On June 18th I'm giving the commencement address at my old high school. They're located twenty minutes outside of Washington, D.C. They've got access to museum docents, Senators, Congressmen, political reporters and The Greaseman. But despite this deep pool of...
I'm writing this from my hotel in Providence, R.I. It's gloomy out and I'm fighting a fever. I wasn't as bad yesterday, when I showed up. I took a commuter train down from Boston. The cars were appropriately gloomy and empty,...
I've been assaulted with Top 5 lists these past few weeks -- books, movies, music, everything. Am I totally out of touch with the mainstream? Here were my favorites for 2007: BOOKS Warriors of the Spider-Jewel XVIII: The Wizard's Claw G. Pheldon Blampleworth Well, duh. ...
Ever wonder how H.P. Lovecraft felt about Halloween? Think about this while you’re walking around tonight, feeling the Eldritch chill in the blandest of landscapes: The steeples are white in the wild moonlight, And the trees have a silver glare; Past the chimneys...
Well, we're almost at the end. So here's a moment to reflect. Fritz Leiber is one of my favorite writers. Because, like Shea and James and Bloch and so few others, he could really WRITE. Didn't matter if it was hard...
I have a love-hate relationship with the whole, "Is it supernatural, or is the protagonist going craaaaazy?" plot. It’s been done often and well -- "The Horla", "The Yellow Wall-paper", "The Tell-Tale Heart" -- but it still seems like a...
"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had...
Look, please PLEASE don't list the other Robert Bloch's I should've listed here. "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper", "Sweets to the Sweet", etc. The man's a master. I picked the one I liked the best. There are others -- probably...
Yes, I was close to choosing something from Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN books -- maybe the serial killer convention, or Dr. Destiny at the diner. Or, which Alan Moore should I choose? Dr. Gull's architectural tour through London in FROM HELL? Rorschach's...
Michael Motherfucking Shea. I know there are Stephen King, Clive Barker, Harlan Ellison, Ramsey Campbell, Dennis Etchison and Richard Matheson fans. And they deserve 'em, 'cuz they're all so good. But Michael Shea is, in my opinion, the best horror/fantasy writer working...
