AT FEAR'S ALTAR

It's my favourite day of the year!

This evening I'll be enjoying a traditional Celtic meal of colcannon and soul cakes, then I'm off to take my youngest Trick-or-Treating. The Dark Half of the Year is upon us.

My heartfelt thanks to Mr. Cochran and the fine folks at Silver Shamrock Novelties for providing such wonderful masks this year.

Wishing you all a very happy Samhain/Hallowe'en.

On behalf of my brothers in arms, Rio and Gord, I'd like to extend my thanks to those who attended Pelham's HorrorFest this past Wednesday. We had a great time and hope you did too. I read my story "Getting the Strap" and sold some copies of The Darkly Splendid Realm and Primeval Wood.

I'd also like to express my thanks to the mysterious coven of Thirteen souls who pre-ordered a Deluxe Edition of The Darkly Splendid Realm. The Deluxe is now officially sold out. However there are still a few copies of the Limited Edition hardcovers available through Dark Regions.

A couple of weeks ago I shipped off my baker's dozen set of handwritten vignettes to Dark Regions Press, so the Deluxe customers will each be receiving one of these. I love vignettes/flash fiction. These pieces were a wonderful counterbalance to the longer narratives I'm currently immersed in. It was also really refreshing to work with a fountain pen. It's funny how much more alert one becomes when working without the benefit of Spellcheck or a Delete key.

On Wednesday, October 28th I will be joining Gord Rollo and Rio Youers for the Pelham Public Library's Horror Fest.

Each of us will be doing a live reading and will have books for sale as well. I may even have a few shiny new copies of The Darkly Splendid Realm for sale that night. We'll begin curdling your blood at 7pm.

The Pelham Public Library is located in Fonthill, Ontario. Horror Fest organizers are strongly encouraging interested parties to pre-register for this event, which you can do by calling (905) 892-6443.

Man, I just love the Halloween season...

I was very pleased to learn that my story "Annexation" will be appearing in David Wynn's Cthulhu 2012 anthology, due out from Mythos Books next year.

Although the book's Table of Contents cannot be revealed at this juncture, believe me when I say it is formidable. All the stories explore, in a variety of ways, both Lovecraftian themes and/or motifs along with the rich Mayan mythology associated with the year 2012.

Several years ago I experienced a vivid dream involving Mesoamerican settings and iconography. After several false starts at short stories, I concluded that these images would remain as a dream journal entry.

Once I dovetailed these images with some touches of Lovecraftian horror, however, "Annexation" was born.

I was very happy to learn that The Darkly Splendid Realm was ranked #2 on Horror Mall's Bestsellers - Pre Order list for the month of September. I'm just behind J.F. Gonzalez's latest, so I'm in very good company.

Thank you to everyone who placed an order, not only for my book but for all the upcoming horror releases.