NONFIC: THE NOUGHTIES - WTF JUST HAPPENED? 2003: A TALE OF TWO DISCOS

Celebrated blogger, producer, DJ and label-runner Niall O' Conghaile (aka The Niallist) returns with another essay analysing the music of the 'Noughties. It's 2003, and a young Niallist is getting caught up in the emergence of a new-old sound originating in New York City...

Half way through 2002 a 12" single appeared on a New York label that would, for better or for worse, come to define most of the indie pop music of the Noughties. I include it here in 2003 because it was slept on on its original release, only beginning to make waves in the 2002 end of year charts and early 2003 'new talent' lists, leading to a lot of expectations for the follow up single which was released almost exactly a year later. The record in question was 'Losing My Edge,' the band was LCD Soundsystem ...READ '2003: A TALE OF TWO DISCOS' NOW!

NEW SERIAL: HARLEQUINADE'S 'THE DAY THE SUN DIDN'T SHINE'

Today sees the start of a new dark apocalyptic horror / science fiction serial by HARLEQUINADE. One of Weaponizer's most critically acclaimed writers, emerging from a background in performance poetry and drawing upon literature, opera, masks, puppetry and clown, Hq aims to bridge surrealism with mythology; celebrity culture with carnival freak shows; the weird and mundane; the gorgeous and grotesque. Creating works of thermo-nuclear hip-hop to blackest visual theatre; abstract stand-up comedy to ferocious dancefloors, his various projects encompass a wide range of disciplines, but all aim to excite, bamboozle and enthrall. His show 'The Ratcatcher' debuts at The Arches Live Theatre Festival in Glasgow this weekend: if you are in town, try and grab a ticket. For now, get fired into Harlequinade's new serial, THE DAY THE SUN DIDN'T SHINE.

On the day that the sun didn’t shine, TD was admiring his latest creation. Slumped against the pipes, bleeding from the mouth, she wakes up and stares with wide eyes around. She sees TD, and screams; gargling with blood ...READ PART 1 OF 'THE DAY THE SUN DIDN'T SHINE' NOW!





(A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR)
Another week, another disastrous attempt at scheduling from me. Sorry folks! Your humble editor has been finishing up a story for submission to a particular literary fiction anthology, which is due tomorrow. This has kept me up late a few nights this week, and I just haven't had time to keep the site under control. Anyway, I have 5 minutes now, so here's a few new pieces...
/texture

NONFICTION: THE MASON LANG FILM CLUB PRESENTS 'THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR'

Our resident Occultist and Shepherd of  the Weird, Ian 'Cat' Vincent, returns with another thought-provoking essay of film criticism. This time he introduces a lesser-known classic of the 'Your Reality Isn't Real' genre, 'The Thirteenth Floor.'



Unlike The Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor was not a success, either financially or critically. It came and went pretty much without notice. I only found out about it when it showed up in the bargain bin of a local video shop. It’s a shame, really - not only is it a nicely-constructed and performed little thriller, but it actually goes far deeper into the ramifications of the Your Reality Isn’t Real sub-genre than its better-known counterpart. It also has a history that stretches back to the year I was born - one that along the way takes in one of Europe’s most well-regarded cinematic auteurs, Ranier Werner Fassbinder ...READ PART 2 OF 'THE MASON LANG FILM CLUB' NOW!

READ PART 1: THE MASON LANG FILM CLUB PRESENTS... THE MATRIX

READ THE MASON LANG FILM CLUB INTRODUCTION

FLASH FICTION: THE PROTOTYPE

Please welcome another new writer, Niall McMahon, with his first story, an SF tale about bioweaponry.

The sky is a bloodbath. Red as hell. The sun sits on the horizon haemorrhaging fire, igniting the clouds. Jesus, it looks like heaven is wounded – emptying its arteries into the jet stream. I feel night’s shadow at my back, and for once I don’t care. Let it come. Let me die beneath this slaughterhouse sunset. This is all my fault ...READ 'THE PROTOTYPE' NOW!

FICTION: MY FIRST CAR

A new writer joins us today, say hello to Andrew S. Guthrie. His first short story for us is amulti-perspective narrative about an American classic, the 1978 Chevy Omega.

As soon as I got the car, I hit the road. I had never hit the road like that before, even though I was an American. I rode a bicycle. I never left my city. I occasionally rented a car. This kid out in the suburbs, in the crawl space of his parent’s house, he wants to make something of himself. So he drags out some paper, an old typewriter, and acts like a writer, putting a blank sheet in the roller and staring at it for long moments ...READ 'MY FIRST CAR' NOW!

SERIAL: WEAPON EYES, SIR, CHAPTER 8

Paul S. Grimsley's biopunk thriller WEAPON EYES, SIR continues! As the plans for the Weapon Eyes start to come into focus, it looks like democracy itself might be under threat...

he found the whole situation fascinating - something that had begun as a fashion accessory, a lifestyle choice, had morphed into something that actually posed a threat. it had also managed to enter the mainstream culture and had been accepted by groups who would have been staunchly opposed to the philosophy of the liberal hippies and punks who had created the weapon eyes. the NWA came to prominence as one of the biggest supporters of every right-thinking patriot who wanted to protect their homestead being equipped with weapon eyes ...READ 'WEAPON EYES SIR' CHAPTER 8 NOW!

READ FROM THE BEGINNING

FICTION: NIGHT OF THE SUPER WHITEY

Let's face it: we've all been there. The Technicolor Yawn. Yodelling down the Porcelain Telephone. Doing a Jackson Pollock. We've all felt the cold touch of the toilet seat on our feverish, sweat-soaked faces, and breathed out a riot of interesting highlights from our last day's meals. Whatever your poison: weed, booze (or more likely both), or simply because of a dodgy sausage, or cheap sushi, we've all experienced a whitey before... but perhaps not one quite as bad as the one BB Smith experienced...

Three shots of frozen Russian vodka later I was still partaking in smoking the rotating, weed filled, cone. First I sensed it in my chest, an awful burning sensation. As I tried to rub away the feeling, saliva began to fill at the back of my throat. I spat it into Colin’s kitchen sink, making sure that I ran the tap afterward to chase away the gloopy liquid from my sight. Stan pointed out that I was looking a whiter shade of pale, ‘super white’ if I am to quote him correctly. Not good ...READ 'NIGHT OF THE SUPER WHITEY' NOW!

SERIAL: KANSAS, CHAPTER 19

Weaponizer presents the continuation of Matthew McLean's cyberpunk espionage thriller KANSAS! Jhel Phen returns to check on his surveillance operation, and little by little, the net closes on the augmented ex-mercenary known as the Butcher...

"First of all," Jhel began, slowly covering the distance back to Lee as he spoke, "Street assets would never be able to touch the Butcher. You read the file; five years military, three of which were in a Special Forces unit noted for cybernetic augmentation. He can shrug off nine millimeter bullets like you or I shake off rain drops. And God knows what they had him doing after they sprang him from Leavenworth. Any group of street punks you could pull in would get eaten alive." ...READ 'KANSAS' CHAPTER 19 NOW!

READ FROM THE BEGINNING

WEAPONIZER

Hi folks, it's your friendly neighbourhoood edit-jockey here, Texture.

I don't editorialize much here anymore, but I thought I should explain why our scheduling's been so erratic (again!) this month, and let you know about what's coming up today and next week.

This week I started studying towards a Masters in Creative Writing at Glasgow University. It's been an intense, mad week or two since getting to Glasgow - one of the first essays I was given to read was the fantastic 'The Ecstacy of Influence' by Jonathan Lethem, which really got my juices flowing. It's an impassioned defence of the public domain, of cut-and-paste art, and an attack on the Disneyfication of intellectual property. As a Creative Commons site, this is just the kind of thing we like here at Weaponlabs!

Last night I went to a Glasgow-based writers' social group, where I heard a very inspiring speech defending the concept of curation and publisher's lists, and giving encouraging views onthe e-book industry, from the founder of Cargo Publishing, Mark Buckland. Cargo, for those who've been hiding under a rock for the last few years, are a tremendously exciting online and solid-state publisher based in Glasgow, who work with writers such as Alan Bisset and Ewan Morrison, among many others. Mark's speech was just as inspiring as the Lethem article, and it feels good being in a city so packed with literary and publishing talent. They're doing some tremendously exciting things with e-books in the next few months, so keep 'em on your radar!

The only drawback of my exiting week was a distinct lack of content on the site, which I still run pretty much solo. I'd been hoping to keep the schedule as regular as possible, but this week I've fallen behind! So this is just a wee note to say that today I'll be putting up new chapters of KANSAS and WEAPON EYES, SIR, plus a flashfic and a short story, to make up for the radio silence! Next week we'll be back to our regular schedule, and we'll have a new serial starting by avant-maverick Harlequinade.

Also, I'm going to spend today combing the submissions box for new Weaponeers - so if you've submitted a story to us for the first time and haven't heard back yet, look for an email today! Thanks for your patience - I'm looking forward to working with you all.

Finally, I've also spent this week looking at printing options for the Weaponizer Quarterly. Although we've failed to get issue 2 out in a timely fashion, we've learned a lot from the sales and marketing of issue 1, and we'll be back with a new format, a cheaper cover price and loads of exciting content by January 2012. Keep an eye on this blog for news about how to submit your work! Issue 1 is still available to order online, with over 70 pages of exclusive stories, comics, articles and illustrations. Grab yourself a copy today!

Thanks for your support, folks... Weaponizer is going places this year and next, I'm enormously excited about it, and I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Peace!

/texture

SERIAL: BALE'S GAME, CHAPTER 14

K. Patrick Glover, author of our recent Wild West webcomic A WICKED LITTLE TOWN, returns to the fray in earnest this week, jumping back into his noir-thriller serial BALE'S GAME! Bale and his assistants are on Caldwell's trail, and it looks like they've found a significant clue! Read Chapter 14 today, or read the whole saga from the start!

"Caldwell isn’t going to send the bill for a backup credit card to his actual address, which wouldn’t be out here in California anyway," said Bale. "At best, that address is a mail drop, which forwards things on to him. If we show up at his drop, he’s bound to have a system in place to alert him and he’ll stop using the card, making him harder to track. At worst, the whole card and name were planted and the address is a fucking death trap." ...READ 'BALE'S GAME' CHAPTER 14 NOW!

READ FROM THE BEGINNING

FICTION: WHITE SUGAR

A tongue-in-cheek graveside monologue today from Glasgow-based author Andrew Taylor. Don't read this until AFTER you've eaten lunch, 'kay?

When you can feel your heart beat in your brain you know it was a rough night. Quite why everyone is wearing sunglasses, I don’t know. They can’t be feeling any worse than me and I’m managing. Mine are in my pocket in case things get worse. They’re talking about putting Cristina somewhere, in a box I suppose? This is a funeral parlour after all ...READ 'WHITE SUGAR' NOW!

FICTION: SYMPATHY

K. Patrick Glover, the scribe behind our recent webcomic A WICKED LITTLE TOWN, returns with a one-shot tale about an ancient dance between accuser and accused. His serial BALE'S GAME returns next week!


The well-dressed man stood from his chair and stepped closer to me for just a moment. I thought he was going to touch me and the very thought chilled me to the bone. He was so close that I felt sure that I would feel his breath upon my cheek but I felt nothing. “When do you think it is,” he whispered ...READ 'SYMPATHY' NOW!

SERIAL: STILETTO EYE & RAZORGUT AND THE SHRIEKING FIRE SPAWN OF THE INNER CORE

Everyone's favourite Louis Jordan-loving, Cadillac-driving adventurers in the realms of mystery, horror and metafiction are back! Dwayne Coltrane and the HyperDeathPsychoRock Three present the 18th adventure of... STILETTO EYE & RAZORGUT!

StilletoEye and RazorGut cruised Betsy, their sleek black 55 Cadillac, through the foggy streets, the gloom punctuated by the occasional oil lamp. As they approached the huge iron gates, embroided with the elaborate initials JV, a huddled gatekeeper creaked them open and motioned StilletoEye and RazorGut through. They drove up towards the imposing mansion that sat upon the crest of the hill, surrounded by the thick fog and silhouetted against the full moon ...READ 'STILETTO EYE & RAZORGUT' CHAPTER 18 NOW!

READ FROM THE BEGINNING

SERIAL: WEAPON EYES, SIR, CHAPTER 7

Paul S. Grimsley's biopunk thriller WEAPON EYES, SIR returns today, as we delve further into the conditions that gave rise to the Weapon Eyes. Espionage, violence and greed in Chapter 7 - Military Budgets!

they always had people keeping an ear to the ground for any rumbles from the so-called counter-culture - it was a fucking petri dish from which they stole freely. the illusion of freedom that these morons laboured under was conducive to the more intelligent among them coming up with lots of different inventions that, with a little work, could have military applications ...READ 'WEAPON EYES, SIR' CHAPTER 7 NOW!

FLASH FICTION: GET YOUR THRIFT ON

Paul S. Grimsley's biopunk thriller serial WEAPON EYES, SIR returns this week on Wednesday, so to whet your appetite, here's a quick flash fiction about temporal dislocation and charity shops from the man himself.

one day he would be a small child and the next day he would be a large child. it was thought that he was a mirror, but what he reflected no one could quite work out. there was a rumour of quantum entanglement being involved - that some laboratory had linked him with someone in a temporally distant location, but of course there was no proof ...READ FLASH FICTION: 'GET YOUR THRIFT ON' NOW!

NONFICTION: THE TEUTHIC SINGULARITY

Dire warnings of imminent apocalypse today, as Pornokitsch-er Jared Shurin starts seeing signs of the return of Lovecraft's Great Old Ones, or at least their main player... Cthulhu! There are some cool links in this piece too, so mind and click through!

Lovecraft's principal warning is that Cthulhu is not the end-game, but the opening act. Something 'squamous' and 'eldritch' lives under the ocean and, when the time is right, its psychic frequency begins to resonate with the minds of surface sensitives. Perhaps this warning should be heeded ...READ NONFICTION: 'THE TEUTHIC SINGULARITY' NOW!

FLASH FICTION: FINALLY! THE WEATHER!

Peter Morrison returns with a virulent little Flash Fiction which paints a picture of a world where celebrities get the reward they deserve on Oscar night...

The young couple stepped out of a limo; she was wearing a gravity defying red dress from designer Okino Asawa, while he looked splendid in traditional black tux. Curie’s fans chanted his name – Jerry – to the visible discomfort of Jiin; the star’s fans have gained a reputation for being particularly vicious towards any woman associated with their boy ...READ FLASH FICTION: 'FINALLY! THE WEATHER! NOW!

SERIAL: WORKING CLASS PALADIN, CHAPTER 6

Writer C. Brian Hickey has created an eldritch, spellbinding 'verse for his urban / occult fantasy tales, first wowing us with the adventures of Jason December, Corporate Warlock, and then moving on to create Tommy Gallagher, a mysterious Paladin with with two enchanted guns, The Sisters. Things are really hotting up in Working Class Paladin, as a major villain of the piece, Mister Sticks (who will be familiar to those of you who read the Weaponizer Quarterly) unfolds his dastardly plans. Genomic intoxicants, mystical mysteries and two-fisted demon-punching await in Chapter 6 of WORKING CLASS PALADIN, with a special guest appearance by Jason December! WORLD FIRST! WEAPONIZER TEAM-UP!

Shapes moved from behind the stone pillars and doorways. They were like Macca, that same color and that same horrific quality, but each was terrible and unique. One had his legs split into four, so he crept like a silent centaur. Another was all claws, a long, scythe-like beak protruding from her mouth, and eyes where her breasts once were. They numbered almost a dozen. Tommy had already marked his shots, one into each pulsating sac that glowed before him, when he felt a wet, sticky penetration into his brain ...READ CHAPTER 6 OF 'WORKING CLASS PALADIN' NOW!

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