April, 2022
What I'm...
Doing:
I’ve set up a horror discussion and promotion forum. Please join and have fun! https://theremightbecupcakes.com/horror
Reading:
I went to the first Scares That Care AuthorCon last weekend, my first trip by myself since becoming disabled, and my first trip in a great while. I was so nervous, but everyone was marvelous. Here’s my haul purchased from my horror author friends:
Pearl by Josh Malerman (a gift!)—currently reading
Haunted Surry to Suffolk (nonfiction paranormal) by Pamela K. Kinney
Robert Bloch’s Psycho: Sanitarium by Chet Williamson (only official work in the Psycho universe, falls directly after the original, between Psycho and Psycho II)
The Writing Life: Reflections, Recollections, and a Lot of Cursing by Jeff Strand (nonfiction)
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix (I was the final girl, getting the last copy!)
In addition, I picked up copies of the Gwendy series, written by my new friend Richard Chizmar (oh, and some guy named Stephen King):
And I was given an interesting free book: Hideous Progeny: Classic Horror Goes Punk ed. by Writerpunk Press—it’s a collection of every type of punk: splatterpunk, biopunk, cyberpunk, etc.
I also acquired a book I have wanted to read for a long time, written by a now new friend: 8 Days in the Woods: The Making of the Blair Witch Project by Matt Blazi.
And finally, an impromptu pickup that I expect to be fascinating: The Jewish Book of Horror, ed. by Josh Schlossberg. It’s a collection of horror short stories based upon Jewish scripture and folklore.
Yes, I now have a no-spend spring planned. :D
You can see my photos from the weekend at my Instagram. I think my favorite is this one with Bob Ford, where we both said “literature!”
I am currently reading Pearl, which is about a most disturbing pig. On my ebook reader I just finished The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice, which was an odd balance of luscious language and ideas of the nature of good and evil…and bestiality. The main characters (mild spoiler) never consummated their relationship as human and human, only as human and werewolf, and it’s made me a little uncomfortable around my dogs. :D I may read the sequel…at some point. Started I’m Not Sam by Jack Ketchum and Lucky McGee last night. I always enjoy a Ketchum gut punch.
For the podcast I just finished: The Whalestoe Letters. Working on episode 80, the fourth in the series on House of Leaves. This is the collection of Johnny Truant’s mother’s letters to him from the Three Attic Whalestoe Asylum, and they are eerie and emotionally suffocating. They are compiled by the former information technician at the asylum and contain eleven more letters than does the appendix in House of Leaves. Expect this episode this week.
On audio, I am listening to Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin, narrated by Bernadette Dunne, who beautifully narrates all of Jackson’s work on Audible. This was my Audible choice for this month, and it’s a super long one, and I am loving it. It’s frustrating, though, because I am learning that Shirley was sandwiched between a hypercritical mother and an abusive husband. Stanley was worse than Sylvia Plath’s Ted. You can snag this book for free and check out Audible for a month with no strings attached, and help out the podcast, by using my link.
Watching:
Last four movies on my Letterboxd watched list:
Hellbender (2021): Being suffocated and spied upon like this is its own horror for me. I might snap in the woods myself.
Estranged (2015): Excellent disability in horror.
The Ward (2010): Underrated John Carpenter exploration of mental illness. It’s Amber Heard but I can overlook that.
Prince: Sign O’ The Times (1987): This has been out of print for more than thirty years. My wonderful Alamo Drafthouse Charlottesville obtained it, and it was transcendent.
Playing:
I play Words with Friends; please feel free to add me, I’m Carla21672. I am also still enraptured with the Sims 4. I have been collecting disability and horror mods for the Sims 4 at the website:
Learning:
Continuing on Duolingo: Feel free to add me, I’m CarlaCupcakes. Practicing my French; learning Spanish, Latin, and Gaelic Scottish.
New funny from Duolingo; someone on the staff is a fan of the Barenaked Ladies:
Hope you are doing well! Don’t forget to join my new horror forum, and have fun!
Carla