Tag: fiction

Home Ain’t Where His Heart Is (Anymore)

Ah, Saturday morning and college football all day once again, after an interesting and peaceful Friday the 13th around here–and by that I mean the Lost Apartment because the rest of the world , or at least the country, went insane yesterday. I mean, it was Friday the 13th and the end of Mercury in retrograde, so is anyone surprised a river tour cruise ship was hit by a massive container ship at the Port of New Orleans yesterday, and sink completely in less than an hour (how fucking deep IS the river along the shoreline of the port, FFS?). THe good news is there was no injuries or casualties, despite many people falling into the river–which is always dangerous, with the currents and depth and everything else (no one goes swimming in the river, and not just because its polluted and dirty). Meanwhile, there was a nation-wide ground stop thanks to DOGE and our former Real World star Secretary of Transportation; I hope no one forgets that POS when the tribunals roll around….which was completely unrelated to the Microsoft 365/Outlook email problem….which is why I’ve never used Outlook for my email. We have to use it at work, but otherwise, I never would.

There are some interesting games today in college football, but my primary interest is only the LSU-Texas game. LSU is pretty much done for the season with three losses, but can play spoiler for both Texas and Tennessee, which could be fun; LSU has wrecked other teams’ seasons plenty of times before, and that’s about the best we can hope for this year.

Overall, yesterday was a good day. I picked up the mail, made groceries, and picked up some books I’d ordered, came home, did my work-at-home duties, and even did some writing–not much, but like I said the other day, any writing progress is good progress. I did also the laundry and some other chores, and some organizing. I figured out how to write the essay I’ve been working on to no avail for my newsletter. I also got caught up with The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and The Traitors New Blood, and we started watching the Swipe Right for the Devil documentary–the crimes were in Nebraska, and I had been thinking about Kansas this past week (probably partly because they elected a Democratic senator) because I was thinking about In Cold Blood this week.I did start reading She Kills, beginning with the “The Last Ride of Cowboy Bob,” a delightful story about a middle aged woman who cross-dressed to rob banks–without a gun or threats. As I read it, I couldn’t help but think this is such a Texas story and again lamented that Texas doesn’t have a Carl Hiassen to write about how wacky it is there, but I suppose Larry McMurtry kind of filled that role sometimes. I need to read more of McMurtry; it’s been a hot minute and one of my friends adores his work–and Lonesome Dove is my father’s favorite book.

Remember I was feeling a bit trepidatious about seeing my new doctor for the first time? Constant Reader, she’s a Black woman! The weight that lifted off my shoulders when she opened the door and walked into the exam room–you have no idea, Constant Reader. I know she had to work twice as hard as everyone else in her class at medical school, and she was friendly, warm, and charmingly likable. I knew my new doctor was going to be a woman–and I was worried she’d be one of those white women (#notallwhitewomen) and I was going to have to find a new doctor. Seriously, the only thing better than a gay doctor is a Black woman.

The books I picked up were based on recommendations from friends: Dead Letters from Paradise by Ann McMan (Catriona McPherson) and Profiles in Cowardice by Jacob Weisberg (Laura Lippman), as well as the new Donna Andrews, Jay to the World. I am ashamed to admit that I am behind on the Meg series and need to get caught up.

And on that note, I am going to get another cup of coffee and move to the living room, where I can put on SEC Today (fuck Gameday and Pat MacAfee forever) while I do some chores, read, and write for a little bit. I ordered some things to be delivered this afternoon, too. Have a lovely if chilly day, Constant Reader, and I shall return on the morrow. Thanks for stopping by and hope you will tomorrow morning, too!

Someone actually walking like an Egyptian

No One Needs to Know

Somehow we’ve managed to roll around to last day in the office Thursday again, and I feel pretty good. I felt good all day yesterday and managed to make it through the day without getting tired–at least, not until I got home, at any rate. I did manage some chores last night too, once I was home, and that was terrific. I decided not to run any errands until tomorrow–I can make a grocery run and get the mail after my doctor appointment tomorrow. I am meeting my new doctor for the first time–my last one left the practice, and may have even left town for all I know, which is a shame, because he was the first doctor I’ve had in a while that I really liked. AH, well. Hopefully I’ll like my new doctor, who is a woman. (Women tend to be better doctors for me, probably the gay thing.) I slept really well, and feel a bit wrung out this morning, as one tends to feel on Thursday morning/last day of getting up at six for the week. I also have to make an appointment with my gastroenterologist. (Hey, spelled it right the first time; a good sign for the day.) I do want to watch an episode of Friday the 13th tonight, maybe do some picking up and cleaning, maybe even some reading or writing. #madness

I didn’t get a lot of things done last night because the final results finally came in and the race was called. MISSISSIPPI!!!! Even though it seemed inevitable, I didn’t put it past the establishment in that state to pull some hijinks, shenanigans, and outright fraud–which absolutely would have happened had the count not taken so damned long. Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida might flip next time around, too–I have high hopes of getting rid of Klandry next year, please God–as long as the corporate Democrats don’t fuck this up yet again. Don’t forget to write Senator-elect Turek about his betrayal of the queer community, too. I may not be an Iowa voter, but he needs to be shown the error of his craven ways.

I also took some grim satisfaction in knowing that his own party hates him so much that they would rather have the pedophile protecting piece of shit JIM JORDAN as leader than Steve Scalise. Ha ha ha ha, fuck you, Scalise, now and forever, you malignant racist homophobic piece of shit. I can’t imagine how humiliating it must have felt to know your own party–the one you sold your morality, conscience, and basic decency for–think that the moron from Ohio would make a better leader than you. If I were Scalise, I don’t know that I’d be able to show my face in public for a while…but again–no shame or conscience, so that won’t happen. I just am going to embrace that bitch slap for what it was, what it meant, and how good it was to hear the news. May the rest of your life be one humiliation after another, Steve, and I look forward to the day you’re as irrelevant as David Vitter.

Social media was abuzz yesterday with the news that Skydance fired James Gunn, and you know they are just going to fuck DC Studios hard enough to make it unsalvageable. That’s fine. I loved everything Gunn did with DC–vastly superior to its predecessors–and Superman was fucking incredible. Everything he did was. I’ve always liked DC since I was a kid and have always rooted for them to do well…now I no longer care. “Movies with Christian principles that my grandmother would have loved” is a tell, isn’t it? Makes you wonder how that is going to square with Wonder Woman, a figure based in Greek mythology who is from an island of only women? WIll she cover her bosoms for the first time in nearly a hundred years, and will she cover up her legs for the sake of modesty and not to tempt the other super-heroes with lust? I was looking forward to the next seasons of Lanterns and Peacemaker, too.

AH, well, life goes on and it’s not worth wasting any time being upset about it or anything. If that’s the worst thing that happens this month, then it’s a fucking good month. It looks like we are going to have some cold weather this weekend (for New Orleans) which means bundling up in the living room while reading or writing or watching television and marvelously deep sleep at night. I do love this time of year, and it’s almost Christmas, too…my favorite season. Maybe this year I’ll take some pictures of Christmas decor in the neighborhood. I do need to start taking walks…and with it getting dark earlier, I can go around six and the lights will be on. Huzzah! (I somehow didn’t get any Halloween pictures this year, either, like a terrible person.

And on that note, I am heading into the spice mines. Have a lovely day, Constant Reader, and I will see you here bright and early before my meeting. Till then!

Statue of an Egyptian queen from antiquity; I think Nefertari, wife of Ramses the Great.

If It Don’t Take Two

Sunday morning and I’m not coming down, although that is a great song. The temperature has dropped here; it’s only fifty-four this morning, which is indeed cold for a November morning in New Orleans. I slept extremely well last night under my pile o’blankets, and feel pretty good this morning. Whatever this krud was, it seems to have run its course and all that’s left is the raspy voice….which I can actually live with, methinks. I don’t mind sounding like Kathleen Turner. I have an errand to run this morning, which I’ll do in a little bit. Yesterday wasn’t a good day for me as a football fan; some teams that I wanted to win did (Georgia and Tennessee come to mind), but most of the teams I did want to win did not. LSU embarrassed itself at home yesterday–the less said about that the better–but I knew they were going to lose as soon as I learned the Slovene Hooker was there, LSU had partnered with her “foundation,” and the team was wearing BE BEST stickers. For that alone, they deserved to lose, as they did when the stadium gave her a raucous welcome. Everything they touch dies, you know, and this was all because of our piece of shit governor, the sycophantic Klandry. So the loss was bittersweet;I hate it when LSU loses, but in this instance they deserved to, and I stand by that. Klandry makes it really hard for me to root for my home team, which makes me hate him all the more.

Tick-tock, bitch, tick-tock.

But a disappointing day in college football is a small price to pay for last Tuesday, and I’ll take Tuesday’s wins over an LSU win any day.

We also spent some more time with Black Doves, which is quite fun, primarily thanks to Ben Whishaw, who should get more flowers, and of course, Sarah Lancashire is a gift in everything she does. I can highly recommend the show, and do. I think there are some other shows we want to watch that have also dropped. I also got caught up on The Traitors–New Blood, and am loving Victor, who is the breakout star of the season. There are also some films that have dropped that I would like to watch as well, which is always fun–and I have my Friday the 13th-the Series to rewatch, too. I didn’t really do much yesterday, which is quite shameful, but this morning I think I’ll read a bit before running my errand (groceries), and maybe do some writing, too. Paul will probably not come downstairs until this afternoon, and the Saints game isn’t until noon, so I should be able to get some chores done.

It’s hard to grasp that it’s already November, and almost mid-November, at that. Thanksgiving will be here before you know it, and I’ll have a marvelous four day holiday. This entire year seems to have flown past–the Olympics seem like they were a million years ago, remember that? It’s very strange to me that it will be 2027 in no time at all; how is that even possible? Heavy heaving sigh. I also have so much writing to get done–short stories, essays, the book–that I really need to spend some time organizing my thoughts and figuring out a workable writing schedule. I also need to take the time to take a walk this morning, too, in the cool outside. So much, as always, to get done around here. Heavy heaving sigh. I’ve also not done a lot of reading since the 1st, either, so I need to rectify that some;I am excited about reading, and writing about, true crime. I’ve introduced a character into the Scotty series a true crime writer, that I consider spinning off into his own series sometime…but his story is so similar to both Scotty and Chanse that I stopped working on his spin-off, I Know Who You Are. And I do love reading true crime, so there’s that, too.

And on that note, I am heading into the spice mines while hoping for good news to come out of Mississippi and Alaska. Have a great Sunday, and I’ll be back tomorrow morning before work. See you then!

It’ll probably never happen now, but the new Egyptian Museum is something I would love to see,

To Turn You On

Thursday and not my last day in the office for the week; I have a meeting tomorrow morning and I am also going to put some hours in at the office once it is over. Sparky is going to the vet tomorrow afternoon, too–huzzah for trimming his nails–but I plan to spend the weekend getting caught up on overdue chores. I didn’t get much done yesterday, as I was tired from staying up too late watching the glorious election returns on Tuesday night, only to wake up to even better news yesterday morning. So, yesterday I spent the day joy-scrolling and replying to MAGA tears with one of those photos of a lovely MAGA couple in their Fuck Your Feelings shirts. Because yes, I am petty and yes, these people need to be fucking trolled off the Internet. That’s me–my drag name would be Petty Davis.

Apparently the “fuck your feelings” people are *checks notes* having a lot of feelings this morning. Who knew MAGA tears were even more delicious than liberal ones? Me, I did, I knew, it was me.

I was worn out yesterday–not just from staying up later than I should have, but from the emotional release. It’s been ten fucking years of existential dread, like an albatross around my neck, and I feel like a weight has been lifted…this feels like 2006, Obama’s election, and Biden’s win times 100. I am sure they are all frantically pointing fingers at each other and tossing around a lot of blame, particularly at the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society (sewer princess Meghan McCain is already backpedaling away from MAGA at light speed, for one example), and it may take awhile before the new obstructionist battle plan is in place for them all to parrot without thinking, so this brief respite has been marvelous–as is their complete meltdown. I always thought Fox and others of that ilk were craven manipulators and liars who didn’t believe anything they said; but in the last couple of days I’m starting to think some of them might have actually drank the Flavor-Ade1, too–to which I can only say good, I hope it’s excruciatingly painful for you.

No more pretending about the majority of Americans being MAGA. No more pretending these hateful and destructive policies either work or are popular. No more crowd size boasts.

Finally, the God-Emperor has no clothes.

And I am glad he is still alive. I want him to go on living, alone, lonely and hated and his ego destroyed, knowing he was a complete and utter failure at his entire life. But he got his wish: he will probably be one of the most famous and studied presidents in US History…just not the way he wanted.

Your grave will be a urinal, sir. I hope I live long enough to use it as such.

I don’t think I am going to get a lot done this week, honestly. While I do feel like I am finally breathing fresh air again, I am emotionally drained and exhausted–yet need to rest to be ready to get back to work on the next Louisiana election cycle–I believe we can kick Klandry out of the governor’s mansion, and I think we can ditch the bitch Attorney General as well. FAFO, Louisiana MAGA. And there are so many great games on Saturday, I have to break my routine and come to the office tomorrow, so that day is already messed up for me anyway. I did make some groceries on the way home last night, and have an errand or two on the way home tonight. I did make some progress on the disaster area that is the apartment, and while I am sure I’ll be too tired to do much of anything once I get home this evening, I am going to try to do some things. Sparky also has to go to the vet for his annual check-up and razor-blade trim, and of course it’s bed linen day. I think I am probably just going to make my own way this weekend, and re-center and recalibrate Sunday morning.

One last thing: COME ON MISSISSIPPI!

And on that note, I am heading into the spice mines. Have a lovely Thursday, Constant Reader, and isn’t it marvelous knowing we aren’t waking up to another new fresher hell every morning? Woo-hoo! And see you tomorrow morning!

  1. One of my biggest factual irritations is “drinking the Kool-Ade.” Jones was too cheap and used Flavor-Ade to save a couple of cents per package. I think that detail is both important and telling. ↩︎

Avalon

Well, well, well, what a morning in the United States this is! All day yesterday I was tense, in spite of the medications, and coudn’t really focus on anything beyond doing my job. I ran an errand on the way home from work–my injection had arrived–and once I was home, I walked over to the school to do my civic duty, and walked home, satisfied that I had participated. By the time I turned the television on, Jon Ossoff’s reelection had already been called–quite decisively–and once again, I became mesmerized by the process of the returns coming in. The Democrats had retaken both houses of Congress before I went to bed, and the landslide the polls had been promising and I didn’t get my hopes up over was coming true. The country decisively beat down fascism at the ballot box, and I am cautiously hopeful this morning that this is indeed the end of MAGA–Democrats winning in Kansas? South Carolina? Iowa? Maybe Mississippi and Maine, too? I’m going to enjoy this for a few days before fretting some more. What a night, right? SO many frights finally gone from Congress–and while the evil and corrupt Julia Letlow did win in Louisiana, it was close enough to throw a scare into Louisiana MAGA–and maybe if THE FUCKING NATIONAL PARTY HAD INVESTED IN LOUISIANA WE COULD HAVE WON HERE, TOO.

They write the South off so completely, every fucking time. Southern Democrats don’t turn out because they don’t have a reason to–and what a fucking smiting this could have been. But again, I am just going to enjoy this for a few days before settling down again. I actually have hopes we can throw Kennedy out the next time around, and Klandry might not get a second term. STAND FAST LOUISIANA.

And somehow, it’s Wednesday-pay-the-bills-day again, and maybe now we can have a respite from elections and campaigns? 2028 is going to be a fucking nightmare, too. Can we block another fucking MAGA president? I don’t see any MAGA with any kind of charisma anywhere, so maybe they’ll nominate another Dole or Romney. Ted Cruz will probably try again–although there’s also a very strong chance he won’t get reelected, either.

It’s nice to be hopeful about the country again, rather than dreading getting on-line every morning.

Whomever decided to get Jude Bellingham to do Calvin Klein underwear ads needs a raise and a promotion. I enjoyed him during the World Cup, thought he was charismatic and attractive, but damn, that man is a work of art. May I also recommend perhaps some gymnasts and divers while we’re at it? Calvin Klein really missed out back in the day not having Greg Louganis model for them.

Data centers also went down to defeat all over the country; even my old county, Lyon, voted against one that was going to be near Emporia. I also can’t get over Kansas electing a Democrat! And yes, I am trying to figure out how to use the data centers and the spaceport and everything crammed into a Scotty novel.

Why are people shocked that Kate Gosselin is a monster? I have never been interested in the lives of the overly fertile, in all honesty, and always look at these parents with a raised eyebrow and a bit of a curled lip. The Gosselins, while not as horrific as the Duggar perverts, were pretty fucking awful. I never watched a single episode of either show, but alas, have been trapped into seeing clips on commercials or on video discussing how fucking weird they all are. My primary takeaway from the Gosselins was that Kate was a hateful, mean-spirited bitch who couldn’t say anything nice unless she was getting a check for it. I kept wondering when her husband would get some self-esteem and walk away from that harpy–and nothing I’ve learned about her in the times since she first forced onto my radar without my consent has changed that original opinion. She’s a monster who should have never had children, never should have married, and most definitely shouldn’t have had a reality show…it always seemed to me like she saw her kids as her meal ticket, which is repugnant.

And on that note, I am heading into the spice mines. Have a lovely day, Constant Reader, and pamper yourselves. We deserve it after the hellscape of the last ten years! And I’ll be back bright and early tomorrow morning, okay? See you then!

This image shows the historic old general store and railway stop in Lettsworth, Louisiana, located along Louisiana Highway 1 near the railroad tracks, which also features a historical marker dedicated to blues legend George “Buddy” Guy, who was born in the community on July 30, 1936

More Than This

Monday and back to the office with me today. Lovely lazy day just recuperating and laying around, doing things when I felt like it, and basically just had a marvelous time being lazy and resting without feeling any guilt, and did feel worn out all day, like my batteries needed recharging. We had an early dinner with friends I’d not seen in almost a decade, if not more–which was marvelous. Paul is in the final stages of whatever crud he had last week, which is an enormous relief, of course. Yesterday just thinking about getting up this morning and my end of the month duties at the office and had no concept of having the energy to do everything–but this morning I feel rested, awake and alert, which is a very good thing. Yesterday was also the first day of Nonfiction November; so I read the introduction and forward to She Kills by Skip Hollandsworth (I keep wanting to write Hollingsworth!), which whetted my appetite to dive into it some more. I also need to get back to work on writing. I plan on working on a short story every week as well as a chapter of the book; it’s ambitious, of course, and probably overly so, but that’s fine. I don’t berate myself anymore when I don’t deliver on my own plans. I’m also disappointed with myself for not getting pictures of Halloween decorations around the city again this year, but…the weather has changed now, so I can start taking my walks in the evenings and mornings of the weekend to try to get my stamina built back up again so I can walk to the gym. I did get my headphones synced with my phone over the weekend, so I can either listen to books, podcasts, or music while I am walking and/or lifting weights, which would be absolutely awesome.

I was saddened, as so many others were, by the death of Sir Patrick Stewart, a brilliant actor and a longtime queer ally. One of my favorite Stewart performances will always be his supporting turn in Jeffrey, a rom-com-in-the-time-of-AIDS movie; he literally stole the film right out from under his co-stars effortlessly. After the movie came out, people were asking him, fairly regularly, if he were gay and his response was perfect: Why does nobody ask me if I am really a starship captain? I always enjoyed him in everything he did; oh, those classically trained British actors are so remarkable, aren’t they?

Saturday night I really didn’t pay much attention to the college games that were on and didn’t watch any of them, and am not actually sure who all won and who all lost–or who they actually played. I do know, however, that USC beat Ohio State. Aw, what a shame. I blame Vivek Ramaswamy. The Saints were off for the weekend, but this coming weekend is Alabama-LSU in Baton Rouge, which is always daunting. LSU has only beaten Alabama four times since 2008–twice in Baton Rouge, twice in Tuscaloosa, so home field advantage doesn’t really apply in this instance. There aren’t many teams who play Alabama regularly and have a winning record against them; the few teams that do have winning records against the Tide usually only play them in the post-season, and even amongst those there aren’t many. I am just hoping for a good game, honestly. I need to see who else is playing this weekend, too.

I cannot wait for this election to be over because I am so sick to death of campaigns and elections…will we even get a day respite before the 2028 campaigns start? Please note: elections were never supposed to be a billion dollar plus industry. a lot of people make a lot of money off campaigns, which just adds to the utter corruption of the entire process; US politics has become an embarrassment of bribes, corruption, and dirty back room double-dealing. The system has alwys been a morass od bigotry, slander, and smears masquerading as policy–and our uneducated voters will decide to vote based on emotion rather than careful consideration every single time. Imagine being so racist and ignorant that you will vote for inflation, higher gas and energy prices, and a Nazi-like purge of brown people from this country happily because you’re so arrogant you think none of it will blow back on you?

And man, did Michigan dodge a bullet with that piece of shit Haley Stevens or what? Congratulations, you ignorant bitch, for accomplishing something I didn’t think possible: uniting the Democrats behind a Muslim. When even Chuck Schumer calls you out for Islamophobia–girl, you done fucked up in the worst possible way, and blew up any chance of a political future for yourself. People are speculating she wants to torpedo el-Sayed so she can run again against Mike Rogers when he comes up for reelection; that’s never going to happen now, bitch. You can run against him in the Republican primary if he somehow manages to win this race, but the only vote you’ll ever get, you skank, in a Democratic primary will be your own. Although she can always try to run against el-Sayed in six years as a Republican, I suppose–but when you’ve exposed yourself to the world and ripped off your mask to show the craven opportunist that was always there. Fuck you and your fiance, bitch, and for the sake of the rest of the world do not breed. Your outsides, while ugly as all fuck, isn’t as ugly as your inside.

And on that note, I am heading into the spice mines. Have a lovely Monday, everyone, and of course I will be here again in the morning.

The rape of Persephone by Hades. Art, with titles like this, is why I thought “rape” meant kidnapping when I was growing up…

The Main Thing

Sunday morning in the Lost Apartment, and I feel worn out and tired and in need of rest and a bit of a down day to recover from the overnight in Baton Rouge and the Louisiana Book Festival. I’m not used to being “on” in public anymore–it was always draining–and apparently that is still the case. The drive back wasn’t terrible until I got past the airport, and the skies opened and two hours of thunderstorms and flooding rains for the metro area. It took me about an hour, since traffic slowed to a crawl and in times stopping altogether; visibility was incredibly poor and there was about an inch or two of water in places and in others, more. But it wasn’t raining in my neighborhood when I got home, so I was able to get inside without getting horribly soaked. Paul is also feeling better, which is nice, and I didn’t really pay much attention to college games yesterday. I checked in from time to time on scores, but there wasn’t any game that I was willing to sit all the way through. Instead, we finished AHS: 13 (I rolled my eyes a lot through the episode, which I am hoping is the end for AHS, honestly. It’s been hit or miss for a very long time, and I can’t really complain about Ryan Murphy shows when I have no excuses for continuing to watch them. I guess I enjoy them as “hate watches,” so I do get some joy from them.

The Book Festival was nice, and I had no anxiety. My palms were sweating while I moderated, but my body wasn’t all tensed up, and my panelists–Yoon Ha Lee and Kristen Illarmo–were absolute rock stars; smart, funny, and erudite. It was a pleasure moderating, for once, even though I was almost completely ignorant of the subject. Like I said, Yoon and Kristen made it easy for me, and I actually feel a bit more encouraged to attempt it at some point in the future. I also enjoyed listening to their processes and insights on writing scifi. I feel like I learned a lot from them, which made it lovely. The panel I was on was expertly moderated by Ellen Byron, and I appreciated that experience as well, heightened by meeting the recently Anthony nominated Michael Riggs. I also ran into Ashley Elston, which was terrific, but I didn’t see Farrah Rochon. Alas and alack and all that jazz. Oh, well, another time I suppose.

But the extra hour this morning was marvelous.

Iam also ridiculously pleased with myself for finishing Mazywood before Halloween, so I will finish wrapping up Halloween Horror Month when I post my newsletter about the book. The timing was delightful; and now I can dive into Nonfiction November with a clear conscience. I think I may read the first story in Skip Hollandsworth’s She Kills, which I am looking forward to, and revisiting some other nonfiction classics I already love while also diving into new-to-me non-fiction. I am really looking forward to revisiting some favorites like In Cold Blood and Blood and Money. I love nonfiction, but I so rarely read it anymore that I really need to do something about that, but I’ve been getting my nonfiction and history fix from documentaries and Youtube….but I prefer getting it from books.

All right, I’m going to bring this to a close. I plan to have a non-working, non-anything other than r4est day today, and yes, I’ll most likely do some chores and things around here, but primarily today is going to be about rest and relaxation. Hope you have a lovely Sunday, Constant Reader, as we move into what passed for fall/winter in New Orleans, and of course, I will be here again in the morning.

In Your Letter

Halloween morning in Baton Rouge and I am up, needing to get everything packed and into the car so i can check out before my panels so I can escape as soon as my signing is over. That sounds a bit dramatic, doesn’t it? This is actually a trial run for my anxiety medication, really; I’ve not done anything public like this in years and this is my first time on anxiety medication, so will see how good it is, won’t we? This is probably going to be a shorter entry than usual; laptop/hotel combination isn’t optimal. Hilariously, I was rushing to finish that short story, and for some reason, thought the deadline was the 31st; it was actually Octobr 1st, which was…rather stupid. It’s not like it’s the first time this has happened, either, and it’s more evidence of why I fucking need to put things on my goddamned calendar. Oh, well. On the other hand, the story finally works so that’s something; maybe I can try to get it published in another market. That’s two deadlines I’ve fucked up this year for short stories.

I truly continue to be amazed that I have a career of any kind in this business. I am so consistently terrible about the business side of the business and need to constantly remind myself that it is a business. Heavy heaving sigh. But it is what it is, and I can promise to try to be better about it in the future and do nothing about it, which happens all the time.

I procrastinated departing New Orleans yesterday as long as I could, finally getting on the road around three-ish. There was traffic in New Orleans as always, at the usual suspects: the Superdome dysfunction junction, the Causeway, and Clearview. The drive up was nice, until I hit Baton Rouge traffic, which was the usual nightmare, and by the time I got to the hotel and checked in I was tired, hungry, and crabby. Valet parking was also a mess (and also not a choice), and so by the time I hauled my overnight bag into my room, I was kind of over everything. So, yes, sue me—I skipped the party because I wasn’t in the mood. I didn’t drive up for the party—I didn’t want to do two panels after driving up here—but it was merely an option. I didn’t want to go and not get back in time to have something to eat at a decent hour. What can I say? I put my pajamas on, ordered me some room service, and curled up in bed to read. (I also listened to a Tananarive Due short story on the way up here, “Battle of the Round House,” which was about exodusters in Kansas, which was no end of delight for me—because I love that history, because one of the dead little towns where we lived was actually a Black town for decades until it dried up and blew away, which I only learned recently. Not to mention how good of a writer she is, and she’s become one of my favorite horror writers—hell, writers with no adjective in front. I’ll be driving Ellen Byron and her husband back to New Orleans, dropping them off at the airport where they will be picking up their rental car. And then it’s home, with a possible grocery stop on the way home. Stranger things have happened, you know.

I did finish Mazywood last night before falling asleep; it was terrific and I truly enjoyed it (more on thta later, of course), and must say again how marvelous Tananarive Due is as an artist. She’s truly remarkable, and if you love horror and Hollywood history, this is an excellent read for you.

And on that note, I am heading into the spice mines. Have a lovely Saturday, Constant Reader, and I will be back tomorrow morning from my workspace in the windows. Till then, and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Tough Guys

Work at home Friday seems to have rolled around again somehow; this has been a very weird week. I’ve felt off these last few days, like I’m fighting something mild off which could be worse. Paul hasn’t been well this week–he’s doing better now, I was mildly concerned Wednesday night, and had already decided if he wasn’t better when I got home last night I was taking him to the emergency room. Fortunately, he was indeed better–still not 100%, but much better–so Nurse Sparky is doing his job. Sparky has also been sleeping in the bed with us at night, which I love and have missed (Skittle and Scooter loved sleeping in the bed with us) but I suspect that’s not a behavior pattern shift and more that he could sense we both weren’t feeling the best. I slept very well last night, and feel rested and good this morning. I have a meeting this morning and work to do at home, and I need to pack and drive to Baton Rouge later on. I’ll probably leave here so I get there around three thirty. There’s an author party tonight, too, which I am intending to attend, so wish me luck on that score. A party where I don’t know many people? Ordinarily that is something I would skip, but…anxiety medication, and we’ll see how that works.

Remember the other day, when I mentioned how Kristopher had alerted me to the existence of all three seasons of Friday the 13th–The Series on DVD? Well, Constant Reader, I ordered them and they arrived Wednesday, and I am really looking forward to watching the entire thing in order. Seriously, y’all, it takes very little to make me happy. I also picked up a copy of Skip Hollandsworth latest collection of true crime reporting, She Kills. Hollandsworth is my favorite non-fiction crime writer (behind Sarah Weinman, of course) and is why I subscribe to Texas Monthly, because he writes for them. Now that I’m thinking about it, maybe November should be Nonfiction November; it will help me get through some of the nonfiction collecting dust around here–and I can reread some old favorites, too, like The Real Lolita, In Cold Blood, and Blood and Money. I can also read some more horror this month too, before Noirmas Season1 rolls around again in December.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

I’m glad I feel so rested and good this morning. Yesterday was quite a day at the office. The clinic was slow but we were short-handed for walk-in testing, and so I had to pitch in and help our; we were also doing incentivized testing for young Black people, so I saw more people than usual yesterday and was very tired by the time I got home from work, so didn’t get anything much done last night other than bonding with Sparky, watching some news (I am optimistic about Tuesday, but am prepared for disappointment as well as shenanigans), and resting. I made soup for Paul, and we watched something but for the life of me, I cannot recall what it was this morning–that’s how tired I was last night. Obviously, there was no reading, editing, or writing done last night, and no cleaning. I do have to do something about the apartment before I leave today, which means not being lazy. So, I am going to do some quality assurance before and after my meeting, and probably will only put in a few hours for work today so I can clean up this mess.

I think the most disheartening thing I’ve seen lately is the “vote blue even if they are pro-Ice, approve of the mass deportations, thinks Biden was a failure, and thinks the trans community should be thrown away like trash” straightsplanations to people who, I don’t know, think people have the right to privacy, dignity and compassion? I’ve seen this all before–remember Sinema? Fetterman? Someone who will say shit like that in order to get elected but doesn’t mean it is someone we can trust? “Oh, a Democratic controlled Congress would never bring that to a vote? Remind me again how hard the Democrats fought for HIV/AIDS research in the 1980s again? I love how people will explain to other people why it’s okay for your rights to be put on the chopping block when it has no impact on them in the lest…Americans though, always have to have someone to punch down on, and it is absolutely hilarious that they are telling us, yet again, that this country’s founding principles are a fucking joke to them. It’s true–we learned this in the last three presidential elections. Funny how the people who were single issue voters in 2024 who got us into this fucking mess “because they can’t support a genocide” by electing the person who’d make it worse and are now supporting a different genocide and lecturing us on our civic duty. Excuse me, smug fuck-face with the unwashed ass, how fucking dare any of you lecture queer people? About anything?

Need I remind you of the fucking gay male genocide of the 80s and 90s?

Seriously, you’re lucky you don’t pull back a fucking nub.

Clearly I am feeling better because I can feel rage.

Never forget the right’s primary goal is to roll back everything for everybody who isn’t a conservative white man. Always expect the absolute worst from them–and frankly, the Left isn’t much better. I am predicting this now: if the Democrats do take back Congress and leave Schumer and Jeffries in charge, we might as well have not bothered to vote, because those two corporate shills are unworthy of leadership roles and are compromised. Period….which will mean a Republican sweep in 2028, more Heritage Foundation Supreme Court justices, and a Trump dynasty installed in the White House…do we need more Trumps in power? No, we don’t, and I hope I’m wrong, but we don’t need milquetoasts, we need a Ted Kennedy in the Senate and someone similar as Speaker.

Americans never learn.

And on that note, my work is calling to me, so I am going to bring this to a close and get back to it. Have a lovely Friday, and I’ll probably check in with you again in the morning before the panels, but it will also depend, and it may be short. We’ll see!

  1. This year, I intend to revisit Mildred Pierce, both book and movie. ↩︎

Take It On The Run

Wednesday and somehow, we’ve made it to the middle of the week. There’s only a few more days left in Spooky Season, so I’ve got to get moving on reading Mazywood, although I can also listen to it on the drive to Baton Rouge and can finish reading it while up there on Friday night, or when I get back to the city on Sunday. My responsibilities for the day end at three, and so I’ll probably get home around five.

Oh, here is my schedule for Saturday in Baton Rouge:

11:00 am to Noon
Iberville Building, Le Francois, Room C
Rebels, Empires, and Impossible Choices in Young Adult Sci-Fi
Kristen Illarmo, Against the Red Sky: Colony Exposed
Yoon Ha Lee, Starstrike
with moderator Greg Herren
(Ages 12 to 17)

1:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Bienville Building, First Floor, Conference Center 173
Killer Calendar: New Orleans Mysteries for Every Season
Ellen Byron, A Murderer’s Guide to Mardi Gras: A Vintage Cookbook Mystery and A Crescent City Christmas: A Vintage Cookbook Mystery
Greg Herren, Hurricane Season Hustle: A Scotty Bradley Mystery
Michael Rigg, Shadows of Frenchmen: A Jonathan Gray, M.D. Mystery

2:15 pm to 3:00 pm
Cavalier House Books Tent
Book Signing

So, as you see, I should be home by five. It shouldn’t be an issue, since I’ll get home early enough to do some things and not be a total loser, if nothing else I can watch the night football games, or not; it looks the evening line-up is Texas-Mississippi State or Missouri-Arkansas; I’m not sure why Georgia-Florida isn’t a marquee night game, but it’s not. I should be able to catch the end of that one; LSU is off this week (the Louisiana Book Festival is always scheduled for LSU’s bye week, in case you’re wondering about priorities in the Pelican State) so not really caring too much to miss games, frankly. It’s also Halloween on Saturday, which will make the drive through town from the interstate interesting. Halloween is a big weekend in New Orleans, as I am sure one can imagine, and we turn the costume dial up to at least 20 on any costuming holiday….even so, I don’t miss going out for the evening, either.

Yesterday was a pretty good day, over all. We weren’t busy but not slow, either, so I didn’t have a lot of down time because I was trying to stay caught up on everything administrative and my other responsibilities. I was feeling a bit tired on the way home when I stopped to make groceries; tonight I have to run uptown to get the mail. I managed to get some things that were weighing on me done yesterday, too–I don’t know why I procrastinate on some things because I don’t want to deal with them at the moment but…it’s never terrible, you know? I always make things worse in my head than they actually are, and the meds don’t help with that, alas.

Apparently we’re cancelling Freddy Krueger because (checks notes) he molested and murdered children…um, he is the villain of the films. Just because he also had funny lines doesn’t mitigate that he’s a predator; are people really this media illiterate? (Ha ha ha, what am I saying? Of course they are.) Freddy isn’t, and never was, the hero: he was a child molester/murderer who was murdered and burned alive by the Elm Street parents, so in the original he was invading the dreams of their children and killing them in their sleep. How that turned him into a pop culture icon was two things: Robert Englund’s scenery chewing performance, and his snarky-funny dialogue. I am sure there are any number of academic tomes, essays, and dissertations on how serial murderers like Michael Meyes, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger became the heroes of their franchises; we are all primed to root for the main character through being conditioned by media (people think Lolita is a love story, which always makes me roll my eyes)–and you can see the difference in the Scream series, where the killers change in every film and the survivors are the stars. We root for Sidney, not Ghost-face, who is inevitably as witty and snarky as Freddie.

A big shout out in thanks to Kristopher Zgorski–the font of all information, I swear1–who let me know you can buy the entire run of Friday the 13th–The Series on DVD, which will arrive today or tomorrow! Then I can start my gradual re-watch of the show, which will include episodes I’ve not seen; it wasn’t a network show but rather syndicated so I would often forget to watch when it aired. I had friends who also watched and I watched it with them when it was on, or watching an episode they’d recorded. I loved the show and the entire concept behind it–an antique store selling objects cursed by the devil, with each episode centering on one object the team was trying to track down by checking newspapers for odd deaths (if it is ever rebooted–please and thank you, God–they can do the Supernatural thing of looking on-line). I still want to do some kind of supernatural style series of my own a la Sookie Stackhouse/Dark Shadows, but this concept, much as I love it, wouldn’t really work outside of New Orleans and I’d rather do it in a more rural, bayou parish.

And on that note, I am heading into the spice mines. Have a lovely morning and day, Constant Reader, and I will see you again tomorrow morning.

Will this revealing lace pair of briefs escape the eye of the Meta censors? It shouldn’t, since it’s from one of their ads, but we will see, won’t we?

  1. Check out his blog, an excellent source for good reading, by clicking here. ↩︎