LOST LETTERS TO A LOVER’S CARCASS: Cover Reveal; Preview; Street Date

February 1st! And, as promised, today is the first look at Bizarro Pulp Press’s 2021 lineup. Each week through February, we will showcase one of the upcoming titles we acquired for Journalstone’s most eclectic imprint. This week, allow us to share with you Ronald J. Murray’s upcoming poetry collection, LOST LETTERS TO A LOVER’S CARCASS.

Let’s start with the below cover art:

Gorgeous stuff, courtesy of Don Noble.

LOST LETTERS TO A LOVER’S CARCASS is the second poetry collection from Murray, following his debut, CRIES TO KILL THE CORPSE FLOWER. His first book has been well-received by readers and writers and recently found itself as an entry on the Horror Writers Association’s (HWA) Preliminary Ballot for the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards® in the category of “Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection”. We think this new volume is every bit as good as the last, if not better.

So, what can you expect from Murray this go-around? Let’s take a look at this short synopsis, and we will follow that with a sneak peek at “Exorcism,” one of the poems from the collection itself:

SHOULD YOUR CARCASS REANIMATE,

I’LL SLIT ITS THROAT AGAIN.

Lost Letters to a Lover’s Carcass is an infected wound where puss seeps out between sutures. As a “spiritual sequel” to Cries to Kill the Corpse Flower, this collection is partly blind pining for dead, false love once given by a monster that even dark magic cannot resurrect. It is the metaphorical justice wrought unto a traitor hanged, drawn, and quartered through its words. And it is, finally, the realization of a new dawn, where sunlight opens the eyes to a wider world.

***

EXORCISM

I felt you leave my body,

Sucked out through my mouth—

A mist passed through my lips,

A cloud of vapor slinking out;

A ghost to squeeze my wrist,

At my side through lonely hours

And every sneaking midnight tryst,

Where shreds of shrieking souls devour

Hearts that beat weak, arrhythmic,

In palms of love that’s rotten sour.

You’re acrid tastes on tongue’s split tip,

A scent to leave the night deflowered.

***

…we hope all of this has you intrigued! CRIES TO KILL THE CORPSE FLOWER was not just lightning in a bottle, and Murray really shines, however darkly, throughout LOST LETTERS TO A LOVER’S CARCASS. The author really carves a place out among his contemporaries with this book, and we are certainly interested in whatever comes next.

LOST LETTERS TO A LOVER’S CARCASS is coming from Bizarro Pulp Press and Journalstone in July, and should go live on or around the 30th. We will be sure to post any updates and pre-order information. In the meantime, consider familiarizing yourself with Murray’s work by picking up CRIES TO KILL THE CORPSE FLOWER directly from the publisher!

Ronald J. Murray can be found on Twitter as @RonaldJMurray, on Instagram as @rjmurraywrites, and online at RonaldJMurray.com.

And that is it for this week! Be sure to join us next Monday (Feb 8th) when we take a look at what we think will be the big Bizarro release of 2021, Luke Kondor’s THE RUN FANTASTIC. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

TTFN