Stephen Mark Rainey's Blog, page 6

"The Devil of Transylvania County" to Appear in MYTHS REBORN

I'm pleased to announce that my short story, "The Devil of Transylvania County," will be appearing in the upcoming October Nights Press anthology, Myths Reborn: Modern Tales of Cryptids & Dark Folklore . It's a story of wild and wacky things that happen to some unsuspecting fellows on a fishing outing in Transylvania County, NC. More details will follow soon. You can visit the October Nights Press website here , or their Facebook page here . There aren't any additional details about the book posted currently, but I'm sure it shan't be long.
A little excerpt from "The Devil of Transylvania County" for you:

"From a slow, swirling eddy of weblike mist, something was making its way toward him: a dark, loping shape at least as large as a man. No; as it drew nearer, he realized the thing had to be taller and heavier than the largest man that ever walked the earth. A pair of eyes, like emeralds lit by an inner fire, glared back at him..."

Where There's Smoke...

I spent yesterday morning geocaching in Kernersville, NC, with friendDiefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), followed by an excellent lunch at Don Juan's , one of my longtime favorite Mexican restaurants. Brugger was returning froman artsy-craftsy event in Hickory, NC, so after I parted company with Scott, sheand I barged in on our friends Terry & Beth at their Kernersville home. Wedowned plentiful wine and tapas, enjoyed some time in their hot tub, and thenspent a good hour on their back porch watching a huge column of black smokeerupting from some point about a mile from their house. We learned later that itcame from a fire at OmniSource , a scrap metal recycling center, and as of this writing, it's contained butnot fully extinguished. The wind carried the smoke column away from ourlocation, but it could seen from I-77 in Fancy Gap, Virginia, about fifty milesnorth-northwest. One firefighter was injured, but there are thankfully no reports of anyothers, as far as I know.
In an altogether happier vein, The House at Black Tooth Pond has been getting a decent amount of love, which pleases me no end. Last week, Iwas a guest on two different podcasts, courtesy of authorsRick Kleffel and Bryan Nowak; of course I will post links to themwhen they go live.

A few excerpts from recent reviews:
"The House at Black Tooth Pond is a great read for lovers of small town horror, cosmic horror, and police procedurals. I enjoyed the combination of these subgenres..."—Rebecca Cuthbert

"Rainey is one of a handful of writers who can give you the supernatural, the cosmic, and the eldritch terror in carefully measured doses that intoxicate you their simple cleverness and their absolute dread. Lovecraft would be proud. So keep the lights on while you read..."—John M. Cozzoli ( The HorrorZine )

"The House at Black Tooth Pond climaxes into a beautiful, (you know what I mean) cosmic 'Holy Crow, Are You Kidding Me?,' finale that's completely satisfying. Highly recommended.—Alice Loweecy

"Stephen Mark Rainey returns to haunted Sylvan County, Virginia, with this slow-burn weird tale in the tradition of H.P. Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, TED Klein, Twin Peaks, and maybe even The Trollenberg Terror..."—Joe Maddrey
Speaking of Ms. Cuthbert, who was kind enough to give Black Tooth Pond a nice review, I found her collection, The Six o'Clock House & Other Strange Tales , a most engaging read, with several tales that I found superlative (my review is live at Goodreads ; still pending on Amazon). She is also an accomplished graphic artist, and very kindly created a nice promo graphic for Black Tooth Pond that I am more than happy to use and share. Thank you, Rebecca!
I've started listening to the audiobook of friend/author Scott Thomas's 2017 novel, Kill Creek . Several chapters in, I'm enjoying it very much. The narration by Bernard Setaro Clark is smooth and engaging. Will give this one a full review when I'm done.
Till next time...

Despite All the Turmoil and Gloom...

It's a beautiful spring day, so I took a bunch of photos while I was on my morning walk (four and a half miles today). It was a bit breezy, and several little cyclones picked up piles of pollen and slapped me across the face, which resulted in a sneezing fit or two. It's a bit overcast, so the colors in the photos didn't come out as brilliant as they might had it been sunny, but I expect you get the picture.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled doom and gloom.

Cache In, Trash Out in Browns Summit

Geocaching is not solely about hunting hidden containers and scribbling your moniker on a log sheet. Geocaching is intended to be an environmentally friendly activity, so, in keeping with that concept, geocachers periodically get together at what's known as CITO ("Cache In, Trash Out") events, where the focus is on cleaning up litter.
As they do each year, friends Tom & Linda (a.k.a. Skyhawk63 & Punkins19) hosted a CITO event this morning near their place in Browns Summit, NC, along a stretch of rural road that they adopted in honor of Tom's parents. I got up early and headed down to the event ("Bud & Ann Memorial CITO Spring 2025") where a fair number of geocachers were gathering to attack trash. For the next hour and a half, we scoured a mile-long stretch of the roadway, which passes through a lovely section of forest along the Haw River. By the time we were done, one would have been hard-pressed to find a speck of garbage along there with a magnifying glass.
To cap off the morning's work, Tom & Linda then hosted alunch event ("Post-CITO Lagagna Fest—Yum!) at their place, featuring Linda's fantastic homemade lasagna. Afterward, friend Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott) and I set our sights on a bunch of new geocaches around Reidsville, which we knocked out during the rest of the afternoon. A good, productive time from start to finish. The CITO event was long-planned, and I'm glad I took part in it; however, I was sad to miss the local "Hands Off!" protest, as many folks of my acquaintance attended them around the country. I applaud everyone who turned out for these important—and peaceful—protests, as Trump's executive power has gotten far enough out of hand to frighten to anyone who reveres the United States Constitution. MAGAts sure as hell don't, and it's way past time to see a change.

DISTANT EARLY WARNING ALERT! Booksigning at Magnolia & Main Books, Ridgeway, VA, May 17, 2025

Our little corner of southwest Virginia has a small but well-stocked and beautifully appointed bookshop called Magnolia & Main Books , which you can find—perhaps shockingly!—at the corner of Magnolia and Main Streets in Ridgeway, Virginia. The proprietor, Traci Morton, loves books, her business, and actively supporting local writers. Last year, she hosted a booksigning for me, which turned out to be well attended and profitable for both her business and me ( see "Books, Brews, and Bashes," July 21, 2024 ). 
I'll be doing another signing at Magnolia & Main from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 17. I'll have a wide selection of my books available, especially The House at Black Tooth Pond , which is set in a fictional version of this area (and you can read the starred Publishers Weekly review here ).
If you're local, please pay Magnolia & Main Books a visit!

DISTANT EARLY WARNING ALERT!Booksigning at Magnolia & Main Books, Ridgeway, VA, May 17, 2025

Our little corner of southwest Virginia has a small but well-stocked and beautifully appointed bookshop called Magnolia & Main Books , which you can find—perhaps shockingly!—at the corner of Magnolia and Main Streets in Ridgeway, Virginia. The proprietor, Traci Morton, loves books, her business, and actively supporting local writers. Last year, she hosted a booksigning for me, which turned out to be well attended and profitable for both her business and me ( see "Books, Brews, and Bashes," July 21, 2024 ). 
I'll be doing another signing at Magnolia & Main from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 17. I'll have a wide selection of my books available, especially The House at Black Tooth Pond , which is set in a fictional version of this area (and you can read the starred Publishers Weekly review here ).
If you're local, please pay Magnolia & Main Books a visit!

Scares That Care—AuthorCon V Wrap-Up

Friday, March 28, 2025
This morning, Brugger and I rose with the sun (well, almost); clambered into the Rodan Mobile, which I had packed up last night; and set forth for Scares That Care—AuthorCon V in Williamsburg, VA. With stops for a few geocaches, pees, and lunch (at Indian Fields Tavern in Charles City, VA, which is one of my favorite taverns on Earth), the trip took about five and a half hours. Happily, traffic was relatively light, we encountered only a small amount of road construction, and the weather turned out nice. A generally stress-free drive, which doesn't happen often.  I had packed several boxes of books for my table, and once we disembarked at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton Williamsburg , we had our work cut out for us setting things up. After a while, the table looked as you see it in the photo above, which I figure is pretty respectable.  Opening ceremonies began at 3:00 p.m., with the usual introduction of the Scares That Care board of directors and awards presentations. At 4:00, the vendor rooms opened up. My table occupied a very good, highly visible position in the promenade area, just outside the main ballroom/dealer's room doors. Business picked up almost at once, and I sold a passel of books in the first couple of hours. Come the dinner hour, things slowed down a bit. The hotel had a convenient food bar just outside the convention area, so rather than go out for foodz, I partook of some very expensive chicken wings, which I fear were fair at best.  Things stayed slow for a while, but not long before closing time—9 p.m.—business picked up, and books went flying off the table; mostly copies of The House at Black Tooth Pond and West Virginia: Lair of the Mothman . After the con closed for the night, Ms. B. and I made a supply run at the nearby Food Lion. And then...Scotch with Dansky. That's Richard Dansky, author and connoisseur of ye Scottish spirits. A veritable horde of thirsty souls descended upon his room at 11 p.m. to partake of Scotch and a variety of cheeses. I donated a partial bottle of Johnnie Walker Island Green, which I'd picked up at the duty-free shop on the Liberty of the Seas when we were on our Caribbean cruise a little while back. As you might guess, the spirits and company proved incredibly intoxicating. Old dude and Tim Waggoner With Maurice Broaddus Valerie Williams and Ms. B. share
similar tastes in T-shirts
Saturday, March 29, 2025
It was nice that we had a coffeemaker in our room, but hardly surprisingly, thehotel-supplied coffee didn't exactly hit on all cylinders. At 10:00 a.m., thedealer's area opened, so when I went down, I grabbed some honest-to-Yog coffeefrom the little shop on the main floor. Costly but good. I ended up revisitingthe shop several times during the day because... coffee.
  To be sure, there were numerous moments of hustle and bustle during the day, but many of us observed that the crowd appeared smaller than usual. Still, I sold several books and spent some quality time (at least for me) bending the ears of friends/authors Garrett Boatman, Maurice Broaddus, Rebecca Cuthbert, Mike Deady, Tom Deady, Christopher Golden, Scott Goudsward, Justin Holley, Tom Lucas, Sirrah Medeiros, Rob Smales, David Simms, Tim Waggoner, Sidney Williams, Valerie B. Williams, and lots of other folks. When I took a walk around the hotel complex to get in my requisite daily step count, I noted that there was plenty of parking available. In the past, the lots stayed full day in and day out; today, the rear lot was largely empty, which again led me to conclude that attendance this year is down from the past couple.

At 3:30 p.m., I had a reading with Rich Dansky. I read a chapter from The House at Black Tooth Pond and Rich read one of his new, as-yet-unpublished tales. His was solid gold, I can assure you. The attendees threw nothing at either of us, so I call that a success.

For dinner, Ms. B. and I wandered over to The Whaling Company , a nearby seafood restaurant we'd visited last year. A couple of excellent martinis, a load of steamed clams, and platter of fried cod with cole slaw and potatoes about did me in (in the best way possible). Great service as well, so I give this place top marks.  We headed back to the hotel and settled at the bar, where we encountered numerous acquaintances and fiends. Had nice conversations with authors Kenzie Jennings and Valerie Williams and the convention's jack-of-all-trades, Jake Lerner. There might have been additional drink involved, but I can't be entirely sure, which would suggest—suggest, I assure you—that maybe there was.

And then... nighty night.
Sunday, March 30, 2025
I woke up early and realized that the suggestion that I might have over-imbibed last night had some merit. So, I immediately headed to the coffee shop downstairs and fueled up. The morning makeover took a while, but by the time the vendor area opened, I was back in top form (meaning I could walk and almost talk). Oftentimes at cons, Sundays are pretty dead but with occasional peaks as book buyers have a last hurrah with their remaining funds. That very thing happened this morning, and I moved a bunch more books—almost as many as all day yesterday. The room was open till 3:00 p.m., and I might have sold a few more, but Brugger and I wanted to hit the road before so we wouldn't be very late getting home. So, about noon, we packed ourselves up, offered fond farewells to so many of the world's best folks, and hit the road. We stopped again in Charles City for lunch, this time at Cul's Courthouse Grille , which is another of my favorite dining destinations when I'm out this way. I resolved to avoid alcohol today and for most of the coming week because the con setting definitely brought out the social drinker in me. So, reluctantly, I said no to the Sunday Bloody Mary specials. I do love me some Bloody Marys.
Of course, AuthorCon is great for bookselling, networking, and having fun, though its true mission is to support the Scares That Care volunteer charity. To date, the charity has raised and donated nearly a half-million dollars to organizations and families with a child affected by illness, burns or women fighting breast cancer. So, supporting the con directly helps individuals in dire need.  AuthorCon VI will be held February 26 to March 1 in Williamsburg, at the same location as always ( The DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton Williamsburg ). Hope to see you there.

Website Redux

At long last, I've had my website overhauled from the ground up, thanks to the extraordinary talents of designer Deena Warner . I created my original site so many years ago, I don't even remember when, and whatever web design skills I ever had, they're hopelessly out of date. Anyway, I'm more than pleased with the redux. There's a wee bit of tweaking to be done yet, but it's about 99% there.
Tomorrow, Brugger and I will be off for Scares That Care—AuthorCon V in Williamsburg, VA. Hope to see a lot of you folks there. Visit the Realm of Stephen Mark Rainey

Just One of the Bookhouse Boys...

I don't typically post much political stuff here on my blog; I tend to reserve that for my other social media accounts, where interaction is more immediate, if oftentimes mortifying. I prefer my blog to be a little more zen—books, movies, geocaching, personal news, local events, et. al. I am sure as hell not gonna break with that tradition today because, from the local to the national level, the endless, devastating waves of semi-literate noise erupting from the public brain trust has about pummeled me to the ground.

Therefore...

This weekend, March 28–30, I'll have a vendor table at Scares That Care AuthorCon V in Williamsburg, VA. I'll have copies of all the titles you see in the montage above, but I'll be showcasing my newest novel, The House at Black Tooth Pond ; I'll also be doing a reading from it on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. EST (partnered with the inimitable Richard Dansky). More details here .
I've got a book signing scheduled for May 17 at our local bookstore, Magnolia & Main Books , Ridgeway, VA, so if you're within traveling distance, I'd love to see you! Owner Traci Morton did a nice little Q&A session with me at the shop a couple of weeks ago, and you can check that out here .
Many of y'all may be aware that I am a regular panelist on Mike Davis's Lovecraft Ezine Patreon Podcast on Sunday evenings, which usually includes a guest author. Mike also provides tons of other content, including a Friday night hangout, where we shoot a lot of cosmic horror shit and generally cut up. Recently, we've been having group "re-reads" of some of H.P. Lovecraft's fictions with discussions about the stories, the author, the historical contexts, and all such cool things. This week (tomorrow), we'll be discussing "The Call of Cthulhu." The Lovecraft Ezine is one of several projects I support by way of Patreon, and I highly recommend it for anyone who has even a passing interest in HPL or cosmic horror in general (visit the link above and go to the "Patreon" link to get more info).  I've read some very cool books lately, the most recent being Rebecca Cuthbert's fiction collection, Six o' Clock House & Other Strange Tales . It's a smorgasbord of the scary, the wacky, and the quirky, with several short tales that read more like vignettes—snapshots of memorable (if fictitious) people, places, and events, told in the author's unique and engaging voice.  For several months, I've been on an F. Paul Wilson binge, and if I haven't read everything he's ever written, I've surely gotten through a vast percentage of his body of work. I've been a fan of The Keep since I first read it in the 1980s, and a while back (thanks again to Mike Davis), I decided to continue with the entire Adversary/Repairman Jack cycle, including the "early years" and "young adult" entries about Repairman Jack. His latest that I've read is The Upwelling , and I have its follow-up volume, Lexie , in the TBR stack. I've known Paul for many years (he tuckerized my name in The Tomb , which I kinda love), and it's fair to say I've become more enamored of his work than almost any other living author. I reckon that's about it. Maybe tomorrow, I'll feel more cantankerous. Bye bye for now!

Geocaching Panther Branch

Friend Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott) and I met up this morning at the Panther Branch Natural Area , in Orange County, NC, near the little town of Efland, to get in some hiking and geocaching. The natural area borders the Eno River, and the trails offer some great views from on high—as in big hills; oh, me feet!  We put in a good couple of miles on the trail, and then we headed after a couple of dozen park & grab hides in the Mebane, NC, area. I've gotta holler real loud about Catrina's Tequila & Taco Bar in Mebane, where we had lunch; they reliably have THE best Mexican food and drink of any place in the region that I've been. The street tacos and margaritas are especially praise-worthy. A few pics from the trail below.