Vastarien: A Literary Journal was released back in March and has garnered positive responses and reviews in the following weeks. Congratulations to Jon Padgett and Matt Cardin for their combined effort and talent in bringing this Ligottian tome to life, and for forging ahead with future issues to broaden the journal’s horizons and voices. Though my story “Affirmation of the Spirit: Consciousness, Transformation, and the Fourth World in Film” hasn’t attracted much attention (and even less acclaim) compared to the other pieces, it was a pleasure to have been involved despite my story’s reception.
I hope the pretentious pseudo-academic title doesn’t scare potential readers away! Despite it falling into the hybrid category, “Affirmation of the Spirit” is a work of fiction. It is not a reprint, Cinemassacre magazine never existed, and while the references and quotes are real, any and all concepts related to any film “fourth world” are purely my creation. “Affirmation'” is a spiritually connected to my stories “Film Maudit” and “Making Snakes” (specifically the Powdery Man’s presence), and was intended to expound on the role of film in Weird-horror fiction—at least as it’s portrayed in my stories.
While literary geniuses like Gemma Files and Ramsey Campbell have contributed some of the most powerful stories concerning film and horror, my hope was that my humble contribution could be used as a template to tell similar stories, to explore similar themes on the role of film in altering storytelling, consciousnesses, and reality. That was the intent anyway.
We’ll see what happens next, if anything.
Christopher Slatsky 
I for one enjoyed your story in Vasterien. I read it at first as if it were non-fiction, then it sucked me into another dimension of fiction. At the end I was, to use a word in Spanish, “anonadado” or I guess “jaw-dropped”. Bravo, Chris.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much Daniel. That made my month. Hope you and the family are doing well these days.
LikeLike
Hi, Christopher!
I’m currently reading the first issue of Vastarien. It is overall great and interesting, but I must admit that your story was the first one that made me stop shortly after the begining to search for more info about the author.
Now that I’ve ordered Alectryomancer and Other Weird Tales I can get back to the rest of Vastarien.
Good luck to you!
LikeLike
Thank you very much Sergei. I hope you enjoy it.
LikeLike
I just read this story and found it brilliant! I was fooled into thinking it really was an essay at first, and even searched fervently online for a movie called “The Powdery Man”. Of course, all that came up were references to your work, and while I have read ALECTRYOMANCER and know I greatly enjoyed it, my memory of specifics is obviously beyond vague. In any case, I really marvel at how this piece rapidly descends into the stuff of existential nightmares, and I am even now questioning how much of my actions (including writing this comment) are my own, and how many have been predetermined in the fourth world…
I shall have to read this again, for there are many aspects that must have gone over my head, I am sure. I look forward to your next collection, Mr. Slatsky!
LikeLike
Thank you Alexandra. I’m glad you liked it.
LikeLike
I loved it, I’ve read it a few times!! Full of interesting strangeness that I think a lot about too. I have your book of short stories also and it really captures something that resonates with me. I am looking forward to more!!
LikeLike