This is a piece I’ve been working on since my teenager was a newborn. I’ve struggled with the format, the length, and especially the tone; generally I go for light and fun, but then my undergraduate training in analysis comes out and it gets way too serious and pretentious. I’ve got this pretty much theContinue reading “Real Fear: Part One”
Author Archives: GhoulieJoe
Book Quote of the Day
“Mummer would tell us these tales over the dinner table without a flicker of doubt that God’s hand was at work in the world, as it had been in the time of the saints and martyrs, the violent deaths of whom were regularly inflicted upon us as exempla of not only the unconditional oath weContinue reading “Book Quote of the Day”
Book Quote of the Day
“Old shelters–television, magazines, movies–won’t protect you anymore. You might try scribbling in a journal, on a napkin, maybe even in the margins of this book. That’s when you’ll discover you no longer trust the very walls you always took for granted. Even the hallways you’ve walked a hundred times will feel longer, much longer, andContinue reading “Book Quote of the Day”
Book Quote of the Day
“One step, she thought. One step and then the next gets you where you’re going.” –Robert McCammon, Swan Song
The Horrors of Adulting: A Car Story
Today, I was involved in my first two-car collision. I was at a four-way intersection, and I was thinking the corner on my right had a stop sign, but by the time I realized it did not, and that the other driver was not stopping, we had crashed. It’s been a few hours, and timeContinue reading “The Horrors of Adulting: A Car Story”
The Horrors of Adulting: Devil House
I’ve recently entered the early stages of middle age, but until recently I’ve never really felt like an adult. For the fourteen years we had been married, my husband Andrew and I were living in a house his grandparents bought and rented to us for peanuts. Until the pandemic, we lived paycheck to paycheck onContinue reading “The Horrors of Adulting: Devil House”
The Horrors of Adulting: Sometimes, Dead is NOT Better
This is my neighborhood. Pretty, innit? But you may observe there are no sidewalks. So when my two-year-old wants to go for a walk, we have to perambulate in the street. It’s very quiet, the official speed limit is 15 miles an hour, and there are loads of kids around, so drivers tend to beContinue reading “The Horrors of Adulting: Sometimes, Dead is NOT Better”
‘Def by Temptation’s’ Cynthia Bond: Where is She Now? Being Freaking Awesome!
Last night, I watched Def by Temptation, a movie I’d never heard of until I saw it featured in Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. I loved it and was quite taken with the leading lady, Cynthia Bond, who plays a succubus. Bond gives a skillfully nuanced performance, switching from sweet innocent to wickedContinue reading “‘Def by Temptation’s’ Cynthia Bond: Where is She Now? Being Freaking Awesome!”
Book Quote of the Day
“Grace sat there in the doldrums of her conscience, unsure if she was a reasonably good person or a marginally bad one. She tried to summon a list of the good things she had done, so she could weigh them against the bad ones, but she was less sure than ever what constituted a GoodContinue reading “Book Quote of the Day”
Book Quote of the Day
“Up close, I realize, Hope’s End is a mess. One of the second-floor windows is missing panes and now has plywood covering the gaping hole. Chunks of marble have broken off the detailing around some of the doors and windows. The roof is missing a fifth of its slate shingles, giving it a battered, pockmarkedContinue reading “Book Quote of the Day”
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