“Abominations is a knockout collection of original stories from some very talented writers. Shroud does it again.

I’m impressed!”

-Nate Kenyon, Bram Stoker Award Finalist, author of Bloodstone and The Reach

“The stories in this anthology provides a bone-chilling glimpse of the
evils lurking in those shadowed-corners of life that are best left alone.

This book is a treat for traditional horror fans.”

–Jason Sizemore, Editor-in-Chief of Apex Publications

Abominations features a brand-new story from me, Old Stooping Lugh, that tells the story of Irish and Italian gangsters tangled up in an angry Celtic god’s curse. Available NOW from Shroud Publishing!

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Well, the webcomic isn’t new, exactly, but I just found it yesterday. I don’t care if it has My Little Ponies in it, it’s funny, and that balances things out. Check it out at http://kimonostownhouse.com and tell ‘em I sent ya!

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I just caught this and I had to post it for the lulz. I’m writing a paper for my American Government class, and I was discussing the powers of the President under the Constitution. I meant to write the following:

The President can also send troops into combat (even though it takes Congress to actually declare war).

But a wire got crossed in my brain and I started writing:

The President can also send troops into Congress…

Boy, am I glad Dubya hasn’t thought of that.

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If you look at the top of this webpage, the third link from the left (or the right, for that matter, though that’ll likely change later) is new. It’s the link to the Official Lincoln Crisler Forum!

You’ll find threads on there to discuss my books, the OSS anthologies, publications featuring my work, upcoming events, project updates and more. We can even discuss my blogs if they piss you off a li’l bit.

See you there!

http://lincolncrisler.com/forum

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Joe Hill’s Twentieth Century Ghosts was an excellent read, but more than that, it was an inspiration to me as a writer and a comfort as well.

You see, I have a few stories in me that aren’t horror, and I was concerned about including them in my next collection. I was worried about their place in the world. What if they didn’t fit in with the rest of the work in the proposed collection? What if I didn’t write enough material in a similar vein to fill a collection of that type of story?

And then 20CG came along. Great book. Wide variety in the types of stories Joe tells. Won a grip of awards. Possibly the BEST collection I’ve read all year. And it’s not all horror; there’s some more literary stuff, too. Being a horror fan first and foremost, though, my personal favorites were ‘Voluntarily Committed’ and ‘You Will Hear the Locust Sing.’

I’ve read every thing this guy’s published, and I want MOAR.

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… on posting some wonderful bit of insight on my blog for my readers to stumble across and be nourished by; that’s kinda the point, isn’t it? I mean, if you wanted to be entertained, you’d read my fiction, right? Ha. I’ll tell you, though… my eyes are getting pretty heavy these days and my insight’s pretty blurry right now. I guess that’s what I can pull out of this urge to blog; don’t spread yourself too thin.

I’ve spent today prepping for my new college classes that start tomorrow, sending out the contracts for OSS Vol. 1 2nd Edition and arranging booksignings. On top of that I have a backlog of slush to read for OSS2 and Our Shadows Soar PLUS a metric fuckton of short stories and novellas in various stages of completion. Those need to get done; when they’re complete I’ll send them out to magazines, yeah, but I’ll also begin immediate pimpage of a second collection of short work. There’s another spot of work I’ve committed myself to, as well; a bit of web design for a site I’m sometimes associated with. I wish I could stop time like Hiro Nakamura until all this stuff is done.

Even more important than the items I have listed above, I have my wife and baby here with me in El Paso and a daughter each on the east and west coasts. With the economy the way it is these days and the way my mind works, it’s a wonder I can get past the worrying to get anything of substance accomplished. If I get into all the minutiae of my life right now, I’ll be writing this blog until tomorrow and it will likely turn into an unsettling catalog of my political views, but trust me, life is really testing my faith these days.

I’ll get through. I always do. All the books will get published, all the stories will get published (the ones I finish, anyway) and my life will get better. I’ll be most of the way to my Bachelor’s in Business Management and from there I have other plans, even. I’m often asked how I manage to get it all done. These days the answer is ‘Slow. Real fucking slow.’

So today’s lesson is: Don’t take on more than you can handle. Be patient with yourself. And on occasion, try to get some rest.

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I can’t claim this recipe as my own creation, but damned if it isn’t the best use I’ve put my cast-iron skillet to to date. Here’s the URL of the recipe I made tonight, followed by the text of the recipe itself behind the cut:

http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2007/03/27/the-best-roast-chicken-recipe

Read more »

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Here’s my first foray in over a decade into the murky waters of poetry. It wasn’t planned; it just happened, like my fiction does, so I guess that’s a good sign. I have another poem in the works besides the one I’m posting here; a science fiction one that may or may not sometime see the light of day.

My plans for these poems, should more than one come into existence? Little gifts to my internet readers and inclusion in my collections of short work, but I don’t think I’ll be seeking publication for them elsewhere. I just don’t see myself becoming known for my poetry.

Anyhow, without further ado, here’s the poem I wrote for my daughter, Cheyann:

tell me what life’s really like
if you can
though i’m not really sure if i
can understand

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I made it exactly nineteen pages into The Road before kicking it to the curb. Mr. McCarthy’s way with imagery and description are such that I am inspired as an author to better my own craft, but well-written vignettes do not a gripping tale make. I am therefore left wondering how this book made it to the NYT best-seller list and many other books I’ve read this year haven’t come close.

Let me conclude this review with a public service announcement: Libraries Are Your Friend. Had I been reduced to finding this book at the store, I would have flipped through it and set it quickly aside or else bought it on impulse and been rather angry after the fact. Instead, I was able to borrow it from the local library and sample it. No harm, no foul.

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