My mom is 50 pages into The Dark Jests of Lost Ghosts, and so far she likes it! What this means, if she still likes it by the end, is that I may have been wrong about the levels of both nightmarishness and potentially offensive content. Which would not be a bad thing, as it would make me more unabashed in my marketing and would also mean the book has a broader appeal than I initially thought. I will keep y’all posted.

Please consider buying a copy. One has sold so far in August (thanks, Sharon!), so you could help boost my numbers. AND you could still be the first to post a review on Amazon. And in my fantasy world, when a major publisher picks up the book and launches my amazing career, this little CreateSpace edition will gain some curency as a collector’s item. So, you know, it could be an investment in your future as well as mine. 🙂

In other writing news, today I found out another short story has been accepted to a horror anthology–this will be my third from this publisher, Blood Bound Books. (The first anthology, Night Terrors, came out in April and I’ve been too broke to order a copy yet. The second, Unspeakable, is due out this month, I believe, and an interview with me will be featured on BBB’s forum in September. Cool, huh?) This anthology is called Rock Is Dead and features stories inspired by music. At the editor’s request, I submitted two pieces, knowing they would only be able to use one: “Beth Short and the Carnivals of the Damned,” which they accepted, and “From Deep Within the Mines,” which they didn’t. However, the editor tells me it was a difficult decision and he wants to keep “Mines” around for possible inclusion in a future project. His e-mail to me began, Darn you for writing so good! If every rejection was that positive, I wouldn’t mind them so much.

For fun, today’s photo is a portrait of me in Savannah’s Laurel Grove Cemetery by Wayne C. Moore. It’s from ca. 2005 but is still one of my favorites.