My Favorite Authors

In his most recent newsletter, Brian Keene offered up a list of his 20 favorite authors. That’s a challenge I just could not pass up. So here are my favorites, the caveat being that this is a list of writers of fiction and as close to their proper order as I can muster. Also, because of the third author on my list, I have decided there should be 23 names instead of 20. Fnord.

 

1. Robert E. Howard
2. J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Robert Anton Wilson
4. Neil Gaiman
5. Katherine Kurtz
6. Alan Moore
7. Umberto Eco
8. Fritz Leiber
9. Mary Stewart
10. Roy Thomas
11. Manly Wade Wellman
12. Stephen King
13. George R.R. Martin
14. Edgar Rice Burroughs
15. Algernon Blackwood
16. H.P. Lovecraft
17. Raymond Chandler
18. Anne Rice
19. Rex Stout
20. Shirley Jackson
21. Arthur Machen
22. Aleister Crowley
23. Margaret Weis

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If I had a hammer…

That’s a beauty, no? Word on the street is they’re giving those away in bookstores with a purchase of the book. I was lucky enough to have received the hardcover for my birthday last year. Makes me almost want to go out and grab another just to have that piece of work hanging on my wall.

Speaking of birthdays, I survived another. Turned 52 on Thursday with a full moon to light my way. After a doctor visit in the morning (I am the picture of health), I came home to cupcakes and presents with Kim and Conn.

They nailed it this year, gifting me Little Wars by HG Wells, Robert E. Howard’s Sword Woman (with the Leigh Brackett introduction), the Conan: Blood-Stained Crown graphic novel, a hardcover of Fritz Leiber’s Knight & Knave of Swords, and Swords by Ben Boos.

After, Conn and I played some Kingdom Come: Deliverance, then we were off to Kokomo where we ran a quick errand, then sauntered over to Books-A-Million for a little “window shopping”, aka drooling all over new books. We ended our City of Firsts jaunt with a sit-down at Outback Steakhouse.

How did we lay my birthday to rest? By binge watching a couple of episodes of Fringe.

A perfect day? About as close as you can get.

Today I’m prepping this evenings D&D session, getting everything aligned for a brilliant Last Writes with Madame Pamita I’ll be posting on Monday, and writing a chapter in my collaboration with Greg Mitchell. And maybe, if the gods are kind, I’ll get to delve once more into Kingdom Come. We’ll call it research as Conn and I are shooting a video on Sunday.

Well, that’s all for now. Time to swing that hammer and make some magic.

Sanctum Sanctorum

Fancy a look at what an occult detective’s sanctum sanctorum looks like? Here’s a peek at mine, a place I call “The Aerie“, tucked away in the upstairs of our rural Indiana home. In it, I wrote the novels Keepers of the Dead, Descendant, dozens of short stories, and the lion’s share of First Born.

Yes, it’s a cluttered mess. I like clutter. It’s my clutter and I revel in the overwhelming sensory overload that occurs every time I ascend to my sacred space overlooking Little Pipe Creek.

Eisen im Feuer

 

I’ve been working, sparingly I’m afraid, on a number of important projects, all while trying to juggle my father’s illness, family duties, and the day job, not to mention my work for various non-profit organizations and me lending a helping hand to a local start-up.

What’s that old saying about irons in the fire?

Well, with my lovely wife’s help, I am starting to get all my ducks in a proverbial row and progress is being made on several fronts, especially now that the witching season is coming to a close.

You can expect a litany of announcements in the near future… Either that or you’ll take notice of my obituary in the local paper ;)

Hallowe’en is over, but Samhain remains.

Another Hallowe’en has passed. We had a great night. We visited my parents at the Woodcarvers Building and watched some of the kids parade through in their costumes, then headed back home for a bonfire and camp supper.

We ended the evening with some para-entertainment, courtesy of Rob Lowe, and an episode of Lucifer.

All in all, a fine Hallowe’en that came and went too fast. Luckily, we’re still in the throes of Samhain, which will culminate this coming weekend with November’s Frost Moon.

***

It being November 1st, I can’t let the day pass without acknowledging the birthday of Landon Connors.

Yes, I know, he’s a fictional character, but in truth he’s much more than that. Giving him a birthdate grounded him for me. Knowing how old he was in, say, 1986, helps me make him a living and breathing person.

He was ten, by the way.

Happy 41st Birthday, Landon Connors. I hope there are many more to come…

***

If you were one of those who purchased the latest issue of Occult Detective Quarterly and found my Walter Davies tale, “Birds of a Feather”, truncated, fear not. The good folks at ODQ have uploaded the missing words in an Erratum, with future editions having the corrected prose.

***

That’s all for now… I’ve writing to attend to.

One day till Hallowe’en means it must be Devil’s Night

Devil’s Night is upon us, a night of pranks and mischief. Unfortunately, good-natured fun (corning or soaping windows, smashing pumpkins, toilet papering trees) can sometimes give way to out-and-out vandalism.

Please, if you’re up to some devilishness this evening, do not include arson or property damage into your repertoire. Have fun, but remember — these are your neighbors.

— On another note: I drew attention to the latest issue of Occult Detective Quarterly and my short story “Birds of a Feather”. There was a problem with the issue and the last 800 words or so of my tale were inadvertently absent from the edition. This problem is being rectified and I trust no print copies will make it into the wild sans the story’s conclusion.

If so, please contact me and I’ll email you the rest of the third act and epilogue. Same holds true if you are one of the few who was sent a pdf of the issue.

It’s a story I’m quite fond of and would like to make sure you get to read it in toto.

— Now normally on a Monday night, Connor and I would join some of my oldest and dearest friends in a rousing Roll20 session of D&D, but this week that will not be the case and we’re looking toward spending the night with Kim for a change.

I wonder what sort of infernal tomfoolery will get up to? Only the devil knows for sure, and he’s not telling.

— In closing, a reminder to embrace All Hallow’s Read. Please, give someone a scary book this Hallowe’en.

Four days till Hallowe’en and magic can still be found in the quiet places

Kim, Connor, and I made our annual pre-Hallowe’en trek out to the old bones of a Victorian farmhouse. Built in 1879, it was a beautiful home, as recently as thirty years back, but neglect and vandalism have given way to the old girl fading fast. She’ll not be with us much longer, I suspect, but we will continue to marvel over her till she becomes naught but a memory.

After, we trekked north to one of my favorite places on earth — a place my friends and I called “The Circle of Stone” in our youth.

Located in the heart of the Mississinewa Forest, a hop and a skip from the Dam, the circle is long gone, destroyed by vandals in the late 90s, and the shelter house has fallen into disrepair, but there was no escaping the magic of the place.

The three of us were swept away, enchanted by the majesty of that sacred site that has inspired me for nearly 40 years.

We walked the Lost Sister Trail, stood out by the lake, and let nature sink into our bones.

If felt good to reconnect to a place that had meant so much to me as a young man. It felt even more special now that I get to share it with the people I care most about in this world.