Under a Black Rainbow

  JULY  (3 books | 663 pgs) 25.) Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix (Novel, 248 pgs) | 3/5 26.) Strange Pictures by Uketsu (Novel, 236 pgs) | 3/5 27.) A Path Through the Forest by Alisha Galvan (Stories, 179 pgs) | 2.5/5 * Pretty slim reading for the month of July. You'd think that, since I quit my job at the start of the month, I would've read more. Honestly, I've been neck deep in work on the next two books.  I've been keeping my "wake up at 5am, eat breakfast, be working by 7am" routine since my last day. It's been especially liberating to grab a nap around 5pm, know it won't jack up my entire next day, and then wake up around 7pm to get more writing done until about midnight. The fluidity of progress is really helping with the ideation, which is really helping with the creation once a piece is ready to have its story told.  I spent most of today putting final touches on more cover art, but mostly in trying to create my own specific "decorative letter...

A few months ago, I noticed a new woman in the neighborhood. It's possible she's not new and that she only started appearing out in the street within the last several months.  Regardless, I live on a dead end street and I started seeing her on a daily basis. She plods down the middle of the road carrying this child like a giant, limp starfish. Based on the size of the child, I'm guessing they're anywhere from 8 to 10 years old, which seems a little older than should be carried by most parents.  Plus I've seen her out there in 100+ degree heat, stalking up and down the hot blacktop with the dead weight of this child strapped to her chest. She walks to the end of my street and then takes a right, heading down the longest street bisecting my neighborhood. Her walk is not a short one and it occurs multiple times a day.  The child is rarely ever moving much, if at all. My writing partner believes there is some kind of neglect at play, having seen the child in little othe...

JUNE  (11 books | 1,756 pgs) 14.) The Wolf Wants Answers by Joshua Mohr (Novel, 236 pgs) | 4/5 15.) Storyforge: Advanced Writing Prompts for Seasoned Storytellers, Book 1 (Workbook, 100 pgs) | 0/5* 16.)  Storyforge: Advanced Writing Prompts for Seasoned Storytellers, Book 2 (Workbook, 100 pgs) | 0/5* 17.) Alfred Hitchock & the Three Investigators #20: The Mystery of Monster Mountain  by MV Carey (Young Adult, 172 pgs) | 3/5 18.) Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca (Stories, 281 pgs) | 2/5 19.) Alfred Hitchock & the Three Investigators #21: The Secret of the Haunted Mirror  by MV Carey (Young Adult, 172 pgs) | 3/5 20.) Alfred Hitchock & the Three Investigators #22: The Mystery of the Dead Man's Riddle  by William Arden (Young Adult, 145 pgs) | 3/5 21.) You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann (Novella, 128 pgs) | 2/5 22.) Strange Houses by Uketsu (Novel, 208 pags) | 4/5 23.) Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones (Novella...

  Wild year to come back to this series, but I'm glad it's back to allow a little escapism for those of us with darker hearts in need of filling.  And the latest season mostly delivers. Certainly more so than season 6 did, but here's how I ranked those episodes:  S6E1: "Joan is Dead" - This one was fine, if a bit over the top in moments (necessarily so). I give this one a solid 4/5.  S6E2: "Loch Henry" - Loved this one for the tension. It's dark, no one wins, and the use of tech is present in a fun way. My second favorite episode of the season: 5/5. S6E3: "Beyond the Sea" - My absolute favorite episode of this season. Great storyline, great worldbuilding, absolutely brutal ending that's so earned. A super enthusiastic 5/5 for sure.  S6E4: "Mazey Day" - Absolute nonsense. This felt less like a Black Mirror episode and more like a creature of the week thing. The only episode worse than this one was the final one. Barely a 1/5, b...

  MAY  (7 books | 1,232 pgs) 07.) Francis Bacon, by Martin Hammer (Phaidon Focus) (Art, 144 pgs) | 4/5 08.) We Live Inside Your Eyes by Kealan Patrick Burke (Stories, 277 pgs)| 2/5 09.) Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (Novel, 209 pgs) | 4/5 10.) At Dark, I Become Loathsome by Eric LaRocca (Novel, 227 pgs) | 3/5 11.) Inscrutable Cities by Julian K. Jarboe (Game Manual, 82 pgs) | 5/5 12.) We Were Called Specimens: An Oral Archive of Deity Marjorie (Stories, 139 pgs) | 3/5 13.) Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazeterrica (Stories, 154 pgs) | 2/5 * I made mention in my last post about putting a pause on the work for An Atlas of Bone & Sorrow , my hybrid collection of fiction and nonfiction pieces addressing my own personal grief and how it affected my creative life (and my life in general). I did so because I felt a very serious creative momentum building up within me that had nothing to do with the project; my focus had shifted, as had the energy requir...

  Small Portrait (1950) Kay Sage * Probably gonna start calling these posts something else since I'm definitely reading a lot less this year than I did last year. I'm also not updating nearly as often.  April was significantly better than March, but no less eye-opening in some respects.  * I read one book for all of April and it was a novella by Netflix and movie screen horror wunderkind Mike Flanagan. "Rare, Fine & Limited" was an immediate purchase for me when I saw that it would be a Mike Flanagan novella attached to a bottle of tequila. That bottle then became a spectacularly delicious sotal spirit, which was a delicious smokiness that I'd never had before, but which was enjoyed alongside this reading.  Flanagan's movies and shows have been exceptionally done, so I expected nothing less in a novella. And the first 72 pages were magnificent. SO GOOD. The pacing was stunning, the story evolved into something I really, really became enamored by once it h...