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. 

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.

Oktoberfest Success

I've participated in Martinsville, VA's Oktoberfest as a vendor numerous times over the years, even when we lived in North Carolina. At some of them, my books have sold well, and at others... whoa, where did everyone go? Sales-wise, today's was probably the best I've ever had here. Once again, these local, not-necessarily-book-themed events have lately been a real boon as well as a dingy-dang fun time. It was all the more enjoyable in its way because I was set up in front of my old church from many, many moons back. I guess some of those folks always figured I'd end up scaring people.

Several old friends ended up dropping by my space, including my seventh-grade US History teacher, who is still going strong. She lives right around the corner from me, as a matter of fact, so I might better mind that do all my homework.

Charles Roark from Star News TV focused on my book table for a spell. Unfortunately, the sound didn't come out that well, but you can check it out at the 25:00-minute mark. Thanky, Charles!

Star News TV at the 43rd Annual Martinsville Oktoberfest

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A Mighty Fine 3rd Annual MHC Is for Book Lovers Fall Festival

I had been cautiously optimistic about setting up space at today's 3rd Annual MHC Is for Book Lovers Fall Festival, a local book fest held at the Spencer-Penn Centre, about 20 minutes west of Martinsville. My recent booksignings have been very successful, and I was hoping this would NOT be that fateful one where no one shows up at my table. After all, Martinsville is far from a big town, and I did wonder whether everyone in the area who cared to pick up any of my books might have already done so.

Well, no worries on that count. The show was well-attended, and I sold a big bunch! In fact, I need to reorder author copies of a few titles if I want to have any for the Martinsville Oktoberfest, coming up on October 5th.

It's very gratifying how many folks come out for the local book-related events — especially when they pick up the scary ones (it's fair to say that I am pretty much the local horror-writing community). Quite a few authors attended the festival, and it looked like most did decent business. Ms. B. spent much of the time wowing folks with her artwork, and she even found herself a young protegé, who took the initiative to seek her guidance in his artistic endeavors. He even recreated the cover art from the Ameri-Scares: Michigan: The Dragon of Lake Superior, which I found rather touching.

Martinsville Oktoberfest is in a couple of weeks, and I may yet end up participating in an event or two between that and Scares That Care—AuthorCon V in Williamsburg, VA, at the end of March. I will, of course, holler about these as the times draw nigh.

That's all for now, so sayonara and peace.

L) The young artist, and R) the original cover of Ameri-Scares: Michigan: The Dragon of Lake Superior

This Saturday: 3rd Annual MHC Is for Book Lovers Festival

This Saturday, September 21, I'll be participating in the 3rd Annual MHC Is for Book Lovers Festival, a multi-author event, hosted by Martinsville/Henry County Is for Book Lovers at the Spencer-Penn Centre, in Spencer, VA, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. EDT. There will food and craft vendors as well, so there's plenty of fun even for folks who might be too scared to visit with the scary author. Ha-HA!

I'll have copies of the brand-new paperback edition of The Lebo Coven, which is set in Aiken Mill, VA, my fictional version of Martinsville, as well as The Gods of Moab (also set in the same fictional region), Fugue Devil: Resurgence, Deathrealm: Spirits, West Virginia: Lair of the Mothman, and others.

If you're in traveling distance, please come visit!

A Busy Season

It's been a busy — and very successful — summer and early fall for promoting and selling my scary books. Some big venues and some not-so-big, but this year in particular, my book sales in what I'd call non-traditional outlets, such as local breweries, specialty shops, and festivals, have been healthy indeed. I've got a few more coming up for the fall season. This weekend, I'll be in Elizabeth City, NC, for a four-author booksigning event at Seven Sounds Brewing Company (see yesterday's post for details). On Saturday, September 21, I'm attending another multi-author event, hosted by Martinsville/Henry County Is for Book Lovers at the Spencer-Penn Centre, in Spencer, VA, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. There will be lots of food and craft vendors as well, so there's plenty of fun even for folks who might be too scared to visit with the scary author. Ha-ha!

Next month — Saturday, October 5 — come visit my vendor booth at the 43rd Annual Martinsville Uptown Oktoberfest, in Uptown Martinsville, VA. I'll have plenty of scary books on hand — Fugue Devil: Resurgence, Deathrealm: Spirits, Gods of Moab, Blue Devil Island, West Virginia: Lair of the Mothman, and several others. Ms. B. may bring along some of her art journals, watercolor paintings, and other nice items for sale as well. Oktoberfest features a passel of vendors with artsy-craftsy things, foodz, a beer garden, and other goodies of all sorts. It runs from 11:00 a.m. to 4 p.m.; admission is free.

In November, Ms. B. and I will be attending a somewhat belated Dark Shadows–themed Halloween event at Seaview Terrace (a.k.a. the Carey Mansion) in Newport, RI, which served as the exterior of Collinwood in the original Dark Shadows series. I've been to numerous Dark Shadows events, and I've visited Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, NY, and the Lockwood-Mathews mansion in Norwalk, CT, both of which appeared in House of Dark Shadows way back when, but I've never been to Seaview Terrace, so this will be a first. Ms. B. and I are both very much looking forward to it.

My Memories of Lara Parker (R.I.P. October 12, 2023)

I just learned via actress Kathryn Leigh Scott that Lara Parker (née Mary Lamar Rickey), best known as Angelique from Dark Shadows has passed away at age 84 years old (October 27, 1938–October 12, 2023). Lara and Kathryn have been good friends since the days of Dark Shadows, so my heart goes out particularly to Kathryn for her personal loss.

I remember the first time I saw Lara as Angelique on Dark Shadows, and I fell in love with her right there on the spot. She was beautiful, powerful, menacing, passionate... everything a nine-year-old boy could possibly desire, apparently. Back then, I adored everything about Dark Shadows, especially Jonathan Frid as Barnabas, but it was when Angelique appeared on the screen that I melted into a mass of lovestruck goo.

After Dark Shadows went off the air, Lara appeared in numerous television series, such as Baretta, Kojak, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Kung Fu, Remington Steele, The Six-Million-Dollar Man, and Switch, and a few theatrical films, such as Hi, Mom, Race with the Devil, and Save the Tiger. I made a point of watching most of these, and my youthful heart remained smitten, but it took a long time for me to get over my resentment over the cancellation of Dark Shadows... and thus Angelique.

Many moons later, Lara wrote a series of Dark Shadows novels, the first being Angelique's Descent, which HarperCollins released in 1998. At the time, Harper was planning a full series of Dark Shadows novels, and Elizabeth Massie and I secured a contract to write the second book — Dreams of the Dark, which was released in 1999. To my profound excitement, Lara wrote the introduction to our book, and to this day, I remain ridiculously geeked about this. Unfortunately, it wasn't long after Dreams of the Dark's release that Harper shuttered its media tie-in division, and this put the kibosh on Ms. Massie and I writing any further Dark Shadows novels for Harper. In the early 2000s, Tor Books contracted several more Dark Shadows novels from Lara.

Over the years, I attended a number of Dark Shadows events, but none was more memorable than my first — the 1999 Dark Shadows Festival at the World Trade Center in New York City. Most of the show's surviving stars were slated to appear and, more than anything, I looked forward to meeting Lara. And, in fact, she was literally the first familiar face I ran into at the festival. She greeted me cordially but had pressing obligations that prevented her from carrying on a lengthy conversation. Happily, several times, she and I were able to talk at greater length. However, the clincher for me was that she and I appeared together for a presentation on our respective Dark Shadows novels in front of the entire convention group. I had started out with a few butterflies in the old gut, but once things got under way, I managed to carry on without (much) embarrassing gushing.

I met numerous other Dark Shadows cast members at that and other gatherings, but that was the first and only time I ever got to spend any appreciable quality time with Lara Parker. And, of course, that was also the last Dark Shadows event at NYC's World Trade Center. I absolutely cherish the fact that I was able to spend some happy, memorable time there before it was gone forever.

To all Lara's friends and loved ones, I send all my sympathies and respect. She truly played a pivotal role in my childhood, and to me as an adult and an author, she added special meaning and nuance to my career. R.I.P., Lara.

Here are a couple of links to articles featuring some of Lara's thoughts on her acting and writing careers:

• The Collinsport Historical Society — Out of the Shadows: Lara Parker
• Tor/Forge Blog — Researching the Back Story by Lara Parker

On stage with Lara Parker at the 1999 Dark Shadows Festival at the NYC World Trade Center