Sabrina and Me

Just because it makes Monday a little better.

Links

My latest column for Horror Word is mostly about the writing of Dead Earth: Sanctuary. You can read it here.

In this week's column for the Ashland Beacon, I try to answer reader mail. It's on page 2.

Another Dead Earth: Sanctuary Review

A nice one, from HellBound Times.

If it gives you the urge to order the book, you can do it here.

Judging Dead Earth

The first review is in for Dead Earth: Sanctuary, courtesy of Hellnotes. You can read it here.

And since I've run the cover of the book several times in posts, I have opted to give you a photo of a kitten with an automatic weapon.

A Good Mail Day

You Have Found Sanctuary

Or you will, when you click this link.

Dead Earth: Sanctuary is the third book in the series written by David T. Wilbanks and me. The first was the introductory novella Dead Earth: The Green Dawn. The second was Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road. Both are available by clicking on the titles.

For those who don't relish scrolling down a few entries, here's the book's description:

After stopping a madman who controlled an undead army and barely surviving the destruction of the aliens responsible for the plague that decimated humanity, Jubal Slate leads a small band of humans across the shattered landscape of America, fighting off the forces of the living and the dead. The group races north pursuing a legend, a post-apocalyptic fairy tale: a town protected from the walking dead. Tired of the war and his nomadic life, Slate follows the path to Sanctuary, even while doubting its existence. Along a journey filled with hordes of zombies, Slate and his companions face new enemies and find themselves pursued by the final weapon of the vanquished necros. Is sanctuary even possible on a dead Earth? And if so, is the cost more than Jubal Slate is willing to pay?
Even after alien invasion and zombie armies, Slate will discover that the worst horrors are home grown.

Here are some other Dead Earth: Sanctuary links to make it convenient for you to purchase the book in whatever format you prefer:

Paperback

Kindle 

Nook

Audiobook

Kobo

I hope you enjoy the novel, which is chock full of action, blood and guts and zombies, and maybe--just maybe--some nice character moments. As always feedback is appreciated.

The Dead Sheriff in Rue Morgue

Rue Morgue is one of the best magazines covering the horror field. For my money, they're the best, because they cover comics, music and books, in addition to films. So to find out that they reviewed The Dead Sheriff, however briefly, is a pretty big deal to me. Here's the review. If you're a horror fan, please support Rue Morgue. You won't be disappointed.

Dead Sheriffs and Pickles

Geek's Podcast has a nice review of The Dead Sheriff. Peruse it here.

And this week's column in the Ashland Beacon is another stirring tale from deep within the Pactolus Pickle Processing Plant. You'll find it here on page 2.

The King Rises Again

I'm a little behind in reminding you of this. It's been a crazy week here at Casa de Justice, causing the schedule to swirl right down the toilet. 

This week's column in the Freakin' Ashland Beacon concerns another encounter with the semi-retired King of Rock .n. Roll, Elvis. You can read it here on page 2.

New Dead Earth

The little zombies 'n' aliens series that keeps on giving is back. Or, will be back soon.

I don't have a release date, but Audible lists the audiobook as being available on March 26.

Here's the description from Amazon:

After stopping a madman who controlled an undead army and barely surviving the destruction of the aliens responsible for the plague that decimated humanity, Jubal Slate leads a small band of humans across the shattered landscape of America, fighting off the forces of the living and the dead. The group races north pursuing a legend, a post-apocalyptic fairy tale: a town protected from the walking dead. Tired of the war and his nomadic life, Slate follows the path to Sanctuary, even while doubting its existence. Along a journey filled with hordes of zombies, Slate and his companions face new enemies and find themselves pursued by the final weapon of the vanquished necros. Is sanctuary even possible on a dead Earth? And if so, is the cost more than Jubal Slate is willing to pay?

Even after alien invasion and zombie armies, Slate will discover that the worst horrors are home grown.

Yowzah!

I'll let you know when the book is available for pre-order.

Now back to writing the next Dead Sheriff.  

Sports' Most Shameful Secret

It's juicing.

Juicing in checkers.

And, finally, somebody's talking about it.

That would be me, and I do it right here on page 2.

Tonight's Reading Material

The Flu Done Shooed

My second bout with the flu (or something that seems very flu-y) has come and gone, so I can peek out long enough to update a couple of things. 

First, my column this week in the Ashland Beacon answers reader questions. As always, it's on page 2.

And, tonight, I'll once again venture into that Internet radio den of despair known as The Funky Werepig, joined this time by my Pod of Horror co-host, the Goddess of Horror World, Nanci Kalanta. You can listen live tonight at 9:00 PM eastern. I'm told there's a chat room, too.

Death of the Death Star

The recent news item about the US rejecting an online petition asking for the government to construct a Death Star caught the attention of a lot of people. I found this on the Tumblr feed of Future Journalism Project:

The White House responds to the Death Star Petition
In response to a petition at We the People, Paul Shawcross, Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget, writes:

Even though the United States doesn’t have anything that can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, we’ve got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we’re building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.

Besides, he adds, “The Administration does not support blowing up planets.”

Well played. Very well played.

The Artless Art of Whining

I read a lot of blogs, primarily those of writers. I probably read too many of them. But discovering the struggles of other writers makes me feel better when my own writing isn’t going well. Misery loves etc., etc.

I used to read the blog of a writer who had some prominence in my youth. He hasn’t done much in a long, long time and he spews a lot of anger toward publishers. He expresses it on a regular basis, then every couple of weeks he tells his readers how lucky he is because he has a great family, and the evil publishers and Internet trolls who are trying to destroy him can never touch that.

It’s a great sentiment, except that it’s delivered in the tone of a man trying to convince himself, as if he’s chanting a mantra to ward off monsters under his bed.

It makes me a little sad for him, and I’ve decided not to check in on his page as often as I had. I'm sure the gentleman in question is working through some important and long-festering issues, and I wish him all the best with that.

I bring this up to ask a favor: if I ever get mopey and self-pitying here (and face it, we all have our moments) and I go on too long about it, you have my permission to smack me in the head.

Now, since this was a decidedly unfunny subject, here’s a local news reporter who tries to say “asphalt” and says “asshole” instead:

On-Air Justice

 

Photo by Kevin Goldy/The Daily Independent

My wife is now doing the afternoon show at my radio station. It's great to be able to listen to her again on a daily basis (she's hasn't had a regular show since the late 80s, though she's on the air with me for a segment every morning). 

One of our local newspapers did a story on her return to the airwaves, and you can read it here.

Nothing Butt The Truth

My column in this week's Freakin' Ashland Beacon is all about the true, totally non-embellished story of my butt surgery from some years ago. Yes, I once again unselfishly make an ass of myself for you, my readers. Read all about it on page 2 by clicking here.

A New Beginning

 My first column of the year for The Freakin' Ashland Beacon, and my first under my exciting new week-to-week contract, is up now. You can read it here. It's on page 2.

Why There Wasn’t a Pod Of Horror In December

Because I have trouble saying no and I suck at time management.

That’s the simple – and basically true – answer. The more complicated one is that I have a job. It pays the bills and the mortgage and provides much-needed health insurance. And I like my job, unlike many people I know. It takes a lot of hours and it involves a certain amount of creativity and brain work. Some days when I finish, there’s hardly any gas left in the tank for other things, like writing.

I write a weekly newspaper column and a monthly web column (which I’m late with) and another quarterly column.

I also have published a few books and those require a bit of behind the scenes details which would be boring to the non-writers out there.

Also, like everyone else, I have to deal with the mostly mundane details of everyday life.

And I want to write more. I have dozens of ideas for novels and stories. These ideas tug at me and sometimes wake me in the middle of the night, demanding to be written down. The real agony (and, believe me, there is true pain involved here) comes from not having nearly enough time to do it all.

They say you make time for the things that are important to you. So here’s my priority list:

1)    My family.

2)    Staying employed.

3)    Writing.

4)    Pod of Horror.

I love PoH. I will continue to do PoH. I will try to have a new episode by the end of this month. But a more realistic target may be February because I’m on deadline to turn in a new book on January 31st. 

What Was I Going To Say? Oh, Yeah...