News:

Finally got the paperback for Puppeteer (Thorns 4) up on Amazon, so I should be able to share my Puppeteer playlist here soon when I get a minute.

My very short story “Sight Unseen” is out now in Novus Monstrum from Dragon’s Roost Press. I’ve written some pretty nasty things in my time, but “Sight Unseen” is what one might call ‘cozy horror.’ The editor’s eleven-year-old niece was a big fan, and I told my parents that this was one they could read. Sometimes I just like to write a nice spooky story. I think a lot of people of my generation who just want to be able to afford a house will really appreciate this one.

“Caregiver” seems to be doing well in advanced reviews for The Book of Queer Saints Volume II, including in this review in Ghouls Magazine. The QS2 ebook is actually available for pre-order now, to be delivered to your Kindle on October 31 for Halloween.

Yesterday, I took part in my first Twitter pitch party, PitDark, which is specifically for horror and horror-adjacent works. I’d witnessed them in the past but hadn’t had a finished project to pitch. It’s not ideal with Twitter as it is now, and due to the fact that it mines tweets for AI use, but I really wanted to give it a shot. Honestly, pitches in general are very similar in structure even when people do them, and I’m not too fussed about AI knowing how to do it, too. It’s the flash poetry I share that’s more of a problem. I don’t know what I’m going to do about that. If I put them in an image, it’s common courtesy to include ALT text, but then the ALT text can be mined… What a minefield.

However, as far as the pitch party goes, I did end up getting some like-requests for both things that I pitched. It’s no guarantee of anything, but it’s still pretty cool to have interest.

In real-life news, I’ve had two physical therapy sessions, and my therapist gave me exercises to do at home to help between sessions. The first session, I had a lot of weakness and resultant pain, but just a week later with the exercises, my strength has improved a lot, and differently than healing without the exercises. I’m out of the boot again and can walk almost normally in shoes. Still struggling barefoot, especially on hard floors, but my legs are definitely in a better state to support the injured muscle, and my gait is a little smoother than it was pre-reinjury. I’ll be back to PT in two weeks, and I have new exercises to do, so we’ll see where we are then.

I also finished another trip around the sun, and I’m closer to forty than I feel I should be. I don’t particularly like birthdays or New Year’s. I’m always so disappointed with where I am. My writing is about all I have to be proud of at any given time. However, regardless of how I feel, I can still enjoy the best doughnuts in the DFW area, have a wonderful birthday dinner and eclair cake, and plan for a pedicure next month (so a broken toenail can heal, no relation to the leg injury).

Works in Progress:

I’m still working on In the Dollhouse We All Wait, hoping to hit 70K tonight. I entered in my last few chapter names, so the end is actually in sight, although I’m still not positive how the last chapter is going to go. I have options, but I’ll probably decide when I get there. I’m still hoping to finish before the end of the month. Before Halloween would be even better, so I can have a short break before hitting NaNoWriMo, when I’m planning to finish two novels, even though I’ll probably have some edits to do in between meeting word counts.

Two novels in November for other name, and maybe two novels in December, for other name and mine? It’ll all depend on the editing demands, really.

However, although I went into it knowing that it would be very extreme horror, I think I’ve decided that ITDWAW is a very ugly story. There’s not even much in the way of humor. I think Question Not My Salt has a little delight to be found, but not Dollhouse. And maybe there’s a place for very ugly stories, but I don’t know how I feel about writing it right now. I want to finish it, no question, especially when I’m so close and the writing is moving smoothly, but I don’t know when I’ll get back to it for edits.

Books I’m Reading:

IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.

Music I’m Listening To:

Halloween playlist
Thorns series playlists
Hannibal playlist

Things I’m Watching:

The Menu
The Exorcist
The Great British Baking Show series
Halloween Wars series
Halloween Baking Championships series
Outrageous Pumpkins series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Scream Queens series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Good Bones series
Helix series

Poem of the Week:

Submerge in slime,
surrounded by gross. A
person can get used to
anything. A rhyming verse
stripped of its second,
taboo of the perverse
becoming normal when no
longer forbidden fruit—
cruelty easier than you
might believe of yourself.