Black Petals Issue #112 Summer, 2025

Mars-News, Views and Commentary

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Mars-News, Views and Commentary
Any Port in a Storm: Fiction by Stephen Lochton Kincaid
Blind Men in Headphones: Fiction by Richard Brown
The Cat of Malivaunt: Fiction by Jim Wright
Death Itself!: Fiction by Fred L. Taulbee, Jr.
The Hook End Horror: Fiction by Brian K. Sellnow
How a Werewolf Shattered My Windshield: Fiction by Andre Bertolino
Marlene and Hubby Take the Haunted Tour: Fiction by Robb White
Rapture of the Nerds: Fiction by Robert Borski
Reckoning: Fiction by Floyd Largent
Taking Care: Fiction by Michaele Jordan
Spiders, Rats, and an Old 1957 Chevy: Fiction by Roy Dorman
What's in Your Closet?: Fiction by Hillary Lyon
For Every Sinner: Flash Fiction by John Whitehouse
Investigating the Hudson Street Hauntings: Flash Fiction by LindaAnn LoSchiavo
The Monster Outside My Window: Flash Fiction by Jay D. Falcetti
The Road of Skulls: Flash Fiction by David Barber
The Zombie Lover: Flash Fiction by Cindy Rosmus
CraVe: Poem by Casey Renee Kiser
Dead Girls: Poem by Kasey Renee Kiser
Fck Me Like a Dyed FlwR: Poem by Casey Renee Kiser
Phil, The Chosen One: Poem by Nicholas De Marino
Paranormal Portions: Poem by John H. Dromey
Greater Uneasiness: Poem by Frank Iosue
Of Gender and Weaponry: Poem by Frank Iosue
Magister Renfield: Poem by Simon MacCulloch
Bad Egg: Poem by Simon MacCulloch
Ghost Train: Poem by Simon MacCulloch
Old Scratch: Poem by Simon MacCulloch
Carthage: Poem by Craig Kirchner
Confession: Poem by Craig Kirchner
I Know a Tripper: Poem by Craig Kirchner
The Revenent: Poem by Scott Rosenthal
An Early Grave: Poem by Stephanie Smith
Doppelganger: Poem by Stephanie Smith
The Sounds of Night: Poem by Stephanie Smith
Dead Ringer: Poem by Kenneth Vincent Walker
The Red House (of Death): Poem by Kenneth Vincent Walker
Under Cover of Night: Poem by Kenneth Vincent Walker

July, 2025—Chris Friend

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Art by Chris Friend © 2024

In the pantheon of Slavic deities, Perun is the sky god and Veles rules the Underworld. And, as one might assume, they are eternally in battle. The sun was believed to be the wife of Perun, who kidnaps her every night, taking her down to his Underworld abode. In the morning, she is delivered back into the arms of Perun. Another factor in this rivalry was the belief that each felt the other stole their divine cattle. In Slavic culture, cattle were sacred animals connected to water and rain. Perun believed that Veles was also guilty of stealing the divine waters and taking them down to the Underworld. Perun would have an obvious connection to rain, being a sky god and a god of thunder. His life-giving rain would be fuel for the crops and thus revered.

On a similar subject, Zorya is the Slavic goddess who governs those threshold times of dusk and dawn. She opens the doorway of morning and allows the sun to rise. Among some Slavic tribes she is Danica, the sun's sister. In some versions, Zorya is the mother of the sun. Zorya is sometimes known as the Dawn Maiden.

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Art by Chris Friend © 2024

In my research I frequently come upon references for the evil eye which seems to be a world-wide phenomenon and for me the best example in classical mythology was the gorgon Medusa. Medusa and her two sisters were very beautiful women who became cursed and turned into gruesome monsters with snakes for hair. Medusa’s visage was so hideous that any mortal who looked upon her would turn to stone. One finds a touch of sympathetic magic with Medusa's image placed on the helmets and shields of Roman soldiers to frighten their enemies, possibly freezing them with fear. When worn as an amulet the image of Medusa was used as protection against the evil eye. The terrifying image of Medusa would seem to be that of a nightmare and freeze people with terror. Sometimes the other Greek goddess of the night, Hecate, was described as having snakes for hair who would terrify anyone who beheld, leaving them paralyzed with fear. According to one of the myths surrounding Medusa was that the heron Perseus beheaded her and tossed her head into the Mediterranean, where it could do no more harm. Pictures of squid that swim there often resemble the severed head of Medusa and might be the spring board for the mythical monster. And so it goes.


 

Chris Friend, mars_art_13@yahoo.com, of Parkersberg, W.Va , who wrote BP #85’s poem, “Demons Play Flutes”; BP # 84’s poems, “The Sentinel” and “Psalm of Mithra”; the BP #81 poem set, “Angel of the Bereft,” Beauty’s Sleep,” & “Dark Trinity”; the BP #80 poem, “The Temple of Colors”; BP #79 poems, “The Marquis” and “My Bloody Valentine”; the BP #78 poem, “The Old Yule Goat”; BP #77’s 4-poem set: “At 50,” “Owls,” “Vintage Halloween,” & “Xmas in the Doll Asylum”; BP #76’s 4-poem set: “Hag Fairy Communion,” “Love’s Sepulcher,” “Night Wanderer,” & “St. Andrew’s Feast”; 2 poems for BP #75, “Angel of the Pagan Dead” and “Churchyard Watcher”; BP #72’s 2-poem set, “Ed Gein” & “Sour Puss”; and the 2008 poem, “All Hallows’ Eve,” writes and illustrates our “MARS News” column. He did a cover for Black Petals back in 2000 for the fall issue, and has been around ever since. BP keeps up two websites for him and prints his column in the issue quarterly. Chris has a gallery at http://chris.michaelherring.net/ and was featured artist in Kurt Newton’s Ultimate PerVersities (Naked Snake) [Jan. 2011].

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