Did I forget or just do this late

Not sure how well this will work since I'm updating from my phone. Not that I'm at work or anything... in fact I'm currently laying in bed next to my wife... (she is also laying next to me, unlike me however, she is snoring.)

I'm not sure if I should apologize for missing a post last week or if I should say that this post counts as last week's since technically it is Sunday night... but then it's also Monday morning.

We'll anyway. Couple of quick updates. Let's see... soon I will be off night shifts. I know I've said this before but now it's actually just a couple weeks away. Then I get to become a day walker again and I get to use my creative peak period for... well being creative.

I've also decided that I no longer consider myself a horror writer... I'm thinking more along the lines of being a fantasy writer. Couple of reasons for this. As my good friend, and talented artist (I'm somewhat kissing up here because I want him to do illustrations for my self published short story compilation. Shhhh.) Allen Childers (look him up at SpellHawks Press on facebook... lots of great artists there) told me, when I write horror it comes out feeling forced.

He's right, it does. Not sure why though, you would think that someone who reads a load of horror, loves horror movies, and was a paranormal investigator long enough to ruin any enjoyment I get out of horror movies supposedly "based on a true story" (Seriously movies like The Amityville Horror, and The Conjuring mostly just piss me off due to both cases being hoaxes... I'll save that rant though) that I should be good with horror.

I think though that due to my time within the paranormal community I define scary a bit differently and I don't have the talent to write something that would scare me.

Reason number 2. I like Fantasy a little more. The rules are more fluid, I get to play with elves, fairies, Dragons (I can meddle in their affairs because I'm neither crunchy nor do I taste good with ketchup... I might taste good with mashed potatoes and some gravy but Dragons generally don't have the patience to make creamy mashed potatoes and a good gravy, just a little known fact for you) and if I don't like the way the land masses, laws, or physics work... then I can make my own.

Really there isn't much I enjoy more than giving the world the finger and making my own rules.

Also I have finally booked my flights to be in New York for the Writer's Digest Convention July 31st to August 2nd. So if you happen to read my blog, don't already know me personally (though you do know me pretty well since, in a weird way, you're in my bed right now) feel free to come say Hi, Hello, Howdy, or any variation thereof. Try to avoid heaping adoration on me (if you absolutely must then invite me to dinner and do it privately I'm a bit shy in public), on the flip side of that if you feel the strong desire to spew hate filled bile in my direction plea s e direct your attention to the nearest bathroom find an unoccupied toilet stick your head in it and flush.

That's really all I have for this week. Not sure how well updating in the wee hours works for me. I should also mention that I've taken a couple of pain pulls due to tweaking my back in a most heroic grocery shopping incident wherein I battled a nefarious bag of charcoal off a high shelf and out from under many of its closest allies that were conspiring to weigh it down. I would have grabbed the top bag except it was insidiously out of my reach and the well known store I was in refuses to have enough employees on shift to actually assist customers. Soo laying down hurts me, but I haven't perfected the art of sleeping while standing. Might have to ask a Centaur for help with that.

Okay so now you've been in my bed, seen me on pain medication, and could hopefully read this as I don't seem to be able to make font changes and such on my phone. May have to edit those in later.

Until next time, goodnight, or good morning, have a nice day... or night.

Rest in Peace Sir Terry Pratchett

I've been wanting to make this post since I first heard the news that Sir Terry Pratchett passed away. I just didn't know what to say.

I'm a big Terry Pratchett fan, won't claim to be the biggest, but I love the man's work. Even though I never had the chance to meet him I consider him a friend. This may seem odd but I consider all the author's I enjoy friends. Who but a friend can make you feel a wide range of emotions yet keep you coming back to them.

That being said when I first heard that Sir Terry had passed away though a facebook post by Neil Gaiman, I was stunned. I knew he was ill, I knew one day he would pass away, but knowing a thing is going to happen and having it actually happen are two different things.

I read his final four tweets, even in death he remained a story teller. I shed tears for this man I admired and never really knew. I would like to say that he was a great man, I'm sure his real friends would agree, sometimes I liked to think that if we ever met he would see something in me and my writing and take me under his wing as I struggled to get my fledgling writing career off the ground. That won't happen now, and I don't care.

What I do care about is that there will be no new adventures on that wonderful Disc World that he created. No more bumbling wizards to laugh at, strange magic to fear, corrupt politicians to hate and fear, and sometimes even admire. The Great A'Tuin has reached it's final destination, the elephants have passed away, and the disc has finished it's journey.

Death came and took Sir Terry long before his time. A man such as he deserved so much more time on this world for he had so much to give. I like to think that, like the death in his books, Death hesitated and didn't want to take his life. 

All that is left is his works, and that's really not a bad thing. We can always open one of his books and relive the stories he told, delight in his satire that so perfectly mirrored the world we live in and showed us the absurdity that much of life holds, if we were willing to look. 

Those precious books mean more now than ever, the denizens of his worlds will have no more new adventures, but in his books they live on, in his books he lives on. 

Sir Terry Pratchett's soul has left our world for one where he will be happiest, but his spirit stays with us in every word and every line of every book he wrote. Like a photograph of a loved one these books are but pale memories and little comfort but they are all we have left. 

Goodbye Sir Terry Pratchett, I will miss you. In my mind the streets of Ankh-Morpork are now empty, the gates to Unseen University are closed, and the Librarian has eaten his final banana. Now they will only live again when we open the books and read about them again, now you will live again whenever those books are read. In this sense you are not truly gone, you will never be forgotten, you will forever be missed.

Farewell friend I never met. You brought me joy, sadness, and inspiration, for that, you will forever be in the library of my heart.

Publishing Announcement

What, publishing news, am I finally being published? 

Well... yes and no. I am going to be compiling all of my short stories and self publishing them. Still working on details, editing, getting some illustrations done, and even writing a few new stories... but, yeah I'm going to be putting a book out there. More news will follow when I have more details but right now I'm shooting for a June or July publication date.

Also gotta figure out a title. I suck with titles honestly. Still it's news and it's kind of exciting.