The rains that we expected earlier this week because of Alex are finally arriving. It’s a lot worse on the south side of I-10, I understand, but it’s been a dark and rainy day up on the north side, too. Now there’s thunder. It’s supposed to remain rainy and overcast throughout the weekend. Guess I won’t be mowing the lawn tomorrow. Shucks. A good weekend for writing, it looks like.
A while back I contributed a few essays to Encyclopedia of the Vampire: The Living Dead in Myth, Legend, and Popular Culture, edited by S.T. Joshi. I found the cover on Amazon yesterday, so I thought I’d post it here. It’s an expensive book. Due out at the end of November.
By the way, the official publication date for Thrillers: 100 Must Reads is July 5. My essay is on Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. I think I’ve said that a few times already.
I read one more story from Stories: All-New Tales last night: The Therapist by Jeffery Deaver. It’s about a therapist (naturally) who attributes violent tendencies to invisible creatures he calls “nemes” (riffing off the word “memes”). He encounters an angry young woman, a teacher and a mother, who he feels called upon to assist, though his advice isn’t appreciated. He takes drastic measures. Of course, the existence of these ghostlike entities entirely depends on character perspective, and the story does tend to go on and on for a while.
Burn Notice is in a bit of a rut, I think. Even the introduction of a new regular character isn’t giving it much new life. Every episode is this: Michael has to tend to some business with the people who burned him or someone related to the people who burned him while at the same time trying to solve a problem for a client, usually someone who comes to him via his mother or one of his friends. One or the other gets short shrift. Last night, it was the Kendra storyline that got crammed in where possible. Next week might be more interesting, though, with Kendra “in custody” and spitting out nails instead of information.
