New Story By Janis Now Online!

[William_Sanders]

It is with tremendous pride that I come here to announce the publication of a new and excellent short story by Janis Ian, in a new online magazine:

http://www.helixsf.com

Don't fail to read it! But be careful; it's so edgy you can cut yourself on it. And with an ending that rears up in your face like a spitting cobra - but I can't imagine any fan of Janis's minding that....

No registration or subscription required; free reading for one and all.

(But you might take note of the Paypal link; we depend on donations to pay Janis and the other writers.)

Enjoy!

William Sanders
Senior Editor, HELIX

[Bat]

Like Stephen King, if Janis were not an author, she'd probably be a serial killer.
Wonderfully Ghoulish humor, with much expected and pertinent social commentary, pointedly punctuated with the final riposte. Delightful!-- but definitely not to be read with lunch.
Well done, Janis!:D

[Agnes]

Love it, love it, love it! Just sent the link to my colleague too :D

[Dee]

Well done Janis!

As Bat implied, definitely a Stephen King feel to it. I’ll never think of BBQ in quite the same way. ;)

PS: Thank you for posting the link, William Sanders.

[Marcia Drummergal]

Thanks to Bat for advising me NOT to read this while having lunch as I had planned to do.

Janis, Janis, Janis. You have such a VIVID imagination. Not surprising. A little scary though.............!

Marcia :eek:

[RedjackRyan]

Delicious story! of course now all i can think about is ribs..

[Dar]

Delicious story! of course now all i can think about is ribs..


I wonder what sort of rub they used?? ;)

[Marcia Drummergal]

Delicious story! of course now all i can think about is ribs..

I'm starting to wonder what you are REALLY serving at the JanNic. Perhaps I will stick to something vegetarian...........:eek:

Marcia

[Bat]

Sweeney Todd Lives??!!
No, darling Marcia, I believe they'll be cooking a 'what', not a 'who'.
(at least I hope to god they will........_):eek:

[ponytail]

What a brilliant story. A little surprised that folks seem to be so thrown by it. I thought the "gruesome" aspects of it were handled with great subtlety.

My copy of "Who Really Cares" literally just came in today's mail. (Signed, to my delight and surprise!) I'm all excited. Can't wait to read it. I was on the verge of finishing Adrienne Rich's "The School Among The Ruins," but I'm putting it aside to start reading Janis's poetry. So far it looks wonderful!:)

[Bat]

What a brilliant story. A little surprised that folks seem to be so thrown by it. I thought the "gruesome" aspects of it were handled with great subtlety.

That's is the secret of "gruesome"...even though the writing is so subtle as to be almost subliminal, what is more evocative than one's own imagination when prodded with that? :eek:

[DaveM]

The most gruesome stories generally have the least detail. Alread Hitchcock deliberately filmed "Psycho" in black and white to allow audiences to create a color picture in their own minds. And if you go through the infamous shower scene, you'll see that the prop knife never so much as touches the victim. But we all saw her stabbed....didn't we?

Robert Aickman, in one of his "strange stories", presented a mystery in wihch murderer and victim are never scene--but by the end of the story you know who they both are, along with all the gory details. And William Sansom once created the most frightening story I've ever read in a simple narrative about a man climbing a ladder....merely by reminding the reader every now and then how frightened the man is of heights.

Kudos, Janis! How about an anthology of your SF one of these days? Surely, if your songs can inspire an entire volume's worth of prominent authors to write original stories, your stories ought at the very least to attract enough readers to make it worth while.

I'd say much the same for your essays as well....it worked for Harlan Ellison....

[ponytail]

I agree that the subtle approach to the horrific works the best, guys. I guess all I meant was that when I read that people were grateful they didn't read the story over lunch, I couldn't imagine anyone being grossed out or sickened by it. It ain't exactly "American Psycho" (thank God! Brett Ellis could take writing lessons from Janis!):)

[DaveM]

Whatever happened to Brett Easton Ellis, anyway? Not to offend any of his readers (if there are any left), but writing that bad deserves a headstone. Honestly....that guy gives the profession a bad name.