John Everson's Blog, page 7

VIOLET EYES is featured on Amazon this weekend!

MY 7TH NOVEL Violet Eyes is on a Kindle Countdown Sale this weekend for just 99 cents!

Yesterday, because of the sale, it was featured on the BookBub e-book newsletter service and sold over 500 copies, which vaulted it into the the Amazon Bestsellers lists for Horror and Science Fiction. That’s always a great thing because then the book gets seen by more new readers who might decide to check it out. For about 24 hours it was the #1 Bestseller on the Amazon Science Fiction/Genetic Engineering chart:

It will remain on sale for a buck over the next couple days, so I’m hoping that lots of new readers will download it and discover my “creature feature” novel!

 

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Suspiria 2018 – Less Color, More Witches

I AM A HUGE FAN of Dario Argento’s 1977 film, Suspiria. So when I heard that director Luca Guadagnino was remaking it, I have to admit, I was not excited. Suspiria is one of those “crowning achievement” films. It’s a garishly gorgeous, if still flawed, work that did not need to be remade. Nevertheless, I had to see what they did to it and so last night, I went to the theater at 10 o’clock at night (the only showing) to see it at the end of its opening week. (I turned out to be one of 4 people in the theater too — so it was like a private showing!)

I approached the film with some trepidation in the opening minutes, and in the beginning, I had a grudging appreciation of what Guadagnino did with the material, but thought to myself, “interesting, but I won’t be rewatching this one as I do the original.”  It certainly does not supplant the original, but by the time I left the theater two and a half hours later, my opinion had changed and I wanted to see it again instantly.

The general plot is simple and follows the general arc of Argento’s original — a young innocent girl from America goes to Germany to join a famous dance academy led by a world renowned dancer. However, there is a secret coven of witches running the academy and they have plans for the students to bring fresh blood/life to one of the three great witches of the world — Mater Suspiriorum.

A study in contrasts

In Argento’s film, the focus is less on logical plot and all on the color and atmosphere and soundtrack (by Goblin) to bring a kaleidescopic dream feel of horror. The actual story of the witches is not deeply explored or explained and the initial “kills” owe a lot to the giallo genre that Argento made his original fame with.

In Guadagnino’s film, all the color is stripped away, bringing a completely different bleak mood to the story (the first introduction of any real color comes in the big dance performance, when all the dancers wear provocative ropes of red). The music is minimal (the plaintive theme is by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke) and in fact, there are dance numbers staged without any music at all (which lends an odd jerky visual feeling to them). The dance academy is a utilitarian highrise building (unlike the rich old world building in Argento’s version) and everything is filmed with a grey wintery caste. It constantly seems overcast and rainy, and the backstory of a politically divided Germany in 1977 with bombs going off in the streets intrudes on the mysterious goings-on at the academy.  The external political divide is reflected in the division between the witches of the Tanz Academy, who at one point stage a vote on who will continue to lead the house that is very narrow (and will play into the finale).

Dakota Johnson, as our heroine Susie Bannion, is amazing. Like Jessica Harper before her, she brings both an initial innocence imbued with stubborn strength to the role, but more quickly vaults from unknown quantity to “dance school star” in this version. The “blind pianist” role of the original film is discounted here. Instead, there is a wraparound subplot of an old psychiatrist who begins to investigate the academy because of one of his patients, a dancer who has reported what he initially thinks are delusions about the existence and dark plans of the company of witches. This subplot also provides a place for Jessica Harper to make a brief cameo.

In the new film, dance is actually an integral part of “spell” for the witches, an interesting conceit not explored in the original. And instead of using drugs to keep Susie “out of it” at night while the witches hold their ceremonies, in the new version, the witches use magic to invade the girls’ dreams — a more supportable approach, honestly, since it plays up the magic element going on in the academy more.

Where the magic misses…

There are missteps. For one, the film is way too long at two and a half hours — a full hour longer than the original film it pays homage to. And a lot of that extra hour feels like moody padding — material that ultimately lends very little to the story. The first half includes some really pointless backstory imagery of Susie’s past, and the night that Susie spends in an apartment outside of the dance academy is completely wasted time. (Argento’s original used an “off campus” segment for a gory kill scene. Here… it’s just minutes of exposition in an ugly room that doesn’t amount to much.) The Berlin Wall and Holocaust references brought in by the psychiatrist’s story really bring little to the plot, since the core of the story is internal. External setting adds nothing to the drama.

And while some of Argento’s “huh?” plot problems are fixed in this version, there is a new head-scratcher introduced for anyone who hasn’t seen the first version of the film. In the original, Suzy counts the footsteps that go past her room in the night and later, finds the “secret heart” of the school by following the direction of those steps and counting because she knew how many steps there were each night before they disappeared.  In the new film… it’s Sara who uses the counting of steps to find the inner secrets… however, we never see her counting footsteps going past her room prior to this, yet there is still a scene of her walking down a hall counting steps until she finds the room. If you haven’t seen the first film, that scene has no logical context — how does she know how many steps to count?

Divergence

The growing relationship between Susie and lead instructor Madame Blanc (in an excellent performance by Tilda Swinton, who actually covers three roles in the film I was later surprised to discover) departs from the original as Susie and Blanc form a strange alliance.

The last quarter of the film departs in a major way from the premise of the original film, which in some ways, gives this version its reason for being. My original feeling that Suspiria did not need to be remade stands. However, this isn’t a remake per se, but an alternative approach. In many ways, it tries to approach the source material from a different perspective. It focuses on the cold texture of the city and themes of feminine power over extravagantly choreographed kills (though there ultimately is plenty of blood in this film and one film is, in fact, choreographed).

Before seeing this film, I intentionally read literally nothing about it, and I’m glad I preserved my “innocence” that way. There are some key surprises of the film being readily talked about on the Internet, and I’m glad I was able to experience them with no foreknowledge (I’ve tried to stay general and not too give much away here.)

My bottom line? The new Suspiria does not replace or trump the old, but it is an interesting variation and approach to the same theme that is worth seeing. I’m looking forward to watching it again and catching some of the things I missed the first time around!

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Halloween 2018… A reading, a haunted house and the return of Horror Movie Night!

IT WAS A PRETTY awesome Halloween week. For the first time in years (maybe decades) I ended up so busy that we never carved pumpkins. While that was a bit of a bummer (because it means I also didn’t make pumpkin seeds, which I always do!) lots of cool stuff DID happen.

On Halloween (Wednesday) around 5 p.m., I did a live reading of the Prologue of The House By The Cemetery during a presentation on my “path” as a writer to the local Naperville, IL downtown Rotary Club. They were a wonderful, fun audience, and I met Nancy Quigley, the owner of Quigley’s, the local Irish Pub I frequently write at. That was an unexpected bit of “cool.”

Positively Naperville published a photo from the event, which also served to promote the Naperville Library event I did later in the week.

Off to the Haunted House!

After I left the Rotary, I stopped at Leo McNamee’s house in Naperville. Leo is a local horror movie effects maker and actor that I met this summer at Flashback Weekend.

He also happens to put on an elaborate haunted house every Halloween in his yard with tons of yard statues, fog, lights and some marauding ghouls. He’s been featured in the media for his elaborate setup and the trick-or-treaters love it.

Naperville has a “haunts” trolley that takes people around to notable Halloween-decorated houses in October and not surprisingly, the trolley makes a stop at Leo’s every day of the season so riders can see this must-stop spot. (I watched one stop the night I was there and throngs got out to marvel at the dozens of creepy statues (and fog and live costumed haunts).

I had a beer with Leo and got a tour of his props molding basement studio (I did go in the basement… and I got out alive!)

Naperville Library Local Author Day

On Saturday, I spent the afternoon at the Naperville Library Local Authors Day. The library invited a number of authors to set up tables to show off, sell and sign their books for the afternoon, and also staged two panels with some of the authors.

I got to catch up with Brian Pinkerton there and served on a panel about writing with Raymond Benson, Sonali Dev and Tracy Townsend. (Apparently I was searching the sky for an answer to one of the panel questions in this photo).

Almost-Annual Everson Halloween Movie Night!

After the Local Author Day, I headed home to finish preparing for Halloween Movie Night, an almost annual event I’ve staged for my friends for nearly two decades. I’d actually put a brisket on the smoker on my patio at 2 a.m. that morning after watching a movie and then a pork roast at 8 a.m., so there was meat slowly cooking all day long at my house on Saturday.

For movie night, I always put together a “menu” of films, which everyone then votes on via e-mail. Everything is ranked, so we end up with the movies that truly garnered the most of the popular vote. This year A Quiet Place and Popcorn won the votes, so we enjoyed a modern film and an (almost) ’80s classic, thanks to the steelbox edition from Synapse Films. Popcorn was actually released in 1991, but features several actors you’ll recognize from the ’80s, with a kitschy plot to boot.

We also ate a ton of food — including some fried rats that my friend Lon brought (stuffed deep-fried jalapenos) and played some pinball!

Here are a few more photos of the ghouls in Leo’s yard:

 

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Halloween 2018… A reading, a haunted house and the return of Horror Movie Night!

IT WAS A PRETTY awesome Halloween week. For the first time in years (maybe decades) I ended up so busy that we never carved pumpkins. While that was a bit of a bummer (because it means I also didn’t make pumpkin seeds, which I always do!) lots of cool stuff DID happen.

On Halloween (Wednesday) around 5 p.m., I did a live reading of the Prologue of The House By The Cemetery during a presentation on my “path” as a writer to the local Naperville, IL downtown Rotary Club. They were a wonderful, fun audience, and I met Nancy Quigley, the owner of Quigley’s, the local Irish Pub I frequently write at. That was an unexpected bit of “cool.”

Positively Naperville published a photo from the event, which also served to promote the Naperville Library event I did later in the week.

Off to the Haunted House!

After I left the Rotary, I stopped at Leo McNamee’s house in Naperville. Leo is a local horror movie effects maker and actor that I met this summer at Flashback Weekend.

He also happens to put on an elaborate haunted house every Halloween in his yard with tons of yard statues, fog, lights and some marauding ghouls. He’s been featured in the media for his elaborate setup and the trick-or-treaters love it.

Naperville has a “haunts” trolley that takes people around to notable Halloween-decorated houses in October and not surprisingly, the trolley makes a stop at Leo’s every day of the season so riders can see this must-stop spot. (I watched one stop the night I was there and throngs got out to marvel at the dozens of creepy statues (and fog and live costumed haunts).

I had a beer with Leo and got a tour of his props molding basement studio (I did go in the basement… and I got out alive!)

Naperville Library Local Author Day

On Saturday, I spent the afternoon at the Naperville Library Local Authors Day. The library invited a number of authors to set up tables to show off, sell and sign their books for the afternoon, and also staged two panels with some of the authors.

I got to catch up with Brian Pinkerton there and served on a panel about writing with Raymond Benson, Sonali Dev and Tracy Townsend. (Apparently I was searching the sky for an answer to one of the panel questions in this photo).

Almost-Annual Everson Halloween Movie Night!

After the Local Author Day, I headed home to finish preparing for Halloween Movie Night, an almost annual event I’ve staged for my friends for nearly two decades. I’d actually put a brisket on the smoker on my patio at 2 a.m. that morning after watching a movie and then a pork roast at 8 a.m., so there was meat slowly cooking all day long at my house on Saturday.

For movie night, I always put together a “menu” of films, which everyone then votes on via e-mail. Everything is ranked, so we end up with the movies that truly garnered the most of the popular vote. This year A Quiet Place and Popcorn won the votes, so we enjoyed a modern film and an (almost) ’80s classic, thanks to the steelbox edition from Synapse Films. Popcorn was actually released in 1991, but features several actors you’ll recognize from the ’80s, with a kitschy plot to boot.

We also ate a ton of food — including some fried rats that my friend Lon brought (stuffed deep-fried jalapenos) and played some pinball!

Here are a few more photos of the ghouls in Leo’s yard:

 

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The House By The Cemetery Book Tour – a coming home

IT’S BEEN AN amazing couple of weeks for me while I have done a series of book signing events for The House By The Cemetery! I already wrote about the launch party at Bucket ‘O Blood Books that kicked things off. But since then, I’ve also signed at my local Barnes & Noble store in Naperville, IL (the first time in a decade that I’ve signed there!), the Vogt Woods Visual Arts Center in Tinley Park (my hometown) and the Barnes & Noble in Orland Park, IL (the closest bookstore to Bachelors Grove Cemetery, where the novel is set). Every event has been special for several reasons.

Naperville B&N:

On October 20, I spent the afternoon at Barnes & Noble in Naperville. The last time I signed there, I was promoting the mass market paperback edition of Covenant, my first novel… so… it’s been a long while! The day before the signing, I was on the Mackay in the Morning show on 95.9 FM, and that interview brought in a couple horror fans who I really enjoyed talking with. Here’s a recording of the interview:

http://www.johneverson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/River-95-9-The-River10-19-18-edit.mp3

 

Then a couple of friends that I haven’t seen in many years now drove in and spent a good chunk of the afternoon with us (Geri and Shaun were there too). So it was a reunion with old friends and the store.

Tinley Park – Vogt Visual Arts Center

On October 25th, I did a discussion, reading and signing at the Vogt Visual Arts Center in Tinley Park, IL. The Center has been hosting a month-long “art of Bachelors Grove” exhibit, so it was the perfect place to hold an event for The House By The Cemetery. Thanks to the art show organizers, the FOX TV interview and Daily Southtown article about the book, a good bunch of people came out, including two of my high school classmates and my high school guidance counselor who used to drive me to high school from Tinley.

I did an interview with the Tinley Junction to start the event and then I talked more about the book before doing a live reading of the Prologue. I had some great conversations about the history of the cemetery with photos of the place all around us — there was even a photo of the family who once lived in the house that is likely the fabled “ghost house” of the cemetery (which became the setting of my novel — though in my novel, the house is not a ghost, but is really there.)

 

Orland Park – B&N

“Back in the day” I used to sign in Orland Park all the time — but at the Borders store across the street from the B&N — so I was really excited to get the chance to sign in that store this time around. And, despite the odd juxtaposition of a music student recital in the middle of the 2nd floor of the store (for a time they completely blocked out the area and nobody could even see there was a signing going on!) it turned out to be one of my most successful signings! The local media and Vogt Visual Arts Center event brought out lots of people interested in Bachelors Grove Cemetery… and some more of my old friends from high school turned up to boot.

It was a super busy time — four signings in two weeks, but also a great time to reconnect with lots of old friends and fans, and hopefully some people picked up the book who will enjoy it and become “old friends” in the future.

Now I’m getting ready for the finale — Halloween is tomorrow! I’ll be speaking at the local Rotary Club at the end of the day, and then serving on a panel on writing at the Naperville Library on Saturday. And then… it’s November somehow — and time to dig in hard to finish writing the next novel!

 

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HOUSE Book Tour – a coming home…

IT’S BEEN AN amazing couple of weeks for me while I have done a series of book signing events for The House By The Cemetery!  I already wrote about the launch party at Bucket ‘O Blood Books that kicked things off. But since then, I’ve also signed at my local Barnes & Noble store in Naperville, IL (the first time in a decade that I’ve signed there!), the Vogt Woods Visual Arts Center in Tinley Park (my hometown) and the Barnes & Noble in Orland Park, IL (the closest bookstore to Bachelors Grove Cemetery, where the novel is set). Every event has been special for several reasons.

Naperville B&N:

On October 20, I spent the afternoon at Barnes & Noble in Naperville. The last time I signed there, I was promoting the mass market paperback edition of Covenant, my first novel… so… it’s been a long while! The day before the signing, I was on the Mackay in the Morning show on 95.9 FM, and that interview brought in a couple horror fans who I really enjoyed talking with. Here’s a recording of the interview:

http://www.johneverson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/River-95-9-The-River10-19-18-edit.mp3

 

Then a couple of friends that I haven’t seen in many years now drove in and spent a good chunk of the afternoon with us (Geri and Shaun were there too).  So it was a reunion with old friends and the store.

 

Tinley Park – Vogt Visual Arts Center

On October 25th, I did a discussion, reading and signing at the Vogt Visual Arts Center in Tinley Park, IL. The Center has been hosting a month-long “art of Bachelors Grove” exhibit, so it was the perfect place to hold an event for The House By The Cemetery.  Thanks to the art show organizers, the FOX TV interview and Daily Southtown article about the book, a good bunch of people came out, including two of my high school classmates and my high school guidance counselor who used to drive me to high school from Tinley.

I did an interview with the Tinley Junction to start the event and then I talked more about the book before doing a live reading of the Prologue. I had some great conversations about the history of the cemetery with photos of the place all around us — there was even a photo of the family who once lived in the house that is likely the fabled “ghost house” of the cemetery (which became the setting of my novel — though in my novel, the house is not a ghost, but is really there.)

 

 

Orland Park – B&N

“Back in the day” I used to sign in Orland Park all the time — but at the Borders store across the street from the B&N —  so I was really excited to get the chance to sign in that store this time around. And, despite the odd juxtaposition of a music student recital in the middle of the 2nd floor of the store (for a time they completely blocked out the area and nobody could even see there was a signing going on!) it turned out to be one of my most successful signings! The local media and Vogt Visual Arts Center event brought out lots of people interested in Bachelors Grove Cemetery… and some more of my old friends from high school turned up to boot.

It was a super busy time — four signings in two weeks, but also a great time to reconnect with lots of old friends and fans, and hopefully some people picked up the book who will enjoy it and become “old friends” in the future.

Now I’m getting ready for the finale — Halloween is tomorrow!  I’ll be speaking at the local Rotary Club at the end of the day, and then serving on a panel on writing at the Naperville Library on Saturday. And then… it’s November somehow — and time to dig in hard to finish writing the next novel!

 

 

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Suspiria in 4K: Haunting Beauty in Horror

THERE HAS NEVER been a horror movie more beautifully shot than Suspiria.

There has never been a release of Suspiria more beautifully realized than Synapse Films’ 4K remaster of the film.

The film’s power has always been all about the color and the lighting, and the Synapse edition brings out the power of those elements like no previous release. The Blu-Ray is sharp, crisp and eye-poppingly colorful. Suspiria looks like it was shot using exclusively blue, green and red spotlights — everything about the movie is drenched in primary colors… and they’ve never been more vibrant than in the Synapse release.

But if you’ve never seen Suspiria, at this point you’re saying… okay, great, it looks wonderful but… what is it? What’s all the fuss?

Suspiria is a 1977 film by Dario Argento, an Italian film critic turned writer/director — in the late ’60s he helped with the screenplay for Sergio Leone’s Western classic Once Upon a Time in the West before making his name in the early ’70s directing a series of giallo films (murder mysteries with black-gloved killers that would inspire the later American slasher subgenre).  After he hooked up with actress Daria Nicolodi on his 1975 film Deep Red, his films began to grow more supernatural in scope (she’s credited with influencing that move) and she co-wrote the screenplay for Suspiria, which would become widely regarded as Argento’s masterpiece.

“Suzy, do you know anything about… witches?”

That question to Suzy mid-way through the film is the key to unlocking the heart of the film.  Because, there are dark and magical things going on in this ancient place that Suzy finds herself in. The story has a fairly simple premise… and in fact, a narrator gives us the setup in monologue over the opening:

“Suzy Bannion decided to perfect her ballet studies in the most famous school of dance in Europe. She chose the celebrated academy of Freiburg. One day, at nine in the morning, she left Kennedy airport, New York, and arrived in Germany at 10:40 p.m. local time…”

Suzy, (played with wide-eyed perfection by Jessica Harper), arrives at the German dance school late at night in the midst of a storm. In the opening scene, as she leaves the airport, we witness her move from one world to another… as she exits the terminal to find a taxi, the wind rips open the door and the rain outside blasts her with chaotic power. She has moved from the orderly civilization and lights of the airport, to the wild darkness that will shortly impact her life at the dance school. It’s a symbolic and visually striking crossover from her old life to the strange new place.

She even tells the cab driver that she’s going to Escher Strasse — a street named after M.C. Escher, the famous artist of impossible geometry. The film that follows is like an Escher drawing, filled with strange twists and impossible perspectives. It’s a maze not meant to be fully unraveled.

Once at the dance school (a wildly striking red building) Suzy is turned away at the door by a voice on the intercom just after another girl exits the school and runs out into the storm. When Suzy returns the next day, she finds that the girl she saw leaving the school in the storm has been murdered (in one of the most dramatic death scenes ever — she is stabbed and falls through a ceiling of stained glass to hang.)

We quickly are introduced to bitchy, catty classmates, a seemingly sadistic head dance instructor and a “debutante” head mistress. And some dour-looking institution staff. While at first Suzy is told that she must room with a student off-campus, shortly thereafter, the headmistress wants her to return, having found her a room. When she rejects the offer, wishing to stay off campus with her new roommate, she finds herself under the “evil eye” of some of the school’s staff and soon she gets inexplicably sick and collapses. Her bags are brought back to the school and her independence is summarily ended.

After a creepy maggot scare (with the creatures falling into the girls’ hair from the ceiling thanks to rotting meat in the attic), the disappearance of her roommate and the death of a man who runs afoul with the dance instructor, Suzy realizes that she is being drugged to keep her in bed during the night. When she decides to thwart the drug and follow the path of the strange nocturnal steps in the hallways, she comes face to face with the dark force hiding at the core of the school.

Suspiria is ultimately a dark fairy tale (it’s said that Argento used the dark forest and witches motifs of Snow White as a model). From the garish lighting to the dramatic deaths to the witch at the center of the web, it’s a film that works not because of intricate plot, but because of camera angles and lighting and a sort of weird “dream logic” which cares more about making things look creepy than deeply explaining much about the “secret world” we’re given a glimpse of. The result is a dream — a nightmare — captured perfectly on technicolor. It’s a rich and beautiful film like no other.

As an aside, it also has one of the best taglines ever written: “The only thing more terrifying than the last 12 minutes of this film are the first 92.” I’m not sure if that’s exactly true, but it’s a great sell line!

The soundtrack should also be mentioned. The theme by the band Goblin (who Argento would work with on several films) is incredibly eerie and evocative. It really completes the vision by adding an aural color as distinct as the reds and blues of the lighting.

I saw Goblin perform the theme song live in Chicago last year. It’s one of the most haunting themes for a horror movie ever written, and has inspired many imitations over the past 40 years.

If you’ve never heard it, take a listen here:

A Halloween Dream like no other…

If you’ve never seen Suspiria… do yourself a favor and turn the lights down so that Argento can bathe you in his own vision of reds and greens and blues.

If you’ve seen it in the past, do yourself a favor and watch the Synapse blu-ray. It looks better than any version you’ve ever seen before. There are actually some really cool snapshot comparisons of other DVD releases scene by scene paired up with the Synapse edition on DVD Beaver and you can see the dramatic difference.  I have been a fan of the film since the first time I saw it… but I’ve watched the Synapse edition three times over the past year. I become even more of a fan with every viewing.

Grab it directly from Synapse or buy it on Amazon, but if you’re a fan of classic horror cinema, you need to own this edition.

Suspiria is a film like no other. And now, 40 years after its original release, it’s never looked better!

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THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY Book Release Party

WHERE BETTER TO HOLD a book launch party for a horror novel than a store called Bucket O’ Blood Books and Records? On Thursday, October 11, 2018, that’s exactly where I held mine! Bucket O’ Blood is a very cool used and new books and records and DVDs store in Chicago and they agreed to host the first booksigning stop for my new novel The House By The Cemetery.

I actually did signings and readings at Bucket O’ Blood several years ago when they were in a different location and under different management. In fact, the old store is how I discovered my favorite Chicago brewery and IPA — a fledgling Revolution Brewing Company was just a couple doors down from the original location, and I used to stop in there after events.  So I was really pleased to find that the new incarnation of the Bucket O’ Blood store is just as cool (and a lot larger!) than the last.

And… I discovered another cool beer and burger place while I was in the neighborhood… but more on that in a bit.

 

I read the prologue of the novel as well as part of a later chapter, since Lon Czarnecki came out — Lon is an old friend who has watched many horror films with me… and thus has a character named after him in the book. So I read a portion of a chapter that his character appears in. Some other friends and fans stopped in as well, and we had a great chat about the book and writing and more after the reading.

I brought a cooler of Pabst Blue Ribbon, not because I drink the stuff, but because the lead character of the book, Mike Kostner does, and so I thought it would put a bit more “party” in the “launch party”. I didn’t know if anyone would drink the stuff… but actually, we put a pretty good dent in the cooler before the night was over!

It was a great night, and a perfect location… the place where I sat to do my reading and discussion was in the midst of a bunch of old science fiction paperbacks from Hal Clement, Isaac Asimov, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Poul Anderson, Keith Laumer, Charles Eric Maine and more, many of which I own (and which influenced me to become a writer). So it was like sitting among old friends while talking to friends.

After the event, I packed up the car but instead of hitting the road, I walked over to a place I’ve always wanted to try. Kuma’s Corner is a punk rock burger bar in Chicago that has a great reputation for amazing burgers… and I saw when I parked for the signing that it was just a block away. Seeing as I hadn’t had a chance to have dinner before the event… I made a beeline to Kuma’s afterwards. And they didn’t disappoint! I had a spicy Pantera burger and a Three Floyds ale while watching Nightmare On Elm Street 5 on the bar TV. A perfect end to a great horror night.

Huge thanks to the store for hosting me, and everyone who came out!

It was a great start to a month that also includes signings at the Barnes & Noble stores in Naperville and Orland Park and the Vogt Visual Arts Center in Tinley Park! (View the Appearances page for details on those).

Here are a few pictures from my personal “after party” at Kuma’s:

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It’s… THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY Blog Tour!

IT’S OCTOBER. In just a few days, my 10th novel, The House By The Cemetery will finally be released and available at bookstores everywhere! To spread the word, my publisher, Flame Tree Press, has set up a blog tour running over the next week. Follow along and check each stop out. I’ll add the links to each stop to this as they go live:

October 2:  Not Another Book Blogger

October 3: Donna’s Book Blog

October 4: Where The Reader Grows

October 5: Katie’s Book Cave

October 6: ZooLoo’s Book Blog

October 7: Don Jimmy Reviews

October 8: E Bookwyrm’s BlogCave

October 9: Grab This Book

October 10: What Emma Read Next

 

 

 

 

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A big cruel world… and a hard lesson. Goodbye B.B.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, was just like any Saturday. I ran up to the store to get some groceries, and after unloading, I went to take a full bag of garbage out to the garage. And a second later, life took one of those forks in the road that you can’t ever turn back from. As I stepped down into the garage with the bag, our baby parakeet, B.B., shot like an arrow from the cage on the other side of the room and flew right over my head… and out the open garage door.

I dropped the bag and ran down the driveway and across the street after her, tracking her to a tree across our court. She wasn’t too high and my wife Geri brought me a chair. I slowly stood up and reached up to offer her my hand…. and she took off again.

She’s only had her wing feathers grown in enough to fly for a couple weeks, so I was hoping that she’d tire quickly and end up landing low – just flying across the court was a long way! But it was a windy day and she rode the currents fast. She disappeared around the neighbor’s house and landed much higher in a dead tree.

It took a couple minutes for us to spot her… and then I ran back for a ladder. I climbed it and looked at her, urging her to come to me. But I couldn’t reach her and she didn’t budge. So then I ran back home for another long ladder. The super heavy extension roof ladder.

But she launched into the air again before I could get near her.

Neighbors were now helping in the hunt and I tracked her to another yard off the court behind ours and dragged the heavy ladder there (my shoulders and legs still hurt two days later from the frantic running and lugging) but once again, she bolted before I could reach her.  And this time… I lost what direction she flew in. It didn’t look like she’d left the tree because I lost sight of her at the end leaves… but… we spent the next hour and a half walking all around that yard and the adjoining ones, staring up into trees. Whistling for her. I went home again and got binoculars to scan the branches better.

After a couple hours of searching, I finally had to give up and admit she was gone. She might have been blocks away by that point, and there was no way to find her.

I walked that court a couple more times that night and the next day, and left her cage out on the driveway yesterday, in case she was nearby and spotted a familiar thing to call her home. But she didn’t come. And I haven’t heard her chirps in the neighborhood when I’ve walked and whistled.

I can’t stop thinking about how lost and alone she must have been, once the instinctual joy of free flight wore off. No easy food or water. No comfy perch. No cockatiel nearby to call to and mimic. With very little experience flying, and no experience foraging, she is very likely dead already — picked off by a predator in a weakened state. Unless someone found her and took her in, she will be soon if she’s not now.

It’s a horrible lesson of never abandoning caution with your pets. We got lazy. I never used to open the inner garage door if the outer one was open. But we haven’t had a parakeet barnstorming the room since Boomer died six months ago. And BB had only just begun starting to fly. In fact, before Saturday, she really only had flown over to the cockatiel’s cage. Our 30+ years of “door caution” hadn’t started kicking back in yet.

We didn’t have her long — just over four months. But my heart is heavy. There are things in life that you can’t undo, no matter how much you want to. And it takes a long time for those things to leave your mind. I pray that she found a new human friend who took her in. Failing that, I pray that her end is/was quick and she doesn’t spend days in misery out there.

I’ve been hugging my other three birds close the past two days, but it doesn’t make up for the one that’s lost. The one that I couldn’t save.

Goodbye, baby bird.  I didn’t know you long, but you were rambunctious, playful and sweet. You worked your way into my heart faster and deeper than I realized until the past 48 hours. I’ll miss ya.

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