I hope that all of you in the US are staying in the shade and staying hydrated. It has been ridiculously hot lately and it will be a while before it gets better.
With any luck we will be able to use the pool today when The Mrs gets home from work. It’s taken a bit of chemical manipulation, as is normal when the pool is first open. Unfortunately, this chemical balancing was hampered by the fact that I forgot to remove one of the drain plugs so the filter wasn’t running at full capacity. I figured out what was wrong after one day and the water has subsequently cleared up quite nicely.
Painting and sale preparations continue in Berkley. If anyone is interested in a three bedroom bungalow north of 11 mile, let me know. With any luck it will be on the market by the beginning of next month.
I Expected the blueberry mead to be blue. Silly me.
Continuing with the chemical manipulation aspect, I racked the blueberry mead today. It is a beautiful dark crimson color and quite clear already. It is also very…shall we say, alcohol forward. If the online calculator and my readings are correct, this one is currently sitting at around 25% ABV which is absolutely insane. My plan is to let it sit for a few weeks and then give it another taste. I suspect that I may, at that point, pasteurize and back sweeten to make it a little more palatable.
Listening To: I started and finished a delightful book called Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan (see below). It’s the tale of multiple generations of Southern women who put down the dead when they rise. It mixes the horror with a touch of Southern charm. I’m now working on Necrotek by Jonathon Mayberry, sci-fi horror with a touch of the cosmic horror that grabbed me from the first page.
Currently Reading: Extra time this weekend was spent editing Peggy Christie’s new collection Here There Be Horrors due later this year from Dragon’s Roost Press
Current Obsession: Fans, air conditioning, and fighting the flies which have worked their way into the house. Ugh.
Dragon’s Roost Press News
The weekend was very warm, but we had a good time at Curious at the Crossroads. As soon as I finish this I’ll be back to packing for the trip to Harrisburg, PA and Horror on Main.
The Kickstarter for Nightmerica is down to a little over a week and we could use your help! If you haven’t pledged yet, now is the time. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one. If you have pledged, please take a moment and share the link (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonsroostpress/nightmerica-corruptions-of-the-american-dream).
Nightmerica is just about ready to wrap. Just a few tweaks here and there and we will be uploading the final files. Everything looks good for an Independence Day release and celebration.
As noted above, we have completed the first round of edits on our next release Here There Be Horrors. Because we have no restraint, we will be pushing ahead with our NEXT book, a collection of short fiction by Frank Oreto tentatively titled It’s Dark in Here Twenty-One Weird Tales and One Poem About Squirrels.
This Week’s Rambling: Explore a Southern Family Who Put Down The Dead
As I mentioned above, I zoomed through Bless Your Heart. Part of this was that I had a lot of driving to do, but I also spent a lot of time listening while simply sitting and sipping (either coffee or bourbon). Lindy Ryan’s novel was nominated for the Stoker for Best First Novel, and I can see why. The blend of Southern family life and monster killing was done so well one would think that this was her tenth novel.
The Evans family and the small town that they live in reminds the reader of the best works of someone like Fannie Flagg. The aspects of small town life, how everyone knows everything about everyone, how difficult it is to navigate the ins and outs of generations of interpersonal conflicts, how difficult it is to keep a secret — all of these are exceptionally well crafted. We understand how it feels to be a member of the “weird” family. More importantly, we understand the importance of family in this setting.
Especially when the family in question has been putting down the restless dead for nigh going on a century.
In lesser hands, this would be a simple BtVS knockoff, but Ryan infuses the characters with a reality that allows us to understand their motivations. Glimpses of their backstory explain why their past actions and their motivations in the present. We all know someone, or perhaps are, like Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and Luna. We understand how they deal with each other.
Make no mistake, this is not simply the story of a family, although it is that. It is also the story of something monstrous which is killing members of their community — killing them in brutal ways. Worse, without the help of the Evans women, the victims will not stay dead. The threat is reminiscent of previous tragedy. Has that horror from the past returned or is this a new threat? And how are the women of the Evans family and their dark history tied in to the current murders?
The easiest way for me to explain how much I enjoyed this novel is to say that I look forward to reading the next in the series as soon as it becomes available at the library.