Mid month muses: September
A roundup of the mid month's song, film, words, art, & various thoughts
I did extend this to those on notes but I’ll put it here: my big list of literary magazines I’ve been compiling, that is mostly horror but plenty of other genres as well, and that I’ve been updating, if you’d like to access it, is available here. It’s accessible to anyone with a link, so share it around if you’d like, and do feel free to add any. It’s divided into (vague) categories and has important points about the magazines underneath.
September’s film: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
I saw this movie for the first time, years ago, and it has stuck with me since. It is perhaps the most horrific movie I’ve ever seen, and yet it is free of gore, cheap jump scares, or any of those (outdated) markers of a horror movie. The dread that is packed into the 121 minutes of this movie is kind of sickening. Lanthimos sets this slow descent into despair against a sterilized, cookie cutter setting and it is harrowing, to say the least. At some point, I will write an essay of sorts analyzing the elements of Greek mythology & storytelling in it, and of course the horror of it. (If I had a dollar for every time Barry Keoghan played a little freak who infiltrates a family to cause irreparable harm, I’d have two dollars. But I would only need one dollar, because Saltburn did in no way measure up to The Killing of a Sacred Deer.)
September’s song(s): Unconscious Melody by Preoccupations, and a special mention to Jordaan Mason’s new song, which has a long name that you can read (and listen to it!) here. Because I make the rules there are two songs of the month. Will there be more than one next month? Maybe! Not sure. The instrumentals in Unconscious Melody combined with the (as always) devastating lyrics of Jordaan Mason’s new song have been what my September has sounded like to far.
September’s words: From Anis Mojgani
“I dream too much and I don’t write enough and I’m trying to find God everywhere.”
September’s art: Two Ladders by Gertrude Abercrombie
September’s various musings:
My short story, entitled ‘Sleepwalker’ got accepted for publication (I don’t know the rules; can I say where?).I’ve learned submitting is mostly rejections, and you keep going — it gives you thick skin, and for that I am grateful, but I am thrilled, to say the least, to have been accepted for publication. This is my very first short story to ever be published (!) and of course I’ll let you all know when it’s published, if you’d like to read it: a never before seen haunting the staircase short about two sisters who go home for the summer and one of them, a sleepwalker all her life, meets something strange and old and hungry in her sleepwalking states. I had the time of my life writing it; it’s narrated from the younger sister’s perspective, and as an older sister that was endlessly interesting to write. It is somewhat based on my little sister’s sleepwalking bouts she had when she was younger, so I owe her for that inspiration.
Speaking of projects, keep an eye out in October for a Poe adjascent/inspired series that
, Noah (formerly YungBaudelaire on here) and I have been working on. Exciting stuff is coming!As for other goings on, I am working on three things, one or two of which will be coming to your inboxes in October: a list of rapid fire haunted house book reviews and a compilation of horror elements that have a certain je ne said qois, and musings on the subgenre of cursed & lost media. If you have a preference, do let me know!
It’s been about a year since I started this Substack, and while I say it a lot, I want to reiterate that I appreciate all of you for reading what I write & I’m endlessly grateful for your support. I’ve met some of the loveliest people on here & it’s been such a lifeline in certain rough times. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
September’s restack: This unbelievably beautiful collection of poems by Zi Corley, inspired by one of my favourite books, Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson. These poems build on, diverge from, and breathe life into the original ones, and they are so brilliantly crafted (along with everything she writes!).
Resources for doing some good in the world:
Find a protest near you - Canada (newsletter)
Palestine Feminist Collective Action Toolkit
That’s all for now, take care of yourself
Congrats on being accepted !! <3. If it's not much of work, would you be intersted in talking about the process? Like what did you include in your draft (or do you send the whole story?), How do you submit your work? If not, that's totally okay too!
Usually you are allowed to name the publication where you’re going to be published, sometimes they even want you to as promo. It depends on the publication tho, I guess.
The story sounds very interesting tho, I’d love to read it.