IT IS ALMOST HALLOWEEN

I know it’s only the beginning of August, but some of us have been working on stuff for months now. Honestly, the planning started on the first of November.

Yeah, I’m one of those people. But you already knew that, right?

I do have a couple of things planned, but I will wait until I’ve made some visible practice on them before I comment any further. In the meantime, it was a fun week. My sister and her family were in town for a few days and we got to spend some time with them, which is always a blast. It was very touching when she showed her husband and youngest around the house like she owned the place (she and the oldest had seen the house before). Beyond that, it was a relatively quiet week. The only other highlight was my follow-up trip to the dentist. I had lost a filling sometime in the past couple of years, so the new doc filled the open space. Quite frankly, I was really surprised that I didn’t have another dozen to take care of. The crazy thing was that the entire process took six minutes. I wasn’t having any pain so there was no need to numb anything. I just sat down, got a little grinding on the tooth, then fill, smooth, and done. Honestly, I was back in my car before The Mrs had a chance to respond to my text saying that I was in the waiting room.

Listening To: The Reverend Horton Heat. I’ve got a friend in Jimbo. IYKYK.

Currently Reading: I needed something relatively light, so I burned through a couple of graphic novels. The best of the bunch Nostalgia written by Scott Hoffman with art by Danijel Zezelj, colors by Lee Loughridge, and letters by Steve Wands. It’s a trippy near-future story of a musician dealing with fame and the loss of his former social outrage.

Current Obsession: Prepping for Halloween. This is going to be a constant for the foreseeable future. My birthday marked 99 days until Halloween. So far I have managed to NOT go into Spirit, Home Depot, or Lowes. On top of this, I went into a Michael’s and DIDN’T BUY ANYTHING!

Full confession: I already ordered and received my 7’ skeleton dog from Home Depot months ago and Michael’s didn’t have the Spooky Town stuff I wanted.

We released a new edition of Peggy Christie’s Hell Hath No Fury. Now all of her books published by Dragon’s Roost Press are the same size so your OCD won’t bother you. Plus this edition has new material not available in previous releases!

The wonderful Amy Probst of Typewriter Poems has invited Dragon’s Roost Press to share her space at this week’s Hot Ghoul Summer Dark Arts Market. Look for us at the Ypsilanti Freight House Friday 9 August from 5pm - 9pm.

Is there anything more personal than a recommendation? A personal recommendation that is. You tell someone that you know about something that you love and just hope that they feel the same way. In some ways it is almost like the feeling an artist has when putting their creations out in the world.

My niece is starting her first forays into horror literature and has asked for some recommendations. For some reason, I’m vapor locked.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have no problems recommending things, or even reviewing things. One of my favorite things to do is find something I enjoy and share it with people. That’s part of the reason why I am active on Goodreads, post on Amazon, review movies on OWC, and hell, partially why I’m doing these posts. (Also — reviews are one of the best ways to help an author out. Please review, you have no idea how helpful it is.) So what is the difference in this situation?

Part of the reason is that the request is open ended. Instead of me saying “Hey, I just read this and it kicks ass!” I have to dig around in my grey matter and come up with things that kick ass. What makes the list? What doesn’t? Why doesn’t it?

Honestly, I think a big part of my problem is that I am overwhelmed by the choices. There are so many choices. So. Many. Choices. Do I focus on classics to build up a base or go newer novels? Do I limit it to one book per author? Do I go for my all time favorites?

I have started a list with some of what I feel are outstanding books. I will farm this out to others as well. I’m going to put social media to work. And yes, I’m putting this to you as well, reader. If there is a horror book that you love, please let me know.

You didn’t know that there was going to be homework, did you?