Jack Beltane's Blog

David Bowie and Rosanna Arquette plan a robbery as Monte and Lucy in “The Linguini Incident” (1991), a surreal lighthearted gem from the Thin White Duke. [Currently streaming on Criterion]

The Inflated Graveworm

Number: 30

Distributed: Imbolc 2025 (February 1, 2025)

Pages: 20

Circulation: 200 print

☛ buy epub

Cover

Ars Moriendi, Work V by Adel Souto [ link ]

Fiction

“Mark of the Train Rider” by Matthew Brown

[ link ]

“Weeds and Wildflowers” by Bobby Rollins

[ link ]

Poetry

“Bluebeard” by Brittany Micka-Foos

[ link ]

Opinion

“Other gross absurdities of witchmongers in this matter of conjurations” by Reginald Scot (1584)

Music Box

Songs of a Lost World—The Cure

☛ graveworm.com

I really hope “Pinupocalypse” gets more than a limited six-issue run. It’s a weirdly perfect mashup of Grease, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the Walking Dead, and issue #1 was way more fun than I expected it to be.

On her eighteenth birthday, 1950s dream girl (Foxy) ends up in a zombie apocalypse with only a greaser chick (Roxy) at her side.

[idea, story, and art by Andrew Tarusov; co-written with Brendan Jones; Massive Publishing, January 2025]

My favorite albums of 2024.

I didn’t expect a new album from the Cure this year, and I really didn’t expect it to be any good, but wow… this is their best work since Disintegration (1989).

1. The Cure - Songs of a Lost World

2. Halsey - The Great Impersonator

3. Hazel English - Real Life

4. Soft Kill - Escape Forever

5. Flo Milli - Fine Ho, Stay

6. Mayflower Madame - Insight

7. Amy Shark - Sunday Sadness

8. Girli - Matriarchy

9. Latto - Sugar Honey Iced Tea

10. Night in Athens - Wasted Reflektions

11. Mini...

“The Inflated Graveworm,” a dark literature magazine out of Cleveland, Ohio, is open for submissions! And it pays!

– $10 per poem

– $20 nonfiction (900 words or less)

– $40 b/w cover art (5.5" x 8.5")

– $40 fiction (4500 words or less)

The quarterly zine is given away, in print, with a circulation of 200.

Full details:

http://www.graveworm.com/ig/subs.php

Please help spread the word! And submit to the ‘Worm!

“Gumaa: The Beginning of Her” is a masterpiece of visual media that uses more images than words to tell a unique tale of vengeance. Issue #3 pictured (Titan Comics, 2024). Concept, script, and layouts by Jeehyung Lee; art by Nabetse Zitro and Jeehyung Lee.

“The Cull” #1 by Kelly Thompson (words) and Mattia De Iulis (art) fires on all cylinders for me: kids sneaking out for an adventure, with masterful storytelling and stunning art. (Image, 2023)

“Hallows’ Eve” (Marvel, 2023, 5 issues) came out of the “Dark Web” arc in the Amazing Spider-Man and is the best miniseries I’ve read this year. It’s an anithero tale with a classic-horror twist thanks to an innovative new superpower. Written by Erica Schultz, with art by Michael Dowling and colors by Brian Reber.

Rose McGowan in the Gen X masterpiece, “The Doom Generation” (1995)

Rose McGowan in the Gen X masterpiece, “The Doom Generation” (1995)