“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting
for our senses to grow sharper.”
― W.B. Yeats
Working on a new promotional poster, I’ve peppered it with the strange and unusual — symbols representing the broad strokes of my obsessions — spirits, praeternatural intelligences, ufology, cryptids, magick — all those stranger things that demand my attention here in the haunted hinterlands.
I had a great time chatting with Nick and Sean about these haunted hinterlands of Indiana.
I was a bit under the weather, but I still think the interview came off pretty well.
If you’ve not listened to their podcast before, Nick and Sean run a very relaxed interview session and they’ve had some stellar guests on in the past — Michelle Belanger, Heather Taddy, Shane Pittman, Dustin Pari, Reverend Long. I was thrilled to have the chance to sit down with them and appreciated their humor and dedication.
Demons come out at night.
I’d known that since I could first talk. I remember this because I watched my first horror movie when I was three. Scared the crap out of me. Most fun 90 minutes I’d ever had in my young life. But the information was clear. The night was a bad and scary place. Everything came out at night: vampires, monsters, ghosts, and especially demons.
It was not a good time to be alone, which was why when my parents suggested that at 12, I was old enough to babysit my younger brother Tim, who was 10, and my little sister Egg, who was 8, I told them it was a bad idea. Too many monsters.
So says twelve-year-old Dylan Holcomb, moments before he and his younger brother and sister disappear from their home without a trace. Special Agent Dani Cerra is assigned the case, and to her chagrin, the children’s parents also hire Sean Ryan, a former Catholic priest who now works as a paranormal investigator. Together, Cerra and Ryan follow the clues in a case which begins with the disappearance of three children from their home with no sign of forced entry or exit, continues into the lurid arena of child abduction, and ends with a journey into the supernatural world of demons, a hellish realm filled with unceasing fires and tortures.
Michael Arruda has written a novel in which the human villains are every bit as horrifying as their demonic counterparts, maybe even more so. Demon at the Door is a tale of the supernatural, a story of three children fighting for their lives against both human predators and demonic, while a flawed FBI agent and a troubled paranormal investigator put their differences behind them and leave no stone unturned in their efforts to find and save the children.
Demon at the Door is horror author and movie critic Michael Arruda’s second novel, following his science fiction adventure Time Frame.
I’d been aware of Michael Arruda’s work at Cinema Knife Fight, but I wasn’t really sure what to expect of his sophomore novel, his first foray into horror, when a pdf ARC for Demon at the Door arrived in my inbox from Macabre Ink (Crossroads Press). What I didn’t expect was to be reading a pretty decent occult detective novel.
This is just the sort of set-up I crave in a good supernatural mystery — imperiled kids (gets me every time) is a good touch to generate the sort of emotions you’re going for here, and they are compelling kids. Cerra and Ryan though, our erstwhile occult detectives, are the stars of the show. I enjoy their characterization, and this is true of all the characters populating the novel. Every one feels real and grounded. And the supernatural elements are tastefully done. Not all demons smell of brimstone. I’m glad we get some great variety in our villainy.
Arruda has some skills, to be sure. Some of the dialogue is a little rough in places, a little too “TV”, but he understands pacing and the old bait and switch, managing both like a pro. I think he shows a lot of promise and I would certainly recommend Demon at the Door. While I feel there are some growing pains evident in the prose, it’s a solid page turner and well worth the time spent with it.
Here’s to hoping for more from this world in the future.
Demon at the Door by Michael Arruda is available in pod trade paperback on Amazon for just $16.99
The perfect gift for fans of occult detective fiction, if I do say so myself, the Landon Connors: Occult Detective Omnibus collects 22 stories in more than 500 pages, including the critically acclaimed novel Descendant.
Order your copy, in glorious hardcover
or stylish trade paperback, today.
Welcome, sleuths. Pull up a chair and pour yourself a drink. We’ve got plenty to talk about…
Occultober rolls on. As part of this year’s celebration, I decided to read aloud a story of John Kirowan, one of my favorite occult detectives and written by my favorite author.
Originally published in Weird Tales Magazine Vol XIX No 2 in February, 1932, Robert E. Howard’s “The Thing on the Roof” is a shuddery tale of an old, legend-haunted tomb in Honduras, and the doom that pursued the man who opened it.
Hastily narrated, and with little editing, any errors are my own. I am not accustomed to reading for a stretch like this, so my voice becomes slurred at times. Such is the slow and steady creep of age, I presume.
Still, it’s a fun story, steeped in Lovecraft’s legendarium. And I had an odd thought… what if a certain Dr. Jones had followed up on Tussman’s expedition. Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Toad?
Landon Connors: Occult Detective Volume One is now available on Amazon. 22 stories. 500+ pages.
Collected together for the first time are the complete stories of Occult Detective Landon Connors and those supernatural investigators who exist within his cosmology.
From the arcane sorceries of “The Wickedest Man in the World” to the preternatural exploits of hard-boiled gumshoe Sam Hill and the harrowing investigations of Agents Wolfe and Crowe, this collection of macabre tales of the black arts treads the dangerous landscape between this world and that populated by angels and demons, gods and devils, ghosts and spirits, and the legendary creatures of our darkest imaginings. This is the place Landon Connors calls home.
“If you like the genre, you’ll love Landon Connors and the entourage of standing characters in Bob Freeman’s imaginarium. The tales in this volume range from the classic noir detective yarn with Connors at the center, to horror stories set in rural places like those of the author’s youth.” — Freeman Presson, Wizard
“…like the bastard lovechild of The X-Files, H.P. Lovecraft, and Doctor Strange; and I mean that in the most loving way possible.” — The Monster Librarian
“The tales here breathe, and oft times, there’s a hint of brimstone, perhaps some of that old black magick lurks in the exhale.” — Steven Shrewsbury, co-author of Bad Magick
“The connections stand out so vividly when put in order.” — Greg Mitchell, author of The Coming Evil trilogy
“…the depth of occult knowledge that has been intertwined into these stories is vast.” — Ginger Nuts of Horror
“Between ancient bloodlines, unholy alliances and magical orders of great power, Freeman’s knowledge of dark magic and its history shows throughout every page.” — The Sci Fi Guys Book Review
I was thrilled to finally be a guest of Frater R:.C:. on his Magick Without Fears podcast. While I wasn’t at my best (thanks a lot, opioid analgesics), it was an absolute honor to chat for a couple of hours (three if you’re a patron) with one of my favorite people.
We were all over the place, talking about everything from occult detectives and paranormal investigation, the Satanic Panic, music, psychedelics, cancel culture, Dungeons & Dragons, and a host of other things I can’t remember right now.
Pain medication is rarely conducive to cognizance.
To be honest, I could have talked for hours more.
A huge thanks to Frater R:.C:. for having me on. If you don’t already, be sure to put Magick Without Fears in your podcast queue.
I shared this story with friends last night, and it occurred to me that I hadn’t shared it here, or, at least, I don’t recall doing so. Proceed with caution and with an open mind. I will do my best to maintain the confidentiality of the owners and location.
A few decades back, give or take, I was asked to investigate a business property. It was housed in an old building, constructed in 1912. This building saw a lot of traffic in its heyday, but fell into disrepair and was little more than a derelict structure for many moons until the current owners revitalized it in the late twentieth century.
The owners reached out because they were having inexplicable fires occurring in one of the upstairs rooms. Electricians were baffled. As they were also experiencing other paranormal phenomena, calling me in seemed apropos.
I was able to identify much of the phenomena as residual, such as the sounds of pre-War radio, though I was pretty sure there was an intelligent spirit on the ground floor, and something a little darker in the basement. My main concern lay with the electrical fires however.
After several visits, I became confident the culprits were what some call land wights or the fey, but most simply refer to them as fairy folk. Precocious and alien, wights are preternatural spirits, sometimes malicious, but then, their thinking is different than our own. They frequent abandoned places, woodlands, groves, streams, and yes, neglected buildings.
I set a trap for the creatures, honey and polished stones, and I sang to them while I strummed a tune on my guitar. Gathered into water collected from the most sacred local spot I knew, I took them to that place and released them, unto Seven Pillars, the Gateway Between Worlds, where they could make a new home for themselves.
When I speak with those who have become weekend hobbyists, often because they enjoy the Discovery Channel’s slate of ghostly programming, predominately I see they’re of a mind that there are two, maybe three types of spirits — intelligent ghosts of the deceased, residual spirits, and demons. That kind of thinking is not healthy. This is a lesson every occult detective or paranormal investigator needs to take to heart.
Become acquainted with the history and folklore of the area you frequently investigate. What’s that oft (read: over-) used line from Hamlet? “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Or something like that.
We have to recognize that existence is much more expansive than that which is at our fingertips. We move through a reality that encompasses various planes and dimensions and divergences, and it is all populated by a myriad of preternatural intelligences.
The sooner would be “ghost hunters” wrap their heads around that, the better.
occultdetective.com 