Gotta be a hoax...

If not, I say nuke the whole country now before it spreads...

http://65.127.124.62/south_asia/4483241.stm.htm

We should all be so lucky

http://www.wisinfo.com/journal/spjlocal/283966504708414.shtml

For those of you who have read Cairnwood Manor, I didn't realize Kimber got out that much. Nice that she could help... :)

This Morning's Thoughts

I'll be sending all the positive energy I can muster toward Mrs. Gentry today. The grandmother of Doug Gentry and Laurell K. Hamilton, this 94 year old spitfire fares not well following a mini-stroke a few weeks back. Time, the family fears, is short for the matriarch of Clan Gentry. I wish her and her extended family all the best, and if she must pass, then perchance it will be at least a peaceful one.

Planning a trip to Arkansas in June with my wife, the kids, my parents, and my brother... Wish us luck.

Interesting news item: http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2005/04/29devilstatuerais.html
"I'm livin' for givin' the devil his due" ~ Blue Oyster Cult

ROAR

All comic related blogs will now be posted at the Dimestore Productions website. My blog there, titled Straight from the Lion's Mouth, will be my take on the comic industry and your source for Lion's Den Studios news. That will leave He Dreams While Awake alone to focus on my novels and short stories, as well as items of interest as they relate to me and the world around me...

To err is human, to proof read is slime

A job's a job, right? Well, writing, though maybe not paying off at the moment, is my primary job and focus. With the release of Cairnwood Manor looming and hard work on the subsequent installments in high gear a slight speed bumper is underfoot. My wife has donated her valuable time to help me with some last minute, zero-hour proof reading. It is the one part of writing that I despise. I'm a pefectionist by nature but I have yet to hone the necessary skills to being good at the proof reading process. It's just not a very glamorous aspect to the craft of wordsmithery, but a necessary evil none the less.

I have completed at long last the Cairnwood Manor Visual Guidebook and like it so much that I will be printing up nine signed copies to be made available as gifts and promotional material. It is a collector's item in the making!

Back from VA-CATION!

Howdy Doody boys and girls. Got back into town yesterday and back to the old salt mines today. The family and I had a terrific time as we stayed in one of the fantabulous Abe Martin Cabins in beautiful Brown County State Park, just outside of Nashville Indiana. Wow. If you get the chance you have got to take a trip that way and stay in one of these beauties. We're already plotting our next foray into the wilds. You know, it rained the whole time we were there and we didn't care. It was a wonderful time and the kids were a pleasure, even if Mom and Dad had to chase after Connor every waking moment :) Nick and Cassie were a treat and overly helpful...and my sweetie was a sweetie, 24-7. Shame to be back at it, but I got NO writing done, so it feels good to be chugging away at the printed word once more.

Salem approves "Bewitch"-ing monument

By Laura Crimaldi
(Friday, April 8, 2005)
A twitchy-nose TV witch is flying into Salem to become that city's most visible woman on a broom.
A nine-foot bronze replica of Samantha Stephens, the lovable witch with a twitchy-nose played by Elizabeth Montgomery on ``Bewitched,'' will cast a spell over Lappin Park, thanks to the TV Land channel.
"Not be cliche about it, but the most magical of these places is Salem. It just seemed to underscore who she is,'' said Rob Pellizzi, a TV Land executive.
Salem's fame as a kitschy tourist destination is based on its infamous history as the place where 20 people were accused of witchcraft and executed in the 1690s.
The Salem Redevelopment Authority voted 3-0 for the statue Wednesday. A tentative unveiling date has been set for mid-June, just a few weeks before the release of the "Bewitched'' movie starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell.
"There's a definite feeling that this will help tourism to the city, which is great,'' said Kate Sullivan, chief of staff to Salem's mayor.

Well I know this will piss off the traditionalists, but I have a real soft spot for Bewitched and never saw it as being detremental to the overall community of Witches. It was a fun show, a nice tip of the hat to 'Bell, Book, & Candle', and filled with a terrific cast. I loved Maurice Evans and Paul Lynde's guest appearances. Remarkable stuff. And it's not like Salem is the occult center of all things Wicca. It's a tourist trap that plays with the image of Witchcraft already. Makes perfect sense to marry (or should I say handfast) a fictional character to the city tourism pool.

What is in fact up?

Well, 6000 words into Keepers of the Dead and it's shaping up nicely. You can listen, yes I said "listen" , to a couple of snigglets HERE.

Look for the addition of an audio short story, DAZ, to be included on the Cairnwood website in the next week or so.

Midnight Sun is at the printers and should be available by the first week of May.

The wife and kids will be joining me on a mini-holiday the first of next week. We're going to Brown County for a relaxing stay in some out of the way cabins. Antiqueing, book browsing, hiking, and ghost hunting should make for a fun three days... plus we'll be shooting a movie of the whole experience. Bobtown, the most haunted area in all of Indiana: here we come! I'd be willing to bet a short story comes out of this trip as well...

I wish this were an April Fool's joke...

(03-30) 13:50 PST Edinburgh, Ind. (AP) --

The Venus de Milo had better wear a top and Michelangelo's David should put on some pants if they're going to be seen at a yard art business.
Bartholomew County officials told the business near Interstate 65 that it must move cement copies of the classical statues — and about 10 others — out of public view because they are obscene under Indiana law.
"It's not fair to point out our business, and personally, I don't find them offensive," Ginger Streeval, a co-owner of White River Truck Repair and Yard Art, told the Daily Journal of Franklin for a story Wednesday.
Frank Butler, the county's zoning inspector, disagreed.
"They have nudity ... and that should not be in the view of a minor," he said.
Indiana's obscenity law prohibits the display of nudity where children might see it, he said.
The law also stipulates that such material is harmful for minors if, "considered as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors."
The sheriff's department and zoning officials cracked down on the business about 25 miles south of Indianapolis after receiving two complaints about the statues.
But Ken Falk, legal director for the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, said nudity has been part of art for hundreds of years and that using nudity to define obscenity could raise serious constitutional questions.
"Just because something is nude doesn't mean it's obscene," he said. "If that were the case, most Renaissance art would have to be put into back rooms or hidden."