The Art of Sleeping Alone at The Lighthouse

Recently picked this up from Burning Witches Records, which is distributed via Mondo/Death Waltz. Super cool electro album. With all the metal I've been listening to lately, I needed a new album like this.

**

K and I saw The Lighthouse yesterday. Hmm. A lot to unpack. I'll link to my Letterbxd review HERE, and go on to say I've heard quite a few movies described as "a descent into madness" before, but this might be the most descending of any of those. Beautifully filmed. I mean beautifully. Looks like a movie from the 30s, even right down to the aspect ratio. If you're interested, see it in the theatre. Just for the shots of the waves breaking against the rocks.

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31

10/02: Lords of Chaos

10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1

10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3

10/05: Bliss/VFW

10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog

10/07: Halloween 2018

10/08: Hell House, LLC

10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)

10/10: Creepshow Episode 3

10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)

10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena

10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween

**

This past Wednesday I did another signing/release party for Shadow Play Book One: Kim and Jessie at The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, and it went very well! I sold almost every copy of both Kim and Jessie and my first book, A Collection of Desires: 7 Tales of Modern Horror. I also moved quite a few Kindle copies of the new book, which was by design; trying to hit the new and noteworthy chart. Special thanks to Mike, Jun, Ben, Gerald, Luis, and all those awesome Comic Bug people, not to mention everyone that came out to support me.

Thanks to K for the picture!

**

Playlist from the last few days:

John Carpenter/Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST
Tones on Tail - Everything
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone
Ulver - Teachings in Silence
Ritual Howls - Their Body EP
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor
The Veils - Total Depravity
Sleep - The Sciences
The Sword - Age of Winters
Ministry - Filth Pig
1000 Homo DJs - Hey Asshole
Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin
The Nukes - Why Things Burn
Bauhaus - The Skys Gone Out

**

Card of the day:

Both a reminder to listen to Sisters of Mercy today, and, despite having work today and the best Halloween party of the year tonight, a reminder to indulge a little of my creative energy today.

2019: August 27th American Horror Story: 1984 Trailer

Soooo... this season is an amalgam of a multitude of different slashers flicks from years past? The Burning, Friday the 13th, I Know What You Did Last Summer? Well, even if it looks pretty uninspired, it might be fun. I usually know within two episodes whether or not I want to complete a season of AHS, so I'll give it a try.

**

Originally, Wednesday the 28th I was slated to do a signing of my new book, Shadow Play Book One: Kim & Jessie at the Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach. Unfortunately, due to a production delay with the copies I ordered, I was forced to cancel. The event will most likely be re-scheduled for 9/11, but in the interim, Jonathan Grimm and I will have a table at Scare Faire, the annual Horror Event held in Scary Perry's Halloween Store and Hardcore Hearse Club in Chicago on Saturday, September 7th. Grimm will be selling art prints, magnets, stickers, and all the awesome stuff he does, and I'll have copies of Shadow Play and my first book, A Collection of Desires: 7 Tales of Modern Horror. If you're in the area, stop in and see us. Both of us love to talk all things horror.

**

Dead Milkmen Appreciation Week continues with another classic track, the James Brown-parody RC's Mom, from Beelzebubba. So good...



**

Playlist from 8/26:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
The Ocean - Heliocentric
The Ocean - Precambrian
The Ocean - 1.0 Ansia - EP*
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
Black Sabbath - Eponymous
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
High on Fire - The Art of Self Defense
Budos Band - Burnt Offerings

* Not sure this is actually same The Ocean as the other tracks. Researching it online has been frustrating to say the least. If anyone happens to know anything about this, please leave a comment.

**

Today's Spread:

I Love seeing this Spread! The juxtaposition of the intellectual refinement of emotion lends itself well  to the pleasures of completion. I have my assignment for the day, and I'll let the cancellation of the signing roll right the f--- off my back!

2019: August 23rd The Dead Milkmen Appreciation Week!

I always say I dislike music videos that showcase the band pantomiming like they're playing the song, but in this case, I just can't help but smile seeing the Milkmen as they were back in the day. A great song from a great album. The Secret of Life kicks off Dead Milkmen Appreciation Week. For the next seven days, I'll post one track a day that make the Milkmen among my favorite all-time bands. And although Soul Rotation isn't an album I go to often, I pulled it out recently - thanks for the copy Mr. Brown - and really enjoyed hearing it again after a couple of years.

**

Next Wednesday, 8/28, my new novel Shadow Play - Book One: Kim & Jessie will be released, and if I've done my job this time, it will be available in Bookstores as well as on Amazon. When I released my first published work, A Collection of Desires: 7 Tales of Modern Horror, I did so only through Amazon, with a free, Amazon-only ISBN number. This time, I've started a Publishing Company, Horror Vision Press (THV Press for eventual non-horror content), and released a new edition of A Collection of Desires complete with an internationally recognized ISB that means you can order it at Barns and Noble HERE and Amazon HERE. I'm not really sure what other book specialty stores exist at this point, but if you have a favorite and they do not have ACoD in stock, they should be able to order it from Ingram wholesale with the following ISBN: 978-1733410700.

**

There's a new trailer for HBO's Watchmen series. Color me intrigued, as this doesn't look like anything I would have expected. There almost seems to be a comedic streak at times, and if that is the case, it will be interesting to see how that might or might not mesh with the harsher tones of the original series and cinematic adaptation.

**

Playlist from the last few days:

The Dead Milkmen - Soul Rotation
Uniform and The Body - Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back
Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars
David Bowie - Lodger
Khruangbin - Hasta El Cielo
Windhand - Eternal Return
Jozef Van Wissem and Jim Jarmusch - An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil
Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - Album
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
Ariel - Young Lovers
Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color
Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
Jenny Lewis - On the Line
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
Iggy Pop and Jarvis Cocker - Red Right Hand (single)
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper

**

No spread today. Tomorrow for sure.

2019: June 28th - Oh Oblivion. Sweet, Sweet Oblivion

Very much in a Visions headspace this morning. I'm starting this post at... almost 2:00 AM, but probably won't post it until I wake up in the daylight. Running on fumes, as I've been up since 5AM, but I just returned from a night of catching up with a friend in Hollywood and now I want to get a rough idea for a story I had while driving home listening to Secret Chiefs 3 down on paper. I'm off today (Friday), so I'm having a few late night Sierra Nevadas, trying to suss out the skeleton to this thing I probably won't actually work on for some time. But I like to have a bunch of gestating concepts, so at some lull in the future (lull? When?), I can scroll through a list and pick something to hash out.

There's something magnificent about driving La Cienga between Stockard and Centinela late at night. It's as close to a secluded spot as you can get in LA proper, which is to say it's not very secluded at all, but it has a certain Between quality to it. Always inspires me.

**

Next day now. Woke up and read another story in the Robert S. Wilson-edited Ashes and Entropy Anthology, this time Nate Southard's Ain't Much Pride. Wow. My favorite story so far, and that's saying something. This is turning out to be a fantastic collection. If you're interested, you can order it directly from Nightscape Press HERE.

I enjoyed Southard's Ain't Much Pride so much that I looked into his other work, and I'm really interested in his 2018 novel Porcelain:

"Comedian Jason Hawkes carries with him a mountain of emotional issues and an impressive drug habit. When he learns his high school sweetheart went on a shooting spree before turning the gun on herself, he returns home to confront a past that includes a drunken orgy in an abandoned factory and six close friends who never spoke to each other again. Something more sinister is at work than teenage hormones, however, and what Jason learns as he reconnects with his past will either fix him or shatter him further. And it could send an entire city into an abyss of lust-fueled horror.

SOLD! You can buy this one directly from Lethe Press HERE. I intend to.

**

Playlist from 6/27:

Swans - To Be Kind
High on Fire - Electric Messiah
The Jesus Lizard - Lash EP
The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer
Dean Hurley - Anthology Resource Vol. I: △△
Dean Hurley - Anthology Resource Vol. 2: Philosophy of Beyond pre-release singles
Primus - Frizzle Fry
Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - Le mani destre recise degli ultimi uomini
John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST
Grimes - Visions

**

Card of the day:

Fives are always unstable. It's not really a bad thing, just a phase to move beyond. Fours are stable, but to avoid stagnation, you have to add something. This is good, but affects the balance of things. The goal is to keep adding, and that's kind of my thing right now. After a discussion with a friend, I'm thinking about postponing the release of Shadow Play until the first week in September. This is tough, because it's done, however, there's a lot of really good reasons to consider this. I just have to research them. So yeah, the stability of being finished and releasing it into the world - if you can call that stable - is thwarted by adding a new facet, which is essentially a very small, grassroots marketing initiative. Something I'm terrible at. But we're terrible at things until we do them enough to become good, or at least proficient at them. So yeah, I guess there's some instability/worry right now. It will pass.

2019: June 20th New Drab Majesty!

Still catching up on all the stuff that dropped while I was radio silent, finishing Shadow Play Book One: Kim & Jessie. If you come here often, you'll probably get sick of hearing the name of my new book, but I'm excited and relieved like you would not believe. The first book of Shadow Play - conceived as a non-traditional trilogy with ample room for spin-offs - took me seven years to complete. Sure, there was about eight months off at two separate intervals during that time, but during that time, I was kind of working on it, too. Letting something you've written sit in a proverbial 'drawer' for the better part of a year and then going back to it, doesn't necessarily mean you're not working on it. Is "Indirect Writing" a phrase? You know, letting the story stew in its own juices?

Anyway...

Drab Majesty's new record Modern Mirror is out July 12, just over three weeks from now, and I am very excited to get my copy of the vinyl in the mail. You can still pre-order this one from the wonderful Dais Records HERE.

**

Yesterday was NCBD, and it proved a fantastic leveler for me. I wrote earlier in the month about a sudden existential crisis pertaining to collecting monthly comics - part of it's space, part of it's longevity, part of it's douchey first-world anxiety - anyway you call it, the accumulation of such a large collection has begun to wear on me in a way I never would have anticipated (and I've downsized majorly on several occasions in my life). But to look at my pull list yesterday and know that I was leaving several titles behind and several others were close to finishing made me feel pretty good.

Garth Ennis' A Walk Through Hell is coming to a close next month, The Empty Man ended with this week's issue 8, and Black Science closes its doors in July. With the elimination of all the mini series, or the series on this list, as well as those most likely not coming back (*ahem* Southern Bastards, I'm looking at you), well, I'm edging my way out of collecting.

That's HUGE.

I'm probably going to end TMNT in seven months at issue 100, switching to digital trades instead, and I may do the same for Seven to Eternity as well. That doesn't leave much. Of course, I'll still buy anything Warren Ellis does, but I'll probably just wait for the trades, like I've been doing with The Wildstorm (still need to read that third volume!). The goal is to have the only periodical-format books I buy be The Walking Dead, Stray Bullets, Criminal, and Gunning for Hits, the last two because they have such a wealth of extra material in their monthly format, the first two because they're grandfathered in and I love them. Even Gideon Falls may fall off, as with this week's issue the story opens up considerably wider and I feel like it might be losing me. I'm getting a Lost vibe, and as much as I enjoyed watching that series as it aired, it's something I never need or want to be reminded of again.

We'll see.

**

Playlist from 6/19:

Blur - Eponymous
Blur - The Best Of
Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino
Arab Strap - The Red Thread
Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
Blur - 13
Zen Guerilla - Positronic Raygun
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

**

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire: "A positive result dependent on the actions of the Querent." I'm taking this and yesterday's Breakthrough as directly referencing the completion of the book. Next, I have a small 'marketing' plan I intend to follow through on, so hoping the good tidings will flow directly into that.

2019: June 19th - New Chelsea Wolfe!

Holy cow. I don't post in five days and everyone drops something new. What do I start with? Doesn't matter; what a great problem to have!

Chelsea Wolfe announced a new album and tour dates after dropping a new song. As always, Ms. Wolfe has kind of become the dark queen of my heart. I love the fluidity of her aesthetic, the fact that it meshes fine in shades of Desert acoustic, or lavish, droney Doom. Here's the album trailer:



**

Shadow Play Book One: Kim & Jessie is completed! I've ordered a few proofs of the paperback, and once I go through that and confirm everything is tip top, it will be available on Amazon, at The Comic Bug, and hopefully, shortly in Barnes & Noble and any other store that will carry me! Gotta start looking into getting into the Baker & Taylor system. It's all so exciting! What's even more exciting, though, is the cover art, courtesy of my good friend Jonathan Grimm:

Grimm is an amazing artist - he really hit the "Paperbacks from Hell" aesthetic without even being asked to. And folks, he is for hire! Contact him HERE for all your freelance needs. Seriously, he does it all.


**

South Park Season 19 is probably one of the most intelligent examples of social commentary ever. A joy, start to finish. I can't believe this show can continue to remain this relevant. Kudos the Parker and Stone.

**

Two episodes left on Doom Patrol Season One, which I'm now comfortable saying is my favorite comic book adaptation ever. Yep. Ever. I also began re-reading the Grant Morrison/Richard Case run from the late 80s/early 90s that a lot of this show is pulled from. I can't say I'd forgotten how brilliant the book is, but I had forgotten major arcs, so it's cool to revisit. And Branden Fraiser's Cliff Steele is awesome for many reason, but in particular, he reminds me SO MUCH of my good friend Mike Shin that it's uncanny. Speaking of Cliff, one of my favorite Cliff moments occurs at the tail end of the following clip:



Look at that gator jump!

**

Playlist from the last few days includes but probably wasn't limited to:

Henry Mancini - Charade OST
The Doors - Waiting for the Sun
Orville Peck - Pony
Spotlights - Love and Decay
Deftones - Gore
Alice in Chains - Eponymous
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Blur - 13
Blur - Eponymous
Blur - The Best of
Various - A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night OST
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
The Temptations - Psychedelic Shack
The Knife - Silent Shout

**

Card of the day:

Breakthrough!

2019: March 28th: Helms Alee - Spider Jar

This new track from Helms Alee popped up in my youtube feed via Sargent House's channel. Wow. I know nothing of this band, but that changes today. From the forthcoming Noctiluca, out on Sargent House April 26th. Pre-order HERE.

**

Shadow Play Book One: Kim & Jessie is finished. Well, the writing part. I spent a good four hours over the last two days tweaking the layout in Scrivener and Veullum, and it's almost right, but not quite. It looks like I'll be spending all day Friday watching 'how-to' videos for both programs, trying to dial in those last little nuances. Oh yeah, I've also secured my all-important First Reader! Thank You, Missi!

**

If you're anywhere near my age - 43 - you remember a time before the Internet, when television required what we now refer to as Event Viewing. I'm not going to say that was necessarily better, but it's funny that, as we get further and further into the paradigm where we control the viewing experience 100% in most cases, there's still those of us who nostalgically long for an occasional movie or show to call the shots. I wouldn't want everything to revert to that paradigm because, hey, I'm freakin' busy, as I'm sure you are. But it's nice to have an event to look forward to every now and again. Shudder knows this. Joe Bob Briggs knows this. That's why, I am excited as all hell for tomorrow night and the inaugural Joe Bob Briggs The Last Drive In weekly Double Feature! I have no idea what JBB is showing, nor do I care. All that matters is that he is hosting.



**

Playlist from 3/27:

Bonobo - The North Borders
The National - You Had Your Soul With You (Pre-release Single)
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Brand New - Science Fiction
Windhand - Eternal Return
White Lung - Eponymous
Tamaryn - The Waves

Card of the day:

Balance and Harmony. The imagery on this card, perhaps more than any other in the deck, instills in my chest a calm and peaceful feeling. The Star sifts the cosmic waters of the Universe, which in a way, is what artists do. I feel good. I feel on track.