Check out my comics for free online:

7 Principles of Kwanzaa https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/7_Principles_of_Kwanzaa/

Agrippa https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Agrippa/

Dreamworlds https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Dreamworlds/

Mauskaveli https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Mauskaveli_in_Full_Color/

Tales of an Iconoclast: The Carolyn Saulson Story https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Tales_of_An_Iconoclast/

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2023 Nebula Conference & Awards Ceremony

• Start12 May 2023
• End14 May 2023
• LocationAnaheim, CA & Online

https://membership.sfwa.org/page-1462889

Sat, May 13, 2023 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Black Speculative Fiction: Urban Fantasy and Beyond

From Octavia Butler’s “Kindred” to LA Bank’s Vampire Huntress series, Urban fantasy (fantasy that takes place in modern cities) is a subgenre frequently embraced by Black authors who write science fiction, fantasy, and horror authors, and especially by African American authors, but it is not the only thing we write. Why is the genre so popular with Black authors? And why is the popular genre, which is particularly associated with African Americans, so often maligned?

Alaya Dawn Johnson

James Beamon

Endria Richardson

Sumiko Saulson

Pegasus: Panel A – Zoom

Sun, May 14, 2023 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM

Sating the Need: Writing a Satisfying Romantic Subplot

Want to perfect that romantic subplot to add character depth and, potentially, heat to your story? Panelists will discuss the purpose of romantic subplots, how to use them effectively, and what makes them satisfying for cross-genre readers.

Greta K. Kelly

Meghan Ciana Doidge

Alicia Hilton

Linden Tarr

Sumiko Saulson

Sunshine: Panel B – Zoom

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Join me for my public appearance, poetry reading, and Q&A Session: at the Central Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St, Berkeley, CA 94704, just three blocks away from the Downtown Berkeley BART Station!

Dark Poetry Reading
Saturday, April 29, 2023 – 3:00pm-4:00pm
Central Branch Art & Music/5th Floor

Calling all fans of poetry, tragedy, horror, and Bay Area lit for an introduction to the poignant and sometimes macabre world of dark poetry! Come hear award-winning local author Sumiko Saulson read from their Bram Stoker Nominated poetry collection, The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry. The reading will be followed by an audience Q&A with Saulson and a discussion on how poetry can be used to explore the darker side of life.

Sumiko Saulson is a Bram Stoker Nominated poet for their 2022 collection The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry (Dooky Zines), and an award-winning author of Afrosurrealist and multicultural sci-fi and horror whose latest novel Happiness and Other Diseases is available on Mocha Memoirs Press. They are also the winner of the HWA Scholarship from Hell (2016) BCC Voice “Reframing the Other” contest (2017), Mixy Award (2017), Afrosurrealist Writer Award (2018), HWA Diversity Grant (2020), HWA Richard Laymon Presidents Award (2021), and Ladies of Horror Fiction Readers’ Choice Award (2021). Sumiko has an AA in English from Berkeley City College, writes a column called “Writing While Black” for a national Black Newspaper, the San Francisco BayView is the host of the SOMA Leather and LGBT Cultural District’s “Erotic Storytelling Hour,” and teaches courses at the Speculative Fiction Academy.

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On June 24, my story The Dessicated Heart From the upcoming anthology Manner of Frights (Horror Addicts) will be featured on the Horror Addicts Podcast! Edited by Emerian Rich, this intriguing anthology is about a 100 years in the history of a frightening old manor. Each story takes place in a different room inside of the haunted old structure.

My story, The Dessicated Heart, is about a queercore punk rock band with unfortunate tastes in rehearsal spaces. There’s already been a mysterious fire in the history of the old manor’s garage, converted from an old-fashioned carriage house back in the day. Despite the tales of unseemly goings on, or perhaps because of them, the band decides to practice there. What could possibly go wrong?

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NEW FICTION FROM EMMY Z. MADRIGAL!

Cynthia Porter is dealing with much more than any high school girl should be asked to withstand. She’s at odds with her current love interest, famous boy bander Derek Montgomery. Her mother is verbally abusive and violent, pushing Cynthia out of the house. Her best friend can’t even console her, since she’s recovering from a bad weekend injury. Living out of a gym bag, Cynthia stays with any friends who will take her in, but things don’t make her life any easier when she starts hooking up with random guys.

Victoria Knox, recovering from her kidnapping injury, finds her boyfriend can’t stop blaming himself for letting her get hurt. She just wants to put the whole mess behind her and get on with her singing career.

There are only six more months to the freedom of graduation. Can the girls make it without losing their way?

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EASY LINKS: 

Sweet Dreams #1 FREE April 1-5
Star Struck #2 FREE April 8-12
True Love #3 FREE April 15-19
Undecided #4 RELEASED! April 20th

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DIRECT BUY LINK TO UNDECIDED:

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Come by this Sunday and grab a signed copy of my Bram Stoker Nominated “The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry” or pick up some art!

Spring has Sprung! Lots of other things are sprung in spring, and so Milk SF in conjunction with ByrdBeaks will be presenting the Sprung Queer Market this Sunday 3/26 from 11 AM to 5PM. Support around 20 awesome queer artists, makers, and small businesses!

I’ll be vending there with Mauskaveli – my cartoon art concern – come by and check out my signature product, an assortment of hand-drawn, painted, and resin-coated paddles, upcycled art fashion like these cool boots here, books, comic books, doll modifications, art pillows and little stuff like keychains and buttons with my art on them!

I will also have my books and comic books for sale.

Posted in Everything Else

The Erlkönig arrived
In the carriage one night
Adelaide, a door found
She was replaced underground
The Pevensie Four also fell
Through a door
And when they grew up
They could go there no more

She sang the Erlkönig
All four operatic parts
Having mastered her craft
Of the vocular arts

Frightened child
Father unaware
Omniscient alto
Of the distant narrator
A seductive voice
Orchestrates everything
To the twisted mechanations
Of the Faerie King

It was inescapable it seems
That, as innocent children
We were replaced by changelings
Our parents never noticed
As for how sullen we became
They blamed it on our hormones
And the constancy of change
Cloaked us all imposters

A gremlin where I used to be
Sat loathsome in my room
Cramming composition books full of poetry
In adolescent clouds of gloom
Tragedy brings out the Poe in me
I have always had a Tell-Tale Heart
And I think, it has been nice knowing me
As my seams start to fall apart

Pills were given to adjust my brain chemistry
To bring good old Jekyll back from the Hyde
My emotions surely made a monster of me
Sporting feted wounds on the inside

Obsessive scrawling in the gutters
Of utterly destroyed notebooks filled
With no space left between the lines
The overfilled state of my poetry books
Matching the overwrought state of my mind

Now I am being congratulated
And I look sideways in the mirror
What I’ve written in flights of insanity
It must now face a jury of peers

Will they somehow find out
That the real me was lost
In a Sunken Place?
Was stolen away by the Erlkönig
And a changeling
Now wears my face

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Purchase some dark horror romance for this Valentine’s Day, in remembrance of that saint who was beheaded 18 centuries ago. Legends say that St. Valentine secretly married Christians, thus allowing them to avoid conscription into the Roman Empire’s army. Speaking of the Roman Empire and religion, Somnus and his family have developed a special interest in Flynn Keahi, the protagonist of my series, the Metamorphoses of Flynn Keahi ~ the first book of which, Happiness and Other Diseases, was published by Mocha Memoirs Press, LLC last year! Flynn is a man living in Berkeley with bipolar disorder, who has begun having rather intense and sadomasochistic dreams. It appears that one of the old Greek gods, spirits, daimones, and Titans of sleep, death, and dreams has taken an interest in Flynn, and a mysterious woman flirting with him in the psych ward may be his only way of understanding what is happening to him. Buy the book at https://mochamemoirspress.com/product/happiness-and-other-diseases/ !! Buy yourself one, and buy one for every one of your sweeties; it makes a great Valentine’s Day gift!

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Come out to @milk.sf for the Milk SF Queer Market: Valentine’s Edition produced in conjunction with @byrdbeaks where Mauskaveli will be vending along with other local queer artists and artisans! Happening this Sunday, February 5th from 10am to 5pm at Milk SF, 302 Valenica Street in San Francisco.

Milk SF’s queer markets are back with a special Valentine,s themed event! Pick up the perfect, one-of-a-kind gift for your special someone(s) while supporting local queer artists and creators.

They’ve partnered with our feathered friends at ByrdBeaks to help with logistics, allowing us to host a market every month.

Interested in vending? Apply at https://forms.gle/WfKrLRDx3syMzky37. DM ByrdBeaks or email byrd@byrdbeaks with any questions.

https://www.facebook.com/events/828094641622528

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