R.N. Jayne's Blog: Inq Idly

Cover art by George Cotronis

The competition in the book industry is bruising; I’ve taken my share of blows, and still struggle to stand after each knockdown. Even so, I offer you my still-beating heart in the form of Eien, the series ender of my queer vampire epic MASTER. But first, I request you read the enclosed letter to bet...

“This night sucks like a pierced straw—until my narrowed eyes land on one of the prettiest ladies I’ve seen in a long time. She’s a long, cool drink of iced coffee in the height of global warming; she has sorrel skin, her features elegantly elongated like evening shadows. Before I can take in the rest of her, I glimpse her autumn-brown eyes and my world slides off center. There’s an expression of knowi...

He dispersed notions of ethical dining once the cab’s headlights knifed through the night, taking him deeper into damnation with every tick of the meter.

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Today woke up ragged, hangover-haggish

A cheesecloth sky run twice through the wringer

Stagnant-pond brown, but headache-high greener

Regs ganja butter strained through a filter

Off-brand brownie batter, powdered-milk silt

Jilted red-eyed sleep, ingrained to the hilt

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Can’t I just like horror because it’s great? Does there have to be some big explanation?

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Title: My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Rating: 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Full disclosure: on several occasions, I almost failed to finish Graham’s slow-burning literary ode...

Spooky Season, here I come. In honor of the holiday nearest and dearest to my wizened heart, I’ll be dropping frequent excerpts from my vampire series MASTER, sharing new flash fics, and reviewing Halloween-y recommended reads from now until the 31st. Kicking things off with a bloody trickle from a telltale ache, here’s a sexually charged snippet detailing a smoldering vampire-on-vampire encounter in “Feeding You,” an excerpt from Deux (MASTER, Bo...

Recently, I was inspired to complete a short story I’ve been sitting on for the past couple of weeks. I can’t tell you what defining event sent this surreal tale of a dancer’s deadly ambivalence towards her would-be euthanizer into a state of completion. I can, however, give credit where credit is due: ReedsyPrompts writer and previous contest winner Scott Christenson generously agreed to swap critique...

You aren’t ready for this—mostly because you haven’t read the other books in my queer vampire series MASTER yet. But fear not, there’s time to catch up; and I’m offering Books 1-4 at such a deep discount, they might as well be six feet under. But hey, I’m up for the challenge of resurrection.

Additional Reasons Why You Need to Practice “Safe Reading” on Melancholia (Other Than The Supreme Court Took Away Your Basic Human Rights—See What I Did There?):

-The schmex is out of bounds. As my editor...

My introduction to pop artist Charlotte VanRoss was, as Bob Ross would say, a “happy accident”—had it not been for Steven Amoxès, one of my previous Artist Spotlight guests, we might never have met. Creative, resourceful, and determined, Charlotte embraces and exemplifies the type of go-getting attitude that often sparks success. Her desire to pursue her dreams despite physical obstacles, coupled with her talent for opportunity-making, has led to ...

In the past, Rio Shayne nearly abandoned her passion for art. She attributes her revival of visual creativity to a combination of psychedelic use, subsequent soul-healing, and renewed faith in herself as both an artist and a human being. When I first interviewed Rio in 2015, we had a drastically different conversation from the one I’m sharing today. Time and experience have altered her perspective, but certain fundamental elements of her cre...