FLASH: CUT NOW, CUT DEEP

After the horror of his two pre-election pieces, 'Candidate No. 1' and 'The Lady,' the acerbic Peter Morrison brings us a disturbing take on the recent, hideous eection results. I can sympathise, mate... that's all I will say. "This has been brewing for most of the month now," says Pete ominously. "Kind of like a sore waiting to erupt." The image for this piece is 'Aldgate Welcomes David Cameron' by ruskin51.

Apparently I’d lost my perspective in the wake of the election.
Apparently no one else could see the monstrosities I could see ...READ MORE

BLACK LANTERN NEWS: ECTOPLASMOSIS GETS INTO DADDY_SCRABBLE, DEEPGOA GETS INTO METATRON!

Ectoplasmosis is one of the best culture blogs on the internet - regularly delivering essays on music, science, literature, film and fashion.

This week, they recommended Daddy_Scrabble's EP 'Thingy' to their readers - thanks very much to Will Ellwood for the love!

Daddy_Scrabble's brilliant EP has also been playlisted by respected French jazz blog 12" Dans Le Jazz. Thanks guys!

>>DOWNLOAD 'THINGY' BY DADDY SCRABBLE

Also today, we were informed that Metatron's 'Creation Myths' EP has been recommended by the progressive music blog DeepGoa. Thanks guys, glad you're liking the Niallist's minimal electronic bizzle!

>>DOWNLOAD 'CREATION MYTHS' BY METATRON

Bigup all the bloggers, readers and listeners supporting Black Lantern Music.

PEACE!

SERIAL: BALE'S GAME, PART 2: SETTING UP THE PIECES

Our ongoing serial BALE'S GAME, by K. Patrick Glover continues - in this thrilling installment, we learn more about Bale's shady past, and we meet a shadowy nemesis...

Ten years ago, I would have noticed the light coming from under the door. I can justify it all I want, make all the excuses in the world. I wasn’t expecting trouble, I was tired, my mind was on other things. I had to call Sandy and tell her that the pressure was off, it was over. I needed to relax, pour myself a drink, let the tension of the evening slip away. Still, ten years ago, I would have noticed ...READ MORE

NONFIC: THE PARADOX OF FEAR

Harlequinade earns his Staff Writer spurs with a second piece, this time on the nature of horror as an emotional experience. Welcome aboard Hq! Your director's chair is in the post. The original image for this piece is 'Shock Shock Horror Horror' by Jeremy Brooks.

There seems to be a certain anomaly in the way we speak about horror films. We might say that a film was brutally violent and horrific and scared us so much that we couldn’t sleep, and that it was great. It is strange to say that we enjoy horror films, not despite of, but because of their power to terrify and disgust, when such emotions are considered necessarily negative and therefore unenjoyable. This problem is preceded by another: why do we feel these emotions at all? Surely what we know to be fiction, and therefore false, can not arouse genuine emotions, whether positive or negative, in us at all?

STANLEY ODD TO RELEASE 'ODDIO' ALBUM & PLAY T IN THE PARK!

LATEST NEWS FROM THE STANLEY ODD PRESS BUREAU! Debut Album & Launch Party!

Stanley Odd release their debut album ‘Oddio’ on 31^st May and, to celebrate, are having a launch party at the Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, this Sunday 30^th May. The band will be playing a set of songs from the new album as well as DJ sets including a special set from Black Lantern Music’s rapper, poet, DJ extraordinaire – Texture. Entry to the party is £5 and albums will be on sale for half-price for one night only!

Get your tickets for the 'Oddio' Launch Party HERE

T in the Park!

We are also delighted to announce that Stanley Odd will be joining the likes of Eminem, Jay-Z and Muse at this years T in the Park festival!! Having been selected by a group of industry panelists, the Odd-Squad will take to the T-Break stage with day and stage time still to be confirmed. The full list of T-Break acts was announced on Vic Galloway's Radio One show, and can be found here.

Keep posted to the official Stanley Odd website for the latest information, and check out the 
T in the Park site for full festival listings and ticketing information.

See you all at TITP!



Peace oot

The Odd-Squad

FICTION - TUESDAY AFTERNOON

Bored and disaffected in suburbia, our young narrator strikes up an odd friendship which will lead her to some strange and interesting places... Lynsey Miller, author of 'Mars,' returns to Weaponizer with a witty, engaging shirt story with a bitter sting in the tail. Welcome back Lynsey! The image for 'Tuesday Afternoon' is 'bed 15' by Maureen Sill.

In an attempt to alleviate the boredom I’d taken to mildly terrorizing the neighbours, developing a series of ritualistic habits designed to irritate rather than traumatize. Each morning I’d move the gnome from number 45, steal the milk from number 50 and place the daily paper in the middle of number 48’s birdbath. Each evening I’d flash my bra at Ms. Jenkins in number 52, place an empty can on the parked car outside number 46 and drop three empty crisp packets outside number 54. They all knew I was responsible but had the good grace to avoid telling my mother ...READ MORE

FREE MUSIC! METATRON - CREATION MYTHS EP

Metatron is one of the many aliases of producer / DJ / musician Niall O'Conaghaile, aka The Niallist. A prolific figure on the Glasgow electro / noise scene, Niall co-runs Little Rock Records, releasing many of his own 12" and digital EPs and albums on the label, plus remixes and releases on other labels such as Clone / Dissident and Clouded Vision.

"I have made a lot of different music over the years under a lot of different names," says Niall. "They include Trippy Disco, Disco Beard, 2.2 Kru, Metatron, The Spin Out Sisters, & The Incredible Dancing Machines - and with other folk as Mong, The Evil Eye & Art/Audio Interface Ensemble."

This particular incarnation, Metatron, specialises in narcotic, melodic, minimal dubstep. This is the sound of 'Creation Myths.'

>>DOWNLOAD NOW

FLASH: ELSEWHERE ON THE PLANET

Michael Jacobo, writer of the rather excellent post-apocalypse yarn 'Mother' now brings us a short, sharp tale of frustrated love, capes and coffee. This one's awesome folks, just stopped laughing now after reading it again... highly recommended!

Also - I don't often mention the photographers and artists who kindly donate their work, but I intend to change that! All their works are licensed under Creative Commons, and all of the work we've been using has been top-notch! This particular image is by Alice Bartlett.

I come here every morning, the coffee is horrible but her name is Emily. She’s the reason I stand in this long line and drop four dollars for a cup of mud. Every day I try to find something interesting to talk to her about, every day I just end up stuttering or smiling awkwardly ...READ MORE

NONFIC: LEND THEM YOUR EARS

Please take a moment to welcome the fabulous ELLE MATHEUSE back aboard! Our original Staff Writer (along with myself) and regular dispenser of controversy, brimstone and witty opinion, Elle has been toiling away elsewhere, but has returned to the fray with an impassioned attack on musical snobbery. In the past she's tackled political correctness, mawkishly sentimental songwriting, confession-lit, and misogyny. Now she's back to defend fans of Phil Collins, "Finnish Bleed Techno" and JLS... Or is she?

It’s as if giving something a second chance, to admit even only to ourselves that we might have been wrong about Scouting for Girls or David Guetta, would reduce our very core to gelatine, shatter our delicate identity into a thousand pieces, leaving us with nothing more than a confused mosaic of a screaming person on fire. (We’re not wrong, by the way. They’re appalling.) So, we decide wot we likes and wot we don’t and we come to depend on this decision for guidance, even if we don’t know we’ve made it. No amount of reasoned opinions or gentle persuasion can convince us we’re wrong, and with such closed minds and ears, the chances of us being proven so are minimal. We win. Or do we?

>>READ NOW

SERIAL: SHRIEKONOMICS, CHAPTER 2

C. Brian Hickey's high-finance supernatural thriller SHRIEKONOMICS continues! In this dizzying installment, Our Man Jason December begins to be drawn into a complex web of lies, lust and financial irregularities!

Prep for the meeting with the boss was quick. Grace had my files categorized in such a way that I was done with plenty of time for meditation. I dimmed the lights, and went into the Shirshasana asana: headstand, arms bracing, legs in Lotus. Just let me make one quick aside here. The people you see hustling off to their yoga classes, with their pretty pink mats and their flare-leg pants make me shake my head. It's akin to only learning to say 'ba-ba-ba-ba' and being told, congratulations, you now know English. Yoga, and its physical and spiritual disciplines, are essential to the Practitioner, and without it, all of our other talents are useless ...READ MORE

FICTION: A LIFE OF ILLUSION

Writer / artist and handsome Brazillian type Andre Navarro (creator of the hilarious webcomic Pitch Black) gets metaphysical now, with this tale of love, death and the afterlife! Very moving this one, I actually shed a wee tear...

The ground was made of cobblestones; the beautiful architecture was colored soberly but pleasantly in unsaturated tones, beneath a sky covered in orange clouds. I found myself at the middle of the street; it would have been the middle of the road if there was one. It reminded me of Venice, or what I had heard about Venice. I'd never been there.

"Good afternoon, Anne," a serene voice said behind me. I turned to see a weak old lady wearing a thick fur coat and a cloche hat. She was slightly hunchback, and her wavy snow-white hair framed a friendly, jolly face that smiled welcomingly at me.

"Uh, hi," I said awkwardly. "How do you know my name?"

...READ MORE

SERIAL: OPERATION SUNRISE, CHAPTER 7

Grimly Whetfox returns to Weaponizer and continues his ongoing psychonautical thriller serial OPERATION SUNRISE (link goes to Chapter 1). Our two protagonists are running from something, or from someone.... but who or what is chasing them? Dark clouds gather on the horizon...

PLEASE NOTE! The editor would like to apologise for the long gap since we updated Operation Sunrise. Fom now on, the series will update bi-weekly on Thursdays.

Catch up now:
PART 1 - PART 2 - PART 3 - PART 4 - PART 5 - PART 6

The gun was back in the pannier bag, inside the tent. Only a precaution, he had assured her, in case they had run into trouble leaving the hotel. She had thought it odd. She had seen him in countless mindstates, always with the dilated pupils, always buzzing, but this morning had been unique. He had been truly scared. She hardly ever saw that. Perhaps they were closer to them than he was letting on? His silence on the subject of her thoughts spoke volumes, all the time they had been riding. His eyes were still wide, she could feel the buzz off him like an electrical generator. It made her buzz too, somewhere inside ...READ MORE

EATERS PLAYLISTED BY DANDELION RADIO

Dandelion Radio is a great independent net radio site - inspired by the philosophy of music's greatest epicure, John Peel, the site covers every imaginable genre and style of music. The lovely Matt Jones recently playlisted 'Puzzle Box' by Eaters, from their recent release on Black Lantern Music, the remix / reimagining EP of some of their back catalogue tracks.

The full EP is still available for free download - if you missed it the first time round, GO GET IT NOW!

Eaters are one of Edinburgh's longest-established hip-hop bands, and nobody does it quite like them... old-school decksmanship skills meet arcane, intricate production techniques, exploding into a hallucinatory maze of deeply philosophical wordplay. Must be heard to be believed!

>>DOWNLOAD 'BITE MARKS'

FLASH: SNAKE EYES

A new piece now by Vertigo Jones, author of Medicine, who now takes us deep inside the visual cortex and psychology of a group of ragged but stylish gamblers. Stunning imagery and focus in this short piece - go read it now.

The game unfolds before him like a story, the discourse of a future as yet untold, even as the spinning, battling dice clash and bounce, patterns of pure chaos casting a tumultuous shadow on the passers by. skimming off walls trailing plumes of powdered concrete, sparking and singing off the bodies of passing cars ...READ MORE

NONFIC: GUTTERSHAMAN PRIMER

Occult expert and former Combat Magician, Ian 'Cat' Vincent continues his oddyssey through the world of the strange with a primer on his 'Guttershaman' blog, taking us through the major insights he has shared there with us, the unsuspecting public.

Ever since Weird Shit first entered my life at roughly the age of seven, I’ve been batting around the morass of connections and links that have formed between my mind and the universe it seems to inhabit. Guttershaman, which I began as a project in 2008, is an attempt to write down how some of the more important connections work for me, in a manner others can understand ...READ MORE

NEW SERIAL! BALE'S GAME

Hard-boiled noir thriller action today, as webcomic scribe and Invisible Skein creator K. PATRICK GLOVER (author of Shuffle) returns to the fray with a new ongoing serial! You lucky people! Bale is a bounty hunter: crime and corruption are his native territory... Every decision, every role of the dice is a gamble... but could this latest patch of trouble prove a game too far? Come back every second Monday to find out in BALE'S GAME! What are you waiting for, GO! Read Chapter One!

Once upon a time, O’Grady’s had been a nice, Irish style pub. The neighborhood, no more than three blocks from Little Italy and not much further from the heart of Baltimore’s tourist district, had once been safe. For decades the surrounding row houses had belonged to working class families. It changed in the nineties. The whole city changed. Working class people moved away and the dealers moved in. Organized crime, which had kept things under tight control for so long, lost its toehold and the gangs fought to fill the vacuum. Houses that were once home to playing children now played host to crack heads and ten-dollar hookers ...READ MORE

FREE MUSIC! DADDY_SCRABBLE - THINGY

It's Sunday, and this EP is EXACTLY what you need. Five tracks of soothing, beautifully orchestrated and composed lo-fi folk / jazz / trip-hop, from jazz scenester and prolific musician Daddy_Scrabble, who has previously worked with the likes of Lee Perry and Roots Manuva. Turn on, tune in, chill out.

>>DOWNLOAD EP

FICTION - THE LADY

I'm possibly preaching to the choir here, but if you need any reason to NOT vote Conservative tomorrow, Peter Morrison is the person to give it to you, in this disturbing sequel to the very popular Prospective Parliamentary Candidate No. 1. I tend to think that rather than writing a creeped-out satirical horror, Morrison has in fact pierced the veil and seen through to some deeper level of truth. Go read, and vote for ANYONE but the Blue Team and their right-wing affiliates tomorrow...

He had known the call would come. It always came on the run up to the election. Each Leader of The Party had to meet with The Lady. It was suggested that if The Lady didn’t give you her approval then your chances of winning were negligible. But there had been hard times. Once The Lady was all powerful, then the tides turned and she was deposed. But with an iron will she persists, an influence that can’t be denied ...READ MORE

FREE MUSIC! MORPHAMISH - THE URGE MODE EP

Urge Mode head honcho Morphamish jumps into the fray over at Black Lantern Music with this spectacular three-track EP. It's a total statement of intent - three tracks of cheeky, enormo-bass jump-up dubstep squelchers, with a massive dose of intelligence and complexity thrown in. This is dubstep for grownups, but with a sense of humour - a refreshing approach which Morphamish also brings to his spectacular live sets (download some at his page on Soundcloud). Here's what Morphamish himsef had to say about the EP:

"The Urge Mode EP is 3 tracks of full on peak time tweaked out breaky dubstep.

Definite Urge Mode gives the EP and the label its title, mutating energy fueled with funked up twists and turns.

Face The Darkness is evil: 'Face the darkness, stare it down and own it.'

No More Funny Bizniz rounds off the EP with a fat digital skankout that gives way to breakbeats and bangingness..."

>> DOWNLOAD EP

NEW SERIAL! JASON DECEMBER IN: SHRIEKONOMICS

Meet Jason December, a seemingly mild-mannered company man well-versed in the dark arts of business! Weaponizer favourite C. BRIAN HICKEY - author of 'The Black Art of the Deal', 'Catchy' and 'The Harrow Pit' - begins the adventures of his sharp-suited protagonist with a little tale called SHRIEKONOMICS. The first part, THE BARGAIN, sheds some light on our hero Jason December, and introduces the unique and terrifying aspects of his day-job. A terrific start to a serial that promises some laughs, some screams, and one hell of a ride! You can show your appreciation for Mr Hickey's story by hitting him up on Twitter! Keep your eyes on the blog for regular updates on Shriekonomics and our other ongoing Serials.

I took the knife — an ordinary Bowie knife I'd grabbed at Quincy Market one day — gripped the blade, and pulled. I let it flow into the obsidian chalice I used as a doorstop, and added some coumadin, an anticoagulant. Once it was full, I dipped the brush — made from the ulna of a king's bastard, and also a bastard to obtain — and began drawing the glyph on the back of my office door ...READ MORE

FLASH: PROSPECTIVE PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE NO. 1

Timely Election-based horror now, from new Weaponeer but long-time writer and blogger Peter Morrison, also known as Remotepush. His blog Remote Voices has been running for a while now, and Peter has had fiction published online by Mythaxis and Telling of Tales. He's a Glasgow-based writer, and his first short for us is a dark and mysterious beast. It's a pretty common belief that your vote doesn't count, but theories differ as to why. Peter has one that I think you guys will appreciate. Think about this while your in the polling booth on Thursday...

When the Prime Minister himself phoned me to tell me I’d been selected as Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for [CENSORED] I was thrilled – the Prime Minister himself, phoning me! On reflection I should have been suspicious; it should have been the first alarm bell that something was wrong. The fact that my mother burst into tears should have been the second alarm bell – I mean real distraught sobs, not tears of happiness. But I was keen, I was eager, I was naive ...READ MORE