-
We moved house. Apartment. Whatever. In the process of unpacking right now, and I’ve booted up my computer for the first time in a week to check a packed email inbox and revive my internet presence. My first book is off to beta readers, except for one copy that I moved with just in case…
-
I often describe myself as pagan. I do this because it’s far quicker than explaining my actual views on religion and divinity as it exists within both the modern and ancient worlds and how those two things are connected with an intimacy that the vast majority of people will not honestly admit to. To me,…
-
I’ve owned a mask or two. Bust them out on a regular basis, from my plastered-on customer service smile to the resting bitch face I use to ward off conversation on the bus. Having a whole holiday centered around the masking of identity, the dressing up and welcoming of the strange and unusual, is right…
-
Full disclosure, I’m not even that far in the book yet. I couldn’t spoil it for you, even if I wanted to. There’s this sequence at the beginning — not the very beginning, maybe 50 pages in — that describes the most common ways for werewolves to die in the modern world. Jones takes the…
-
I finished Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus a couple days ago. It’s a book I was looking forward to, given how prominent rabies is in our culture and how intensely its intertwined in horror fiction and folklore — ranging from parallels with vampire and werewolf lore to influencing the behavior…
-
Back in January, I coalesced to my partner and agreed to a pet I never gave much of a thought to keeping: birds. So, in the midst of a brutal cold snap (-10F), we went and acquired two parakeets from Petco. I know nothing about birds, about keeping birds, about bird breeders. I trusted him…
-
I had plans yesterday. I had plans to finish the next chapter of Dogstar, to figure out the process of formatting and printing the beta version of my first novel, to get an oil change. Guess how many of those things I did. I woke up around 10, ready to take on the day. I…
-
This is an interesting question. I think that, if 40 hours of our workweek wasn’t dedicated to goofing off as much as possible at work for a paycheck to live, things would still get done. People like being busy, but more than that, people like doing things they think are important. I like my job,…
-
My thoughts go towards food, immediately. I grew up with a southern mother, so it’s ingrained into me that being a good host means feeding your guests. Offer drinks. No one who enters my home goes hungry. This goes for my community as well. I’ve been enamored with the idea of food forests since I…
-
A friend of mine once told me that, statistically, you’re more likely to grow up to do your childhood dream job than anything else. I don’t doubt her. I know artists and blacksmiths, jewelry makers and authors, people making a living on crafts you would expect from a bustling European village circa 1765. For my…
from the pen of icarus blake 