Hollow Be Thy Name

by Oliviu Crâznic

In my mouth – a taste of iron,

In my eye – ERASE/REPEAT;

Best served cold, this baneful silence –

Falsehood favoring deceit.

Hollow be thy name, my darling,

Blessed the mess you left behind;

Treachery comes nice and easy

When the other one is blind.

In my dream, a ghost is leaving…

Quoth the raven: „Wake up NOW”;

Spiderwebs under the ceiling

Of our bleeding, broken vow.

Hollow be thy name, my dear,

White the paper you have signed;

Treachery comes nice and easy

Only to the troubled mind.

About the author:

OLIVIU CRÂZNIC [photo by Mihaela Nazarie] is a Romanian (Transylvanian) national and international awarded novelist, poet, translator, literary critic, anthologist, conferee, former member of “Imagicopter: The Author/Artist Cooperative” (2012-2017) and legal advisor. Born in 1978; his parents, Oliviu and Dorothea, are both certified and distinguished Romanian Language and Literature teachers. He graduated from Faculty of Law with a thesis on Forensic Science (2001) and from Pro Medierea Association`s Conflict Resolution course (2008). His literary career began in 2010, when he published the celebrated Gothic novel …And Then the Nightmare Came at Last (Vremea Publishing House). His short stories and novellettes were published alongside those of famous contemporary (George R.R. Martin) or classic (Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert E. Howard, Rudyard Kipling, H.P. Lovecraft, Guy de Maupassant, Saki) writers. In 2015, he published the acclaimed short story collection The Witching Hour (Crux Publishing House). He is mentioned in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (J. Clute, P. Nicholls) and literary analysis on his works appeared in academic journals such as Equinox Journal (Faculty of Letters, “Babeș-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania). He appeared in Ciprian Mitoceanu`s novellette The Redemption (as a literary character) and on the Travel Channel show Expedition Unknown (as a vampire expert). He was invited to speak on various literary themes and topics at Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature – University of Bucharest, at Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures – “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University (alongside Ana-Maria Negrilă, PhD), and at Romanian Academy (Romanian Committee for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology). He acted as the moderator of Bucharest International Literature Festival – special Science Fiction & Fantasy evening (2014) and he was guest author at International Festival of Literature and Translation of Iași (2018). He is one of the two jurors (alongside Ana-Maria Negrilă, PhD) of the Literary Contest for Students and Graduate Students (Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University, 2018-present) and a regular contributor to cultural magazines: EgoPHobia (2010-present), Revista de povestiri (as a creative writing instructor, 2014-present), Apostrof (a Writers` Union of Romania magazine, 2018-present). Author`s Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/oliviucraznicofficialpage.

“Oliviu Crâznic is a true Romantic, a character descended form his own extraordinary and spectacular prose, a melange of Baudelaire, Edgar Allan Poe and Walter Scott, crafting his art under the scrutinizing eyes of Bram Stoker and H.P. Lovecraft. Read his novel, read his stories, and you will completely understand my statement!” (Șt. Ghidoveanu, Radio România Cultural`s Science Fiction and Fantasy specialist, in Galileo Online, Nov. 2012)