Funkin' the Pig

I’ll be interviewed tonight on The Funky Werepig, the Internet radio show hosted by that wascally wastrel, Greg Hall. We’re likely to talk comics, Marie Osmond and horror. In fact, Marie’s plastic surgery may qualify as horror.

We’ll also talk about my books. There will be an update on The Dead Sheriff.

There’s a chat room, so feel free to join in.

The show is at 9:00 PM EST and can be found here.

Groovy Review

Here's a new review of my collection Looking at the World with Broken Glass in My Eye. If you’re so inclined, you can order the book by clicking on the title.

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I need to plug one of my favorite sites, Diversions of the Groovy Kind, where the Groovy Agent keeps alive my favorite era of comics. Go on over there and browse the site. You’re bound to find something you like. I’ve personally wasted many hours reading his posts. Thanks, Groove!

Columns and Comics

While it’s still up, here the link to the current edition of the Ashland Beacon. My weekly column is on page 9, and it’s sort of about Chiller Theater, the monster movie showcase that ruled the Saturday night’s of my youth.

Also, I have a new column up at Horror World. You can read it here.

Our editor on Dead Earth: Sanctuary has returned the first round of suggestions on the novel. I’ll be going over those this week.

I’ve had an issue this week with my eyes which requires medication. It’s interfered with my reading. When I can read, I’ve been perusing graphic novels, a mixture of new and old stuff.

The old is mostly made up of my favorite era in comics: 1970s Marvel. It was a time where some incredible work was produced with apparently very little editorial supervision. That’s very much the opposite of how the big two seem to operate these days, where nearly every story beat seems to be planned out by executive committee. Both periods produced some real dreck, but the current era seems to be more craptacular. Of course, I’m old. So take this for what it’s worth.

Reboot/restarting an entire line of comics (as DC did last year, and Marvel is rumored to be doing) seems like such a cop out. I can’t argue with DC’s great success with their retooling of their books, yet rather than say “We’re in a rut. We have no good Superman stories left to tell”, why not find creators who are excited to take a shot at those iconic characters? You should never run out of good stories. Find better writers. Turn them loose. Tell your editors to take the broomsticks out of their collective ass, and have some fun again.

Marvel Firsts: The 1970s.

I haven’t posted in a while and I thought a brief Reading/Watching update was in order.

Every comic book fan has his or her favorite era. For me, it’s the comics–particularly Marvel Comics–of the early-to-mid 1970s. It was an important time for Marvel. For a couple of reasons, they were suddenly able to expand their line and they did so with gusto, producing a wave of new titles. Some would be classics. Others noble failures and some outright bad stuff.

A lot of the good stuff is represented in the trade paperback Marvel Firsts: The 1970s. It’s the first of three volumes covering the new characters that debuted from Marvel during the first half of the decade.

Some of the firsts reprinted in the books include Ghost Rider, The Defenders, Tomb of Dracula, Hero for Hire, Gunhawks and Monster of Frankenstein. I was surprised to find of trio of stories I had never read, including the origin of Outlaw Kid, the first appearance of WWII title Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen and Shanna the She-Devil (which suffered from horrible writing).

Marvel has also published a volume devoted to the 60s and the introductions of their big guns. I have it ordered and I’ll let you know what I think about it when it arrives.

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A quick recap of recent TV viewing:

I’m enjoying Alcatraz. The set-up has been good and the actors are appealing, particularly Jorge Garcia. I knew going in that the series would be the returned-convict-of-the-week. I can live with that as long as producers keep the central mystery interesting. Still, my patience isn’t limitless and I hope for some answers sooner rather than later.

I’m also enjoying The River. I’m pleasantly surprised that a network horror show can conjure up some genuine chills and scary imagery. I don’t know if the journey will prove to be ultimately satisfying, but the individual episodes have been a hoot, as we say back home.

Once Upon A Time continues to entertain, and we really like Smash, to my astonishment. Great writing and acting. It’s sort of like Glee for grownups.

The Argillite Secret Service

The truth is revealed about my mysterious past in my latest column for the Ashland Beacon. You can download the paper here.

Creepiest Tree In Town--A Week Later

And I think it's moved.

The Latest Column

I had to give the badge a rest this week. It’s in the shop for a good shining.

This week’s column differs from most of my others in that every word of it is absolutely true.

It’s a little peek into my sordid radio past, and you’ll find it here on page 9.

Don't Stand Too Close...

While taking a walk yesterday, I came across the creepiest tree in town. Sure, it looks pretty harmless in the sunshine, but at night it yanks its roots from the ground and goes looking for kids who sneak out of their houses. You can just tell that's it's very hungry...

Pod of Horror #67

What? They’re back already? Pod of Horror #67 features horror writer James A. Moore, the author of Smile No More and The Subject Seven novels. Kelly Laymon discuss the legacy of her father, Richard Laymon and the long road to publication for In Laymon’s Terms. Jason L. Keene returns with a laugh packed installment of our film feature Moonshine Matinee, Nanci has all the news, and humiliation and belittlement for our host in The Call of Kalanta. The stack of prizes gets bigger in The Tomb of Trivia. And we review new books from Dean Koontz and Brett McBean. Pod of Horror is produced and hosted by Mark Justice. Listen to it here.

For Your Litter Box Lining Pleasure

What do The Possum Ranch and Sherlock Holmes have in common? They're both in my new column in the Ashland Beacon.

2012 Writing

How was your weekend? Mine was fine, thank you.

We watched some movies, took care of family stuff and other odds and ends. I wrote my newspaper column (for what it’s worth, I think it’s one of my best; you can decide for yourself around the first of the month).

On the fiction writing front, I have a rough idea of what I’m going to be working on for the rest of the year. Of course, a lot of this is subject to change, as the last couple of years have taught me.

When I finish with the second Dead Sheriff book, I have to write a couple of short stories that I’ve promised to editors.

By mid-February I hope to finally start on a horror novel called Reaper Road.

Up next is a revision of a novel I wrote a couple of years ago. I parked it in a drawer because of a few issues that confounded me. A recent re-reading of the manuscript showed me a way to fix the problems that seemed insurmountable earlier. This horror novel doesn’t yet have a title.

Following that I'll finish a novella I pledged to a publisher about two years ago. The window may have closed with that particular house, or maybe not. Regardless, I love the story and I’m confident I can find a home for it.

If all goes as planned, this Fall I will start on a humorous mystery novel, something I’ve wanted to write for a long time.

Don’t worry, horror fans. I will never abandon the field. I have many more horror novels I want to write.

I also have two or three more novellas and at least two more stories that have been bubbling under the surface for a long time. I’d like to write them down in the near future.

There you go. Lofty goals, as always. Let’s hope the year is as productive as I’ve planned. If the Mayans are right, then I’ll go out typing. If they’re wrong, then maybe 2013 will finally be the year I get around to writing my haunted amusement park novel.

Interview

Over at the Inspiration Forum, Fiona McVie has posted a new interview with me, including a free short story. Check it out here.

Later this weekend I'll post an writing update and share some of my goals for 2012.

Zombie Pontificating

I have an essay in a new ebook called Zombie Writing, edited by Armand Rosamilia. My contribution describes the writing of Deadneck Hootenanny. The ebook is free for a couple of days. You can order it here.

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I also have a new column in a local paper, The Ashland Beacon. It's supposed to be funny, so if you want to laugh while reading it, I won't be offended. Heck, even a mild chuckle is fine. You can read it by clicking on the paper's name a couple of sentences above. My column in on page 9.

Mug Shot of the Year

A 53-year-old guy from Blue Island, IL was picked up for driving under the influence… this is the mug shot that followed.

Happy Birthday, Dad

Today’s my father’s birthday. He would have been 79.

He’s been gone a while , almost 26 years. Even now, my feelings about him are complicated. I loved him and I know he loved me, but he could be a difficult man to be around. To his friends, he was a happy, funny guy, quick with a joke or a sarcastic comment. In private he was often miserable. I’m not sure why–he never talked about it to me. But I suspect it had a lot to do with his own childhood.

He was never abusive to me, at least not physically. When he was angry, though, his words could cut deep and his unhappiness was often radioactive, spreading throughout the house.

Most of the time I can focus on my memories of the positive side of our relationship, and that’s what I want to do today. My father passed along a great sense of humor and a love of books. He supported my early attempts to write fiction, and if he would have lived to see me published, I’d like to think he would be proud.

Happy birthday, Dad.

Onion Rings and Me

I have a new column today in the Ashland Beacon, a local paper.

If you don't reside in the Ashland, KY area (or once lived here) your enjoyment of the column may be slightly diminished. But I think it's pretty funny anyway, and I do get to remember one of my favorite restaurants and make fun of Celine Dion, so it's a win for me.

You can read the paper online. I'm on page 9 this week.

Looking at the World on My Kindle

Amazon has just listed the Kindle version of Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye, for those of you who, like me, usually prefer the ebook (by the way, this is a complete turnaround for me, who always said, “Confound you whippersnappers! I’ll never give up my paper!" That’s worthy of its own blog post sometime).

Over one hundred thousand words of fiction, most of it scary, some of it funny–intentionally so. Two original novellas. And the reprinting of the long-unavailable Deadneck Hootenanny, all for just $3.99.

You can get it here.

And, as always, if you do read the book, I would appreciate a review at Amazon. Your comments on it are welcome here, as well.

Thanks!

It Was An All-American Christmas at Casa de Justice

My New Gig

I'm doing a weekly column in a local paper, The Ashland Beacon. The paper publishes on Wednesday, but it appears the online version is available at least a day earlier. You can read the whole paper right here.

Fair warning: the column is aimed at a local readership, so if you're somewhere else, it may hold zero interest for you. In fact, if you live here, it may hold zero interest for you. All I know is I'm having a great time writing it.

The Best Christmas

Christmas 2011 was always going to be the greatest of my life, simply because my wife was still with me. But it took on ever greater meaning, thanks to an email.

When I’m on vacation, I rarely check my work email, yet for some reason I did on Christmas morning. It was about 8:00 AM, and I hadn’t even had coffee when I got the message from Nevada. A woman wrote the radio station about three hours earlier. Through Facebook, she had been in touch with a school friend whom she hadn’t spoken with in many years. Her friend’s husband had been out of work for months and had just told his family there would be no Christmas. The couple had two kids and had taken in another woman and her infant soon who had no place else to go. The family had no presents and no food. The children also needed clothes.

I read the letter to Norma and told her I didn’t see how we could find clothes and toys on Christmas day.

Her reply was simple. “If there’s a day for miracles to happen,” she said, “it’s today.”

I immediately placed a call to one of our friends, who has three young grandsons.

What I didn’t know was that she had been up most of the night. Like a lot of people, she has had a rough year, but every time she was in desperate need of help, help arrived. She told me she was hoping trying to figure out a way to payback some of the good fortune she had received.

Then I called. She immediately started putting together clothes and toys, including two nearly new bicycles. Her grandsons gladly donated new toys that they had just received as gifts. Then her sister-in-law pitched in with new clothes and new toys.

Next, I got in touch with another friend, who along with her husband had been feeding the hungry through their church for many years. They quickly put together a week’s worth of food. They showed up with their truck full of food and we loaded the clothes and toys. We caravanned to the home, which was about fifteen minutes away. We had a little trouble finding it–some knocking on doors was required, but we eventually located the family. I knocked on their trailer door several times before anybody answered. When they did, I told them Santa had asked us to make a delivery. We began carrying boxes into their home while the family alternated between stunned silence and tears.

Since we don’t have kids, Norma and I had little to contribute, except for some cash. But we were able to find the right people to help this family have a Christmas.

Driving home, we were both a little overwhelmed by what had just happened. Christmas hadn’t felt this good in many years. This was the second time I’ve been able to take part in helping a family that was down on their luck. I hope it won’t be the last.