An Update on Patrick, the New Jersey Pit Bull

Some months back, I wrote several posts about Patrick, the emaciated dog who was dumped in a garbage chute in New Jersey. Today, his previous owner was indicted by a grand jury on one count of fourth-degree cruelty to an animal.

I believe the penalties for animal cruelty should be far more severe than they are. I also believe that many people shrug the issue off, saying things like, "it's just a dog", but studies have shown that people who abuse and neglect animals are more than likely to do the same to other humans.

But let's focus on the positive, shall we? This is a very short video taken last month of Patrick. He is one amazing dog.

Undead & Unbound Anthology

I am thrilled to announce that my short story, When Dark Things Sleep, will appear in Chaosium's anthology, UNDEAD & UNBOUND, edited by Brian M. Sammons and David Conyers.

Here is the official table of contents:

A Personal Apocalypse by Mercedes Murdock Yardley
Blind Item by Cody Goodfellow
Dead Baby Keychain Blues by Gary McMahon
Descanse En Paz by William Meikle
I am Legion by Robert M. Price
In the House of a Million Years by John Goodrich
Incarnate by David Dunwoody
Marionettes by Robert Neilson
Mother Blood Scott by David Aniolowski
North of the Arctic Circle by Pete Rawlik
Phallus Incarnate by Glynn Owen Barrass
Romero 2.0 by Brian M. Sammons & David Conyers
Scavengers by Oscar Rios
The Unexpected by Mark Allan Gunnells
The Unforgiving Court by David Schembri
The Wreckers by Tom Lynch
Thunder in Old Kilpatrick by Gustavo Bondoni
Undead Night of the Undeadest Undead by C.J. Henderson
When Dark Things Sleep by Damien Walters Grintalis

2011 Pushcart Nomination

Rhonda Parrish, the editor of Niteblade, has nominated several stories and poems for the 2011 Pushcart Prize, including my story, Running Empty in a Land of Decay, from the March 2011 Issue. That's rather cool, yes? For more information, please visit Niteblade News.

Arcane Anthology

The first full-length Arcane anthology, edited by Nathan Shumate, will be out later this year, and my work will be sharing the pages with many talented writers. Here is the full table of contents for your perusal. Pretty nifty, yes?

When Twitter Fails

Last week, I noticed that Twitter user @merlinacleve had copied several of my Tweets as if they were her own (including one about my most recently published short story) and copied my Twitter profile as hers. That profile reads:

Writer of dark fiction. Member of HWA & SFWA. Assistant Editor of Electric Velocipede - @EV_Mag. Represented by Mark McVeigh of The McVeigh Agency.

She made one change, with her location. I live in Maryland; her profile states Texas. I know for a fact that she is not represented by my literary agent, nor does she work for Electric Velocipede. My guess is she's not a member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) or the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) either. And for her avatar, she is using a picture of a woman with similar coloring to mine, which is just flat out creepy.

I reported this to Twitter and after several emails back and forth in which I provided documentation of the tweets and the profile intel, I received this response today:

Hello,

Thank you for your report. We've contacted this user and asked them to review their behavior regarding posting content without proper attribution. Please allow 48 hours for their receipt and review of our email.

If you continue to notice violating behavior on this account, please feel free to file a ticket to prompt additional review. We'll need direct links to both the original posted tweet and the tweet posted without attribution by the reported user.


I am so angry I could spit. (Except that's gross, so I won't.) I earned every one of those credentials. Every one. Twitter is basically saying, "Oh well, we've told her to stop." Sorry, that is not enough of a resolution in my book. I've responded to them stating as such.

Look, I know that in the grand literary world, I'm no one, but I don't use a pen name. Ever. My name is mine. My accomplishments are mine. I will state here and now for the record:

Merlina Cleveland is not me. That is not my pen name or my alter ego or me when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed. That is someone pretending to be me on Twitter, and Twitter won't do a thing about it.

That, Twitter, is a big, huge fail.

I'm quite certain if she were pretending to be Stephen King, Twitter would rectify the situation in a heartbeat.

Electric Origami

My short story Like Origami in Water is now up on the Daily Science Fiction site for all to read. But while you're there, take a look at some of the past stories, too.

And we unveiled the first story in our first electronic issue of Electric Velocipede yesterday, The Art Disease by Dennis Danvers. The full Table of Contents for Issue 23 can be found here.