Cedar Ridge Picnic

Brugger and I have both been burning the candle at both ends lately, so, this weekend, we're gonna spend some quality time with each other and with some fantastic creative folks we haven't seen in far too long. We decided to kick things off a day early by hiking out on the nearby Cedar Ridge Trails in the Chatmoss area and having a picnic lunch. I've placed several geocaches on this trail system, and not too long ago, while I was exploring one of the trails I hadn't visited before, I discovered a lonely, half-hidden picnic table in the woods. So, this morning, we packed up some vittles and hoofed it out yonder for a nice picnic. The peaceful solitude with Ms. B. was just what the doctor ordered. A highlight was a little red fox that went running by us, though too fast for me to snag a photo. Anyhoo, what a beautiful day.

Halloween Party Horrors, Ghosts, Legends, & Cryptids

Joe, Suzy, Jennifer, Jamie, Scott, Samaire, Mark W., Kim W., Kimberly B., Terry, Beth;
the Front Man is behind the camera

The Front Man

'Tis done! Brugger and I put on our annual Halloween Party last night, which was—as expected—crashed by a plethora of frightful fiends. Sadly, several folks who'd anticipated attending weren't able to, but those who did, at least by my reckoning, somehow survived. There was cheese and there was meatballs (alas, no caviar), and long tall glasses of wine up to h'yar. Yes, we did have that and more. I think it's safe to say that no one left the premises hungry or thirsty.

We had a fun Halloween horror trivia contest — 13 questions about horror movies, books, and stories. I made most of the questions pretty easy for the layman, but a few of them required a bit more than casual horror knowledge. At least a couple of people correctly answered the question "Which 1982 horror classic featured the famous line, 'You've gotta be fucking kidding me!'" Go Suzy and Joe!

Now, I started out as the Front Man from Squid Games, but after a while the heat in there began to get to me, pretty seriously, so I changed into last year's slightly more casual costume, which still hung in our entryway closet (see below photo with Brugger). Temperature-wise, this provided some relief, and it also made it a hell of a lot easier to consume wine and vittles. In case I didn't mention it, we had lots and lots and lots of wine and vittles.

Some of us stayed up till the wee hours yakking about scary things, both real and unreal. Sadly, the real is overshadowing too much of the far more agreeable unreal. All in all, we had a fine time. Needless to say, the better part of this morning was spent on restoring the casa to habitable condition.

Horror trivia! Suzy, Joe, Beth, and Jamie won prizes.

This afternoon, I attended a presentation about the ghosts, legends, and cryptids of Martinsville and Henry County, given by Garrett Channel, who is the executive director of the Salem (Virginia) Museum. He provided a lively, very enjoyable talk that was perfect for the season. He related the legend of Sam Lion, a bit of local (very likely embellished) history, which I wrote about a few years ago (here). After his presentation, I talked briefly with him about my writing and interest in such creepy legends, and he told me he actually used my blog as one of his references. Well, I find that kinda cool, particularly since I use both the real and "altered" folklore of this area as a basis for many of my stories and books (most recently, The House at Black Tooth Pond).

As an added bonus, I ran into my seventh-grade American History teacher, Ms. Kerry Tillery, who lives up the street from us. She is a most wonderful person, and I'm so glad she is still around. It's always a pleasure to have the opportunity to talk with her.

"Castle Rock," I call it. I have a geocache here. This was supposedly a part of the original
"Sam Lion's Trail" of local legend.

Prepping!

Tomorrow—Saturday, 10/11—is our annual Halloween Party, and we're expecting a pretty good crowd. This week, we've spent a lot of time cleaning, buying supplies, cleaning, decorating, getting our costumes together, and cleaning. Come Sunday, we'll no doubt need to clean again. But at least the house will be clean before we dirty it all up again.

Brugger and I been well into our Halloween movies this week. We've watched Night (Curse) of the Demon, The Thing (2011), and The Thing (1982), which are absolute prerequisites before Halloween can come. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is also on that list, and I suspect we'll get to it in the next couple of days. We've also caught Evil Dead Rise, The Exorcist, Don't Breathe, Island of the Night of the Damned Doomed Big Heat (a.k.a. Night of the Big Heat, Island of the Burning Damned, and Island of the Burning Doomed (I wrote about it a long time ago here). Tonight, since it's finally available after all these years, we're going to watch Something Wicked This Way Comes. I don't think I've seen it since it was at the theater in 1983, and I recall really liking it way back when.

 

Oh, yeah, there's more stuff a-coming. Hope it's coming for you too. Hahaha,

An Oktoberfest Weekend

October has been my favorite month for most of my life, certainly as an adult. It's the Halloween season, don't you know! Since I was a kid, going up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in the fall has been a family tradition. Apart from colorful fall foliage, the primary attraction for many decades was breakfast at Mabry Mill; sadly, the restaurant is no longer open. The leaves haven't turned yet, but the Virginia mountains are always beautiful, so we didn't mind going a little early this season. On Friday, Brugger and I drove up to Villa Appalaccia, our favorite winery within traveling distance, where we enjoyed an excellent tasting, a partial bottle of their excellent Dolcetto, and some light nibbles that we brought along with us. Following that, we drove over to nearby Chateau Morrisette Winery & Restaurant, where we had another very good tasting, followed by dinner at the restaurant. I had Osso Buco, which was enjoyable enough, though I'm afraid it was hardly my best dinner here. The shanks weren't as tender as they should have been, and the sauce did not go well with the accompanying polenta. Still, the restaurant is beautiful, with traditionally excellent food, and consistently good service, so my enthusiasm for it is no way is in no way diminished.

Below: Ms. B. and Old Dude at Villa Appalaccia and a couple of sunset views from the terrace at Chateau Morrisette.

Yesterday—Saturday—Brugger and I hauled ourselves, my books, and bookselling accoutrements uptown for Martinsville's 44th Annual Oktoberfest. I've been a regular vendor here for many years, and predictably for an event like this, sales can be very much hit or miss. Happily, this one was not at all a miss. I sold a record number of copies (which put me well into the black) and met lots of avid readers. I also ran into several good friends, some of whom I've not seen in far too many years.

 

Happily, good friends (and frequent traveling companions) Terry & Beth came up from Kernersville both to wander about Oktoberfest and hang out with us poor miscreants. After the fest was over and we'd broken down and packed up all our stuff, we all retired to Ground Zero for drinks and dinner. Ms. B. made a fantastic Italian chicken with basil & Parmesan on pasta that made us all very, very full. And then... cheesecake. Woot!

 

Below: A couple of images of Church Street during Oktoberfest.

Today, Ms. B. spent some time fixing up the living room to usher in the Halloween season, and this evening, we watched Night (Curse) of the Demon, which means things are getting real.

Beyond our own little corner of the world, things are far less content and "normal," so who's to say how the rest of our October (and beyond) will fare? For us this weekend, the world turned out to be very nice. I sure wish we all could enjoy much more peace, tranquility, and fulfillment. That said, I desperately wish certain people and parties wouldn't make that so damned hard.

Home Wrecker

Dammit. And I had just cleaned house, too. This is the new Hiya Toys 1991 King Ghidorah figure engaging in his favorite pastime. I guess he knows how to have fun.

Cards Against Posterity

As the sole survivor of my immediate family, I often find myself reflecting on the profound influence of certain people, places, and events from my youth. Since my younger brother passed away a few years ago, I am the sole keeper of the memories of my family's life and times. When Phred was alive, he and I frequently took pleasure in sharing our most meaningful recollections of our days together as kids, our reverence for our parents, and our perspectives on the zeitgeist of the 1960s and 1970s. Apart from old photographs and a few sketchy diaries that we kept, the only first-hand knowledge of the most meaningful and intimate moments in our family's history resides in my brain. Of course, that's just how it is with life—and its inevitable passing. Whatever tangible marks one might leave behind, the most personal, intimate parts of ourselves simply depart.

Thanks to my fondness for revisiting much of the music my parents enjoyed, I find myself wanting to articulate some of my most vivid impressions from the mid-to-late 1960s and 1970s, when Mom and Dad were in their thirties and forties, if just as a little reminder to myself. So, I'm going to indulge the whim and see where it takes me.

My folks tended to be social animals. They frequently gathered with various other couples, and for me, the most memorable of these was when they hosted their regular Bridge Club at our house. We are talking a classy affair. There were generally four to six couples in attendance, and everyone dressed in their finest apparel. Mom didn't drink, but Dad was known to enjoy a few spirits from time to time. For Bridge Club (and whatever other gatherings they hosted), Mom always brought out the fancy china and drinking glasses, which had silver bands around the tops, and Dad filled the crystal decanters with bourbon and scotch. As they got themselves ready for the big event, Dad liked to put some music on our big console stereo, usually something in the easy-listening department. For a spell, his favorite was Frank Sinatra's "Days of Wine and Roses" album, which featured his version of "Moon River," otherwise made famous by Andy Williams. To this day, whenever I hear that song, whoever performs it, I think of Mom and Dad prepping for a social event, whether it be at our house or somewhere else.

Even though these were strictly adult events, I always found myself captivated at those times by what I perceived as a special magic in the house. Even when I went off to college, Mom and Dad were still active in numerous social—and, more importantly—philanthropic gatherings. My parents, whether in public or in the privacy of our home, were what I can only call classy, exceptionally decent human beings. Of course, they had their faults, shortcomings, and blind spots, as we all do. But Mom and Dad held themselves to such high standards in thought, word, and deed that I despair of ever being able to truly emulate them. Now, this last bit strays from my original reflective intent, but you know, sometimes that happens, and since this is me essentially rambling...there it is.

 

When I inherited our old house after Mom died, I kept all the surviving trappings of those bygone days. Brugger and I now use those old glasses, the china, the decanters to preserve what we can of that "classy" aspect of my family's history.

 

I suspect that I'll be occasionally posting other such ramblings. Join me if you like, but if not, I quite understand.

 

Till next time! 

Mom & Dad, circa 1963

Night of the Fugue Devil

Every seventeen years, on the Autumn Equinox, the Fugue Devil flies out of its extra-dimensional lair to steal souls. It occurs to me that, given the timeline of the stories, TONIGHT is the night of the Fugue Devil.

Just remember...
If you know about the Fugue Devil,
     It knows about you.
If you see the Fugue Devil,
     It will come for you.

Yep, the events in the original novelette take place in 1991, so its next appearance was in 2008, and now, it's that time once again.

Some time ago, I wrote on me blog what amounts to story notes that detail the origin of "Fugue Devil"—a little essay called "The Equinox Devil," which you may find here. And if you're keen on checking out the monster that started it all, just visit the link below. By all means, do sleep well tonight.

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Order Fugue Devil: Resurgence from Amazon.com here

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OUR SHADOWED PAST III in the Works

To devout Dark Shadows fans, the name Bob Issel is well known. For several decades, he has hosted countless gatherings of fans, actors from both the original soap and the 1991 remake, and creative individuals who have contributed to every aspect of the franchise. In 2021, he conceived a volume of essays by both Dark Shadows fans and cast/crew members titled Our Shadowed Past, and—because Bob is a very brave man—he engaged me to do all the production work on this 300-plus-page monster (the original print run sold out, but it is currently available for Kindle). The book included my essay, "Dreams of the Dark," which detailed the many dreams and nightmares that came true during the writing of the novel, Dark Shadows: Dreams of the Dark (HarperCollins, 2000), by Elizabeth Massie and me, back before the turn of the century.

A couple of years back, Bob produced a second volume—you guessed it—titled Our Shadowed Past II. I wasn't available at that time to do the production work, so Bob's friend and graphics guy Jeff Kenny undertook that project. I had an essay in that one as well, titled "The Shadows of the Towers," about my adventures (and misadventures) at the first Dark Shadows Festival I ever attented, back in 1999, at the late, lamented World Trade Center in New York City.

And now, yes, there will be a third Our Shadowed Past volume. Bob Issel designed the cover and Aleah Shockley provided the art, which you can see above. And once again, because Bob is a brave and possibly foolish young man, he has engaged me to take the ball and run with it. Yep, the book is currently in the works and slated for release in late fall 2025. It includes essays about the franchise, the settings, and the actors (including interviews with original series stars Nancy Barrett, Donna McKechnie, and Christopher Pennock, and 1991 series star, Joanna Going). Plus, there's even some fan fiction.

If you'd like more information about the book or wish to place an advance order, please contact Mr. Bob Issel at bobubas59@gmail.com. Of course, I'll be posting updates and additional information closer to release time.

GOJIRA 1954: A 70th ANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE by Peter H. Brothers

Gojira 1954 is in the house! Just received my contributor copy from long-time author, editor, and daikaiju enthusiast extraordinaire, Peter H. Brothers. His newest monster book is a collection of essays, articles, and interviews devoted to the original 1954 Toho classic, titled Gojira 1954: A 70th Anniversary Retrosective. This one features my little essay, "The Big Old Stomp That Rocked My World," which recounts the day I watched Godzilla - King of the Monsters and the earth literally shook. Other contributors include Mike Bogue, Bradford Grant Boyle, Mark Cerasini, Allen A. Debus & Elizabeth Russell Debus, Davide Di Giorgio, Bob Eggleton, William Tsutsui, Larry Tuczynski, and many others whose names will strike familiar chords among daikaiju aficionados. The book also features personal accounts and interviews with numerous individuals involved in the original film production, including Special Effects Director Sadamasa Arikawa, Director Ishiro Honda, Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, Art Director Akira Watanabe, and many more.

Doubtlessly because Toho is very restrictive about the use of Godzilla images, the book offers only a smattering of photos. To be sure, though, the superlative written content makes this book a true keeper.

Peter H. Brothers is a multi-Rondo Award nominee, author of Atomic Dreams and Nightmares, Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men, Sons of Godzilla, and many others. Gojira 1954: A 70th Anniversary Retrospective is available in ebook, paperback, hardback, and audiobook.

I find the autographed Raymond Burr photo pretty danged awesome.

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Order Gojira 1954: A 70th Anniversary Retrospective at Amazon.com

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The Kure Beach Cure

Friday, August 29, 2025
A short while ago, friends Bob & Yvonne (Bob and I go back as far as middle school) invited Brugger and me to accompany them on a somewhat impromptu trip to Kure Beach, NC (that's pronounced like "Curie," I believe), which is a few miles south of Wilmington. Early this morning, Ms. B. and I shot out of bed (as in crawled), fashioned ourselves into marginally functioning (read heavily caffeinated) human machines, and set out on the road. We drove until we stopped for a delicious lunch at La Cabana Mexican Restaurant in Rockingham, NC, and, after more driving, we stopped again for a geocache just this side of Wilmington. We arrived in Kure Beach around 4:00 p.m., where we met our friends at a nice little AirBnB unit right on the beach.

After some adult beverages and legally actionable banter, we wandered the area for a bit, and I hunted an Adventure Lab cache at nearby Fort Fisher State Recreation Area. Afterward, we drove a few parsecs north to Carolina Beach and enjoyed excellent food & drink at Ocean Grill & Tiki Bar (their Dark & Stormy cocktail, a concoction of Gosling's dark rum and ginger beer) almost turned me into a rum fan; typically, I am not really.

For the rest of the evening, we engaged in a pleasant, mellow round of conversation, which resulted in our solving every problem in the world today, except for those we did not. Those we shall tackle tomorrow, perhaps.

Saturday, August 30, 2025
Our sleeping quarters are a little cramped—bunk beds adjacent to the living room—but for me, not altogether uncomfortable. Ms. B. had a somewhat more restless night. Anyhoo, we all rose reasonably early, and Bob prepared a mighty fine breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs. And, of course, there was coffee. Gallons and gallons of it. This was all very good.

I set out geocaching shortly thereafter. I walked southward toward Fort Fisher to hunt the physical bonus cache of the Adventure Lab I'd completed yesterday, which I found with no difficulty. Several other caches lurked relatively nearby, so I continued my trek by way of roads, trails, dunes, and marshes, all of which were scenic and buggy. There were so, so many mosquitoes, and I had failed to bring the bug spray I keep in my car. Silly me. Still, it was a great 3.5-mile walk, and I found all the caches I'd set out to find.

Once back at our lodgings, I found the rest of the gang out lounging or walking on the beach. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon relaxing in the sun (well, more overcast skies), occasionally being attacked by bitey flies. Except for the flies, this is all much better than being slapped in the belly with a wet trout.

Later in the afternoon, we hauled ourselves the twenty miles up to Wilmington—a slow and arduous crawl, for the most part, with the Labor Day weekend traffic out in full force. We stopped at an ABC store and a Publix to pick up provisions for later—Gosling's Black Rum and some ginger beer to make Dark & Stormy cocktails, which I'd enjoyed at the Ocean Grill & Tiki Bar yesterday and decided to give 'em a go myself. Then, for an early dinner, we chose Prost Biergarten, a German-themed, if not truly German, tavern in Wilmington's historic district. I had Jaeger Schnitzel, which was very satisfying and definitely sufficient to fill me up for the rest of the evening. Once we'd successfully completed our dining duties, we wandered around the riverwalk for a while, and I went after a couple of Adventure Lab caches.

Back at our place, I made Dark & Stormies for the lot of us—excellent!—and we hung out telling war stories and playing Uno till way too late.

Good, good stuff.

Sunday, August 31, 2025
There be a lot of wind this morning, and the seas are as rough and choppy as I think I've ever seen them. There's a cluster of rocks not far down the beach called the Coquina Outcrop, and it's the site of an EarthCache, so I wandered that way first thing. Interestingly, the rocks are socked in with foam that looks like dirty soap suds from all the saltwater churning.

Bob made another of his delicious breakfasts; this time, biscuits with sausage gravy and eggs. After chowing down, we decided to head over to Southport, not far away mileage-wise, but it's across the mouth of the Cape Fear River, so we took the ferry over from the nearby Fort Fisher ferry port.

We spent an hour or so wandering around town, the others mostly shopping, while I hunted caches (successfully, I'm glad to report). We settled in for a time at Silver Coast Winery for some very welcome refreshment, and then we had a late lunch at Edgewater 122 on the riverfront, not too far away. It was an appealing place, but since I hadn't had a single mouthful of anything healthy in several days, I opted for a chopped salad with shrimp. It was fine, but it wasn't long before I found myself craving a cheeseburger. I didn't get one.

The next ferry back to Kure Beach was full up, so we took the much longer, overland route, and hey, for once, we didn't encounter any major traffic hurdles. Back at our lodgings, we spent some time on the beach with plentiful Dark & Stormies. Good stuff all around.

A pleasant evening indoors, mostly playing drunken Uno. Then we had to do a spot of clean-up and packing since we're leaving early in the morning.

Monday, September 1, 2025
Bob & Yvonne were up before the sun, and Brugger and I groaned ourselves back to life not long after. Just before leaving, we managed to get a few shots of the bootiful sunrise. The trip home was relatively easy; our early departure allowed us to miss the worst of the traffic fleeing the beach after the long weekend. I snagged an Adventure Lab cache at a rest stop along the way. To ease us back to reality, we stopped in Greensboro for lunch with friends Terry & Beth at La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant, which was delicious.

Then a couple of more caches to wind it up.

It was a great Labor Day weekend with good friends (times two, counting Terry & Beth!), and I expect we'll all be traveling again soon. All of you travel safely as well. And g'night.

We Don't Need No Stinking Trails! Redux

At the end of my day of geocaching in Roanoke with friend Scott this past weekend ("We Don't Need No Stinking Trails!" Saturday, August 23, 2025), my total lifetime number of geocache finds stood at 15,999. At the time, I hadn't been paying much attention to how much the trip was adding to my total, so I guess it was serendipitous that it provided me an opportunity to choose a location to hunt my 16,000th geocache.

Mind you, from Martinsville, I have to travel pretty danged far to find any caches, period, since I've been at this for...good lard!...over eighteen years. I ended up setting my sights on the Roanoke area again, specifically Explore Park, southeast of the city. It's an extensive, forested area with numerous trails and, let me tell you, lots, lots of elevation changes. The park maps indicated that getting from one cache to another via the winding trails oftentimes led one far, far from one's destination before heading back to it.

As you might infer, my trek today involved a lot of bushwhacking, so let's suffice it to say that I got my numbers, I found some cool stuff (including a Bigfoot-themed gadget cache, although, sadly the gadget was no longer operational), and now I'm so blinkin' tired I'm close to falling over, much in the way that Droolie falls over.

Ah, but it's all part of being a geocacher and reaching a new milestone. I'll take it because if I can't hike and cache, I'll be very unhappy.

Next milestone...17,000, and who knows how long that will take. Just hope I live to see it.