Well it’s that time again, my favorite holiday, Halloween. So I just wanted to say hello and drop off a little e-card for you all, to let you know how much I care.

Happy Halloween from Katey!

Please enjoy. Hopefully with a case of Sam Adams Octoberfest, or some other similarly fall-ish beer of choice. (That just happens to be my favorite. Though I fear they’ve already switched over to the Winter Lager, which would be a real pain in the ass.)

I’ll be watching Ghost Hunters Live tonight, because I’m weirdly obsessed with that show for someone who doesn’t even believe in ghosts. I’m always trying to see them anyhow, though.

Also, note to self: the Kaiser Chiefs are not good creepy music. Just saying.

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Now playing: Kaiser Chiefs – You Want History
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Oh my, two days in a row! See what happens when I’m net deprived? And yes, I just quoted The Cure in that subject line. I’ve confessed, now stop laughing.

A short one this time though, I promise, just to let people know that Candlelight, Vol.1 is out as of this week, and if you’re interested, this is what it looks like:

My story, as previously mentioned, is called Lime Green Closet. And by lime green I do mean that crazy old school lime green that ends up coating the walls of dodgy old houses and various clinical institutions. I was really happy to find this call for submissions– one of those rare and cool moments when you have a story that just belongs somewhere in particular, in your head. I want to say it’s a weird story for me, as in not what I’d normally write, but considering the few stories I’ve placed so far have all been as far ranging on the horror/dark fantasy spectrum as is possible, that seems a bit silly. But it has a creepy closet.

(Although all closets could be called creepy, I guess. The one on which this story is based, however, was really, really damn creepy. Anyone who remembers that beautiful old house in Cleveland will back me up on that. Come to think of it, that house could be a whole book’s worth of stories…)

Props to Jen, Meghan, and John for their indispensable help making this thing readable, as always. I love you guys. No, really.

Lots of fun-sounding stories lined up in this one, so my fingers are twitching for my copy. (I’m looking at you, Aaron.)

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Now playing: James Dean Bradfield – That’s No Way To Tell A Lie
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*pokes blog with stick*

Well, I’m back from West Virginia. Turns out that being netless (well, mostly, I checked my email a few times) for a week and a half is actually very nice. Assuming you have a lot of gaming and liver pickling to take care of with your family, that is.

I definitely feel ready for Nanowrimo, though. As in, I’m chomping at the bit. Or just grinding my jaw a lot, which is my version.

Since last year’s Nano– which I did in the most unofficial capacity possible with Jen and Hayley, and yielded the pathetically titled “Wolfton Paranormal”– I’ve written a bunch of stuff. This includes my first short stories in about eight years, which is pretty shocking to me even now. I always thought I couldn’t do short, but it turned out to be really fun. I even submitted four and found homes for three. I wrote another book, which is sitting in second draft form right now. I edited the living hell out of my first novel, and I almost like it now. All kinds of crazy things have gone on for me in terms of writing, so I wonder if Nano shouldn’t be my indicator of a New Writing Year. Where I stop, look back, and make sure I’m moving forward instead of sitting on my ass complaining about how I suck and this is haaaaard.

(Er, not that I do that. No writers do that, come on! We’re all arrogant f–ks!)

So the last Nano book took place in my home town, which I so cleverly renamed, and then reproduced in loving detail in the descriptive bits. This year’s will be rather further south, but still in my home state, which makes the oh-so-recent trip to WV doubly useful; not only was it relaxing and distracting (and beautiful, my god, this time of year!), but it also helped get me into the spirit.

Here are some pictures I took Sunday at Cooper’s Rock State Forest to explain my current state of excitement:

Tell me there’s no evil lurking in that pretty place. You can’t do it!

Okay, I must stop prattling about it now. My tactic for the next few days to keep from freaking out and starting to work on this thing will be to play the hell out of my Wii. If that can’t keep me brain-numbed, all hope is surely lost.

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Now playing: Hector Berlioz – Symphonie fantastique, Op.14: 3. Scène Aux Champs (Adagio)
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So I’ve been semi-netless for the last few days, but mostly by choice– what with the company and all. (We went to the International Spy Museum! Hee! I love when people come to visit, when you live in DC you never go see any of the fun stuff until you have company. Then again, that’s any city.) But for the next week and a half I’m netless for real, since I’ll be hanging out back at the old homestead and watching the leaves fall– a particularly nice pass time in West Virginia. I’m sure I’ll miss a lot, but hey, maybe I’ll get something done for once.

As a little note of speculative interest, I’m beginning to amass a really groovy collection of Vampires. No, not the ones in my head (not sure groovy is the word for them. Maybe I need a 70s vampire!), ones people are giving me as gifts. I got a Halloween card from my best friend the other day with a Vampire Magnet on it.

She said he’s called Bartholomew. Good name for a vampire right? He can hang out with Van Tango now.

Hope y’all have a good week, and see you when I come back.

I’m kind of a day late on these, but I’ve been oddly busy (oddly because I’m never really busy, let’s face it), and this week I’m having company. If little brothers count as company.

One of the reasons I love fall is that it’s the best season for Things Creepy– yes, it’s true, every season is creepy around here, but there are shades of gray. But this month there was a load of good stuff to be found (as usual), and only about half of it was as creepy as I expected. I’mma jump right into it.

So everyone and their uncle has linked this story over the last month, but let me add my own to the list, because it’s just that good. One of the best things I read in September was Issue 4 of The Battered Suitcase, in which can be found Reciprocity by Aaron Polson. The style and structure are practically shiny in this one– deceptively gentle in tone, emotional without cramming things down your throat. It’s speculative, but I’d be unwilling to try and categorize it further. Cool story though, for multiple reasons that I can’t discuss for fear of giving something away. But give it a shot if you haven’t already.

Next comes The Spider and the Contrabass by J.F. Peterson in issue 4 of a really cool e-zine called New Myths.com. The writing is of course solid, but the cleverness of the imagined future is what really made this one stand out for me this month. Maybe it has something to do with being from a family full of musicians-by-profession, but the pretty combination of an old skiffy theme (technology outstripping humanity) and classical music (I’m kind of a Romantic era girl myself, but you know, classical as an overarching genre) struck me as irresistible. Character-driven sci-fi is always a win with me, though.

This month’s Necrotic Tissue continued last month’s love; exploring the many and varied faces of horror. There’s much goodness to be had here, including a piece by the previously mentioned Aaron Polson and a particularly gory redneck horrorfest by JP Wilson. Then it has the fabulous winners of their 1st Annual 100 Word Bites Contest (including Natalie L. Sin’s Miss Molly’s Scarecrow), and the Horror Haiku winners (Natalie’s in there too, and also Barry Napier. Wooo, Graveside Tales Crew swarms over NT!) lots of yummy little bites of shiver-inducing, cleverly executed, often funny horror.

I really need to specifically recommend Jonathan Pinnock’s After Michelangelo [link goes to pdf download page, get the issue and you'll find this story on pg. 21], this time around. Another combination of several of my favorite things, this one has art (my family are musicians, but I’m an art historian!) and creepy obsession. This one won’t be shocking to anyone who knows me. But give it a shot, if you’re looking for somewhere to get your feet wet in this treasure-trove of an issue. It’s my kind of delicious.

And last, something a little different. I always enjoy Les Bonnes Fees, an impressive and newish e-zine of folklore and fairy tales. September’s issue has the lovely The Ifreet Father by Teresa Noelle Roberts. It’s written in that dreamy fairy tale style, but edging on literary. She brings in elements from Islamic Spain– which I really adore and have been thinking of a lot lately– and middle eastern tales in the vein of Sinbad, Ali Baba, etc. The cultural touches are beautiful, and some of her sentences are just these perfect little jewels. If you like that kind of thing, you’ll definitely like this.

What’d I miss out on this time?

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Now playing: Buzzcocks – Just Lust
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