Preambles in Latex and Body Piercings
October, a month of Halloween is here.  So I got started.  Watched Young Frankenstein.

Check.

But there is still much to be done.

Tonight it’s ghost stories at Volo Bog.  Double check.

The other day, I was too resltess to sleep after 3rd shift and then after the sun rose, so I went for a walk-about at the bog.  I got to see a group of Sandhill Cranes.  They are very large birds, taller and larger than Great Herons.  They look something like a pterodactyl when they fly and sound something like a dinosaur when they call.  As they should.  They are very primordial birds, the oldest known species, having existed for some 6 million years.

Last night I visited GothicFest, with Sophia, at Excalibur Night Club.  It’s the right sort of night club for that kind of event.  It was interesting.  I wear black.  I like grinning skulls on my person…but I don’t know if I fit into the “Goth” scene, exactly (sub-genres—industrial, emo, etc.—are tedious little things, so I’ll skip them).  But one black bird roosting with a bunch of other black birds looks about the same, and they caw and I caw, but in the end, I think I’m on my own little branch.  Or maybe that’s the illusion we all like to maintain.

I saw strange and interesting sights and met strange and interesting people.  Some where funny, some freaky, some took themselves far too seriously, and some were eccentrically charming.  Most were actually pretty kind and inviting.

I did see something I hadn’t seen before.  There were performers, bands, singers, DJs, displays, and booths selling dark merchandise (we’ll just assume, from this point, that everything there was “dark” and I can stop using the word).  There were piercing booths, body mods, T-Shirts, action figures, post cards, and rubber dresses held up by impossible physics.  Then there were book booths: fiction—yes, occultism—yes, dark spirituality (crap…I used the word again)—yes.  But beyond this was a booth with fiction books and literary journals and a sign that said:  “Cthulhu vs. Jesus (yes, that Jesus)”.

I thought to myself, “ . . .”

Looking further, the sign said something like “An anthology of hardboiled horror, with a Christian twist.”  And so, I think, I was introduced to the Christian Goths.  Curiouser and curiouser.

Coming Attractions
Mark those calendars…

On November 3rd, Nick and I will be finishing the Halloween season with a special addition of the Doetsch Brothers Outdoor Theatre…yep, we’ll be dragging the projector and screen out back and screening a marathon of horror flicks.  Good, bad, scary, funny, all sorts.  More details to come.  There will be fire and copious amounts of cocoa and coffee to keep folks warm.  Start making movie recommendations.

On November 25th (tentatively at 7:30) there will be a Twilight Tales, Book of Dead Things, reading/signing event at Café Aeon in McHenry.  Details to follow (I’m still in the beginning phase of setting this up) but there should be several authors present reading some cool stories about…well…dead things.  Come out and give us your support.  You can sample Book of Dead Things stories, including mine (“Blood, Snow, and Sparrows”) over at the website.

Baby, I Gotta Get Some Links Off My Chest
Here are some links I’ve been saving, in no particular order or manner . . .

-Stephen King talks about the state of the American short story.

-Interesting article on the confusing world of nutrition and how mistaken paradigms are formed.

-Video interview with Bruce Campbell.

-An author’s research goes too far (cannibalism is fun kids!).

-And finally, if you know who Neil Gaiman is and you’ve seen the Superman movies, then you might find this funny: