and me that accompanied our interview in the local Colorado newspaper, The Reporter Herald.

Tonight (Sunday November 6) you can see Tom and me in a television interview on Denver's channel 2 at 9:00 PM.

INTERVALS OF HORRIBLE SANITY is now sold out.

uesday Oct. 25, 2005
"An idea, like a ghost . . . must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself." Charles Dickens

The BIG BOOK OF EROTIC GHOST STORIES, which contains one of my short stories, appeared in hardcover last year from The Venus Bookclub. Blue Moon Books has just rereleased the anthology in paperback.
Just click on the bookjacket for ordering information.

My story "Three Floors Down We Cleanse The Soul" has sold to Dark Discoveries Magazine. Look for it in an upcoming issue.

Crimewave #8 is out right now containing my novelette, THE BEAUTIFUL ONES. This is a wonderful British magazine you don't want to miss.

Tom and I were interviewed today for the local Colorado newspaper, The Reporter Herald, about life as horror writers.The article will appear the day before Halloween.

ednesday August 3, 2005

"Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December; And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor." Poe

The latest issue of CEMETERY DANCE (#52), containing my story How Far We Fall From Grace, is finally out. You can pick up a copy at your local Barnes & Noble, Borders, online at Shocklines or direct from the Cemetery Dance website. It took me eleven years to get into this magazine so I hope everyone enjoys it.

unday July 10, 2005
"What a bitch of a thing prose is. It's never finished; there is always something to redo." Flaubert

It's time to do some pre-ordering from Shocklines for a couple anthologies I'll be in this summer.

First check out DARK ARTS from Cemetery Dance

Limited Edition: $35
Lettered Edition: $175

TABLE OF CONTENTS: "The Disease Artist" by Steve Rasnic Tem, "The Shape of the Empty Heart" by Gerard Houarner,"For Art's Sake" by John Pelan, "With Acknowledgements to Sun Tzu" by Brian Hodge, "Hurdy Gurdy" by Pedar Ó Guilín,"The Art of Madness" by Edo van Belkom, "The Power of Preserving Pictures" by Leah Cutter,"The Death Technique" by John B. Rosenman, "Body" by Tim Lebbon, "I Hear You Quietly Singing" by Lucy Taylor, "Learning to Leave the Flesh" by Jeff VanderMeer, "The Hoplite" by Paul Finch, "Chained Melody" by Patricia Macomber, "Works of Art" by J.F.Gonzalez,"The Disinterment of Ophelia" by Michelle Scalise, "If You Were Glass..." by David Niall Wilson, "A Splash of Color" by Mike Oliveri, "The Mist Machine" by Charlee Jacob, "Scratching the Surface" by Michael Kelly, "Kodachrome" by Lorelei Shannon,"Nightmares, Imported And Domestic" by Mark McLaughlin and Matt Cardin
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Then take a sneak peak at DEAD CATS TRAVELING CIRCUS OF WONDER AND MIRACLE MEDICINE SHOW (damn, that's one hell of a long title!) from Necro Publications
$45 limited to 300 Hardcovers, signed by all contributors

Edited by Gerard Houarner and GAK. Stories by Tim Lebbon, Brian Hodge, Gary Braunbeck,

Wrath James White, Mark McLaughlin, Michelle Scalise, Jeffrey Thomas, P.D. Cacek, Linda Addison and more!
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CRIMEWAVE#8: COLD HARBOURS should be out any day now! If you enjoy strange mysteries check this one out.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Dating by Ron Savage, Twenty Dollars by Susan Fry, Time Capsule by Stephen Volk, How To Build Your Own Coffin by Scott Nicholson, Jury Duty by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Black Dog by Joel Lane, Scarecrow by Tom Brennan, The Beautiful Ones by Michelle Scalise, Adjustment by Luke Sholer, In The Rundown by Joe Hill, Then The Snow Bled In by Darren Speegle, Lost In Darkness by Ian R. Faulkner & Simon Avery, Green Lady by Jay Caselberg, Friday Nights by Steve Rasnic Tem, Is It Better Now? by Steve Mohn, Bienvinidos A L.A. by Ryan G. Van Cleave

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The next issue of Cemetery Dance Magazine will be out sometime this summer with a new story of mine. Just sent off my latest story PATRON SAINT OF WALKING GHOST. I'll have more news on that once it finds a home.

uesday April 26, 2005

"I'll walk where my own nature would be leading- It vexes me to choose another guide." Emily Bronte

Just a quick update: my novelette, THE BEAUTIFUL ONES has sold to the British magazine Crimewave and should appear this summer in the next issue. I'm thrilled about this. Crimewave is a beautiful looking magazine filled with strange mysteries. I had a hell of a time deciding where to send this piece. It's a little bit horror but not quite, somewhat a mystery but too odd. Well, you can see it for yourself in a couple months. It may be hard to find a copy in the US but you can always purchase it online at their website or at Shocklines.

unday april 17, 2005
"The work of art must seize upon you, wrap you up in itself and carry you away. It is the means by which the artist conveys his passion. It is the current which he puts forth which sweeps you along in his passion." Auguste Renoir

I've just added three new pages of photos from WHC in New York . The city was great as always. I didn't want to come home! And if I'd known I was going to have to sit in the plane for two hours before it managed to get off the runway, I probably would have just stayed.

WHC was lots of fun with very little sleep in a strange hotel with even stranger elevators that seemed to transport people into other realms. I was a member of the Women in Horror panel, signed a ton of signature sheets for the next Dead Cat anthology, had my picture taken with Harlan Ellison (yes, it was nerve wracking) after he signed some of my books, hung out with lots of great people and bought art. Prints by Chad Savage (along with a very cool dead babydoll!), Matt Towler, Caniglia and Allen Koszowski are now waiting for me to frame.

Sunday afternoon when the con ended we had a chance to finally visit the Museum of Modern Art. Amazing place with a breathtaking room filled with Jackson Pollock's art.

Next year's WHC is in San Francisco and they've already got the website up.

ednesday March 30, 2005
"And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life 's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more" Shakespeare

And that cheery quote can only mean one thing...it's time for me to get on another plane. Next week we leave for World Horror Con in New York City. I will be a guest on a panel entitled Women in Horror and I'll be one of many writers involved in the mass book signing event. A new Dead Cat chapbook that will be given away to guest, includes one of my poems and I'll be signing the signature sheets for the Dead Cat Circus anthology while I'm there.

And more importantly, I will be heavily medicated on the plane.

WHC is a great event. For more information check out their website at World Horror Convention.

The next issue of Cemetery Dance magazine comes out in May and will contain a new story of mine. Still waiting to hear about my novelette and I'm halfway through a new story titled, The Patron Saint of Walking Ghost.

Check back in a couple weeks for tons of pictures from WHC.

aturday November 13, 2004
"Whether we are describing a king, an assassin, a thief, an honest man, a prostitute, a nun, a young girl, or a stallholder in a market, it is always ourselves that we are describing." Guy De Maupassant

Tom & Michelle at Horrofind Phoenix.

It looks like we'll be heading back to New York City in April where Tom will be one of the guest authors at World Horror Convention.

We haven't been to WHC in at least three years so we're pretty excited. The artist's dealers room is always amazing.

Want to read something that might cheer you up just a bit after the recent elections? Check this out:
17 Reasons Not to Slit Your Wrists...by Michael Moore

And if you're looking for a great DVD to buy or rent then check out the first season of Arrested Development. I was pleasantly surprised to find a show THIS smart and funny (and no laugh tracks!) on regular television.

ednesday November 3, 2004
"Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost; That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly softly wash again and ever again, this soiled world." Walt Whitman

How about if we start with the good news? Horrorfind Phoenix was a blast! The hotel was beautiful, we hung out with lots of old and new friends and the flight was short . Got to talk a bit with Angela Bettis from the movie MAY. If you haven't seen this yet go out and grab a copy. Very strange and creepy and she's a wonderful actress. I've added two new pages of photos from the event so go take a look HERE.

Bad news? Four more years of war, eroding personal rights and the knowledge that so many Americans refuse to allow gays to marry. The list is too long. Fear and hate won the day...too depressed to write any more on this subject.

Okay, I thought of some more good news! Talking to Adriene Barbeau at Horrorfind I found out that Carnivale (on HBO) will be airing its second season very soon. And another one of the few good reasons to own a television, The Office, just aired its two hour final episode here in the U.S. and it was worth the wait! Perfect ending to a truly funny show.