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The Night Guest by Hildur Knutsdottir Book Review

It’s always a pleasure to find a “one-sitting” book; the kind of book where I can sit out on my back porch and immerse myself in the author’s world for a few hours, experiencing the whole story from beginning to end. Each plot point and note remains fresh in my mind as I follow theContinue reading “The Night Guest by Hildur Knutsdottir Book Review”

Hampton Heights Book Review

The tongue and cheek subtitle of Dan Kois’s Hampton Heights is, “One Harrowing Night In the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” which for this reviewer set an expectation for an unserious romp through streets and alleyways rife with all manners of ghosts and ghouls. The cover art of the US edition features some red-eyedContinue reading “Hampton Heights Book Review”

The White Guy Dies First Book Review

I am far from an expert on the relationship between the horror genre and people of color, but I do have an interest in the topic ever since reading The Ballad of Black Tom, Victor LaValle’s take on the atrociously racist Lovecraft story The Horror at Red Hook. That novella opens with a startling dedication:Continue reading “The White Guy Dies First Book Review”

A little weird, a little wild

I had my friend Jean and three strangers all packed inside my beat-up Subaru and was driving somewhere out in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road in southern Arkansas. One of the guys shouted directions at me, struggling to be heard over the music and the manic conversation. Jean asked if I hadContinue reading “A little weird, a little wild”

Brown Sugar and Spice

Last week my friend and co-founder of this blog, Payton, texted me about relaunching the website. He emailed me a link so that I could sign in as an admin and I could claim my old writings that he had imported to the new site. Since he was the only admin at the time itContinue reading “Brown Sugar and Spice”

A little writing about my Grandad and the music of John Prine

The first time I heard John Prine was while working at a used media store in Wichita, KS. Every month we were required to go through the mind numbingly boring task of taking inventory of everything in the store and solving any discrepancies. The one thing that made this job bearable was loading up theContinue reading “A little writing about my Grandad and the music of John Prine”

The Alphabet Ends at Y

I have a part time gig at a bookstore, usually working on weekends and the occasional weekday evening shift. I have worked in bookstores in some capacity for over a decade because of a personality quirk that I share with others that makes us “bookstore people.” As vague an explanation as that is, it’s theContinue reading “The Alphabet Ends at Y”

Untitled Short Fiction

I had a friend in college who was one of those evangelical Christian types. We’d have arguments from time to time, always good natured and respectful. I remember him saying something about there being no atheists in foxholes, which I countered by telling him that was completely untrue citing the existence of MAAF. He explainedContinue reading “Untitled Short Fiction”

The Fun of Fear

The house was well decorated for Halloween. Spiderwebs were stretched out over the bushes in front of the house. The pathway leading to the door was lined with garden lights painted to look like bloodshot eyeballs. The residents had left the main door wide open, leaving only the large single pane glass door closed soContinue reading “The Fun of Fear”

The Time Management Massacre

Halloween is fast approaching and I, for one, am really excited. My daughter is going as a princess butterfly. A princess butterfly is what happens when a four year old smashes two concepts that she likes together and it becomes its own thing, like this video I saw online where someone made a ham andContinue reading “The Time Management Massacre”