This is one of a handful of favorite short story collections that I read in the past year. Bentley Little is a genius. Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce and Shirley Jackson all produced this love child but no, it’s Little and Little alone.
I could say so much more about Little. You can get it in a lot of places, but if you get it at this link, you support my website and I thank you:
From a drive late in the summer of 2019 after emerging from a road that, yes, seemed to have been a wrong turn into the Bad Place.
I write a lot on typewriters and seem to be doing it more than ever this year. Here’s one of my recent acquisitions:
A Facit 1620, made in Sweden, likely manufactured around 1969. It works like a dream. It’s not my only typewriter, but I like to use it upstairs in the dining room or out on the patio.
It’s a bit heavy for a portable owing to its excellent metal construction that feels like steel, though I’m not certain about that. The keypads are perfect for my fingers. I’ve been working like a demon on a book, and this typewriter is making it a lot of fun.
Been working for a year on the front garden(s), which means my husband and I wrangle with drills, trowels, shovels, wheel barrows.
One thing we did in the fall was plant 300 daffodil and 100 crocus. New England takes a long time to get to peony and plum blossom season, so we wanted some color out there as early as possible.
And now, in early March, the first crocus has bloomed. I doubt all the crocus will come up (I understand that some little animals like to dig them up) but I’m happy if even a tenth of them show up this month. The yard needs a bit of color pop.
In the first photo it’s hard to see it but there’s a close-up of the little emerging flower below it.
I constantly doodle while writing fiction. I have a notebook by my typewriter. While pausing between the typed pages to scribble notes, I tend to doodle. None of the images have anything to do with the book I’m writing.
I’ve been doodling mostly non-stop since I was four years old, and it just has never ended. These little nothing cartoons are something that somehow my mind needs for non-verbal creative relaxation. I’ve decided to start posting my doodles because they’re where my version of goofiness resides.
This was my first official author photo, and coincidentally all my official photos were taken the same day by photographer Cynthia Woodard. It was used for a couple of my books. Within a few months of this I met my soon-to-be husband. Life changes quickly at certain crossroads of life.
How the years do roll on, yet when this was taken I had no idea how they would go.
For aspiring writers or anyone interested, this book by Chuck Palahniuk so far is hilarious and feels very honest. You can pick it up at any number of bookstores, but here’s a link to Amazon for the ebook, audiobook, or hardcover.
Best,
Reading a lot of Ruth Rendell’s fiction lately. I highly recommend these collections. I feel an affinity for the kind of psychologically dark fiction about human nature in these books. I think you’ll enjoy them. These are Amazon links but I think you can find these at most bookstores.
My favorite of this group is The Copper Peacock and Other Stories, which is linked here to its audiobook (which is excellently read by Penelope Keith). But you can also find a hardcover and paperback via secondhand markets.
Click the covers to go check the books out on Amazon. I am in awe of her writing.
Did you miss my poetry collection, The Poisoner’s Garden & Others? The poems in it are mostly stories within meter and rhyme, and all of them run dark & deep. Persephone, who lives in our garden in winter, plays a pivotal role in the title poem from the collection. Here she is in a photo from January 2020:
Here’s a round up for top ten bestsellers of my novels. The surprise for me was number 9 because…well, it’s a recent book that’s only been out for a few weeks so far.
What I know about my readers: they’re intelligent, they’re discerning, they enjoy smart horror, fun horror, complex fiction, simple fiction, characters they can love—or love to hate. They want fiction of breadth and depth. They’re evenly distributed among any number of groups and genders, and range in age from 16 to 87. They are the best, in my opinion.
Thank you for continuing to read my fiction, whether in print or ebook. Click the titles or images to learn more about them.
1. Neverland
2. Red Angel
4. Night Cage
5. Goat Dance
7. Night Asylum
9. The Faces
