Jes Malitoris (Updates)

ALT A wood stands in silhouette against an orange background. Bright text announces the title "Flame A-Kindle," coming October 2027 from Laughing Man House, with the publisher's grinning logo to one side. A deer the same color as the sky lurks in the background, and a wolf hunts among the trees in the foreground.

ALT A dark wood is encroaching on an orange sky. Bright text announces the title "Flame A-Kindle," with the grinning logo of the publisher, Laughing Man House, to one side. Text describes the story: "When the Devil comes to the sheep fold as an enormous Wolf, Tace is sure He has come to drag em to Hell as punishment for er sin: that e secretly shirks manhood and womanhood both. Bursting into the churchyard to warn of the beast, Tace sets tongues wagging, and to prevent disaster er parents pledge em to the butcher’s philandering son. Furious that e might be held to account while er betrothed’s offenses are dismissed, Tace reasons that none know a man’s sins better than the Devil Himself and ventures one night into the wood in search of the Wolf. But what hunts between the trees cares not for sin and cannot be kept at bay with prayer." A deer the same color as the trees lurks in the foreground, and eerie, sketched eyes float throughout the wood.

ALT The dark wood has blotted out the sky. Bright text announces the title "Flame A-Kindle," with the grinning Laughing Man House logo to one side. Text describes the story as "A seventeenth-century folk horror tale about monsters, mythology, patriarchy, and the devils we make ourselves," and it is for fans of Lee Mandelo's The Woods All Black, Brom's Slewfoot, and Robert Egger's film The Witch. A wolf the same color as the trees runs through the foreground, and eerie, sketched eyes float throughout.

ALT Weird Historical Fact I learned while researching a story #8: In the Victorian Era, the symptoms of tuberculosis were considered chic.

ALT Text reads: "tuberculosis had become an epidemic by the mid-1850s, but Victorians romanticized it because of how it enhanced qualities considered attractive in women: It made them thinner and paler, and also often resulted in shiny hair and eyes and rosy cheeks and lips." Below, a portrait of Marie Duplessis shows a pale woman with dark hair worn in curls, painted by Edouard Vienot. She was considered a great beauty, and died of tuberculosis at age 23. Text on the side sites sources: Emily Mullin, "How Tuberculosis Shaped Victorian Fashion," Smithsonian Magazine, 2016. And, Carolyn Day, Consumptive Chic: A History of Beauty, Fashion and Disease, Bloomsbury 2017.

ALT In autumnal browns and oranges over a backdrop of dried leaves, text reads, "It's finally autumn (in North Carolina) and you might be wondering, where did Jes go? Sorry, folks! Day job is kicking my butt! I'll be back soon!"

ALT Against a bright pink background, neon text reads: "Read Along Part 2: Sources and Stories. How do we read stories as historical sources? How do we fill gaps in the written record?" Below, the logo of the blog "The Scrawler Tapes." Also features the bright-red cover of John Blair's book "Killing the Dead."

ALT In neon shades of pink and blue, text reads, "Read-Along, Part I: Intro. Join me for a history of the 'dangerous dead' on my blog, the scrawler tapes." The cover of the history book, "kIlling the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World," by John Blair features a pair of illustrated skeletons against a red background.

ALT Change.org graphic titled, "Reconsider the Denial of the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina Highway Historical Marker." On the left, the Tuscarora Historical and Preservation Society seal includes the society name in the Tuscarora language and a ring of figures holding hands around a purple circle containing three triangles aligned on the right, white, red, and black.

ALT Event details overlay a warm image of a bunch of folks relaxing at a bar. The "First in Fiction" event series is depicted like a "first in flight" North Carolina license plate. The event features short readings by six NC authors representing a range of genres: Richard Dansky, Mimi Herman, Carrie Knowles, Jes Malitoris, Jacky D. Otto, and Jon Carroll Thomas. "Enjoy literature the way it was meant to be experienced - in good company with good food and good booze." Event details: September 17, 8:00pm at the Berkeley Cafe, 428 Dawson Street, Raleigh, NC.

ALT A wood stands in silhouette against an orange background. Bright text reads, "The wilds held wolves, aye, but other things besides." Inside a text box outlined with twigs, more text announces "For fans of religious horror, folk horror, old gods, and supernatural queerness. Watch this space!"

ALT A wood stands in silhouette against an orange background. Bright text reads, "I've got a secret for fans of..." and then pictures the covers of Lee Mandelo's The Woods All Black and Brom's Slewfoot, and a movie poster for Robert Egger's film The Witch. "Watch this space!"