SERIAL FICTION: WEAPON EYES, SIR. CHAPTER 4, AXIS TILT

Paranoia gives rise to something much uglier in "Axis Tilt", fourth chapter of Weapon Eyes, Sir - the technological SF thriller serial with transhumanist biopunk DNA - by Paul S. Grimsley. Forget the goggles, you need Weapon Eyes, Sir.
Get Paul's book Warchalking here. "An outline around the present time's corpse."

The first riots sparked in LA but it soon became a national phenomena, with any area containing high numbers of transhumanists coming under attack from people scared witless by the stories circulating through the media... READ "AXIS TILT", CHAPTER 4 OF WEAPON EYES, SIR, NOW.

READ WEAPON EYES, SIR FROM THE BEGINNING

SERIAL: BALE'S GAME, CHAPTER 9 - PAWN TAKES PAWN

Seasoned professional and badly hungover bounty hunter Jon Bale gets a nasty shock over coffee as the board becomes a smaller and smaller place in Chapter Nine of BALE'S GAME, the neo-noir espionage thriller serial from K. Patrick Glover.


I tried to get my thoughts together. The coffee was helping.

Caldwell grinned. “That should clear the fog a bit, right?” He pulled a stack of photos from his pocket and spread them out on the table in front of me. “Were you close, Jon?”

I looked down at the pictures and saw my friend, Jake. The pictures left little doubt, but I had to ask.

“Is he?”

READ "PAWN TAKES PAWN" BALE'S GAME, CHAPTER 9, NOW.


NEW READERS: START HERE
>>READ FROM THE BEGINNING

SERIAL: KANSAS, CHAPTER 15: MOVING FORCES

Matthew McLean's post-cyberpunk espionage thriller KANSAS ratchets up the tension with the spooks on stakeout for a new arrival at the Casino el Liberal...

"When the knock came at the door Nixon cursed and jumped up from his place at the window, quickly leaving the surveillance equipment behind. As he walked to the door, crossing the floor of the suite, he drew his sidearm." ...READ KANSAS - CHAPTER 15 NOW


NEW READERS - START HERE

READ FROM THE BEGINNING

Series Catchup post here

WEAPONIZER WELCOMES NEW EDITOR! QUARTERLY MAGAZINE ANNOUNCEMENT!

PLEASE WELCOME OUR NEW EDITOR, TOM SEWEL

Tom Sewel is better known to Weaponizer readers as Citrus Creed. A freelance journalist and writer, who blogs over at notevensurewhy, Tom has been a staunch supporter of Weaponizer over the last few years, helping out a lot behind the scenes and contributing ideas and research to the site's ongoing development, and producing stories like the staggeringly awesome 'Normative Free'. I am enormously pleased to be handing over the keys to Tom for the next few months, as one of the first in a series of Guest Editors personally selected by me to run things while I concentrate on bringing some new Weaponizer projects to fruition.

WEAPONIZER QUARTERLY

The first of these new projects is The Weaponizer Quarterly, a magazine featuring exclusive content from the Weaponizer writers, artists and photographers I have had the pleasure of working with over the last four years.

The first issue, which will be released in April, features interviews with rising star and Chicago juke scene regular CHRISSY MURDERBOT, whose My Year of Mixtapes this blog followed religiously, as he prepares to release a new album on Planet Mu. We also have interviews with Witch House / Experimental label boss Ben Verslius of TUNDRA DUBS, home of AIMON and Skeleton Kids, and ERIC HEISERRER, the man who recently rebooted the A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Thing franchises. Not to mention exclusive fiction, articles, comics and more - including an exclusive 6-page prologue to Weaponizer's new ongoing webcomic, A WICKED LITTLE TOWN, by K. Patrick Glover and Keith Perkins.

2011 is going to be an exciting year for Weaponizer, with lots of new projects and ways to get involved. As I hand over to Tom, who will be your host for the next wee while, running both the Weaponizer Feed, our Tumblr, and our Twitter, @Weaponizer. I'd like to say a huge thank you to all our contributors, readers and supporters over the years. Thanks for reading! It's been a genuinely transformative experience running the site, and I am looking forward to seeing what Tom and his successors bring to the table.

If you want to stay up to date with what I am up to, please come and follow me over to the Texturemusick tumblr, my LiveJournal, and my Twitter account @FluxTales, and of course keep an eye on our sister site Black Lantern Music for my forthcoming EP, 'Parasomnia.'

Big love peoples. Keep it Weapon!

P.E.A.C.E.
/texture

FLASH FICTION: THE MOST INCREDIBLE GIFT

Here's a wee short story from myself, originally written for The434 on Facebook. It's a scary little psychological horror - hope you enjoy! Eyes peeled for an announcement today about our new Guest Editor, and the forthcoming Weaponizer Quarterly magazine. Thanks for reading! Original image 'Untitled' by Philip Romeyn, some rights reserved.

It was my birthday recently, and I received the most incredible gift. It was about three and a half inches long; eight-sided, with a number of ridged brackets along the middle so it folded outwards, like a mechanical lotus. The sides were made of a fabric like silk – fantastically fine and soft, but also firm to the touch, like wood. Permeable, but sturdy ...READ FLASH FICTION: 'THE MOST INCREDIBLE GIFT' NOW!

SERIAL FICTION: STILLETTO EYE & RAZORGUT & THE TREASURE ISLAND COVEN

After their narrow brush with death two weeks ago in a futuristic under-sea base, the deadly duo return to dry land... but for how long? Find out now in the thrilling case of STILLETTO EYE & RAZORGUT AND THE TREASURE ISLAND COVEN! By swamp blues legends Dwayne Coltrane & The HyperDeathPsychoRock Three. The original image for this chapter is 'Desert Island' by Matthew Winterburn.

As they drifted along, they came to the wreckage of a ship and all around them floated barrels and planks with rough sailors clinging on to them. The current carried all of the rag-tag survivors and StilletoEye and RazorGut onto a sandy, palm tree’d beach, on an island none of them had seen coming ...READ CHAPTER 17: 'STILLETTO EYE & RAZORGUT & THE TREASURE ISLAND COVEN' NOW!

NEW READERS: START HERE

READ FROM THE BEGINNING 

FLASH FICTION: FARRAGO'S CHEESE

Meet new Weaponeer Morag Edward, a veteran of the Edinburgh-based literary group Writer's Bloc. Her work has appeared in the 'Read By Dawn' anthologies and in other places, and she is a veteran of the Writers' Bloc performance nights. Her first tale for us is a funereal comedy, set in Greyfriar's Kirkyard, a famous graveyard in Weaponizer's home town of Edinburgh! The original image for this story is 'Skull' by Alan Miller.

Farrago stood outside his tomb until the stonemasons had packed up their tools, then he bolted and locked the tomb door securely. He gave the chains one last rattle then looked around to see who might be watching. Farrago had been very fortunate to inherit precious room amongst the tightly-packed bodies of Greyfriar’s kirkyard. The homeless, the Covenanters and the thieves observed him leave. Farrago preferred to be alone. His plans were to ensure this continued after death ...READ FLASH FICTION: FARRAGO'S CHEESE NOW

NEW SERIAL FICTION! WORKING CLASS PALADIN

Weaponizer is HUGELY excited and honoured to present the first chapter in a new ongoing serial by the magnificent C. Brian Hickey (creator of Jason December, author of 'Shriekonomics,' 'Catchy' and 'The Harrow Pit').  WORKING CLASS PALADIN is an all-new supernatural thriller, featuring Hickey's familiar milieu of demons, outcasts and seriously messed up supernatural adventures! The tough, two-fisted hero of the tale is the 'working class paladin' of the title, Tommy Gallagher - a man with a gift for exorcism, a set of intricate scars, two enchanted pistols, and a healthy skepticisim about religion. He walks the mean streets of Boston, taking on cases of posession and demonic influence, helping fight the obscene creatures of The Pit. Hang on to your souls - this is going to be one HELL of a ride! The original image for this series is 'Torso & Rosary' by Arnaud Crucifix.

The girl slumped as black liquid began to seep at the corners of her mouth. He quickly holstered The Sisters and rolled her over so she wouldn’t asphyxiate on the ichor that was pouring out of her mouth. Tommy could think of some truly bad ways to go out, but pulling a John Bonham on demon shit was near the top. The ichor pooled on the hardwood, and evaporated ...READ 'WORKING CLASS PALADIN' CHAPTER 1 NOW!

TEXTURE INTERVIEWS STANLEY ODD

Stanley Odd are leading the charge in Scottish hip-hop. Signed to Circular Records, they tour and gig tirelessly up and down the country, gaining rave reviews and faithful fans wherever they go. The interplay between charismatic emcee Solareye and golden-lunged singer Veronika Elektronika drives the band, while T-Lo (piano), Scruff Lee (guitars), Ad Mac (bass) and newest member Samson (on drums) deliver the riffs and beats with a precision musicianship rarely found in live hip-hop. Drawing comparisons to The Roots or the Beastie Boys might describe their sound, but perhaps because of Solareye’s wonderful West Coast dialect and banter, it doesn’t quite cut it as a description. Quite simply, Stanley Odd are that rarest of beasts: a Scottish hip-hop band with broad appeal who put on one hell of a show.

Click for the full interview online at The Skinny! Photo by Sol Nicol, all rights reserved.

BLACK LANTERN ON DANGEROUS MINDS

Our good friend Niall O'Conghaile has written up a profile of our sister-site, Black Lantern Music, for the website Dangerous Minds. There's a player below - stream some of our greatest hits so far. Click through below to read the whole article!

Black Lantern Music is a British netlabel that folks in the States probably haven’t heard, but should. Based in Edinburgh, and launched in late 2009, the label deals in hip-hop, electronica, dubstep, breakbeat and jazz. The bastard children of Grant Morrison’s late 90s sigil experiments and early Rawkus, with a healthy love of poetry and politics, It is closely associated with the Weaponizer website (well worth a read when you have a few spare hours). The label mostly centers around the work of artists Texture, Morphamish, Asthmatic Astronaut and Harelquinade, who have a supergroup of sorts called the Chemical Poets, also featuring the producer Gung Who and the MC Tickle. Although they’re not even two years old yet, the catalog has swelled to a very impressive 32 releases ...READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE ON DANGEROUS MINDS

FILM: CHEMICAL POETS - TWENTY TENTACLE

Broken word, grotesque burlesque, punk venom, ritual invokkation... the light entertainment at the end of the tunnel...

TWENTY TENTACLE is the first devised show by the Chemical Poets, performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Fetsival as part of PBH’s Free Fringe in 2010. Weaponizer is extremely proud to present a live performance from the run, shot and cut by Chris Dishon and Gemma McCausland.

The performance consists of high-speed hip-hop poetry performed at a rate of 202 words per minute (an average of 3.38 words per second).

Containing songs, political diatribes, science fiction stories, thought experiments and linguistic sigil magick, TWENTY TENTACLE will thrill, entertain and astound!


Chemical Poets - Twenty Tentacle from Chemical Poets on Vimeo.



PRESS FOR CHEMICAL POETS:

'Ginsberg's famous line 'whole intellects disgorged in total recall' springs to mind when you hear these literary outsiders in full flow ...you quickly find yourself absorbed in the collision of reflexive word-play and information-age angst, drawn in by their complex verbal rhythms and emphatic chants. Channelling the fractured energy of 'Generation Y'... exceptionally inventive.'
(Three Weeks, review of 'Twenty Tentacle' * * * *)

'Apocalyptic soundclash ... underground sensations.' (The Skinny)

‘Likeably spiky.’ (The Scotsman)

'Brilliant.' (The Book Cafe, BBC Radio Scotland)

'Rich depths indeed... ideas splash and crash meaning nothing & everything; truth made transparent will turn you into some kind of demented nodding hound, lapping it all up; slinky, snaky rhymes will make you grin... glorious juxtaposition... Get out there and hear 'em.'
(Brikolage Zine)

‘More than hip-hop, more than live art, much more than poetry.’ (Underword)

SERIAL FICTION: KANSAS, CHAPTER 14 - PLACE SETTINGS

Matthew McLean's post-cyberpunk espionage thriller KANSAS continues, as shadowy criminal mastermind Dragon introduces his agent Hatcher to the Madrid underworld.

"This is still roomier than those barracks at Camp Sushi." Hatcher wasn't the kind of person who cared too much for where he slept, long as it was somewhat isolated and he could control access to the area if needed. Camp Sushi had been their unofficial term for the jump-off point in Northern California before they had deployed to Malaygay. ...READ KANSAS - CHAPTER 14 NOW

NEW READERS - START HERE


READ FROM THE BEGINNING

SERIAL FICTION: WEAPON EYES, SIR, CHAPTER 3 - RED SHIFT

Paul S. Grimsley's transhumanist biopunk thriller WEAPON EYES, SIR widens its scope this week, as the protagonist muses on the difference the 'weapon eyes' have made in wider society. I bloody love this series! One of the priveleges of being the editor is getting to read a week or more ahead of you lot... seriously, keep reading, Paul's got explosive tricks up his genetically-engineered sleeve. While I have your attention - buy Paul's book, 'Warchalking,' containing nine short stories that skin reality. YASS.

he had to carry out a string of hold-ups in order to raise the money to fund another gene-hack to tweak his genetic make-up so no one could get an instant read on him - he thankfully knew a couple of artisans who could twist the double helix around their little fingers. you couldn't do anything if you couldn't pass an ident-scan and he had thrown away two genetic sequencings on what amounted to little more than a temper tantrum ...READ 'WEAPON EYES, SIR' CHAPTER 3: 'RED SHIFT' NOW

SERIAL FICTION: BALE'S GAME, CHAPTER 8 - A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW

K. Patrick Glover's neo-noir espionage thriller BALE'S GAME continues! This week we get to see inside the mind of hard-boiled bondsman Bale's nemesis and quarry, the murderous former spook known as Caldwell. Providing a different spin on the events of the last seven chapters, this marks a turning point in the narrative - make no mistake, shit is about to get real.

I’m on the plane. In the last row, behind a man who smells badly of cheese and wine. Probably French. I can see the sudden tension in your shoulders as you realize something is wrong. As you fumble to turn on your phone, I quickly type out a message for you. A single word. Run ...READ 'BALE'S GAME' CHAPTER 8: 'A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW' NOW

NEW READERS - START HERE:


>>READ FROM THE BEGINNING

BOOK LAUNCH: 'THE HARLEQUINADE' BY HARLEQUINADE & 'THE THINGS YOU LEAVE BEHIND' BY JENNY LINDSAY

There is a major poetry happening taking place on Monday 10th March, at Edinburgh's Jazz Bar: the launch of new books by two of Scotland's most exciting and gifted performance poets, Jenny Lindsay and Harlequinade.

Come along and celebrate the launch of the debut full-length poetry collection Jenny Lindsay, one of Scotland's leading performance poets. 'The Things You Leave Behind'  is published by Red Squirrel Press.

"Jenny Lindsay's poetry rages bitterly against all that is shallow, disposable and hypocritical in modern life, but is also too self-aware, too full of hope, humanity and humour, to slip into cyni...cism or po-faced self-righteousness. As she writes in one of the poems here, "I have to believe in a better world, even if I have to live in this one." And she does: defiantly, eloquently and inspiringly." 
- (Andrew Eaton, The Scotsman.)
 
Harlequinade is no stranger to readers of this site - the author of such Weaponizer tales as 'The Curious Incident of the Crimson Snow' and 'The Bread House,' writer of the short film 'Swirlhead', and the wordsmith behind hip-hop lycanthropes Sileni, Chemical Poets and Church Of When The Shit Hits The Fan will also be launching his debut pamphlet collection 'The Harlequinade' on the night: violent and surreal, fantastical and grotesque; this collection of poems, script fragments, tracts and platitudes from the chasm between poetry and dark theatrics draws upon cubist pantomime, grotesque burlesque, dada rap, cut-up horrorscapes, bouffon and good ol' fashioned slapstick.

"A virtuoso dislapy, like a jolt of electricity to the head." 
- The Skinny ****

Seriously, you don't want to miss this one. The show starts at 7pm. Do yourself a favour and click ATTENDING on the Facebook Event page.

There now follows a short public service announcement by Harlequinade.

HYDRONOMICON

~you will get wet~

…a Lovecraftian clown rap apocalypse…

Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh

1930-2030 6-27th August 2011

Part of PBH’s Free Fringe