Magick Words

Today on twitter I posted — “lot of talk about branding, courting readers, chasing trends — it’s really not so difficult — write what YOU want to read & just be yourself”. That’s the single most important writerly advice I could ever give someone who wants to hang a shingle outside their door that reads “storyteller”.

Of course, that’s some weighty stuff. To “just be yourself”, you have to know who you are. And by that I mean who you really are, and that’s not an easy task. It requires a lot of soul searching, a lot of deconstruction. Few people have the courage to peel back the layers and get down to the truth of it. There’s a very good reason why this is the very center of what magick is all about. And don’t kid yourself. Writing is magick. As Alan Moore so famously stated, “The very language about magic seems to be talking as much about writing or art as it is about supernatural events.”

So write from your heart. Write what you love and feel and want to express. Be true to yourself, but don’t be afraid to be the real you — the larger than life you. You only live once (give or take) so live to your fullest and be and write and tear down the pillars of heaven.

Neil Gaiman said, “Make Good Art!” I couldn’t agree more, but why not take it all the way — good, bad, or ugly — Let’s make some bloody magick!

Three Years Gone

The School Year’s Almost Over

Connor’s Third Year Diploma

Sic pereant omnes inimici tui

Today marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of The Voice of the Mountains — Manly Wade Wellman. Called “the dean of fantasy writers” by the late, great Karl Edward Wagner, Wellman has been a tremendous influence on my writing, particularly his John Thunstone stories. It is unfathomable to me that Wellman is not better known to today’s writers. A unique and prolific storyteller, Wellman wrote for the pulps, comics (including the very first issue of Captain Marvel Adventures), and some of the best genre novels to ever see print.

Not familiar with his work? Well, why not make yourself comfortable and chew on this story from Weird Tales published in July of 1944 — “John Thunstone’s Inheritance” — then come back here and thank me.

Manly Wade Hampton Wellman was one of the greats and should not be forgotten. If you consider yourself a genre writer and have not read his work, then I suspect you’re not. Not really. Until you’ve drank from that well, you’re just pretending.

I want to believe — my review of Don Donderi’s UFOs ETs and Alien Abductions.

On the evening of August 2, 2006, I saw an unexplained phenomena in the skies over my hometown — a long “comet” trail that streaked across the sky at an impressive speed that ended in a tremendous fireball explosion. It produced no sound. I reported the incident to local authorities via telephone and then made a further in-person statement to the town marshal. At that time I was informed that several calls had come in reporting black triangular objects flying in that vicinity. A few years earlier I had witnessed one of these triangular objects while vacationing in Florida. While I suspect the craft was a military Stealth plane, the explosion I saw in Indiana remains a complete and utter mystery to me.

I’ve always had a fascination for UFOs. Let’s face facts, I’m a sucker for the whole bag-of-weird — sea serpents, Bigfoot, ancient aliens, crop circles, ghosts, Oak Island, werewolves, et cetera ad nauseum. If it tickles the imagination… if there’s a mystery… I’m there. I’m curious and I WANT to believe. But not on faith. No, never that. I want answers to all the spectacular mysteries this universe has to offer. It’s one of the principle reasons that I studied anthropology, archaeology, and ancient religions in college. It’s why, to this day, I continue to refer to myself as a paranormal adventurer.

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at a review copy of a book by Don Donderi, Phd I recently received from Hampton Roads titled UFOs ETs and Alien Abductions: A Scientist Looks at the Evidence.

First, let me state, I enjoyed the book. It’s well written and well packaged. A bit thin considering the subject matter at only 200 pages or so, but it manages to cover a wide breadth of material. I would not consider this conclusive, by any stretch. Donderi, for all his allusions to the contrary, will not sway anyone’s opinions. If you believe, you’ll continue to do so. If not? Well, there’s nothing here to change your mind.

Still, this is a well researched study on the matter, or at least, the beginning of one. As I said, considering the massive volume of case studies, this book makes a quick pass through the material, spotlighting a few high profile instances.

Don Donderi is well versed in the data and maneuvers it with aplomb. The primary focus of this paper, and that’s really what it is, is a call for government agencies be more forthcoming with information they’ve gathered concerning extraterrestrial surveillance, and for a more unified global response to what he perceives as an active and ongoing trespass by alien “visitors”.

Are we being visited by aliens? Are they experimenting on us? These are intriguing questions. Unfortunately, this book doesn’t answer them, but it does challenge our imagination and encourages an open dialogue in which these questions can be asked without prejudice or ridicule.

If you have any interest at all in so-called alien phenomena, UFOs ETs and Alien Abductions is a book well worth your time. You may not get the answers you seek, but it does ask all the right questions.

UFOs ETs and Alien Abductions: A Scientist Looks at the Evidence by Don Donderi, Phd is available wherever books are sold.

Bite Me

Today, I have the honor and pleasure of being featured on Selah Janel’s blog — Come Selahway With Me — with a vampire-themed guest post for the Vampires Don’t Sparkle! portion of the SSP Anthology Blog Tour! Care for a little taste?

Bite Me: A Short Discourse on Vampires by Bob Freeman

“I like my creatures of the night a little nocturnal. My next big novel was going to have a vampire. Now, I’m probably not. They are everywhere, they’re like cockroaches.” — Neil Gaiman

It is no secret that vampires have been largely defanged, their mystique unceremoniously scuttled by Young Adult authors writing their angst-ridden Gothic fantasies for lovelorn teenage girls.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. It is a force to be reckoned with, to be sure. There is an audience for this vampire-lite branding, and more power to them. It’s a money making machine, and we’ve all got to eat.

That I prefer my creatures of the night to have a bit more bite should come as no surprise, but even I was first enthralled by the likes of another angst-driven bloodsucker — Barnabas Collins of Dark Shadows fame.

For all the vitriol spilled toward writers such as Stephenie Meyer and L. J. Smith, they were certainly not the first to ravage the vampire’s dark nature.

Continue Reading HERE

Thought for the Day — Neil Gaiman