It is with delight that I share the good news that we’re about 10 days out from the launch of the Kickstarter for The Green Hornet & Kato: Detroit Noir City, a new anthology from Moonstone, edited David Boop, featuring new stories with the heroes of print, comic books, radio, and television The Green Hornet & Kato, along with the usual cast of characters and some all new ones you’re sure to love.
I am so proud that my story, Blind Pig Shakedown, which centers the African American civil rights movement and takes place during the Long Hot Summer of 1967 against the backdrop of the 12th Street Riots, will appear alongside stories by Timothy Zahn & Kevin J. Anderson, Matthew Baugh, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Mary Fan, Michael Haspil, Megan Mackie, Kim May, James A. Moore, and Bill Willingham
The hard-hitting story takes place in the muggy days ramping up to the riot, and puts DA Frank Scanlon, the Green Hornet and Kato up front and center during the historic events and well-documented racial profiling and police corruption that fueled the riots.Above – along with the Green Hornet logo – are Creative Commons images from the 1967 Detroit Riots, which started out at a speakeasy known as a blind pig. Photo credits are US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Phil Cherner, and Sekai.
The Green Hornet & Kato: Detroit Noir City also features a stunning cover by Matt Wagner, a legendary artist in the world of comics. STAY TUNED FOR THE OFFICIAL COVER REVEAL!
Follow the campaign TODAY and JOIN US for Detroit Noir where the Green Hornet and Kato will have their newest adventures brought to you by some of the best authors of this century. The campaign will be opening soon with some great rewards!
Gender and Weird Fiction, Gender As Weird Fiction — Biltmore Ballroom, Graduate 17th Floor.
A discussion of the intersection of gender identity and presentation with weird fiction, film, gaming, and arts. Panelists: Juicy Garland, Khôra Martel (M), Sumiko Saulson, Trisha Wooldridge
Saturday August 17, 9:30 – 10:45 AM
Freaky Black Art: History and Contributions of Black Women and Black Nonbinary Authors in Horror and the Weird – Biltmore Ballroom, Graduate Hotel, 17th floor
Panelists discuss the history and contributions of Black Nonbinary and Black Women writers to horror and weird fiction from the Harlem Renaissance to today, highlighting major authors, trends, and milestones. Conversations will focus on Afrosurrealism, the politics of the racial weird, and how key figures influence (or don’t influence) their work. Panelists: Paula D. Ashe (M), Michelle Renee Lane, Hysop Mulero, Zin E. Rocklyn, Sumiko Saulson, Sheree Renée Thomas
Panelists discuss the history and significance of transgressive fiction, a movement that rejects societal conventions and portrays behavior and ideas that may shock or disturb, tracing the lineage of the transgressive with an emphasis on weird and horror fiction from the 1980s to present. Panelists: Paula D. Ashe, Matthew Cheney (M), Nicole Cushing, Scott Dwyer, Billy Martin, Sumiko Saulson, LC von Hessen
Dark rhymes and deep thoughts send you on a dive through the void as you read this intensely personal poetry collection. Melancholia will send you into worlds both beyond and within, opening your eyes to truths often left untold in this world and challenging you with the harsh realities and injustices of life, without abandoning the darkly comforting magic that can be found in the shadows.
Sumiko Saulson has once again dared to submerge into dark and twisted realms to resurface with new poems to challenge. Nothing is taboo in this exploration of the mind and what makes us kick, mourn and find the melancholia that waits for us all. Saulson’s poetry invites us to confront the things we try not to think about and embrace the specters within. An intensely profoundly moving poetry collection that speaks of personal truths often left untold while fearlessly confronting our shadow self without flinching.
Rain Graves, Bram Stoker Award Winning author of Barfodder wrote:
“Sumiko Saulson’s storytelling reaches up from the depths of death, through the sediment of time, catching beams of light in Melancholia: A Book of Dark Poetry. From classic monsters, ghosts, dark fantasy, and urban fairytales to the pain and anguish of everyday modern and sci-fi life, there is much to read between the lines. Their personal struggles, strength and shedding light on tough issues are all beautiful, savory blood on the page.”
-THE RAT KING: A Book of Dark Poetry was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, and Elgin Award
-“Survivor,” a poem from THE RAT KING: A Book of Dark Poetry, tied for third place for the Dwarf Stars poetry award
– I was Toastmaster at MileHighCon and received a Toastmaster Award (my first GOH Appearance anywhere!)
– 160 BLACK WOMEN IN HORROR was released with the assistance of the incredible Kenya Moss-Dyme
– BLACK WOMEN IN HORROR MAGAZINE was released with the assistance of Kenya Moss-Dyme
– a BLACK WOMEN IN HORROR panel took place at StokerCon, and one took place at AfroComicCon
-“All Hail the Queen” a short story was published in HorrorZine’s Book of Monsters.
– “The Denounment of Freeze Dried Coffee” a short story was published in We’re Here: An Anthology of LGBT Horror
– “The Ballad of Faerie Garcia,” short story, In Trouble (Omnium Gatherum) edited by EF Schraeder and Elaine Schleiffer
– “A Confusion of the Gods,” a short story, was published Blackened Roots edited by Nicole Givens Kurtz and Tonia Ransom
– “The Dessicated Heart” was published in “Manor of Frights” edited by Emerian Rich
– the poems “The Queen of Death, Perplexed”. “Syndrome of the Impostor” and “Mercurial Creature” were published in The Horror Zine, November 2023 issue
– the comic zine AND WE LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO BURY OUR DEAD was published on Dooky Zines
– the comic zine GHOST CAT IS BEST CAT was published on Dooky Zines
– the comic zine THE DRAIN MONSTER was published on Dooky Zines
Last Sunday, I had to deal with a microaggressive white woman at my favorite karaoke bar. It’s not the first time she’s been microaggressive. She has a fetishizing relationship with the men of color that she dates and a generally fetishizing relationship with people of color. She frequently corners me and forces me to endure her endless very cringeworthy racial monologues.
It’s damned near impossible to explain racist microaggressions to a staff that has zero black people. I haven’t seen a black person work there in a good 15 years.
I had to have my white partner explain racial microaggressions to the only non-white person working there at the time because the staff was too busy tone-policing me to understand that I was allowed to set any sort of boundaries with this person. The next time I returned to the club, said staff person asked what she did (again) because she is “generally sweet” to the staff.
I said I was not surprised to hear she is generally sweet to the staff. There are no black people on the staff, she has said several times that she would like to get a job working there, and although said staff person acknowledged that she keeps making cringeworthy racial comments to him, it doesn’t bother him.
This woman asked me to sing a duet with her. She asked for “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and I suggested White Christmas. I let her sit at the table with me and my friends, and sing a song with us, but it was definitely a give her an inch and then she takes a mile kind of situation because she immediately asked me to sing “Dream” with her.
I did not want to and said no.
She refused to take no for an answer, about six times in a row, and said “Just tell me what I did wrong?” over and over again. When I agreed to sing one Christmas song with her, at no time did I agree to sing multiple songs with her. but she became extremely emotionally manipulative, refused to respect my boundaries, and used white tears to coerce my compliance in front of my partner Princess Chris Hughes and two other witnesses at our table.
When I refused to comply, she left both her drinks at our table for approximately 20 minutes and after some time I said “I guess she left” and brought them back to the bar. When I did so, she returned, took the two beers, and sat next to my partner. She waved at me to come sit between her and my partner, and I refused and sat across the table. At that point, a staff member (the only non-white one working at the time) came and asked me what was wrong. It was very clear (in a very short time) that I was going to have to have my white partner talk to him because I was dealing with people in such a colonized space.
San Francisco is a generally hostile place for African Americans. 5.3% of the population there is Black, yet close to 40% of homeless San Franciscans are Black. As many of you know, my mental health improved greatly when I moved from San Francisco to Oakland – where I was able to pursue my writing career in an environment that doesn’t disregard the concerns of African Americans while forwarding their own narrative. Not that Oakland is free of overt or covert racism, but it is 33% Black.
It is very frustrating and difficult to try to communicate with people whose political views are very different from yours, and I have lost all hope that anything will ever get corrected in this place except me. Their policies are so generally lax in other areas that there has been no response whatsoever to my report that I was nonconsensual groped (twice) by a drunken patron with a documented history of groping multiple women (yes, a couple of women approached me, and told me he’s done it to them as well). Only one woman is working inside the club.
As promised, here is the complete story in three rounds of the “The Case of the Confounded Chiropterologist,” a work of flash fiction written at MileHighCon in three rounds during Flash Fiction Chopped, a contest hosted by Meg Ward. I tied for first place. Here is my winning piece, along with all of the prompts we were given.
Round 1
Character: Chiropterologist
Location: Public Library
Conflict: Do Nilla Wafers Belong in Banana Pudding?
Maurice had come to the library simply to study bats for his figure career as a chiropterologist. He’d, in fact, come across a strange specimen in his fieldwork and wanted to see if his discovery was unique and could become the subject of his thesis paper. The books he needed were nowhere to be found, but thank goodness for microfiche!
He got into line for the librarian – but as he awaited, two ruffians engaged in a loud argument about the value of nilla wafers in banana pudding. It was growing louder, and the two erupted into fisticuffs!
The librarian ran over to break it up, but to her shock and dismay, they began pelting eachother with wafers and pudding!
The smell of pudding awakened the fossilized bad in Maurice’s pocket, and it flew to the ruffians and drank their blood.
Round 2
Character: 8-month-old Baby Whose First Word is “Uh Oh”
Location: Police Station
Conflict: Indecent Exposure
The police detective was aghast as the two bloodied, Nilla wafer-covered ruffians entered the interrogation room. Maurice waited outside, to be called in for his report later.
The strange, hungry bat was hidden in his pocket. It burst forth, shredding his jeans, in front of a young mother and her 8-month-old baby!
“Indecent exposure!” the policeman shouted as Maurnce tried to cover his torn underpants.
“Don’t look!” the baby’s mother screamed, covering the child’s eyes.
“Uh oh!” shouted the baby.
“Joey’s first words!” the mother said excitedly, as Maurice stood sadly, covering his shame.
His indiscretion was soon forgotten, as the agitated bat latched onto a police detective’s jugular vein, letting loose a stream of crimson blood, jetting forth as a geyser. It hit the terrified librarian in the face, and she turned to run out of the room, but the librarian did nothing but attract the bat, who tore into the librarian’s face as she covered her eyes.
The terrified toddler’s mother vomited.
Round 3
Character: Jason (Friday 13th)
Location: Pub
Conflict: Whether or not the Empire State Building should be 3 feet taller
The pub was filled at happy hour when a drunken brawl broke out between Angus and Larry.
“They should have changed the building laws!” Larry screamed.
“The Empire State Building is shorter by 30 feet for a reason. Earthquakes!”
“It’s not in San Francisco!” Larry shot back. Right then, a weird bat flew through the door, and began to chew into Larry’s face, tearing off most of his lower jaw. Blood spurted everywhere!
The rest of the patrons ran to escape, but they could not! Jason from Friday the 13th was in the door. He ran at Angus and chopped his head off. The hungry bat ran at it and ate the eye.
Just then, Maurice burst in, torn underwear flapping in the wind, and screamed, “I’ll save you!”
“You look ridiculous,” Jason said, which stunned everyone because Jason never spoke.
“Uh oh!” Maurice cried out, spotting Jason, and started to flee.
Right then,, the police showed up and shot Jason. They were distracted as the zombified Angus and Larry, drunk and inebriated, rose hungry from the floor.
It’s a good thing that one of them was headless and the other jawless so they could eat no one.
“It’s the revenge of the zombie bat!” Maurice screamed, just before the heroic librarian arrived, with the microfiche needed for Maurice to save the day!
They Swallowed the Sun cover reveal! March 1, 2026
They Swallowed the Sun Kickstarter pre-launch goes live! March 1, 2026
Dance of Necromance: Poetry Book of the Dead becomes available for purchase! March 30, 2026
Buy it at https://mochamemoirspress.com/product/dance-of-necromance-poetry-book-of-the-dead/?v=0b3b97fa6688
Poet Laureate at BayCon42 / Westercon 78: The Answer! July 3, 2026 – July 6, 2026
BayCon 42 is proud and privileged to welcome Sumiko Saulson as this year’s Poet-in-Residence. Sumiko brings a distinct voice to speculative literature and poetry. Their presence at BayCon 42 reminds us that meaning can be found in metaphor, memory, and the magic of language. Every year, BayCon welcomes creators, thinkers, and trailblazers whose work reshapes the way…
Sumiko Saulson 