Month: February 2022

Poetry

Writing Is Like A Bloodletting by Elise Swanson Ochoa

The blood-red velvet curtainshang heavy and limparound the silken bed.Braided knots, damp sheetsbear my sweating, searing brain.A delirium, another fit, God, please, rid me of my sins. The cool drip of the towel pulled from the basinrings in my ears like the screeches of the damned.The hot licks of the fireplacewhip my veiled eyes.Tossing my cheeks,but I can’t turn away.My blood is dirty.Immediate purification, Almighty.Bring the leeches! … Continue reading Writing Is Like A Bloodletting by Elise Swanson Ochoa

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Criticism

Bath Haus Asks the Question: Aren’t Gay Sugar Daddies the Ultimate Villain?

P. J. Vernon has perhaps done the previously unthinkable: set himself apart from the usual mold of gay fiction with his sophomore novel, Bath Haus. Unlike more recent efforts in the gay male genre, namely Jonathan Parks-Ramage’s Yes, Daddy, inexplicably praised with generic words like “propulsive” and “ambitious” (sort of a polite way of saying that the ambition was not achieved), Bath Haus turns expectation on its ear through a thriller … Continue reading Bath Haus Asks the Question: Aren’t Gay Sugar Daddies the Ultimate Villain?

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Poetry

Underside of Being by Victor Marrero

1 Exertion itself must be the thing. Surely the tension is there. Pained devotion to exhaustion and gritstiffens will near the finish line: a native instinct of muscle and nerve, a twitch to flight, an ache wound-sprung deep inside each cell. Each recalls the captive’s limit of self-restraint. The reflex to be, the impulse to become what being begs to be, the primal need itself, blend as one. Outcasts seized within … Continue reading Underside of Being by Victor Marrero

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Essay

The Parallels Between The Final Girl Support Group and Scream

It was already quite noticeable that Scream was a major influence for Grady Hendrix in the writing of The Final Girl Support Group, with one of its final girls, Julia, having been attacked by a killer called the Ghost. Deliberately very similar to the Scream villain (ever-rotating beneath the mask, depending on what installment you’re in), Ghostface. Confirmed by Lynnette Tarkington’s (the narrator) description, “He wore black robes and a Halloween … Continue reading The Parallels Between The Final Girl Support Group and Scream

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