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I know there's a lot of upset and anger going around so many places about so many things right now. I've seen some mostly calm people get heated and lose their temper at all manner of ills. I've also seen many volcanoes erupt. It's been a rough end to a rough year. Sometimes, when we are upset or angry about something we tend to forget that the people we are talking with also have feelings and that their opinions (even the wrong ones 😁) are just as valid as our own. We forget that because we don't see their faces when we call them Asshats (or hosers). We don't see the hurt that our words cause, we only get that rush of having the wittier comeback or the better meme. Occasionally we humans get so angry at that Super Wrong Asshat online we can forget that Super Wrong might actually be a decent guy. We don't look at the fact that we just see things differently on an issue or a few. We see it as they have attacked our whole person and, someti...

Today, I turn my blog over to a friend and author I enjoy reading; Lori Safranek. I love this series and the collection is one I am itching to hold in my hands. Sit back and enjoy this little taste of what's to come under the big top. As the tents go up and another side show prepares to open, images of the strange and exotic swirl through our minds. Posters give us a preview of a man swallowing sharp swords, throwing knives at a woman tied on a spinning wheel! A woman charming snakes to do as she commands! Watch the world’s fattest woman strut the stage, showing off her gorgeous 500-pound body with pride. Catch a glimpse of a hypnotist who wants to invade your brain and take over your life! And look over there! A tattooed man, whose tattoos fade away, and then randomly reappear somewhere else on his body! And last but not least, there’s a contortionist whose body twists and turns and ultimately fits inside a small box! Keep walking forward, past all the posters and take y...

Today Christine Verstraete takes over my blog to talk about her new release!  12 Questions for Lizzie Borden By Christine Verstraete Vogue Magazine has an interesting question-answer format it does called 73 Questions where it asks celebrities the questions on video, while giving a glimpse of their home. The latest was Taylor Swift . So I thought I’d try it out—but with a twist based on the upcoming release Sept. 13 (or pre-order now!) of my latest book, Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter by C.A. Verstraete .Ironically, Lizzie is portrayed during her 1893 trial for murder as far from a fashion doyenne, with one newspaper even calling her “a plain old maid.” (No matter what, that had to hurt.) Outside of a few letters obtained by the Fall River, Mass. Historical Society in recent years and the still-enduring skipping rope rhyme that Lizzie Borden took an axe… , mystery still surrounds the real persona of Lizzie Borden....

I started my career as a zookeeper while I was in my early teens. I began working for a little company that took exotic animals out to schools to teach kids about them. Those of us who stayed at the company office and took care of the animals were called keepers and the ones who took them to the schools were known as interpreters. My interview for the internship at Mobile Zoo. Best interview ever. Has nothing at all to do with this story, but look, a lion cub. Aw.       One day one of the interpreters decided to pick up some extra hours as a keeper. She was a sweet woman and a really great teacher, but she was unaware of the animals personalities and quirks. Like Big Al's penchant for escape. She only learned of his Houdini-like prowess when she'd opened the top of the alligator tank and he took off like a dragon. He wound up running into the mammal room and curling up underneath the Jerboa cage, tail ready to thrash and mouth open. I entered the scene to find t...

My inner Sam is saying, "Mmm, bunnies." Earlier this week I had someone message me on Facebook and tell me to quit being so positive. They then proceeded to talk about how sheltered my life must have been for me to be so damn cheery all the time. After some sadness, hurt, and anger, I chuckled and realized it was stupid to feel upset by this person because, quite obviously, they didn't know me at all. We all have horrors we face in life. In facing mine I choose to think positive and try to be optimistic. Before you say anything, yes, it absolutely is a choice I make each and every day. The reason I make it is because if I become a bitter, cynical, evil bitch to pay back the world for what it did to me, then I allow the people who tried to break me to win. I have a quote I love by Patrick Stump; "When you have a bad day, a really bad day, try and treat the world better than it treated you." It's something I strive very hard to do. Admittedly, I...

So, I got ribbed a little bit this weekend because I make our family say please and thank you to Alexa/Siri/Google Voice. The biggest consensus was that it is a computer of sorts so why waste good manners on a silicone chip? My response is this; Yes, these automated assistants are lines of computer code and maybe they don't have feelings or know when people are being rude but when Skynet happens to cause them to become sentient my family will be doing alright for ourselves because we have always treated our robotic overlords with respect. Okay, time to be serious. *Puts on serious face* The main reason I make all of us say please, thank you, and excuse/pardon me to these devices is simple psychology. Two days of the same behavior creates a habit. How long before the kids ask me, their dad, a teacher, or other grown up a question without saying please and thank you, because that's how they're used to getting their information? When we remove these simple yet importan...

So, 2016 has opened very kindly for me. I have a story (The Only Good Clown is a Dead Clown) in TJ Weeks' anthology Painted Mayhem. All proceeds go to help soldiers afflicted with PTSD. It's a condition that has affected me personally (though not from war) and one that affects a lot of my friends. I have three other anthology invites that I am so freaking excited about. One of them involves some really frigging sweet scream queens from the 80s. Can I get a hell yeah? The other is a much requested collab between Lisa Lane and myself. That's right, Jane and Bob are hanging out and going to the mall. This ain't your average mall but, what could go wrong at a Super Market? The third is one I am beyond excited about because it involves my most favorite authors and one of my favorite creatures of all time. Yes, I'm talking zombies! *Snoopy Dance* and, man, this collaboration is pretty sweet. It has me working with someone I hold in high regard and consider a...

I spend time at the beginning of each year to do some reflecting on my life. I find that it helps me to stay grounded and grateful to the people and the good things that come into my life. thinking over on last year brought a lot of both back into the forefront. 2015 was a good year for my career but it was a difficult year for my family in terms of rebuilding. We had to reconstruct our family around the loss of Chris' brother, Evan. My mom's side of the family had to adjust to its first full year without several of our beloved members. While we rebuilt our lives without our loved ones we also rebuilt our living room, too. It is now solid as a rock and should last a few hundred more years, God willing. Little by little we will make sure the rest of this grand house is lovingly restored. 2015 also brought me some of the most amazing opportunities of my career. First came the Revelations series; Cast in Blood, Cast in Fire, and Cast in Shadow, where I got to w...