**Peter Baltensperger's Curvatures for Afternoons was published on the Microstory A Week site

Peter Baltensperger's cinematic-visual Curvatures for Afternoons graced the Microstory A Week site today. 

This is a romantic, atmospheric story, one you should check out -- and don't forget to check out next Wednesday's tale, Michael Koenig's nasty, pulp-noirish Like Venus.

**Terrance Aldon Shaw's Señor Gordo was published on Microstory A Week

Terrance Aldon Shaw's hilarious and dialogue-driven Señor Gordo graced the Microstory A Week site today. Gordo, which details the personality differences between a man and his penis, is an R-rated, for-mature-audiences story.

This is a fun, raunchy tale, one you should check out (if you are an adult with an earthy sense of humor) -- and don't forget to check out next Wednesday's tale, Peter Baltensperger's atmospheric and romantic Curvatures for Afternoons.

**Peter Baltensperger's microstory Or Then the Thunder was published in Pink Litter ezine

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: Or Then the Thunder, on the recently relocated Pink Litter site.

Thunder is a romantic, sexually explicit and mood-effective piece about a woman whose storm-born desires** electrify and heighten her memories and hopes.

If you are a legal adult and are so inclined, check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**a.k.a. brontophiliacs: People who "get off" when storms are raging.

 







**Peter Baltensperger's microstory All For The Pain was published in Black Heart Magazine

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: All For The Pain, on the Black Heart Magazine site.

Pain details the emotions and sensations of a writer (Silas Connor) in the future and his struggles to deal with the burdens technological improvement has wrought upon him and those around him. Fans of Baltensperger's past works and speculative fiction should check out this gem of a microstory.

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**Peter Baltensperger's Far From the Leaking Stars was published on the Pink Litter site

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: Far From the Leaking Stars, on the Pink Litter site.

Stars details, in sensory-intense fashion, a woman's sexual restlessness while riding on a train with her sleeping lover.  Fans of Baltensperger's previous works won't want to miss his latest microtale.  This work and the site are for adults only.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**Peter Baltensperger's Fugue for Numerous Violins was published in Black Heart Magazine

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: Fugue for Numerous Violins, in Black Heart Magazine.

Fugue details a late autumn, perhaps winter, day in a busy, windy park.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

Inside from the Outside: A Journey in Sudden Fiction, by Peter Baltensperger

(pb; 2013: microstory anthology)


From the back cover:

"Dealing with the basic elements that make us human, the short stories contained in Inside from the Outside represent explorations of various aspects of human nature in all its complexity and variety.  Author Peter Baltensperger has incorporated elements of experimental, surrealistic, and bizarre short fiction in the development of his themes."


Overall review:

Inside is not an anthology for mainstream genre readers looking for easy and obvious thrills; such readers may be disappointed  - underwhelmed or overwhelmed - by the sixty-four stand-alone, cerebral and symbol-laden vignettes and microstories in this collection.  The reason for this is that Baltensperger favors a psychologically-intense approach that loosely links these elements: the works Carl Jung and Sǿren Kierkegaard; nature appreciation; mirrors; circuses and parades; romance and sexuality; and (often) quiet reflective realizations.  

Normally, I wouldn't read such work - I'm largely a fiction-genre (crime, horror, etc.) junkie.  But Baltensperger's intriguing word pairings, his sublime and often poetic language and images, and skillful juggling of the aforementioned themes made Inside a wow-worthy anthology that stands out from others' mood-linked volumes that strive for such sublimations/realizations, but so often fall short.

Of course, not every piece in this sixty-four tale book completely thrilled me - a relative few felt superfluous, due to their too-similar elements which did little or nothing to further the concepts and emotions of preceding tales.  The occasional "lapse" tale is a given, of course (at least for this reader), in a collection with this many pieces, so it's a minor nit at worst.

Beyond that inevitable complaint, I found something - a character, a mating of choice words, an image - to enjoy in almost all of the mood stories represented here.  I should also note that this is a slow burn, read-a-few-tales-a-day work, a compilation to be read, analyzed and savored over a prolonged period of time.  (It took me two months to read this - a worthwhile endeavor, in my estimation.)

Worth owning, this - if you're looking for a romantic, cerebral and mood-suffusive anthology.


Standout stories:

1.)  "Through Disarticulations": Surreal, beautiful and romantic nature- and music-based piece.  Excellent.


2.)  "Snippets in a Hot Afternoon":  I especially enjoyed the effective, full-circle finish of this microstory.


3.)  "Equine Afternoons":  Dream-like microtale about a "woman with beautiful breasts", horses and squirrels.


4.)  "Dilemma for Rain":  Especially striking imagery in this one (e.g., "a herd of snails").


5.)  "Fusions and Diffusions":  A woman and an artist hook up.  Romantic, effective - I love the line: "Hunter took her to his apartment and painted a fragmented sentence for her, flashing colors splashed over a large canvass. . ."


6.)  "Under Uncertain Skies":  A storm brings together two carnival performers (a wolfman and a bearded lady).  Sweet work.


7.)  "Blind Eyes in a Dark Jungle":  Timely vignette about a shopping mall-traumatized woman.


8.)  "Rain Games":  Two temperamentally different brothers attend a party.  Effective, stripped-down tale of familial vengeance, in its various forms.


9.)  "By Fractured Continuations":  Effective mood piece about a woman wrestling with her sense of time and being.


10.)  "Whispers from the Rain":  Nighttime precipitation holds a special allure for a curious woman.  Sweet-toned offering.


11.)  "Spring Thaw":  Wintry thoughts negate a possible love match.


12.)  "Points of Diffusion":  A couple come together between corporate meetings and a placid lakeside.


13.)  "What Is and Can Be":  A man and woman conquer winter and  a mountain.


14.)  "For a Crescendo":  Music, insects and desire bring lovers together.


15.)  "Anatomy of a Treadmill Runner":  A runner goes through his circular routines.  The story structure reflects this.


16.)  "Inside a Puzzle":  An artist struggles to hold onto joyous moments.


17.)  "Parenthesis for a Liberation":  I love the images of this microtale, in which a fanciful woman exercises while her thoughts may or may not run wild.


18.)  "Tremolando for Rain":  Two lovers meet and celebrate during a rainstorm.  One of my favorite works in this collection.


19.)  "Performance Art in a Meadow":  A circus troupe perform and live their oddly relatable lives on a rainy day.


20.)  "Through Viscous Hours":  Gregory Bergman, a night-restless man, encounters a personalized source of terror while walking his dog.


21.)  "Going By Rivers":  Two lovers join each other on a river.  Romantic-effective work.


22.)  "Notes on a Journey":  A man revisits his hometown. Effective dovetail finish to this one.


23.)  "Dilemmas of Empty Spaces":  A woman ponders her strange sense of fulfillment, while nature works its own animalistic magic.

**Peter Baltensperger's The Call of the Loon was published on Siren

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: The Call of the Loon, on Siren.

Loon, an atmospheric, occasionally hallucinatory work, details the carnal joining of a man and woman (a recurring theme in Baltensperger's oeuvre).  For this reason, this is an 'eighteen years and older' piece.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**Peter Baltensperger's Ambiguities in Black was published in Apocrypha Abstractions

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another mainstream story published: Ambiguities in Black, in June 2013 issue of Apocrypha Abstractions.

Ambiguities, an atmospheric work, concerns a man searching for something - certain meanings, which relate to himself - on a particularly tumultuous night.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**Peter Baltensperger's Ethereal Differentiations was published in Pink Litter

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another story published: Ethereal Differentiations, in the fifth issue of Pink Litter.

It should be noted that this story, as well as this site, are for "mature readers" only - meaning: adults, eighteen years old and older.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

Eros For Various Voices by Peter Baltensperger

(pb; 2006: erotic story anthology)


Overall review:

The sexually diverse stories in this anthology favor a intellectualized, cosmic mindset that often pushes Nature to the forefront of these romantic, sometimes experimental works.

I read this collection the same way I enjoy any other story anthology: I read a few tales a day, set the book down and mentally digested the works.  Eros is not meant to be read straight through, without breaks - though one clearly can, given its reiterated themes, experimentation and (possible) character links.

The themes of these twenty-four stories run along these lines - there's the Nature-reverent works, many of them scene-sketch pieces (e.g., "Forest Secrets", "Moonrise Over the Ocean", "Woman as a Landscape" and "Nocturne"), woman or man recounts their sex partner-history (e.g., "Just Another Birthday", "Waiting with Julia" and "The Black Widow") and pushing the narrative boundaries (e.g., "Thinking of Breasts", which made me think of Chuck Palahniuk's analytical, page-bound tendencies, or "Bus Stop", which describes an impromptu stranger-bang, without giving any backstory, or what life consequences may have resulted from the encounter).

In the past, these sketch pieces would have caused my editorial sensibilities to recoil, but Baltensperger makes them work - another example of before you break or bend the rules, know the rules. . . which this author clearly does, making said sketch pieces succeed.

This classy anthology - shot through with loving, larger-than-us sentiments - is worth owning, if you, as a reader, are willing to think beyond the usual sex story clichés and limited focus of many of those genre works.


Standout stories:

1.)  "A Matter of Time": A divorced couple (Mick and Sylvia) mentally process their relatively new life changes.  Excellent, in its emotional potency and restraint.


2.)  "Small Favors":  A woman (Rose Miller) blossoms in a sexually diverse way via a succession of lovers, before discovering a less ephemeral, equally carnal veracity to satisfy her.


3.)  "Expectations":  A cautionary tale about two lovers (Bernice and Conrad), whose carnal time together may be supervened by their life choices.  Exemplary story, more emotionally complex than most lustworks I've read in a long while.


4.)  "The Mechanic":  Hank, a repairman-inventor, gets a job at a private mechanized sex club (Ecstasy House) and revels in his work.


5.)  "A Quick and Easy Death":  A death fetishist details another lover's end-of-life cycle, while preparing himself for her gentle physical demise.

While this story will definitely prove squickable - disturbing - to some mainstream erotica readers, Baltensperger imbues this work with a dark, almost Gothic romanticism that makes "Quick" not entirely disturbing for this reader.  Bravo.

**Peter Baltensperger's Nocturnal Tableaux was published on Microstory A Week

Peter Baltensperger's atmospheric, character-rich story, Nocturnal Tableaux, was published on the Microstory A Week site.

This is the final fiction piece that Microstory will publish.  Note that I'll continue publishing updates regarding Microstory authors' new elsewhere-published pieces (e.g., stories, poems, books and other writings).

Big thanks to everyone who supported this brief online venture - writers, readers and others.

Check out Peter's Nocturnal Tableaux!

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*Update, 2013: Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**One of my erotic poems, baise moi: San Francisco, was recently published on the Pink Litter site

Baise moi: San Francisco, a trashy poem about two road-tripping, homicidal lesbian wrestlers, was published in the fourth issue of Pink Litter. It is, as you probably guessed, a “for mature readers only” read.

Adding to my above delight is the fact that Baise is sharing space with two writing friends, whose works consistently wow me – Richard Cody, who penned another sweet, brief  poem (“I enter”) and Peter Baltensperger, who authored the sensual, balance-themed microstory “For the Sake of Symmetry”.

Check these works out, if you're so inclined!

**Peter Baltensperger's Through the Euphoria of Pain was published on the Danse Macabre site

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux will grace the Microstory A Week site in January 2013, has had another story published: Through the Euphoria of Pain, in issue #59 of Danse Macabre.

Check this story out!

**Peter Baltensperger's Whispers was published in the Summer 2012 issue of Siren

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux will grace the Microstory A Week site in January 2013, has had another story published: Whispers.

Whispers, an entrancing, tastefully erotic fever-dream of sorts, appears in the first issue of Siren, with other works worth noting, like Shanna Germain's warm, sweetly kink-ish F**k Knot (poem) and Vincent Francone's engaging Poem.