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Damned and divine: Friday Update

30 Friday Oct 2026

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Essays/Creative Non-Fiction, Novels, Short Stories, Writing

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I may be having a rare glass of wine.

News:

Horrific Scribblings has an article on the history of women in extreme horror, and they included one of my comments on the genre.

In the Dollhouse We All Wait is going to get an audiobook, narrated by Skye Alley. When I listened to her audition, I really thought she had the best tone for Sam’s voice.

Works in Progress:

I achieved the promotion goal for work, which meant I could take Thursday off, plus I have a day banked to take off later. I finally finished the Mary Reilly essay on Wednesday. That article has probably been percolating in my brain pan for over a decade. It’s about time I had a chance to get most of it down.

Once that was over, I had a bit of flash to finish, because I just couldn’t get this idea for the Shallow Waters theme out of my head, even though I was supposed to be taking a break on that.

Now I have Masque in front of me. I don’t have the full official edit, unfortunately. I’ve been instructed to do some pre-edits, which also gives me the chance to fix something that’s been bugging me, but it means doing some pretty intensive reworking and rewriting of the beginning, and I’m not sure I have the energy for that right now. I don’t do so well writing when I’m in editing mode. Hence, the wine.

Once Masque has been taken care of, I’ll edit We Follow You in the Dark and send it on to my editor to see if he’s interested.

Books I’m Reading:

The Violence by Delilah S. Dawson
My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
Camilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Things I’m Listening To:

Halloween playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Hell Fest
Grave Encounters
The Da Vinci Code
Angels and Demons
Dracula (1979)
Clayface
NCIS series
The Hunting Party series
Hoarders series
Slasher series
Sweet Deceit: Trick or Treat series (finished)
Halloween Wars series (finished)
Halloween Baking Championship series
Scariest House in America series (finished)
Marianne series
Kitchen Nightmare (reboot) series
Brilliant Minds series

Poem of the Week:

costume party crashed
by strangers in masks
among strangers in masks
necking and necking
leave bruises and bite marks
drunken stupor and
dazed drunk in mist
fake knives in heads
real knives in backs
raucous night and
screams at dawn
from unhallowed guests

A little freedom: Saturday Update

25 Saturday Apr 2026

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Series, Writing

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Photo by Karola G on Pexels.com

News:

My article in honor of In the Dollhouse We All Wait, “Pay to Play: Five Horror Films Where the Rich are the Absolute Worst,” was posted to Horror DNA. I love writing little pieces like this. I should do it more often.

Works in Progress:

I was working furiously on the proofreading edits for Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8) and really wanted to get it done yesterday, so I focused on getting that done before tackling the update. I finished about 1 a.m. today and sent it on. It was a pretty easy edit, very few changes, but I’m obligated to do a full read-through for each editing round, just in case.

So I finished the final edit on the final book in the Meridian series, which means I’ve completed one serial, two trilogies, and two series under my Aurelia T. Evans name. There’s another trilogy on the horizon for next year, too. Not sure what I’m going to do after that. But if you like shapeshifters, gothic urban fantasy, demonic circuses, angels/demons, supernatural horror, and spicy content, do check out my other name’s books. And the Meridian series is entirely composed of standalones. You can read everything or a few, and in any order. I only ask that you save Never & Forever for last, because it feels very much like a capstone.

I have no obligations now for a while, so I’ll probably tackle the (hopefully) final fix to the Dracula reimagining, then apply myself to the edits on May Cooler Heads Prevail to release in May. This is what I’ve been working toward this year, this freedom to rest, to learn how to slow down, because I’ve been running the race for over two decades now, and I don’t think I can do things the same way anymore, especially if it doesn’t really support me financially.

Books I’m Reading:

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Singalong playlist
Lily Kershaw
Silent Hill soundtracks

Things I’m Watching:

Ghostbusters
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
The Woman in Cabin 10
Jigsaw
Saw II
Saw III
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Home Town series
Hoarding: Buried Alive series
NCIS series
Tracker series
Power Rangers: Reignition series
Prodigal Son series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to April 2022, also featured in Dead Ends)

let the earth cover
my prone body
like a weighted blanket
god so comfortable
have you tried this
best sleep i’ve ever had
cannot recommend enough
five stars
i could sleep forever

Restless: Friday Update

09 Friday Feb 2024

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Series, Writing

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Sasha welcomes you to her house. Enter freely and of your own will…

News:

Just a week until the Question Not My Salt release, and I received an incredible blurb:

“Deliciously macabre and astoundingly fresh, Question Not My Salt is a richly prepared buffet of weirdness and depravity. Blake has crafted a truly grim offering about tradition that will disturb and shock even the most discriminating connoisseurs of body horror.” -Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

I also received a wonderful five-raven review from Epeolatry Book Review via Horror Tree. Some highlights: “Question Not My Salt haunted my stomach for ages. I was nauseated with no desire to discuss food. Don’t read Question Not My Salt before, during, or after a meal or you’ll regret it!” Not the kind of review you want for a romance novel, but excellent for a body horror novel.

In honor of Question Not My Salt coming out, I wrote an article on Family Drama: Five Horror Families Who Are the Absolute Worst, about family trees in the genre that need to be put in the woodchipper. Check it out on Horror DNA.

In addition to QNMS, my poem “Cleanse” is out in the Querencia Winter 2024 Anthology.

For Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction theme Yes Today, Satan, I present “Hell Come Home” ($5/month tier and higher, like a themed anthology every month) at their Patreon.

Works in Progress:

I’ve managed to cross 20K words on Silver & Steel (Meridian 7), even though this week has been rough and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do this story at all. The last two days have been easier. I’ll continue pressing on as long as the words continue to flow. We’ll see whether it’s a viable story or whether I have to scrap it and start again later this year.

Books I’m Reading:

IT by Stephen King
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Ending in Ashes by Rebecca Jones-Howe

Things I’m Listening To:

Sara Bareilles
Nightwish
Within Temptation
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark soundtrack
YouTube playlists

Things I’m Watching:

The Eye
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
CSI series
The Mentalist series
The Irrational series
Helix series
All Creatures Great and Small series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

under my thrall
you’ll do anything i say

drop off a roof
or blow bubbles of bleach
and swallow the foam

make you bow
sing a song of sorrows
such that job would weep

mine to command

now get some rest
eat fruit
be gentle with yourself
have a nice day