Category: Publications

Allison Goldstein Author Spotlight is Live on BarBar

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I can’t even pretend to be less excited about this, so I won’t even try. I was honored to have my poem, “Carnival of Souls – Muted” featured in BarBar’s Simulacra Anthology (available on Amazon), in December 2024. When I reached out to let them know that poem will also be included in my new chapbook, they very generously offered to include me in their Author Spotlight series and that feature is now live on the BeBarBar website.

The interview explores how the project came together as well as my writing process and some of the unexpected surprises that come with writing and publishing poetry. I am very grateful to everyone at BarBar for this opportunity and hope you enjoy the interview.

If you haven’t picked up your copy of “In The Night, In The Dark” yet, head on over to Bottlecap Press and get your hands on a copy today. It’s the perfect addition to your Spooky Season reading.

Stay spooky friends!

Allison Goldstein’s Poetry Chapbook – In The Night, In The Dark is Available Now!

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In The Night, In The Dark Poems by Allison Goldstein - Book Cover

I’ve waited for this day for years and I can’t believe it’s finally here. My first poetry chapbook, In The Night, In The Dark, is live and available from Bottlecap Press!

A haunting ode to Universal Monsters, 80s slashers, and Final Girls, In The Night, In The Dark is a razor-sharp collection of ekphrastic poems inspired by classic 20th century horror films. From The Bride of Frankenstein’s first hiss to Pamela Voorhees searching for her son’s lost heart, each poem explores the cinematic chasm between dread and desire.

Dark, witty and unsettling, the poems reimagine horror films not as passive nightmares, but emotional reckonings, including “Dracula,” “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” “Night of the Living Dead”, and “Suspiria”. Allison Goldstein’s deftly crafted collection meditates on the transformational impact of our collective terror – both on and off the screen.

Are you ready to step back into the dark and confront what haunts you?

It’s always Halloween in here. Buy In The Night, In The Dark today from Bottlecap Press!

*Support indie authors and small press publications*

Spooky Summer is Here! I’m Featured in the New Issue of Last Girls Club

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I’m so excited about this one! One of my horror movie poems, ‘Phantom of the Opera’ is featured in the newly released Summer ’25 issue of Last Girls Club. Available in Softcover or PDF, the issue’s theme is ‘For Your Own Good’, so you know you’re in store for some creepy tales and poems sure to send a shiver down your spine. Order your copy today and get your summer spooky on while supporting small indie publishing and feminist horror.

High Camp Revisited: Check Out My ‘Wild Zero’ Review on Homeroom Horror

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Wild Zero (1999) DVD Cover

I love horror movies. I know this isn’t exactly news, but it’s both true and timely as I am delighted to announce that my new 25th anniversary review of ‘Wild Zero‘ (1999) is now up and ready to read on the Horror Homeroom website!

For those of you unfamiliar, Wild Zero is a wonderfully campy, Rock ‘n’ Roll horror-comedy starring the iconic Japanese punk band, Guitar Wolf. It’s got everything – zombies with exploding heads, CGI alien space ships, a killer soundtrack, and a unexpectedly sweet trans love storyline. I love this movie and I’m honestly sad it never gets mentioned in the pantheon of great zombie flicks, so I’m on a mission to spread the good word. Check out my article on Horror Homeroom and then go stream this overlooked 90s zombie classic today!

Are you already a Wild Zero superfan? Let’s talk about it! Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Read ‘The Night Heron’ in Saw Palm Issue 19

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I’m delighted to announce that my poem, ‘The Night Heron’ is featured in issue 19 of Saw Palm: Florida Art & Literature. The theme of the issue is ‘Florida Strange’ and I’m thrilled to be included alongside so many wondrously weird works about my home state.

Update: The new issue is live and you can purchase it from the Saw Palm website.

On May 7th, the magazine held a release launch party at Green Bench Brewing Company in St. Petersburg, so Kaleb and I decided to go on a poetry road trip. The reading itself was really fun and had a great turnout. It’s the first time I’ve performed poetry live in years, so I was a bit anxious about getting back on stage. Once the reading actually began however, that quickly passed. I had almost forgotten how inspiring it is to be in a room with a bunch of artists sharing their work. The energy was uplifting, and by the time I got up to read, I was hardly nervous at all (but definitely still kinda nervous).

Allison Goldstein (it’s me) at the Saw Palm issue 19 release party on May 7th at Green Bench Brewing Co.

I want to congratulate not only the writers and artists featured in the issue, but all the editors and staff at who put the magazine and the release party together. I hope everyone gets the chance to check out issue 19 once it goes live and I’ll update this post with that link as soon as it’s available. Stay strange and keep writing.

Disappearing Ink

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Watch it fade

each             character  dissolving

like a ghost

in a mirror                   a word             and then

the sentence                slips    

each and each              (what is)

            meant, the

word       herself        uncooling

and then         

what secrets left          puddle

lose shape,  the body         she thought

a minor                       evaporation

(it does not)                 stutter

the return                    and then

the word          she knows

it isn’t meant

to last,             unlearning itself

a          blossom           in         reverse

This poem was originally published in Cicatrix: A Journal of Experimentation in 2017. I wanted to play with the concepts common in erasure poems, exploring both form and formatting by creating space between the words that can be a placeholder for a breath as well as to leave room for both anticipation and surprise. The idea of ink disappearing also plays with the idea of memory – one of the most frequent themes in my work. I loved the idea of ink fading over time the same way memories fade over time, adding another layer of complexity when trying to relive a moment, a story, or a feeling.

‘Carnival of Souls – Release’ Featured in Paper Dragon Vol. 8

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Carnival of Souls 1962 (Pic From ScreenRant)

I’m delighted to announce that another one of my horror movie poems, ‘Carnival of Souls – Release’ has been published in Paper Dragon, Vol. 8. This is the second horror poem I created based on the movie, Carnival of Souls (1962). While both poems are part of a larger collection, I think it’s a bit amazing that CoS is the only movie where I liked two versions of a poem enough to keep both AND that they ended up being published by very different publishers only days apart. ‘Carnival of Souls – Muted’ appears in Simulacra: BarBar Vol. IV (which you can purchase on Amazon).

Both poems are very different from each other and inspired by different themes in the film – which I highly recommend if you’ve never seen it. Carnival of Souls isn’t exactly scary and by modern horror standards, many of the ideas and makeup choices may seem outdated — but the way the filmmaker explores what it feels like navigating the world as a woman (whether alive or dead), feels incredibly timely and relevant. Paper Dragon Vol. 8 is a horror-themed issue and I hope you enjoy reading all the exciting work in this spooky volume. Part of Paper Dragon’s platform is pairing written and visual works, and I was so excited to see my poem set alongside ‘This Limestone Doom’ by Brett Stout. Check out the whole issue and start off the new year with some deliciously creepy work.

Check out Paper Dragon, Volume 8

Simulacra: BarBar Vol. IV Now Available

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Simulacra: BarBar Vol. IV - Cover Art

I’m so excited to announce my poem, “Carnival of Souls – Muted” is featured in the newly released Simulacra: BarBar Vol. IV, edited by Cory Nolan. Now available on Amazon, this intriguing anthology promises to transport readers into a realm where reality cannot be trusted, and what you see isn’t always real. Per the editor:

“You are about to embark on a journey beyond the outer reaches, through liminal spaces, into the uncanny valley, where the familiar becomes foreign, the self fractures, and alienation, paranoia, and absurdity await. BarBar Vol. IV, our latest collection of poetry and prose, invites you to confront the void—an infinite regress of pastiche—where reality unravels, and simulation ascends. Here, hyperreality distorts perception, leaving only echoes of existence tangled in existential dread and cosmic horror.”

Featuring a thoughtfully curated selection of poetry and prose, this issue of BarBar is perfect for readers looking to go beyond the ordinary and explore the dark and mysterious corners of the mind.

My personal contribution is from an ongoing collection of poems that explore the themes, characters, and aesthetics of 20th century horror films. Additional poems from this series, including ‘The Mummy’ and ‘Dawn of the Dead’, have also been published. Check out my Publications page if you haven’t read them yet!

Purchase Simulacra: BarBar Vol. IV on Amazon.

Not Very Quiet: The Anthology

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Check out my poem, Pandora’s Kitchen, along with all the other exceptional work from talented poets across the globe in Not Very Quiet: The Anthology, released by Recent Work Press in 2021. You can purchase the anthology directly from Recent Work Press and help support small, independent publishers.

The official anthology description: Over the last five years, from the #Me Too Movement to same-sex marriage, from devastating bush fires to the global pandemic, the online poetry journal Not Very Quiet has dedicated itself to publishing women’s voices from across the globe. Not Very Quiet: The anthology selects poetry that has given voice to the social conscience of the community, constructions of lesbian and queer, the challenges posed to the social construction of gender, as well as the complexities and possibilities of the human condition.

Edited by Moya Pacey & Sandra Renew