What the hell? Turns out I’m following the dude; time to fix that, stat.

Rising

The child is up early and at his piano, learning the Nutcracker. It's April. Out her window the oak is settling into its spring #jade. The toys march across her ceiling. Sugarplums dance, the flowers will soon begin a waltz. In an hour, it'll be breakfast and backpacks. She can wait. #vss365

Obsessive deep dives down the internet tubes will do it usually. So much original source material is now available with a few choice key words...And I am especially grateful to my two local library systems for maintaining some amazing online archives...

#horrorwriterschat

Like my working life, my written life is scattered hither and yon and I write a little bit of everything, all of it weird.

Been dipping back down the poetry hole lately.
#horrorwriterschat

Hallo! I'm here...And by here, I mean my native Brooklyn, NY, where I live and write weird things my son isn't allowed to read...yet. Currently reading: More Deadly Than the Male: Masterpieces from the Queens of Horror, ed. by Graeme Davis & Gods of New York by Jonathan Mahler.

#HorrorWritersChat

I seldom work on the romance stuff anymore in my editing life but of course I would have a real saucy one up on the monitor when the kid comes in to work on his bday invite.

("F--ks me hard against the wall" being the choice phrase he read aloud.)

Gah! 🫠

Dive

When Joe surfaced he did not expect to see a child in the glare of his headlamp. How had they gotten there? Joe saw no equipment, no dry suit. They wore shorts, a tank top. Joe climbed from the #water, looked more closely at the cave, then the child, who smiled at him with sharp teeth. #vss365

Just gotta keep on keeping on. 🤞

Summer of George!

And…just got another (yes, yes very nice) rejection this morning… sigh….

Mazel!

Hallo #HorrorWritersChat

Scrambling to get my shiz together for seder night BUT I'll attempt to get thru a few questions...

I am a frayed nerve living in the States in Brooklyn, NY, and I write weirdness.

Fave imprisonment horror: the waking up in a locked room with no memory of getting there.

This cover is everything.

A black cat on top of a pile of papers looking down with a slightly quizzical/dubious look.

Wilson tentatively agrees.

Exquisite.

Mazel on both!

An illustration of rosebushes, with close-ups of the thorns and how to graft the buds from a 20th century tobacco card series. [Image courtesy of NYPL public domain collection: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/94c28b20-c565-012f-bd00-58d385a7bc34]

Pruning

He forgot gloves, so the roses bit him for his favors, leaving red teeth marks along his forearms. He #exalted in their sting; it felt deserved, earned. As a child, his mother had poured vinegar on his scrapes to punish clumsiness. Now in the garden, he let the earth tear him apart. #vss365

It’s like I expect them, of course. Part of the process, etc. But 3 in a row… *sigh* And 3 good ones too 😩

a man in a plaid shirt says " you 're giving me the it 's not you it 's me routine Alt: A clip from Seinfeld of George, a man in a plaid shirt saying, "you 're giving me"

Nothing like going to bed with a rejection in the inbox and then waking up to 2 more. All very nice, "it's not you, it's us," rejections, sure, but still. 🫤

Anyway...Back to revising, submitting, and existential crisis, per the usual. #amwriting #amsubmitting #5amwritersclub

After weeks of back-to-back deadlines and assorted Adult Responsibilities I am able to spend a cloudy Friday morning editing my own work, tidying the desk hole, and maybe even submitting a piece or two.

I will not, under any circumstances, faff away the day on the inter—

#writing #notwriting

Strength to you in trying times. And thank you for this dose of beauty.

What’s for dinner? #vss

🧑‍🍳💋

An image from a 16th century anatomy book showing some aspects of the human vascular system in a figure that is missing one leg. [image courtesy NYPL https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/f27ad0f0-c6f8-012f-8b82-58d385a7bc34]

Deterrent

I #endorse the public dissection of those executed for the crime of homicide. Some argue against the vulgar aspects. Will we make bone-chip souvenirs? Sell locks of murderers’ hair? I say open gift shops and let honest men make money from the skins of the justly dead. #vss365

This is lovely!

Also, Zootopia is just copaganda in a fur suit.

Yup. The bathroom dream. It’s always the gotdang bathroom dream!

Oh that Dead Alive mama zombie is the best!

#HorrrorWritersChat, now we're getting down to it...

I do quite enjoy the zombie/undead scenario but not sure I've ever written about one.

🤔

And now I feel a funny tingling that usually presages *gasp* inspiration and might need to go hit the writing desk for a moment...

#HorrorWritersChat Zombie horror's protagonists generally go 2 ways: final person or everyone dies. In the case of Dawn of the Dead (2004) [SPOILER] it's the latter. Even the plucky nurse who survived from the jump is so much splatter in the end...

TL;DR: No. Or maybe? What was the question again?