Quothe the Raven

On this date in 1845, Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven was published in the New York Evening Mirror.

"And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming.
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted---nevermore!"

R.I.P. E.A.P. R.I.P.

Nightstalkers of Indiana

For those interested here's the logo for the Nightstalkers of Indiana

Addendum

Just a quick note to say that I'll have a new website up in March to help promote my writing career and it will include pages for the paranormal investigation group I've formed called Nightstalkers of Indiana.

Updates to follow.

Wow, a writing update...on a writer's blog...what a novel idea!

That's right kids, here it is: an honest-to-goodness writer's update. I assume that's why most of you stop by, especially since I rarely slip into diatribes on subjects of mutual interest. Time constraints and all remain quite bothersome, hence the periodic news item of interest...time allows what time allows, so to speak. Hopefully they illuminate, educate, and push ones edification beyond the limits that mundane society will allow. Or at the very least force you to implement a smile in place of the scowl one normaly is beleguerd with when pouring over the daily birdcage fodder.

Did someone mention an update? Right-o, ol' chum... 'ere we go.

I will have three entries in the upcoming Encyclopedia of Haunted Places, published through the good folks at GhostVillage. I cover the James Dean gravesite in Fairmount, Seven Pillars near Peru, and the Mississinewa Battlefield just outside of Marion. Those are all in Indiana for the non-Hoosier crowd. I finished the writing on all three pieces yesterday ( a grand total of 1500 words) and look to head out with brother-in-law Nick Moore later this week to snap some digital photographs to be included. Will update you further as the book nears publication.

I am still sitting in the middle of chapter three of my young adult novella Autumn Moon and the Book of Shadows, which is being illustrated by my brother Bret Freeman. Time constraints are killing me and I long for a time in the near future when I can lose myself in my work instead of being forced to write in snigglets.

On the comic front, Doug Gentry is working on the fourth and final chapter of the first Loose Cannons mini-series. Bryan Vreeland and Chris Kupcho are hard at work on the second mini-series (though I suspect we may try it out as a graphic novel instead). The Amulet, a story by William Meikle, has hit a snag financially, and I think I may try to get the author's permission for us to shop it around to larger publishers so that we might get some scratch behind it.

All that, plus the impending release of Cairnwood Manor in four months...Life is good, though Time be not kind.

Later.

And she would have got away with it too...if it weren't for those pesky kids!

INNSBRUCK, Austria (AP) -- A Polish woman who harbored a grudge against her husband's employer has been sentenced to four months' imprisonment for terrorizing the boss by making ghostly sounds at his castle-like estate.
The 42-year-old woman, whose name was not released, was convicted on nuisance charges after she allegedly spent weeks masquerading as a ghost and making mysterious noises, Austrian television reported.
Police captured the woman on videotape after the jittery owner, who employed the suspect's husband, begged authorities in the alpine province of South Tyrol to solve the mystery.
The haunted owner had complained of hearing footsteps in the hallways and slamming doors late at night at the estate near Austria's southern border with Italy.
It was unclear why the Polish woman had become angry.

NOW THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS THE GOD AWFUL TRUTH!!!

OSLO, Norway — President Bush's "Hook 'em, 'horns" salute got lost in translation in Norway, where shocked people interpreted his hand gesture during his inauguration as a salute to Satan.
That's what it means in the Nordic countries when you throw up the right hand with the index and pinky fingers raised, a gesture popular among heavy metal groups and their fans in the region.
"Shock greeting from Bush daughter," a headline in the Norwegian Internet newspaper Nettavisen said above a photograph of Bush's daughter Jenna, smiling and showing the sign.
For Texans, the gesture is a sign of love for the University of Texas Longhorns, whose fans are known to shout out "Hook 'em, 'horns!" at sporting events.
Bush, a former Texas governor, and his family made the sign to greet the Longhorn marching band as it passed during the inaugural parade through Washington during Thursday's festivities, Norway's largest newspaper, Verdens Gang, explained to its readers.

Labels

So, Horror is a dirty word in the publishing world. Horror doesn't sell, they say. Tell that to Thom Harris, or Michael Crichton, or Hel, even Patricia Cornwell. Call it mystery, or suspense, or dark fantasy, or even gothic romance...it all boils down to semantics doesn't it. Mainstream publishers are quick to call a book anything other than Horror, but the reality is just the same. A label, for good or ill, comes attached with a certain amount of baggage and we "Horror Writers" are not the only ones to suffer.
Truth be told, my work probably is more properly called gothic fantasy or dark romance, or some such...I certainly lean toward the "Dark Shadows" end of the horror writing spectrum. I find that women tend to love my work, particularily in the case of Cairnwood Manor, which has a dash of romance and a helping of suspense. I don't apologize for this at all. I write what I like to read...I am moved by characters and how they deal with supernatural situations. I also am unabashedly enthralled by the "classic" monsters of myth: vampires, werewolves, mummies, witches, and the like.
So label me a Horror Writer if you will. I am not ashamed. I am proud of the genre and proud of the work, and though others might be labeled differently in an attempt to garnish additional sales, it is still Horror no matter how you try to redress it.

It's Comic Book Pimp Time

MAGDALENA VS. DRACULA: MONSTER WAR #1

Written by Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski, art by Joyce Chin, colored by Scott Kester, covers by Chin, Marc Silvestri, Eric Basaldua and Joseph Michael Linsner.

Ultimate evil is coming to the Top Cow universe, and ALL of the Cow's stars must unite to stave off an apocalypse! The seeds are sown when Dracula invades London, and only the Magdalena can stop him! But can Drac turn Maggy into a vampireŠor will the Tomb Raider be able to stop him? Find out here, and be on the lookout for next month's chapter: Tomb Raider vs. the Wolf-Men!

32 pages, $2.99.

Quote of the Day

"I can only say that while I have considered the preservation of the constitutional power of the General Government to be the foundation of our peace and safety at home and abroad, I yet believe that the maintenance of the rights and authority reserved to the states and to the people, not only essential to the adjustment and balance of the general system, but the safeguard to the continuance of a free government. I consider it as the chief source of stability to our political system, whereas the consolidation of the states into one vast republic, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of that ruin which has overwhelmed all those that have preceded it." -- Robert E. Lee

Cairnwood Manor Update

Sent in the most recent edits for Cairnwood Manor: Shadows over Somerset today. Black Death Books has been very helpful in getting this book pulled together. I really feel like I could tweek it for another decade, but at some point you just have to say "it's ready" and let the public decide if it has merit or not. Still, I am very nervous. This is my first foray into this branch of publishing and it's a fickle business. But I know I've crafted a good story and populated it with a cast of diverse and interesting characters. And if the feedback I've been getting from test-readers is any indication, then I really have nothing to worry about.

Cairnwood Manor speaks for itself.

On writing and success

No one judges George Bernard Shaw, Upton Sinclair, or Jack London by what they wrote in their early youth when they were struggling up the long ladder and neither will I be judged by my earlier efforts, when the dust has drunk my brain and dreams.
But God, the utter futility of it descends on the soul of me like a thick fog through which I can see no light. Surely, for by the time I have gained the heights of success I will be old and hardened so by life that the taste of success will be as dust and ashes in my soul ñ a man without hope, without joy and without friends. The finished article -- and what care the accursed throng for the labor that went to make it?
There always remain, Sin's mockery be thanked, the longings of the flesh and if a man can never satisfy the mind and the soul, he can at least satiate the belly and its brothers. They promise nothing and though they desert a man in the end, they do not betray because, blind and torture-hunger, they promise nothing. Nothing beyond the moment -- but a man can live in a sort of manner, in that moment.
The emptiness of success I know -- though I have never tasted it -- is a reality for always through the cheers of the mob will come like a writhing serpent the memory of the jeers of the mob when I worked and sweated pure red blood. And I will always think: you uplift me now, but you scorned me then, and where is the difference? For I am now and I was then, and then I built the corner stones and the foundations, and now I stand on the spire and where is the difference? Damn you all. Thats what I will think in the days to come; but now I must bend my back to the corner stones and the foundations and make them firm so that my spires may rend apart the stars and all the world may see the glimmer of my skeleton against them when I stand on my spires at the end.

Robert E. Howard, October 1928

Will Eisner 1917-2005

I just learned that Will Eisner, master illustrator and storyteller, passed away Monday evening due to complications from the quadruple bypass surgery he underwent late December. The guy was brilliant and truly showed the world what was possible in the comic book medium. Anyone with doubts should run, not walk, to their nearest bookseller and purchase A Contract with God or the Spirit archives. Tremendous work from a tremendous talent.

Rest In Peace.

Not a fan of the man, but the words ring true

Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does
so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy
things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In
our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship,
persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains:
What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth
living for? - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United
States Naval Academy, 11/24/1997.

Happy New Year

Hold on...changes are afoot.