In reference to the break in heat, not life in general. We usually don’t get this break until mid or late September. I ain’t complainin’.

However, my car battery died last Friday, which means I can’t listen to my chosen tunes while driving for a while (tends to blow the radio fuse). I’m pretty much iHeartRadioing it until I can get the fuse fixed or replaced.

I was lucky, though, that my battery died 1) close to home so my dad could give me a jump and 2) literally across the street from an AutoZone, so I could get it replaced quickly. There was a whole kerfuffle through my work as a result that led to a 24-hour review, but time off unpaid was also time to write. There was some other work-related stress that’s still lingering tightness in my chest, but I’ll get by. It can join all the other stress of watching my country collapse into sadistic, incompetent fascism, so there’s that.

News:

My short storm story “The Glitter of Bile,” set in my hometown and based on a strange cloud I swear I saw once (but might be confusing a dream for memory), is free to read at Cosmic Horror Monthly’s site (originally published May 2024).

Works in Progress:

As usual, things are taking longer than expected. I finished the last short story, a piece meant to be under 1500 words. I completed it at over 3000 words. I knew it was bloated, but after the first two editing passes, things got harder to cut. However, after six full passes, I finally got it under the word count. If it doesn’t get accepted, earlier passes might still be good for longer word-count calls, but I’m happy where it’s at.

Next is starting Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8), which seriously intimidates me, because I haven’t written a full novel since before the election, and I’m not positive I’m able to now. I’ve made promises and have obligations, and that’s a lot of pressure. My word count goals won’t be what they used to be. I hope to finish, though, before end of September, mid-October at the latest.

And if I can get through it, then I can rewrite We Follow You in the Dark as a treat. Honestly, I love the original version; I simply can’t sell it. I anticipate I’ll enjoy it just as much the second time around, from a different angle. I already wrote a novelette in the same universe. I like doing things like that.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Texas Bigfoot by Lyle Blackburn

Things I’m Listening To:

Abyss/Ascent playlist

Things I’m Watching: (I’ve been having trouble committing to movies or demanding TV shows lately.)

Will Trent series
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Private Practice series
9-1-1: Lone Star series
Say Yes to the Dress: Tan France series (finished)
Wear Whatever the F You Want series
America’s Got Talent series
Hoarders series
The Rookie series
NCIS series

Poem of the Week: (throwback)

we never look at the stars anymore.
in our defense, most of us can’t
see past the haze of our own light.
and even when every last gleam
has blinked out to the winking stars,
our straining, struggling eyes
can only see our reflections
and cosmic apparitions of the dead.