AuthorCon VII — March 5–7, 2027

'Tis done—I have reserved a vendor table in the ballroom at Scares That Care: AuthorCon VII, coming up March 5–7, 2027, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Williamsburg. I have attended all the Williamsburg Scares That Care events, so now, each one feels kind of like a homecoming. This past year's con was among my best ever, sales-wise and fun-wise (spoiled only by the fact that Brugger was not there because she had to go to Michigan after her mom broke her leg).

 

Guests of honor for AuthorCon VII include V. Castro, Eric LaRocca, Erin Louis, and John Skipp. I'm sure more will be added in the coming months.

 

Anyway, I'll be there (hopefully with Ms. B. this time), and I hope you will too. 

NecronomiCon Providence 2026 Is Taking Shape

NecronomiCon Providence 2026 is coming — August 13–16 — and Ms. B. and I will be there to plague the existence of everyone there. The con is spread between the Omni Providence Hotel and the Graduate Hotel (formerly the Biltmore). The programming schedule has not been finalized yet, but I will be participating on two panels and possibly (hopefully) having a reading.

 

At the last NecronomiCon Providence (2024), I stayed at the Omni, which is a fabulous hotel, but this year, Brugger and I are planning to remain a few extra days to avail ourselves of some of the nearby locales we'd like to visit, such as Salem, Massachusetts and, possibly, Newport, Rhode Island, again, which we very much enjoyed on our November 2024 visit. So, to save a bit of money, we've booked a nice AirBnB on nearby Federal Hill, which we visited on our previous trip. As any H.P. Lovecraft reader knows, Federal Hill was featured in his writings, most notably, "The Haunter of the Dark" (1935), which is among my favorites of his tales.

 

The panels on my schedule, as of now, are the following: 

PANEL: Drifting Down the River of Night’s Dreaming: Karl Edward Wagner. Karl Edward Wagner (American, 1945–1994) was a poet, editor, and publisher born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Wagner is known for his Sword and Sorcery anti-hero Kane, the Mystic Swordsman, and more contemporary horror tales that often drew on his personal demons and training as a psychiatrist. Wagner co-founded Carcosa Press and was executor of Manley Wade Welman’s literary estate until his death. He edited many anthologies, including fourteen years of The Year’s Best Horror. Our panelists discuss Wagner, his influences, and his impact on horror, fantasy, and the greater weird. Panelists: Douglass Winter, F. Brett Cox, John Langan, Jordan Douglas Smith, Stephen Mark Rainey (Moderator) 

PANEL: In Mountains Older than Bones: Appalachian Gothic. Rightly or wrongly, on America’s cultural map, Appalachia is the equivalent to “Here there be monsters”--a region assumed not only to be unknown but perhaps also unknowable–where we credulously suspend our own disbelief. Panelists discuss what defines Appalachian Gothic, good and bad examples of the genre, and why the region has such a hold on the popular imagination. Panelists:Jess Lewis, Mike Allen (Moderator), Shanna Germain, Stephen Mark Rainey, Tonya Monteforte

Note that a cruel miscreant had the gall to designate me the moderator of the Karl Edward Wagner panel. I'm not fond of moderating, and I hadn't expressed any interest in it, but, well, there it is. I had a fair amount of personal experience with Karl, particularly since he wrote the column, "The View From Carcosa," for Deathrealm magazine back in the day.

So, I'll update information about the con as I get it. Hope to see a bunch of you...to plague you with my existence. 

Sweet Revenge

No, the title of this blog entry has nothing to do with the dish in the photo, really, other than the fact that the the shrimpies you see there served as a something of a little reward for taking said revenge. Last Tuesday, after dumping Brugger at the Greensboro airport for her parental maintenance visit in Michigan, I went geocaching in the Caswell County Gamelands (see "Alone Again, Naturally") and ended up stymied by this one dastardly cache ("Slot Machine," GCGCBPQGN), despite it having a relatively low difficulty rating. I hunted the damned thing for an ungodly amount of time, all the while focused more on the information in the cache description than the coordinates, mainly because the former struck me as more vital. How wrong I was.

 

Apparently, I completely misinterpreted the information on the cache page (as did another experienced geocacher), and thus the difficulty. Anyway, the cache owner later reached out to me and shared some useful intel, so today, I ventured back down to the gamelands and walked right to cache. I mean, I didn't even have to hunt. Oy. The shame of it was that, the other day, I stood inches from the hide and somehow failed to lay eyes on it. Oy. So, actually, the title :"Sweet Revenge" might be more aptly read as "Shameful Revenge."

 

Anyway, the reason for the outing was that friend/fellow author Samaire Wynne was selling books at Danville's Festival in the Park, and she'd invited me to stop by. So, I did, after making a relatively short detour to the cache in question. Since it was lunchtime when I arrived at the park, after a nice visit with Samaire, I popped over to one of the nearby food trucks and procured the plate of vittles pictured above. The sea bugs were pretty danged good.

 

And that's the whole story. See you in the future. 

New, Revised Edition of BALAK in the Pipe

Back in 1992, after having spent several years writing exclusively short fiction, I buckled down and wrote my first novel, Balak. My agent at the time very quickly found a mass-market publisher who was interested in the book, and for a while, it looked like its publication was in the bag. Unfortunately, before I even signed the contract — as so frequently happens in the publishing business — the imprint that would have launched Balak went the ways of the wind, leaving the novel without a home. Sometime afterward, though, Wildside Press, a much smaller but prolific and respected publishing house, picked up the novel, and released it in 2000 (for reasons unknown, Amazon.com shows Balak's publication date as 2003, but that is incorrect), along with my short fiction collection, The Last Trumpet.

 

Recently, I've had a mind to do something more with the book because the character, Balak (whom I appropriated from the Bible), has played a significant role in a number of my works of fiction — including a very new one. Since Wildside Press has had the rights to the book for... OMG, twenty-six years (and has done very well with it, I'm pleased to say)... I decided to reclaim the paperback and ebook rights (Crossroad Press has the audiobook rights, and it is currently available), revise it so that it reads less like the inaugural outing of a very green novelist, and repackage it. The first step is complete, and I have also secured the rights an apt piece of art by the incomparable M. Wayne Miller, whose work adorns several of my book covers as well as numerous stories I published in Deathrealm magazine back in the day. Note that the cover image above is a dummy I created with Wayne's art; it is subject to change.

 

The long and short of it is that I am currently in the revision process, and once it's all done, Crossroad Press will release the new paperback and ebook editions (the audiobook will remain the original). I anticipate having this all in the bag in the next couple of months, so it will hopefully to precede the release of Broken Barriers, which is also in the pipe.

So, I hope this will be cause for celebration and that you unfortunate souls who were exposed to the original product will avail yourself of the new edition rather than go the rest of your lives wondering what the hell was wrong with that peculiar young writer.*

 

*Now, you may rightly wonder what the hell is wrong with that peculiar old writer.

CRYPTIDS... Thar She Blows!

KJK Publications has just released the latest anthology in their "Classic Monsters" series, Cryptids, and it includes my story, "The Devil Flies in Strix," a wicked tale of inhuman goings-on set in the Old West. At the moment, it's available only as an ebook, but the paperback is on the way very soon.

 

From the publisher:

They have always been there. Just beyond the the treeline. Beneath dark water. In the places humans don’t map.

In this chilling eighth installment of the Classic Monsters series, editor/publisher Kevin J. Kennedy turns his attention to the unknown beasts that haunt global folklore as well as current news reports, delivering a collection of relentlessly powerful horror stories.

A hiking expedition becomes a desperate flight from intelligent, pack-hunting predators that move like something almost human. A rancher locked in a brutal war with a blood-drinking creature learns that monsters do not always choose the guilty. In the aftermath of war, a broken soldier is drawn toward ancient beings that may offer salvation — or something far older and more terrible than peace.

In a quiet lake, betrayal awakens a sleeping horror that does not forgive. In isolated corners of the world, grief, guilt, and fear serve as bait for entities that feed on what makes us human.

From shapeshifting killers that predate civilisation, to underground civilisations that blur the line between human and beast, to entities that mimic sound, speech, and emotion with unsettling precision.

Cryptids are not myths. They are warnings. And once you see them, they never stop looking back.

---

Order Cryptids from Amazon.com

---

Alone Again, Naturally

Well, not really alone; more a bachelor for a couple of weeks while Ms. B. returns to Michigan for another stint of looking after her parents. She had a dawn flight this morning, so we were up at 3:15 a.m. to get her to the airport in Greensboro. Her trip went smoothly, so there she is, and here I am...again. Next trip, sometime in July, I will be accompanying her. It's been quite a while since I was there.

 

Anyhoo, I decided to go after some new geocaches in the Caswell County Gamelands, a few miles northeast of Greensboro. It was a very foggy morning, and I got there right at dawn. The fog lifted shortly thereafter. I put in about four miles in pretty rugged terrain and found three out of the four new caches. The one I didn't find is probably in place, but the coordinates there were incredibly unstable—and I might have been hunting with only one eye open because...well...we got up at 3:15 a.m.

And now, I'm mystified by my computer going somehow wonky. When I booted it up a while ago, it appears a bunch of web fonts are not working on any browser. Far as I know, I changed nothing, and I've tried a number of recommended fixes, to no avail. Anyway, it's vexing me, and I would really like to get this cleared up because it's making working on the laptop difficult. Freakin' beast.

 

Addendum, 5/13: All is well with the fonts again. I dunno. Maybe some strange Google issue? Hope it doesn't happen again. 

Birthdays, Broken Ribs, and Broken Teeth

Kimberly's birthday and mine are (a few years) and one week apart, so after celebrating mine last week, it was her turn. Sadly, after the festivities last Saturday night, she tried to wrestle with me and fell off the bed, striking the corner of her nightstand and breaking three ribs in the process. So, she's had a rather painful week of it, though she's definitely improving.

On her birthday eve, we ventured to our regular Friday afternoon hangout, Hamlet Kitchen, where our friend Yvonne popped in to visit with us. Then we went for an excellent sushi dinner at Yamato Japanese Restaurant, which really hit the spot since it's been a long while since either of us have had sushi.

 

Yesterday, to begin her birthday festivities, we went up the street to visit briefly with friends Joe & Callie, who had helped celebrate my birthday last week. They have this thing called "Meat Day," for which they open their doors to just about anyone who dares enter, and Joe grills a variety of meats all day long. Brugger is not much of a Meatosaurus, but I am, so we sampled a few of the treats, which were awesome, and even Ms. B. approved.

 

From there, we headed to Greensboro, first to our regular hangout from our days in North Carolina, State Street Wine Company, and then for dinner at Pangaea Bistro, which we'd never tried before. Here, we met friends Terry & Beth, Joe & Suzy, and the "other" Mark & Kim. Yep! We definitely enjoyed the dining experience here...except, right at the end of the meal, I took a bite of very soft potato and broke a fucking tooth. Lower molar, busted right in two. So a trip to the dentist will be on the menu very shortly. Uggh.

 

To finish off the evening, we decided to return to State Street, where we hung out long enough to have another drink. We mellowed there for a good while so we'd have no worries about heading back home.

So, apart from unexpected body parts breaking, Brugger and I had damn nice celebrations this year. After all these years of birthdays, I think she's finally older than I am. Cheers!

BROKEN BARRIERS Completed!

I just slapped "THE END" on my 15th novel, Broken Barriers, to be released a bit later this year. This is the sequel to The House at Black Tooth Pond, which came out in 2025. I'll have the proofing, editing, and all that stuff to do, but the bulk of the book is finished. Might need a celebratory martini this evening!

Here's the teeny-tiniest of excerpts... 

Doctor Melissa “Mel” Crawford's deep green eyes lingered on Parrott’s for a few seconds. They sat across from each other at a small table by the front window of Willy’s Downtown Tavern, which offered a lovely view of the sprawling, two-century-old First United Methodist Church building across Main Street (the congregation of which had disapproved of the tavern’s proximity for a full half as many years). Doc Crawford had always looked far younger than her age, which he put at around forty…or maybe thirty…or maybe fifty…who knew? But since last month, several new lines and creases had formed at the corners of her eyes, and a few gray streaks ran through her short, wiry brown hair, so that she resembled a sagacious pixie. As the county medical examiner, she had borne more than her share of the FBI’s condemnation during its investigation of Aiken Mill’s missing six.

“When was the last time I trusted anyone?” Parrott asked.

“Well, you trusted me when I told you we were dealing with something wholly unexplainable at Black Tooth Pond. And when I advised you to call the FBI, you up and did it, against your better judgment. And when I said, ‘Let’s go out to dinner because you need cheering up,’ you accepted. At this point, I would have to call you exceedingly gullible—the fact that we were dealing with something wholly unexplainable notwithstanding.”

“Point taken, but our admittedly nasty intercourse with the FBI was inevitable. We were in over our heads.”

Doc Crawford snickered and raised her nearly full glass of Chardonnay. “To intercourse and being in over our heads.”

Parrott lifted his half-empty, no-longer-chilled mug of Thunder Knob IPA to touch her glass. He struck it a little harder than he intended and sloshed a smidgen of her pale gold-tinted wine onto the table. They both ignored it. A couple of seconds later, the last of his beer had vanished.

#

What? Another Barfday?!

Oh, come on. No way is it birthday time again. I'm pretty sure I turned 66 only a few days ago, and now I'm turning 67. What the fook? Yeah, I know, getting older is better than the alternative and all that, but the increasing speed at which these years keep zooming past is staggering. At this rate, I'm going to be a pile of cremains as of yesterday.

A few days back, I vaguebooked about certain hard times that were sucking out my very soul, and while I'm not entirely free of those issues, things are better. A lot better, for which I thank Yog. I'm going to say that my Birthday Eve last night was the best ever. No shit! Lately, Kimberly and I have been regularly spending Friday afternoons at nearby Hamlet Kitchen, a lovely local wine spot three minutes up the road, and so yesterday, we made it a little birthday celebration—just the two of us, but damn, it was nice. And tonight, we had good friends Joe & Callie over for dinner, drinks, and what amounted to a raucous rumble that almost resembled dancing. 

Kimberly very kindly gave one of her beautiful handmade cards for my birthday, and just above, you can see it on the living room bookcase, with a wee bit of support from Gabora and Baragon. Splendid! 

Her birthday is next Saturday, so we'll be celebrating that in some fashion as well. As you can see in the photo below, she's getting really, really old.

Oh, wait, that's the guy behind her. Sigh.

Brugger and Old Dude having a birthday eve celebration at Hamlet Kitchen

Old folks prior to the shenanigans

Made lemon-garlic shrimp for dinner

Old Dude, Brugger, Callie Hietala, Joe Keiper getting ready for dinner and whatever the hell it was that came afterward.

The whatever-the-hell-it-was that came afterward

The Mummy vs. Cotton

Yesterday afternoon, Brugger needed to hop over Danville to deliver some medical information to one of her doctors, so we decided, well, maybe we should both go and make a little event of it. So, she did her business, and then we headed over to the Danville Stadium Cinemas to check out Lee Cronin's The Mummy (comments below). That took us right to dinnertime, so off we went to Cotton at Riverside Mill, which has become one of our favorite restaurants. It's moderately upscale, with pleasing decor and a scenic deck that overlooks the Dan River and the nearby Riverwalk (which I have visited for the purposes of geocaching many, many times). They make a dynamite gin martini at Cotton, and Kim enjoyed the wine. My double smash burger and Kim's cast-iron-baked meatballs did more than the trick. An awesome dinner.

On Lee Cronin's The Mummy... It was moderately enjoyable, with some effective, creepy set pieces, particularly the VHS video of the ritual that sets things in motion. Mostly, it's a rehash of The Evil Dead Rise, which I liked a lot better. This one could stand to be about 30 minutes shorter, as it felt needlessly padded. A fine enough way to enjoy an afternoon, I'd say, but I have no desire to revisit it.

 

So, our more or less spontaneous Danville outing turned out to be most satisfying — as well as much-needed given the severe stress to which I alluded a couple of blog entries back. Till next time...

A very creepy Natalie Grace in Lee Cronin's The Mummy

I Wonder What That Is...

Well, it sure looks like something is out there at Black Tooth Pond.

My work on the sequel to The House at Black Tooth Pond is coming closer and closer to its end. Only a couple of chapters more, I believe, before I can slap "The End" on it. And then we shall see...

Another Election Day

Virginia held a special election yesterday to approve or disapprove new congressional districts, created primarily in response to the Republican redrawing of Texas districts to pick up new seats. For me, as a local elections official, this meant another big day working at my polling precinct (fortunately, it's at my old elementary school, a short distance up the road). Especially for an aging dude like me, it's pretty grueling. Up at 4:00 a.m. to be at the site by 5:00 a.m.; get the polling area all set up (we did some of it the day before); open at 6:00 a.m., work until 7:00 p.m., with a brief lunch break midday; and then break down/repack all the equipment, as well as tabulate/sign off on all the results. This means getting home a bit after 8:00 p.m.

It was a busy, busy day, with at least three times as many voters coming in as in the previous elections I've worked (about 650 at our precinct). The redistricting issue was the only one on the ballot, so at least tabulating and reporting the results weren't very complicated. There were two hardware snafus during the day (these seem almost inevitable on Election Day), but fortunately, they were relatively brief inconveniences. Oh, and one unhinged fellow who clearly wasn't a registered voter who had a little fit when we wouldn't allow him to vote without going through the full registration/affirmation of identity/provisional ballot process.

Having been on the other side of the voting booth, it's safe to say that while I'm not a fan of making voting difficult, I'm certainly a proponent of requiring a valid ID to vote. It's sensible and practical. No, not in the way the SAVE Act proposes. There's too much potential for disenfranchisement in the terms of that proposal. What we currently have in Virginia is absolutely sufficient.

I don't have it in me to editorialize on the results of the election, other than to say that what's good for the goose is good for the gander. I hate gerrymandering, but when one party starts using it so blatantly to gain an advantage, you cannot be surprised—or legitimately disapproving—that the other does so only to even the playing field. You start cheating, and cheating comes back to bite you.

At least in Virginia, the voters approved the measure. In other states, it was foisted upon them. That said, however the election might have turned out, I am happy to have been part of the democratic process that functioned exactly as it should. By the way, if you believe Trump's typical, unhinged rant about how the election was rigged, I have one question for you: How is the air there on Planet Moronica?

"Oh, C'mon...Let's Go Trample Osaka. It'll Be Fun!"

It's another adventure in Kaiju-rama. Not so much a diorama as a straight Photoshop job. It's the SH Monster Arts figures of Angilas and Godzilla in sort of a re-imagining of a scene from Godzilla Raids Again. Fun! Click on the photo for the larger image.

The Devil Flies in Strix

For reasons I really can't detail here, I'm just going to say that this has been one of the worst weeks of my life, and I'm feeling a little broken. The only reason I'm mentioning this here is because there's a certain catharsis in putting it out there. I'm sure that, given time, I'll be all right, although, in its way, this is a life-changing situation. Physically, I'm completely fine, though for right now, I will not deny that I'm feeling a bit of a wreck.

That said, this week I received a most-welcome acceptance from KJK Publishing for my story, "The Devil Flies in Strix," to appear in their upcoming Cryptids anthology later this year. It'll be my second cryptid-themed story to see publication this year; the first — also a "devil" story — titled "The Devil of Transylvania County," appeared in the recent Myths Reborn anthology from October Nights Press. KJK Publishing previously published my story, "Magic Eye," in their Horror Collection: Crystal Edition, in February 2025.

And in other decent news, I'm getting to the last leg of my sequel to The House at Black Tooth Pond, which I'm pretty sure will be titled Broken Barriers. The cover art has been acquired from artist J. Edward Neill, whose art also appeared on the cover of The House at Black Tooth Pond and Deathrealm: Spirits.

And speaking of spirits, hopefully, next entry, mine will be better.

"Threnody" Depiction by J.B. Lee

In April 2024, I posted an interview with artist J.B. Lee (see "A Graveside Chat with J.B. Lee"), showcasing a variety of his works, most of them in the cosmic horror and/or Lovecraftian mode. Just the other day, he posted one of his illustrations, which was based on my 1987 story, "Threnody," It perfectly captures the atmosphere and horrific elements of the tale, and I most heartily approve.

I originally published "Threnody" in Deathrealm issue #2, and it was subsequently reprinted in Robert M. Price's anthology, The New Lovecraft Circle (Fedogan & Bremer, 1996) under the title "The Spheres Beyond Sound." Now, I had used the title, "The Spheres Beyond Sound" for entirely different (though related), but Mr. Price liked it so much, he wondered if I'd allow "Threnody" to be published under that title. I reluctantly agreed, and to be sure, it's fitting for the story. Later, "Threnody" appeared, with its original title, in my collections The Last Trumpet (Wildside Press, 2000) and Fugue Devil: Resurgence (Black Raven Books, 2022).

Here is Mr. Lee's description of the art: "A scene from Stephen Mark Rainey's 'The Spheres Beyond Sound' ('Threnody'). And before any Stranger Things fans get started, that giant arachnoid critter is copyright 1987. Painted with the usual digital tablet. NO A.I."

Now, I don't know about any Stranger Things comparisons, but I will tell you that when I wrote "Threnody," I had never seen either The Evil Dead or The Evil Dead 2. However, it wasn't long after I wrote the story that I did, and I was mortified that a few of the plot elements corresponded a bit too closely for comfort (although, in all these years, I've never heard anyone make that comparison, for which I am relieved).

 

"Threnody" is not the first of my stories for which J.B. has created a lovely piece of art. His interpretation of my story "Stalker of the Wild Wind," which originally appeared in Robert M. Price's The Ithaqua Cycle (Chaosium, 1999) also does the tale more than justice. That's it below. (Click on the photos to enlarge.)

 

Thanks, J.B.

Destination: Rock Hill

Six weeks ago, Brugger's mom, Fern, fell and broke her leg in several places. Kimberly immediately booked a flight to Michigan so she could look after her folks, since her dad has physical issues of his own. For all these weeks, she's played nursemaid, household manager, and gofer; here at home, the cats and I have done our best to cope (it was certainly not easy on us cats!). Finally, at last, after this extended sojourn, Brugger returned home on Wednesday of this week.

Many moons ago, unaware that life would throw her a series of ripping curve balls, she had reserved a spot at an (expensive) arts & crafts retreat in Rock Hill, SC, for this weekend. So, rather than come and go with only a couple days back home, she decreed that I should accompany her to Rock Hill. And hey, how cool is this anyway? A weekend at a nice hotel (the Holiday Inn Rock Hill), numerous restaurants and bars to check out, geocaching in a place I'd never geocached, individual fun times when she's at her activity, and fun times together when she's not. For me, all this equals a great big woot!

Friday, April 10, 2026 

We headed out about nine o'clock this morning, stopping along the way for coffee, caches, peeing, and lunch at The Smoke Pit in Salisbury, NC. It's one of my favorite BBQ restaurants, which I'd discovered it while geocaching several years ago. This was Ms. B.'s inaugural visit, and happily, she found it as enjoyable as I do. Then we moved on and arrived at the hotel in Rock Hill about one o'clock in the afternoon. She set herself up in the big artsy-craftsy area, and I went geocaching. Of all things, there was supposed to be a cache hidden inside the bar of our hotel, except the bar had been recently remodeled, and the cache was a casualty of the alteration. Alas!

Still, several caches lay within reasonable walking distance, so I hoofed it to a handful of them, which I found. On my geocaching map, I saw a cache in a park along the Catawba River about a mile farther on, so I decided to go for it. It was a lovely walk on a trail through the woods, but when I arrived at ground zero, it was clear the cache was not there. Fuckboogers! That was one long walk for naught, caching-wise, but the scenery was gorgeous, so I figure it was anything but a waste of time.

 

By the time I reached the hotel, I'd put in over five miles on foot, so it was a relief to take a shower, kick back, and work on my sequel to The House at Black Tooth Pond. About five o'clock, Brugger reappeared, and we sought dinner in downtown Rock Hill at a place called Ay Papi Tacos & Tequila. Lord have mercy, the food, drink, and service here were incredible. I had a smoked margarita made with mezcal, served in a skull, that about sent me over the edge of ecstasy (see photo above). The two tacos I had—the Heat Wave (grilled chicken tossed in house spicy sauce, black garlic aioli, candied jalapeños, cilantro) and La Bebé Verde (Ox tail slow roasted in a tomatillo sauce, onions, cilantro, queso fresco)—rated as high on the Taco Fantastique scale as it gets.

 

Then we returned to the hotel, Brugger went down to continue her artsy-craftsy activities, and I worked on me book. A lovely fooking day, I must say. It's so, SO good to hang out with my wife (a.k.a. the Stranger) finally, at last, again.

Brisket sandwich, red slaw, and fried okra at The Smoke Pit in Salisbury, NC. Heavenly.

L: Grogu on the caching trail??? R: I wonder what that is in yonder crevice?

A purty sunset from our hotel room window, Friday, April 10, 2026

Saturday, April 11, 2026
There is an emotional downside to this particular date, and that is because my dad passed away on April 11, 2001. For me, April has historically been a bad month for losing loved ones. Apart from Dad, several good friends and three of my beloved cats passed away in April. These sad events have tarnished a month that, in my younger years, I found tranquil and generally heartening, what with the onset of spring, the blooming trees and flowers, moderate temperatures, and an upcoming birthday in May (though nowadays, the birthday is a date to ignore rather than celebrate). Still, with the passage of time, the pain of profound loss has at last given way to joyful memories of love and companionship. May April not be a bitch from here on out.

Once we were up and about this morning, I wandered down to the hotel restaurant for a quick bite at the breakfast buffet, which I found satisfying (far better than the last hotel breakfast buffet I'd had), and Brugger went to her crafty event. I got myself together and headed out geocaching. My first destination was the nearby Manchester Meadows Park, which has a few nice trails and several caches. There was a soccer game or two in making, and tons of people were filing into the park, but thankfully, the caches were mostly off the beaten track, so dodging muggles didn't present much of a problem. One cache was missing and disabled, but I figured I'd give it a look anyway because, occasionally, I have found missing caches by searching areas where they might have washed away. No luck on this count today, but I did find a very old, archived geocache—a plastic ammo box—that at some point had been smashed by a falling tree. Pity I can't claim a find on it, but at least it was an interesting item to turn up.

A smashing discovery

After logging my final cache in the park, I managed to bang my shin pretty good on a metal bench. Since it broke the skin, I hit the wound with some Purell sanitizer when I reached my car, and people probably heard the hollering most of the way across town.

 

From Manchester Meadows, I headed toward downtown Rock Hill and Winthrop University, which I ended up touring à pied. It's a scenic campus, and I encountered lots of muggle activity. Again, the caches were mostly tucked away, so muggles were barely a concern. Several of the hides were very nicely done too, much more satisfying than the all-too-common park & grab variety. After this bunch, I settled for a light lunch at Katana Kitchen—a couple of spring rolls and a cup of miso soup—because I figure we'll be having a substantial dinner somewhere this evening. 

R: Turtles! L: Woops!

L: Artesian well. There might have been a cache there. R: Winthrop University clock tower

Whee!

Once back at the hotel, I settled in to write, first on this blog entry, and then on Broken Barriers (assuming that's going to be its title). I can finally see the light at the end of this book, so I'm hoping to finish it within a month. I'm very happy with the progress I've been making so far.

 

For dinner, Ms. B. had taken a shine to a place called The Pour Market, down at Winthrop University, where I'd been caching earlier today. Once we got there, though, we discovered the place was closed for a special event. So, upon searching some nearby, apt-looking locations, we settled on Old Town Kitchen & Cocktails. This turned out to be a great choice. The surroundings here are all modern, industrial style, but the interior of Old Town has a warm, bookish atmosphere. The service, food, and drink turned out to be first-rate. Brugger went for white wine (seriously, she's usually all right) and a superb smashburger. I had an excellent dirty martini and smoked chicken wings with a white BBQ sauce, which I'd rate very good. So, despite being denied our first dinner choice, our second turned out quite loverly.

 

Back at the hotel, Brugger returned to artsing and craftsing, and I wrote many words. I must say, it's nice to be away, to have an enjoyable weekend that breaks the routine. And lord knows, after six weeks and every variety of stressor in the book, Ms. B. was due for a major respite. Of course, she's still had to spend a lot of time on the phone sorting out her folks' care since she's not there to do it in person. For me, finally managing substantial quality time with her plus caching, dining, writing, and excellent spirits have worked wonders for an aging inner spirit.

 

In the morning, we'll get up and get going. All in all, our Rock Hill excursion has been a treat, and I hope it helped Ms. B.'s stress level. Sadly, it won't be going down appreciably anytime in the near future. We just have to take what we can get whenever we can get it.

Tonic for the spirits at Old Town Kitchen & Cocktails

MYTHS REBORN Is in the House!

Yay! My contributor copy of Myths Reborn: Modern Tales of Cryptids & Dark Folkore has arrived from October Nights Press. Edited by Kelly A. Hearty, this new anthology features my story, "The Devil of Transylvania County," along with 18 other tales of cryptids, critters, long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night.

From the Publisher: Can a skinwalker become the savior of two terrified young girls? How might the tale of Sasquatch be different when told from his perspective? Could a vampire exist undetected in your city or a Tatzelwurm make its way into the very walls of your home? Within the pages of this anthology, encounter cryptids and folk characters portrayed in novel and frightening ways. Nineteen talented authors breathed new life into traditional tales to create a new collection of reenvisioned, recontextualized myths.

---

Order Myths Reborn from Amazon.com

---

Eden's Ember Bookshop Grand Opening — A Sizzling Success

Photo by Eugene Smith

In my years of experience as a writer (which is a pretty big number because I am not so young), I've found book signings to be hit or miss. I've participated in some that, by all rights, should have been resounding successes but flopped, and others that seemed doomed to disappoint, yet doubled and tripled my most optimistic expectations. I felt pretty good about today's grand opening event at Eden’s Ember Bookshop in nearby Eden, NC; because, although Eden is a small town in a fairly rural county, from the beginning, owners Stephanie Lynn and her husband, Shawn, as well as several dedicated helpers, went all out to organize and promote both the event and the store itself. Plus, this region is home to an impressive number of successful writers. So, going in, it felt like all the building blocks for a decent day were in place. Authors Delphine McClelland, Val Neiman, and Al Sirois and I were set to sign books on the first shift (12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.), with another four — Maddy Butler, Ellen Ceely, Olivia Piervincenti, and Britta Threshie — at 3:00 p.m.

And...oh, yeah. From the moment the doors opened, a steady flow of patrons came in, and many — or maybe even most — took advantage of the opportunity to check out us local folks, conveniently set up in the vestibule in front of the main entrance. I sold out of my copies of The House at Black Tooth Pond and Blue Devil Island, and I diminished my stock of all the other books I had on hand. So, yes, I'd say this one more than met my expectations, and I hope this bodes well for the store in general.

 

The bookshop is located in the basement of Kings Mill Coffee Shop, and before the signing started, I paid them a visit to have breakfast. I killed a wonderfully spicy western omelette, and I can safely say this was one of the best omelettes I've ever had — bacon, sausage, onion, jalapenos, and habanero ghost jack cheese. And their coffee is great.

Eden's Ember Bookshop and Kings Mill Coffee Shop are located at 729 South Van Buren, Eden, NC. If you're in the area, I highly recommend paying them a visit. 

I'm Getting Too Old for This Shit

I can always tell when spring officially rolls in because I start having migraines. I've had a couple in the past few days, fortunately not too severe. Inevitably, in spring and fall, the changes in weather seem to play hell with my system, and that is when the migraines are pretty much guaranteed. At least they're not as bad as they were some years ago, when they regularly knocked me down and out for at least a full day.

 

There are woods all around our house, so in the fall, the leaves that gather in the yard are prodigious. We tend to clean them up about every other year, and we skipped this past fall. They do gather pretty deep in the lower yard out back, though, so I figured that, as part of my regular spring cleaning, I'd take care of them today. Not surprisingly, this turned out to be a masochistic, awful thing to do. It took me about three and a half hours to blow out the garage, the driveway, and the lower yard, which was covered by as much as two feet of leaves in places. Now, I feel like my back is permanently stooped. I'm getting too old for this shit.

 

There used to be grass back there, but as the trees have grown and cast more shade over the backyard — not to mention the frequent gullywashers that flood the low-lying areas in the summertime—grass does not grow happily back there. Right now, there's some lovely dirt though.

 

Remember, tomorrow is the grand opening of Eden's Ember Bookshop in Eden, NC, at 729 South Van Buren Road, Eden, NC, and I'll be there signing books from 12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Stop by if you can! 

Haw River Hiking

Back in 2011, when we lived in Greenboro, I placed a cache ("A Bridge Too Far," GC2VDEF) along the Haw River Trail in Glencoe, NC, and it's been lurking out there ever since. Apparently, though, in the recent past, either by natural or human interference, the cache went missing (I'm going with severe weather, since the location is pretty damned close to muggle-proof). So, this morning, I took the opportunity to head down there, replace the cache, and hunt a few others in the vicinity.

 

The Haw River Trail runs along the river for many miles, and most of it is very scenic (though the parts that aren't really aren't). Today's four-mile hike took me through some of both. Most of the trail is moderate, with only a few rugged patches, although when one steps off the trail to hunt or hide caches, all bets are off. I found a couple of nice newish ones on the trail, plus a few out in the sticks of Alamance and Caswell Counties.

 

I also discovered an excellent Mexican lunch at Crazy Mexico restaurant in north Burlington—a chile relleno and chicken quesadilla, which quite hit the spot. Good food, good service.

 

Sadly, I'm running out of geocaches to hunt within reasonable driving distance, especially with prices so high just now. But it was certainly a beautiful day, and I enjoyed the trip immensely. I may have one more outing like this in front of me in the foreseeable future, but after that, folks need to place more caches. Some of us might have a little addiction.

Eden's Ember Bookshop Grand Opening — Saturday, April 4

Next weekend — Saturday, April 4 — is the grand opening of Eden’s Ember Bookshop in Eden, NC, starting at noon, with several local authors — including me! — on hand to sell and sign books. The store will be carrying Blue Devil Island, Fugue Devil Resurgence, and The House at Black Tooth Pond, but I'll have a larger selection at my table, including The Lebo Coven, The Nightmare Frontier, Gods of Moab, and several of my Ameri-Scares series titles.

Eden's Ember Bookshop is located at 729 South Van Buren Rd., Eden, NC 27288 (see map below), in the basement of the Kings Mill Coffee building. (Note that parking and the entrance are at the back of the building.)

 

I'd love to see you at Eden's Ember's grand opening. If you're within traveling distance, please stop in, so I won't have to hurl a bunch of insults at you. I will, you know.

No Kings...Ever

If you follow me here, you probably know I don't talk politics on my blog very often; I usually have my say on that subject on other social media, mainly Facebook, and I reserve my blog as more of a journal about positive current events, writing, geocaching, monsters, books, movies, etc. However, I'm gonna mention that today, I took part in the third No Kings rally because in my view, it's a personally meaningful subject. I make no secret of the fact that I despise DJT, and even more, I hate what he and this entire MAGA regime is doing to this country, and with the approval of far too many Americans. Peacefully protesting this bullshit is something I feel compelled to do, and thankfully, I am far, far from alone. How anyone with half a brain can't see — and oppose — the hellish depths to which Trump & Company are dragging this country is beyond unfathomable. So, it's good to see so many people, all over the USA, coming together for events like this to show that not all of us have lost our fucking minds.

I don't know the exact number at this point, but Martinsville's rally today was well-attended (I'm guessing at least 200 people), and best of all, many, many passersby honked and waved in approval versus the scant handful who had nasty things to yell. That, at least, is heartening.

Some scenes from our local No Kings rally. A good crowd, and far more honks of support than ugly shouted epithets from the passersby.

My favorite moment was when one old fella yelled out at us, "I will pray for all of you."  Several people called back, "We'll pray for you too, and peace be with you." He looked kind of surprised, and after a moment he called back, "Well, peace to all of you folks too." There really was a great sense of fellowship with all these local people who clearly care about democracy and decency.