Beware of Bachelor's Grove... Voltagehawk... flying Con Air... diesel punk in India... Silver Thread Snapshots... and narrating the murder of Jerry Landis

It can be nice realizing you’ve been busier than you thought. Perhaps it’s a sidewise form of impostor syndrome, but I often feel like I’m not doing enough things. Granted, I can’t do everything all at once. Just due to the sad simple fact I have to sleep, eat, etc. – curse this useless meat machine! – some things fall by the wayside. I pick up what I can when I can, however, projects can get left behind longer than I care to admit. As such, I often feel lazy because it seems like I’m not doing all the things. That’s why, when I compiled the roundup for March’s assortment of publications, I was happy to see how much happened.
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(Sidenote: I am aware this post is arriving in April. That’s my fault. Keeping track of time is not one of my skills. I think I traded it in for the ability to make restaurant quality fried rice. But enough digression!)

First off, I went on another ghost hunting expedition for Horror Obsessive. This time I visited a local haunted cemetery known as Bachelor’s Grove. The article breaks down the history of the place as well as the joy of a roadtripping out to the site. Not only did I get to scratch that shutterbug itch, taking pictures for the piece, but I think I also nailed down how the urban legends around this place evolved.

​Beware the Beauty of Bachelor’s Grove - Horror Obsessive

​Following that, I’ve was lucky to have two articles published by the fabulous folks at 25YL media. The first is a review of a phenomenal band called Voltagehawk. These musicians were kind enough to respond to my emails, and I have to say, the album is amazing. What makes it great is, well, that’s in the article. It didn’t hurt hearing from the band regarding the review either. For more on Voltagehawk visit their site here and follow the link to my review below.

​Voltagehawk --- Modern Gasoline Feeds a Fresh Fire in Electric Thunder | 25YL (25yearslatersite.com)

Coming up next, I did a sort of retrospective review of the amazingly silly cheese that is Con Air. The movie is now twenty-five years old, but still glorious in its unabashed lean into ridiculous action. If nothing else, writing this piece gave me an excuse to watch the flick again. This is a beer and a pizza flick I will never not enjoy.

​The Glorious Cheese of Con Air | 25YL (25yearslatersite.com)

​I’ve mentioned this before, but HyphenPunk published a diesel punk story I wrote a while back called “Neo-kshatriya”. Well, that story is now collected in their recent magazine which is available on Amazon. For those unfamiliar, Neo-kshatriya is set during World War II and follows the grim efforts of a young Indian soldier fighting the Japanese invasion of India. Based on historical events, it’s a story about how war twists a person, how nation’s will callously use people as cannon fodder, and if I may toot my own horn, it has some haunting, heartbreaking scenes. However, it’s not the only gem in this issue, so be sure to grab a copy.

​Amazon.com: HyphenPunk Spring 2022: Issue 3 (HyphenPunk Magazine) eBook : Bacon, Jasen, De Cruz, Helen, Paschos, Antony, Peridot, JL, Rohr, J., Rossman, Jennifer Lee, Souza, Alex, Spicer, Arwen, Benjamin, Patrick W., Kelechava, Brad: Kindle Store

Another magazine that kindly published a piece of mine is Ayaskala. This story, entitled “Silver Thread Snapshots”, is an atmospheric bit about turning past trauma into art, is a borderline stream of conscious story. It’s overflowing with imagery and at times almost veers into poetry. I really appreciated having the opportunity to add to this publication. They’re a relatively new periodical, so it’s nice to see what fresh faces are contributing to literary endeavors. (That said, it bears mentioning, the issue is for February 2022, but some slight delays resulted in it arriving in March, so I’m counting this for that month.) 

Silver Thread Snapshots by J. Rohr (ayaskala.com)

​Finally, I was able to track down an audio play I got cast in a while back. Though not technically a March moment, I only found it recently. Written by a fellow I know named Keith Gatchel, “The Temp That Killed CEO Jerry Landis” is a kind of hacker noir. I enjoyed being the narrator for this audio drama, and the team that brought it to life did a solid job. 

​Radio Theater: Deep Dive | iHeart

And that’s all I have for March (as I mention it in April). In the meanwhile, take care—my best to you and yours… cheers!