Monthly Archives: October 2018

This is Halloween

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This is Halloween
James A. Moore
Trade Paper $14.95
ebook $2.99

This collection of ten terrific stories came out a year ago, but my copy didn’t arrive until the first few days of November, so I saved it for this year.  Long-time readers of this blog know that I’m a big fan of James A. Moore’s fantasy novels.  Part of what appeals to me about his fantasy is the elements of horror he includes.

That’s hardly surprising since he started his career as a horror writer.  This is Halloween collects ten stories showcasing his talents in the arena of dark fiction. Continue reading →

When Your Murdered Wife’s Ghost Testifies Against You at Your Trial

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The Unquiet Grave
Sharyn McCrumb
Trade Paper $16
ebook $11.99

I’ve been a fan of Sharyn McCrumb ever since I read Bimbos of the Death Sun, a satirical mystery about a murder at a science fiction convention, back in graduate school. To put some context to how highly I regard her work, Ms. McCrumb is one of the few living authors whose books I still buy in hardcover when a new one comes out.  (Jack McDevitt and Larry Niven are two others.)

She’d been writing the Elizabeth MacPherson mystery series at the time and had just published the first of what would become known as the Ballad books.  That would be If Ever I Return, My Pretty Peggy-O.  It was a traditional mystery set in the Appalachians.  The next book in the series, The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, wasn’t.  The book set the tone for what would become the Ballad series.  The next book, She Walks These Hills, knocked my socks off, and I’ve been reading the Ballad books ever since. Continue reading →

Happy Birthday, Joe Lansdale

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Normally I only do these birthday posts for writers who are dead, but I’m making an exception today.  Joe Lansdale entered the world on October 28, 1951.

Since we’re both from Texas, our paths have crossed a number of times through the years.  Several years may go by when I don’t see Joe at a convention, then we’ll attend the same events more than once in a year.

One of the highlights of my encounters with Joe is when we are both at Armadillcon.  After the dealer’s room closes, you can usually find Joe in the lobby in the middle of a group talking about all kinds of things.  Joe isn’t the only one talking, of course, but he’s a major contributor to the conversation.  Me, I sit at the back of the group, keep my mouth shut (it does happen; don’t look so shocked), and listen.  I always learn something, whether it’s about a book I need to read, an anecdote about a writer, or some tidbit of pop culture history.  If you ever get a chance to hang out with him, take advantage of it.

Happy birthday, Joe, and thanks for all the great stories over the years, both verbal and written.

What the Family Plots

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The Family Plot
Cherie Priest
ebook $2.99
paperback $15.99

Here’s a little something seasonal.   And by little, I mean the length of the review, not the length of the book.

Cherie Priest is someone whose work I’ve reviewed here before, namely the Borden Dispatches, Maplecroft and Chapelwood.  Before I started this blog, I’d read Four and Twenty Blackbirds and Wings to the Kingdom.  So I knew Ms. Priest could write ghost stories and do them right.

The Family Plot is a stand-alone novel, but it’s one I could see becoming a series, depending on what happens after the final sentence…

Chuck Dutton owns Music City Salvage, and times are lean.  He needs a big score.  So when the elderly Augusta Winthrop walks in and makes him an offer that sounds too good to be true, Chuck doesn’t question things as much as he should. Continue reading →

A Monster-God for Edmond Hamilton’s Birthday

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“The Monster-God of Mamurth”
The Edmond Hamilton Megapack
Wildside Press
ebook $0.55

On this date, October 20, Edmond Hamilton was born in the year 1904.  While he isn’t the only writer of the fantastic with a birthday today, I think he’s the most important.

Hamilton is best known today as a writer of space opera (and husband of one of our favorite writers, Leigh Brackett), so it might seem that this tribute would be more appropriate over at Futures Past and Present.

What isn’t as well known is that, in addition to publishing muc of his early science fiction in Weird Tales, Hamilton also wrote some weird fantasy adventures stories.  In fact, his first published story, “The Monster-God of Mamurth” is just such a tale. Continue reading →

The Office Ghost Has Been Active

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Something seasonal to share with you.

If I’m the first one at work, and lately I have been, I’ll make the first pot of coffee for the department.  The coffee pot is in the work room between the departmental office and the conference room.  Because I don’t have a key to the departmental office (only the department chair and the staff who have offices in that suite have keys), I come in through the conference room.

Twice last week I unlocked the door to the conference room and walked in.  I didn’t turn on the light because there was enough light from the windows opposite the entrance for me to see.  So everything was in some degree of shadow.  The door to the workroom was in the middle of the wall to the left and was closed or nearly so.

The door swung open as I approached.  When it was about halfway open, it began creaking.

There was no one else there.

The joke has been that there was a ghost, and it was opening the door for me.  This wasn’t the first time that has happened to me.  Do I think there’s really a ghost?  Probably not.  Every time this has happened, at least to me, the door has not been completely closed.  I think it’s just the vibration of my walking across the room the makes it move.  As for the creaking, that’s nothing that a little WD-40 can’t fix.

On the other hand, my building does have a reputation for being haunted.  After all, three murders have occurred in it, including a decapitation…