I’m thrilled to announce that the sultry songstress, Jill Tracy, will be writing the Introduction to my upcoming poetry collection, At Louche Ends: Poetry for the Decadent, the Damned, and the Absinthe-Minded from Burning Effigy Press.

Clive Barker says, “Jill Tracy creates an elegant netherworld both seductive and terrifying.”

And, may I add, poetic.

I first saw the “Fine Art of Poisoning” video at SpookyCon in 2003. It was, and still is, one of the most visually and musically poetic things I’ve ever seen. Later, when I became better acquainted with her music, I reveled in the noir verse of songs such as “Evil Night Together” and, more recently, “Haunted by the Thought of You“:

Do you believe in destiny
Or are you merely testing me?

Called “a femme fatale for the thinking man,” Jill has roots in the old underground absinthe scene. I’m a big fan of both her music and her personally. After much mutual admiration online, we met in person for the first time at the Eclectic Cafe in North Hollywood to drown in champagne and the sheer divinity of being two spooky peas in a mahogany pod.

One could say we have a thing or two in common.

As in Jill’s songs, some of the strongest themes in Louche are those of strange women, hauntings, and what happens when a woman’s good sense slams directly against her desires. The collection is also rife with poisoning — of the body, mind and heart.

I am fingering that jeweled bottle
sloshing with the poison
of your attention.
I will loosen the gilded stopper
and sip until you burn my mouth.*

I hope At Louche Ends will be your poison of choice…

*From “Return to Lautreamont”