David Kuhnlein – Bloodletter
Limited edition, with 4 Art Cards
We are proud to present Amphetamine Sulphate 50
AS Horror Vol.2
With cover design, illustrations and Art Cards by Steven Purtill (Human Rights, Coyote, Small Talk at the Clinic etc.)
114 pages, perfect bound
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I WILL FILL MY BELOVED MEXICO WITH BETTER DISFIGURED GHOSTS
David Kuhnlein writes like he’s casting a spell. Bloodletter is entrancingly evil, every sentence a revelation and a curse: “How much can you care for someone if you can’t afford to dress them in a body bag?” A grotesque world unfurls from his searing prose: “Ghosts reveal their measurements in smoke, different shades, more rings in the middle if they died long ago. Satan can’t keep up.” Blood sacrifices have never been so beautiful. — Danielle Chelosky
“Half our clothes are on the floor. The other half hang from the ceiling. Labyrinthine flesh-piles make a staircase. Polishing the soot off a breast with my sleeve, I dance horizontally. The band regurgitates into their instruments to slow the tempo, blowing catchy bubbles of sick. Sweat snows upward, stagnant when we see ourselves pooled within it, mosquitoes in a tin can. Vestigial, amoebic replications, abominable degenerations of the ape, totems fucked through stained glass. I toast the trash. Out of mounds, shaved together into a consciousness, a golden star excretes, floating toward me in a mist, apples singed in her teenaged hair, waist the width of a cigarette. I’m going to bugger her so hard they’ll have to put a serial number on the headstone. “If I’m to your taste, mister, this might spell the end for you.” What more could I ask of a woman? A heart condition of a child, torqued to breed too soon. I offer dialectic fugues, press her forehead, cast a sigil tuned to the cacophony around us. Swaying, she enters a canyon trance, plummeting under magma. Beautiful funerals for all my friends. Remember me as an itch.”
Buy BLOODLETTER in the US
Buy BLOODLETTER elsewhere
A translation from Sara Aldrete’s book Me Dicen La Narcosatánica (They Call Me The Narcosatanist):
Since April 13, 1989, I have been known by various aliases or nicknames: the Priestess, the Godmother, the Devil’s Concubine, the Narcofanatic and the Narcosatanist. Or, simply, Satanic. From that day on, and for two long months, the national and international media spread my name, my image and my connection with the Cuban-American Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo, aka El Padrino (The Godfather). They found us guilty of having murdered thirteen people found in the vicinity of the Santa Elena Ranch, in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. They claimed that we sacrificed them in satanic rites. Adolfo, in fact, was a santerno, he professed Santeria and was very well accredited in high political, artistic and police circles. Despite this, the Federal Judicial Police also accused him of being a drug trafficker… Hence the sonorous, scandalous and chilling nickname that the forced companions of him receive: The Narcosatanists.
References:
Heathens: Primitive Man and His Religions – William Howells
Across the Border: The True Story of the Satanic Killings in Matamoros, Mexico – Gary Provost
The Power of Silence – Carlos Casteneda
Me Dicen La Narcosatánica – Sara Aldrete
The Satanic Bible – Anton LaVey
Interpretation of Dreams – Sigmund Freud
American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
The Hunger – Whitley Strieber
Perfume – Patrick Süskind
The Black Art of Vampirism – Temple ov the Black Vampire
The Culling Texts – Order of Nine Angles
Book 4 – Aleister Crowley
McGlue – Ottessa Moshfegh
Thirty-Two – Antonin Artaud
Closer – Dennis Cooper
Practical Occultism – Blavatsky
The Village Notary – Jóseph Eötvös
“War Is the Health of the State” – Howard Zinn
The Ancient Art of Strangulation – Haha Lung
Power of Movement in Plants – Charles Darwin
I MISS THE DAYS WHEN THE DEVIL HID BEHIND EVERY TREE
The writer Frigyes Karinthy reported on the case with his characteristic black humor:
“One man collects crested pipes, the other insects, the third postage stamps. Béla Kiss collected female corpses. I stood there in Cinkota’s cemetery in front of the tin barrels, watching in turn as the contents of the opened barrels were tipped over to the autopsy table. Tin barrels of different heights: equally galvanized, precisely, with conscientious work. Those who opened the first barrel did not doubt for a moment that the contents of the others were the same, though this assumption was unimaginable, awful. And those of us who stood there at the inspection all took it quite natural for a small woman to fall to the ground from the smaller barrel and a larger woman from the larger barrel. After the second barrel we knew how to turn the barrel, how deep to reach, and where to grab the twine around the neck of the emerging female head, where the loop was, where it led down to the legs, and how they were knotted together. An ordinary accurate collector works like this, one who understands his craft and loves order.”
Faces of Kiss:
PASS ME THAT GOAT’S HORN:
Brujeria – Pito Wilson (1995)
The Police – Wrapped Around Your Finger (1983)
Brujeria – Consejos Narcos (1995)
Tormentor – Elisabeth Bathory (1988)
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p.s. Hey. The blog is lucky enough this weekend to become the location of an entranceway for the new book by the daring and lyrical writer David Kuhnlein. Here’s his site if you want to know more. ‘Bloodletter’ is a fascinating work, and I’m happy to point/jab you in its direction. Please spend the next couple of days reading, looking, and pondering the evidence at hand, and thank you David as well as Mr. Best at the redoubtable Amphetamine Sulphate for radar-ing this spot. ** Charalampos, Errands, I have a few of those. Really don’t know about the Corll/Gacy thing, but it sure sounds like wishful thinking. Um, no, I don’t think I was thinking of any real life situations when I was writing ‘The Sluts’, no. May your spirits be kind. Hugs from blog central. ** PL, Hi. It’s interesting and welcome that, considering how open this blog is, it doesn’t get trolled almost ever. Knock on wood, etc. That is a curious story: that online partly made up guy. Pretty colorful. Trust is definitely very important to me in real life. Weird people … gosh, I feel like I’ve never known anyone who wasn’t weird, but almost always in the good way. I’ve developed pretty good radar for real world fakers, I think. My parents went to church once in a while, and they dragged me along a few times, but I never paid attention. So The Bible wasn’t in my upbringing at all. But lots of really good artists, you obviously included, have used their religious upbringing to make amazing work, so hats off to The Bible as an artistic resource, at least. I’d like to see the paste with your favorite animals, yes, please. Snakes, that’s scary. I forgot that I had a big tarantula chase me for almost a mile when I was in Texas when I was 6 years old, and I think I’ve never been more frightened. It was BIG. Have a really terrific weekend. What happened? ** _Black_Acrylic, I remember reading about that Tramway show. The good old Tramway. We played ‘Kindertotenlieder’ there ages ago. In fact that’s where/when I first met Misanthrope, Joe Mills, Wolf, and a bunch of other d.l.s turned good friends. ** Misanthrope, Ho. Um, well, I think that Twitter person has the right idea, frankly, ha ha. Dig the party tonight. Ideally with mom. And, you know, Alex. And Beth. ** Steve, Hi. Thanks, I’ll check for the Anger doc. Oh, sure, knowing more obviously is a plus re: reviewing the contextually unfamiliar, but there’s the whole naiveté unlocking the pure and unforeseen thing too. Oh, no, sorry about your dad. That’s scary. Still House Plants are on the cover of the new Wire, as you doubt know, and I’ve been planning to find out what they are. Thanks for the nudge. If you didn’t see it yesterday, Uday wrote ‘Oh also could you tell Steve I’d be happy to discuss Indian film?’ So hit him up/back if you like. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Thank you. It always felt close to certain that we wouldn’t get into Cannes, so it’s not a big blow. And seeing what did make the cut in the category we submitted to — Un Certain Regard — it’s clear that we didn’t have a chance. A strength of our film — that it’s aesthetically unique and anti-trendy, i.e. deliberately not about politics, identity, race, pop culture, etc. (there aren’t even any cell phones or computers in it) — is also its weakness in situations like this where festivals are looking for films about trending topics and themes. It seems like they would be hungry for originality, but they really aren’t. They like homogeny, possibly with an edge. So I suspect the festival circuit is not going to be friendly to us, and we’ll likely end up finding another way to get the film out into the world. Which is fine. But we’ll keep trying for a while. I have a fetish for perfect titles. I lie in bed at night trying to come up with them. I too think love is very lucky to be childless. No offence to the child creators. Love making the laces on my left shoe stop unraveling all the time for no seeming reason, or at least explaining to me why they do that, G. ** James Bennett, ‘Harrow’, excellent, I loved that. She’s a god. Um, for some reason I feel like I should wait until either the book has a pub date or the press itself announces the book to reveal the source. That might be old fashioned of me. Soon, for sure. I think I remember feeling that way a long time ago when I read ‘Catcher in the Rye’. Probably since too, but that example is the one that springs to mind. I haven’t read Hemingway in yonks, but I do remember he wrote very good sentences. Same re: your wellness and the quality of your weekend. ** politekid, Aw, thanks, pal. It’s no big, really. I really believe in the film, and I know it’ll find its way. But, yeah, fuck Cannes. How are you? ** Justin D, Hi Justin. Oh, shit, sorry, I didn’t realise there were two Justins, and I just thought you commented twice. Sorry, sorry. I should have been paying more detailed attention. What was the accompanying game to the ‘I Wished’ recitation? I might just try that. Aw, thank you for the feeling it gave you. I’m way over the JT Leroy thing, although I can’t believe she’s still out there with a fanbase in tow. She’s wretched. But oh well. How was your weekend, and what happened, eh? ** Harper, Hi. Beatnigs and Death Grips, that’s really interesting. Huh, I can see that. Great about your body returning to form! That’s romantic: having a mom who worked in a bookstore. My mom thought books were decor. I had to hide almost everything I read from my parents when I was young. I think they thought fiction writers were cult leaders or something. ** Dev, Hi, Dev. Welcome! It’s really good to meet you. The only metal I listen to falls into the Black or Death area, or the more experimental area like Sunn0))) or Earth and that sort of thing. What do you recommend? I could use some directives, for sure. Congrats on heading towards med school wherever that leads you. That’s a tough choice, no? I should say I’ve only driven quickly through New Orleans, so I only know its vibe, which was good, btw. Personally, I hate hot weather, so that kind of puts a damper on N.O., although DC gets really hot too. They’re such different places. I mean if you choose DC you’re close to NYC, which might be good? I don’t know, what are your instincts telling you? Are the two schools basically on the same level in terms of educational desirability? Anyway, good to talk with you. I hope to do that more. ** Uday, Hey! Oh, uh, no booking rates on my end. I don’t do that stuff very often. I think I’m pretty easy. Yes, the ‘Shy’ Kevin Killian. Well, yeah, I collect books too, I must admit, and, yes, it is rather an accumulation. I’ll go back up and tell Steve that. I know there’s some way to post a comment as a reply to another comment because I see people do it, but I don’t know how. Isn’t there a ‘reply’ option on the comments themselves maybe? ** Bill, Hi, Bill. My pleasure, obvs. Some of the original imbeds were dead so I had to replace them, and I hope my replacements were okay. Thanks about Cannes. It’s okay, we’ll be fine. Big weekend to ya, somehow somewhere! ** Okay. Please investigate and possibly spring for Mr. Kuhnlein’s fine book, and I’ll see you on Monday.
Now available in North America 
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Dennis,
One million thanks to you. I’ve been a reader/ fan of the blog for many years and so this feels extra special for me. Hope your other readers enjoy the post — I had a lot of fun making it. It looks absolutely beautiful.
warmly,
David
ps. the entire Raza Odiada (Hated Race) album from Brujeria is worth a listen if anyone is interested. Probably my favorite black metal album. They dovetail nicely with Los Narcosatánicos with their Satan worshiping, drug smuggling themes, so I included my two favorites in the post.
pps. Canadians or anyone else who is dealing with high shipping costs can get directly in touch with me to work something out. I don’t want shipping price to be a barrier for reading the book. (I’m on IG / X @princessbl00d)
Congratulations to David on the new book. I love Steven Purtill’s graphics as well.
Thanks for fixing all the broken links yesterday, Dennis. The ones I tried all worked great.
Yes, there’s a little green REPLY button after each comment, that’s always worked for me.
It just turned cold and rainy here, so I suspect there’ll be a lot of staying home reading and nursing a bum knee or 2. But Enorchestra will be playing the entire Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy tonight at a bar, so hopefully I’ll be all warm and dry and energetic soon.
Bill
Thanks, Uday! I watched AMAR SINGH CHAMKILA today, and I was able to finish my review, but if I have any further questions, I’ll post them here.
That issue of The Wire isn’t available in the U.S. yet, but I noticed the cover too. They have a really striking sound, like Shellac mixed with Nina Simone.
How was your weekend? I feel much better physically and mentally. The stress from last week has mostly lifted. I’m probably seeing SASQUATCH SUNSET tomorrow.
Did CIVIL WAR open in France yet? I saw it yesterday and absolutely hated it: empty gross-out with nothing to say about American politics, yet it takes itself far too seriously to work as an exploitation movie. There’s unlikely to be a film released in 2024 that’s more full of itself, with less to back it up.
What are the odds? I was just listening to Brujeria a couple days ago and thought about the Narcosatanicos.
Re: med school, yes, the schools are pretty comparable in terms of education and reputation. I slightly prefer the New Orleans program, but I think I’ll end up going to DC for logistic reasons. I’d prefer to live in that region, the childcare options are better (I have a young kid), I’m not a fan of the heat and flooding in N.O., and frankly as a southerner I’m ready to get out of the south.
Hard to know what metal to recommend without knowing how deep you’ve gone into black and death metal. I imagine you’re familiar with a lot of the classic bands like Carcass, Autopsy, Bathory, etc? Mind giving me some examples of BM/DM you’ve enjoyed? In the more artsy/experimental vein, you might like Emptiness – Nothing But the Whole, Goatchrist – Odes to the Radiant One, and the discography of the ungoogleable project Hell, whose albums are all titled ‘Hell’ (you can find them by searching for MSW Hell). I’m also partial to Pensees Nocturnes – Douce Fange, but that album is very much a love it or hate it kind of thing. Tetragrammacide is also a must listen, weird but very brutal band.
Good to talk with you too! I’m a bit starstruck, as silly as that is; I really admire your writing.
My theory is that my comment doesn’t get posted properly unless I leave another one, which I’m about to test out. Just finished my annual drag performance, lots of fun. Sorry not much to say I’m very tired.
Hi!!
First of all, thank you for sharing this post and major congratulations, David and Steven, if either of you happen to read this! “Bloodletter” looks absolutely delicious!
I think this is pretty sad about festivals, especially enormous and prestigious ones such as Cannes. I’m not saying it’s not important to talk about “trending topics.” Sometimes. But one would assume – or at least hope – that somewhere in the final selection, a few truly unexpected and original pieces would show up as well. I kind of don’t see the point otherwise, to be honest.
Did love help you figure out what was going on with your left shoe? (Yet another sentence that must look quite strange out of context.)
Love helping me not kill the tiny cacti I bought yesterday, Od.
@ David, congrats are in order! I’m happy for Amphetamine Sulphate to take whatever it is they want for this.
The new episode of my show is online here via Tak Tent Radio! Ben ‘Jack Your Body’ Robinson invites you to a meditation session that turns into a village rave and then there’s even some bagpipes involved. It could only ever be Play Therapy v2.0…
thank yous and congrats to David & Steven!! this looks excellent. Amphetamine Sulphate always put out interesting stuff.
dc — honestly, it has been a bad time over here. i found out my ex died at the end of february, of covid. he was 27. we hadn’t spoken for a long time (and it wasn’t a healthy relationship) but it still wrecked me for a while. i’m better now — it’s stopped being overwhelmingly tragic and turned into being really weird. death sucks. and i also worry, kinda selfishly i guess, that all this stuff has turned me into a boring-depressing person to talk to.
good stuff… most of it pretty small, but: i managed to get a gratis copy of Elfride Jelinek’s Children of the Dead. i might even get a chance to read it at some point. i also somehow tracked down a copy of Jack the Modernist at a non-eyewatering price, which i’m looking forward to. i’m back to writing about computer viruses — in phd mode!! — and you know i love viruses so that’s something to get my teeth into. rewatched Hackers, super fun, i think the only film i’ve seen where i’ve understood everyone’s love of/attraction to Angelina Jolie. (i feel like you must have crossed paths with that film at some point?) and i got to invite Noreen Masud to talk at the university, and she was excellent and a rly sweet person. have you come across her? she’s written a memoir called A Flat Place which is great and is generally being long- and shortlisted for a bunch of the big prizes.
how’s it going your end?? how was your weekend? i’m very excited to hear about the new stories — will keep my eyes peeled for ways to get them over here.
Hi, Dennis. Here’s the paste:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/G5c6z8Sxuc9wr3DF6
I think the weirdest person I ever met was a german maestro that worked in my mother’s church when I was a kid that later was revealed that he killed his wife with an axe and sold CP with the church’s computer. Maybe Matt already told you that story. The crazy thing is that he had a whole page on the Wikipedia and nobody did the job of looking up his name and just thought he was a famous maestro. He had a Brazilian wife and son so how could anybody be suspicious, right? He was very tall and very pale, with a cadaveric face and eyes so clear that were all almost white and I remember me thinking that he was weird looking but I assumed that was just because he was German. Anyways! I didn’t do much this weekend, just rewatched ‘Death Becomes Her’. Still very funny. What did you do?
Hi Dennis. Spent all day working on college assignments but could barely write anything. Normally I’m pretty good at spewing out something I really don’t care about but I’ve kind of lost interest. I’ll work it out. I’m trying to get an extension because I’ve been ill but I’ll finish them before then anyway. It makes it difficult to work on my writing but I have a lot of time for that anyway.
Re: parents and reading. There was definitely stuff my parents didn’t want me reading but I found out about books they hadn’t heard of or didn’t know what they were about and found out that I liked those books a lot anyway. My dad encourages my writing and stuff but thinks I’m naive and wants me to get a real job. It’s like all of that taking me to art galleries and showing me films and stuff when I was a kid was meaningless if he didn’t want me to do anything creative. I think it hit him hard that he wanted to be an artist but it didn’t pan out but he doesn’t really talk about it and I think he’s made his peace with it. I know that I brought it up but it really doesn’t bother me that much, they won’t stop me from doing what I want to do.
Loved this post. The reference list was very interesting. I think my favourite Satan inspired book is ‘La Bas’ by Huysmans. Funny that all those Fin-Du-Siecle black magic enthusiasts found Catholicism at the end. Also, sorry about Cannes. You were right when you said that these institutions basically only value the perception of celebrating originality. ‘Indie films’ have become a vague aesthetic that has been commodified by Hollywood and now you see all this shit that tries to lure you in by pretending to be visionary. As always, when something actually new happens nobody knows what to do with it. Cannes is a kind of cultish herd. One person claps and the rest all go along with it. Remember, Bunuel, Antonioni, Dreyer, Jean Eustache, Bresson – all booed at Cannes
Hey Dennis! The game that was played during the Audible version of ‘I Wished’ was the new(ish) Diablo. Not really my type of game, but it was sort of hypnotic whilst listening. My weekend was pretty decent. Had a sort of farewell dinner for my parents. They’re off to Europe for a few months. I’m only mildly jealous. You’re right about Cannes. The films they choose definitely all ‘tick a box’, if you will. It feels like most of the prestige films of late feel obligated to teach the audience a lesson or to inform. There were so many infuriating takes on ‘Poor Things’ instead of just appreciating the spectacle. Not everything needs an ideology, you know? Looking forward to tomorrow’s selection of escorts. How was your weekend?
Very happy to see this here. Turned out well I think, I really love the text. Thank you to everyone who’s commented. Hi Dennis