Category Archives: sea creature

Quick One Minute Review: POTC 3

Just back from Pirates Of The Caribbean 3 with my three brothers. Super cool.

Johnny Depp is great, as is Johnny Depp, and so was Johnny Depp, and ohhh look there’s Johnny Depp over here and another Johnny Depp over there…. how many Johnny Depps can you count? LOL! Funny!

Best scene:
The Black Pearl cruising full speed and full sail across the desert sand dunes. Amazing!

Most amazing special effects:
The decent into the maelstrom! Awesome action packed scene!

Should win an award for:
Best movie wedding in history!

Shocker:
Crazed fan girls beware: DEATH ALERT; one of your fave pirates doesn’t make it to the end of the movie!

Best quote:
“Nobody move! I dropped my brain!” ~ Jack Sparrow or was that Jack Sparrow… oh wait, no, it was Jack Sparrow.

Insider advice to those who have yet to see it:
Stay until the VERY END… stay in your seat, and watch the words go by. AFTER the words go by, watch for a surprise “second” ending.
If you already watched it, and you didn’t stay to see what happens after the words go by… than you missed a very important part of the movie: YOU MUST GO BACK AND WATCH THE MOVIE AGAIN!

Ultimate question:
This movie didn’t actually “end”; like the ending of POTC 2, it ends with what appears to be the beginning of a POTC 4. Well there be a POTC 4? Has anyone heard?

Star Gazing Pie or Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

I think the question that every writer hears the most is: Where do you get your ideas? The answers are as varied as the writers who give the answers. For me the answer is every where in every thing. Case in point:

I like to go to WalMart and read the names of the colors on the paint chip samples… it’s weird, I know, but I get some great story ideas from them.

Another strange place where I get ideas is from cookbooks. in fact one thing that stands out in several of my books is Etiole`s  favorite food: Star Gazing Pie.

Probably the strangest thing to ever occur in my Twighlight Manor books, is The Star Gazing Pie that shows up in every story that used Etiole`.

There is a story behind this. I was in a dentists office in the 80′s and was reading the gourmet cooking magazines that were in his office (why a dentist had gourmet cooking magazines in his waiting room I do not know). One of the magazines was a large almost book-like French magazine (we live in a French community, so books and magazines imported from France are not an unusal thing to see around here— and how I come to collect Picsou Geant comic books). The magazine was filled with these great French dishes that look impossible to make and must be heaven to eat, and than I saw the most bizarre thing I had ever seen in my entire life: a recipe for Star Gazing Pie. It’s enough to make you sick, and not a recipe I would ever have expeced to see, just the perfect thing for a family of vampire-like creatures living in a haunted house.

Star Gazing Pie is sea-food that is literaly see-food. A fish pie that is decorated with nothing less than the eyes of the fish that was baked inside. There they were, staring up at the stars, eyes carefully placed ontop of the freshly baked pie…  REAL EYES all glassy and looking like something straight off Tales From The Crypt.

At first I was horrified, but than I was intreeged and after reading the article about the resturant in France that served this strange dish, I knew right than and there that it was perfect for my French male siren Etiole`. Since that day, never a story can be written about Etiole, that does not at some point feature mention of Star Gazing Pie.

 So you see, ideas came come to you in the strangest of places and when you least expect them, al you have to do is keep your eyes toward the star and have an open mind.

~~EK

What Does “Non-Genre” Mean?

Many publications say they only accept “Non-Genre Fiction”. A common question writers ask is: “What is Non-Genre Fiction? Doesn’t all fiction have a genre?” I had just read this post and noticed a debate over what is the meaning of Genre Fiction VS Non-Genre Fiction had begun on it’s comments.  Being an editor, I think I can be of help here. So, here is my answer to that question. I hope that some of you find it helpful when submitting your future stories to publishers.When a publication says, “they’re non-genre focused”, they mean that they only want literary fiction and will automatically refuse all stories that a genre driven. A genre driven story is one that falls under the following:

Romance

Fantasy

Sci-fi

Horror

(and the many other such genres out there)

Genre driven stories are focused largely on promotion of their genre and the story focuses totally on that genre. I.e., a romance focuses on a girl’s romantic infatuation; a fantasy will focus on the life of elves wizards and he-men type characters fighting evil in a epic quest; sci-fi focuses on alien life forms traveling from one planet to the next and other such sci-fi type things; horror focuses on scaring the pants off the reader

When a publisher say “they’re non-genre focused” they want to see a slice-of-life story about the day (or week or year) in the life of so-and-so… this is what is known as non-genre or literary fiction. The story focuses on real-life type characters in real life type situations; stories that real like they could be the life of the guy next door or the girl down the road. Non-genre stories tell a story that is not dependant on a fantasy quest or the eloquent narration describing the alien landscape or the steamy sex-scenes. They simply tell a story about life and thus have no genre.

Well, that’s what I see it to mean. Feel free to comment on your own veiws as to the meaning of “non-genre”.

~~EK

Submission Guidelines for Moonsnails

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myspace layouts, myspace codes, glitter graphics 

Basic Submissions Guidlines:

This is a quick overview of our basic guidelines. See our fully detailed guidelines for each seperate genre on our Submission Guidelines website.

Status:
Moonsnails is currently accepting submissions

Title:

Moonsnails Magazine

Magazine Format:(projected)

Quarterly: 6″ x 9″, 96 – 132 pages per issue;
60 lb bright white paper, B&W text; 10pt glossy laminated perfect bound full color cover

Circulation:

world-wide though print on demand

Contact Info:

Wendy C. Allen, editor-in-chief, twighlightmanor@yahoo.com

Submission Format:

Send in body of email, 12pt Courier or Times New Roman or Send at attachment .RTF 12pt Courier or Times New Roman.

Payment:

copies only at this time; buys one time rights, (the right to print story in one issue; author retains copyright)

responce time: 2 – 6 months

Needs:

Short stories up to 13,000 words.

Literary Genre fiction. Cross-gen OK.

Rarely uses poetry. Poetry used only if it can be considered a full-fledged story, complete with characters and plot. Never accepts free-verse.

Genres Accepted:

Sci-fi, Fantasy, Gothic Romance, and “mild” Horror

Sub-Genres and Cross-Genres Accepted:

Action, Adventure, Alien Invasion, Alien Realms, Alternative Histories, Amateur Detective, Americana, Ancient Civilizations, Animal Stories, Biographical Fiction, Christmas, Classic Literature, Colonial America, Cryptozology, Dark Fantasy, Dragon Tales, Easter, Ethnic Fiction, Espionage, Faerie Realms, Fairy Tales, Family Sagas, Fantasy, Folklore, Frontier Sagas, Furries, Futuristic, Ghost Stories, Gothic Romance, Halloween, Hard Science Fiction, Haunted Houses, High Fantasy, High Seas Adventure, Historical, Horror, Humor, Inspirational, Kung Fu, Literary, Mad Scientist Sci-Fi, Mermaid Tales, Military, Mystery, Murder Mystery, Paranormal, Pirate Tales, Psychological Thiller/Terror, Regional: Maine, Regional: Quebec, Romance, Science Fiction, Serials, Short-Shorts, Slueths, Space Fantasy, Space Travel, Spiritual, Sword & Sorcery, Supernatural, Suspence, Thiller, Time Travel, Twilight Zone style, UFO stories, Unicorn Tales, Utopian Realms, Victorian, War, Western, Wizard Tales, Young Adult.

Things Rejected:

Rejects all stories that contain:

abortion, animal abuse, child abuse, cutting, death glorification, depression, depressive self-pity, drinking, drugs, elder abuse, erotica, expose`, gore, hatred, hunting, politics, pornography, sex, smoking, swearing, suicide, vulgar verbology, and stories about “how my teenage years were crap”.

Stories must be family friendly and rated PG-13 or less

Poetry Needs:

We focus on short stories, thus rarely use poetry.

Sometimes accepts poetry, at best it’s only 4 poems per year, IF it tells a story and has strong characters. Same as fiction needs, seeks longer “epic length” story poems akin to Robert Browning’s Pied Piper of Hamlin, Edgar Allan Poe’s Raven or Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs & Ham. Prefers long rhyming poems with strong characters and a strong story plot.

Poetry Rejects:

Same as fiction rejects, plus: Does not accept free-verse poetry, haiku, short poems, poems without characters, poems without plots, meaningless ramblings, odes to…, poems without rhythem, or any other type of poem that does not tell a complete story from beginning to end.

Cover Art:

Usually done “in-house”, but well consider submissions of full-color photography or paintings, covering any genre. Always seeks beach and ocean themed photos or paintings. Do not send originals. Email files as atactment. Files must be compatible with MSWorks, MSPaint, or MSPublisher 97, .jpg files prefered. Note that we can not accept .tif files, our email treats them as a virus and deletes them. See fiction for needs & rejects list. Buys one time rights.

Art & Inside Illustration:

Usually uses spot illustrations and copyright-free/public domain illustration, but well consider submissions of B&W, pen & ink, line art only … no pencil, no shading, no grey-scale, no color, our printer well not accept them. All illustrations must be 4″ x 6″ or smaller and camera ready. Do not send originals. Email files as atactment. Files must be compatible with MSWorks, MSPaint, or MSPublisher 97, .jpg files prefered.  Note that we can not accept .tif files, our email treats them as a virus and deletes them. See fiction for needs & rejects list.

Advice:

Best advise: buy a copy of Brian Froud’s Faeries. Use it as though it were our Submissions Guidelines. Treat it as your Writer’s Bible. Use it to create believable fantasy characters. Never go anywhere without it. If you want to write for us than consider Brian Froud your new best friend, read everything he ever wrote. Study every painting he ever did. Watch every film he ever created. Watch the 2 movies written by Brian Froud: Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.

Read the Retief series by Keith Laumer and The Hitchhicker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. We like that kind of sci-fi best.

Watch Star Trek (the original series), Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, X-Files, and Tales From the Dark Side. Let them inspire you. If your story would make for a good episode on one of them, than we want to see it!

We like to see strong characters. Character driven stories. Well written plots. We like fantasy realms, dreamscapes, and alien planets. Creativity is always welcomed. Pirates are always good, we need more pirates. Always seeking stories about Mermaids, Sirens, Dragons, Unicorns, or other creatures of the Realm of Fay. We like to see characters that Brian Froud would have created.

Let your imagination run wild.

Twighlight Manor Press Home Page

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Twighlight Manor Press Home Page

testing tags

having a problem getting posts to show up… testing to see if tags are working yet

Unusual sea creature…

I just saw this picture on another blog:

Under The Sea

[...  The picture at the top of this post is of a creature (one of many bizarre and odd beasts) that washed up after the tsunami in Southeast Asia in December of 2004. Its alien strangeness reminds us of the natural possibilities…  ...]

Does anyone have an info about this creature? Perhaps someone knows of any articles about it? if so please post a link to them in my comments, I’d love to find out more about this. Thanks!

~EK