A Weekend in Providence

Old Dude paying a visit to H.P. Lovecraft

For many moons now, Ms. B. and I had planned to attend a Dark Shadows gathering at Seaview Terrace in Newport, RI, this weekend, but a while back, event organizer Bob Issel regretfully announced that, due to HBO using the mansion as a staging area for the series Gilded Age, and their shooting schedule running overtime, the Dark Shadows event would have to be postponed. Well, boo. We had nonrefundable plane tickets, so we decided there was nothing for it but to spend the long weekend in the Providence area anyhow.

Friday, November 15, 2024

These days, the only flights you can get at reasonable prices are the ones that depart for your destination before the ass-crack of dawn and return you home barely in time to catch the Late-Late Show. Brugger and I hit the road for Greensboro's Piedmont Triad International Airport well before sun-up this morning, bound for Providence by way of Detroit on Delta Airlines. Fortunately, our flights went off without a hitch, and we arrived at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport a good half-hour early. Once we'd retrieved our bags, we picked up our rental car and went on a desperate quest for lunch, for the Great Starvation was upon us. We found acceptable fare — fish & chips for the Old Dude, mac & cheese for Brugger — at a little Irish pub called Sullivan's Publick House in Pawtucket, not far from our lodgings. Upon checking my geocaching app to see if any caches lurked nearby, I discovered there was one just across the street! Needless to say, I zoomed straight over and made quick work of it.

The only hitch of the day came when we arrived at our AirB&B in Pawtucket. Check-in time was 2:00 p.m., and we arrived at 2:45 p.m., only to find the place hadn't been cleaned. We immediately messaged our host, who figured there must have been some miscommunication with AirB&B regarding the timing, so he saw to it that everything was promptly set right. We planned to head into Providence proper anyway, and it wasn't very long before he let us know everything had been taken care of. Yay! This was a disconcerting greeting, to say the least, but we were pleased that our host rectified the situation before it could become a serious issue.

For our part, we made our way southward to Swan Point Cemetery, to the resting place of H.P. Lovecraft, which I figured I ought to visit at least once in this lifetime. Some thoughtful geocacher had designated the grave a virtual cache (a cache with no physical container; instead of signing a log, you answer questions about the specific location). Upon our arrival, we discovered a passel of turkeys madly running about the graves, perhaps hoping to have the place renamed "Turkey Point." Probably not gonna happen.

Once done, we made our way into downtown Providence, where I led Kim on a little tour of the area where NecronomiCon 2024 had been held a few months ago. Our first destination was Reiners Bar & Game Room at the Graduate (formerly the Biltmore) Hotel. It's a lovely bar, and their dirty gin martini rocked. After a little roaming around, we drove back to Pawtucket, where we settled on Rasoi Indian Restaurant for dinner. Since I've consumed more than my share of dead critter recently, I decided on the Vegetable Biryani, which was good, but I sure did miss the lamb, which is my preferred protein in the dish.

I found one more cache on our way back to our AirB&B, which — true to his word — our host had thoroughly cleaned and otherwise prepared it for us as it should have been.

And now, exhaustion sets in. At least this kind of exhaustion, unlike the brand of exhaustion we've been otherwise suffering lately, is quite welcome.

Turkeys run wild at Swan Point Cemetery

Providence by night

Saturday, November 16, 2024
Our B&B is generally comfortable, the bed in particular, but the walls are thin, and some of the noises from the surrounding environment are a bit more than one might care to hear in the middle of the night. Still, when I woke up this morning, I felt generally well-rested, for which I was glad, as we had a busy day of winging it planned — well, winging it but for a highly anticipated lunch appointment with a certain New Englander of our acquaintance.

 

Ms. B. needed a new computer mouse, so we set out about ten o'clock and picked up a mouse at a Staples just down the way. Then we drove over to nearby Benefit Street, specifically to visit number 135, which served as the inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft's "The Shunned House" (1924). The house was built in 1763 by Stephen Harris and owned by John Mawney, for whom it is named. Lovecraft's connection with the house came by way of his Aunt Lillian Clark, who lived there from 1919 to 1920.

135 Benefit Street: H.P. Lovecraft's "Shunned House"

We took some photos of the house and wandered around Benefit Street, where I also claimed a very cool virtual cache in the graveyard of the nearby Episcopal church. Kimberly and I both loved the atmosphere of the neighborhood, especially since many houses were still decorated for Fall and/or Halloween. A few already had Christmas decorations up.

From there, we proceeded down to Wickenden Street, near Brown University, so Ms. B. could fit in some shopping and I — yes, you guessed it — some geocaching. We both ended up very pleased with the results of our respective endeavors.

A little before 1:00 p.m., we headed back into downtown, where we met longtime friend and fellow writer, Tony Tremblay, who so kindly drove two and a half hours just to visit with us. We had settled in advance on dining at Durk's Bar-B-Q, where we now enjoyed a lengthy lunch and some great conversation. Then we migrated a short distance up the road to have drinks at 110 Grill, which I'd enjoyed visiting when I was here back in August for NecronomiCon.

A portion of the graveyard behind the Episcopal Church

Mr. T., Old Dude, Nice Lady

Once we had bid Tony a fond farewell, Brugger fit in a little more shopping at Providence Place Mall. We then decided to head back toward Wickenden Street, as it offered lots of options for drinking, dining, and geocaching. We had hoped to hit a coffee shop for a shot of caffeine, but the couple we found had just closed for the day. So we drowned our coffee woes by way of a Chardonnay for the lady and an Old Fashioned for the Old Dude at a nice little joint called The Point Tavern. Once done, it was still a hair too early for dinner, so we took a nice stroll out to the pedestrian bridge over the Providence River, where I snagged a couple of more caches. Then we walked back and found a fine dinner at Champa Thai/Laotian restaurant.

That was about all we had in us for the evening, and Kim had some work to catch up on, so we returned to our lodgings, where Kim worked and I blogged.

Till tomorrow, friends...

Another beautiful evening in Providence, viewed from the pedestrian bridge over the Providence River

Sunday, November 17, 2024
Brugger and I have noticed over the past couple of days that, wherever you go in Providence, the air is filled with the distinctive aroma of pot smoke, even when you're in a car. Mind you, this is not a complaint.

Our target this morning was Newport, about 45 minutes south of Providence. As mentioned previously, our original plan for this trip had been to attend a Dark Shadows gathering at Seaview Terrace, but HBO's filming schedule squashed that event. Since neither Ms. B. nor I have been to the house before, we decided to make our way to it and at least check out the exterior. So, we set our sights on the Ruggles Avenue address and headed out fairly early this morning. Sure enough, the property was closed off to visitors, but there are several areas where one can take decent photos, and so... many photos I took. I hope we'll manage to attend some future DS event there and can look forward to visiting the interior whenever that might happen.

After roaming about Seaview for a while, we headed into Newport proper. Ms. B. needed to find a CVS, so that we did, and once she'd accomplished her mission, it was lunchtime. We happened to see La Forge Casino Restaurant just across the street from the pharmacy, so we decided to give it a try. We both had burgers, which were pretty good, and I had a bloody mary, which was very good.

After that, we needed some exercise, so we set our sights on the Cliff Walk along Newport's eastern coastline. There was easy access at the end of Ruggles Avenue, near Seaview, so we parked there and started walking northward. A short distance on, we arrived at the clusters of rocks in the ocean that appear in the Dark Shadows opening titles. Several geocaches hid along the walkway, and I managed to claim the ones along our route. We hoofed it for several miles, so I figured that maybe we managed to work off a french fry or two from lunch.

Some of the rocks that appear in the opening titles of Dark Shadows, seen from the Cliff Walk

Old Dude and Ms. B. not quite on the rocks but still cool. Sort of.

One of the many mansions in Newport's Gilded Age area

Salve Regina University uses many of the Gilded Age mansions for their academic and administrative buildings as well as student housing

But wait! Oh, no! Ms. B. wanted to check out a local winery/brewery not too far away, so after our walk, we ventured up the road to Newport Vineyards & Restaurant, where we likely undid any calorie loss from our walk. She had a Riesling, which, unfortunately, she found unimpressive. Rather than wine, I sampled one of their IPAs, which was quite good, though — like so many items in the area — way overpriced for what you actually get. 

Heavens! We still had plenty of time to kill before our evening dinner reservation, so we ventured to the southeast end of the peninsula and found an interesting beach (and several geocaches). While I hunted caches, Ms. B. wandered the beach to hunt intriguing shells. We both found what we sought. This activity took us till about 4:00 p.m., and since we had a 5:30 dinner reservation at the Black Pearl restaurant (whose exterior doubled for the Blue Whale bar in Dark Shadows), we headed in the direction of the waterfront district to see what kind of trouble we might get into there.

As it turned out, a couple of Adventure Lab caches awaited us, one of which led to a few locations used in the movie Hocus Pocus 2, which both Ms. B. and I find fun to watch. The second AL took us on a little walking tour of the area, which we enjoyed.

Come dinnertime, we wandered over to Black Pearl, a cozy and atmospheric nautical-themed restaurant — very apt for the Blue Whale's real-life counterpart. We considered the numbers in the menu's price column mighty high, but we had counted on this and bit the bullet. Ms. B. had shrimp & pasta, which — rather sadly — didn't quite meet her expectations, especially since it's a dish she's very fond of. I had shrimp cocktail and Clams Casino, both of which were excellent, but I'd say that, for the price, the quantity came up a bit short. Still, for something like this, we figured we were paying for the experience as much as the food, and we did very much enjoy the experience.

Just down the way, we'd seen an Italian place that served gelato, and since we both love gelato... that is where we ended up. Giusto was its name, and yeah, that was some mighty fine gelato.

After a satisfying day and evening of mostly winging it, we made our way back to our Pawtucket lodgings, where we repeated last night's procedure: Ms. B. got some work done, and I blogged.

Try not to breathe too much of that pot smoke out there!

Looking down Newport's Thames Street

The Oliver Hazard Perry, docked in Newport

The Black Pearl Restaurant, a.k.a. The Blue Whale in Dark Shadows

Old Dude and a lovely ale, spinning Dark Shadows yarns for the nice lady

Monday, November 18, 2024
"On the far horizon were the open countryside’s purple slopes. Against these, some two miles away, rose the spectral hump of Federal Hill, bristling with huddled roofs and steeples whose remote outlines wavered mysteriously, taking fantastic forms as the smoke of the city swirled up and enmeshed them."

—H.P. Lovecraft, "The Haunter of the Dark"

On our last day in Providence, we still had some time to explore because we needed to check out of our AirB&B by 10:00 a.m., and our flight didn't depart until 7:20 p.m. Once we had fulfilled our clean-up duties and checked out from our lodgings, Brugger and I drove over to Federal Hill, first to claim a couple of caches — one being another stage of the Hocus Pocus 2 Adventure Lab cache (nothing more than a Walgreen's store, which had been done up for the film). Then I got it into my head that we should find the location of the long-demolished St. John's Catholic Church, which had served as the inspiration for the Starry Wisdom Church in "The Haunter of the Dark," which is perhaps my favorite H.P. Lovecraft story. This endeavor proved not at all difficult because, once I determined its actual address (at Atwells and Sutton Street), we found St. John's Park and an inlaid panel in the sidewalk that gave a brief history of the church. It's been over thirty years since the building was demolished, but I can't say I didn't feel touched by the "Shadow From the Steeple," to use the title of Robert Bloch's follow-up story...

Brugger in St. John's Park, the site of the old church that served as HPL's inspiration for the setting
of "The Haunter of the Dark"

Old Dude hanging with Roger Williams, founder of
The First Baptist Church

We found lunch at a little Italian grocer/eatery called Roma which was so Italian it felt more like being back in the boot than in Providence, Rhode Island. A Caprese chicken sandwich for Ms. B. and a pork loin sandwich with grilled onions and provolone per me, both excellent.

There was a virtual geocache at Providence's First Baptist Church, the very first Baptist church in the United States, established by Roger Williams in 1638; the present building was constructed in 1774–1775. Back in August, the opening ceremonies for NecronomiCon took place at the church, though I did not go after the virtual at the time because, after the festivities that day, the skies opened up and dumped a big old gullywasher upon us mere mortals.

With a good bit of time still to kill before hauling ourselves to the airport, we parked ourselves at Murphy's Tavern downtown, where the Lovecraft Ezine guys and I had several times parked ourselves and sank all manner of drinks during NecronomiCon downtimes. Brugger and I sank some fine spirits here, and I provided her with a few shivers by reading to her the first few paragraphs of Lovecraft's "Haunter of the Dark," which described the locations we had visited today as they appeared back in his day.

And then it was off to PVD. After returning our rental car, we checked in and settled ourselves at the airport's Providence Provisions restaurant (which I had seen a lot of back in August when I was stuck at the airport for two days) and fortified ourselves with a decent meal. Thankfully, this trip, our two flights were not only on time but early, so instead of 2:00 a.m., we arrived home at a little after 1:00 a.m.

For a trip that turned out to be something altogether different than what we originally anticipated, this one goes into our personal annals as one of our most enjoyable ventures — other than the fact Brugger was plagued by a lingering cough even after she'd gotten over the previous week's cold. Now, given the direction this country has taken, who knows if she and I will have the resources to indulge in such excellent outings as this in the coming days; hell, if she loses her medical insurance, thanks to at least half the country's fierce and foolish battle against any kind of universal health coverage, almost every penny that we've previously been able to pump into the economy will be going straight to healthcare. If this kind of thing is what "making America great" means to you, then you can go get fucked by an orangutan, and thank you very much.

Adieu, until next time.

Our last round in Providence, at Murphy's Tavern

Advance Review Copies of The House at Black Tooth Pond from Crossroad Press

CALLING ALL REVIEWERS: You can get an advance review copy of The House at Black Tooth Pond (due February 11, 2025) at no charge from Crossroad Press here: crossroadpress.com/review-arcs/

(Please note that Crossroad Press requests that you include reviewer/review information to verify you intend to review the book.)

A Challenge

Philosophically, I am in absolute agreement with my wife, Kimberly, whom I shall quote below. That said, if things transpire as they seem destined to, and she can't get the health insurance she needs, then the grudge I hold will be profound. And that's just one wee part that might affect us personally and gravely. Many, many others are going to be hurt, badly and so needlessly.

I'm going into this Trump presidency with exactly the same attitude I did the last one. People who have voted for Trump said he will make our lives better and the United States better. Prove it to me. And prove it to me with things that aren't already on the upswing...immigration is now at the same level as it was when Biden/Harris took over, inflation has slowed, and violent crime is down. (I've fact checked these statements with multiple sources.) So Trump ran on a platform that he would fix things that are already fixed. Prove it to me that he will improve my healthcare. Prove it to me that he won't be an authoritarian dictator who takes away the rights of so many people. Unlike many, I can absorb information and change my views according to that information. I'll be waiting for proof."—Kimberly Ann Brugger

There are a million issues I could talk about, vent about, but I fear it would be belaboring the obvious for anyone with eyes to see, and simply fatigue me further. I have no illusions that we, personally, as well as the entire country are going to have issues challenges to confront that we certainly would not if the election had gone the other way. But that's a non-issue now.

Yesterday, I headed out early to work the polls for local city council candidate — and winner — Julian Mei, an acquaintance of mine who I believe will be a fine shot of tonic for Martinsville. There were five candidates for three positions, and sadly, the other two were not his first choices (or mine), but I believe the council will still be in a much better place in the coming year.

Last night, Brugger and I went to Wild Magnolia, one of our local pubs, to watch the city council election results and hang out with some of the candidates. It was, as you might expect, both rewarding and disappointing.

Today, my stress/anxiety level is down some from yesterday simply because certain unknowns are now known. There are plenty of unknowns to come, but we'll just have to deal with them as they come down the pike. This morning, I had business to take care of at the bank in uptown, so once that was done, I took a long, relaxing walk partly through town and partly on the nearby Dick & Willie Trail. The temperature out there is ridiculously warm for November (yet climate change is "not our problem!"), but some of the foliage remains purty.

A Slightly Belated Parkway Picnic

Traditionally, Brugger and I visit the Blue Ridge Parkway in October, as a gear-up to Halloween. Last month, the Parkway was closed after damage caused by Hurricane Helene, but at least in the area nearest us, the closing was brief. Still, our schedules were pretty hectic this past month, so we missed going prior to All Hallows. However, more or less on the spur of the moment, to decided to drive up yesterday to Villa Appalaccia and Chateau Morrisette, our two favorite BRP destinations. Sadly, the restaurant at Mabry Mill closed a while back — having breakfast there has been an autumn tradition since my childhood — and there are no definite plans as yet for it to reopen. I certainly hope it will.

The weather turned out perfect for the outing, and though the fall foliage is a bit past its peak, some beautiful color lingered in various areas. At Villa Appalaccia, we did our customary wine tasting, grabbed a bottle of their San Giovese, and had an excellent picnic lunch in the walled terrace a short distance away from the main building (which we always think of as "ours" because, well, it's usually empty except for us, which makes it ours). Then we made the very short truck over to Chateau Morrisette, did the customary tasting, and drank a single glass each of Red Mountain Laurel, which is one of their sweet wines — something we almost never do — but since we'd already had our lunch and some dry red, we figured the Mountain Laurel would make a good dessert. It did.

There were several Adventure Lab stages in some very familiar haunts along the BRP, so on our way back home, we stopped off to grab the stages and take photos at some of the overlooks. We hit them at a lovely time, as the setting sun painted lovely colors out in the valley.

I do hope we'll have a chance to get back up there before winter weather sets in. And for the love of God, for all our sakes, please vote Blue tomorrow.

"Sky of Thunder, Island of Blood" — FREE!

Sad that Halloween is over? We had a really nice one, so I sure am! So, I thought, why not offer up some free, monster-ific fiction? "Sky of Thunder, Island of Blood" is a short story I wrote some years ago, which originally appeared as an Amazon Shorts, which — sadly — no longer exists. This one is a thrilling World War II tale with a touch of the outré. The link below will take you to a Google folder where you can access either Epub or PDF files, whichever is your preference.

For the cover art, I picked up a royalty-free photo of a Bf109, took a photo of one of my Rodan monster figures, and did a little Photoshopping.

Hope you enjoy the tale!

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Download "Sky of Thunder, Island of Blood" FREE!

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THE HOUSE AT BLACK TOOTH POND Now Up for Pre-Order!

Artist Charles Hill's rendering of "Black Tooth Pond" (a.k.a. Lester Pond), as it appeared in the 1970s/1980s

My new novel, The House at Black Tooth Pond, is scheduled for release by Macabre Ink (the horror imprint of Crossroad Press) on February 11, 2025. The ebook and paperback editions are now up for pre-order here. Just for shits and giggles, I thought I'd write up a little missive about the novel's setting. Also note that the novel is an expansion of my short story of the same title, which recently appeared in the anthology Shunned Houses, edited by Katherine Kerestman and S.T. Joshi.

The World of Black Tooth Pond
"Black Tooth Pond" is a name I coined many years ago for a small body of water hidden in the woods behind Martinsville High School. My introduction to it came by way of a tenth-grade biology class outing to conduct water-quality experiments. I'd had no idea the place existed, and finding this pond, shrouded in morning mist, an array of black, tooth-like tree trunks protruding from one end, really fired my imagination. The name "Black Tooth Pond" immediately sprang to mind, and as far as I was concerned, that became its official moniker. I discovered in later years that it was known as "Lester Pond," after the name of the landowner. In 2010, I wrote a fairly lengthy blog about my subsequent adventures at and around the pond, which you may find here.

Last year, after more than a decade, I decided to check it out again (blog entry here). To my dismay, I found that, while the pond still existed, all the woods around it had been clear-cut (as have all too many pristine woodlands in this county). I was informed that those woods were considered valuable only for their timber, which is, in my book, among the most deplorable attitudes of the entire human species, so the landowners can go fuck themselves. But that's a whole 'nuther story.

A fictional version of Black Tooth Pond became a semi-regular setting in my tales of Aiken Mill/Sylvan County, Virginia, a location loosely based on Martinsville and the surrounding counties of Patrick, Henry, Franklin, and Floyd.

Left: Black Tooth Pond (a.k.a. Lester Pond) in December 2010; Right: the pond in November 2023

The House of Cabiness
The place I call the House of Cabiness — the "haunted house" of the title — was an old homestead out in another part of Henry County that my brother, Phred, and I discovered back around 1990 while roaming the backroads in his pickup truck, which was a regular activity in those days, oftentimes with his dog Luther accompanying. I'm not going to state that we necessarily went out to the boonies to fire up illicit substances or anything, but... well, sometimes, we might have done some not-at-all smart things.

On one of our nighttime outings, we found a little dirt road that led back into some pretty deep woods, so we decided to follow it. We could only drive so far before the road petered out into a rough footpath, so we parked the truck and continued a piéd. After a while, I noticed that the silhouettes of the nearby trees against the starry sky became curiously boxlike, and I realized I was seeing the contours of a totally overgrown old house. Phred and I both loved finding such "haunted" places, so we wandered around the exterior of the structure as best we could with only cigarette lighters to light our way. Much in the way of Black Tooth Pond, this old place captured our imaginations, and so we decided to return to the house in daylight.

I don't recall whether it was the next day or sometime later, but anyway, Phred and I did return, this time with flashlights, and made a thorough exploration of the inside. Did you ever see The Blair Witch Project? Well, the inside of this house looked very much like that. We found a huge stack of old mail, twenty to thirty years old, some unopened, addressed to various members of the Cabiness family. (In the novel, I changed this to "Caviness," simply because the "cabin" part of the name somehow seemed a little too much given the title of the tale.)

The most ridiculous part of all this was that, not long afterward, one of my brother's college friends, who was getting married, decided to come visit Phred the night before his wedding, and — for his de facto "bachelor party" — we ventured out to the house. The next thing I knew, my brother, his friend, an additional friend, and I all piled into that house with not one flashlight to our names and went wandering about. I know not how, but we avoided the plentiful, bottomless holes in the floors; went up the fucking rickety stairs; and, somehow, did not die.

I returned to the place a few times after that and took some photographs, both inside and out, but that was all within a few months of our original adventure. I'm quite certain that the house no longer exists; for one thing, it was on the verge of falling down over thirty years ago, and for the second thing, Google Maps shows that in that area — sadly, as around Black Tooth Pond — all the woods have been fucking cut down. God awmighty, sometimes I despise humanity for the damage we inflict on our very home.

Anyhoo, all this gives you a bit of backstory for the settings you'll find in both the story "The House at Black Tooth Pond," and the novel of the same name. I surely do hope this whets your appetite.

Bye now!

Artist Charles Hill's rendering of the House of Cabiness, "cleaned-up"

Left: My pen & ink rendering of the old house, circa 1990; Right: a photo of the actual location, circa 1990

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Pre-Order The House at Black Tooth Pond
(ebook and paperback)

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Halloween Is in the Air

Yesterday, I trucked out to Fieldale, a few miles northwest of Martinsville, to set up some new geocaches — an Adventure Lab with five stages, and two physical caches — which afforded me a fair amount of trail hiking. The woods are just starting to look like fall, with a smidgen of color, which I expect will mature a bit by the end of the week.

The Fieldale Smith River Trail is my favorite local hiking spot, as it runs along the scenic Smith River for several miles, and there's lots of interesting terrain on either side. Several of my geocaches lurk out there, so after double-checking the coordinates and clues on my new ones, I took the opportunity to hike out to check on my older ones as well. Happily, all were fine. The best thing about the Fieldale trail is that it passes the old Koehler warehouse, known to me and those in the know as "The Spooky Place," which at one time doubled as the local Halloween haunted castle.

Today, to help establish the proper mood, while I was hiking, I put on my Amazon Music Halloween music playlist. This did the trick; Halloween is now officially in my blood for the season.

On the way home, I noticed that the local First Baptist Church was selling pumpkins, and since their pumpkin patch looked reasonably sincere (probably the best we'll get around here), I stopped in and purchased a couple of nice pumpkins. The Jack o' Lantern I've had out front for almost a couple of weeks is starting to look like a toothless old man, so the replacements are timely.

I hope your Halloween season is looking as awesomely grim as ours is.

A couple of the nearby haunted islands viewed from the Fieldale Smith River Trail

Coming in February 2025: THE HOUSE AT BLACK TOOTH POND

“Welcome to Aiken Mill, Virginia—The Cold Case Capital of the World.”
My new novel, The House at Black Tooth Pond, is scheduled for release by Macabre Ink (the horror imprint of Crossroad Press) in February 2025...and yes, I have the excitement!

AIKEN MILL, VA: A legend-haunted town in Sylvan County, located in a remote mountainous corner of the state. Now, a mutilated body has turned up in the town. During his investigation, Sheriff Bryce Parrott discovers frightening clues that lead him to believe that some inhuman force may be responsible for the killing.

While exploring the darkest corners of Sylvan County, psychology professor Martin Pritchett and his brother, Phillip, happen upon a crumbling, century-old house beside a body of water called Black Tooth Pond. A strange compulsion leads both men back to the house time and time again, but neither can remember any of the events that occur there.

As both Sheriff Parrott and the Pritchett brothers attempt to solve their respective mysteries, their paths begin to converge — paths that lead directly to the ancient, foreboding house at Black Tooth Pond.

Pre-orders will be available very soon. Stay tuned for more... much more!... about The House at Black Tooth Pond!

"Stephen Mark Rainey's talent is on display here like never before. His masterful use of imagery transported me to shadow-haunted Sylvan County. I heard the eerie cry of the whippoorwill, that cry that marks the presence of the evil entity that roams the woods and lurks within the walls of the house at Black Tooth Pond. You will hear it, too."—Mike Davis, The Lovecraft eZine

Cover art by J. Edward Neill; pen & ink rendering by me, circa 1990, of the actual house that is the basis for the setting in this novel.

Appalachian Horror Story: The Witch of Ferrum Woods

A little while back, I saw the image above posted on Facebook, which immediately piqued my interest. Ferrum College is my old alma mater, about thirty minutes from Martinsville, out in the boonies of Franklin County. During my two years at the college, I frequently explored the extensive woodlands in the area, sometimes hoping to find interesting critters, such as snakes (which I often did), sometimes to indulge in certain substances of not-necessarily-legal status (at least at the time). In more recent years, as an aficionado of hiking in deep woods, I've returned to those old stomping grounds many times, particularly when fellow geocachers have set out new caches.

I had bought tickets for a 9:00 p.m. starting time, so about an hour in advance, Brugger and I hit the dark, isolated backroads that lead to Ferrum. Little about that drive has changed since I was a student there, forty-plus years ago. Once we arrived at the parking area, a short distance from the campus, we found ourselves a little bamboozled — as did several other folks who had arrived at about the same time. The instructions were to park and follow the lights to the registration tent... except that we could find no lights! Eventually, we decided to follow the nearby paved road into the woods, and there, finally, we spied a line of glow sticks along the roadside, which led us where we needed to be, about a quarter-mile down.

The event info indicated that hot dogs, popcorn, and drinks would be available, and since we suffered from the Great Starvation, we destroyed a couple of hot dogs while we waited. I got to talking to a couple of the folks at registration, one of whom was a local author, so needless to say, the conversation turned to writing. Several years ago, I gave a talk to one of the English classes, for which I received a respectable stipend, and I indicated that if such an opportunity should arise, I'd love to do it again. Although I didn't run into him at the site, one of the professors involved in the Friends of Ferrum Park group, who sponsored the haunted trail, was a gentleman whom I'd interviewed for the college newspaper back in the days when I fancied myself a budding journalist. It's nice to know that at least one faculty member from back when is still there and going strong. And the Friends of Ferrum Park's mission is one that is near and dear to my heart, for it is devoted to preserving the natural areas there rather than allowing needless commercial development to destroy them.

The backstory for the haunted event was that a couple of students had gone missing, and that weird, uncanny forces might have been responsible for their disappearances. Our hosts gave us the unfortunate victims' descriptions as well as "special" flashlights to help us find our way in the darkness. Our lights indeed occasionally revealed certain sinister entities lurking in the darkness. Some of them were indeed frightening — at least to our companions! At one point, I ended up behind them and inadvertently startled them. After some screaming, one of them whispered in relief, "Ah, it's just the horror writer." That kind of made my night.

While the trail setup wasn't all that sophisticated, it was sure as hell fun, and the decidedly creepy atmosphere helped scare up some much-needed Halloween spirit. I do hope this event will become a regular Halloween tradition.

Once safely back at our starting point, our party still intact — sadly, having found no trace of our missing hikers — Brugger and I returned to Martinsville (passing my favorite Spooky Place along the way) and stopped at Renewal Brewing, where we topped off the evening with a couple of brews.

This is Halloween, this IS Halloween...