spring has sprung

hello all you folks out there in cyberland. I hope you’ve all been having a great spring so far. mine has been pretty good, though it’s still pretty cool and damp in WA where I live. can’t wait for some bright, sunny weather that lasts for more than hour or so before it goes back to being gloomy and gothic. (Although gloomy and gothic both have their charms as well. I wouldn’t live here if they didn’t.)

I’m here today to let you in on some news that may seem bad at first but I think ultimately will turn out to be pretty good in the long run. a couple of my books, Praise the Dead and Mothman Emerged, will be going out of print soon. that’s just how it goes in publishing sometimes. but even though it’s not the greatest news I’m pretty optimistic for whatever the future might hold for those stories, which were each planned to be opening acts for larger stories, in the case of Praise, a trilogy. I still plan on making that happen at some point, so if you like the heroes of either of these books, take heart because it’s probably not the last you’ll be seeing of them. if you have yet to grab a copy of either one, definitely do so soon. I think they’re pretty fun stories and I’m looking forward to diving back into those worlds eventually.

so, there’s that.

also, just want to give a quick shout-out to my hometown, the city of Boston, one of the greatest cities in the world, with the greatest people in the world. my heart is with you guys-stay safe and stay strong. I love that dirty water – always. <3

and that’s it for me, for now. have an outstanding day, people. 
PEACE!
g.

Hope

 ”For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.” - Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

happy new year!

may it be blissful, free and easy.

and then there’s this:

god: I own you like I own the caves.
the ocean: Not a chance. No comparison.
god: I made you. I could tame you.
the ocean: At one time, maybe. But not now.
god: I will come to you, freeze you, break you.
the ocean: I will spread myself like wings. I am a billion tiny feathers. You have no idea what’s happened to me.
- dave eggers

something important to remember

You Don’t Have to Be Pretty.

You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked ‘female’.”

Diana Vreeland

3

hello friends! how the hell is everyone doing on this fine autumn day, if you are indeed in a part of the world where it is autumn and day. but wherever and whenever you are, I hope you’re happy and doing whatever it is you love doing. 

I’m here to post links to a few recent happenings. I hope you enjoy them.

first up, I was recently a guest on the wackiest of all wacky blog talk radio (is it still called blog talk radio? I’m not sure) shows, The Funky Werepig, hosted by the ever-amusing and wonderful Greg Hall. in case you missed it, you can check it out via iTunes right HERE. lots of fun was had, especially the part where we did a duet of the Sonny and Cher classic, The Beat Goes On. we rocked the hell out of it.

next, I wanted to make readers aware of the new issue of Surreal Grotesque, which in addition to including a couple quick reviews of two of my books (THANK YOU, David William Gonzales!), is also just fascinating and gorgeous and if you like stuff that’s, well, surreal and grotesque I highly recommend checking it out.  

And lastly, I thought I’d share this review of my latest release Mothman Emerged which was posted yesterday over at Antibacterial Pope. huge thanks to the ever-amazing Nick Cato for that one.

I think that might wrap this up for now. I’ll be back soon, with or without news. but now, I must search for warm (probably mismatched) socks, make some tea and then go outside to find beautiful October leaves to send to friends in different climes. gotta get on that. again, I hope you are well and happy and snuggled close to those who matter most. <3

a happy song for me and you. :)

Sabbatical

hey all! been a while, eh? life has been crazy busy for me lately and I haven’t been able to mess around on the internet as much as I have in the past. if I own you an email, please be patient. I’ll get back to you probably this weekend. if not, early next week.

that being said, I’ve also been getting a lot of requests for blurbs, etc. people sending me their books and whatnot, despite the fact that on my contact page I specifically request that people don’t do that. apparently, there are some folks who think that request must not apply to them, even though I have no idea who they are, never heard of them at all. if you are one of these people, I apologize for not getting back to you, but I don’t know how I can be any clearer on the matter. I don’t have time to read everything people send me-not to mention it’s not a smart thing to do, legally. so, you’re wasting your time and mine and your stuff gets deleted unread. if that makes me a bitch, so be it, but there are a lot of other people you can ask for blurbs and whatnot. please contact them instead.

so, now that that bit is out of the way, I can get onto the real purpose for this post which is that I have decided to take a sabbatical from writing. in truth, I’ve been on sabbatical for somewhere around a month, give or take, and I have felt amazing. like a huge weight has been lifted. it’s not easy to stop doing something you’ve done you’re whole life-even harder to stop thinking about that something-but I’m doing it and I’m currently much happier for it. the constant stress of deadlines-but mostly promotion-has taken it’s toll and I just need a break from it all. not sure how long that break will be, but I’ve got a lot of other things I’m interested in doing and just interested in, in general. I do a fair bit of activism type stuff that I don’t talk about online very often because I feel like my online presence is all about the fiction stuff, so I’ve mostly kept quiet about most other things. I’ll probably continue that thread for the time being, but you never know.

am I quitting writing for good? hell no. I doubt I could if I wanted to (and I DO kind of want to) but for now not worrying about it has been pretty blissful. so, mostly, I just want to say, that if my presence has diminished somewhat, that’s why. just doing other things that make me happy right now, which is what everyone should do, whenever possible.

I hope everyone out there is having a phenomenal autumn and that this post is okay, given that it’s been total stream-of-consciousness. 

oh and one more thing before I go: I have a new book out called Mothman Emerged. check it out over there in the sidebar if you want. if not, that’s cool too.

with endless mad love,
g.