It's a Wonderful Knife

Budos Band live on KEXP - talk about a great way to kick off the weekend!!! 

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Watch:

Last night, I headed out to my local Regal to see the new film by Freaky writer Michael Kennedy. Directed by Tyler MacIntrye, It's A Wonderful Knife had been on my radar since I made a last minute decision to miss it at this year's Beyondfest. Here's a trailer:

I LOVED this movie! Ostensibly this one is an intentional hybrid of the Hallmark Holiday movie formula and the Slasher formula, and if that doesn't sound like it would work, it most certainly does! This one gave me all the feels, and looks like it opens wide for the rest of the week (until next Thursday by us), so if you're in the mood for a, uh, feel-good holiday slasher, this is it!

I recently resubscribed to Netflix so I could watch The Fall of the Hosue of Usher. As luck would have it, the timing is advantageous for several reasons, one of the biggest of which is the release of David Fincher's newest film, The Killer today! Here's the trailer (which I won't be watching; I know NOTHING about this film):

I've only been remotely aware of this one in the run-up to its release, and I relish the chance to go in 100% blind on such a big Director. 

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Playlist:

Ghost - Impera

Crystal Castles - II

Rina Mushonga - In A Galaxy

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer

Screaming Females - Desire Pathway

Fvnerals - Let the Earth Be Silent

Faetooth - Remnants of the Vessel

David Bowie - Outside

Drug Church - Hygiene

Deftones - Gore

Oranssi Pazuzu - Live at Roadburn 2017

Gazelle Twin - The Entire City

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Card:

Just one quick pre-travel card from my portable Thoth deck:

Perfect. The beginning of a new journey. 

Twin Tribes - Monolith

 

My A Most Horrible Library cohost Chris has been singing me the praises of Twin Tribes for a couple years now, and while I've given a couple of their records a spin, I haven't completely connected with these guys yet. That said, this new track, "Monolith," is pretty rad, and I actually dig the hell out of the video - a rarity indeed. Taken from forthcoming album Pendulum, out January  26th; you can pre-order the record HERE.

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NCBD:

Here's what I'm bringing home this week:

I loved the first issue of the new Daniel Warren Johnson Transformers book for Robert Kirkman's Energon Universe. Not as much as I love Void Rivals, but still, DWJ doing Autobots and Decepticons is as close to a dream come true as we've gotten with this juggernaut IP in a while, so I'm excited to jump into issue 2.

I've seen the covers for the next two books, and the "Road to 150" is on the horizon. That means a major shake-up is coming. Starting in the last few issues, we've seen the Turtles' standard "nuclear" family as we know it begins to grow tributaries and move on, so my prediction is someone will leave this book and head away from NY, thus getting their own series. That will both excite and infuriate me, haha. I'm still on board, regardless, as this is still the best reboot ever. 

Phantom Road is back and I could not be happier! This book is like high-brow Grindhouse Horror, and I am absolutely picking up what Lemire and Walta are putting down!

After Friday I can finally read this one up to date, as I should have all the issues sitting in my secondary pull at Amazing Fantasy in Frankfort. Can't wait to see what all the hype - niche hype, but hype nonetheless - is all about. 

Let's see if issue two continues to deliver on the promise of issue one. There have been mountains of Army of Darkness/Evil Dead comics, and I learned long ago to avoid them. This, however, this is different. Continuing on from both the original and director's cut ending of the film, Army of Darkness Forever posits that Evil Ash ended up back at the S-Mart in 1992. What does that mean for everything we think we know about Ash's life after the films? Will the series take Ash vs. The Evil Dead into account? Like they used to say in those commercials, 'Read the book."

I've been late to the game on David Dastmalchian's Count Crowley, partially because I sat on my AMHL cohost's recommendation when the first series came out, and partially because I was able to find two of the four issues of the previous series. I'll eventually pick all those up, but in the meantime, this guy has earned enough goodwill in the Horror community that I'll be grabbing this one from the beginning.

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Playlist:

Sampha - Lahai

Oranssi Pazuzu - Live at Roadburn 2017

Twin Tribes - Monolith (pre-release single)

Twin Tribes - Ceremony

Alien Sex Fiend - Alien Sex Fiend Halloween

Kingsborough - Percy (single)

Oranssi Pazuzu - Kosmonument

Lebanon Hanover - Let Them Be Alien

Anthrax - Among the Living

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

The Sister of Mercy - Floodland

††† - Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete

Crystal Castles - II

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Card:

I felt like crossing the streams today. Here's what I came away with:

Due to the different sizes of the three decks, this format is difficult to get a decent picture of at the moment because it's new, so bear with me. 

• XVIII: The Moon - influences/ideas/agendas obscured.

• XII: The Hanged Man - Sacrifice/intuition

• Princess (Page) of Wands - The Early Aspect of Will

It's been a minute since I've done an in-depth Pull, so I feel a touch rusty.  Having the intuition to apply the Will to Earthly matters will prevent missing unseen or forgotten facets of the conversation. This is 100% a reminder to pay attention during open enrollment. Boring, maybe, but I've already had a few insurance SNAFUs with my employer since going remote, so it'd be nice to avoid that in the coming year, and this is the kind of Earth-Bound stuff that I always view from the corner of my eye.

Falling From the House of Usher

 

I'd never heard of British electronic artist Sampha until Mr. Brown messaged me about him a few days ago. Upon checking out his new album Lahai, I'm sold. I'm always looking for the next Burial, and although in no way would I compare this record to Untrue, there's definitely some shared DNA. Spacious, floaty and a beautiful approach to the vocals and backing textures, this record drifts along at a slow speed so you can be sure to catch all the gorgeous sonic scenery that populates each track. Throw in some really tight bass lines and beats to boost the tempo now and again, and this one is a perfect late-night, winding-down record. You can pick this one up at the shop HERE.

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Watch:

I watched the first two episodes of Mike Flanagan's The Fall of the House of Usher on Friday and quickly dismissed the show as "not for me." I have issues with the last few Flanagan Netflix projects and am actually looking forward to him shaking up his paradigm with his new deal at Amazon. 

Yet, I kept thinking about it all day Saturday. So I went back and watched two more. I was destined to finish this anyway, as we're recording an episode on it for The Horror Vision this coming Thursday night. Regardless of that, episodes three and four smoothed over some of the rough edges. Then, yesterday K started the show from episode one, and I sat through 1-4 for a second time. Not sure what my problem was on Friday, but I was 100% wrong. This one is fantastic!

One of my initial problems was that the creators seemed hellbent on critiquing the "Hedonism of the Rich," which, to me, is a moot point. We're well over a decade into kardashians and their public sex tapes/church scams/meltdowns. It's old news. The first two episodes of Usher really spend a lot of time making this point, and it feels goofy. Also, since Midnight Mass, Flanagan's characters spend a lot of time making grand soliloquies, and for me, they don't always work. 

These are minor grievances, though. 

One of the things I'd forgotten about Flanagan's style is he plays a long game, dropping bits that seem inconsequential or startling for the sake of being startling at the time and really don't come together until the end. This has been in his work almost from the beginning; I first discovered him by randomly watching Absentia circa 2012. That one put his name at the top of my "Directors to watch" list so that, in 2013, when Oculus hit theatres, I sat alone in a theatre on opening day. Oculus was definitely one I had to adjust to; my first viewing was, a lot like watching these first two Usher episodes, an exercise in frustration for me because I was rushing the story. When I eventually rewatched Oculus on video, I realized it was fantastic and essentially the template for everything the Director would do going forward. 

Also, it seems this "watch the first half and then watch it a second time before you continue" is a sound strategy for Flanagan's work, as in looking back through old posts here, I found THIS about The Haunting of Hill House:

"K and I plowed through the first five episodes of the Netflix/Mike Flanagan epic The Haunting of Hill House. I was a bit uncertain at first, but quickly came around. It has Flanagan's time weaving technique, the one that makes Occulus so unique. I dig it, probably not as much as I'd hoped I would, but for watching five episodes in a binge -something I haven't had the time to do in forever - it was good. We wanted to make it through the first five because an article popped up last week HERE on Bloody Disgusting where Flanagan suggests people watch the first five, then go back and watch them again before continuing on to episodes 6-10. This is based on a revelation in ep. 5 that changes the way you will see things in the first half if you watch them again with that in mind."

The point of all this, then, is to tell you that if you haven't watched this one yet, and if you can find the time, watch episodes 1-4 of Usher once, then restart them and continue through to the end. I'm about halfway through six and extremely invested; none of my previous complaints have even occurred to me since that first failed viewing on Friday.

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Read:

In order to fully appreciate Flanagan's adaptation of Poe's work, I also picked up a $1.99 Kindle "Complete Works" for Poe, as my hardcover copy has long ago been lost to the aether, and all I still have is the paperback copy of the 1980 Signet Classic edition I've had since High school:

There are quite a few cheap Kindle editions of the complete works, and all of them will contain the main stories adapted here. So far, I've re-read Usher and The Masque of the Red Death, and it's been quite interesting to see what Flanagan and his writers pulled from each for the show. I'm looking forward to diving into Murders in the Rue Morgue next. 

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Playlist:

The Misfits - Collection I

The Cramps - RockinnReelininAucklandNewZealandXXX (Live)

Cocksure - TVMALSV

Anthrax - Among the Living

The Cramps - Smell of Female (Live)

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

The Heartwoods Institue - Unburied Bane (thanks, Tommy!)

Deth Crux - Bloody Christmas (single)

Bryce Miller - City Depths

Seashore Darkcave - Synthtales

Ulver - Teachings In Silence

Ulver - Bergtatt

Silent - Modern Hate

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Loathe - I Let it in and It Took Everything 

Gazelle Twin - Black Dog

Umberto - Prophecy of the Black Widow

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Your Black Star

 

I haven't listened to Your Black Star in a pretty damn long time, and although I have absolutely no idea what put them back on my radar, yesterday, I'm glad it happened. I love this band's 2006 record Sound from the Ground; this came out the same year I moved from Chicago to L.A. My ex-wife was a music journalist, and back in those days, we'd have CDs arriving in the mail all the time. A lot of stuff from small, completely independent labels. Not all of it was good, but boy did I find some gems that way. Young Widows, These Arms Are Snakes, and Your Black Star were top of the list. 

Listening again, I realized that while I'd always recognized The Cure's influence on these guys, it wasn't until diving back in that I realized how much this opening track is influenced by the title track to Pornography, arguably my favorite Cure record. Listen to those pounding drums, the way the bass comes in and the 'static' guitar. Gorgeous.

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31 Days of Halloween:

I didn't get a chance to post the last two days, so here's the end tally for 2023's 31 Days of Halloween:

1) When Evil Lurks/VHS 85/Adam Chaplin

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 6 "Collection Complete"

3) VHS

4) All You Need is Death

5) Slashers (2001)

6) The Beyond/Phenomena

7) The Convent

8) Evil Dead 2

9) The Autopsy of Jane Doe

10) Totally Killer

11) Ritual (Joko Anwar)/The Final Terror/Grave Robbers

12) Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (w/Joe Bob)

13) Never Hike Alone/Never Hike in the Snow/Never Hike Alone 2

14) Puppetman

15) Creepshow Season 4 Episode 1

16) Return of the Living Dead

17) Don't Look Now

18) When Evil Lurks

19) Barbarian

20) Demons 2/All Hallows Eve

21) May

22) Let's Scare Jessica To Death

23) The Birds/30 Coins Ssn 1 Ep 1

24) 30 Coins Ssn 1 Ep 2/The Church

25) Elvira Mistress of the Dark

26) To Kako (Evil)/To Kako: Stin epohi ton iroon

27) Tourist Trap (w/ Joe Bob)/Totally Killer

28) Amusement

29) The Rocky Horror Picture Show/There's Nothing Out There

30) Planet Terror/Arsenic and Old Lace/George A. Romero's Bruiser/976-Evil

31) Halloween 78 (w/ Joe Bob)/Flatliners 91/Night of the Living Dead

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Watch:

How has it been twelve years since I watched Robert Rodriguez's Machete? This might be one of the best action movies ever.

This flick is such a rip-roaring good time, and watching it again last night made me realize I'ver never seen the sequel, Machete Kills. Time to remedy that.

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Playlist:

The Misfits - Static Age

Halloween Spotify Playlist

Wytch Finger - The Dance EP

Skinny Puppy - Remission

Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste

Umberto - Prophecy of the Black Widow

The Misfits - Collection I

The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland

Boy Harsher - Careful

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets (98 Edition)

Ghost Cop - One Weird Trick

Your Black Star - Sound from the Ground

Deftones - Gore

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Talk About the Weather

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Card:

Just one card from my Thoth deck for today. 

Yeah, that's an understatement. The endeavor to move my folks from South Suburban Chicago to Clarksville was almost complete, and then... thwarted at the last minute by an inspection. That's not the change denoted here; this generalized pull is really just reminding me that although my preoccupation with the move has me blinded to it at the moment, there's a lot of change on the horizon. That's a pretty surface-level reading, especially when using the Thoth deck, but that's all I've got. I fried.

Hybrid Halloween Moments!!!

 

Happy Halloween! I've got today and tomorrow off and intend to soak up the atmosphere. First, woke up with The Misfits Hybrid Moments in my head! That has to be a boon that this will be a good day.

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31 Days of Halloween:

I had a spectacular October 30th last night. Here's what I watched:

Not for everyone, but Cary Grant and Peter Lorre are enough to make me love this classic Halloween comedy. The word "Madcap" got thrown around a lot back in this era, but this one deserves the description - it juggles so many plates that, even if some don't exactly 'land' for me, it's just a pleasure to watch.

Classic late-period Romero. I love this flick, flaws and all, and would take this any day over Schumacher's Falling Down, which, in the "man at the end of his rope" sub genre, definitely gets more love. 

If I love Romero's Bruiser, well then, I guess I have to marry Robert Englund's directorial debut, 976-Evil. I know this is not a 'good movie.' Couldn't care less. I think 976-Evil is the epitome of how great late 80s Horror could be, and it totally nails the Nightmare on Elm Street tone that none of the NoES movies except the original manage to.

1) When Evil Lurks/VHS 85/Adam Chaplin

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 6 "Collection Complete"

3) VHS

4) All You Need is Death

5) Slashers (2001)

6) The Beyond/Phenomena

7) The Convent

8) Evil Dead 2

9) The Autopsy of Jane Doe

10) Totally Killer

11) Ritual (Joko Anwar)/The Final Terror/Grave Robbers

12) Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (w/Joe Bob)

13) Never Hike Alone/Never Hike in the Snow/Never Hike Alone 2

14) Puppetman

15) Creepshow Season 4 Episode 1

16) Return of the Living Dead

17) Don't Look Now

18) When Evil Lurks

19) Barbarian

20) Demons 2/All Hallows Eve

21) May

22) Let's Scare Jessica To Death

23) The Birds/30 Coins Ssn 1 Ep 1

24) 30 Coins Ssn 1 Ep 2/The Church

25) Elvira Mistress of the Dark

26) To Kako (Evil)/To Kako: Stin epohi ton iroon

27) Tourist Trap (w/ Joe Bob)/Totally Killer

28) Amusement

29) The Rocky Horror Picture Show/There's Nothing Out There

30) Arsenic and Old Lace/George A. Romero's Bruiser/976-Evil

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Read:

In keeping with my annual Halloween traditions, I re-read James O'Barr's The Crow yesterday and began Rick Spears and Rob G's Teenagers From Mars upon waking this morning.

The Crow never fails to affect me; still the greatest love story I've read and the purest contemplation of grief I know. O'Barr's art and words drip with the Post Punk bands that grew to sway my tastes as a metalhead in High School, my obsession with Joy Division's Substance and Still and The Cure's Pornography following fast on the heels of my introduction to this dark, beautiful angel.

I love this book so much. The characters are, at this point, old friends I love to check back in on every year. 

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Playlist:

Type O Negative - Paranoid (single)

Claudio Simonetti and Goblin - Phenomena OST

John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST

John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST

The Cure - Pornography

Night Verses - Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley of Night: Part 1

Wytch Finger - The Dance EP

The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets (1998 Edition)

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Card:

A single card from Missi's Raven Tarot for this perfect Halloween morning:

When Every Day is Halloween, October 31st just means we're about to begin another journey around the sun toward the next one. 

Type O Negative - Paranoid

 

One of the best covers I know and perfect for this rainy lead-up to Halloween.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) When Evil Lurks/VHS 85/Adam Chaplin

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 6 "Collection Complete"

3) VHS

4) All You Need is Death

5) Slashers (2001)

6) The Beyond/Phenomena

7) The Convent

8) Evil Dead 2

9) The Autopsy of Jane Doe

10) Totally Killer

11) Ritual (Joko Anwar)/The Final Terror/Grave Robbers

12) Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (w/Joe Bob)

13) Never Hike Alone/Never Hike in the Snow/Never Hike Alone 2

14) Puppetman

15) Creepshow Season 4 Episode 1

16) Return of the Living Dead

17) Don't Look Now

18) When Evil Lurks

19) Barbarian

20) Demons 2/All Hallows Eve (w/ Joe Bob)

21) May

22) Let's Scare Jessica To Death

23) The Birds/30 Coins Ssn 1 Ep 1

24) 30 Coins Ssn 1 Ep 2/The Church

25) Elvira Mistress of the Dark

26) To Kako (Evil)/To Kako: Stin Epohi Ton Iroon

27) Tourist Trap (w/ Joe Bob)/Totally Killer

28) Amusement

29) The Rocky Horror Picture Show/There's Nothing Out There

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Read:

I finally started reading the collected Mike Baron/Kelley Jones Deadman I picked up a few years ago after Chris and I interviewed Mr. Jones on A Most Horrible Library.

Deadman is one of the DC characters I don't hate, but I also don't really care about all that much. UNLESS Kelley Jones is drawing him. And Mike Baron has been a favorite since his run on the original ongoing Punisher series circa... 1987? Either way, I blew through this in a little over a day and absolutely loved its ghoulish flair.

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Playlist:

The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs

Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (digi pak)

Sisters of Mercy - Floodland

The Knife - Silent Shout

Zombi - Shape Shift

††† - Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete

Crystal Castles - II

NIN - Year Zero

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

The Cure - Pornography

Halloween Spotify Playlist

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• King of Cups

• Four of Cups

• Seven of Pentacles

Lots of emotion will threaten Victory in Earthly matters. I know this has to do with the house hunt for my folks, which just makes me not want to go any further in-depth with this. 

The Cramps - Cornfed Dames Live in Auckland, NZ

 

From the live album RockinnReelininAucklandNewZealandXXX (Live). A stellar example of how awesome and bizarre The Cramps were. 

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31 Days of Halloween:

One of the things I'm trying to do for this year's 31 Days of Halloween is watch all the movies I have on DVD that I pull out every year and then never end up getting around to. I nailed one with Michele Soavi's The Church a few nights ago, and I got another yesterday with Yorgos Noussias's 2005 oddity, To Kako, or Evil as it was known here in the States. Here's a trailer:

I refer to this film as an oddity because, despite being a fairly low-budget Rage Virus/Zombie flick, Noussias leans into a tone that is severe yet also often subtly comedic. I'd never go as far as to call Evil a Horror Comedy, but there are moments that make me laugh out loud. The editing is super original on this one, too. Lots of double, triple and even quadruple split-screen stuff, none of it ostentatious enough to detract. In fact, the split screen really enhances the fast-paced narrative and adds a severity that makes this one a keeper. 

In watching this yesterday, it came to my attention there was actually a sequel released in 2009! I had no idea To Kako: Stin epohi ton iroon or Evil: In the Time of Heroes existed, but to my good fortune, this film is actively streaming on Tubi at the moment. While I'm not a super fan of any streaming site that by default includes commercials, in 2023 Tubi seems to be a safe harbor for a lot of films that would otherwise be impossible to find - see The Horror Vision's recent episode on La Horde - so for that, I'm grateful.

Turns out, Evil: In the Time of Heroes is even better than its predecessor! There's a considerably larger budget, so much so, Billy Zane appears in this film! Seeing both of these inside of twenty-four hours, I must say, it's a shame that Noussias did not keep making films. He has such an original voice, I would have loved to see more from him. 

1) When Evil Lurks/VHS 85/Adam Chaplin

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 6 "Collection Complete"

3) VHS

4) All You Need is Death

5) Slashers (2001)

6) The Beyond/Phenomena

7) The Convent

8) Evil Dead 2

9) The Autopsy of Jane Doe

10) Totally Killer

11) Ritual (Joko Anwar)/The Final Terror/Grave Robbers

12) Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (w/Joe Bob)

13) Never Hike Alone/Never Hike in the Snow/Never Hike Alone 2

14) Puppetman

15) Creepshow Season 4 Episode 1

16) Return of the Living Dead

17) Don't Look Now

18) When Evil Lurks

19) Barbarian

20) Demons 2/All Hallows Eve

21) May

22) Let's Scare Jessica To Death

23) The Birds/30 Coins Ssn 1 Ep 1

24) 30 Coins Ssn 1 Ep 2/The Church

25) Elvira Mistress of the Dark

26) To Kako (Evil)/To Kako: Stin epohi ton iroon

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Read:

I finally finished reading Clive Barker's The Scarlet Gospels. Take it from me, if you're a fan of Mr. Barker, skip this one. My current working theory is he actually did not write the book but conceptualized and outlined it before passing it to another writer to build the prose. That's all I'll say on that because Barker remains one of my all-time favorite authors.

I've moved on to the much-recommended Greener Pastures, the first short story collection by Weird Horror writer Michael Wehunt. 

One story in, and I adore this man's writing. I feel a similar "Stark Lushness" to Laird Barron's early short stories, never mind that the two adjectives I've just employed would seem to contradict one another. There is a manner in which prose can offer a staunch worldview that in itself decorates the fiction in an expansive manner, and that's the vibe I picked up from opening story "Beside Me Singing In The Wilderness," which applies a very satisfying Southern Gothic spin to a classic monster module, all in a lush Appalachian or Southern realm that I felt I could "step into" at any moment.

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Playlist:

Chelsea Wolfe - Spun

Graham Parsons - The Avalon Tapes (Live Flying Burrito Brothers)

The Cramps - RockinnReelininAucklandNewZealandXXX (Live)

Misfits - Collection 1

Jeff Grace - House of the Devil OST

Ritual Howls - Turkish Leather

Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man

Deftones - Ohms

Snake Eats Boy - Occupado (single)

Perturbator - Nocturne City

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Five of Cups

• VII: The Chariot

• Knight of Cups

Lots of emotions tied up in the cards again today. This is on the nose, as the reality of my parents' impending move and the forfeiture of my childhood home has begun to sink in and stir up weird mortality anxieties. Of course, I recognize that I've been lucky enough to have my parents and that home in my life for as long as I have, so I'm not complaining. Five of Cups appearing at the center of this pull suggests emotional conflict, and while The Chariot often suggests more upbeat things, I'm reading it as a warning to think things through as we proceed. This also fits, as we are trying to ensure that, in their rush to exit the house by the closing date and find a new one to move into, my folks don't settle on a house just to have one. This then introduces the third phase of the pull, Knight of Cups, where Force of Will is applied to Emtion, hopefully for the benefit of everyone involved.