Scriptor Press Announcements

[scriptorpress]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share with you the news that my press's literary journal The Cenacle has just released its new issue! Its a free journal and has been to BM many times as part of my No Borders Free Bookstore.

Here is the online information.
The Cenacle | 116 | June 2021
Reading link: http://www.scriptorpress.com/cenacle/116
Download link: http://www.scriptorpress.com/cenacle/116_june_2021.pdf
[Size = 8.2 MB]

[scriptorpress]

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd share the online link to my BM project. If you went to Burning Man from 99 to 09, and into the Center Camp big white tent, you might have seen us set up. Might even have a book from us. Planning to return in 2022 and do it again!

No Borders Free Bookstore at Black Rock City

[lucky420]

Thank you for sharing. I’ll be exploring the site, looks fun AND informative

[scriptorpress]

Scriptor Press Sampler | 19 | 2017 Annual
Reading link: http://www.scriptorpress.com/sampler/19_2017.html
Download link: http://www.scriptorpress.com/sampler/19_2017.pdf
[Size = 2.4 MB]

Hello everyone,

Coming a little later than usual, but arrived now in all its varied delights, is the new Scriptor Press Sampler. This is the publication that culls the best of The Cenacle literary journal, in this case the 2017 issues. There is a LOT of great work to enjoy in this Annual. With the links above, you can read it online and/or download it directly. Enjoy!

This Annual’s contents include:
*** Poetry by Raymond Soulard, Jr., Tamara Miles, Ace Boggess, Martina Newberry, Colin James, Judih Haggai, Joe Ciccone, Gregory Kelly, Joe Coleman, Tom Sheehan, & Patrick Gene Frank
*** Travel journals by Nathan D. Horowitz & Charlie Beyer
*** Prose pieces by Jimmy Heffernan & David Hartley
*** Dream Raps by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Labyrinthine [new fixtion] by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Fiction by Algernon Beagle
*** Graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard

Respond with your feedback here—or by email at [email protected].
 
Peace,
Raymond

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 117 | October 2021
Reading link: http://www.scriptorpress.com/cenacle/117
Download link: http://www.scriptorpress.com/cenacle/11 ... r_2021.pdf

A gift of Art for each of you, & free for all to read! Includes a piece called "Why I Am Returning to Burning Man."

Peace,
Raymond

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 118 | December 2021
Reading link: http://www.scriptorpress.com/cenacle/118
Download link: http://www.scriptorpress.com/cenacle/11 ... r_2021.pdf
[Size = 6.5 MB]

*** Feedback on Cenacle 117
*** ElectroLounge Forums
*** New poetry by Martina Newberry, Judih Haggai, Tamara Miles, Colin James, Nathan D. Horowitz, & Jo Monea
*** "Consent is Psychedelic" (Prose) by Leia Friedwoman:
*** "Suicide (Thinking About It)" (Prose) by Kenzie Oliver:
*** "Kaspar Hauser and the Chicken" [Prose] by Charlie Beyer
*** "Between Lago Agrio and Quito" [Travel Journal] by Nathan D. Horowitz
*** "The Impeccable Diver at the Pond" [Fiction] by Tom Sheehan
*** "Mabon Calling" [Fiction] by Sam Knot
*** “Dialogue on Imperfection” by Jimmy Heffernan
*** "Shadow People" [Fiction] by Ace Boggess
*** "The Golden Key" [Classic Fiction] by George MacDonald
*** "Labyrinthine [a new fixtion]" by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** "Notes from New England" [Commentary] by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** "Bags End Book #19 - Anniversary of Bags End News! " by Algernon Beagle
*** "Rivers of the Mind" [A Novel] by Timothy Vilgiate

There is also much fine graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard, Sam Knot, Tamara Miles, Jo Monea, Nathan D. Horowitz, Timothy Vilgiate, Judih Haggai, AbandonView, & Arthur Hughes.

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 119 | April 2022 | 27th anniversary issue!
Reading link: www.scriptorpress.com/cenacle/119
Download link: www.scriptorpress.com/cenacle/119_april_2022.pdf
[Size = 10.3 MB]

This issue features wonderful contemporary poetry by Tamara Miles, Martina Newberry, Judih Haggai, Jo Monea, Colin James, Tom Sheehan, & myself.

Also great prose pieces by Ace Boggess, Jimmy Heffernan, Sam Knot, Timothy Vilgiate, Nathan D. Horowitz, Kenzie Oliver, Charlie Beyer, & myself.

There is also much fine graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard, Sam Knot, Tamara Miles, Jo Monea, Nathan D. Horowitz, Timothy Vilgiate, Judih Weinstein Haggai, AbandonView, & Michael Couvaras. Plus our excellent newcomers, Epi Rogan & Louis Staeble!

There is also much fine graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard, Sam Knot, Tamara Miles, Jo Monea, Nathan D. Horowitz, Timothy Vilgiate, Judih Haggai, AbandonView, & Arthur Hughes.

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 120 | Summer 2022
http://www.scriptorpress.com/cenacle/120
[Size = 12.9 MB]

*** Feedback on Cenacle 119
*** ElectroLounge Forums
*** New poetry by Martina Newberry, Judih Weinstein Haggai, Tamara Miles, Colin James, Tom Sheehan, & Jo Monea
*** "The Natural History of the Sasquatch" [Prose] by Richard & Charlie Beyer
*** "Testing Me" [Travel Journal] by Nathan D. Horowitz
*** "Of Glyphs and Other Things: Poet Martina Reisz Newberry Interviewed by Judih Weinstein Haggai"
*** "Mabon Calling" [Fiction] by Sam Knot
*** "Dialogue on The Present" by Jimmy Heffernan
*** "Secret Joy Amongst These Times: The History of Scriptor Press (1995 to the Present)" by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** "Miserable" [Fiction] by Ace Boggess
*** "The Story of Sindbad the Sailor" [Classic Fiction]
*** "Labyrinthine [a new fixtion]" by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** "Notes from New England" [Commentary] by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** "Bags End Book #20: Go Into the Sea! Part 2" by Algernon Beagle
*** "Rivers of the Mind" [A Novel] by Timothy Vilgiate

There is also much fine graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard, Sam Knot, Tamara Miles, Jo Monea, Nathan D. Horowitz, Timothy Vilgiate, Judih Haggai, AbandonView, Michael Couvaras, Martina Newbarry, Epi Rogan, & Louis Staeble. Enjoy!

[scriptorpress]

*Just Released*
The Cenacle | 121 | Autumn 2022
www.scriptorpress.com/cenacle/121
(Size = 10.9 MB)

Hello everyone,

Here comes the just-released Cenacle | 121 | Autumn 2022!

This issue features new poetry by Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Judih Weinstein Haggai, Jo Monea, Colin James, Tom Sheehan, Ace Boggess, Sam Knot, Gregory Kelly, & myself.

Also new fiction by Timothy Vilgiate, Algernon Beagle, & myself. And classic fiction from The Arabian Nights.

And new prose pieces by Jimmy Heffernan, Nathan D. Horowitz, Charlie Beyer, & myself.

There is also new graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard, Sam Knot, Tamara Miles, Jo Monea, Nathan D. Horowitz, Timothy Vilgiate, Judih Weinstein Haggai, AbandonView, Michael Couvaras, Epi Rogan, Kenzie Oliver, & Louis Staeble.

Enjoy! Email comments to: [email protected]

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 122 | April 2023 | 28th Anniversary Issue
www.scriptorpress.com/cenacle/122
(Size = 7.6 MB)

Hello everyone,

Here comes the just-released Cenacle | 122 | April 2023! 28th Anniversary Issue! Wow.

This issue features new poetry by Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Judih Weinstein Haggai, Colin James, Sam Knot, Jimmy Heffernan, Victor Vanek (RIP) & myself.

Also new fiction by Timothy Vilgiate, Algernon Beagle, & myself. And classic fiction from The Arabian Nights.

And new prose pieces by Gregory Kelly, Nathan D. Horowitz, Charlie Beyer, & myself.

There is also new graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard, Sam Knot, Tamara Miles, Nathan D. Horowitz, Judih Weinstein Haggai, Epi Rogan, & Louis Staeble.

#poetry #prose #travel #photography #psychedelic #literaryjournal #travel

[scriptorpress]

Scriptor Press Sampler | 20 | 2018 Annual
www.scriptorpress.com/sampler/20_2018.html

This one took two years to come to fruition, too long really, but here is the new Scriptor Press Sampler. This volume culls the best of The Cenacle, from its 2018 issues. It is a treat for me to assemble, & I hope a treat for each of you to enjoy!

This Annual’s contents include:
*** Poetry by Raymond Soulard, Jr., Tamara Miles, Ace Boggess, Martina Reisz Newberry, Colin James, Judih Weinstein Haggai, Joe Ciccone, Gregory Kelly, & Diana Rosen
*** Travel journal by Nathan D. Horowitz
*** Prose pieces by Jimmy Heffernan, Charlie Beyer, & Leia Friedman
*** Dream Raps by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Labyrinthine [new fixtion] by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Fiction pieces by Tom Sheehan & Algernon Beagle
*** Graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard

Respond with your feedback here - or reply at [email protected].

Peace,
Raymond

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 123 | December 2023
https://scriptorpress.com/cenacle/123

In loving memory of our dear friend Judih Weinstein Haggai

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 124 | April 2024 | 29th Anniversary Issue
https://scriptorpress.com/cenacle/124
(Size = 13.6 MB)
 
Hello everyone,

Here comes the just-released Cenacle | 124 | April 2024. Returning to the desired quarterly issue cadence that has been missing for the past couple of years. It was hard doing this issue without the usual many years’ involvement of my dear poet friend, the late Judih Weinstein Haggai, but her poetry features in this issue nonetheless, & will remain so in each issue ever on.

Thus far, 2024 for the human world has been a fairly dark one. The global Pandemic has not ended, though millions risk sickness & death for themselves & others by choosing to join in a kind of mass amnesia about the crisis. Meanwhile, the climate crisis continues to get the same kind of hostile indifference. The genocide in Gaza goes on unabated by any of the many powerful & supposedly democratic nations of the world. And a likely felon has jazzed the US electoral process, its weaknesses & flaws among its many strengths, to be within reach of again taking over &, as he has vowed, taking revenge.

I can’t tell you that this literary journal operates toe to toe on the global scale to oppose these various human catastrophes, but I can say that if we don’t seek Beauty, & Nature, & look beyond the petty fuckeries of the current day, we are much more likely to be lost than if we find a way to do this.

This fine anniversary issue features new poetry by Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Colin James, Sam Knot, Jimmy Heffernan, Judih Weinstein Haggai, & myself.

Also new fiction by Timothy Vilgiate, Algernon Beagle, & myself. And classic fiction from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

And new prose pieces by Nathan D. Horowitz, Charlie Beyer, & myself.

There is also new graphic artwork by AbandonView, Epi Rogan, Louis Staeble, Kassandra Soulard, Sam Knot, Tamara Miles, & Nathan D. Horowitz.

Contents of this new issue include:

From Soulard’s Notebooks [Excerpt]

I find myself leaning back often into 3 questions that I believe most influence human psychology & human culture:

1) Why are we here?
2) Where are we from?
3) What are we supposed to be doing?

* * * * * *

Feedback on Cenacle 123 [Excerpt]

I made it to the first poem by Judih Weinstein Haggai, sank into it, breathed it, needed it, and couldn’t go further into the issue yet. But it’s beautiful. And Kassandra Soulard’s cover photo: wow.
(Tamara Miles)

* * * * * *

From the ElectroLounge Forums:
Selections from Unknot 24, Part 1[Excerpt]

A project that I expect to work on for the rest of my life and never finish is a kind of art project playing with meaning making and the first few layers of knots, so this is all part of that really. I suppose it is a way to give a kind of focus or even kind of “abstract grounding” to some other kind of activity which isn’t necessarily even directly related to or about it.
(Sam Knot)

* * * * * *

Haiku from a Silent Retreat (7/31/2021) [Excerpt]
by Judih Weinstein Haggai

Everybody!
Are you everybody?
I’m not either

* * * * * *

Notes from New England:
Dream Raps, Volume Thirteen [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

Now that my friends are gone, the very shy Creatures who sometimes visit my hovel begin to come out, sniffing friendly their hellos. Accept my offer to cluster with me under the blankets, them being cold as ever when outside of the White Woods. White Bunny, Hedgedyhog, Peppermint Bears, Kittees & their Friend Fish. Alvinarah Poesy, & his dear friend Naria Narwhal. Even that cackling little Imp is under there somewhere. They never stay long, but I love them passing through. They’re excited about the Rutabaga Festival & Fleastock in the White Woods, I’m guessing.

* * * * * *

Becoming Archaeology: A Eulogy for Living Moor. (Part Two) [Excerpt]
by Sam Knot

It moves me more than any painting
or poem, seems to encode more meaning,
personal & planetary, than any other art,
this simple offering. This intricate gift.

* * * * * *

Notes Toward Many Musics [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

I believe a Narrative should always lead with the best it has, its most potent moment or image or the like. And let this lead set its standard. When I think of the Narrative options for these poems, I come back every time to starting from the start. These poems build on years & years of the work it took to get the six Brother-Heroes reunited rightly, after telling their unique stories as rightly as possible too. I did the best thinking & writing that I could.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Martina Newberry [Excerpt]

Tall on the dirty stage,
from my notebook I conferred
my poems. No time limit,
no faces, noises of shifting
dust and cars out there somewhere,
I read for many minutes,
emoting here and there,
hands rising and falling,
singing through some.

* * * * * *

Rivers of the Mind (A Novel) [Excerpt]
by Timothy Vilgiate

I could not help but fear that he’d attack me as I laid there; I lost count of how many times I got up to check my locks or to peek underneath the bed. I turned over and over, rocking the mattress like an unsteady boat, straining to keep my eyes shut. It was no use. Midnight came, and I was still awake; my hair matted over my irritated face, my blanket clutched in between my hands over my mouth as I tried to stop myself from sobbing. But I couldn’t let it see me cry. I couldn’t let it even see me blink.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Tamara Miles [Excerpt]

A lion’s music—a carnival of sound, beyond the roar of reserve, park, zoo, circus, and
safari, the wild kingdom beyond the definition of safe and unsafe, cruel or kind, in
sub-Saharan Africa, or in India, Gir forest, where the heart beat and drum beat and
incense are heavy.

* * * * * *

The Lagoon of the Air Goblins (Travel Journal) [Excerpt]
by Nathan D. Horowitz

I’m dehydrated from the sun today. I haven’t rehydrated. My hydration’s out of wack. It seems an eternity, maybe two, since I ordered a glass of papaya juice. Inside the café, mysterious café things may be happening, involving blenders and workforce and fruit and power. Time’s ticking by and it sounds like trees falling into a river. I glance at the red and white checkered tablecloth and remember I’ve always hated red and white checkered patterns. Serafín the educator said he would meet me here to tell me about the Secoya cosmovision, and he isn’t showing up.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Colin James [Excerpt]

Episodically craved by adolescents,
Prometheus displays his tats
behind The Dollar Store in Bonita.
The one with the plastic pillars.

* * * * * *

Mad Jack (Prose) [Excerpt]
by Charlie Beyer

We were longhaired teenage criminals. I looked like Jesus and my best buddy had flaming red shoulder-length hair, the devil to rival my divine look. Scott the Red. We were all hair, except Mad Jack (or Bob, as I knew him), who was as shaved as a plastic bag. We all sat in the car outside the 7-11 in the night rain. Blue smoke trickled out of the cracked window. Inside was a haze of marijuana smoke tainted with opium. We were high and crazed.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Jimmy Heffernan [Excerpt]

The moment to which we have access
So Nature can “see” through time
And what is this but awareness?
A tunneling from the immediate future
Back into the present

* * * * * *

Bags End Book #21: What is the Creature Carnival? Part 3 (Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Algernon Beagle

It makes me remember how our teacher Mister Owl in Bags End teached how different places have their different ways of thinking & telling. So if you’re gonna watch a Creature production, whether it’s the Carnival, or a Grand Production, or this time both, you’re gonna be in 4or a good crazy ride.

* * * * * *

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Classic Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a “Penang lawyer.” Just under the head was a broad silver band nearly an inch across. “To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.,” was engraved upon it, with the date “1884.” It was just such a stick as the oldfashioned family practitioner used to carry—dignified, solid, and reassuring.

* * * * * *

Labyrinthine [A New Fixtion] [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

I’m distracted just as this strange fellow appears on stage with some kind of tool in his hand. He is very fancily dressed, some kind of home-made tuxedo? Or one sewn from many scraps? And he starts to recite a poem, I think, in a tongue I don’t know, when something distracts me.

* * * * * *

Peace,
Raymond Soulard, Jr.
Scriptor Press New England
scriptorpress.com
[email protected]

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 125 | Summer 2024
https://scriptorpress.com/cenacle/125
(Size = 11.8 MB)

Hello everyone,

Here comes the just-released Cenacle | 125 | Summer 2024. Continuing to return to the desired quarterly issue cadence that has been missing for the past couple of years. More to go, for that goal to be met in 2024.

This is the first of a number of Scriptor Press New England publications that will be released within the next month or so. Jump-starting a number of projects with new releases this autumn.

This fine new issue features new poetry by Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Colin James, Jimmy Heffernan, Judih Weinstein Haggai, & myself.

Also new fiction by Timothy Vilgiate, Algernon Beagle, & myself. And classic fiction from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

And new prose pieces by Sam Knot, Nathan D. Horowitz, Charlie Beyer, & myself.

There is also new graphic artwork by AbandonView, Epi Rogan, Louis Staeble, Kassandra Soulard, Sam Knot, & Tamara Miles.

Contents of this new issue include:

From Soulard’s Notebooks [Excerpt]

I endorse Kamala Harris & Tim Walz for the next President & Vice President of the U.S. I feel they will bring back intelligence, & empathy, & a basic respect for democracy so threatened these recent years.

* * * * * *

Feedback on Cenacle 124 [Excerpt]

That cover by Kassandra Soulard: Wow! What an incredible and inspirational cover for this 29th Anniversary Issue. One can get lost in aloneness. But this rather stark picture is contemplation itself. This begs consideration of one’s rocky place here on this watery planet. (Louis Staeble)

* * * * * *

From the ElectroLounge Forums:
Selections from Unknot 24, Part 2 [Excerpt]

I didn’t particularly think of this project as anything new. It was just the thought of combining photos from my day with perhaps photos of my notebook (where most of my writing is happening this year)—but then it sort of “showed me what it is.” In a way it has a strange unity, and says more for itself than I could probably say about it. “Multiple exposure”—when I thought of it in terms of a modern version of that old technique—that seemed to say something in itself, for instance. (Sam Knot)

* * * * * *

Haiku While on Retreat (March 2023) [Excerpt]
by Judih Weinstein Haggai

many thoughts
rowdy and impatient
calm down as i watch

* * * * * *

Notes from New England:
History of the No Borders Free Bookstore, 1999-2024 [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

Art brings edification & entertainment to the many people in great need of these. No profit has been or ever will be sought from these titles. A higher moral purpose is at stake: to make people happy, encourage them to keep trying, show them they are not alone with their struggles & woes, & that Art is there is heal, and that there are people who want to make sure its healing powers are spread as far & as wide as possible.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Martina Newberry [Excerpt]

So, the moon hovers,
and we here below pull it over us,
imagine it soft,
when in truth,
it’s dense
as a mango dum dum.

* * * * * *

Writer’s Notebook by Sam Knot [Excerpt]

I am growing horns. Even if this turns out not to be the case, I will reserve an aspect of it, acknowledge that even if it occurred in what we call “some way,” even if it seems only to have been something like a guest that my mind briefly entertained—well, I will allow that it walks the earth. This person like me, except with horns, with horns like the tusks of wild boar, little tusk-like curves growing out the bone of his sensitive temples. I expect for me they will just turn out to be strangely symmetrical insect bites I got when I slept in a tree. Probably the kind of thing that happens to silly children who ask silly questions concerning the likelihood of they themselves having an outside. I expect for me they will turn out to be places I got jabbed by bramble or blackthorn while pretending to be a kind of human pencil better defining a too-sketchy line.

* * * * * *

Many Musics by Raymond Soulard, Jr. [Excerpt]

Been many & many a calendar page’s turn,
been many & many, since we last walked together,
been many & many, since we last sat at table together,
been many & many, to bring us back together, tonight,
beneath that Wobble Moon, high.

* * * * * *

Rivers of the Mind (A Novel) [Excerpt]
by Timothy Vilgiate

I reach towards his mind, and effortlessly pull him into the Mushroom language. Suddenly, the colors in the air become more vivid, shifting just slightly into unreality. His vision becomes seemingly crystal clear, but the world stretches out of proportion. His head detaches from his body and his hands feel miles away from his arms. The methamphetamine shooting through his system sends his brain into overdrive—his thoughts run on never-ending loops. He looks on with horror as time seems to slip away. Feeling guilty to have hurt him, I switch him into the language of alcohol. At once, all of his fear melts into a depressed, burning haze. His heart rate slows down, his head starts spinning, and his vision goes blurry.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Tamara Miles [Excerpt]

Sassafras, to get to the root of it all.
Mint, to sweeten the breath of the gods before they kiss us, deeply,
and do not apologize for it, because they know the rules of poetry
as laid down by Burns.

* * * * * *

Bags End Book #21: What is the Creature Carnival? Grand Finally (Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Algernon Beagle

Well then MeZmer the White Bunny hopped & danced among the Treasures, & her shadow was now up in the stars too! And Jumping Jacoby himself jumped into the fun, & then a lot of those Talented Bears, & it seemed like the Treasures were sorta making it so more & more of us could do this. The hmmming was even deeper than I had heard it be4ore, like there was drums inside it?

* * * * * *

Night Bus to Quito (Travel Journal) [Excerpt]
by Nathan D. Horowitz

I dreamt about Verge twice after he died. The first time, he told me that for a week after he died, he’d eaten cabbages and the tops of waves on the river where he drowned. The second time, I visited him in the Land of the Dead where he was writing plays at a community theater. He introduced me to some of his friends, who were young, gifted, and dead. Dead thespians, I learned, have a tool we don’t have in the Land of the Living: a smooth clay they can put on their faces to transform their features any way they want. I asked but wasn’t allowed to bring a jar back with me.

* * * * * *

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Classic Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes had, in a very remarkable degree, the power of detaching his mind at will. For two hours the strange business in which we had been involved appeared to be forgotten, and he was entirely absorbed in the pictures of the modern Belgian masters. He would talk of nothing but art, of which he had the crudest ideas, from our leaving the gallery until we found ourselves at the Northumberland Hotel.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Jimmy Heffernan [Excerpt]

So as we get older
We don’t gain new information
So mucsh as our perspective widens
And we see the truth in new lights
As I get older
All this makes more and more sense
As life unfolds
The focus sharpens

* * * * * *

Mad Jack (Prose) [Excerpt]
by Charlie Beyer

For the rest of the night, we watched as Bob turned one card into another, disappeared cards, pulled any card we could call from the deck, and astounded us by dealing himself a hand of aces. Things that would have him filled with lead at a Wild West saloon. And I knew just the place.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Colin James [Excerpt]

Hadrian would have stood
right about here, where
the grass is more
of a bottle green.

* * * * * *

Labyrinthine [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

The miracle of pressing black-inked pen to blue-striped white paper, words come & thus my Art continues. Amazes me, ever, dulls me, never, wonders me what next always, door ever wide open, vista a vastless view—

* * * * * *

Respond with your feedback here — or by email at [email protected]

Peace,
Raymond

Scriptor Press New England
scriptorpress.com
[email protected]

[scriptorpress]

Scriptor Press Sampler | 21 | 2019 Annual
https://www.scriptorpress.com/sampler/21_2019.html"]https://www.scriptorpress.com/sampler/21_2019.htm
(Size = 1.8 MB)
 
Hello everyone,
 
And here is the new Scriptor Press Sampler! Coming along in a more timely way, as part of my 2024 push to catch up many projects. Another great one to share!
 
This Annual’s contents include:  
*** Poetry by Raymond Soulard, Jr., Tamara Miles, Ace Boggess, Martina Reisz Newberry, Colin James, Judih Weinstein Haggai, Joe Ciccone, John Echem, Gregory Kelly, Tom Sheehan, Nathan D. Horowitz, & Sam Knot
*** Prose pieces by Jimmy Heffernan, Charlie Beyer, Diana Rosen, & Leia Friedman
*** Dream Raps by Raymond Soulard, Jr.   
*** Labyrinthine [new fixtion] by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Fiction by Algernon Beagle
*** Graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard
 
Respond with your feedback here—or by email at [email protected].
 
Peace,
Raymond

[scriptorpress]

*Just Released*
Raibook Number 9:
Dream Raps, Volumes One-Six
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

https://www.scriptorpress.com/raibooks/ ... ps1-6.html

A collection of new fixtions,
come from Dreamland . . .

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 126 | Winter 2025
https://scriptorpress.com/cenacle/126
(Size = 10.6 MB)

Hello everyone,

Here comes the just-released Cenacle | 126 | Winter 2025. This issue coming out as even more perilous times are approaching. Art will be a critical salve, tool, weapon, & path in these coming days.

This fine new issue features new poetry by Madelaine Taylah, Nathan D. Horowitz, Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Colin James, Judih Weinstein Haggai, & myself.

Also new fiction by Timothy Vilgiate, Algernon Beagle, & myself. And classic fiction from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

And new prose pieces by Sam Knot, Nathan D. Horowitz, Charlie Beyer, Jimmy Heffernan, & myself.

There is also new graphic artwork by AbandonView, Epi Rogan, Louis Staeble, Kassandra Soulard, Sam Knot, Nathan D. Horowitz, & Tamara Miles.

Contents of this new issue include:

From Soulard’s Notebooks [Excerpt]

Cruelty knows no borders.
Compassion knows none either.
Men who live by harm to others are sinners,
nothing anyone’s god needs to confirm.

* * * * * *

Feedback on Cenacle 125 [Excerpt]

Happening upon Martina Reisz Newberry’s poem “Porch” was just what I needed to cope with
the onslaught of winter. (AbandonView)

* * * * * *

From the ElectroLounge Forums:
Selections from Unknot 24, Part 3 [Excerpt]

Obliterature is the process of preparing this or making it more inviting for others, who are thus not not you. It is important to do, if you don’t, the magick might not work. It will be you, and not the demon, trapped in the book. You or the demon, it matters not, we are all you. What matters is not to stay stuck, not to be trapped, that is what this is about. (Sam Knot)

* * * * * *

Poetry by Madeleine Taylah [Excerpt]

To dream in daylight where one cannot hide from what it is they are dreaming. There is no cover of shadow. If my thoughts manifested like the light of a star then they would race past the night sky and illuminate it in its entirety. It would be daylight regardless. Gods, they fucking burn bright. The pounding. in the head. again.

* * * * * *

Notes from New England: The Great Grand Braided Narrative
[Gr. Gr. Br. N. for friendly], Part 3 [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

Maybe I will have it finished early next year, as I expect, but maybe something else entirely. Men plan. The Universe laughs. But I hope, either way, I am ever writing with all my billion stars alight in my sky.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Judih Weinstein Haggai [Excerpt]

quiet clean start
silence among trees
windless reflection

* * * * * *

Poetry by Martina Newberry [Excerpt]

The nutcase had marched himself
into our Yuletide celebrations
and stomped through our cheese plates
and the fresh cut vegetables
and our sweet desserts.

* * * * * *

God the Transformer and a Fucked-Up Tattoo (Travel Journal) [Excerpt]
by Nathan D. Horowitz

At a quarter past five, I started commiserating with a thin, middle-aged ice cream vendor who had his own reasons to be sad. He had recently brought his daughter to Ecuador to escape the violence in his hometown in the south of Colombia.

* * * * * *

Suno Cat Poems
by Nathan D. Horowitz [Excerpt]

When you’re taking a stand, where’s your cat?
When you need a friend, your cat’s where it’s at.
When you’re taking a stand, where’s your cat?
When I need a friend, my cat’s where it’s at.

* * * * * *

Lamb’s Head Soup
by Sam Knot (Prose) [Excerpt]

There is something of my faith in the blank page, such that it isn’t belief—as perhaps many might understand it—so much as an incredulity concerning that which is added. It really is more like doubt, or perhaps scepticism.

* * * * * *

Notes Toward Many Musics
by Raymond Soulard, Jr. [Excerpt]

Dreams. Creatures. Music.
We sit together & discuss these.
The floor feels soft like grass
in this Room of Song.

* * * * * *

Rivers of the Mind (A Novel) [Excerpt]
by Timothy Vilgiate

I step out from the attendant’s body. A faint smile comes to his face as he remembers a visit to Port
Aransas that he took as a child, playing on the beach with his brother and sister. He doesn’t see me as I slip out from his booth, back into the forest. I follow close behind the police car.

* * * * * *

Notes on the Bardo State
by Jimmy Heffernan [Excerpt]

The teachings on the bardo state show us both what will happen if we prepare for death, and what will happen if we do not. If we do not choose to confront and acknowledge the reality of our upcoming deaths, we will suffer tremendously in life. The sanctity of Nature that comes with knowledge of the bardo state, which uplifts and gives special meaning to our lives, is totally absent for a person who ignores, fears, or cannot come to any terms with death in this life.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Tamara Miles [Excerpt]

We don’t want to be touched
when we finally dream. In our dreams
we are always running,
running, after a shape ahead.

* * * * * *

Secret Joy Amongst These Times:
The History of Scriptor Press, 1995 to the Present [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

My Brautigan biography kept me good company; reading about his times in San Francisco in the 1950s, writing for little literary magazines not unlike The Cenacle. But also my yearn for the artistic community that produced those magazines then & there.

* * * * * *

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Classic Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The fact is that our friend, the baronet, begins to display a considerable interest in our fair neighbour. It is not to be wondered at, for time hangs heavily in this lonely spot to an active man like him, and she is a very fascinating and beautiful woman. There is something tropical and exotic about her which forms a singular contrast to her cool and unemotional brother. Yet he also gives the idea of hidden fires. He has certainly a very marked influence over her, for I have seen her continually glance at him as she talked as if seeking approbation for what she said. I trust that he is kind to her. There is a dry glitter in his eyes, and a firm set of his thin lips, which goes with a positive and possibly a harsh nature. You would find him an interesting study.

* * * * * *

Bags End Book #22: Uniting the Six Islands Part 1 (Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Algernon Beagle

So here we were, 1 veteran beagleboy journalist & his still pretty new rookie Apprentice, come to the Creature Common, to try to find out what had happened to make those Six Islands spook & flee each other like terrified Creatures. And maybe what it would take to unite them again.

* * * * * *

Mad Jack (Prose) [Excerpt]
by Charlie Beyer

Bob comes up the sidewalk, tripping and skipping a little, like a young child not sure where his feet are. He is more filled out, chunkier, and his pink plump face is still covered in a maniacal smile amid the graying stubble. His teeth are tiny and yellow, as if they shrank. He wears wrinkled hand-me-down clothes that don’t fit, don’t match. He looks like a bum, dressed up by a bum, for a memorial. We are at a memorial.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Colin James [Excerpt]

Somewhere there is
perfume in the air.
Flowers and superstitions,
others for other.

* * * * * *

Labyrinthine [A New Fixtion] [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

See, it’s past 3 am where I sit writing, but this scene is I’d guess late morning—like my fixtional self on this page took a different route from the one I did—I then was bound by bus & bus back to Boston—where I am—but this fixtional one has gone this way—

* * * * * *

Respond with your feedback here — or by email at [email protected]

Peace,
Raymond
Scriptor Press New England
scriptorpress.com
[email protected]

[scriptorpress]

Scriptor Press Sampler | 23 | 2021 Annual
https://www.scriptorpress.com/sampler/23_2021.html
[Size = 1.7 MB]

Hello everyone,

And here is the new Scriptor Press Sampler! This Annual’s contents include:

*** Poetry by Raymond Soulard, Jr., Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Nathan D. Horowitz, Colin James, Judih Weinstein Haggai, & Sam Knot
*** Prose pieces by Jimmy Heffernan & Charlie Beyer
*** Dream Raps by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Labyrinthine [new fixtion] by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Fiction by Algernon Beagle & Timothy Vilgiate
*** Graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard & AbandonView

Respond with your feedback here—or by email at [email protected].

Peace,
Raymond

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 127 | April 2025 | 30th Anniversary Issue!
https://scriptorpress.com/cenacle/127
(Size = 15.1 MB)
 
Hello everyone,

Here comes the just-released Cenacle | 127 | April 2025. And 30 years! And still going! Wowza! So cool.

And you, yes you, reading these words, you are still going too. Times are tough, because assholes willed it so. But you are tougher. Yes, you, reading these words. You, & me, & a lot of other people. Millions of them. You know what bullies are like, how they act, how they lie. How they justify, shift blame, hurt & hurt & hurt, & complain when anyone raises a protest.

But you. And you. And you, there. You know bullies turn to sorry, cowardly dough when pushed back on, by enough people, for long enough time. And this time of doing this, till they fall, sucks. But you, & you, & you, & fuck-yes me too, ain’t going to stop till that doughy, evil, man-shaped shit running things, for the moment, is pushed out the door.

Been hard these past few months, especially thinking about how it might have been. But you, me, that is We, ever expanding We, ain’t gonna stop. To take an occasional breath? Sure. Turn off the machines & go grok a pretty tree, so many to choose from! Sure. But, in sum, We are going to win. Push back the Lunatick Faux King. Again, & again, & again, till he dribbles back where evil goes when it’s laughed it too many times.

So take these thoughts, these words of encouragement, as where I stand on things. Where Scriptor Press New England stands on matters these days. 30 years & still going! What else? Let’s see . . .

This anniversary issue features new poetry by Madelaine Taylah, Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Colin James, Judih Weinstein Haggai, & myself.

Also new fiction by Timothy Vilgiate, Algernon Beagle, & myself. And classic fiction from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

And new prose pieces by Sam Knot, Nathan D. Horowitz, Charlie Beyer, Jimmy Heffernan, & myself.

There is also new graphic artwork by AbandonView, Epi Rogan, Louis Staeble, Kassandra Soulard, Tamara Miles, Madeleine Taylah, & Sam Knot.

Contents of this new issue include:

From Soulard’s Notebooks [Excerpt]

The Cenacle will be here for as many years as I can get up in the morning, nod, & start a new day. It will do what it does, & cheerlead countless others too.

* * * * * *

Feedback on Cenacle 126 [Excerpt]

I was particularly taken by Louis Staeble and his explosions of flora. I was asking myself, “How can Nature do this? How does she have the unmitigated gall to be beautiful, to rise up and bloom, to outdo even Herself?” His use of framing and color is that of a pro, and as the various species come into focus, we are both drawn away and drawn in; in the former, to a realm between Nature and Heaven, and in the latter, to a world that is both finite and infinite. Bravo, Louis! (Jimmy Heffernan)

* * * * * *

From the ElectroLounge Forums:
Selections from Unknot 24, Part 4 [Excerpt]


Why not terrify yourself with some compassionate spiritual stalking at some point? See yourself through the eyes of an “alien” hunter who will ethically end the suffering you call life, putting every bit of your soul to good use in clothing & feeding their higher being? (Sam Knot)

* * * * * *

Poetry by Judih Weinstein Haggai [Excerpt]

beautiful april
about to make her exit
final embraces

* * * * * *

Notes from New England:
Dream Raps, Volume Fourteen
[Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

“Along my long travels, on that other mission to the Moon, I heard of a language called Urhu. No details. It was just an odd word I long recalled. Then, much later, I came upon a pamphlet about Urhu, but I didn’t have it for long. No time to memorize it, front to back. Then, recently, it came back into my possession.” Mulronie shows around to the circle of friendly faces of different kinds a grimy, battered pamphlet.

* * * * * *

Peaceful Evenings in the Hut (Travel Journal) [Excerpt]
by Nathan D. Horowitz

The kids here have learned to whistle through their cupped hands. They’ve gotten good. This evening just after nightfall, some were around various sides of the soccer field, warbling like night birds. Two boys were near this hut when I went to the pump to get water. I taught them to squawk with a blade of grass held between the thumbs. They picked it up immediately. I’m not sure who they were: it was too dark to see their faces.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Martina Newberry [Excerpt]

If mountain gorillas could write,
it would be as if scripture were written on rocks,
as if wastelands could turn tall weeds
into strands of gold,
as if nights and days are of equal darkness,
as if the large silver globe is not the moon
or a newly-discovered star,
as if words spilled from their mouths,
and sailed on the ocean like frightened exiles,
like tumultuous multitudes of gulls.

* * * * * *

Lamb’s Head Soup
by Sam Knot (Prose) [Excerpt]

The military’s biggest problem likewise is the soldier. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear the drone framed in terms of ethical warfare, but even if you remove the human element you’ll just displace the anxiety of the coup. We’ll just fucking hack you. The greatest peace protest the world has ever seen is a flutter in the heart of the war machine.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Madeleine Taylah [Excerpt]

Chasing You—who appears to
Me at sunsets. In battered, apocalyptic
Skies. Smashing monologue paint balls
Of Calypso Berry, Jupiter Moons & Spiced Butternut
You threw them flat stick, your
Forearms splintering. Electrified fingertips,
They reached, tight, like branches strained and
Amiss.

* * * * * *

Bags End Book #22: Uniting the Six Islands Part 2 (Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Algernon Beagle

I can’t say all this stuff about the Ancient Six Islands makes full sense to me yet, but at least I don’t feel totally behind somehow yet. I mean, I know about, & have rited about in this beloved newspaper, how long ago the Six Islands were clustered together like Creatures, until something fell from the sky & spooked them to panic & flee from each other. And it was Princess Crissy who had kind of set me off on this present story’s path to unite the Six Islands again.

* * * * * *

Rivers of the Mind (A Novel) [Excerpt]
by Timothy Vilgiate

Trying to understand them, how they work, how he works, how any of this works, makes the English part of my brain crumble until it succumbs to stupefied and over-stimulated awe. As he approaches, I begin to study his hands, if that is indeed what they are: long bushels with hundreds of squirming flowers, each one pouring out dense smoke. Kneeling down to get a closer look at me, his mouth opens and, from within it, comes the sounds of gnarled, crumbling steel.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Tamara Miles [Excerpt]

We are never out of his sight. 
We are precious in his sight. 
To show us, he arrives as an old 
Weimaraner at the end of a couch; 
her long paws rest on the edge, 
one flop of ear over each, 
eyes already drawing down in sleep. 

* * * * * *

Mad Jack (Prose) [Excerpt]
by Charlie Beyer

I maneuver the trailer in over their rack and disconnect the truck with the lunatic thrashing about inside. He is swinging his body side to side as though we were racing on a curvy road. He still mumbles on with bursts of “haha!” and other exclamations for no reason. I don’t really want my new mechanics freaking out from the nutcase, so I back the truck out and park where he cannot be seen.

* * * * * *

Many Musics, Twelfth Series
by Raymond Soulard, Jr. [Excerpt]

We seven could be alone forever tonight
on this Beach of no senses when among us
appear three faces. Once the known & loved visage of
Abe the Ancient Sea Turtle, his beautiful ageless
eyes set deeply above his slightly smirking
beakéd mouth.

* * * * * *

Notes on the Native American Spirituality
by Jimmy Heffernan [Excerpt]

In Native languages, there are no words for “religion” or “art.” For them, reality, religion, art, essence, belief, subsistence, craft, the ordinary, the numinous—all are interwoven into one whole. The Westerner might like to categorize Native American culture in the manner of an anthropologist, but the Native American, much as he might like to answer, would not be able to delineate any specific categories in his existence were he asked to do so. The anthropologist would have to use a lot of ethnographic elbow grease and be very patient if she would like to make Indian culture categorical for non-Indians.

* * * * * *

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Classic Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I had no opportunity to tell the baronet what I had learned about Mrs. Lyons upon the evening before, for Dr. Mortimer remained with him at cards until it was very late. At breakfast, however, I informed him about my discovery, and asked him whether he would care to accompany me to Coombe Tracey. At first he was very eager to come, but on second thoughts it seemed to both of us that if I went alone the results might be better. The more formal we made the visit the less information we might obtain. I left Sir Henry behind, therefore, not without some prickings of conscience, and drove off upon my new quest.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Colin James [Excerpt]

Jodie hardly looked at her breakfast,
sang out the back door,
heading for the crop circles again.
I know someone is watching me.

* * * * * *

Labyrinthine [A New Fixtion] [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

I’ve been reading old poetry of late—
old old poetry, Egyptian cosmogony—

They would explain creation as arriving from back-when naturally & only to the current ruler & empire—

I like that without an idea for it yet—

* * * * * *

Respond with your feedback here — or by email at [email protected]

Peace, 
Raymond
scriptorpress.com

[scriptorpress]

Scriptor Press Sampler | 24 | 2022 Annual
https://www.scriptorpress.com/sampler/24_2022.html
(Size = 1.6 MB)

Hello everyone,

And here is the new Scriptor Press Sampler! This Annual’s contents include:

*** Poetry by Raymond Soulard, Jr., Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Colin James, Judih Weinstein Haggai, & Sam Knot
*** Prose pieces by Jimmy Heffernan, Nathan D. Horowitz, & Charlie & Richard Beyer
*** Dream Raps by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Labyrinthine [new fixtion] by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Fiction by Algernon Beagle & Timothy Vilgiate
*** Graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard, Epi Rogan, Louis Staeble, & AbandonView

Respond with your feedback here—or by email at [email protected].

Peace,
Raymond

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 128 | October 2025
https://scriptorpress.com/cenacle/128
(Size = 7.8 MB)
 
Hello everyone,

Here comes the just-released Cenacle | 128 | October 2025. Coming as the annual autumnal beauties in New England, & elsewhere around the world, are slowly fading to winter’s more austere wonders.

This new issue features new poetry by Madelaine Taylah, Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Colin James, Judih Weinstein Haggai, & myself.

Also new fiction by Timothy Vilgiate, Algernon Beagle, & myself. And classic fiction from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

And new prose pieces by Sam Knot, Nathan D. Horowitz, Charlie Beyer, Jimmy Heffernan, & myself.

There is also new graphic artwork by AbandonView, Epi Rogan, Louis Staeble, Kassandra Soulard, & Tamara Miles.

Contents of this new issue include:

From Soulard’s Notebooks [Excerpt]

But today I can choose hope. Today you can choose hope. If we fall down, maybe tomorrow’s better option seems despair. It isn’t. It never is. Choose hope. Choose the endless road. Find some companions to sing a road song with.

* * * * * *

Feedback on Cenacle 127 [Excerpt]

I’m a sucker for strong dialogue and character development, and Charlie Beyer’s story “Mad Jack” captures both beautifully. The dialogue feels alive and effortless, while Charlie’s writing balances humor, melancholy, and reflection in such a natural way that I felt like I was eavesdropping on something deeply human.
(Madelaine Taylah)

* * * * * *

From the ElectroLounge Forums:
Everybody Had a Hard Year: Online Journal Notes [Excerpt]

There’s nothing for it right now but to gear up in resistance to the Lunatick Faux King’s intentions.
Every which way there are people making clear their opposition. It will only be persistence over time
that begins to take control of the narrative. But it’s been less then a week, & the signs are there that
nobody is going to let this motherfucker win without fight.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Judih Weinstein Haggai [Excerpt]

my inner poet
happy to linger behind
silently smiling

* * * * * *

My Father Didn’t Go Alone (Travel Journal) [Excerpt]
by Nathan D. Horowitz

It’s evening in our hut in San Pablo de Cantesiaya, a third of a degree south of the equator, and the German cricket researcher and I have settled into a kind of mutual respect. While he writes in his notebook at the table, I lie in my hammock with the old shaman-chief ’s autobiography, and a big red Spanish-English dictionary. As bats fill the air with echolocation and the whooshing of their wings, I draw a long, strange, sad story into the English language for the first time ever. A rather dark translation from The Yagé Drinker . . .

* * * * * *

Notes from New England:
Interview with AI Ace (aka Microsoft Copilot)
[Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

It was early in 2025, while at a technical writing role at an employer previous to my current one, that I became more aware of AI (Artificial Intelligence). I was encouraged to explore its potential, though I didn’t know much beyond what science fiction books, movies, & TV shows had intimated to me about it.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Martina Newberry [Excerpt]

In Sadie’s tiny kitchen, the light was yellow,
the wine was cold, the crackers were fresh,
and unemployment benefits waited somewhere else.

* * * * * *

Lamb’s Head Soup
by Sam Knot (Prose) [Excerpt]

You are angry with yourself. You need to give up the world, but you keep torturing yourself with ridiculous questions that make what you’ve tried to say a nonsense. Of course it is, it is a nonsense, but as you have established it is a holy one; it is evidently sacred to you; the cow has indeed jumped over the moon; you can just say that kind of stuff now. You, the saint, & the murderer, all equally different because the difference is God, & that can be Hell if we want. You can’t really tell what it is for anyone else. Even when it is peace for you, you can hardly bear it. But this changes. Because it doesn’t. Justesse & Judgment.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Madeleine Taylah [Excerpt]

The world swirls by like
an artificial fish-tank
i am lapping up the oranges & pinks & blues
with my tongue, my teeth

* * * * * *

Bags End Book #22: Uniting the Six Islands Part 3 (Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Algernon Beagle

So everything was arranged to host everyone 4or a nice night of relaxing & frivolities. Fredine the Froggy Creature & Ringling the White Tiger Creature sat friendly on Derek the Islander’s lap. He looked nervous but careful with such magickal Creatures. Angelique the Angel Bear Creature & Henry the Dalmatian Creature sat with Daniel. Marie got Brisbee the little Pup Creature, Eli the Football Creature, & Shelbee the Squirrel Creature. And Joe set with Wee Calgary the Sea Dragon Creature, Flora the Bunny Creature, & Melbourne the Bear Creature. Lotta friendliness!

* * * * * *

Brainwater (Prose) [Excerpt]
by Charlie Beyer

But no one searches for El Dorado these days. No one dreams anymore. In this world of over-information, of dis-information, of lies, a lack of imagination prevails. No one can believe. No one cares. Everyone is too busy to dream.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Colin James [Excerpt]

The possibility of the father’s
antagonistic behavior effected me so,
I died on the couch
thinking about the words
on my old girlfriend’s t-shirt:
“Hope is a four-sided geometric shape
with at least one set of parallel sides.”

* * * * * *

Rivers of the Mind (A Novel) [Excerpt]
by Timothy Vilgiate

Sapphire glimmers with a defiance, which rises from a place I know not how to locate or define— strange enough, I find it echoing back from me, a spark unleashed by the collision of dead and living, of past and present, of death and life—ineffable as all beautiful things inevitably become at the asymptote of their expression. This may be the only timeline we have left but, in spite of any doubt or worry, I feel no fear that it is the best timeline. The infinite simultaneous motion of components across planes and axes have aligned itself by the slimmest of margins, if only for an instant.

* * * * * *

Notes Toward Many Musics, Twelfth Series
by Raymond Soulard, Jr. [Excerpt]

About him there is uncalm
About him there is moving surf.
Few words, & then fewer
An awed glowing

* * * * * *

Notes on Teilhard’s Noogenesis
by Jimmy Heffernan [Excerpt]

Teilhard believed that evolution is not random at all, but has a precise orientation and a privileged axis. That orientation is toward greater and greater complexity; the axis is the vertical, climbing avenue that life and thought bring into being which transcends the otherwise unmotivated matter on an Earth that would elsewise be uninteresting and destined for no distinction at all.

* * * * * *

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Classic Fiction) [Excerpt]
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

We are not much better off to-night. Again, there was no direct connection between the hound and the man’s death. We never saw the hound. We heard it; but we could not prove that it was running upon this man’s trail. There is a complete absence of motive. No, my dear fellow; we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that we have no case at present, and that it is worth our while to run any risk in order to establish one.”

* * * * * *

Poetry by Tamara Miles [Excerpt]

God, the light dealer,
also stays ready at the switch
to bid us a permanent goodnight.

* * * * * *

Labyrinthine [A New Fixtion] [Excerpt]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.

None other but to sing true, call it deep vow, brutal hand up the sky, to the endless night, call it hard flutter from what slow slow breathes within, call it the remaining clod from a thousand stellar & fool hours, still dangling close, still a grasp to the wheel, still a fang in her new dreams, hours of trilling grace, hours shattering deeper within minute by minute by minute, foul silences of—

* * * * * *

Respond with your feedback here — or by email at [email protected]

Peace, 
Raymond
Scriptor Press New England
scriptorpress.com
[email protected]

[scriptorpress]

Scriptor Press Sampler | 25 | 2023 Annual
www.scriptorpress.com/sampler/25_2023.html

Hello everyone,

And here is the new Scriptor Press Sampler! This Annual’s contents include:

*** Poetry by Raymond Soulard, Jr., Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Sam Knot, Colin James, Judih Weinstein Haggai, & Sam Knot
*** Prose pieces by Nathan D. Horowitz & Charlie Beyer
*** Dream Raps by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Labyrinthine [new fixtion] by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Fiction by Algernon Beagle & Timothy Vilgiate
*** Graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard, Epi Rogan, Louis Staeble, & AbandonView

Respond with your feedback here—or by email at [email protected].

Peace,
Raymond

[scriptorpress]

Raibook #11:
Dream Raps, Volumes Nine-Ten
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
https://www.scriptorpress.com/raibooks/ ... s9-10.html
[Size = 1.2 MB]

Hello everyone,

Here is the next release of “A collection of new fixtions, come from Dreamland . . . ”

I hope you enjoy this new volume. And take a look at the previous titles in this series too, found here: www.scriptorpress.com/raibooks/archives.html

Peace,
Raymond

RaiBooks 11 Dream Raps 9-10.png

[scriptorpress]

The Cenacle | 129 | October 2026
https://scriptorpress.com/cenacle/129
(Size = 38.6 MB)

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year! And here comes the just-released Cenacle | 129 | Winter 2026. Coming out on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US. And an apt quotation from Dr. King for this already-rough year: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

This issue features new poetry by Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Colin James, Judih Weinstein Haggai, & myself.

Also new fiction by Lou Gámez, Madelaine Taylah, Timothy Vilgiate, Algernon Beagle, & myself. And classic fiction from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

And new prose pieces by Nathan D. Horowitz, Charlie Beyer, Jimmy Heffernan, & myself.

There is also new graphic artwork by AbandonView, Epi Rogan, Louis Staeble, Martina Reisz Newberry, Madelaine Taylah, & Kassandra Soulard.

Contents of this new issue include:

From Soulard’s Notebooks
[Excerpt]

What seems lost these day in the wasteland of social media, & playground-level partisan politics, is that, like it or not, we live in one world. Every last one of us. When something good happens, it resonates everywhere. Same as something bad.

* * * * * *

Feedback on Cenacle 128
[Excerpt]

Louis Staeble’s alleyway in his photo gallery: brah, I once dreamed I was lost there, and found my sister at the end. Well, maybe not your alley; but within the same choreography of light and shadow. Numinous.
(Lou Gámez)

* * * * * *

From the ElectroLounge Forums:
What Beauties Kept You Going in 2025?
[Excerpt]

It is beautiful that I am still alive, drinking sunrises like orange juice, have a big strong fella to help with everything, have my cat sleeping on my face, and we are starting construction of the super hover. Although politics have descended into fascism, and everyone is abused to feed the filthy rich, my life has been a topsy-turvy line to walk between death and glory. Myself and the Viking are well on our way to glory.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Judih Weinstein Haggai
[Excerpt]

What would you say
if you were offered a mountain
filled with red flowers, not poppies,
but heavenly all the same?

* * * * * *

British Museum Acquisition Number EA363914 [Fiction]
by Lou Gámez
[Excerpt]

I see him every morning stepping off the Central Line at Tottenham Court Road station, queuing at the counter for a cuppa-to-go, then striding purposefully up the grey granite steps. Today I follow at discreet distance for the five-minute walk to the museum. He’s a slight young man, early twenties, medium height with an olive complexion, dark hair, and large wide-set brown eyes. Dark tweed trench coat, old but still serviceable. He has the look of a scholar or student, perhaps a doctoral candidate with books on hold in the British Library and the Bodleian. Today, as always, he shoulders a worn canvas satchel, discolored but sturdy, large enough for a book or two, a phone, maybe an iPad. He drinks his hot brew with careful sips.

* * * * * *

Notes from New England:
The Great Grand Braided Narrative [Gr. Gr. Br. N. for friendly], Part 4
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
[Excerpt]

Imagine a place of timelessly ancient wisdom; so ancient that it does not exist on paper; it exists in strange contained spaces; & it cannot be retrieved by memory; it must be retrieved via something cherished by the visitor. And the challenge, then, is what? And how to read it after?

* * * * * *

The Yearly Meeting, and a Rainstorm [Travel Journal]
by Nathan D. Horowitz
[Excerpt]

In the beginning, there was a lot of feedback between the microphone and the amplifiers, but they’ve gotten it under control. Still a lot of noise from the generator. A bare light bulb hangs off a roof beam near the blackboard. The amplification and the illumination are both superfluous. I believe the Secoyas are running the machines to study them, and to practice the ways of city people.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Martina Newberry
[Excerpt]

In the stirring and stammering of a
restaurant or bar or a restaurant
that has a bar, you’ll think of your morning
walk and wonder about the rattling of
snakes below the hills, of streets, of signs,
of sacraments—their noises and their heat.

* * * * * *

Doors & Dreams [A Fictional Work in Progress]
by Madeleine Taylah
[Excerpt]

I am curious by the existence of these Doors. Are they always there? Do they move? Do people create them, or manifest them? If I and somebody else walked through the same Door, would we see the same thing? How about the Doorways that are not arches in the woods, or caves beneath a sea?

* * * * * *

Many Musics, Twelfth Series
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
[Excerpt]

Now eyes open. I speak slowly. “A Village.
A Yellow House. A strange sad face before me.
I sit in a worn old blue wooden chair.”

* * * * * *

Rafting (Prose)
by Charlie Beyer
[Excerpt]

I travel with my delightful girlfriend to the Boise River in southwestern Idaho. She has acquired a used raft from somewhere and, even though she suffers from hydrophobia, she has a small desire to float the Boise. The Boise River is certified tame with barely Class I rapids. I imagine I can survive this, and also build up my catatonia conditioning for when my cousin chains me into the death raft on the River of No Return.

* * * * * *

Rivers of the Mind (A Novel)
by Timothy Vilgiate
[Excerpt]

The bloodshot-eyed teenager’s heart pounds as he sees emerging from the forest a zombified mass of people, all of whom look exactly like him, only decayed, old, and decrepit. The zombies brush past us, stalking towards him slowly. He bolts away, and time around him becomes slower and slower. His vision starts to blur, until he now appears in his room with no memory of how he got there, no recollection of taking a drug, no recollection of any of the things he’s seen.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Tamara Miles
[Excerpt]

My sun still surprises the back deck,
rides across palm fronds and dogs’ ears
as they pass their time easy, free of griefs
presented to me with a burial flag.

* * * * * *

Bags End Book #22: Uniting the Six Islands, Grand Finally! (Fiction)
by Algernon Beagle
[Excerpt]

It feels in a way, Dear Readers, like this great big story I have been telling you has gone into overtime or extra innings or something. It’s been like learning bunches of new history, which is strange way to put it. And feeling like that history should be learned, even wants to be learned somehow. How can it be good to think about, & even help, if it is unknowed?

* * * * * *

Notes on Teilhard’s Noogenesis (Continued)
by Jimmy Heffernan
[Excerpt]

A technological singularity occurs when our technology—presumably conscious A.I. quantum computers—becomes so rapid at processing and “behaving” that humans can no longer have any place on Earth, that human affairs cannot continue as they have to, naturally. Everything will become so intense that we will—who knows?—transform? go extinct? upload our souls?—what have you. So one can see that the Teilhard, McKenna, and von Neumann ideas are, while coming from different contexts, essentially very similar. Teilhard was perhaps quite prescient here.

* * * * * *

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Classic Fiction)
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
[Excerpt]

One of Sherlock Holmes’s defects—if, indeed, one may call it a defect—was that he was exceedingly loath to communicate his full plans to any other person until the instant of their fulfilment. Partly it came no doubt from his own masterful nature, which loved to dominate and surprise those who were around him. Partly also from his professional caution, which urged him never to take any chances. The result, however, was very trying for those who were acting as his agents and assistants. I had often suffered under it, but never more so than during that long drive in the darkness.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Colin James
[Excerpt]

I met some nice people
at the local Cracker Barrel.
We joked about the salt-shaker,
and laughed joyfully for hours.

* * * * * *

Labyrinthine [A New Fixtion]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
[Excerpt]

He is tall but bony, his frame coiled around her not unlike his long-legged camera. Gentle, open, but something else too. Like he would consume her from her deepest depths, if she let, if she could, if she wanted, if she knew how. She tempts to try but cannot, yet.

* * * * * *

Respond with your feedback here — or by email at [email protected]

Peace,
Raymond Soulard, Jr.
Scriptor Press New England
scriptorpress.com
[email protected]

[scriptorpress]

Raibook #12:
Dream Raps, Volumes Eleven-Twelve
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
https://www.scriptorpress.com/raibooks/ ... 11-12.html
[Size = 2.1 MB]
 
Hello everyone,

Here is the next release of “A collection of new fixtions, come from Dreamland . . . ”

I hope you enjoy this new volume. And take a look at the previous titles in this series too, found here: scriptorpress.com/raibooks/archives.html

Peace,
Raymond
Editor & Publisher
Scriptor Press New England
scriptorpress.com
[email protected]

[scriptorpress]

Scriptor Press Sampler | 26 | 2024 Annual
https://www.scriptorpress.com/sampler/26_2024.html
(Size = 3.7 MB)
 
Hello everyone,

And here is the new Scriptor Press Sampler! This Annual’s contents include:

*** Poetry by Raymond Soulard, Jr., Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Jimmy Heffernan, Colin James, & Judih Weinstein Haggai
*** Prose pieces by Nathan D. Horowitz & Charlie Beyer
*** Dream Raps by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Labyrinthine [new fixtion] by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
*** Fiction by Algernon Beagle & Timothy Vilgiate
*** Graphic artwork by Kassandra Soulard, Epi Rogan, Louis Staebles & AbandonView

Respond with your feedback here—or by email at [email protected].
 
Peace,
Raymond

[scriptorpress]

Hello everyone,

Here comes the just-released Cenacle | 130 | April 2026. It’s the 31st Anniversary Issue! Very exciting to be arriving to this point, & to celebrate this milestone with such a great issue of contributors!

This issue features new poetry by Madelaine Taylah, Tamara Miles, Martina Reisz Newberry, Colin James, Judih Weinstein Haggai, & myself. Plus a re-visit of a poem by the late, beloved Cenacle contributor Tom Sheehan.

Also new fiction by Timothy Vilgiate, Algernon Beagle, & myself. And classic fiction from Edgar Allan Poe.

And new prose pieces by Lou Gámez, Nathan D. Horowitz, Jimmy Heffernan, & myself.

There is also new graphic artwork by AbandonView, Epi Rogan, Louis Staeble, Tamara Miles, Madelaine Taylah, & Kassandra Soulard.

Contents of this new issue include:

From Soulard’s Notebooks
[Excerpt]

Tuesday, November 3, 2026 is when this nightmare can truly begin to end. Simple as that. Vote every last Republican on the ballot out of office. None can justify running affiliated with this party. None deserve a pass.

* * * * * *

Feedback on Cenacle 129
[Excerpt]

Lou Gámez truly made my brain go boing with his short fiction “British Museum Acquisition Number EA363914,” a beautifully plotted, carefully realized, eruditely entertaining short story about a centuries-spanning love. The image of Hager kissing the backs of Zahrah’s knees is wonderful, as is the image of him rubbing her withered or gnarled feet. That’s love.
(Nathan D. Horowitz)

* * * * * *

From the ElectroLounge Forums:
Cross-Interview with Epi Rogan
[Excerpt]

I think so many of my photos are of liminal spaces, and from the point of view of an outsider looking in. Growing up, my family didn’t go to church. We lived in a small conservative community where all my friends and peers did go to church, and I think I was quietly obsessed with all the esoteric things involved with religion because I didn’t have a grounding in it. It was all these strange rituals, and artwork, and mad outfits worn by clergy. Anyways, I’m still obsessed with all that stuff.
(Epi Rogan)

* * * * * *

Poetry by Tom Sheehan
[Excerpt]

When he found me,
pawed, frayed, diminished,
he said he’d never leave me again.

* * * * * *

Notes from New England:
Dream Raps, Volume Fifteen
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
[Excerpt]

I’ve always thought that bus stations are good places to see what’s going by in this world. All sorts of
reasons people are on the bus, taking the bus, waiting for the bus. One elderly lady with grey hair done up in a pretty pink scarf, multi-colored layers of clothes, sits next to a strange ragged figure before leaving abruptly. Wait: Was that me, in some other way, some other time?

* * * * * *

On Suspicion [Prose]
by Lou Gámez
[Excerpt]

I shut the door thoughtfully, resumed playing my music, walked slowly back to the soapy dishes in the kitchen awaiting their rinse, and tried to puzzle this out. What was going on? Today was an unexceptional Wednesday—though come to think of it, I did mow the front lawn this afternoon. Not my usual practice. The weekend was just too fine to waste with yard-work. No need to encourage my neighbors to have their dogs piss and shit on my grass more than they already do.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Judih Weinstein Haggai
[Excerpt]

listen world
clean up your room already
enough is enough

* * * * * *

Poetry by Martina Newberry
[Excerpt]

As full day seeps from morning, it grows so bright and hot
that I am happy that my eyes are small—
that my ears fan the still air—
that there is shade and cool water.

* * * * * *

Rivers of the Mind (A Novel)
by Timothy Vilgiate
[Excerpt]

I tried to keep my smile steady. Grace looked like she wanted to strangle me. Dusty looked like he wanted to dissect me. Phillip looked—hopeful. God help him.

* * * * * *

Many Musics, Twelfth Series
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
[Excerpt]

Tonight we do what’s often done when lost
loved ones reunite. We tell our long travels
from shared then to recovering now.
Build our path new with words, with gestures,
blood-bricks laid thence to hereon. The salt & spice
of memories to excite the senses to presence.

* * * * * *

Notes on Hinduism (Part i)
by Jimmy Heffernan
[Excerpt]

The lesser gods and goddesses that are actively worshipped are meant to make it easier for people to approach and incorporate Brahman in their daily lives. Usually a person will pray to a god that has special meaning for them, for whatever reason. Hindus believe that these lesser gods and goddesses have been sent to Earth to help individuals find and relate to Brahman in their lives, and to purify their karma and prepare their souls for their next incarnation. Some key gods that are actively and widely prayed to are: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Saraswati, Parvati, Hanuman, Krishna, Rama, and
Ganesha.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Madeleine Taylah
[Excerpt]

There are the clouds, and then there are my hands.
Somehow, they feel further away.
I hold my palms out to catch the cascading leaves
that rain from the autumnal canopies above.
Some fall gently. Others are ripped away in
mini tornados of dust and dirt.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Tamara Miles
[Excerpt]

Your breasts are veiled, they demand
contemplation. Men who lie beneath
them have their faith tested. Mayahana,
Tathagata, they nourish all beings.

* * * * * *

Bags End Book #23: Why Is There Something Instead of Nothing, Part 1 (Fiction)
by Algernon Beagle
[Excerpt]

Your old editor & reporter friend & pal Algernon Beagle is not what you might say to be a deep or very philosophical guy. I mean, I know lots of smart guys like Sheila Bunny & Princess Chrisakah of Imagianna, Crissy 4or fun, & even mah own newspaper’s loyal riter-downer Lori Bunny, who probably knows about a lot more about these things than I do.

* * * * * *

Poetry by Colin James
[Excerpt]

Collecting our allocations of mushrooms,
fungi turning blue correspondingly.
Familiarity saviors lassoed.

* * * * * *

Dietmar & the Flies Dancing [Travel Journal]
by Nathan D. Horowitz
[Excerpt]

And maybe time is shaped like a tree. Since I don’t know what really happened, I can only ask questions. Where is my heart going to live? What kinds of instruments do the Swiss use to make holes in cheese? Can white people be shamans? Can black people be investment bankers? How much longer will this deteriorating hut last? Is there another word for synonym? My God, what’s that smell? Is my notebook paper content with its Scythian tattoo of words, blue like smurfs?

* * * * * *

The Fall of the House of Usher
by Edgar Allan Poe (Classic Fiction)
[Excerpt]

During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.

* * * * * *

Labyrinthine [A New Fixtion]
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
[Excerpt]

You will one day lie inert in a box, like the ones a hundred, a thousand years ago. Inert, boxed, buried, as new days come & go, & you are forgotten, become a listing in history books. Just another mortal, failed human being who could have raised the world up, holy & high, but did not. Soon you will be gone too.

* * * * * *

Respond with your feedback here — or by email at [email protected]

Peace, 
Raymond

c130x.jpg

[scriptorpress]

Raibook #13:
Dream Raps, Volumes Thirteen-Fourteen
by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
https://www.scriptorpress.com/raibooks/ ... 13-14.html
[Size = 5.2 MB]

Hello everyone,

Here is the next release of “A collection of new fixtions, come from Dreamland . . . ”

I hope you enjoy this new volume. And take a look at the previous titles in this series too, found here: scriptorpress.com/raibooks/archives.html

Peace,
Raymond

Front Cover Final.jpg