Another Friday Fright by Terri DelCampo

Greetings Ooky Readers! 
Revel in the ookiness of this week's Friday Fright! 

http://www.fridayfrights.ws/2015/02/from-beneath-stump-by-terri-delcampo.html

Chills! 
Ter

Big changes for Owl's Eye View and Terri DelCampo

Greetings Ooky Readers!

The last time I blogged I was excited about writing for Yahoo Contributor's Network, I was living in Pennsylvania with my son and his family, my novels and short stories had only been published on my Owl's Eye View Magazine website, and I was in the thick of writing the "Zowls" saga for Owl's Eye View.    Well!  Change, change, and more change, let me tell you! 

YCN closed down which disappeared my non-fiction outlet, not to mention a small but much-needed source of income.  However, I survived and moved on with my writing as I always seem to.  Adaptable seems to be my middle name and pretty much always has. 

Which means that when things slowly stopped working out living with my son and his family, that quality of adaptability pulled me through the separation from them and my move back to Georgia.  With the stress of all that behind me, life is much better, except for missing certain short people who call me Nana (along with their furry, four-legged siblings). 

Just before the big move I began to publish my novels and short stories as Kindle books on Amazon.  Between the end of July and the end of October 2014 I published 27 Kindle books, including all 7 of my novels and novellas and all 108+ of my short stories.  I also published "The Best of Swooping Through the Years," "The Best of From the Perch," "The Best of Macabre Mirth," "The Best of On the WindSpirit," "The Best of Screech On!," and "The Best of Visceral Verse." 

Zowls is complete and of course was serialized in OEV all through the latter half of 2014. When my website (www.owlseyeviewmagazine.com) host crapped out on me and I couldn't get logged in to publish Issue 12 last year, I just got ticked off and published the issue on Facebook.  (Please note, that Issue 12 containing the conclusion, along with the entire Zeons/Zowls novel is contained within "The Best of Swooping Through the Years" that went online in January 2015. 

Then I realized that I needed an alternative to the website, and fast.  I couldn't even sign in to the site host, so there was no publishing a final issue, even.  What to do...

Kindle Books was my solution.  After publishing 27 Kindle Books with no glitches, I decided to publish individual issues of Owl's Eye View each month as always, and at the end of the year gather all twelve into an annual volume.  Seemed to work for the first issue that came out on Kindle on January 11th.  No one unliked the OEV page on Facebook, so my ooky reader friends must be happy.  Yay! 

Sometimes there really is a silver lining, because now my writing is all in one, well marketed, accessible place and will stay there forever so that you, my ooky readers can buy yourself a chill or two any time you want.

Owl's Eye View now boasts a new column, "Terri's Bookshelf" where I will discuss books I'm currently reading and loving, feature authors whose book's pages I simply cannot stop turning, and conduct interviews with authors who spur my admiration and respect (and curiosity, I admit it!).   Science Fiction author Paul A. Bussard was the first author featured in TB, and coming up on the 11th of this month, horror author, editor, and publisher Blaze McRob will be the center of TB attention.  I'm very excited about interviewing, reviewing, plugging, and discussing some very talented people and their books in "Terri's Bookshelf;" come join me!! 

I'll be looking forward to creeping you out and bringing the ooky just like always! 

Chills!
Ter

Zowls and Updates and eBooks! Oh my!!

Greetings Everyone!  

I am highly embarrassed to notice that I haven't blogged for quite awhile!  Not that I've been scarce online, mind you, I just haven't posted here.  


Owl's Eye View Magazine is still going strong, with more readers than ever, thank goodness for every single one of you!  I am working on eBook projects as I type this blog, that I'm extremely excited about!  The first one should be complete and uploaded by the end of this month.  In fact, I just finished the cover for it about an hour ago!  And while my skill on Pixlr is questionable (because I've never used a graphics site in my life!!) I must say that I'm in love with the title...which will be a surprise, you get no spoilers from me just yet, though my fellow dark fiction writer friend C.L. Hernandez described it as "wonderfully gruesome!"  Muahaha! 

Since April I've also been writing freelance articles for Yahoo Contributor's Network which unfortunately fizzled out when they shut down that department.  I had four series of articles going strong: "Write Now," "My Feminist Heroes," "Healthy Nudge," and "Disability Challenge."  Between the first of May and the first week of July, I had 26 articles published, then WHAM! shut down!  So here I am on my ass again with the rug pulled out from under me.  

But while I was sitting still there on the floor, I started thinking about building the series of articles up and publishing them as eBooks.  So that could happen in addition to the dark fiction eBooks I have planned.  

I'm also trying to decide whether to self-publish my novels as eBooks or seek out a publisher to release them as print books and eBooks as well.  We'll see.  I have six novels and four novellas, so I could try one as an eBook and see how it does.  

Okay.  I guess it's time to get back to work on the eProject!  I'll try to blog more often, I promise!  
I hope you are all well and happy and hungry for ookiness!  Because I plan to deliver!  

Hugs!  
Ter

Owl's Eye View Magazine ISSUE 7 is ONLINE NOW!!

www.owlseyeviewmagazine.com 

Greetings Ooky Readers,

"Owl's Eye View Magazine" Issue 7 is online now for your ooky pleasure! 

I guess the big news for the month is that for the immediate future, I will be covering my novel/novella length projects within the "Swooping through the Years" and "From the Perch" columns, starting this issue.  The reason Cedric D'Orr is writing "Swooping through the Years" at least until December is that his is the central character in my novel “Zeons.”   I was having tremendous personal difficulty producing "Owl's Eye View Magazine" every month and also producing novel-length projects as well, because of additional responsibilities I’m contending with in my personal life.  Long story short, it was too much, and something had to give.  "Owl's Eye View Magazine" is an excellent writing platform for me.  My characters’ columns give me all sorts of styles and voices with which to tell my ideas and stories.  Perhaps when the grandmunchkins are both in school I will work on a separate novel length project, but for the next couple of years I will probably be concentrating on short stories and the columns.  This is a good thing.  The quality of the columns and short stories will improve with my ability to give them my undivided attention. 

It’s been a productive month here in Owl’s Nest.  I FINALLY finished "Swooping through the Years" Issue 11, and Issue 12, the conclusion of the Zeons series of articles should be smooth sailing; although I’m careful about such expectations since the minute I think things (in my writing or in real life) are going great, that’s when all hell breaks loose.  But the meat of the series is mostly together. 

Tuesday I pulled together for the ‘Malaise’ series of columns that will be in "Owl's Eye View Magazine" from January through June of 2014.  It’s looking like an interesting story line.  I was up at 2 in the morning and worked on Perch until a little after one in the afternoon.  At the end of Malaise I have to decide if I want to eliminate "From the Perch," due to changes in the Owl's Nest story line—but that’s all I’m saying, muahaha!  And I have a year to decide about a possible new format for "Owl's Eye View Magazine."

If you have any input, email me, I promise you I’m listening.  oevmag@gmail.com  and put “ooky input” in the subject line.  Or post on my Facebook page or message me! 

Okay, here it is; this is the ookiness lurking in "Owl's Eye View Magazine" this month, snarling, licking its chops, just waiting for you to come along: 

Nathan Williams has a final remark about his love of info-mining to tuck into "Swooping through the Years", and then Cedric D'Orr begins his fascinating story about turning oppressed Peons into Zeons.  I’m not sure what that means, but I’m sure we’re in for big bowl of ooky with Cedric at the helm of "Swooping through the Years" for the next six issues. 

Meredith Alden warns Owls about being distracted by commitments outside their community in "From the Perch". 

In her poem “Whore,” Lisa Galloway offers us a broad perspective on such a title in "Visceral Verse."

In "Macabre Mirth" Melanie Mirth provides a view on cosmetics. 

As my short story tells, it doesn’t take an earthquake to make you realize that all corporate roads lead “To Nowhere.” 

Minions send a vivid message to the human species in my short story, “Slick.” 

Chills!                               

Ter

7/11/2013

Owl's Eye View Magazine ISSUE 6 is ONLINE NOW!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greetings Ooky Revelers! 

I have quite a literary gorge for this issue. 

There’s a changing of the guard, at least for awhile in "Swooping Through the Years.”  Nathan Williams will be subletting his column to vodou priest Cedric D’Orr at least until the end of this year.  Don’t miss any of the ookiness! 

Meredith Alden talks about the need for solidarity if Owl's Nest is to survive in "From the Perch". 

In “Visceral Verse” Lisa Galloway shares a poem of devotion.

Melanie Mirth shares another of her morbid little fantasies, this time of an aviary nature, in "Macabre Mirth". 

My short story “Pickles” may just make your mouth water. 

When you get to work in the morning will you know where your road leads?  My short story “To Nowhere” will give you a little chill…

And of course, there is the final, mind-blowing installment of “Parliament” that will fill you in on all the gory details of Meredith Alden’s sordid and ooky lineage.  Don’t miss the shocking conclusion that launches you into the terrifying present and promises many more chilling doom in Owl's Nest’s future!

So brace yourself for the onslaught of ooky! 

Chills! 

Ter

 

 

Terri DelCampo - Managing Editor of Owl's Eye View Magazine
www.owlseyeviewmagazine.com
Become a fan on Facebook:   
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Blog:  owlseyeviewmagazine.blogspot.com
Ooky little town full of Ooky little stories!

Disney's 'Kickin It' promotes bullying

Disney HD

I am a firm believer in not sheltering kids too much from the real world.  I was over-protected and insulated when I was little, and I often wished, as a young adult that I had been better prepared to deal with reality.  On the other hand, when I am in the room with a six-year-old little girl and a four-year-old little boy and I turn on the Disney Channel, I expect quality programming, and that there be some responsibility taken for the messages planted in their young minds.  I expect the ‘good guys’ to be responsible, ethical, and, well, good. 

Specifically, the program, “Kickin’ It” has taken the discipline of karate and bastardized it into a message of bullying.  The characters often exhibit violent, destructive, behavior for which there are never consequences. 

Example #1:  A scene where the “good” kids fought with troublemakers.  During the fight scene, which took place in a restaurant, tables were overturned, sending items upon them flying everywhere, and the place was trashed.  When the fight concluded, the characters left the restaurant in triumph, the scene ended, never addressing the damages to the restaurant.  What’s up with that?  Good guys or not, there should have been, at the very least an apology to the restaurant owner, with an offer to pay for the damages!  Even in “Superman II” when Superman pounds the bully in the diner, ridding the place of a huge troublemaker, Superman plants a wad of cash in the owner’s hand and apologizes for the damages! 

Example #2: A scene in which half a dozen kids with sparring staffs (7 foot, bamboo poles) stood over two kids lying face down on the ground beating (raising the staffs over their heads and bringing them down full force) them over and over again.  I have never, even in Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris movies, seen Karate used that way!  Karate is used for self defense!  Whatever the kids on the ground did wrong, the karate kids, according to the discipline they are being taught, would never be justified in pounding someone face-down on the ground, with sparring staffs. First of all, sparring staffs are not clubs.  That scene was no less violent than the news clip of the Rodney King incident. 

For Disney, of all television stations, to air this gratuitous, irresponsible, bully-inspiring, barbaric garbage is outrageous.  For parents, grandparents, and child caretakers to be unaware or uncaring about the content of these programs is negligent and inexcusable. 

“Kickin It” distorts (to say the very least) the entire message of the discipline of karate.  It promotes irresponsible, bullying behavior, not to mention highly unsportsmanlike conduct.  For a country evolved enough to ban end zone dances, I am appalled that this show hasn’t been protested already. 

And it’s not like it’s aired once a day that’s avoidable, it’s all over the Disney line-up, bombarding children several times a day, for hours at a time.

I find it sad that the writers of this program squandered the opportunity to write quality episodes that have the potential to teach some decent values to pre-teens.  They could have run with the concept and produced some fine shows that send a positive message to kids that by learning the art and discipline of karate, they don’t need to become bullies to defeat bullies.  That there are honorable ways they can protect themselves and gain values that can guide them through their entire lives.  Instead they portray their ‘good’ characters taking cheap shots and never owning up to their responsibilities. 

The Disney Channel producers should be ashamed, and so should the writers of the show for vomiting out such rubbish. 

Owl's Eye View Magazine ISSUE 12 ONLINE NOW!!!

Welcome Readers in search of ookiness!  Your quest stops here!

I hope your Turkey Wake was filled with wondrous joy for you and your families to be thankful for, my home here with my children and grandchildren tops my list, along with my Georgia family and friends as well. 

While there is much joy in this season, I am reminded that time is fleeting, especially for those who are unwell.  My daughter-in-law and her family have drawn together to look after her dad who is giving his advanced cancer a tough battle.  Tom, you are in my thoughts and prayers. 

My mother, as well, is having a bout with illness and I hold her in my heart as she makes her way back to health. 

On a brighter note, “Elfie,” the elf who has taken up residence in our house, flitting about to keep Rosie and Joey on the straight an narrow so they make Santa’s “Good List” is a funny little dudette.  In the blink of an eye she moves from one post to another, and no one can seem to catch her in flight.  She’s a crafty one, that Elfie! 

As 2012 winds down, I find myself grateful for my family and friends, my home with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren, and Brie-Brie, and for my muse, who though occasionally plays hide and seek with me, always eventually drops idea nuggets into my feeble brain. 

I hope 2013 brings my readers much joy and ookiness! 

Chills!

Ter

Nathan Williams interviews Owl’s Eye View’s own Lisa Galloway who talks vampirism and lesbianism in “Swooping Through the Years.” 

In this issue’s “From the Perch” Meredith Alden tells us a story about how a little vibe demonstration can change a life forever. 

Lisa Galloway explores the back story (literally) in a traditional holiday beverage in Visceral Verse. 

Melanie Mirth shares “Nana’s Legacy” in “Macabre Mirth” this issue. 

If you mess around in the haunted forest, chances are you might get a surprise on Christmas morning, or so you can read about in my story “Oh Christmas Tree.” 

My short story, “Don’t Piss Off the Round Boy!” warns don’t’cha dare get caught on Santa’s naughty list when he’s in a mood! 

And last but certainly not least we have the riveting conclusion of “True Crime Shelf” that will leave Owl's Nest shaken to its core.  Don’t miss a word!

TD-12/10/2012