The online mag Sonar4 will be running my 100-word horror story “A Fine Vintage” in its September issue.

After a recent spate of rejection letters, it feels good to find a home for something. I’ve got a lot of pieces floating around in the stratosphere, so hopefully I’ll have more good news to report soon.

I found this 2001 talk by Ray Bradbury on Youtube last nite. Absolutely inspiring stuff from one of my all-time favorite writers. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I had a dream last night that I was sent on assignment to the Bavarian Alps to interview Ted V. Mikels, maker of cult films such as “Astro-Zombies,” “The Corpse Grinders” and “The Doll Squad.”

Mikels didn’t want to meet with me but sent members of his aging harem (a buncha nice little old ladies, actually) to meet me in a trailer park and talk about what life with Ted was like.

Eventually, Larry Cohen (maker of “Black Caesar,” “It’s a Alive” and “God Told Me To”) showed up at the trailer park and all the old ladies started lauding him with couplets like we were in a Victorian court or something.

I attempted a couplet of my own in Larry’s honor, and apparently I came up short. He got pissed off and had me escorted out of the trailer park by a couple of redneck thugs.

I blame it on eating catfood made of corpses before I went to bed.

I just saw this item on San Antonio artist extraordinaire John Picacio’s blog. As one of the contributing artists to Centipede Press’ gigantic “A Lovecraft Restrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P.L.,” John just got his copy of the $400 volume. And it sounds like the thing is both massive in size and scope. Picacio and a host of amazing artists including Michael Whelan, Bob Eggleton, H.R. Giger, Bernie Wrightson and J.K. Potter all contributed their best visions of Lovecraftian things that twist and crawl. Check out the gorgeous foldout of Whelan’s grisly grey-and-red masterpiece — the one that adorned the ’80s Del Rey Lovecraft collections. And John’s spread doesn’t look too shabby either. His trademark imagination and lively use of color are in full display. Normally, I wouldn’t think about dropping 400 bones on a coffee-table book, but from the photos John posted, I may have to consider this an investment.

Got a spate of rejections over the weekend, which is always bittersweet. On one hand, someone is telling you your story just doesn’t make the cut. But on the other, the waiting is finally over.

Necrotic Tissue shot down “Shop Talk,” a tightly written second-person yarn of which I’m particularly proud. Apparently, it’s “not dark enough.” I promptly responded by sending them “The Regular,” a 100-word prose poem I’m hard pressed to think anyone could label thusly. We’ll see what happens. If they reject this one, I’m wagering I can sail something else their way before their submission period closes. Naturally, it too will be nice and dark.

Just got word that the U.K.-based website Dark Fire Fiction will be featuring my short story “Fly” in its 36th issue (out around Halloween, appropriately enough). I’ve long enjoyed DFF’s site, so it’s certainly a pleasure for them to pick up the story.

I had dinner last night with fellow oddball fiction writer Scott Cupp, his wife Sandy and their pal Dwight. Scott, an avid video collector, talked up three incredibly strange-sounding (and short-lived) Fox TV series now out on DVD — “Greg the Bunny,” “Wonderfalls” and “Point Pleasant” — and sent me home with all three to view.

I must say I’m most intriqued by “Wonderfalls,” the story of a young woman who works at a Niagara Falls gift shop who suddenly starts getting unsolicited advice from talking animals. It strikes me as the kind of urban fantasy Emma Bull is so good at (and we’ll see if it delivers). But the other two also sound promisingly quirky. “Greg” is apparently about a rabbit puppet on a children’s show who is very sensitive about his puppethood, while “Point Pleasant” is a 90210 spoof about Satan’s daughter washing ashore in a lovely beach community.

Sounds like I’ve got some couch time ahead of me. I’ll report back on how well these three Fox anomalies live up to their promise of idiosyncratic splendor.