Happenings

My long poem Ubbits, written in support of Black Lives Matter, will be published in the e-book anthology Resist With Every Inch and Every Breath in September 2021. More details to follow. The latest word from Dan Fielding, the editor from Lonely Cryptid Media, is the RWEIAEB anthology has been moved back to February 2022. Stay tuned. RWEIAEB is scheduled for release on May 1, 2022.

My microfiction piece The Sad, Grievous Death of Edgar Allan Poe will be published in 42 Stories Anthology. As of December 2022, he has all 1,764 pieces needed to complete the anthology and plans to have it published in 2023.

Slow Dancing with a Prosthetic Leg, a 6,000 word transgressive fiction story, has been put on hold by the editor of the anthology In Filth It Shall Be Found (Outcast Press). As explained on their website: Medieval alchemy had a saying: in sterquiliniis invenitur which translates as: in filth it shall be found. Carl Jung expounded on this saying what we most desire in life may be found in places we least want to explore. A final decision on the story will be made after the submissions window closes on 6/30/21. [Sadly, SLDWAPL did not make the final cut for IFISBF].

The Shower, a longer surrealistic and existentialist poem using Poe’s rhyme scheme for The Raven was rejected for Bonemilk. However, the editors at Gutslut Press liked the poem enough that they asked if it was still available as they want to publish it in another of their planned anthologies called Suicidal Party Aliens where it would be a better fit. I told them it was available and I would love for it to published there. I will keep you updated as I learn more. The working title for this anthology has changed again. The new title is Suicid(al)iens. The editors plan to have it published online in 2023.

Wednesday 11/3/21: Just finished recording two villanelles for the NEA Big Read: Voices from the Past podcast. I wrote these poems, and read them, for my parents funerals. Even in Hardscrabble Soil was written for my mother and From on Great Heights was written for my father. Marty Achatz did the recording and editing. I will get back here with more details once the podcast is posted.

I just signed and returned a contract with Riddled with Arrows for two of my poems to appear in issue 5.3: “Eulogies, Epilogues, and Effigies.” The poems are Writing Free (of Glass Lines) and A Definition of Poetry. The editor, Shannon Connor Winward, has a quick turn-around time. The zine should be published in a couple of weeks.

It happened sooner than expected.

Riddled with Arrows Literary Journal RwA 5.3: Eulogies, Epilogues, & Effigies went live today with two of my poems. Here is the link: https://www.riddledwitharrows.com/

This takes you to the main page. Reading RwA is a multi-sensory EXPERIENCE!

Click on Please Enter Quietly, Program in Session for a cool Audio Effect to listen to while reading the beautifully written Foreword: After Words by the editor Shannon Connor Winward.

Click on “Eulogies, Epilogues, & Effigies” (in burnt-orange font) for the contents of the magazine.

In the Blood and Bone section, click on my poem A Definition of Poetry. If you click on the last line: “it is fresh?” (in burnt-orange font) it will take you to an interesting YouTube video on how to do blood-letting special effects for the movies.

Try clicking on To the Sea (again, burnt-orange font) for a soothing sea shore Audio Effect to listen to while reading my poem Writing Free (of Glass Lines). If you click on the phrase “tropical fish” it takes you to a YouTube video of a tropical fish aquarium.

Finally, if you click on the Contributors section and scroll down the alphabetized list to the “P’s” you will find my brief 3rd person bio with a flavor statement.

Monday April 18, 2022. Received this morning a full acceptance from Funemployment Quarterly, Spring Volume, for my surrealistic short story The Suits. I believe this is their inaugural issue. More details to follow. Here is the link to purchase Issue One of Funemployment Quarterly: https://funemployment.xyz/shop/ Print version is $20 CAD and virtual version is $8 CAD.

My drabble, The Gaoler, is set to appear in 101 Words on 9/20/22. Here is the link for 101 Words: https://101words.org/

Moss Puppy Magazine will be publishing my short poem, Nightmare, in November 2022 in Issue 3: Blades. The poem is now available at Moss Puppy Magazine, Issue 3. Here is the link: https://mosspuppymag.wixsite.com/home/issue-3-blades… You can purchase a print copy at this link: https://amazon.com/dp/B0BL54MP9G Trigger warning: this poem contains a graphic, nightmarish image.

Monica at Seventeen, a love poem to my beautiful bride, is forthcoming in The Lovers Literary Journal out of Sydney, Australia. Issue 2 of TLLJ will drop on 4/22/23 and will be available at Etsy. The cost for a print copy is $14.06; digital is $7.03. Note that shipping from Australia is expensive, about $16 for one journal or $28 for five journals. Here is the link: https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/LoversLitJournal

The 2023 UP Reader has accepted two poems, In Echoless Regions and Dying Autumn White for Volume Seven in their series. More details to follow. Volume #7 can be purchased through Amazon at this link:

Once Upon a Crocodile will be reprinting my humorous short story The Macabre and Blasphemous Horror of Chocolate Cake Twinkles in April 2023. This will be my first reprint. Issue 12 is live and my story has a cool illustration (see below). Here is the link: https://onceuponacrocodile.weebly.com/belly-o-the-beast.html

The OUaC site is well-organized. My brief biography is available (fourth one down as of today’s date: May 12,2023) at

https://onceuponacrocodile.weebly.com/contributorstail.html

I did a quick interview with the editor of OUaC, Hansen Adcock. It can be found at:

https://onceuponacrocodile.weebly.com/an-interview-with-m-kelly-peach.html

Calliope plans to publish my poem So Perfect: Is it in their Summer 2023 issue.

The Dig will be appearing in the Mayday issue of Cream Scene Carnival later in May 2023.

On Friday April 7, 2023, I will be reading and recording some of my poems on Public Radio 90/WNMU for National Poetry Month. More details to follow. The recording is available at: https://www.wnmufm.org/ . On the right-hand side of the homepage, click on National Poetry Month 2023. Scroll down to: Wed. 4/19 – M. Kelly Peach. Click on my name to hear my reading.

April 19, 2023 is a really good day for my writing. Earlier this morning I received an email from Popshot Quarterly congratulating me for my story Ize that will be appearing in their Solar Issue in mid-May 2023. I think it may be illustrated by one of their artists. More details to follow.

Later in the morning, I discovered an email from Orion Books (an imprint of Gollancz) sitting in my Spam folder since March that The Whore: or Of Bureaucracy made it into the second round for consideration. They received over 1400 submissions in 2022 for their open call for un-agented manuscripts and only 180 made it into the second round.

Yesterday Stark Nights accepted for publication two poems: The Plangent Whimperings (of My Youth) and Mirror and Shadows. More details to follow.