Hello from Michigan where the wind chill is making it feel like it is 13F. Fortunately, I am inside where there is no wind. Unfortunately, one portion of our house is significantly colder than the rest. The New House (™) is set up with different temperature zones (as I may have mentioned before) controlled by different thermostats. This is perfect when one member of the household prefers it significantly colder than the other. I think that this might be because certain areas of the house were added on to the original main portion. Currently the TV room (where The Mrs’ spends most of her time with her sewing machine and wood burning stove) and the bed rooms are just fine, but the center of the house is not warming up to the set point. We have someone coming to look at it today, so hopefully that will be fixed soon. In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying the big fireplace in the living room quite a bit.
The weather has also given me a chance to start wearing my new lined jacket featuring Sam from Trick r Treat on the back. I’m not going to lie, I’ve been waiting for it to be cold enough to enjoy this new coat.
Everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving. We hosted (because my house is where my booze lives) a few family members. At one point it struck me that The Mrs and I were both in the kitchen chopping ingredients at the same time and we weren’t bumping into each other. This is a vast improvement over our previous house with its tiny kitchen (where the close proximity increased the room’s heat without the oven being on).
Other than that, there hasn’t been a whole lot going on at the old homestead. We’ve pulled the holiday decorations down from the attic (yes, the Christmas stuff fits in the attic, but the Halloween stuff has its own storage unit—does this surprise any of you?), but haven’t put anything up yet. It is supposed to get up into the 40s later this weekend, so maybe I’ll spend some time up on a ladder on Sunday.
Tomorrow (Thursday the 5th) I will be making my last podcast appearance of the year. This time around I won’t be reviewing anything new, but the modern classic The Cabin in the Woods.
Listening To: At this point I’m just desperately avoiding Mariah Carey and trying not to go to Whamhalla. I heard the dreaded song on Bourbon Street, but that was before Thanksgiving so Whamaggedon hadn’t officially started yet. I won’t say anything else because I don’t want to jinx myself.
Currently Reading: A lot of vendor applications, see below.
Current Obsession: In a desperate attempt to appease The Mrs, we signed up for Paramount+ with Showtime for a month so she could watch Yellowstone. Unfortunately, that particular show is on Peacock (d’oh!). In order to justify the channel, we’ve started Yellowjackets. I mean, it has the same color in the name…
Dragon’s Roost Press News
We are putting the finishing touches on Arkham Institutions which we hope to put to press any day now. As soon as that happens we will start fulfilling all of those Kickstarter orders. At this point there are still a few people who have not filled out their Backerkit surveys, but we can’t wait any longer and still hope to get everything out in time for the end of the year gift giving season. Once we have those names in hand we will update the files and add their names to the acknowledgements.
We approved the first fifteen minutes of the audiobook version of The Pleasure in Pain and the narrator will begin moving forward with the rest of the book.
As hinted above, we have been working on our 2025 touring schedule. The big news is that we will be in the Vendors’ Room at Horror Realm in February. We have a number of other shows planned, so keep an eye on the Dragon’s in the Wild page.
Our last show of the season will be this Saturday (7 December). We will be joined at The Merry Krampus by authors Sarah Hans and Anton Cancre. Come visit us if you are in the Columbus area.
This Week’s Rambling: This is a Rough Time
I usually try to keep things fairly light, but this is a difficult time for the members of our household. Since The Mrs and I got together, we have been fortunate enough to share our lives with four dogs. Tesla is currently curled up by my feet. Kai-Long, Dervish, and Titus all passed in the time between Thanksgiving and the end of January (in various years of course). The shadows of these losses are always present, but even more so during the holiday season.
This means that for the next few weeks I will vacillate between moments of intense sadness and extreme paranoia regarding Tesla. Please excuse me if you see me in person and I seem more scattered than usual.
I know that Giving Tuesday was yesterday, but if you have the means, think about visiting The Last Day Dog Rescue Organization and making a donation.