Scary Monkeys and Other Childhood Phobias

Destroyer of Worlds now Available!

2012-01-30T09:37:00.001-05:00

Hi, everyone! Big news: my new novel Destroyer of Worlds is now available! In Paperback or Kindle (other eBook formats will hopefully become available in a few months).

Corey Union's world is about to end.

Around every corner lurk the inevitable signs of a coming doomsday. Corey moves his wife and daughter to a new home nestled in the woods… but nothing is what it seems in this man’s world.

Elderly sociopath Hank Cowles and his little dog take a deadly interest in the Union family. Beautiful recluse Vanessa believes she is Corey's only chance for survival, even if saving the man means destroying his family, and his sanity, forever.

Destroyer of Worlds
Other Road Press
Trade paperback, 292 pages, only $12.99
ISBN: 978-0983732921

Kindle version only $2.99!

Amazing New Anthology Out Now!

2011-12-27T16:31:00.000-05:00

My zombie story "Two Fish To Feed The Masses" is now appearing in an amazing charity anthology called RAGE AGAINST THE NIGHT, edited by Shane Jiyaiya Cummings, and featuring not only my story, but stories from Stephen King, Peter Straub, Jonathan Maberry and dozens of others. All to raise money for writer Rocky Wood. See the blurb below for more info and click here for your copy: http://www.amazon.com/Rage-Against-the-Night-ebook/dp/B006P18LM2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325021066&sr=8-1:

"Under the onslaught of supernatural evil, the acts of good people can seem insignificant, but a courageous few stand apart. These brave men and women stand up to the darkness, stare it right in the eye, and give it the finger. These are the stories of those who rage against the night, stories of triumph, sacrifice, and bravery in the face of overwhelming evil.

"All proceeds will be donated to Rocky Wood, author and President of the Horror Writers Association, who is battling motor neurone disease."

The full table of contents (in order of appearance) is:
· The Gunner's Love Song—Joe McKinney
· Keeping Watch—Nate Kenyon
· Like Part of the Family—Jonathan Maberry
· The Edge of Seventeen—Alexandra Sokoloff
· The View from the Top—Bev Vincent
· Afterward, There Will Be a Hallway—Gary A. Braunbeck
· Following Marla—John R. Little
· Magic Numbers—Gene O'Neill
· Tail the Barney—Stephen M. Irwin
· The Nightmare Dimension—David Conyers
· Roadside Memorials—Joseph Nassise
· Dat Tay Vao—F. Paul Wilson
· Constitution—Scott Nicholson
· Mr. Aickman's Air Rifle—Peter Straub
· Agatha's Ghost—Ramsey Campbell
· Blue Heeler—Weston Ochse
· Sarah's Visions—Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
· More Than Words—David Niall Wilson
· Chillers—Lisa Morton
· Changed—Nancy Holder
· Dead Air—Gary Kemble
· Two Fish to Feed the Masses—Daniel G. Keohane
· Fenstad's End—Sarah Langan
· Fair Extension—Stephen King
· Rocky Wood, Skeleton Killer—Jeff Strand

Margaret's Ark Kindle FREE for next few days

2011-12-21T10:24:00.000-05:00

Hi, everyone - For next 4 days the Kindle version of Margaret's Ark is FREE (part of a special promotion Amazon is running).

http://www.amazon.com/Margarets-Ark-ebook/dp/B005BR27XA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1324479799&sr=8-3

Check it out and if you haven't bought it yet, this would be a great time - aside from being free it'll also bump up the book's ranking on Amazon (under "free books" as I type this it's almost broken the 200 mark) and be a great promotional tool. Get the rest of the world to notice it. :-)

Thanks
Dan

Destroyer of Worlds - Coming January 2012

2011-12-07T21:08:00.000-05:00

Corey Union's world is about to end.

Around every corner and in every shadow lurk the inevitable signs of the coming doomsday.

He moves his wife and daughter to a new home, safely nestled in the woods… but nothing is what it seems in this man’s world.
Elderly sociopath Hank Cowles and his little dog take a deadly interest in the Union family.
Beautiful recluse Vanessa believes she is Corey's only chance for survival, even if saving the man means destroying his family, and his sanity, forever.

Destroyer of Worlds, coming next month in paperback and ebook.... stay tuned

What's been going on?

2011-12-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

Well, I began National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) in earnest, hoping to make a short 50K word novel out of my short story "Two Fish To Feed The Masses", but life, and my slowly-dying writer's block got in the way and didn't get far. However, I liked what I saw and think my next novel will still be, FEED THE MASSES, so yea: I'm going to write a Zombie novel. What will come of it, I don't know. Not much in the way of responsive publishers out there these days. There are a few publishers left, just none that ever reply to any correspondance. :-)

Which brings me to what I did do the rest of November: finished final edits on my novel DESTROYER OF WORLDS, which I guess is a way of returning to my pure horror roots. This one is dark, but pretty kick-ass if I do say so. I even have a cover for it. Will I release it under the Other Road Press moniker? Probably, since - see above non-responsive industry. But if I hope to sell more than a couple dozen copies, I'll need to really hunker down and market it. It's got a wider audience, being more convential horror, so we'll see.

So, more on that as I try to get this blog updated more often. And try to get my muse back into friggin' action so she doesn't wail in despair from the cellar of my brain while I procrastinate cleaning the bathroom instead of writing. Down, foul laziness, up, strong writing muse, rise from the ashes.

I Like a Church With a Good Sense of Humor

2011-11-15T22:26:00.000-05:00

Not that I needed proof that my church has a great sense of humor, but I stumbled across this youtube video of their Men's Retreat promotional video from 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmlAeQhLYZg&feature=player_embedded

(Sorry could get the video to imbed, some setting preventing it).

It's never been a better time to be a harp player at a major television studio.

2011-11-14T18:00:00.002-05:00

Film Review: IN TIME (2011) Now Playing

2011-10-31T08:51:00.000-04:00

My review of the new science fiction film IN TIME starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried is now posted at Cinema Knife Fight. Check it out.

New Flash Story "The Linguist" Online

2011-10-17T16:46:00.000-04:00

Italian magazine/anthology Queen Anne's Resurrection, edited by Alessandro Manzeti, has released its newest: Journey IV with my flash fiction (very short fiction... I mean 500 words, short) story, "The Lingust," along with stories by Michael Laimo and Benjamin Kane Ethridge. The Italian version is now online at:
http://postonero.blogspot.com/2011/10/queen-annes-resurrection-viaggio-iv-il_17.html.
The english version is available at:
http://postonero.blogspot.com/2011/08/queen-annes-resurrection-journey-iv-sea.html.

Win a Free Mug!

2011-10-01T21:33:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Linda Gunn and Jane Stanton, winners of the mug contest!
A free mug? What, no car? Nope, haven't got the budget, and you'd believe that if you saw my car. OK, so, I want to get early October sales of Margaret's Ark going stronger with a quick little contest. I'll do more as I think of them. I have two mugs: one with the cover of Margaret's Ark, and one with Das Grab des Salomon, the German edition of Solomon's Grave. I could have done the English version but for now let's keep the German because it looks great on a mug. The Margaret's mug is an over-sized one, SG's is regular sized. Here's how you can win it in the drawing I'll do in a couple of weeks:

Buy a copy of Margaret's Ark (print edition for $12.99 from all major retailers, or for only 99 cents (for a limited time!) the Kindle version from Amazon, Nook from Barnes & Noble, iBooks version from the Apple iBook store or iTunes, or all versions for the same price from Smashwords, and just let me know. For each purchase, you'll get one ticket. (If you already bought a copy just let me know.)

Leave a review on any of the sites, good OR bad, I don't care, and get another ticket.

Leave a book review on any non-retail review site or Goodreads and get another.

In Two Weeks, October 15th, I'll draw a name. First places gets their pick. Second place gets the other one!

Go to it! And Thanks!!

Review of ABDUCTION now at Cinema Knife Fight

2011-09-27T09:13:00.002-04:00

My review of the new Taylor Lautner film ABDUCTION is now showing at Cinema Knife Fight!

Reading / Signing at Princeton Public Library Thursday 9/15 7:00

2011-09-14T15:14:00.000-04:00

Hi, everyone. As a reminder, I'll be reading from Margaret's Ark, discussing the art of writing and signing books (I hope!) at the Goodnow Memorial Library in Princeton MA this Thursday starting at 7:00. I hope to see some of you there! Always fun.

I So Hope This Film Gets Made

2011-09-13T13:20:00.001-04:00

From Thor Ramsey's website (http://www.thorramsey.com/):

Interview with deCompose: Faith, Culture and Composition Now Up!

2011-09-07T09:12:00.000-04:00

I was recently interviewed by Mike Duran, proprietor of the wonderful website deCompose (part cultural blog, part personal website). Part One of the interview is now posted.

We discussed the overall state of the publishing industry, the blending of faith and spirituality with ficiton and horror, my new novel and its publishing vehicle Other Road Press, and a host of other topics. We're also giving away a signed copy of Margaret's Ark. Check it out - not just my interview but his earlier posts. Always very insightful, objective discussions on writing & faith, and how the two can live together in the same house. :-)

New Review for Margaret's Ark at Terrorflicks.com!

2011-09-07T08:54:00.000-04:00

Sheri White has posted a fantastic review of Margaret's Ark up at the website TerrorFlicks.com:
http://terrorflicks.com/news/fangtastic-read-review-apocalyptic-thriller-margarets-ark

Read the entire review above. She closes with:

I couldn’t put this book down. Although somewhat spiritual, “Margaret’s Ark” is a scary look at what might end the world someday. This is not God’s will, but he won’t stop it, either. Mankind is on their own, and nobody is truly safe. Believers and non-believers alike will perish in the coming apocalypse. Only those who board the arks have a chance at survival -- and is that really a good thing, considering what happens to the Earth?

Dan Keohane, a finalist for the 2009 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel, has taken a different approach to the usual religious apocalypse stories. God may not be the cause of the global disaster, but he still has a hand in the outcome. And you don’t have to believe in God to live, you just have to make sure you are on one of the boats. This is not the Rapture -- this is a natural disaster that will change the world forever.

:-)

First Review for Margaret's Ark

2011-08-12T08:23:00.000-04:00

The new novel has its first review, a five-star from Kevin Lucia at Shroud Magazine's review site. I'll give the condensed version here, skipping a lot of the beginning stuff on the nature of how I published the book:

...a quality work of fiction, written by a professional who knows his stuff. A gripping story about the power of faith, but also a frightening portrayal of that inevitable conflict that must erupt – because we're human and flawed – between those who would choose to follow their faith unswervingly, those who follow it only for selfish reasons, those who fear and do not understand faith's power...and those who ultimately reject it.

Solomon's Grave, Keohane's first novel, proved a solid debut and earned him a Bram Stoker nomination for “Superior Achievement in a First Novel”, however Margaret's Ark is Keohane's best work to date. Though it moves slowly and takes time building its tension – and build tension it does – this novel is the mark of an experienced craftsmen. The characters are varied and engaging, prompting genuine sympathy in the reader.

Keohane manages to walk a fine theological line, also. His story is original and well-written, not a shabbily veiled religious allegory, but it shouldn't prove too radical in regards to doctrine. His success is that he does what spiritual fiction often fails at: he focuses on the human element, how humans deal and grapple with the difficulty – and demands – of faith. Margaret's Ark is published through Keohane's own, self-styled imprint, Other Road Press. Time will tell if he'll release other works through this venue, either his own or of other authors. In any case, not only is it a fine novel, but the book itself – its craft, its formatting – serves as a rare example of self-publishing's promise for the future.

Margaret's Ark Now Available!

2011-08-01T15:57:00.004-04:00

Hi. I'm happy to report that my new novel, Margaret's Ark, is now available from Other Road Press! You can get a copy in print or ebook pretty much everywhere now. Before I get into what "Other Road Press" actually is, here's the full poop:

How to order:
Trade Paperback Edition:
274 pages
ISBN-10: 0983732906
ISBN-13: 978-0983732907
Price: $12.99

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all major online retailers (or through special order for the moment, at any of the remaining brick & mortar stores)

Kindle & Other eBook Editions:
Price: only $ 2.99
Kindle available at Amazon
All Other ebook versions including Nook, iBooks, etc are coming to their respective outlets any day now, but you can get them right now in any format you want from Smashwords.com, again for only $2.99

What’s it about?
The blurb reads:
On April ninth, thousands of people wake from the same dream, angels instructing them to build a biblical ark in their front yard, or the town square or little league field. Anywhere, to prepare for the worst natural disaster to strike the world since the days of Noah. A widowed California high school teacher risks everything to build a boat in the sixty days she is given. A homeless and self-proclaimed prophet of God preaches across Boston's waterfront, unaware that he is not alone in his visions. A young priest is torn between the signs around him and the skepticism of his Church.

In the end, only thirty people may board each boat. As the world slowly comes to grips with events unfolding around them, they must weigh their own faith in the exceptional and identical visions of so many people. The skies are clear, without a hint of rain. But if the dreams are true, something terrible is looming on the horizon.

What is Other Road Press?

The publisher, Other Road Press, is really just me. Yea, this is what I'm calling my Grand Experiment. It's said that "money should always flow to the writer," and I agree with this sentiment, but most authors get paid such a small pittance for royalties, if they ever get paid at all, and bear the brunt of the responsibility for marketing and sales. While there are plenty of fantastic small presses out there, I decided with the tools at my fingertips - and the technical knowledge on how to use them - it was worth taking a shot at the publishing role, once, without paying ridiculous rates to a self-publisher (that's the other extreme I don't care to venture into). Other Road Press is me - formatting and distributing a novel myself using the tools out there today, as many other writers are beginning to do as well, for no real cost but a serious commitment of time, a commitment we as authors are mostly responsible for, anyway, regardless of which publisher pumps out our books.

Whereas Margaret's Ark was well-received by some pretty significant editors over the course of its original marketing effort, none could ever decide where to pigeon-hole it genre-wise. Part suspense, part horror, part religious/Christian fiction, it never fit neatly into the secular or religious sectors. Taking risks is usually not in the larger publishers toolbox. Still, while I continue to write, and market my work to the ever-dwindling number of major publishers, I wanted to give this little puppy a home.

Out of this, Other Road Press was born (I had to come up with a catchy press title, and my first choice "Scary Monkey Press" was a cool name, but didn't really fit for a title like Margaret's Ark). This book is one of my favorites and which, I feel, epitomizes my recent style of blending themes of faith and suspense. It's a quiet novel, based on my original short story from way back titled "Lavish" (if you want to know which magazine, Nick Kaufmann can tell you). Ever since the story was published, I'd wanted to back up and tell the whole story, hence the novel.

If I ever decide to open up Other Road Press to other authors (which I'm not right now, but who knows what the future holds), this would likely be what it would focus on, probably: finding a home for novels where the characters struggle with everyday, and/or supernatural, experiences, while still swearing and spitting and praying and getting disemboweled, depending on the story of the moment. Right now, though, it's just an experiment, a vehicle to get one of this quiet, suspenseful novels off my shelf and into readers' hands.
Go buy it so I can pay Andrew's new tuition bill. :-) And let me know what you think. Spread the word!

Thanks

Coming Soon

2011-07-29T12:13:00.000-04:00

Next week, in fact: Margaret's Ark. Both in print and ebook. Stay tuned. If you see it anywhere, don't buy it yet. When all media are ready, I'll send the word out. Maybe we can give it a Grand Beginning, get thoseimfamous rankings kicked into high gear. Long story behind this, and what it's imprint Other Road Press is all about. Soon. Wait a week. Almost soup. :)

Annual Wheels & Heels Against MS!

2011-07-25T10:55:00.000-04:00

From my brother Paul Keohane:

As many of you know, my sister Anne and I have participated in an annual event to help raise money to fight the devastating effects of Multiple Sclerosis.

After a shortened mileage last year, we return to the full 50-mile journey. This year's event will be my ninth and Anne's seventh and our resolve remains unwavering. MS is not taking a rest this year so neither are we. We will continue our fight, determined as always to reach that day when MS is but a memory.

Our 3-day journey begins in Hyannis on Saturday, September 9th and takes us again through the bike paths and streets of Cape towns such as Brewster and Orleans. We look forward to another challenge, alongside the many wonderful people we meet along the way as well as the tireless volunteers who cheer us on.

Multiple Sclerosis is a frightening disease that affects the central nervous system. The symptoms may be mild (such as numbness in the limbs) or severe enough to cause blindness or paralysis. The severity and specifics of the symptoms of MS can't yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are giving hope to those affected by the disease.

Your donations to the National MS Society not only helps fund vital research, but also goes towards helping people, like my sister, with their day-to-day struggles. To give you a recent example of their aid, just this past Fall the Society helped ease the financial burden of a ramp Anne had installed at her new condo. This ramp goes from her parking space all the way to her front door.

As in the past, there are two ways you can donate. No amount is too small.

* The fastest and most convenient way would be to visit our web site at

http://www.wheelsandheelsagainstms.com/ and then click on mine or Anne's name.

* You can also mail a check to myself or Anne, making it out to The National MS Society.

                            Our addresses are:
Paul Keohane                                         Anne Murphy
2 Jillian Rose Dr                                     13 Apache Way
Oxford, MA 01540                                Tewksbury, MA 01876

John Skipp Needs Your Help!

2011-07-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

Fellow horror writer and all-around cool guy John Skipp is rallying the community of zombie lovers everywhere to raise money for a privately funded film project he is putting together, and needs to raise a certain amount by the 21st of this month! Check out this link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1676362079/john-skipps-rose-the-bizarro-zombie-musical For a very entertaining video explaining the project. He's hoping if enough people donate even $1 or $10 they can raise the funds, and so far it's working. $10 gets your name prominently displayed under the Special Thanks in the closing credits. Anyway, check it out, it's a hoot.

My Review of HARRY POTTER and the DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2

2011-07-18T08:10:00.000-04:00

My review of the final act of the Potter film series, HARRY POTTER and the DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2 is now up at Cinema Knife Fight. Go see, read and enjoy....

Our 48-Hour Film Project For Your Viewing Pleasure.

2011-07-08T10:19:00.000-04:00

OK, so a few weeks back we all gathered, first at Ned & Gloria Utzig's house then at mine for filming, for the annual Mad Ned Productions' entry into the NH 48 Hour Film competition. Filmmakers gather around New England and at 7:00 or so Friday evening, find out the requirements for their film, which they then have to Write, Film, Edit a 5 - 7 minute film and Deliver it in person to NH by 7:00 Sunday evening. To make sure people don't film ahead of time, the organizers randomly draw the Genre for each film, as well assign everyone a specific character name and occupation, prop to use, and a specific line of dialogue.

The character: Shorty or Sharon Cook
Occupation: politician
Prop: watch
Line: Be True To Your Word

The characters and prop don't need to be the main focus, but they HAVE to be in there. Mad Ned Productions drew HORROR as our genre. We all sat around (about 12 of us) and came up with a story, then they sent me to a corner to type out the screenplay. As always when filming, the screenplay that was saved on Friday was only a guideline by the time we were done, because scenes were changed, dialogue added, by necessity, but overall we kept to the original story we'd all conceived of as a group Friday night.

One location (with short car scene), very few actors, made for more chances at clever filmmaking. Kudos to Andy for going under water in the pool for one quick shot, and of course young Micky for being a sport in the infamous bedroom and bathtub scene, as you're about to see.

And Linda volunteered me for the role of Lover Boy.... it's not my fault. It's not. My acting debut is below, as embarrassing (to my kids at least) as it is. I didn't suck too bad, though. But the others, wow, just wait. Very cool.

German Anthology PAINSTATION

2011-07-06T07:35:00.000-04:00

Austria/Germany's Michael Krug has published my short story "Living by the Highway" as "Amelia" in the German-language anthology of stories PAINSTATION. It's appearing along with stories by Brian Keene, Ronald Malfi and many others. Check it out... well, if you speak Deutsche. Or even if you don't. Could make a great collector's item!

My Review with Mike Arruda of TRANSFORMERS is up at Cinema Knife Fight

2011-07-05T09:30:00.000-04:00

Hi, everyone. My review, written with Michael Arruda, of the over-the-top TRANSFORMERS, DARK OF THE MOON (2011) is now posted at Cinema Knife Fight. Enjoy...

Hey I can Embed Videos Now. Check This Out, World!

2011-06-28T22:41:00.000-04:00

Kindle & Nook Story Collection now on Amazon and BN

2011-05-20T09:33:00.000-04:00

Necon eBooks' e-version of my story collection Christmas Trees & Monkeys is now available for only $2.99 directly from Amazon via your Kindle or from Amazon here, or via your Nook or the BN site here. Of course, you can also order directly from the publisher here. Again, all author proceeds go to the MS Society, so spread the word!

Christmas Trees & Monkeys Now Available as an eBook!

2011-05-03T21:19:00.002-04:00

My first short story collection, Christmas Trees & Monkeys, Collected Horror Stories Volume 1, is now available as a Kindle, Nook, what have you, ebook from the fine folks at Necon eBooks! With brand new cover art by the venerable Kelli Jones, the collection is much the same as the original, with minor tweaks in some of the introductions, but for the low price of 4.99, can't beat it. Also, as with the print edition, 100% of author proceeds will be donated to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Right now the book is available direct fron Necon eBooks, but they'll soon be available directly from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I'll let you know when they are, but note that we make a better profit if ordered directly from the publisher (who emails you every ebook version directly, which is pretty cool).

OK, let me know what you think.

Sitting in Darkness

2011-04-01T16:04:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine and fellow townie Bob Bois has a cool blog called Sitting in Darkness where he's been posting short, flash fiction pieces daily (or mostly daily) on the website. Highly recommend taking a visit over, very cool pieces and worth a visit. His site is at http://sittingindarkness.wordpress.com/

New Review of ONDINE at Cinema Knife Fight

2011-03-23T23:16:00.000-04:00

My review of the Irish film ONDINE is up at Cinema Knife Fight today. Not my best review, I meandered way too much off topic, but it was a great film. :-)

Horror Street Interview Online

2011-03-21T10:04:00.001-04:00

The Italian online magazine/blog Horror Street has an interview with me. I'd thought it was going to be in Italian, but no, it's in English, so if you're interested, check it out at http://postonero.blogspot.com/2011/02/horror-street-interview-with-daniel.html

Some good questions. Thanks to Allesandro Mazetti for the interesting questions and taking an interest!

SANCTUM in 3D - My Cinema Knife Fight Review

2011-02-08T09:13:00.000-05:00

My review of the 3D movie SANCTUM, the one where James Cameron's name is tossed about like a ship on the ocean, is now appearing at Cinema Knife Fight. Check it out, man... check.. it out.....

Great Time Wednesday in West Boylston

2011-01-21T22:17:00.000-05:00

Had an awesome night Wednesday moderating a panel with Tracy Carbone and Morven Westfield at the Beaman Memorial Library in West Boylston. Special thanks to Mark Baldi and everyone at the West Boylston Arts Foundation for sponsoring the event.

Pictured above: Me, trying to give picture-taking instructions (which invariably ruins the pose, lol) holding Solomon's Grave, Tracy Carbone holding her novel The Man of Mystery Hill and Morven Westfield holding her vampire novels Darksome Thirst and The Old Power Returns.

Reading / Panel Discussion tonight!

2011-01-19T07:26:00.000-05:00

Reminder:

Morven Westfield (Darksome Thirst, The Old Power Returns), Tracy Carbone (The Man of Mystery Hill) and I (Solomon's Grave, Christmas Trees & Monkeys) will be taking part in a reading, signing and panel discussion on using local settings in their works of horror for the West Boylston Arts Foundation in Massachusetts, tonight, Wednesday, January 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the West Boylston’s Beaman Memorial Library. All are welcome and attendance is free. Learn more about the WBAF at www.wbaf.org. For directions, visit http://www.beamanlibrary.org/directions.html

Some Life Lessons for the New Year

2011-01-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

My friend Martha sent this out as an email, and a lot of you have probably read it recently or in the past, these emails have a way of traveling the e-globe, but it was pretty cool, so I thought I'd pass it along:

Some life lessons to read once a week.

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio. (This may or may not be true, of course, but doesn't really matter.)
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more: "

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words, 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come...
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Books Read in 2010

2011-01-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

Nick Kaufman posted his books read in 2010, and I thought, hmm, yea, well, I should do that ... then the list will be here and I can reset my "Books read in 2010" to the new "Books Read in 2011" list.. I know, it's complicated, but let's just go with it. So without further ado...

Books Dan Read (whether or not I actually finished them is another story) in 2010:
(most recent first)

Faces in the Fire by T.L. Hines
O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton
Playbook for a Dame by Vivian Davenport
The Painted Darkness by Brian James Freeman
Fungus of the Heart by Jeremy Shipp
Succumbing to Gravity by Richard Farnsworth
Invisible Fences by Norman Prentiss
Tinkers by Paul Harding
Dance Macabre by Stephen King
FreeK Camp by Steve Burt
Sparrow Rock by Nate Kenyon
Darkness on the Edge of Town by Brian Keene
The Sword of Shannara (didn't finish, too much of a redo of Lord of the Rings) by Terry Brooks
Dead and Gone (audio book) by Charlaine Harris
Chasing the Dragon by Nicholas Kaufmann
Under the Dome (audio book, haven't finished yet, had to return to library) by Stephen King
The Old Power Returns by Morven Westfield
Hiram Grange & The Chosen One by Kevin Lucia
Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry
Gone Tomorrow (audio book) by Lee Child
The Hollower by Mary SanGiovanni
Stephen King: The Non-Fiction by Rocky Wood & Justin Brooks
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Quote For The Day

2010-12-28T08:14:00.000-05:00

"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."

- Toni Morrison

Enough of This Shit. Let's Get Going...

2010-12-27T15:58:00.001-05:00

OK, before I begin, let me get a bit of news out there so you can't say I didn't tell you:

Morven Westfield (Darksome Thirst, The Old Power Returns), Tracy Carbone (The Man of Mystery Hill) and I (Solomon's Grave, Christmas Trees & Monkeys) will be taking part in a reading, signing and panel discussion on using local settings in their works of horror for the West Boylston Arts Foundation in Massachusetts, on Wednesday, January 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the West Boylston’s Beaman Memorial Library. All are welcome and attendance is free. Learn more about the WBAF at http://www.wbaf.org/. For directions, visit http://www.beamanlibrary.org/directions.html

I keep hitting enter now to start a new paragraph but nothing's happening. I put new batteries in this friggin' thing just the other day so BEHAVE!

OK, so I hope everyone had a good Christmas and/or holiday. The storm that was supposed to kill all life in New England was only meh... but now we're blanketed in a carpet of white, so it looks like winter now. But the holiday is over (for me, at least, the kids get one more this weekend when they head down to the Blains with my ex-wife for Christmas, Part Deaux).

So, I won't recap this year... dark times, good times, out of the darkness and into the light and all that. Got a divorce, watched my kids' stare at the carnage and slowly, but inexorably, dust themselves off and get back on their feet, stumbled back into the dating realm after so long, made some mistakes, did some things right, and met Linda... in that order!

And slowly, sometimes too slowly, dusted myself off and stopped complaining about not writing and actually got back to it. Helps that Andrew's home and is working on his own novel, started with NaNoWriMo, so I haven't been turning on the TV much at (no idea how things are going in the Fringe Division or with Castle), but have opened the laptop instead. I've begun rereading Plague of Locusts again after a year and a half, and will begin writing new words soon. I'll keep you all up to date here. Yea, decided I should finish it. I submitted Plague of Darkness to a Christian publishing house, and have decided unless an agent has an offer from a publisher in their hands I'm done with the middle man for now. What's the point - I'll decide if I need representation again when I'm rich and famous, but until then they don't do much except ignore my emails. I can get a lot more done on my own I think, and this coming from a pretty unmotivated guy. :-) And I don't particularly care if a publisher buys my books. They're all in such disarray, I might be better off just publishing a book or two myself. At least people will have a chance to read them. A writer who isn't read is like a gong clanging in the woods under a fallen tree. Only indifferent animals hear it and so it makes no noise. Or something. But we'll see. I'll give the "legit" publishers one more chance, on my own.

So anyway, just a entry here to say I'm back into the writing game. Will be here more often and let you know all the stuff going on that's fit to print (not the stuff that's not). Good news on Christmas Tree & Monkeys, too, but I'll do a new entry for that soon, once the cover art's done (eBook coming out).

Dan

My Review of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 1

2010-11-22T10:54:00.001-05:00

My review of the just-released HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 1 is now showing at Cinema Knife Fight. probably not my best-written review, having to get it done quickly over the weekend, but it's not bad. The movie itself - excellent! If you're a Harry Potter fan, that is. Check it out, let me know what you think.

NGC 6357

2010-11-21T00:13:00.000-05:00

From Astronomy Picture of the Day
Star forming in cluster NGC 6357.

Looks like Heaven.

Cool Worcester Magazine Article on NEHW & Rock and Shock

2010-10-28T07:38:00.000-04:00

One last Rock and Shock tidbit (sometimes I forget to post things here as well as facebook.. let alone can't remember when the last time was I sent and email update out).

The New England Horror Writers (http://www.newenglandhorror.org/) got a great write-up in a Worcester Magazine article covering rock and shock. Special kudos to TJ May for putting this event all together (and representing the NEHW as he did). I also got a quick mention in the article, which is always nice... :-)

http://www.worcestermag.com/night-and-day/featured/Its-a-Rock-and-Shock-weekend-104896294.html

Cool Picture of Some NEHW Folks at last Friday's Rock and Shock

2010-10-20T14:51:00.000-04:00

Top row left to right: me, Jack Haringa, T.J. May, Bob Booth, Trisha Wooldridge

Bottom row: Tracy L. Carbone, Matt Betchtel, Scott Goudsward.

2010-10-16T20:51:00.001-04:00

When guest editor Kevin Lucia put out a call for stories for their special Halloween issue of Shroud Magazine, I wrote what is probably my first short story in about a year, "Last Halloween." You can pre-order this issue here. You'll probably also be able to find it in Barnes & Noble and other major racks, but if you want to be sure of getting a copy, probably best to pre-order above. If you do see the magazine in stores, let me know.

The background on the story. I used to carry a small notebook with me as story ideas came to me, and more recently a Palm Pilot. I had two ideas jotted down, the first noted a few years back during trick or treating - what if a mother and her kids went trick or treating, but no one else did, for some reason everyone was afraid to go out at night but she insisted on bringing her kids - how would the neighbors deal with the situation, and what, exactly was the situation? Another note I'd taken was the concept of ghosts being drifters, like mist, wandering, wandering. There was more to that idea, but I simply used the drifting ghosts, coupled with the woman taking her kids out on Halloween when she should no longer be doing that, and the result, I hope, is a pretty cool story of loss, yearning and addictions - and withdrawals - people have for one another, and the past.

I think it came out really good, kind of quiet and sad but then themes like that are, I suppose. But I'm happy that the overall feel of the story, envisioned years earlier when I jotted the thought down, managed to come out. Let me know what you think of the piece. We never have enough feedback as writers.

Also, major kudos to artists Danny Evarts, who did all the interior illustrations and layout, and Steven Gilberts for the amazing (as always) cover art.

Me and "Uncle Machete" at Rock and Shock last night

2010-10-16T08:38:00.000-04:00

Danny Trejo after signing a picture for my kids at Rock & Shock

Review of CASE 39 Now Showing at Cinema Knife Fight

2010-10-15T12:16:00.000-04:00

Hi, everyone. I'll be manning the New England Horror Writers table tonight from 6:00 - 10:00 at the Rock and Shock convention in Worcester MA, along with co-chair Tracy Carbone, TJ May and the gang from Necon! If you decide to brave the weather and come out, look me up.

Also, LL Soares has just posted my new review of the at the theaters (for now) horror film CASE 39 up at Cinema Knife Fight. I have to admit, this is the first time I actually slammed a film in my column. No offense to the filmmakers, but hey, I can't like everything out there. :-)

My Review of PI Now Showing at Cinema Knife Fight

2010-10-07T06:09:00.000-04:00

Hey, all. Quick note to let you know my review of the mind-tripping film of math terror PI (1998) is now up at Cinema Knife Fight. A unique movie, a mind-blower for sure, and had its ups and downs. And I learned something about myself, and the universe, at the same time. Check it out....

A Note From My Brother Paul To Everyone Who Sponsored Their MS Walk

2010-10-04T09:55:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a few weeks since the MS Challenge walk and I wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know how it went. Once again, the National MS Society put on a great event. Anne and I really enjoyed our weekend together as well as sharing laughs and stories with the hundreds of others walking with us. The weather that weekend could not have been better, with the hot weather of the past few months giving way to a comfortable two days in the low 70's. Just a few blisters formed over the thirty miles but nothing major. Next year, the event's mileage goes back up to fifty so I'll enjoy this reduced wear and tear on the joints while I can.

On the fund-raising front, team "Wheels and Heels Against MS" raised over $11,000!! For those of you who participated in my "Recycling for a Cure" effort, the final can and bottle tally was just over $500. (those nickels sure do add up!) I'll be looking to raise that recycling bar even higher next year.

Thank you all so very much for your support this year! Your never-ending generosity never ceases to amaze and inspire. Throughout these tough economic times, you continue to reach down deep and lend your support. For that, I cannot thank you enough.

I also wanted to share some very recent and exciting news from the National MS Society. Just last week, they announced that the FDA has approved the first oral disease-modifying drug to help fight MS!! The drug's name is Gilenya and will be available via prescription in the next few weeks.

You can read more details regarding this medication as well as other advances on the National MS Society's web site: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/index.aspx

Thank you all, again, for helping to fund this research and for the very important role you all play in the battle against Multiple Sclerosis.

Paul Keohane

Cool Paintings are Cool..

2010-09-30T12:30:00.001-04:00

Have this as my wallpaper, a painting from Van Gogh. Amazing how a great artist can make something made with pigments on canvas seem to glow like this one does. It's a type caleld Impressionistic, dabs of pure color which, when grouped together, make an overall image, which seems to almost move. I haven't painted in a long time, if there was time would like to do something like this. OK, admittedly not at the quality - but that doesn't matter. Creating something like this is in the school of writing, world building, scene building. Nice thing about the web is then you can share it with the world. I need to finish a painting sometime - update my Gallery page.

Pay It Forward

2010-09-28T10:46:00.001-04:00

Read this story in an email this morning. I've seen this one before, couple of times over the years I'm sure. Whether or not it's true doesn't matter. Normally I'd read these touching Pay It Forward type of emails, get a warm and fuzzy, then delete them. I never forward them, and never read the end where they always tell you to pass it on or you'll never get into heaven or something. This one didn't say that, just told the story, and people pass it on if they want. Anyway, seemed an appropriate message overall, considering some things that have happened in the past week in my own life, and I know we all can use a little life lesson now and then. So, anyway, here it is, take it for whatever it is.

The Cab Ride

I arrived at the address and honked the horn.
After waiting a few minutes I walked to the door and knocked..

'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something
being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in
her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a
print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned
on it, like somebody out of a 1940's movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had
lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.

There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils
on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase
to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.

She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I
told her.. 'I just try to treat my passengers
the way I would want my mother to be treated.'

'Oh, you're such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave
me an address and then asked, 'Could you drive through downtown?'

'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly.

'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry I'm on my way to a hospice.

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have
any family left,' she continued in a soft voice.. 'The doctor says I don't have very
long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

'What route would you like me to take?' I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me
the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived
when they were newlyweds She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse
that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and
would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm
tired. Let's go now'.

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building,
like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were
Solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to
the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

'How much do I owe you?' She asked, reaching into her purse.

'Nothing,' I said

'You have to make a living,' she answered.

'There are other passengers,' I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She
held onto me tightly.

'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said.
'Thank you.'

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning
light.. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life..

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove
aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk.
What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient
to end his shift?

What       if I had refused to take the run, or had honked
once, then driven away? On a quick
review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve
around great moments.

But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully
wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

People may not remember exactly
What you did, or what you said, BUT they will
Always remember how you made them
Feel.

Monkeys Must Run in the Family

2010-09-23T12:06:00.000-04:00

Thanks to distant relative (not sure if we're related in any way, but you never know) Lee Keohane of Somerset, England, for passing on this very cool photo of an oddly-appropriate epitaph he saw on a memorial plaque for another Keohane at a place called Monkey World. I guess an obsession with apes is hereditary.

CKF Double Feature: The Lost Skeleton Returns Again & Dark and Stormy Night

2010-09-21T07:25:00.000-04:00

My Double Feature review of Larry Blamire's THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN (2010) and DARK AND STORMY NIGHT (2010) is now playing at Cinema Knife Fight. Check it out and be informed.

New Review of THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA

2010-08-31T08:40:00.001-04:00

My latest review of the 2001 masterpiece THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA is now playing at Cinema Knife Fight. Looks like Netflix is finally shipping me the long-awaited sequel THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN (2010) so keep your eyes peeled for a review of that in the coming weeks....

Oh, and while I'm here, going to try and keep posting on how well my writing output has been going. Last week wrote, well, this review, but also an early draft of a screenplay for a short film based on my short story "AM", which is going to be produced by Mad Ned Productions. More as that goes along. OK, go read the review, and rent the movie.

Latest Movie Review, for INK, at Cinema Knife Fight

2010-08-18T06:18:00.000-04:00

Hi, everyone. My latest review, this month for the movie INK, is now up at Cinema Knife Fight for your perusal and/or enjoyment! This is a very cool movie, by the way, if you don't mind mind-benders. :-)

Molly, Feb 9, 1999 - August 12, 2010.

2010-08-12T13:26:00.005-04:00

We got Molly in 1999 from a puppy farm in the town of Ware, MA. We all drove down as a family and walked among the four or five scampering yellow lab pups, letting the kids find just the right one. Molly and the kids clicked right away. She was still too young to bring home that day, but later on we went back and brought her home, and our house was filled with her happy energy and love for the next eleven years. I remember the first night we had her with us. The kids were on the couch watching TV, and the tiny puppy laid down, shy in this new place, leaning against Andrew. We filmed her a lot after that, scampering around the yard. Joyful. Best way to describe her. She loved her tennis ball, chasing it back and forth in the yard twice a day, wanting her treat when done. When her cousins would come to visit they would throw the ball and she'd smile and fetch again and again, collapsing in happy exhaustion when the day was over.

Janet took her to a place called The Right Paw for obedience training. It worked! We enjoyed freaking people out when they came over or a cookout, because Molly thought fetching was just the coolest thing. We'd give her her own hot dog in a bun (with ketchup), maybe a dab of potato salad, and put them on a paper plate and she would enjoy the cookout with the rest of us. When she was done she'd come up (looking for more food), and one of us would say, "Molly, fetch trash." She would then scamper happily to the empty plate and pick it up, bring it right up to us so we can throw it away. Tail wagging. Always wagging, and smiling.

Molly loved Frosty Paws - an ice cream for dogs. Always got one after enduring a bath, always bringing us the empty, chewed up cup when she was done. And once a month she got one of her favorite treats: heart worm pills. She'd gobble those down. Seriously. She even loved to get vacuumed, would stand there and wait for you to attached the upholstery piece and run it along her back. Being a water dog, the pool was always a treat. She'd stand at the top of the steps and wait for someone to say "OK" before leaping in, swimming across the shallow end and coming out at the steps, shaking and cool. There was a definite hierarchy with the OK command. The kids had authority in her mind to say it, as long I wasn't there, then it had to come from me. Unless Janet was there, then it had to come from her. :-)

And Popcorn - Molly loved her popcorn.

Most of all, she loved her family. She'd walk up to you constantly wanting pats, being so excited about it she couldn't stand still. You could be gone for only an hour, to church or wherever, and Molly would greet your return as if you'd been gone for years. She'd walk in circles while everyone - and she insisted that anyone in the room must participate in this - scratched her back and ears and head while the scratchers shuffled about to avoid getting their feet stepped on. Andrew, Amanda and Audrey were her brother and sisters and they loved her as much as she loved them back. She'd lay outside Andrew's door waiting for him to get up (and sometimes we'd open the door to let her into his room to wake him up) so he would feed her, then Amanda when her brother is off at school. She'd saunter out with Amanda and let her take picture after picture, always happy to oblige. Audrey loved to take pictures of her, too. The girls took these pictures you see now. Molly was playmate to all of them, their buddy and pal, on so many days outside, especially when time came for chasing the ball. And every school or camp morning she'd go into each of their rooms with Janet and lick their hands to wake them up, always making sure she got equal attention.

Though the dog and I were the best of buddies, the love of Molly's life was her Mom. As soon as Janet walked into a room there was only Mommy (well, after she ate the apple core waiting on the grass). She was the one who would play with her ears and give those long, luxurious scratches and save a little bit of scraps every morning when making lunches for the kids and sneak them to her, tell her how perfect a dog she was. Molly knew she was a perfect dog (how could she not?), but I think she liked to hear it.

Lastly, can't talk about favorites without mentioning her favorite uncle in the universe (no offense to all the other aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents): Uncle Paul. Molly was happy all the time, but would explode into fit of joy so overwhelming her butt would be all over the place from her crazy tail when Uncle Paul visited. Paul and cousin Holly's house was Molly's version of Disney World. They would dogsit her whenever we went on vacation, watch movies and eat popcorn and chase the ball. If Paul and Holly were visiting, when they prepared to leave there would be Molly, standing by the truck, wondering if she'd get to drive back with them for a visit.

I know Molly's in a good place now, running and chasing tennis balls like she loved to do, and getting popcorn every night. We love you, Molly. You're a good girl, and we miss you very much.

"Contaminant" Short Film takes Best Graphics Prize

2010-08-11T09:11:00.000-04:00

Hi, Everyone. Way behind on my posting.
Remember "Contaminant", the short five minute film we did as part of the NH 48-Hour Film Project? Well, last week they had a "Best of" Screening and presented the various awards.

In order of presentation, followed by award:

1. "112" by: strange ink, Genre: Buddy Film - Best Late Film
2. "Dark Journey" by: We're Getting the Band Back Together, Genre: Fantasy - Laotian Viewers Choice Award
3. "Clark and Claire" by: Carry On Productions, Genre: Musical or Western - Best Acting, Best Cinematography, Best Musical Score
4. "Pathogen" by: Marsyas Films, Genre: Horror - Best Special Effects
5. "Bumpers" by: Wicked Sick Films, Genre: Mockumentary - Best Use of Prop, Best Use of Line of Dialogue
6. "The Red Box" by: Umbrella Productions, Genre: Silent Film - Best Sound Design
7. "Anatomically Incorrect" by: Visually Sound Pictures, Genre: Dark Comedy - Best Use of Character
8. "Late Fees" by: Triangle, Genre: Time Travel/Doppelganger - Editor's Choice Award
9. "To Be Jane" by: That Kid's Team, Genre:Historical Fiction/Period Piece - Most Honorable
10. "Contaminant" by: Mad Ned Productions, Genre: Sci Fi - Best Graphics
11. "Clark Fails the Fourth Grade" - by: Purple Finch Moving Picture Society, Genre: Dark Comedy - Best Costumes
12. "Welcome to Where You Are" by: Wax Idiotical Films, Genre: Musical or Western - Best Film, Best Writing, Best Directing, Best Editing

Wax Idiotical Films won for Best Film and received
    * A Trophy
    * A cash prize covering this year's entry fee.
    * Filmapalooza: The City Winner will be screened at Filmapalooza,
the official 48HFP Awards Weekend.
    * A copy of Movie Magic Screenwriter 6, the premier screenwriting
software and the choice of Hollywood. ($250 value)

One of the judges told our fearless leader Ned Utzig that he wished there was an award for Best Overkill, because they would have given it to us for using a monstrous laser blast shot from space to kill only two people in a driveway. :-) Too funny. Fun, fun, all around. It was a pleasure to be part of it.

And we're in the early stages of maybe doing something new, though I've been very negligent (sorry, Ned) in getting the script done with current events around here. Promise, Ned, very soon!

CKF's Question of the Month

2010-07-23T10:54:00.001-04:00

My brief answer to Cinema Knife Fight's Question of the Month is now posted. Check it out here.

Necon Jugband World Tour is a wrap

2010-07-19T16:50:00.003-04:00

Just got back from Necon yesterday, had a great time. Big shout out to everyone - too many to try and name here. Always a treat to see everyone. The photo is just an example of the kind of deep, literary work we do at this serious con. We brought back the Sleepy Hollow Jugband for the talent show, and took first place! Yea, kind of scary. Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOz1ebJjUVw

The song ("The South's Gonna Rise Again") is from 2000 Maniacs, a particularly nasty old horror flick. Anyway, looking forward to Necon 31, and special thanks to the Booth family for putting on another winner of a conference.

Oh, PS: in the photo: Pete Dudar, Lauran (LL) Soares, and me.

In Search of Coconut Milk

2010-07-07T16:43:00.002-04:00

Sometimes you have to share something you read online. I subscribe, via Google Reader, to Scott Adams' blog. Scott's the creator of the Dilbert comic strip. He uses his blog to pretty much talk about anything he wants. His writing reminds me a lot of Dave Barry. Anyway, read this the other day and I had to share it. Had me laughing out loud, no small feat these days, and we can all use a laugh now and then.

http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/in_search_of_coconut_milk/

Enjoy...

200,000 Miles

2010-07-07T10:51:00.000-04:00

My Chevy Venture minivan turned over to the 200,000 mile mark yesterday. Admittedly, it wasn't very safe around me as I neared this, since I kept alternating my gaze from the road to the odometer. I was a little ways out of the Wal*Mart parking lot at noon, "Love is in the House" by Tobymac was playing on the iPod. I've never had a car this long before. Seven years. The first 200,000 miles in the van saw a whole range of moments in its life, from wonderful to nightmarish. I'm hoping to keep it for another 100,000 miles at least - what the car will see down that long road is anyone's guess. Couldn't be worse, but I've thought that before. Now and then I have to get a small repair, a couple of doors stick, the gas gauge is all messed up so I have to judge when the tank is empty based on the odometer's trip meter, and the rust spots I bondo'd last year are coming back, but I've got no car payment right now, it still gets 23 miles/gallon, insurance is cheap, and I seriously don't want to face the cost of a new one and still swing the post-divorce mortgage for the house looming on the horizon. So I'll hang onto the car, it's been good to me (knock wood), and if it's still running when Amanda gets her license maybe she can have it (much to her expected chagrin).

The Last Airbender

2010-07-06T07:57:00.001-04:00

My newest review for Cinema Knife Fight, of M. Night Shyamalan's THE LAST AIRBENDER, is now posted. Special thanks to son Andrew and nephew Michael for their help in putting this one together. I also spend some time berating this new trend of adding "in 3D" just so they can charge 4 bucks extra a ticket...

Enhanced "Contaminant" and Blog Changes

2010-07-01T09:38:00.001-04:00

Hey, you'll notice the look of this website changing now and then - Google has added a ton of template tools, but some look great,but the text is weird. Working on it. What do you think?

Now, our 5 minute short "Contaminant" devised, written and filmed in only 48 hours as part of the 48 Hour Film Project, has been rereleased by producer Ned Utzig with all the final edits which we simply had no time to put in that weekend. This cut includes editing improvements, better f/x, more music from James (who also played the scientist), cleaned up and improved sound from our great sound guy Aaron, and the infamous "head shot" where we see Natasha die even more horribly and in slow motion! Looks great! The overall video is so much tighter and cleaner. Check it out at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-cZLsDmdgM

"Contaminant" Screening Version - No Results yet

2010-06-21T14:21:00.000-04:00

OK, so Ned posted the screening version of our 5-minute short "Contaminant" on you tube, while we await the judging results of the 48-Hour Film project competition (won't be announced until next month!). Now, keep in mind, there are a couple of hiccups in the production since we ran out of time (Ned's working on putting together a new Director's Cut edition with all the bells and whistles added, etc, and a few "oopsies, like the word "action" making it into the final scene, removed). Here's how the contest worked: at 7 pm on Friday we were given the following requirements:
Genre: Science Fiction (based on luck of the draw)
All entries, regardless of genre picked, had to include the following elements (to assure no one pre-films anything): has to have a character who is a plastic surgeon named Clark (or Claire) Larson, there needs to be a box used in the story somehow as a prop, and the line "I need to tell you something" has to be spoken. Aside from that, no rules, except the film can't be more than 5 - 7 minutes and it has to be written, filmed and edited that weekend and hand-delivered by 7pm Sunday night. Mad rush, mad rush. And lots of fun. Here's our short little film - I hope you like it (FYI, that's my arm in the last scene)
Ah, and be warned, the first couple of seconds is a beeping test pattern...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUlW5U1I2e8

Review THE FALL Now Posted at Cinema Knife Fight

2010-06-15T07:33:00.001-04:00

Hi, everyone. My newest movie review for Cinema Knife Fight is now up, this month for the Drama/Fantasy film THE FALL (2006). Beautiful movie, and I hope I conveyed as much in the review. Check it out - today! I want to impress Lauran (LL) again with how many hits the site gets, lol.

Last Year's Page 1 Television Interview Found on Web

2010-06-10T14:17:00.001-04:00

I accidentally discovered online my Page One TV interview (also known as "How Dan Finally Realized He Should Always Get a Haircut before TV Interviews") with Zita Christian from last June!
Here's Part One:
http://capknow.com/video/Page-1-Episode-58-Part-1-of-3/9HHRjxntS1g.html
Part Two:
http://capknow.com/video/Page-1-Episode-58-Part-2-of-3/qIzwisfyIlU.html
and lastly Part Three:
http://capknow.com/video/Page-1-Episode-58-Part-of-3/IvhVfCqSEzA.html

I think it actually went quite well, until the end when I read the opening pages of the book, which is Page One's Custom. Enjoy.....

Excellent Review of Solomon's Grave at Horrorworld

2010-06-09T11:49:00.000-04:00

I don't mean "excellent" above as in reviewer Norman Rubenstein thought the book was perfect, he didn't, though he did seem to enjoy it. But he was open about what he liked and didn't, pointing out some flaws in the book. He thought it was very well-written and -paced, but had some issues, a couple of which I had to laugh when I read the review, because I agree. At one point, Rubenstein calls my main character, Nathan Dinneck, a "wuss". That's great, because that's exactly how I wanted him to be viewed. It was an issue when writing, I had this strong-willed side characters, and Nathan seemed, well, boring for the most part. He had a pretty humdrum life. When I realized this, I actually went in and accentuated it, basically showing how his ex Elizabeth was the mover and shaker in their relationship, and he was the happy follower. When I had this personality trait ratified, made it a lot more interesting trying to convince the character what was going on. Rubenstein points to an out-of-character scene where Nathan almost gets violent with Vince the caretaker. Funny how things comes back to bite you, I remember writing that scene, and feeling it wasn't quite right, but couldn't put my finger on it. Considering I quickly had Nate back down and then had Elizabeth become the agressor, I probably at least unconsiously realized what I'd done and brought in the right person for the job, lol. Anyway, it's a great review, and a positive one overall. Check it out at http://www.horrorworld.org/reviews.htm . Note, you need to scroll way down near the bottom to find it. Ah well, at least it's there.

Review of MOON Now Online

2010-05-18T06:12:00.001-04:00

Hi. My new review for Cinema Knife Fight is now online. This month, I review the science fiction movie MOON starring Sam Rockwell. Hope you enjoy it. And be sure to visit the Bram Stoker-Nominated CKF often, as they constantly add reviews and articles throughout the week. It's a very entertaining, and informative, site.

Solomon's Grave Now Available for the Kindle!

2010-05-13T11:13:00.000-04:00

Great news! My Bram Stoker-Nominated novel SOLOMON'S GRAVE is now available for the Amazon Kindle, and it's wicked cheap - only $2.39! Click Here To Order Your Kindle Edition now! Please!

The Best Movie You (Might Not Have) Seen

2010-05-11T10:49:00.000-04:00

So, at last, after hearing from so many people, "I can't believe you, of all people, haven't seen this movie," I finally watched DONNIE DARKO (2001). I got the movie for Christmas, and it's been sitting there, waiting for me to sit down and watch it. I kept thinking it was a slasher movie or something, and really didn't want to see a slasher movie, but because everyone kept saying I'd like it, including my son, I finally watched. It's not a slasher movie - chalk that up to really bad marketing years back when it came out. DONNIE DARKO is by far one of the best dark, strange, and brilliant films I've watched in a long, long time. And I don't use the word "brilliant" for movies lightly. Yes, yes, I'm pretty easy to please, but in this case - wow. Now, it might not be for everyone, it's a little surreal, definitely creepy, but the cast, especially (but not limited to) Jake Gyllenhaal as Donnie, is so strong, the writing and, hell, everything down to the music, so cool. Now, I strongly recommend getting the Director's Cut - it's 20 minutes longer but I can't imagine a minute of it being cut, and supposedly the special effects were ramped up - so if you end up missing the stunning visuals towards the end, then you're missing out. Won't get into the plot much, do enough of that with my Cinema Knife Fight reviews, but I will suggest that to understand it, read carefully the pages of the book he finds (you'll know what I mean when you watch it), even pause the DVD enough to do this. They might make no sense, but it'll get your head ready for the ending. Anyway, a 5 out of 5 stars in the Dan movie book, if you like slightly left-of-center films, which of course I do. :-)

Seussical The Musical Comes to Town

2010-05-06T21:22:00.000-04:00

Just got back from our elementary / middle school's latest musical production: Suessical The Musical: Jr!. Wow, what an amazing show, seriously. The singing and choreography was right on, everyone seemed to have a fantastic time. No Keohanes in this year's show, but we were in the audience, cheering on the kids from town. Great, job, everyone. Really, really fun show.

Jodi Blase

2010-05-06T08:35:00.000-04:00

Jodi & I never met, though we grew up in the same town (I think... tells you how much we know each other, lol). In this age of internet, email, facebook, we make friends and aquaintences with people online, and it's not uncommon to go years, or a lifetime, never meeting in person. Sometimes, as in this case, you meet briefly because someone's curious how to setup a website and heard you've done it before, an opinion reference from a friend of a friend. Then you go on your respective ways. Just a side note, really. The point of this brief entry is simply to direct your attention to Jodi's blog. I enjoy it because it's ecclectic - you never know what she's going to talk about, but every time, it feels like I'm sitting at a kitchen table chatting with an old friend about - whatever. And, well, since this is my blog, I can talk about whatever I want, and today I'm talking about someone else's blog. Confused? Good. Check it out. It's interesting. Make sure to get a fresh cup of coffee ready, too.

My First Cinema Knife Fight Review: 2012

2010-04-27T08:33:00.002-04:00

I'm the new science fiction movie reviewer for the Stoker-nominated review site Cinema Knife Fight run by L.L. Soares and Michael Arruda. My first review - covering the disaster flick 2012 - had just been posted! New content is being added all the time so if you don't see it, scroll down a bit. Agree or not with my take, hope you enjoy it. My next slated review, for next month, is the film MOON.

Reading in Princeton Wednesday the 28th, 7:30

2010-04-25T12:44:00.000-04:00

I'll be doing a reading, with other local Princeton writers, this Wednesday evening April 28th at 7:30 at the
Princeton Center building (18 Boylston Avenue) in an open mike night in honor of National Poetry Month. If you're in the area, be great to see you there!

Yea, because of this and Amanda's dance schedule, poor Audrey has to wait until Thursday to celebrate her 13th birthday! :-(

Chasing the Dragon

2010-04-22T12:02:00.001-04:00

Now and then I come across those mysterious of books: novellas, shorter in word/page count than a novel, but longer than a short story. Quite a few novellas are being published lately (the most reported these days is Blockade Billy by Stephen King just released). The great thing about novellas is that authors can build far more in-depth characters in a story which is long enough to accomodate it, but where the story itself doesn't lend to novel-length. I just finished Chasing the Dragon, by Nicholas Kaufmann, recently published by Chi-Zine Publications. You hear about these lesser known works, being in the business, and from time to time you come across such an original, extremely well-written story you wish more people heard about them. But such is the lesser known novella market. Enter people like me, with blogs, who can spread the word! Chasing the Dragon is the story of a modern day St George the Dragonslayer. In fact, she's a direct descendant, named Georgia. Without going much into the plot, there is both the literal chasing the dragon, and figurative, this being the Cantonese slang for smoking heroine. The story is non-stop action, with such human (and inhuman) characters, I found myself looking forward to coming back to it. Also nice that it's available in an inexpensive paperback and kindle version. Anyway, I know Nick, and really enjoyed this story, so thought I'd put the word out!

Playbook For A Dame - Special $1 deal for Kindle

2010-04-16T10:38:00.002-04:00

My friend and author Vivan Davenport has just released her new novel PLAYBOOK FOR A DAME for the Kindle for only $1.00! A buck for a book with this as it's description:

Dreams! Drive! Danger! Balls! It’s 1954. Mona Winston, now a ripe fifty-two, is hell-bent on finding fame on the stage. She’s devoted ten years to chasing after Hollywood film roles and New York teevee jobs. After a gig as a carnival hootchy-kootchy dancer, she lands in Metroville, the Broadway of the Midwest. Filled with more drive and self-delusion than talent, the hard-scrabble Mona knows she’ll make it, “because I’m tough!” Nevertheless, life is still a struggle. She survives prison time and a bout with amnesia. She tangles with dangerous men, including two exes, a lynch-happy farmer, and a merciless drama critic, but yearns for the only guy she trusts, a three-armed musician with an extra shoulder to cry on. Mona finally scores a choice role in a major Metroville play. On the brink of stardom when opening night arrives, she makes two startling discoveries and must choose between her shot at fame and a shot at being a stand-up broad. Woven with the prejudices of the time, PLAYBOOK FOR A DAME is one dame’s struggle to be somebody. Her juicy story is served with a dash of noir, a dollop of heart, and a heap of grit.

Come on, now, how you you pass that up? While we wait patiently for Solomon's Grave to someday be available on Kindle, I highly recommend this new wild ride from the new name of the author of Foot Art is Good Art and Tall Buildings, and for only a buck! (and no, I'm not Vivian....) :-)

An Old Interview I Did with Myself

2010-04-06T20:14:00.001-04:00

Huh? Let me explain. HWA newsletter editor and market guru Kathy Ptacek found a couple of old articles (thanks, Kathy!) I'd done (oh, could be ten years ago now?) for the HWA newsletter. I'm reprinting one below, for fun. At the time, I was the webmaster, trying to get the old site up and running with content, etc. Anyway, I'd do a column every newsletter giving updates on the state of the site, and one month, got a little weird on people. For perspective, this was about 10 years ago, I'd maybe sold 3 or 4 stories... Still, I get a kick out myself, as I thought this was pretty funny. Maybe no one else will, but hell, it's my blog, eh?

An Interview with Dan Keohane

by Dan Keohane

We in the HWA have a commitment to bring you up close and personal glimpses of the people shaping the horror industry, to talk with these sculptors of words and pictures to see what makes them tick. When the chance came to interview none other than horror master Dan Keohane, we felt the only person qualified to carry such a conversation off was Dan himself. That, and no one else wanted to do it. Both interviewer and interviewee deeply regret any lack of professional-ism this article may display, horror being such a serious business after all. Comments or suggestions in the vein should be sent to lightenupalittle@ horror.org.

We met up with Mr. Keohane at a quaint, overpriced coffee shop in Massachusetts.

HWA: I have to admit, one doesn’t see too many Hawaiian horror writers out there.

DK: No, no. I’m not Hawaiian. My name is pronounce "Ko-Hayne" ... rhymes with "slow train," sort of. It’s Irish, though to add to the confusion it’s pronounced much differently overseas. In Ireland, my name would rhyme with "bunches of mackerels pointed skyward," sort of.

HWA: Let’s talk about your writing, then. The last couple of years have been banner ones for you, at least according to a questionable bio someone handed me. I have to admit that I’ve never read anything you’ve published.

DK: But ... you’re me ...

HWA: Work with me on this.

DK: Sorry. I mostly get comments on my historical accounts of British government, which is always nice, except I’ve never written any of those. That’s the other Dan Keohane.

HWA: I’m afraid you’re mistaken. I didn’t write those.

DK: No, no. The other other Dan Keohane.

HWA: I understand you’re also the Webmaster for the Horror Writers Association. Anything exciting going on?

DK: Things have been mostly quiet on that front, which is nice for a change. I get to answer the Web-phone when it rings, but I still have to call Steve Dorato if it ever breaks. However, the big news is the addition of Anthony Beal to the Web team! Anthony has taken on the reins of HWA Web news anchor, keeping the long-neglected news pages up-to-date. Everyone say "hi" to Anthony!

HWA: (after the restaurant patrons nervously mutter "Hi, Anthony" over their food): So, the team is growing by leaps and bounds. That’s always nice.

DK: Indeed. By the time this newsletter comes out, we’ll have gotten an updated Member Directory online. Also, we’ve incorporated John Turi’s new HWA logo to all of the Web site pages—looks darn nice.

HWA: That’s great, but I think we should get this interview back on track.

DK: No problem. Oh, and though it’s been up there for a while, I still have yet to mention that the multi-talented Edo van Belkom has his article "So, Who Wants to be a Horror Writer?" up on our Writing Tips page! A great piece and something we all should read. Thanks, Edo. And don’t forget Amy Grech has Kathy Ptacek’s updated Market Listings loaded every month as soon as the newsletter comes out, and even maintains an archive of every Internet Mailer!

HWA: You know, I can’t help but feel that your agreeing to do this interview was a ruse to get your Web site article past the editors.

DK: (laughs) Don’t be ridiculous. Go ahead—ask me a question.

HWA: It’s been said many times that the market for horror fiction is in a slump, yet other people say the horror industry has never been stronger. Is the socio-economic make-up of the genre’s readership expanding, or contracting, and if the former rather than the latter, is it due to maturing readership once hooked on Goosebumps now "coming of age" as it were, and—

DK: (interrupting) You be sure and let me know when it’s my turn to talk, OK?

HWA: Of course ... and with such an influx of additional constituents emerging from the dungeons of Harry Potter, slowly traveling along the road of dark fiction, do you think—

WAITER: Excuse me, sir.

HWA: Yes?

DK: Yes?

WAITER: (after a pause). I have to insist you order now. And the manager has asked that you stop talking into that mirror. The other customers are becoming agitated.

HWA: Oh ... sorry.

DK: I think he was talking to me. Let’s seeeee .... I’ll have the fifteen dollar bowl of soup with a ham and cheese half-sandwich.

WAITER: Of course.

HWA: And I’ll have what he’s having ...

Stoker Certificate

2010-04-05T14:16:00.001-04:00

Every Stoker nominee gets one of these very cool certificates confirming our nomination. I'd framed it and wanted to take a photo before the awards, but our digital camera got Sat-On before I could. We finally got one so I thought you'd enjoy (not that you have a choice, it's my website, lol) seeing what one looks like...

Theater of the Morning

2010-04-05T14:16:00.000-04:00

Speaking of that state when he first wakes up and still in bed, Ray Bradbury says,
"At that point of the day, all kinds of thoughts and stories come to my mind. Many of those are metaphors. It is like all my characters come to me and talk to me. What I have to do then is wake up and start writing what these voices are suggesting to me. I let them write the story! I call it: the theater of the morning."

(interview with Beatrice Cassina, The Writers Handbook 2004)

It would be nice some day to be able to sit in bed every morning, think about what to write, then actually get up and do so. Actually, I should be able to. I should just do it, but I'm not much of a morning person. My Theater of the Morning usually draws open its curtain when I'm going to bed, or driving, but in the mornings... it varies. Depends what's going on in the world. In the past, I would wake up and my mind felt new, like a street the morning after a major wind / rainstorm had blown through the night before. Air is clean, everything washed new. I would wake up, and for a few moments not remember anything from the night or day before, remember nothing except perhaps the dream which just ended. All was well, quiet, rested, then, slowly, the real world creeps in. But for a brief moment there was no - well, no anything. Like I said, there could have been a dream, sometimes intense (nightmares are my usual fare), other times seemingly pointless, and other times very happy. When times are at their roughest, I sometimes dream that they aren't, that everything that had happened was itself a dream, and now things were good, happy, then I wake, still happy, the dream lingering, until reality creeps in and what is real, what is not, sorts itself into the proper order. But in that flash... in that flash, the stress and pain was gone.

The Theater of the Morning is when dream-journalers scurry to grab the notebook from the bedside table and write down every detail of the dream before it fractures and blows away in the wind of wakefulness. For most, it's a simple, slow breath of clean air before throwing aside the sheets and letting the cold morning do it's wakey-wakey thing. Brush teeth, pat the dog, head to work, or work-out, or for some lucky few wandering into the study or kitchen table to write. I do write in the mornings sometimes, at Starbucks (gave up on Panera Bread because they have free Internet access and that was one more distraction/temptation I didn't need), at lunch (depending on work schedule) at the cafeteria or even at Borders, in the car if I'm not the driver, sometimes at night. Driving, though, is usually when my head's lost in the theater. Working out points. When I'm writing, when I'm deep into it, I'm there, too, and there is result. I miss that, miss the days when what to write in any given chapter was the hardest choice to make. But it's been a long time since that's been the case. But the Theater is always there, waiting for the audience, waiting for attention. Somedays it's easier to hop up onto it than others, hopefully these days will come again with more frequency. Maybe some day I can wake up from a bad dream and the dream will slowly fade as I realize that's all it was, and that everything is, in fact, OK in the world.

Quoted in a Boston Globe Article about Joe Hill

2010-03-30T12:44:00.001-04:00

I must be moving up in the world. I was interviewed recently by Boston Globe columnist and writer Joel Brown for an article about novelist Joe Hill, discussing his newly-released book Horns and what it's like coming into his own with writing under the shadow of his Dad's fame. I get quoted once, which is cool, especially considering the caliber of the other interviewees. Check it out at:

The Devil Inside, Boston Globe, March 20, 2010, article by Joel Brown

Dan (who hopes he doesn't get in trouble using photographer Cheryl Senter's photo....)

Congratulations to the 2009 Bram Stoker Winners

2010-03-27T22:38:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to everyone who won the 2009 Bram Stoker Award. Nope, I didn't win - Hank Schwaeble took home the cool haunted house statue this year in the First Novel category. Hank's a cool guy, I'm happy for him. As I said before, I was so thrilled to be nominated and to simply be a finalist for this major award, winning was really secondary. Special thanks to Rocky Wood who spent the banquet in England with my acceptance speech in his pocket. Would have been cool to have him read it, but even so, before we get to the final list of winners, here's what he would have read in my stead at the podium, and though Solomon's Grave didn't win, the sentiments are no less applicable.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everyone in the HWA who thought my humble little book worthy of such an amazing honor. And, of course, everyone who made the novel what it is today. Janet, for her support, editing prowess and coupons which allowed me to write this book years ago. Fran and Mark for also pouring over the manuscript and making it so much better. Andrew, Amanda and Audrey for their bottomless enthusiasm for their Dad's obsession. David Switzer, Alton Gansky, Mario Kivistik for allowing me to pick their brains from time to time. Cristine Ranghetti and Sara Camilli for getting the book to Dragon Moon, and of course my editor Gabrielle Harbowy and publisher Gwen Gades, for saying 'yes.' Special thanks to Mom & Dad and everyone in my extended family for a lifetime of love and encouragement, and I thank God, for never losing faith in me even when sometimes I did.

To wit: the winners and nominees (winners in bold)

Superior Achievement in a Novel

* AUDREY'S DOOR by Sarah Langan (Harper)
* PATIENT ZERO by Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin's Griffin)
* QUARANTINED by Joe McKinney (Lachesis Publishing)
* CURSED by Jeremy Shipp (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

* BREATHERS by S. G. Browne (Broadway Books)
* SOLOMON’S GRAVE by Daniel G. Keohane (Dragon Moon Press)
* DAMNABLE by Hank Schwaeble (Jove)
* THE LITTLE SLEEP by Paul Tremblay (Henry Holt)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

* DREAMING ROBOT MONSTER by Mort Castle (MIGHTY UNCLEAN)
* THE HUNGER OF EMPTY VESSELS by Scott Edelman (Bad Moon Books)
* THE LUCID DREAMING by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)
* DOC GOOD'S TRAVELING SHOW by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

* KEEPING WATCH by Nate Kenyon (MONSTROUS: 20 TALES OF GIANT CREATURE TERROR)
* THE CROSSING OF ALDO RAY by Weston Ochse (THE DEAD THAT WALK)
* IN THE PORCHES OF MY EARS by Norman Prentiss (PS Publishing)
* THE NIGHT NURSE by Harry Shannon (Horror Drive-in)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

* HE IS LEGEND: AN ANTHOLOGY CELEBRATING RICHARD MATHESON edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet Press)
* LOVECRAFT UNBOUND edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books)
* POE edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris)
* MIDNIGHT WALK edited by Lisa Morton (Dark House)

Superior Achievement in a Collection

* MARTYRS AND MONSTERS by Robert Dunbar (DarkHart Press)
* GOT TO KILL THEM ALL AND OTHER STORIES by Dennis Etchison (Cemetery Dance)
* A TASTE OF TENDERLOIN by Gene O'Neill (Apex Book Company)
* IN THE CLOSET, UNDER THE BED by Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe Press)

Superior Achievement in Nonfiction

* WRITERS WORKSHOP OF HORROR by Michael Knost (Woodland Press)
* CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT by L. L. Soares and Michael Arruda (Fearzone)
* THE STEPHEN KING ILLUSTRATED COMPANION by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)
* STEPHEN KING: THE NON-FICTION by Rocky Wood and Justin Brook (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in Poetry

* DOUBLE VISIONS by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions)
* NORTH LEFT OF EARTH by Bruce Boston (Sam's Dot)
* BARFODDER by Rain Graves (Cemetery Dance)
* CHIMERIC MACHINES by Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy Publishing)

2010 Wheels & Heels Against MS 30-Mile Walk

2010-03-22T13:49:00.001-04:00

This September 11th – 12th, 2010 is the annual MS Challenge Walk, a 30 mile, 2-Day walk through Cape Cod that raises money to fight the effects of Multiple Sclerosis. (note: this year it's down to 30 miles and 2 days because of conflict with Rosh Hashanah).

Once again my sister Anne Murphy and brother Paul Keohane, our family and friends will be participating with their “Wheels and Heels Against MS’ team.

This year we'll be holding another raffle: everyone who donates will have an opportunity to win a prize! In fact, a whole month of prizes!

List of prizes is coming soon (prize donations always welcome, too!).

Every $25 donated earns 1 chance ($100 earns 4 chances….and so on.)

This October Anne & Paul will draw a name every day from the names of generous supporters and that person wins the prize for that day. Prizes could include free haircuts, beautiful necklaces and earrings, gift certificates (and of course signed copies of Solomon's Grave & Christmas Trees and Monkeys!... that's my old story collection, you don't..actually get.. a monkey or anything).

Visit their website http://www.wheelsandheelsagainstms.com/ to make a pledge or mail your check to:

Anne Murphy
16 Kenneth Lane
Tewksbury, Ma 01876
or
Paul Keohane, (Team Captain)
2 Jillian Rose Dr
Oxford, MA 01540

We know that this is still a tough economic time, but this letter is asking for your help once again. Please join me and our team in our fight. If there is anything you can spare, it is greatly appreciated. And you might win a prize!!.... It’s WIN-Win!

Thank you so much!!

Anne & Paul and the rest of the team!

My Second Family

2010-03-20T00:26:00.002-04:00

Last weekend as a family (including Andrew who was home for Spring break) we all drove down to Rhode Island for lunch at one of our favorite eating haunts, Wright's Farm Restaraunt (aka Wright's Chicken Farm). All you can eat chicken, pasta & sauce, fries, salad. The food is always great and we're always stuffed at the end. Anyway, as good as a trip to Wright's is, that's not the point, or the best part. Every March my second family and I celebrate the plethora of March (or thereabouts) birthdays on Janet's side of the family, together, and as a tradition this has been the favorite place to go. They have been my family for nearly a quarter century. Every March, and every other Thanksgiving, everyone else always comes, and eats, and enjoys each other's company. Truly enjoys, because these are people you can't help but be comfortable around almost instantly.

Divorce is a hard, hard thing to face and go through, and though it is, in principle, between two people, it never is. Families are always bigger than the walls of your home. That's how it works. We told the kids something on that terrible day recently which is something I want to say now, ever since we sat down and ate and laughed and talked of everything except what we're all facing in the near future, in our own ways. Until we donned our coats and said our goodbyes, and at last, something was said, brief, and out of love, and those few words meant more to me than I can say. To Jon, and Mel, and Bob and Kaia and Reed and Cynthia and Maurice and Paul and Holly, to Mitch and Karen and Phillip and Tim and Sally and Austin and Sydney, our much-missed Roger and Fluerette, and everyone else in my second family, nieces and nephews and cousins and Aunts and Uncles... I love you all and you are my family, no matter what happens, or what is on a piece of paper. I promise you always will be. You have no choice, not really. I may not be at every family function as time goes on, but there will be some (after all, you're all coming to the house for Easter, ). I'm still here, and I'll always be here for you, any of you. And you'll always, always, be my family.

Solomon Reviewed at Horror Fiction Review

2010-03-18T15:22:00.000-04:00

Nick Cato has posted a nice review of Solomon's Grave up at Horror Fiction Review for March. Thanks!

Interview With Nominees at Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews

2010-03-08T12:51:00.001-05:00

The editor at Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews did a little round-table interview with all of the Bram Stoker nominees. He asked a couple of questions to each of us and has posted our answers here. Pretty interesting:
http://darkwolfsfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/2-questions-round-2009-bram-stoker.html

Solomon's Grave is officially Nominated for the Bram Stoker Award

2010-02-19T20:11:00.000-05:00

I guess we don't need to wait for Monday. The Final Ballot for the 2009 Bram Stoker Award has just been announced, and Solomon's Grave is on it! Whoo hoo! Now I can officially put patches on my elbows and call myself Stoker Nominated. Thanks to the members of the HWA who nominated the book, and best of luck to everyone who made the final ballot. Looking at who else is up for the award for best First Novel, I won't make room on my shelf for the wicked cool award just yet... sigh, it's such a cool looking award, too.... :-) Lots of fellow New Englanders on this list, too!

Superior Achievement in a Novel

* AUDREY'S DOOR by Sarah Langan (Harper)
* PATIENT ZERO by Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin's Griffin)
* QUARANTINED by Joe McKinney (Lachesis Publishing)
* CURSED by Jeremy Shipp (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

* BREATHERS by S. G. Browne (Broadway Books)
* SOLOMON’S GRAVE by Daniel G. Keohane (Dragon Moon Press)
* DAMNABLE by Hank Schwaeble (Jove)
* THE LITTLE SLEEP by Paul Tremblay (Henry Holt)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

* DREAMING ROBOT MONSTER by Mort Castle (MIGHTY UNCLEAN)
* THE HUNGER OF EMPTY VESSELS by Scott Edelman (Bad Moon Books)
* THE LUCID DREAMING by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)
* DOC GOOD'S TRAVELING SHOW by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

* KEEPING WATCH by Nate Kenyon (MONSTROUS: 20 TALES OF GIANT CREATURE TERROR)
* THE CROSSING OF ALDO RAY by Weston Ochse (THE DEAD THAT WALK)
* IN THE PORCHES OF MY EARS by Norman Prentiss (PS Publishing)
* THE NIGHT NURSE by Harry Shannon (Horror Drive-in)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

* HE IS LEGEND: AN ANTHOLOGY CELEBRATING RICHARD MATHESON edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet Press)
* LOVECRAFT UNBOUND edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books)
* POE edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris)
* MIDNIGHT WALK edited by Lisa Morton (Dark House)

Superior Achievement in a Collection

* MARTYRS AND MONSTERS by Robert Dunbar (DarkHart Press)
* GOT TO KILL THEM ALL AND OTHER STORIES by Dennis Etchison (Cemetery Dance)
* A TASTE OF TENDERLOIN by Gene O'Neill (Apex Book Company)
* IN THE CLOSET, UNDER THE BED by Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe Press)

Superior Achievement in Nonfiction

* WRITERS WORKSHOP OF HORROR by Michael Knost (Woodland Press)
* CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT by L. L. Soares and Michael Arruda (Fearzone)
* THE STEPHEN KING ILLUSTRATED COMPANION by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)
* STEPHEN KING: THE NON-FICTION by Rocky Wood and Justin Brook (Cemetery Dance)

Superior Achievement in Poetry

* DOUBLE VISIONS by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions)
* NORTH LEFT OF EARTH by Bruce Boston (Sam's Dot)
* BARFODDER by Rain Graves (Cemetery Dance)
* CHIMERIC MACHINES by Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy Publishing)

Thoughts While We Wait on Monday

2010-02-19T14:31:00.001-05:00

"Truth is always strange. Stranger than fiction." - Lord Byron

Read this in my daily page-a-day calendar (Secret Lives of Authors and Artists, or something like that - don't have the box anymore). So true, so often. In a way, when creating a story, especially one as all-encompassing to a reader as a novel, we have to make "realistic" worlds for the characters (and by default the readers) to live. A lot of daily minutae in my life wouldn't go into the book I'm writing, because no one cares how often a character picks his nose. But he or she should go the bathroom (off-stage if possible) now and then. They should go to church, or eat a meal. Too often we as authors get so wrapped up in "story" that we forget to make it "real". On the other side of that coin, sometimes an author can put too many details in, and bore the reader. It's like spice, add enough for flavor, but don't put too much in that you lose the overall taste.

My life, like everyone else's, has had times when - if I were to write it as fiction - would be rejected by any sane editor as being "too unrealistic." Novels, as random as we like to think they are sometimes, are not. There's a flow and ebb to the plot, to reach the end. Life just takes these turns now and then into left field. Maybe. I'm a big There's A Reason kind of guy. Too much of my life to this point has led to too many inevitable Other Points that I sometimes feel like Roland Deschain in King's latter Gunslinger novels. I suppose anyone who believes in God feels like Roland at time or another. But I get off topic. So, sometimes life can be so odd that it just won't work in a story. Too boring, or too friggin' bizarre. Take your pick. And you do, as a writer, pick which pieces to let fall from your brain onto the page, and which to leave hidden in the locked room at the back, where they pound and pound for release, never stopping.. never...

OK, other thoughts...

The Olympics are in full swing. One of my children (I forget who) asked what the five rings of the Olympic logo means. According to wiki answers, they represent the five continents represented (the Americas being one continent). That may be true. It's wiki. Could be a load of crap. With wiki, anything's possibile. In the end, rings mean different things to different people, I suppose. Could just as easily signify the billions of dollars Visa is spending for their commercials.

I think the final ballot for the Bram Stoker Award is supposed to be announced on Monday. Fingers crossed, and good luck to everyone waiting for the final list with worms on their toungues.

Finally finished watching Pulp Fiction the other day. What a great, great movie! I became a major Tarrentino fan just a couple years back when I watched Kill Bill. Not sure what made me finally decide to finally risk a Tarrentino flik, maybe I got such a kick out of his guest appearances in Alias, or maybe my subconcious liked the title. Probably both. Regardless, it blew me away. Funny, brilliant... back to more recently, watched most of Pulp Fiction one night when I had the TV to myself, but it was so long never finished it. Took until last Friday (and having bought the movie on DVD when I found it on sale) to finish it. Simply brilliant. Yes, violent sometimes, and yes, as random as life itself and still be good (see above), and maybe not as random, as the final scene implies. Anyway, for no other reason, it's worth watching simply for any scene John Travolta is in. Seriously. They're all fantastic, everyone, including Tarrentino in his cameo, but the scene with JT slinking through the 50's restaraunt, taking in the sights... go see it for that 5 minute epic scene pan, and any scene he's in with Uma Thurman - and of course the scene with the gun resting on the back of the front seat I'll say no more about. That killed me....

Ok, that's it.

Paul, get back to work.

Solomon's Grave on Preliminary Ballot for Bram Stoker Award

2010-02-03T11:57:00.001-05:00

Hi, folks. Some good news. Solomon's Grave has made the Bram Stoker Award's Preliminary ballot (see below for the full list), for Superior Achievement in a First Novel.

Note that this is the preliminary ballot, based on individual recommendations from HWA members. It's not considered "nominated" for the Bram Stoker Award yet - it needs to make it to the Final Ballot for that to be true.

Voting on this ballot will take place over the next 2 weeks, with all Active HWA members voting (myself included). The top works in each category will then be placed on the Final ballot (to be announced mind-February). Voting will then be done again on this Final ballot, and the winner in each category announced at the HWA's Bram Stoker Banquet held in conjunction with the World Horror Convention in Brighton, England (goes overseas occasionally) March 25 - 28, 2010.

Thanks to everyone who recommended my humble novel for consideration, and congratulations to everyone on the list:
2009 PRELIMINARY STOKER BALLOT

Superior Achievement in a Novel

QUARANTINED by Joe McKinney (Lachesis Publishing)
AS FATE WOULD HAVE IT by Michael Louis Calvillo (Bad Moon Books)
PATIENT ZERO by Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin's Griffin)
CURSED by Jeremy Shipp (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
SACRIFICE by John Everson (Leisure)
AUDREY'S DOOR by Sarah Langan (Harper)
ETERNAL VIGILANCE II: DEATH OF ILLUSIONS by Gabrielle Faust (Immanion Press)
TWISTED LADDER by Rhodi Hawk (Tor/Forge)
VORACIOUS by Alice Henderson (Jove)
THE BONE FACTORY by Nate Kenyon (Leisure)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

DAMNABLE by Hank Schwaeble (Jove)
THE BLACK ACT by Louise Bohmer (Library of Horror)
SLAUGHTER by Marcus Griffin (Alexandrian Archives Publishing)
BREATHERS by S. G. Browne (Broadway Books)
THE LITTLE SLEEP by Paul Tremblay (Henry Holt)
SOLOMON’S GRAVE by Daniel G. Keohane (Dragon Moon Press)
DISMEMBER by Daniel Pyle (Wild Child)
SLIGHTS by Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot)
THE DEAD PATH by Stephen M. Irwin (Hachette Australia)
THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by Carrie Ryan (Delacorte Press/Random House)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction,

MAMA FISH by Rio Youers (Shroud Publishing)
HUNGER OF EMPTY VESSELS by Scott Edelman (Bad Moon Books)
DIANA AND THE GOONG-SI by Lisa Morton (MIDNIGHT WALK)
DOC GOOD'S TRAVELING SHOW by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)
THE GRAY ZONE by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)
THE LUCID DREAMING by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)
DREAMING ROBOT MONSTER by Mort Castle (MIGHTY UNCLEAN)
LITTLE GRAVEYARD ON THE PRAIRIE by Steven E. Wedel (Bad Moon Books)
ROT by Michelle Lee (Skullvines Press)
BLACK BUTTERFLIES by Kurt Newton (Sideshow Press)

Superior Achievement in a Short Fiction

IN THE PORCHES OF MY EARS by Norman Prentiss (PS Publishing)
BLANKET OF WHITE by Amy Grech (BLANKET OF WHITE)
KEEPING WATCH by Nate Kenyon (MONSTROUS: 20 TALES OF GIANT CREATURE TERROR)
ONE MORE DAY by Brian Freeman (SHIVERS V)
THE CROSSING OF ALDO RAY by Weston Ochse (THE DEAD THAT WALK)
WHERE SUNLIGHT SLEEPS by Brian Freeman (Horror Drive-in)
THE NIGHT NURSE by Harry Shannon (Horror Drive-in)
PLAGUE DOGS by Joe McKinney (POTTERS FIELD 3)
THE OUTLAWS OF HILL COUNTY by John Palisano (Harvest Hill)
NUB HUT by Kurt Dinan (Chizine)

Superior Achievement in a Anthology,

MIDNIGHT WALK edited by Lisa Morton (Dark House)
POE edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris)
HARLAN COUNTY HORRORS edited by Mari Adkins (Apex Publications)
HE IS LEGEND: AN ANTHOLOGY CELEBRATING RICHARD MATHESON edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet Press)
LOVECRAFT UNBOUND edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books)
DARK DELICACIES 3: HAUNTED edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb (Running Press)
BUTCHER SHOP QUARTET 2 edited by Frank J. Hutton (Cutting Block Press)
GRANTS PASS edited by Amanda Pillar and Jennifer Brozek (Morrigan Books)
MIGHTY UNCLEAN edited by Bill Breedlove (Dark Arts Books)
BRITISH INVASION by Chris Golden, Tim Lebbon and James Moore (Cemetery Dance Publications)

Superior Achievement in a Collection,

A TASTE OF TENDERLOIN by Gene O'Neill (Apex Book Company)
SHADES OF BLOOD AND SHADOW by Angeline Hawkes (Dark Regions Press)
MARTYRS AND MONSTERS by Robert Dunbar (DarkHart Press)
IN THE CLOSET, UNDER THE BED by Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe Press)
A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FIENDS by Michael McCarty (Sam's Dot)
GOT TO KILL THEM ALL AND OTHER STORIES by Dennis Etchison (Cemetery Dance)
DARK ENTITIES by David Dunwoody (Dark Regions)
SHARDS by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Brimstone Press)
UNHAPPY ENDINGS by Brian Keene (Delirium Books)
YOU MIGHT SLEEP… by Nick Mamatas (Prime)

Superior Achievement in a Nonfiction

WRITERS WORKSHOP OF HORROR by Michael Knost (Woodland Press)
STEPHEN KING: THE NON-FICTION by Rocky Wood and Justin Brook (Cemetery Dance)
CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT by L. L. Soares and Michael Arruda (Fearzone)
ESOTERIA-LAND by Michael McCarty (BearManor Media)
MORBID CURIOSITY CURES THE BLUES edited by Loren Rhoads (Simon & Schuster)
THE STEPHEN KING ILLUSTRATED COMPANION by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

CHIMERIC MACHINES by Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy Publishing)
MORTICIAN'S TEA by G. O. Clark (Sam's Dot)
DOUBLE VISIONS by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions)
VOICES FROM THE DARK by Gary William Crawford (Dark Regions)
BARFODDER by Rain Graves (Cemetery Dance)
STARKWEATHER DREAMS by Christopher Conlon (Creative Guy Publishing)
TOWARD ABSOLUTE ZERO by Karen L. Newman (Sam's Dot)
NORTH LEFT OF EARTH by Bruce Boston (Sam's Dot)
GRAVE BITS by Todd Hanks (Skullvines Press)

Elephants and English Class

2010-01-29T09:09:00.001-05:00

Hi. I'm back. Sorry for being away so long. Will do better going forward, promise.

Just couple of small points to get this ice broken up again.

First, just finished the first book of the year (though I started reading it last year). If you haven't read Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, put down the book you're reading (unless it's mine) head out to Borders before they go out of business and by this book. And read it. Few books I will say this about, few books set me on fire as a reader, but this one did. By far, I'd say one of the top ten books, overall - story, writing, characters, pace - I've read. Period. Now, I've read a lot of books, and enjoyed, been thrilled by, what have you, many of them. But if I was forced to write down right now a top ten list, this would be on it. Where on the list? No idea, not that it matters. Now, mind you, I've been trying to get caught up on the classics, as it were. Recently finished 1984 (see earlier posts), and really liked it. It might be hovering near that top 10 list, and who knows, might actually make it if I was forced to choose. Read Catcher in the Rye.. Rhye?... not sure how to spell that.. few years back. Interesting book, a classic, but not one I'd say was anywhere close to the best book I'd read. One of the more interesting, yes, but come on, classic or not, overall it really sucked as a novel. Anyway, not Water... a fairly recent book, won a lot of accolades, and deservedly so. Genre-wise, not in any, really, Contemporary Lit if I had to pigeonhole it. But really, really, really good. As Mr. Lee used to say, 'Nuff said.

Now, as a lead in, let me say: I hope a lot of students across the world get to read this book Not just because it's so good, but because there is no movie made of it, not yet at least. You see, was talking to Amanda, and in earlier conversations with Audrey and Andrew as they attended, and always enjoyed, their English classes. Schools, not just theirs but everywhere, seem to think that when they teach a novel with a child, Farenheit 451, The Outsiders, what have you, and make the kids read them and discuss it, that the next logical step is to let them watch the movie.

Wrongo.

Read my earlier posts. I love watching movies.

I also have some dear and fond memories of novels which I'd been, admittedly, forced to read in school and ended up loving. Two come to mind (though there were many): The Dispossessed by Ursela LeGuin, and Lord of the Flies, by William Goldman. Granted, Flies was made into at least one movie (2, I think). Never watched them, never will. I remember these novels vividly, every scene, every character, the smell of the fauna on the island with the students, the buzz of the bees, the smell of poor Piggy's blood on the rocks of the beach, the sound of the conch shell. I read this book at least twice for different classes. And now, 26 years later, I still remember it.

These images are from a novel, not a movie. And that's a beutiful thing to a writer. For someone to carry with them memories of such an intimate sharing between author and reader for their entire life, is so special it can't be put into words. Yes, people eventually see movie versions of books - sometimes the movie is better (I think The Notebook movie was superior to the reading experience of the book, for me at least, and there seems to be an equal quality between the Harry Potter books and the films, to be honest about it), but not often (how many teenaged girls think the Twilight movies are not nearly as good as their beloved novels?).

But when you're teaching children the love of the written word, you want to leave those precious memories, sparked by the author but brought to life by the children's own imaginations, alone. For a time at least. All three of my kids have read The Outsiders, another fond reading experience for me as well from middle school, and been able to relish in the memory of a good book for about a day or two, before the TV and DVD player was reeled in and they watched Hollywood's version. It then becomes the image they will remember. Years from now they'll say, "Yes, I read The Outsiders. I liked it. It was a good movie."

Too bad. For me, I've read The Outsiders, and To Kill a Mockingbird, and loved them. Never saw the movies. And I'm glad for that. Because as long as I only have the memories of the books, Pony and Scout will always be, in part, uniquely mine.

Sad But Painfully True in So Many Ways - but also funny

2009-12-29T15:36:00.001-05:00

Had to share this: Just read the link below, as mentioned in writer Nick Kaufmann's blog. Too funny, but rings so true.... :-)

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2009/4/20lanham.html

Interview in the Bentley Observer

2009-12-28T08:35:00.000-05:00

I keep forgetting to mention this - with the holidays, not to mention the half dozen outlets I've been posting news in.... In the current Winter issue (pictured) of my alumni magazine, The Bentley Observer, there is an interview with me by Gordon Hardy. We talk about how I started writing, and a little about Solomon's Grave. It was a nice article. Thanks to Gordon for the nod, and to fraternity brother Neal Zwicker for hooking us up!

the basement evolution

2009-12-28T08:31:00.004-05:00

Early in 2005 I began a project which would take almost five years to complete, and would be both a refuge and bane... no, not true. Working on finishing the basement was never a bane, never a curse or a chore. It was fun, it was completely absorbing, taught me a helluva lot about working with my hands (as opposed to hiring someone else to do it, lol), seeing the big picture in a project, the value of Google video, and of nail guns and levels.

First step was finding the right tools, borrowing my brother-in-law's saw, and learning how to do the wall studs. The picture on the left and lower on the right is how it started, the latter of me and Andrew as he helps with probably one of the most important pieces of inventory: common sense. You sure you want to do it that way? he'd ask in his calm, certain way. I'd nod, then shake my head and ask him what way would be better, and try not to feel stupid because, though it's taken a number of decades, I admit that sometimes basic, common sense isn't my forte. I can learn a task, and excel at it, see the big picture and the details simultaneously, but would spend two hours trying to straighten a nail and continue banging it in instead of just pulling it out and getting a new one. Too much doing without thinking. But I got better.

And slowly, the cellar progressed, stalling when the weather got warmer and I was sent outside to work on the yard. But when I worked down there, with Andrew sometimes, the girls other times, most of the time alone since each distinct task wasn't overly difficult, just time-consuming, hours would roll past (2 hours here, 2 weeks of not doing anything, 3 hours some other day, just didn't want you to think this was some obsessive thing) and I thought of the work only as I did it, had to think of nothing else, needed to focus and measure and measure again, cut, nail. Nothing else mattered, nothing else got in. For a few hours, now and then, the basement project was a refuge. Kind of makes you understand why some guys get a little addicted to these projects at the expense of everything else: kids, family. Didn't happen in this case (if it had, it sure wouldn't have taken 5 years to finish). But as the big room took shape, I felt good about myself, sometimes, at least that this was something I semi-decent at and wouldn't have known if I hadn't tried.

By 2007, the stud framing was done and it was time to put the walls on. So much happened in the meantime, higher up on the main floors and outside in the yard. Down here, though, the basement moved along like a slow river, sometimes nothing changed for months before a wave of progress came through. The house upstairs, our house, rose and fell with its own tide, while the basement came into its own existence as if untouched by the events above it.

As I begin to type this, it's Christmas night 2009. Another week and it'll be 2010. The end of the decade. The kids seemed to enjoy the day, which was our traditional opening of gifts, playing with them for a time then heading east to visit with my side of the family for the day. In another fifty-five minutes as I type, the day will end, and it'll be just another Saturday, more time to play, go look for a new guinea pig (which we got, a cute mellow girl named Santana), help Auntie Ellie paint her condo, and go downstairs and work on the basement.

As the Fall of '07 rolled in, I got blueboard, a book from Home Depot and laid out the upper walls. Then we decided to give the project a boost and brought in Jim Andrews and his gang to finished the lower half and do a good job seeming the walls. Jim's guys Leo and son also fixed up my framing for the entertainment center, so it wouldn't be all lopsided (more pictures, by the way at http://www.dankeohane.com/gallery.html), but otherwise worked well with what I did. The walls were up, we painted, and as this Christmas comes to an end, the room which had silently stayed out of it all has almost come to life. Amanda had a sleepover down there last weekend. Audrey enjoys watching television in the funky pink chair, and as I finish the trim and wait for the electrician's final visit I'm slowly planning on the overall decorating plan (movie theme, I think).

Speaking of movies, I got Donnie Darko for Christmas, finally get to see this one (and I really know nothing about the movie - no preconceived notions except that everyone in the Business who's seen it and knows me has said, I can't believe you haven't seen this movie, Dan - it's so you...). The new Marc Cohn CD (one of my favorite artists and it didn't disappoint), a couple of movie-related games. It was a movie theme, though I suppose I might have not-so-unconsciously directed things that way. Like the basement will be, I think. We'll see. It's been such a solo project for so long, but now it's almost done and the kids are excited, I need to get them involved. Find out what form it'll take with them down there using it. Seeing for themselves that even after it's done, it can be a refuge, a place to go as an alternative the the floors above.

Christmas Time is Here

2009-12-24T09:48:00.005-05:00

The kids have asked from time to time, is Christmas really Jesus' birthday, the actual, historical day that He was born? I always answer the same way, which sometimes catches them off guard but, hopefully, will keep them from being sheep, help them understand their faith a little better than, well, sheep who feel anything which deviates from their own self-imposed norm is far too upsetting and threatening to their own faith, tentuous as it probably is if a simple thing like History freaks them out.

No, Christmas is not the historical date upon which God came into the world in human form (to be all formal for a second). Well, it could be: there's a 1 in 365.25 chance of it. Less of a chance, actually. Most historians believe Jesus was born sometime in March - keeps in line with the other historically-proven events surrounding the nativity story: the mass murder of children by Herod (I think it was Herod), the census taken by Rome, etc, which was why Mary & Joseph had to travel to Bethlemen in the first place. So, likely, it was March. Why then, you ask (as have the kids), is Christmas on December 25th? The answer makes perfect sense, even though I can already sense a large number of evangelicals covering their eyes (for NO good reason - have some faith in your faith for once, will you?). The early church was constantly battling for attention with other religions as they spread through the world. December 25th is the festival of Saturnalia, some kind of pagan holiday which I think has gone out of fashion over the past hundred or thousand years. But it's a time, for most if not all religions, to celebrating the fact that - AT LAST - the days are starting to get longer.

December 21st is the shortest day of the year (the Winter Solstice, if you're taking notes). So, the Church decided hey, this would be a good time to formally celebrate the birth of the Messiah, on a day when the world is at its darkest, but the light is beginning to win out again, as it always does. Though the winter is going to get worse, the light is going to grow, and the Light of the World is here. I'm sure the Church used a lot more Latin words in its decision, otherwise people might understand it better. But that's the gist of it, according to Father Jim, who's cool like that. He tells the truth, and doesn't worry if the Truth is dangerous. Truth never is. It can hurt, if you aren't equipped to handle it, but it's never dangerous in the long run.

So, that's the history of Christmas. The concept of Santa Claus came about in 1857 when a spaceship landed in Brussels with one pilot, wearing the now-famous red suit and sporting a beard (which, in truth, was an elaborate set of gills for breathing our atmosphere). Naturally, the villagers who encountered this rare visitor killed him and burned his body, but then felt a twinge remorse and told their children the fable of Santa Claus, and that he wasn't really dead, but instead fire gives him strength to be able to bring shoes to all good girls and boys. In fact, this is how the tradition of lighting fires in the fireplace on Christmas Eve began.

1986. Our first Christmas together. I still remember, 23 years later, sitting silently on the couch, listening to George Winston's beautiful CD December - an album which is a must if you truly want to be in the winter/Christmas spirit. Silence, save the music, and I had a vision, clear as a bell, so clear I've always remembered it. I was suddenly sitting in a living room I didn't recognize (until years later when we bought the house), the front door was open but the outer was closed, an all-glass storm door which allowed full view to outside. We had children, and they were standing so rapt and small in front of the glass, looking out at a foot of freshly-fallen snow in the yard and the porch, and George Winston kept playing, and this warm house was lit up with Christmas lights, there was a tree, and all was well in the world.

Then the vision ended. I sat there and knew I saw something that could be. And it was. Years later in our house in Worcester, I wasn't surprised when I looked up from where I was sitting and little Andrew and Amanda were looking out through the glass door on an almost-Christmas eve watching the snow fall. The scene wasn't exact, perspective changed, the living room was on the left not the right, but it was the same.

It was a good moment, both in reality and the original vision played out to Mr. Winston's timely, repetive piano chords in her tiny apartment. We have these moments, these visions of what could be, and when we follow the path they lay out for us we find them. For life to work, for it to have "meaning" as the philosophers so often say, we need these visions, these views into a future which is good and perfect and know that the specific moment we can see so clearly in the future may be surrounded by painful ones, because life is like that. Up and down, pain and pleasure. But those moments, these gems of sight, looking at your children looking out the door at the freshly-fallen snow, tells us that it's OK, that it will be, that it could be, if we accept them as possible. It'll be a time when we can breathe again, recharge. That wonderful, incredible time and life envisioned, then lived, in 1986 were relished and embraced for as long as possible, and the world itself is not going to simply vanish afterwards, there'll be more to look forward to. There always is.

A year from now it'll be Christmas Eve again, the oldies stations will play nothing but Christmas tunes after Halloween whether anyone wants them to or not, it'll snow again, filling the yard with a soft white comfort set ablaze in red and yellow Christmas lights. In a moment in another future, it'll be a harbinger of contentment again, bring the excited wonder my kids still feel even now every time December 24th rolls around and the anticipation is too much for their open hearts too bear. I envy them their wonder, and we both feed it as much as possible. And, in turn, they never fail to feed mine. Spend time with yours this weekend, soak in the lights and the warmth and ignore everything else. Don't look back, or forward. Just for today and tomorrow spend it looking at the tree and the snow and the fire in the hearth, watch your children or family or friends opening their gifts and know that there are more visions waiting to show themselves, in whatever form the future will be.

Know this, then put the cookies out for Santa, as this is the traditional token of repentence offered for that strange visitor from another world who met his end in a strange land and yet would unwittingly make so much money for retail outlets, and so many mall children cry, in the years to come.

1984, again

2009-12-20T22:45:00.008-05:00

So, as I began to say in the last post, I needed to get caught up on some of the classics I'd successfully avoided all my life - unfortunately - or, perhaps fortunately. I mean, who would appreciate such a brilliant novel like 1984 more: a college sophomore who has to read the entire novel in a month and worry about what kind of grade he'll get on the subsequent paper, or an angst-ridden 46 year-old who finds himself reading this oft-touted and oft-praised (kind of interesting that the first two times I've ever used the somewhat-highbrow prefix "oft-" in my life, I use them in the same sentence..... only kind of interesting, though).

Winston Smith is living in a world completely overrun by socialism, or as it's called in Newspeak (a term the book coins, along with the more oft-used * doublespeak) Ingsoc (English Socialism). The book's good, and quite depressing in many ways - though more fascinating than depressing so it's a very good read (as opposed to the brilliant move starring your friend and mine John Hurt, which is just depressing because you can't soften the blow of the events with your mind - that's the thing about movies, it's in your face....)

Which brings me to my point in a roundabout way. I suppose what one would identify most with in this novel would depend on their situation at the time they read it (have you noticed how very formal I've become in writing this, the Classics seem to warrant this tone....). Me, it was the fact that seemingly everyone in the world lived in some kind of illusionary bubble. Oceania is at war with Eurasia. Bombs hit London, and everyone believes the news that they are coming from the enemy. At some point, Oceania changes loyalties and goes to war with Eastasia (I may be getting the order reversed). They change all historical documents and tell everyone we've always been at war with Eastasia. And everyone chooses to believe it's true.

They choose to believe it's true. They don't believe it; they can't, really. The day before they were at war with an entirely different country. Or could they, really, believe it, if that's what they'd been doing for so long? They've scrubbed certain parts of their brain, metaphorically speaking but, hell, maybe in being metaphoric they really did it and I need to end this sentence.

People live with illusions. Some big, some small. They have to. A writer starting out has to believe she is good, or can become good, otherwise her literary career is dead before it starts. A guy has to believe he's worthy of her affection or he'll never ask her out. He might be, but that doesn't matter. He has to believe it. A pilot of a jet has to believe he can control a curved piece of metal with way-odd shaped stubs for wings going faster than SOUND travels - if he doesn't believe it, he's dead, and so is the nice family living in the house his jet crashes into.

On a smaller, but no less important scale, Santa Claus. Brother Paul (see prev entry) was telling me about his issues with jolly old Saint Nicholas now that his kids are getting older. Do they still believe, or not? There is a time when a child stops believing in Santa Claus, the concept is simply too ridiculous to hold any water in their developing minds, but they want to believe, really, really want to - not because if they don't they'll crash into a house at the speed of sound, i.e. get no presents - no, because when they believed as a young 'un it filled them with wonder, joy to see how much bigger and amazing and mysterious the world was where a guy in a red suit could travel the globe and deliver presents in one night. They want to retain that sense of wonder because as they grow and see the world differently - as no less wondrous and exciting, just differently - they still yearn to capture the past, hold the wonder. It's why parents continue to make such a fuss about Christmas and Santa - they want their children to feel the same feeling they did, and in a genetically rountabout way, relive it themselves. (Granted, you need to get over the fact that you are blatantly lying to your children, which you should never do, but just this once you make an exception.... because it's the key to the past).

They want to be as they were before. They want to believe because believing in something is always a good thing. In their case, the illusion goes away eventually, but not because they wandered downstairs and discovered Santa was actually a pervert attacking their cat with things he pulls out of his magic red bag - that would be a destructive loss of belief, a tragic, painful loss of illusion. No, they simply realize the truth, after a year or two of perhaps pretending that it's not truth, in order to hold on to that magic for a little longer. In the end, they realize Christmas is just as fun even without pretending. They can enjoy wrapping presents, going to church and enjoy the religious meaning of the holiday without feeling that baby Jesus is taking all of Santa's press (never a worry there, anyway).

1984 - remember 1984? this blog entry is about 1984 - was interesting in that the whole world make themselves believe, because they felt there was nothing else than what they had. In the end, perhaps there wasn't. Those who showed signs of free-thought disappeared. Terribly. Sometimes, the world a person lives in is so dark, and has been for so long, they don't believe there could be anything else better. Orwell makes it a point to show how some people remember their worlds as better than it was in the present, and these people cling to the hope it'll be better again. And, these people stagnate. Others, like the lowest rung on the food chain the Proles (proletariate), simply don't care, content to live day to day and simply enjoy each other's company, in a way the happiest lot. And then there are those who accept the world as it is, and know they cannot change it so they simply find ways of bucking the system, making no progress, like the Proles, but finding moments of joy. Julia, Winston's secret lover, is like that. She has no illusions, except that there's nothing that can be done to change things. These people seek pleasure, but are also very much defeatists.

People in the world today fall into one or the other category, changing with circumstances. Sometimes we need illusion to ask her out, to fly the plane, to write that novel, but in the end, we need to prove it. Prove yourself worthy on that first date, keep the plane flying, edit the crap out of the book and make it good. Because illusions only go so far. If we can't prove that they are reality, then they may not be. And reality will fly over and pop the balloon. You're not as funny as you think, you need to shower more, you need to change careers, you need to clean the mirror so you can see better who you are, or clean your glasses so you can see better who others are, and why. ...and this is rambling is taking too long. It's like that, roads, life, figuring things out. Long and rambling and wordy.
I don't think I've made the point I wanted, but blogs are like that, aren't they. With a name like 'blog', they don't necessarily have to make sense.

* 3

1984, or Watching the Tube Slide Down Kane's Throat

2009-12-18T23:53:00.008-05:00

I recently decided I simply am not reading enough of the classics. I managed somehow to avoid all, or most, of the literature courses when in school, at least those which made you read books... no seriously, I was a fantastically lazy reader (and Stephen King would probably say fantastically lazy writer, since I just used an adverb, but then he did, just there in the beginning of this parenthetical remark, so I think I'm entitled to adverbise now and then....)... okay, where was - ah!

I was a lazy reader. Loved books as a concept, just couldn't focus on them for long, not when I was younger. Until two things happened... I entered eighth grade and Miss Dawson's English/Reading class at Francis Wyman Middle School where I was introduced to Richard Matheson and H.P. Lovecraft, and a couple years after that, read the novelization to Alien: not high literature but scared the shit out of me, then soon after - Fahrenheit 451 and Ray Bradbury entered my life. A wonderful moment for a reader when he meets Mister Bradbury.

More about Miss Dawson another time. The woman who made reading fun and amazing and... another time. Let's jump ahead in the Life of Dan about 3 years or so... maybe 4...

The novelization for Alien was written by the King Of Novelizations - seriously, he's probably the only person who could have given my fellow Neconer Chris Golden a run for his money in the arena of sheer volume of work - Alan Dean Foster. In retrospect, I don't think anyone yet knew what the alien itself was going to look like - Foster was likely given the screenplay and as he wrote the book H.R. Giger and Ridley Scott were hashing out the monster... the book never described it. (so when, years later, I saw the movie I thought - that's it? My mental version had a hundred arms and it was furry... dunno, the movie one was still frikkin' scary... so where the hell was I....?

I was going to talk about classic literature and 1984, its dystopia, a life of illusionary living and poor Winston Smith, was going to tie in Christmas and... I guess all of it has to wait. I'm too caught up in the Summer of '80, or '81....

Hampton Beach, vacation week at the my parents rented each year and Mom - God bless her, always pointing me, if inadvertently, to the dark side - hands me the novelization she'd just read of Alien. Not sure how many novels I'd read before that... a few, none I remembered much save Great Expectations and Hemingway's work, (all pretty good), the stuff from Miss Dawson's class (later... later...), though the act of reading for school was a chore

Side bar: kiddies, I should explain: I drank WAY too much soda, was constantly wired on caffeine and sugar - having bad grades? Get the Frak off the Mountain Dew, deal with the withdrawals for a couple of days, and watch how the frakking world suddenly becomes available to you TRUST ME...., over-doing the power drinks the caffeine and sugar is not making you smart or alert, you're body is simply carving it and telling your brain - look, cut down at least...).

Back to: Hampton Beach, Mom, sand in between the pages... OK, back on track... I've never forgotten the scene - not in the movie, but the Book(!!!) where Kane goes down into the ship, the face hugger bursts from the egg, latches on, and I cringe as the author goes into detail how the alien melts the faceplate, pushes the tube down the guy's throat... that, boys and girls, wasn't filmed. In this case, the novelization was much better... especially to a 17/18 year old boy.

Hey, Kane was played by the same actor who portrayed Winston in the best adaptation of 1984, a topic I was about to talk about tonight but then put aside for this after-midnight blog post.... (John Hurt, by the way, in case you're wondering - sigh, OK, the wand salesman from the Harry Potter movie). I couldn't put that book down (Alien, I mean, though 30 years later same went for 1984). Read it in a week, a lifetime record back then (and maybe now, though I read like a fish these days... fish read, so shut up). I read at the beach, at home on the front yard in a folding chair.

All the while, brother Paul watches me from his sad, 4.5 years younger-than-me vantage - staring at brother Danny staring so intently into that green paperback book. He inquires. I tell him. Poor 13 year old kid was never the same again... he read it when I was done. Was slapped upside the head - I remember watching him sitting out in the front yard and freaking out while reading it. Books are cool. They do that to you sometimes.

And books became cool for me with that one. I recently re-read it - and yea, it was an early A. D. Foster book, he got better. It wasn't great but for the first time, it didn't matter. The story grabbed me. I was pulled away into some distant, unknown planetary system and everyone around me was friggin' dying and it was wonderful. In a literary sense. I could be elsewhere, escape to new worlds and be back in time for supper. It wasn't a happy story - I mean, more people lived in 1984 than Alien, but it did what it was meant to do, for me, in that summer. Finally bonked me on the head and said look! Books! Read more, visit new and exciting places before you step on your glasses like Burgess Meredith and lose the chance!

Book Signing at Borders Books in Shrewsbury MA this Friday

2009-11-23T15:02:00.005-05:00

I'll be participating in a multiple author signing event at the Borders Bookstore in Shrewsbury MA this Friday, November 27th, beginning at 1:00 along with other local horror authors Nate Kenyon, Bob Heske, Scott Goudsward, Patrick Rahall and a number of other non-horror writers as well. I'll be signing copies of Solomons Grave, of course. As we all know, the day after Thanksgiving tends to be a huge shopping day, so if you're out and about, and near Shrewsbury, swing by and say hello!

Is Tim Deal an Assassin or a Character Actor?

2009-11-23T08:08:00.003-05:00

Sorry, just have to add this. Look down two blog entries, to the Bushnell photos, in particular the group photo - specifically Tim Deal. Better yet, I've cropped out his picture and put it here. OK? So, if you don't watch Fringe, never mind. But if you do, and caught last week's episode where the bald alien/time traveler guy kidnapped the woman - remember the assassin hired to kill her and fix the timeline? Now take a look at Tim's photo again. Sorry, but Tim, how do you get all the way to LA for a guest role in a major television show AND run a magazine here in New England? Good time management, I guess...? :-)

The Smell of Movies Makes Me Happy

2009-11-21T22:52:00.009-05:00

I picked up my daughter Audrey and her friends from the movies last night. Got there a little early and sat on a bench to read. But after a while I couldn't just sit there. This was the movies! It was opening night of New Moon, tons of people were filling every nook and corner of the place (the girls chose another film because New Moon's sold out until Thursday, believe it or not). Anyway, tons of people, smell of popcorn filling the massive hall, voices upon voices, more popcorn smell.

I walked around, relishing in the air of all of this, mixed with bad hot dogs and second-mortgage pizza slices and steady hiss of soda being foaming into cups.

On the walls, massive marquees, movie posters from King Kong, Casablanca. For some ridiculous reason every slot for modern films were promoting the upcoming Alice in Wonderland... I mean, come on, leave some for the next guy.... anyway, I wandered around, looked and smelled and experienced an environment which has such a connection to my past, so many memories of growing up. The good kind I mean. Going with Kevin and Brian and others to see Star Wars (the original) 29 times. I still remember, fondly, when I was a junior at Bentley. One night, after trying to convince everyone to come see this new movie that just came out with no luck (no one was interested because the title just sounded too dumb to bother), I went down to the Woburn Showcase and watched Raiders of the Lost Ark all by my lonesome and was blown away and had a blast (and was never the least bit lonesome)!

Been wanting to go to the movies for a while now - I'm having withdrawals, maybe go see Where The Wild Things Are... seems going to the movies as in the past doesn't look like is going to happen for a while. Still, maybe I'll just go alone... I've done it before. And why not? It makes me happy, makes a lot of people happy, and how can it not? It's the movies! So much more I can talk about in this world within a world. Maybe I'll make it a recurring theme. Return to the place on occasion, as I'm always want to do. Still, I need to write the Monkey Story and there's bound to be some writing-related news, but now and then, maybe we can go back to the movies and shoot the shit some more about it.

OK, ok, that's about 6 ending sentences without actually ending it... sorry.... I'll stop..... now

A couple of Bushnell photos

2009-11-21T22:38:00.006-05:00

Hi. A couple of pictures from the event at the Bushnell Theater this Halloween. Above, left to right standing are: Lou (a.k.a Edgar Allen Poe), Peter Fox, Tim Deal, me. Seated is Alisa Sheckley.

Now these photos were taken at the break between Alisa's and my talks, and the photographer was heading out, so she asked that I pretend to be making my speech so she can get more candids (she asked the same to Tim and Peter). So here, I'm really just saying something like, "I'm really just going to talk randomly for a moment but it doesn't matter since this is only for the picture." Or some other mundane comment. Not sure what the finger thing was all about. Still, the things we do for art. :-)

To answer the question (finally), How'd Hartford Go, at the Bushnell?

2009-11-05T10:30:00.007-05:00

Sorry for the delay in recapping my Halloween weekend at the Boo! at Bushnell event in Hartford - wanted to give "Kill Brian Keene on Your Blog Day" a few days of front-pageness...

So, anyway, I drove down Friday night to Hartford and checked into the hotel provided me by the Bushnell and host Zita Christian. Almost immediately Jason and Stacey Harris picked me up and played excellent hosts for the rest of the evening. We went to the Texas Roadhouse - where you can eat peanuts and dump the shells on the floor and eat lots of great food - I got the ribs. Had a tremendous dinner with the two newlyweds (one year, Happy Anniversary!). Before dropping me back off at the hotel we stopped at the Barnes & Noble to see if they had Solomon's Grave in stock - of course, no. Sigh. Lots of fun, though. :-).

Got to the Bushnell Performing Arts Theater nice and early Saturday and met my host for the day, Zita (if you remember, she interviewed me on her cable show in May, and it aired all month in June). I was shown to my very own dressing room, with my name on it (no, no star on the door), and those mirrors with bulbs all the way around and my own bathroom it was just wicked cool and I haven't used any punctuation yet... so, I'll add some. Here.

The day went, literally, without a hitch. The first speaker, celebrating his 200th birthday, was none other than Edgar Allen Poe himself. Lou, the guy who looked, talked (I assume) and presented himself so much as you would imagine Poe would have (the writer, not the Teletubby), talked about his life and gave a tremendous reading of his famous story, "The Telltale Heart" (I missed some of it, because I fell into a coughing fit and had to sneak out... but they broadcast the speakers everywhere throughout the building, even the bathroom, so could still hear....)

Alisa Sheckley, the next speaker, is just one of those people you can't help but like the moment you meet her. As a novelist herself, we worked out ahead of time what we were covering so there wouldn't be much overlap, and it worked out great. Alisa talked of the growth of horror throughout the last century. She was funny and informative, overall a great talk.

After a short break, it was my turn. Listening to Zita's introduction, you'd think a stand-up comedian was coming on, so I had to be funny. :-) Thankfully, I think I was, mostly. My talk was already geared that way and people seemed to enjoy it. I had props - the infamous Monkey Picture which caused so many nightmares in my childhood (someday I'll tell you the story - the audience seemed to enjoy it), and used that and others to talk about the influence of childhood on forming a horror writer. I spent some time then talking about the New England Horror Writers organization, of which I and L.L. Soares are co-chairs, and networking within the horror genre. After a fun Q&A session, I sadly had to sit down. But I had lots of fun.

After lunch, Tim Deal, publisher/editor of Shroud Magazine, held court with an interesting approach - talking about the publishing business in a town-meeting style, asking questions of the audience and getting a lot of participation from everyone. It paid off, making the 45 minutes fly by with people still lined up with questions when time ran out.

The final speaker, screenwriter/producer Peter Fox, gave a brief historical summary of horror movies, before introducing the film HOUSE OF USHER, in honor or E.A.Poe's birthday. Unfortunately, I missed the second part of his talk, and the ending of the film, because I had to get home in time for trick or treat with the family.

All in all, the weekend was terrific. Special thanks to everyone I met, I forget everyone's name but special shout out to Zombie Girl with whom I had great conversations throughout the day, not to mention the rest of the crew and of course Zita and her husband and the employees of the Bushnell.

In Honor of Kill Brian Keene on Your Blog Day

2009-11-02T08:52:00.003-05:00

"I just want a piece of him, of Greatness!"

"There he is. There’s so many friggin’ people around him, though. You see, that’s why he’s so cool: he's so approachable, not like some writers..."

"Come on, before it's too late...."

* * *

"Thanks. I'm glad. You know I have other books..."

"...when it chewed its way out of her belly..."

"(laughs) yea, thanks. Did you read..."

"Now I knew he didn't shoot the kid at the end when - "

"...Urban Gothic or Castaways? I mean it’s not just..."

"Excuse me, I just wanted to say - "

"Hi, Brian? Can I call you Bri-"

"I'm sorry, excuse me, I need to go to the bathr-"

"Wait, can you sign this? It's a Stephen King book, but it's basically the same story so if you signed it - "

"-oom. I will, just let me slip out for a - "

"...touch you, just your sleeve, or - "

"Out of my way, bugger, I was talking to him first."

"Everyone, please give Mr. Keene some room so he can breathe. You, hey, ah! Shit, you bit me!"

"Don't get between me and my man. Brian, can I call you Brian, too, can you lick my scar?"

"After I pee, please. Just let me.. Joe? You OK? Hey! Get off of him! Get off of me!"

"Just one question, where do you - "

"- Get your ideas?"

"- come up with such cool zombies?"

"- make love, and when, and how?"

"You look so yummy."

"Get off me. There's too many of me - um, what did you say? Ouch!"

"Brian, run! Geggrrphhhhh..."

"Jo - gah! Get... away... from... me."

"See my eyes I can hardly - "

"Ow! Stop! There's too little of me! Please, stop putting my fingers in your mouth!"

"...yummy....."

"Get the fu - aaahhhhhh!"

"Brmmmm... Runnn......"

"I can't, I can't. Stop it, please, ah, that hurt! You're pushing me against the wall. arrrghhh.. my bladder!"

"...yumm..."

"Just a taste....."

"The right thigh is mine! Get your own!"

The screams were subdued by the low acoustics of the conference facility. More people came, seeing the crowds, not knowing what they would see, but certain it must be good, so good, and they hungered for more.....

* * *
Brian Keene is being killed off today in a number of blogs throughout the world. If you are enjoying watching him being sent to the Great Beyond today, perhaps you'd consider making a donation to the Shirley Jackson Awards in Brian's honor. In recognition of the legacy of Ms. Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, the non-profit Shirley Jackson Awards have been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. Please follow this think to donate. This one. Right here. And thanks!

Rest in Pieces, Brian.

Bushnell Article in the Hartford Courant

2009-10-30T12:11:00.002-04:00

Wanted to post this cool article Hartford's major newspaper The Hartford Courant posted on their website (and I assume in the paper itself) about tomorrow's Bushnell event:

http://www.courant.com/entertainment/holiday/halloween/hc-halloween-events-in-ct.artoct29,0,6989466.story

I will not be nervous... I will not be nervous... :-)

Heading to Hartford for Halloween!

2009-10-29T10:28:00.003-04:00

I'll be attending as a speaker the new Boo! At The Bushnell conference in Hartford, CT, this Saturday, October 31st. The confeence celebrates the 200th birthday of Edgar Allan Poe. It will be held at the Bushnell Performing Arts Center. The agenda for this free-to-the-public event is:

9:30 to 10:00 Registration

10:00 to 10:45 Edgar Allan Poe ~ His writing life and The Tell-Tale Heart

10:45 to 11:30 Alisa Sheckley Kwitney
Graphic novels and the evolution of horror in literature

11:30 to 11:45 Break

11:45 to 12:30 Dan Keohane, Co-Chair, New England Horror Writers, an organization providing peer support and networking for writers of horror and dark fantasy in the New England area (I'll also be talking about writing horror both in short story and novel form)

12:30 to 1:45 Lunch

1:45 to 2:30 Tim Deal, Editor, Shroud Magazine
What an editor wants in a horror submission

2:30 to 2:45 Break

2:45 to 3:15 Peter Fox, Screenwriting Instructor
The evolution of horror in film

3:15 to 5:00 Movie: The House of Usher
Post-show discussion with Peter Fox

5:15 Birthday Cake!

This conference is made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and their Big Read Program.