Sounds like a terrible condition for a writer. However, I’m referring to names for hurricanes. We’ve already expended the complete list for 2020, which means we’ve moved on to Greek letters. Tropical Storm Beta is knocking at our door, promising to deliver a considerable amount of rain over the next couple of days. Nothing we’re concerned about, but the high tides down on the coast are pretty impressive. I saw drone footage from Surfside Beach, one of our favorite getaway spots (back when people were getting away), and the beach was completely covered with water, which was overlapping the coastal road. Fortunately, the houses down there are all on stilts, so they won’t get flooded. Their cars parked beneath the houses might, though.
The storm has brought with it a nice change in temperature. We’ve had a run of days where the temp doesn’t get above 77 or 78, and it’s been as low as the upper sixties. Too bad that didn’t kick in a few days earlier. We had a couple of guys working in our uppermost attic for two days replacing our A/C and heating system, and it was in the high 90s outside. I can only image what it was like up there.
Tomorrow evening, Tuesday, September 22, I’ll be taking part in an event to celebrate National Voter Registration Day with many of my fellow contributors to the anthology Low Down Dirty Vote Volume 2. It’s a free event, but you have to register to attend. Some authors will be interviewing other authors, some will be reading excerpts from our stories, and some of us will just be gabbing for a few minutes. It all begins at 8:30 Central. There’ll be a raffle, and our illustrious editor will show off the $10,000 check that is being donated to Southern Poverty Law Center.
Cemetery Dance will be publishing Dissonant Harmonies, the collaboration between Brian Keene and me. We each wrote a novella listening to a playlist created by the other author. Mine is called “The Dead of Winter” and Brian’s is “The Motel at the End of the World.” The signed/limited hardcover edition is only available to members of Cemetery Dance’s Collectors Club but fear not…there’ll be affordable paperback and eBook editions, too. Here is the cool cover, featuring an illustration by Don Noble.
Forthcoming publications include:
- The Hound of Bracketville in Places We Fear to Tread, September 2020
- Halloween Funeral in Something Good to Eat, September 28, 2020
- The Fugitive with the Dragon Tattoo in Black Cat Mystery Magazine, 2020
- Bloody Sunday in The Book of Extraordinary Sherlock Holmes Stories, Mango, November 2020
- Reflections of the Past in Mickey Finn, December 14, 2020
Below is the cover for Something Good to Eat. Looks pretty cool, eh?
I’ve been trying to get caught up on reviewing. I posted half a dozen to Onyx Reviews over the past few weeks, with one more on deck:
- Basketful of Heads by Joe Hill
- A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin
- Fool Me Twice by Jeff Lindsay
- Creative Types by Tom Bissell
- Just Like You by Nick Hornby
- Cry Baby by Mark Billingham
I’m almost to the end of my current editing pass on a novel, which I then plan to send around to a couple of beta readers for feedback. I’m feeling pretty good about it. It’s got a looooong history, but it’s vastly different from the first draft, that’s for sure.
I’m into the fourth season of Money Heist and enjoying the heck out of it. My wife and I are almost nearly finished Away. Both of these are on Netflix.
