Monthly Archives: December 2010
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!
For those of you who haven’t read it, the first story in Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole, “Doing Blue”, takes place on Christmas Eve and opens at a costume party thrown by a guy who’s convinced he’s Jesus.
Shortly after reading the book, my friend Kristina Hals Strobel dropped me a note on Facebook.
“I had the oddest ‘Doing Blue’ moment last night. Yes it had Jesus in it, it had costumes, it had a pilgrimage. It was 1 a.m. and the Goth Ball had just let out. There we were, standing on the sidewalk, with Jesus who was expounding on faith with a flask hidden in his Bible. My husband, in cassock and collar, was bowing to him, Goth girls behind him listening and giggling. He was very convinced he spoke the truth and that all should be listening to him. But, there was a nonbeliever who was stealing his thunder. Speaking of science, blood and the universe, and the realization that chaos is organized. We left for home, the rest left for Denny’s.”
I thought she was dreaming and wrote, “…your dream sounds kinda creepy.”
She responded, “Dude, that wasn’t a dream! That actually happened on Friday night!” and posted the following picture:
Is “Doing Blue” not fiction after all?
From our house to yours, Merry Christmas, and may all your dreams come true!
HEAVENLY SAVINGS SAYS SHE’LL HAVE A “LASTING IMPRESSION” OF SKELETONS
Krista Whisner of Heavenly Savings wrote that Skeletons is “unique and daring…It was neat to look at this whole new side of Disney World”—among other things! You can read the whole review here:
http://heavenlysavings.blogspot.com/2010/11/skeletons-in-swimmin-hole-book-review.html
PARANORMAL EH? BEST INTERVIEW IN END OF THE YEAR AWARDS
The paranormal Facebook Group Paranormal Eh?, a group about all things paranormal news and pop culture which features interviews, roundtable discussions, and weekly topics, has named the recipients of its “Best of the Year” Awards, and my October 16 interview and The Ghostman & Demon Hunter Show came out on top!
The winners are below. “Bests” and “Favorites” are chosen based on the number of votes of its members. CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE and thanks to all who voted!
Favorite Paranormal Radio Show
(Tie)
The Ghostman and Demon Hunter Show
Encounters
Best Interview
Kristi Petersen Schoonover
Favorite Roundtable Discussion
Ouija vs. EVP
Favorite Topic
Amityville
Favorite TV Show
Psychic Kids
I’M ON THE DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN RADIO SHOW TONIGHT!
I’ll be on The Darkness on the Edge of Town Paranormal Radio Show tonight with Hosts David Schrader and Mallie Fox discussing Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole, Haunted Disney and I’m sure a few good ghostly things. The show airs live at Midnight ET/11 p.m. CST on KLTK (News Talk Fox News Radio 100.3 FM), but you can listen to it LIVE and CHAT right on your computer at www.darknessradio.com.
If you can’t catch it live, I’ll post it once it’s been archived.
Have a great night!
SKELETONS MAKES GIFT GUIDES
It’s been fun to see Skeletons pop up on a couple of recommended Holiday Gift Lists! Terry Konig of the Facebook group Paranormal Eh? put it on the list of “Great Paranormal Books for Christmas” alongside Steven A. LaChance’s Crazy and Scott Sigler’s Ancestor. You don’t have to join the group to see this and his other great content, so be sure to check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=112364522135317&topic=795
It also made its debut on Bargain Mom’s list, which features fun products from pajamas to tequila. Cool! www.bargainmom.net
BARGAIN MOM BOOSTS SKELETONS
Bargain Mom’s Kai Harris gave Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole a great review, noting “I found myself packing the book in my purse to take with me to appointments.”
To read the whole review, click here:
http://www.bargainmom.net/2010/11/holiday-gift-guide-skeletons-in-swimmin.html
KRISTI AND KRAMPUS HIGH JINKS ON THE GandD SHOW-LISTEN HERE!
I was on the Sunday, December 5 episode of The Ghostman & Demon Hunter Show, and I got to talk a little bit about Skeletons following the guys’ usual antics, this time centering on the annual Krampus festival in Austria, in which demons come for the bad little children. What fun!
You can listen to the show right here (click below)!
or you can check out www.ghostanddemon.com.
Want to know more about Krampus? Give yourself a creepy Christmas treat! Here’s a description by someone who actually went there (you have to scroll down through the article a little bit, but it’s quite extensive:
http://wheninbologna.blogspot.com/2008/12/krampus-festival.html
…head on over here to watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgiLRIgsvWY
…and if you decide you MUST add some Krampus to your Christmas Carols, check out this crazy song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EmqsEHl3P8
THE LOSS OF WRITER C.L. ROSS—AND WHERE TO FIND HER WORK
Cynthia Wilson at the Cliffwalk, Newport, RI, July 2010. Photo by Melissa Martin Ellis, whom she couldn't wait to meet. The pair hit it off right away.
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A very good friend of mine, Cynthia Wilson—who wrote under the name C.L. Ross—passed away suddenly on Friday, December 10, 2010. I know that many of you on this list knew her or were familiar with her work.
Cynthia was working on a paranormal thriller series called The Llewellyn Legacy which was set in Ireland, a country she loved very much. She was thrilled to be returning to Ireland this coming February to complete the draft, and while there, she was going to be doing some paranormal investigating with her friends Mick Doyle and Ruth Deery of the Killarney Paranormal Society, of which she was a member.
She had, in the past year, built a website and invited several people to contribute to her blog on paranormal topics ranging from witchcraft to druidism to ghost stories. She was a proud member of the online pagan community WitchVox, for which she wrote many articles over the years; in addition, she had some of her short stories published in magazines and was actively working on polishing others to submit. And she had just recently discovered Twitter and was having a ball with it.
She held an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, which she had been awarded in January, 2010. Goddard is where Cynthia and I met. And we helped throw the best damn graduation party for the graduating class of January 2009 EVER…I’ll never forget us trekking all over Barre, Vermont to shop in the middle of the most brutal snow. It was me (a New Englander) and Julia (a Chicagoite)—but Cynthia the Southerner was driving the truck. Hilarious.
I decided that I would post links to where her work is available online, and also a link to her website, which for now is still up. She had just purchased the domain this year and I’m hoping against hope her password is someplace—or I can find it, because she gave it to me once but I don’t know if I kept it—so that I can renew her domain every year indefinitely. If anyone else knows where her work might have been posted, please let me know—I wanted to give everyone a chance to read what have turned out to be her last words.
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“Sunshine and Stones”
Read Short Fiction
March 28, 2010
http://www.readshortfiction.com/2010/03/sunshine-and-stones-by-cynthia-wilson/
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“Breathing Room”
Voices from the Garage
Spring 2010
http://voicesfromthegarage.com/story/breathing-room
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“The Eulogy”
The Smoking Poet-Cigar Lounge
Summer 2010
http://thesmokingpoet.tripod.com/summer2010/id7.html
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“Fixin’ the Blues” (poem)
SWAMP
Issue #2, October 4, 2008
http://www.swampwriting.com/?page_id=31
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“Purgatory” (poem)
SWAMP
Issue #2, October 4, 2008
http://www.swampwriting.com/?page_id=38
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“Murder in Frogtown” (poem)
Aquila Review
Fall 2008
http://www.tamut.edu/aquila/Text%20Files/Aquila%20Review%20Fall%202008%20(Second%20Version).pdf
(this also contains the first publication of her poem “Fixin’ the Blues”—SWAMP had retained it as a reprint)
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“Rebellious Bat” (prose poem)
The Pitkin Review
Fall 2007
http://web.goddard.edu/pitkin/archive/2007_fall/RebelliousBat.htm
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Cynthia’s C.L. Ross Website and Blog: includes many guest posts about the paranormal, witchcraft, Druidism, and legends; some of her otherwise unpublished short stories; and snippets of The Llewellyn Legacy.
There are a couple of her pieces available in expired print magazines; I just found one that I’m going to order and see if her work is in it. I’ll keep you posted.
If you wish to visit the “In Memory Page” her friends have set up on Facebook, you can do that here:
BARGAIN DIVAS GUSHED ABOUT SKELETONS…AND HERE ARE THEIR GIVEAWAY RESULTS!
Bargain Divas Jacki Brunson and Becky Schiffman write Skeletons is “filled with strange and spooky weirdness [that will] chill your soul and make you want more. It’s easy to read and flows effortlessly from kooky to spooky!”
Just in time for Christmas, the Divas gave away three copies of Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole. I’m pleased to announce the winners:
Kellie Jorgensen of Utah
Andrea Staten of Ohio
Merry Partridge of North Carolina
If you’d like to read the review—and check out the rest of the Bargain Divas’ adventures—visit here:
http://www.bargaindivas.com/2010/11/giveaway-win-skeletons-in-swimmin-hole.html
PUT A LITTLE CREEP UNDER THE TREE WITH CHRISTMAS FEAR
My short story “Bridging Christmas” shares a Table of Contents with speculative fiction writer Daniel Pearlman’s “Household Gods”—which is one hell of a great story—in Static Movment’s Christmas Fear anthology.
The anthology is a collection of creepy stories about Christmas and might just make a unique gift for that impossible-to-buy for short story lover!
You can get it on Amazon here:
