Website Banner

I won't be using banners on the links page of my website (www.hydramstar.com), but for those who do and wish to link to my site I have created a banner.

I'm a .COM

That's right! I've FINALLY done it. I've built my own personal website. I thought with the new magazine coming out and the anthology and everything it was time.

www.hydramstar.com

Submission Guidelines for Infernal Ink Magazine

Fiction and poetry:

We accept all genres of fiction and poetry that fit with our basic theme; extremely dark fiction, pieces with humorous, sexual, or erotic elements. Basically, we will be looking for stories that make the reader cringe and turns them on at the same time, makes them laugh while a voice in the back of their head tells them they are going to Hell for finding such things funny, or just plain freaks them out and disquiets their minds. Evil, this is what we seek, in all its gory, fun, and carnal glory.

Stories and poetry which contain adult content, harsh language, and graphic violence will all be considered for publication, so long as they contain nothing that will get us, the publishers, arrested.

Absolutely, no artwork, photography, or illustrations of any sort.

Stories should be between 500 and 5,000 words. Poems should be at least five lines in length.

No fancy fonts or formatting. We prefer font size and type to be 12pt Times New Roman and submissions to be single spaced, but are not anal about it.

ALL submissions must come via email attachment in either a .rtf or .doc file. Absolutely no PDFs or submissions sent in the text of an email will be accepted.

Multiple submissions are welcome.

Previously published works are welcome. However, it is the obligation of the author to make sure their work is no longer covered under any sort of contract with another publisher that would prevent them from being able to submit it. All contributors are be required to sign a contract with us, via email, which will give us exclusive rights to the work for six months, from the date of publication. During those six months the work in question should not re-published, posted online, submitted, or otherwise made available to readers or the general public.

Contributors of fiction and poetry are asked to include with their submissions a short bio. This should be no more then 100 words.

All submissions should be sent via email to hydra@hydramstar.com

Non-fiction:

For the “Bumps in the Night” column we accept reader contributions in the form of true stories of the paranormal and magic. A person need not be a great writer in order to contribute to this section of the magazine, just have an profound personal story to tell regarding an unexplained or magical event.

In addition, if a reader has a pressing, heartbreaking, or particularly troubling real life problem or situation they need help coping with, our “The Opposite of Helpful” advice column is probably the last place they want to turn. However, for those who wish to make fun of their troubles, and receive some really bad suggestions as to what they should do about them, we are the right people to turn to. No problem or question is too big or too small for our esteemed staff to consider.

Contributors wishing to submit non-fiction articles on any other subjects should query the editor, via email, prior to submission; hydra@hydramstar.com

9sense Interview

Hear my first ever radio interview in the final segment of the latest episode of the 9sense podcast.

Here.

Announcing the Birth of Infernal Ink Magazine

I have for the last couple of years been a regular contributor to two different fiction magazines in a non-fiction capacity; Horrotica, where I have my “Belialian Woman” column and discuss sex and other twisted things, and Twisted Dreams, where I have my book review column “Hydra’s Hell”. I dearly love writing for both of these zines, but I have for a time now ached to do something more.

Towards the end of 2011, I took on the task of compiling, editing, and publishing an end of the world themed anthology, No One Makes It Out Alive: an end of the world anthology. This volume will in a matter of days be released upon the world and this for me will be a very proud moment, but again I ache to do more.

So, I talked things over with my co-collaborator for the “Belialian Woman” column, artist Dave Lipscomb, otherwise known as The DaveL, and him and I agreed that it is time that we have our own little home in the ‘indie’ magazine publishing world. With that in mind we will shortly be opening up submissions for the first issue of Infernal Ink Magazine.

Infernal Ink will be a different sort of magazine, in that it will focus on extremely dark fiction, and poetry, of all genres, but favor pieces with erotic, sexual, or humorous aspects. Basically, we will be looking for stories that make the reader cringe and turns them on at the same time, makes them laugh while a voice in the back of their head tells them they are going to Hell for finding such things funny, or just plain freaks them out and disquiets their minds. Evil, this is what we seek, in all its gory, fun, and carnal glory.

In addition to this, we will also be publishing non-fiction columns; “Andrea Rants”, wise and angry words from the mad woman of self-publishing, Andrea Dean van Scoyoc; Dave Lipscomb’s music column where he will discuss great music from new, old, and little known artists of note; “Bumps in the Night”, a contributor based column where we ask the reader to share with us their true stories of the paranormal or brushes with the magical; and finally, “The Opposite of Helpful”, a sardonic advice column where we, the publishers and regular contributors to the magazine, will shell out purposefully bad suggestions of how to handle whatever issues or situations seekers bring to us.

Publication of Infernal Ink will happen upon a bi-yearly schedule; happening twice a year, in April and then again in October. Issues will be made available for purchase in print and as downloads via Kindle, Nook, and in formats compatible with most other electric reading devices. It is our hope that by limiting publication to only twice a year we will be able to bring to the reader a magazine of greater quality then we would be able to were we on tighter deadline per issue, but this schedule is subject to change as time progresses.

I hope that all who are reading this announcement are as excited about this news as I am and that the majority of you will choose, in some way, to accompany us on this new journey. Full guidelines and requirements for the contributor based sections of the magazine will be forthcoming in the next few days, but in the meantime readers and would be contributors are welcome to contact me via private message or email (hydramstar@hotmail.com) for further information. We can also be reached on Facebook via our “fan” page under the name Infernal Ink Magazine. Other links and contact information will be made available at a later date.

Sincerely,

Hydra M. Star

Lips Touch Three Times Book Box

Front

Full View

Spine

This box is a custom job I did for a friend's daughter. Book box cover is my recreated take on the cover of the actual book by the same title.

Cover and Contributors Unveiled: "No One Makes It Out Alive: an end of the world anthology"

As of today, submissions are closed for "No One Makes It Out Alive: an end of the world anthology". I'd like to thank all the writers who submitted work and expressed interest in this project, but mostly I'd like, today, to unveil the cover for the anthology.



Cover art by Dave Lipscomb. Most of you will know him and his work from the column him and I work on together, the Belialian Woman, for Horrotica Magazine. This is but one of the first joint projects Dave and I have planned for release in 2012.

I naturally am the editor of the anthology. That means I'll be spending the next few weeks polishing the works of my contributors, compiling, and formatting the collection for release. I will, also, be contributing a short story of my own to the collection, "Grandmother’s Necklace".

Contributors will also include:

Garth von Buchholz, who's non-fiction piece regarding our cultural need for end of the world stories, "It's the End of the World as We Know it", will serve as the anthology's forward.

Andrea Dean van Scoyoc, who offers us two glimpses into how she sees the world ending with "The Harbinger", the thoughts of an agent of the apocalypse upon its even, and "Finally Famous", a world ending zombie story.

Joseph DeRepentigny, in his usually fashion, tells us a quirky tale of a man on mission for entertainment while the undead put an end to civilization in "Canned Corn".

Josephine Seven, with her erotic short "Theai Arkhaiai" resurrects some ancient gods just in time to end it all.

Ken Knight, gives us two stories about the world ending. One, "No Love on Doomsday", is a throw back of sorts to the good old days of the cold war and the other, "Manny Monroe and the Motel Girl", finds the world in the grips of a pandemic.

Magan Rodriguez, gives voice to the cries of the disabled and the forgotten as the world ends in her story "Critical Mass".

Tibbie X, touches on the subject of suicide and giving up on the world in her short, "Spite".

And last, but certainly far from least, W. Freedreamer Tinkanesh took hir first stab at writing about the end of the world with hir duly titled story "The End of the World", but also gives us a unique take on how the world of the dinosaurs ended in the short "The Truth About Dinosaurs, and Dragons".

2011: Year In Review

In no particular order.

I wrote the first full year’s worth of the Belialian Woman column for Horrotica Magazine, in which I covered such topics as alien abduction, fetish mask wearing, mermaids, the history of Walpurgisnacht, and other scary and sexual things. Each installment of the column was, of course, accompanied by the skillful and often illicit illustrations of my artistic collaborator, Dave Lipscomb. You can expect to see more joint projects from us in 2012.

I became the unofficial-official book reviewer for Twisted Dreams Magazine. A total of nine book reviews I wrote appeared in this year’s issues of Twisted Dreams.

I was interviewed for the first time, in print, for the October issue of Twisted Dreams. That was fun.

I started an online shop selling my pyrographic (wood-burnt) creations and in a couple of months have sold twelve items, including two custom pieces.

I had my works appear in the Gothic Creative Association’s anthology, “Eclectica: The World of Shadows”.

I wrote an essay on my experiences with Body Dysmorphic Disorder and how Satanism has helped me to over come this condition, which was published along with similar essays from other Satanic women in the book “Lilith Awakened”.

I announced the open call for submission to the first anthology I myself with be editing, “No One Makes It Out Alive: an end of the world anthology”, which I have mostly filled at this time and expect to be published early next year.

Not a bad year, all told.

Lilith Awakened

I announced sometime ago that I'd written an essay regarding Body Dysmorphic Disorder and how "The Satanic Witch" by Anton LaVey helped me to deal with this condition in my own life and find confidence in my appearance and sexuality. Today, the book containing that essay has been released.

Edited by Ann Oxyer and with a forward by Josephine Seven and contributors that include myself, Cbks, Danielle Sainte-Marie, and Gail Fritz; "Lilith Awakened" is a collection of essays from Satanic women who have individually dealt with a multitude of dark and traumatic situations. All profits from this book go to The National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center.

Click on cover to purchase.