Possibly It's Time to Get Back to Using This Thing

The Writer's Washroom has been around for about a decade, and it saw regular use for about three years, irregular use for the lion's share of the time, and pretty much misuse and neglect for the last couple.

I have not treated it well. With Facebook as much of a player as it is when dealing with expressing one's news, opinions, thoughts, and pictures of cute animals, blogs are pretty much nothing anymore.

Yet a few people keep them. After discussing politics on my FB page a week or so ago and realizing that there is no way I will ever stop being political on Facebook, I'm trying to think about how to tweak things.

I do believe that politics are important, and I have no interest in segregating my writing life from my personal beliefs. I also have no interest right now in starting a separate author page because I don't want to maintain two FB presences.

And why not remind you that this anthology is still available?

(I'm even, as impossible as it is to consider, thinking about blowing the dust off the ol' Twitter account and seeing if it still works. Yes, this does have a lot to do with the previously-mentioned Diabolical Plots' upcoming publication of "Beldame." If a website does a lot of its promotion through Twitter, it makes sense to utilize it. Diabolical Plots has a large Twitter base, and fans of theirs might become fans of mine.)

Sorry for the fragmented feel of this post; I actually wrote it over a couple of days, unsure as to what I was saying, let alone doing.

I guess I'm going to try this out again and see if an "old-school" blog has a purpose. I promise to keep it free of politics. I'm also going to do my darnedest to keep it clean(ish). One other thing. Since this is about writing, I think I'm going to post reviews of things I read here. I'm not going to review everything I read--mostly because I don't have time to read much, unless it's for class--but I'm going to try to review everything I read in my genres.

I'm going to post this to Facebook... maybe to Twitter... and see if I get any response from the social media platforms.

Please do me a favor: if you come here from a link at one of those sites, would you let me know either here or there with a comment? I'd like to see if there is anything to this experiment.

Thank you!

"California Screamin'" is Out!

Sweet, sweet anthology goodness.

Happy Halloween! It is with great pleasure that I announce that the California Screamin' anthology from Barking Deer Press is now out and it's available.

Coincidentally, it happens to have one of my short stories in it, a tender little ditty called "O For a Muse of Fire."

This story, which began as a class project at Southwestern College and got the Full Danielle (Kaheaku) Editorial Treatment, is a close look at obsession, love, sex, and creativity in a small Cali beach town.

So... very much like real life, yeah.

Seeing how I love doing this, let me share the TOC with you. This is a damn fine read.

"Between the Dreams and Screams" (poem) by Lori R. Lopez
"An Introduction" by Jonathan Maberry
"The Dark Watchers" by E.S. Magill
"Agency Cost" by Aaron C. Smith
"The Mount of Death" by Kevin David Anderson
"The Perfect Playground" by Chad Stroup
"Manananggal" by Billy San Juan
"Feed Your Muse" by R.W. Goldsmith
"Bumming Smokes" by Brian Asman
"Kenneth is Drowning" by James Jensen
"Feast of the Goddesses" by K.C. Grifant
"June Gloom" by Kevin Wetmore
"Hidden Depths" by Alexandra Neumeister
"O For a Muse of Fire" by Nickolas Furr
"In the River" by Jean Graham
"Eyes of the Salton Sea" by Sarah Read

Pick up a copy at Amazon and enjoy!

Short Story, "O For a Muse of Fire" to be Published in California Screamin' Anthology

I am happy to announce that my short story, "O For a Muse of Fire," will be published in an upcoming anthology by Barking Deer Press entitled California Screamin'. For this themed anthology, all the stories are sent in, and about California.

Though many members of the San Diego chapter of Horror Writers Association are involved, this is not an HWA project. It is independent.

I'd also like to announce that this short story began as a project for a mass media class at Southwestern College, taught by the inestimable Max Branscomb, whom some of you might remember as the publisher/advisor of the Southwestern College Sun newspaper. It makes me feel good to know that this story will see daylight soon.

More details as I know them.