New Years Resolutions and/or Bust...

Sometimes I just want to kick Baby New Year in his little diapered ass. I mean, the little turd just puts soooo much pressure on us to do better, be better, stop peeping in the hot neighbor’s window…er, ignore that last part.

I’ve never much cared for New Years. It was always the day the Christmas tree came down and the pretty lights went out when I was kid. Now that I am an incorrigible adult I leave the tree up as long as I want. I don’t care what others think. January’s a cold dark month and the lights help. Besides, it pisses off some of the neighbors and that’s always satisfying.

I have never been much for resolutions and the pressure they bring, either. I did resolve recently to stop looking at boobs for six months. Then Ghost Whisperer came on and that resolution lasted for about two minutes. So I don’t make them. Because if I really want to change something or do something, I just make up my mind to give it my best shot and not worry about some imaginary starting point. Things I put off till New Years tend to be put off till…well, usually forever.

I see a lot of resolutionists in the gym the first week of January, those who have resolved to lose weight or get in shape, or a few looking to snag a mate so they can stop working out and go back to their whatever lifestyle. These usually clear out by the first of February. A few last longer, maybe one or two actually form a lifetime positive habit. But it’s difficult to resolve to do something your heart is not really in. You have to really want to change something and put effort into it. So perhaps huge resolutions should not be attempted. Or maybe they need to be broken down into smaller resolutions that start the minute you decide they are what you would like to do for yourself, or others. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Don’t set a goal that’s impossible to obtain. Try smaller ones you know you can reach and build your confidence. If you opted for a jogging program, you wouldn’t start out by running a marathon, would you? You’d maybe resolve to make it to the end of the street, walk a bit, then jog another few yards, until you built your stamina and confidence. If you tried to run the 26 miles right off, you’d wind up discouraged, or more likely lying on the sidewalk, gasping and cursing Nike.

So instead of resolving to immediately run that marathon, set smaller goals and work up to it, in whatever endeavor you wish, or whatever bad habit you long to break.

In any case, a Happy New Year to all--and damn you, Jennifer Love Hewitt, for ruining my first and only resolution of 2010!

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In paperback.

Western Wednesday: Hi Yo and Away We Go!

Raise your bottle of redeye to the last Western Wednesday of 2009. It’s been a decent year for the western in the Black Horse Western line, with some pretty big success stories for new and established authors, who pushed the print runs up substantially. Two of my own novels (Dead Man Riding and The Killing Kind) saw acceptance and will see print in 2010, along with the paperback edition of Coyote Deadly, which sold out its hardcover earlier this year. Western comic books such as The Lone Ranger, Jonah Hex and Zorro found a good deal of success and a number of new western movies are in the chute, so the coming year promises to keep the trail blazing. Online, we saw a proliferation of Western blogs and group projects. So I am comfortable crowning 2009 the comeback year of the Western, and it’s up to western fans reading this, as well as us writers, to keep things moving forward.

I think the best way to do that—along with supporting authors’ books, new TV and movie westerns, etc.—is to keep a positive attitude towards the genre and not let the naysayers and grumblers who are always bitching about the death of this or that, the limitations of these or those, get to you. Along with the positive news this year, we saw far too much of that, and it was not productive or helpful. Sure, we need to be able to discuss the pros and cons, but the insecure ramblings of the few is a bitter poison that need not be sipped. What good does negativity do in the long run? Or is it simply easier to complain than actually innovate? Perhaps, for some, that’s the pony they want to ride.

For others, it is not. Instead, it’s now time for those western fans to put their britches into the saddle and ride hell-bent into the new sunrise. The Western is expanding, crossing genre lines and forging into new territory and it must continue to do so. Many readers who have never been exposed to some of the new westerns are unaware of how versatile and exciting the genre can be. My own Westerns include Vampires (The Dark Riders under my own name), and myriad cross-genre and social trappings (under my Lance Howard penname). Probably the best way for new readers to experience the wide variety of the Western is with Express Westerns new A Fistful of Legends short story anthology I have mentioned the past couple of weeks. You’ll find everything in there—social commentary, mystery, romance, action, horror, and maybe even a gunfight or two.

Whatever the case, if 2009 set the Western off on the trail at a healthy trot, 2010 is the year to heel it into full gallop. Won’t you come along for the ride?

Terror Tuesday: Different Ghosts for Different Folks

Welcome to the last Terror Tuesday of 2009. I hope you have all your spooks ready to haunt the New Year. I think I might have been mooned by a ghost the other day. I’m not positive but I did see two glowing globes in the hallway window. Of course, they might have been passing headlights, but I prefer to think Jayne Mansfield was visiting. Oh, wait, in that case those might have been…um, anyway…

A DVD set of classic horror movies made its way under my tree this Christmas. As a writer of horror and supernatural I am a bit embarrassed to admit I have not seen a number of the older movies, such as Invisible Ghost and White Zombie. I’ll try to pass on my impressions of these as I get time to view them. Last night it was House on Haunted Hill with Vincent Price. Now, this one I did see as a kid and to this day that vat of acid in the cellar has stuck with me. Rewatching it as an adult, I can still say it’s a fairly creepy movie. Vincent Price is a master of the macabre, too.

Well, stockings have all been emptied, stomachs expanded and the lights of Yule are dimming. Yet, despite the great joy and happiness the Season can bring (as well as the abundance of peckerheads filling the streets and retail stores), the ghosts of Christmas don’t always depart so easily.

I always feel a bit melancholic before, during and especially after Christmas. I think a lot has to do with expectation clashing with reality. But there are metaphorical ghosts that seem to haunt the moments during and after Christmas. For some, it’s the thought of the people who are no longer with us, whom we miss and long to see again. For others it’s the people we hope may come into our lives and bring us fulfillment.

But worst are the ghosts of regrets, and the personal ghosts of those who, for whatever reason, can’t put aside differences and personal insecurity and just enjoy what they have, or could have. Those who feel compelled to ruin the joy of others with drama—or worse, fear—and the notion that the season is all about them. Their ghosts haunt them and therefore they will damn well haunt everyone else around them. They may not be metaphysical spirits, but these ghosts are the ones who can do damage. They are the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, and come attached to emotional vampires or control freaks bent on their high and mighty self-justification and exultation.

There’s not a lot you can do with these types, except try offering a forgiving hand, though most likely it will get bitten off. Or if they are physically or emotionally dangerous exorcise them from your life. Those ghosts can exert a corrupting presence on festivities, whether the person is there or not, but we have to choose not to let them take the spirit of joy and renewal that is Christmas from us, refuse to let them lock away the wonder of the child within us peering out.

Then perhaps we can resolve with the New Year to see to it what is necessary is done so the ghosts haunt us no more.

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In paperback.

Review: Poppy Done to Death

Having read the first couple of Sookie Stackhouse novels and planning to continue with the series (upon which the HBO show True Blood is based), I decided to give one of Charlaine Harris' other series a try. Poppy Done to Death comes from the Aurora Teagarden, mild mannered (or not) librarian, cozy mystery series. A first-person account, like the Stackhouse books, the mystery is pretty minor (it concerns Aurora's sister-in-law, Poppy, getting iced right before becoming an "Uppity Woman". Poppy is not a particularly sympathetic character and has some secrets, which suddenly seem pretty unearthshaking given today's headlines) and there's a considerable amount of uninteresting word padding going on. You can nail down who done it nearly the moment that character is introduced, if not why, and so much time is wasted on cooking dilemmas for Thanksgiving I found myself skipping chunks to get to the interesting parts. The book could have been a 20,000 word novelette instead of a 60,000+ novel. Which was disappointing, because I was expecting more. The main character isn't very exciting, either, and Ms. Harris seems to have an odd penchant for whacking pet cats. And for the name Bubba.

(I have to mention how sick to death I am of authors toasting the family pet or thinking dead animals are funny. Enough already. It's a cliche. Perhaps the worst I have encountered was in a paranormal romance where the author thought it was clever to have the woman's beloved dog die, so the hero could seduce the poor girl right then and there, dead dog still in the room. Yep, they did the wild thing right with Fighto's stiffening corpse lying at the end of the bed. Apparently the damsel was so distraught the only thing that would cure it was ripping off her clothes and opening the golden arches. Needless to say, I won't be reading another one of that particular author's books.)

I have a book in yet another series by this author, so I am hoping that's better, and of course I've got the rest of the Stackhouse series to finish reading, which I have enjoyed so far. This one is readable, but I probably won't bother with others in the series unless someone can recommend one that is a little more complex and exciting. I'll give it a C+

Western Wednesday: Dissing the Western

It’s another Western Wednesday, so hop into the saddle and ride your mount…

For Louis L’Amour fans, Jillian Schiavi reports on her new site at: http://www.louislamourcollection.com/bookstore/catalog/titles-a-z Most western writers owe a great deal to Mr. L’Amour. He was certainly the first western writer I started reading before writing horse operas.

My copy of A Fistful of Legends arrived and I can report it’s an absolutely beautiful book and worth double the price. Check out last week’s Western Wednesday for special rate ordering details.

Recently, on another blog, a writer of multiple genres reported on how he liked banging out westerns because they were simple. He was basically dismissing the genre and as far as I am concerned doing a great disservice not only to his fellow writers but readers of the genre. There is nothing simple about a well-written western, not if the writer bothers to do his research and gives a damn about his/her craft. As the above mentioned anthology of short stories demonstrates, westerns, pardon the pun, encompass the entire range of emotion and basic fiction elements of man vs man, man vs nature and man vs self, often all three within the same novel. Few other genres lend themselves to crossing over into romance, mystery, horror, comedy, action, adventure and even social commentary, the way the western is capable of doing. Westerns work exceptionally well when they are about people and the struggles those people encounter and overcome. Westerns work well when they mirror life and emphasize heroic effort that lifts it beyond the mundane. Westerns can spotlight the hero, whether it be the steely eyed gunfighter who never misses or the rancher striving just to keep his family alive. Westerns are not stagnant, they are, like the frontiers of land and mind, ever-expanding, growing, engulfing. Westerns are the very essence of mankind, realistic or mythical.

And there’s nothing simple about that.

My own feeling is that if a particular writer works in a genre and callously dismisses the writing he/she is doing as simple, then it’s not the genre that is simple but the writer who is basically too lazy to put the effort into writing an engaging story or incapable of crafting one. Perhaps said writer does not belong grabbing a paycheck while turning out something he mocks, and material that’s almost certain to be sub-standard, because in the end it’s the readers and lovers of that genre who get the short saddle. It brings down the bar for everybody, and inevitably some reader, maybe a first-time reader, will stumble onto one of those “simple” writers’ books and dismiss the entire genre because of it.

It seems to me the writer comes across a bit simple for making such statements. I would have to question why this writer would even want to bother with the horse opera if he has that much disdain for it. It’s the same feeling I have with those writers who are apologetic for the heroes they write.

Writing is hard tedious toil. If you don’t enjoy the genres you write in, have a passion for them, or at least the ability to live up to your talent and craft within them, as well as the standards expected from readers, then find one you do like and leave the others to those who respect and love them.

In other words, maybe you should get off your high horse…and ride another.

In Praise of Heroes

I’ve been spending a lot of time with heroes lately. The Avenger, The Green Hornet, The Golden Amazon, The Spider, Captain Midnight. Those are some of the ones I have been writing. Anyone who knows me knows I spend time reading many other comic book and pulp heroes and I make no apologies for it. I need heroes. Heroes saved me from some bad times in those bloody Hells my classmates referred to as High School and Jr. High, and now let me, for a time, find my youth again. It’s an escape, like ghosts and goblins, romance for those who read it, or cowboys for those who read that. I think folks need more escape, especially in these trying times. Too often when we grow up we lose our touch with that carefree child inside us. Or, worse, we hit it with a hammer or lock it away. We’re too afraid others will look down on us, maybe. Will label us.

So what?

I don’t care. I read and write heroes and anyone who wants to think less of me for that is probably not somebody I want around me anyway. They are free to live in their grown up world (and, no, I don’t mean take finding your youth to an extreme by peeing in your neighbor’s yard, picking your nose or ignoring your adult responsibilities).

I see a dismissive attitude far too much in some writers of heroes nowadays. A weird apologetic tendency, or even disdain for the very genre in which they create. I have noticed it in a lot of comic book scribes especially. It’s painfully obvious when the writer is self-conscious about what he is writing. There’s a note of apology running through the stories, or a need to make them “darker”, corrupt the hero, or as in the case of the new Phantom series even make costume change comments.

Recently comic writer Brian Azarrello, bless his heart, made some disparaging remarks about not only a hero he was asked to write, Doc Savage, but about the fanbase for the Man of Bronze, of which I am one. He is doing the same with another pulp hero, The Avenger, who is, along with Doc, my all time favorite hero, and one whom I have been privileged to write for Moonstone Books. With all due respect to Mr. Azarrello, why bother writing a hero you don’t respect and want to change, and dismiss his fanbase as if they were doddering old idiots? True, some fans will never be pleased with what a writer does with their favorite character (and can be annoyingly snarky and whiny about it), and feel that whatever was set down by the original writer(s) was the only legitimate take. But still, if you aren’t interested in grasping the “soul” of that character, why not just go write something else you do respect and leave the others you don’t to a writer who does “get it”?

Frankly, I am tired of writers who dismiss what’s gone before or apologize for heroes. And tired of those who can’t be bothered to research and respect their source material. I am not saying things should never be changed for modern audiences, but know what came before and grasp the essence of it. It’s like the old writing adage: Know the rules before you break them.

Recently, when the EIC of Moonstone asked me to breath some life into The Golden Amazon, a fairly obscure 1940s pulp heroine, I found myself in the same boat. Finding much about this gal was not easy. I spent a lot of time locating one of the few book reprints, researching places mentioning her. Since I was basically re-envisioning her for comic books and widescreen books, I wanted to stay true to the source and any fans who might be out there. I needed to develop a whole history/origin around her because she originally had two, and neither jived very well when put together. I did pull an element or two from both versions, and used what little there was to make certain I got the soul of the character as close as I was capable of doing, while updating and taking her into an arena where her possibilities were wide open story-wise. It was a lot of work, but necessary to respect Mr. Fearn’s creation. I suspect some fans won’t be happy with the new version, and for that I am truly sorry because I want them to enjoy it.

But I will not apologize for her. She’s a hero. I fell in love with the character as I wrote her and I hope that respect will show for old and new fans of Violet Ray Brant. Violet has quite a plateful of problems and was a somewhat dark character to begin with (she did try to conquer the world in the original stories, after all!) so maybe some will think I got lucky, but that wasn’t the case. It wouldn’t have mattered. In any character, the essence is already there. It’s the writer’s job to find it, respect it and extrapolate from there. Not feel awkward about it, dismiss it altogether or worse put it and the fans down.

If that’s your attitude, write something else.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go play with my action figures…

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In paperback.

Western Wednesday: A Fistful of Legends

It’s another Western Wednesday here on Dark Bits so saddle your cowgirl and kiss your horse…wait, that’s not quite right. Well, maybe for a few of you. The rest, reverse it.

A bit of news this week. From Express Westerns comes the following on the new Western short story anthology I have been telling you about:

On Jan 31, 2010 Express Westerns will publish a second anthology of western short stories A Fistful of Legends. To help celebrate Christmas and Hogmanay, we are pleased to announce that for a limited time you can buy a copy of the book at a special discounted price. Order before Jan 11, 2010 and you can buy A Fistful of Legends with FREE POSTAGE. Even better, the book will be shipped to you as soon as you've paid.

This is a one-off, never to be repeated offer, after which you'll have to wait until Jan 31 to buy a copy and then pay the full retail price plus postage.In addition, if you haven't already got a copy of Express Westerns' first anthology Where Legends Ride, for the duration of this offer you can buy a bundle of the two books with free postage. That's a total of 35 action-packed western stories! Where Legends Ride retails at $13.95, so you can get both for $29.90 or £19.50.

Ordering Announcement for US readers at: http://davycrockettsalmanack.blogspot.com/2009/12/fistful-of-legends-special-pre-pub.html

and for the UK and the ROW at: http://ijparnham.blogspot.com/2009/12/fistful-of-legends-extra-special-offer.html

A Fistful of Legends is edited by Nik Morton and co-edited by Charles Whipple and features an introduction by James Reasoner, along with a front and back page cover illustration designed by Jennifer Smith-Mayo based on an original painting by David McAllister.

The 21 stories in this bumper size book are:

DEAD MAN TALKING by Derek Rutherford

BILLY by Lance Howard

LONIGAN MUST DIE! By Ben Bridges

THE MAN WHO SHOT GARFIELD DELANY by I J Parnham

HALF A PIG by Matthew P Mayo

BLOODHOUND by C. Courtney Joyner

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE by Gillian F Taylor

BIG ENOUGH by Chuck Tyrell

ONE DAY IN LIBERTY by Jack Giles

SHADOWS ON THE HORIZON by Bobby Nash

ON THE RUN by Alfred Wallon

THE GIMP by Jack Martin

VISITORS by Ross Morton

THE NIGHTHAWK by Michael D George

THE PRIDE OF THE CROCKETTS by Evan Lewis

DARKE JUSTICE by Peter Avarillo

ANGELO AND THE STRONGBOX by Cody Wells

CRIB GIRLS by Kit Churchill

MAN OF IRON by Chuck Tyrell

CASH LARAMIE AND THE MASKED DEVIL by Edward A Grainger

DEAD MAN WALKING by Lee Walker

These tales transcend the genre and are written by the cream of the Black Horse Western crop, as well as talented newcomers. So if you have western fans on your Christmas list you can’t go wrong with this anthology. And if you aren’t a western fan, you might well be if you give this book a chance. The Western genre has a lot more to offer than most readers expect.

Terror Tuesday: Holiday Spirits

It’s another Terror Tuesday here on Dark Bits. Don’t let all those little goblins and ghouls fool ya by dressing up as elves. Elves eat your cookies and leave you toys; the others eat YOU and poop on the carpet. That’s how you can tell the difference between the two. Of course, by the time you can tell the difference, one of the little buggers has probably chewed off one of your legs. Ho, ho, ho, indeed.

Ask most people what season/holiday brings about the most ghostly encounters and they will likely tell you Halloween, the Witching Season (it’s officially Kiss a Witch Week, by the way…nah, I just made that up, but it should be, kiss a hot witch, I mean, because the warty kind just turn you into toads). But I wonder if the Christmas season doesn’t bring about more hauntings.

With Halloween, everybody’s on the lookout for ghosts. But with Christmas, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol notwithstanding, folks don’t think of spooks so much. Yet there is often an undeniable depression that steals in for many people around the holidays, because with the joy comes a time to reflect on loved ones and that also means those we’ve lost, those who can’t be with us for the festivities. I didn’t feel that way as a kid until my grandmother passed away right after Christmas. And the first time I had what might have been a ghostly encounter was also at Christmas.

I say might because I was around 12 or 13 and am still not certain that is indeed what it was. I related the story in an old blog, but, briefly, it was my first Christmas Eve after she died. We had opened presents already and I felt an odd sense of gloom come over me, something I had never felt on a Christmas Eve. I had been given a cassette player and upon using it I thought I heard some odd sounds on an empty tape after trying to record my own voice. I figured I had done something wrong and let it go. But after going to bed, not even close to sleep, I heard loud breathing noises in my room, much like my grandmother’s wheezing breath leading up to her death. My dachshund, who slept with me, kept staring at something I couldn’t see in the corner of the room and whining. Being 12, I didn’t stick around to find out what it was. I ran like a girl, dog tucked under my arm. I think she wanted out too. She was as big a chicken as I was. I don’t know whether that was a ghost—of my grandmother or otherwise—but it scared the crap out of me.

So because we think about and miss those we love so intently, are they more likely to return at this time of year? Do we, with our longing for them, summon their ghosts? Are we sometimes granted a comforting glimpse (albeit it scary if you’re 12!) that tells us they are all right and missing us? Waiting for us?

Or is it simply our minds, or, rather, our hearts, playing tricks?

Has anyone ever had a ghostly Christmas encounter? Seen a holiday spirit that didn’t come out of an eggnog carton? Let me know.

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In paperback.

Rockin' and Rantin'...

First a couple of announcements. My horror novels are on sale at Barnes & Noble until Christmas, so if you are looking for stocking stuffers for the adults I hope you’ll consider putting a little Chloe in their crib. And for the kiddies, perhaps give them a nightmare AT Christmas with my The Nightmare Club series for children ages 8 & up.

Also in the update department, my Avenger story is written and nearly done, as are six vignettes for the two upcoming Avenger short story anthologies from Moonstone (www.moonstonebooks.com) If you liked The Avenger Chronicles I think you will enjoy the upcoming anthos even more, as EIC Joe Gentile has lined up some wonderful talent and special features for these. Both will be out in 2010.

My Sherlock Holmes/Calamity Jane story is also done and in, as are a year’s worth of Golden Amazon comics and widescreen stories. I will be doing a feature blog on her at some point, so keep your eyes peeled. She was quite a challenge and I am hoping the origin and storylines I have developed around her will relaunch this forgotten pulp character for a new audience.

Warning: Rant Ahead. If you are comfortable with your cookies and milk, read no further. I’m PMSing, or whatever equivalent men go through.

I dunno, maybe I’m getting old and grouchy, but it seems lately I’ve been encountering an unusual amount of whining. Now I don’t mean folks with genuine problems who need to vent and feel overwhelmed by their troubles, little or big, or who are just unlucky enough to have the Crap God relieving himself on their heads consistently while some Lah-di-dah goes on and on about how wonderful their life is, making it all the worse. Been there, doing that. Life really bites sometimes and we all need to have somebody there for us.

No, I am talking about those constant drama kings and queens who have nothing better to do than bitch and moan about perceived slights and self-centered entitlements without ever lifting a finger to even try to change their situation or give back. It’s much easier simply to whine about it, suck sympathy from one friend after another like an emotional vampire, then proceed to make the same friggin’ mistakes over and over. They pose these complaints under the guise of wanting your “advice”, then promptly proceed to ignore it. Time and again. It’s much more fun to play the victim, after all.

And if there is no drama? Or if they don’t feel they are being paid due attention, why, hell, they go right out and manufacture some. Dammit, can’t be happy for too long, now can they? They also take the misery loves company adage quite to heart.

And of course when you confront them with it, they take umbrage. Then YOU end up on their complaint list. Oh, woe is frickin’ me. They blame everyone but themselves. They never try to change their lot, because that would involve taking responsibility and work. They prefer to wait for the Lucky Charms Leprechaun to dump magically delicious on them. But even if that happened they’d probably still grouse about the mess the little turd made.

Listen up, whiners: Things do NOT get better by doing the same stupid things over and over. Things get better with self-assessment, the love, support and advice of folks who truly do care about you and by refusing to play the victim.

That doesn’t mean bad things aren’t going to happen. Or that you won’t need support. But you can’t say things are awful and do nothing (well, you can, but it won’t do you a hell of a lot of good). The choice is either deal with it and learn to accept it if you can’t change it, or focus on improving the situation through whatever means necessary (I usually find a paintball gun and several Winged Monkeys do the trick.)

I think one of the things that annoys me most about these types is their self centeredness. Because when you need them, they are too busy, or just plain too wrapped up in their own problems to give a damn about yours. Real friends are tit for tat (anybody know where I can find some tat so I can get some…er, nevermind). Give and take. Pebbles and Bam Bam.

I used to work with a person who spent all of our confined time at work together whining about the spouse. It was non-stop. Oh, my boo does this and that and never ever does that or this. I’m betting boo probably shut down from over-whining.

Recently, I saw a writer—to use one of my ilk—who whined on a group in a nice baiting, passive-aggressive way about how no one complimented him on his posted achievement. Then said writer sat back, waited for someone to nibble the worm, then promptly cried foul, peed in the sandbox, grabbed his toys and quit. Of course, said writer only posted to the group perhaps twice a year, only with HIS achievements, never with any bit of the support or accolades he seemed to so desperately crave from the rest, and did so in the midst of another person’s sudden illness, which the group was concerned with at the time. It’s give and take, Mr. Grumpy Pants Writer. You get out of something what you put into it. You put nothing in, so got nothing back. Go figure. And this was a guy I had personally stuck up for and defended, despite his disagreements with me and a friend previously. No, I won’t name this writer, because who he is isn’t the point and I still have respect for his accomplishments, if not his attitude. I wish him all the success in the world.

What is the point is if you want support, give it. If you want friends to care about your problems, care about theirs. And if you have emotional vampires in your life, think about setting some parameters. You can certainly offer concern and comfort—to a point—but if you find it’s sapping the vim from your vigor, or, worse just frustrating the living hell right out of you, maybe it’s time to count your losses. Of course they will hate you, blame you and whine to anyone within earshot how you wronged them, how they are the victim. But what’s life without a little crap every once in a while?

Now, if you have a moment, I’d like to talk to you about this little pain I’ve been getting right about here…

The Chloe Files: Kicking Evil’s ass one demon at a time…
In paperback.

Enough is Enough!

I normally stay out of politics but I am now irritated sufficiently enough to speak out. It’s coming to the point of tyranny in this country and something has to be done. Something has to be said. The madness must be stopped. Now.

Apparently this one political figure—and make no mistake, it all comes down to politics—has with his majority mandate become akin to a dictator in this country. He rules with what is basically a monopoly and spends nearly all his time costing us billions while making us each more dependent on his handouts. He preys on what has become the national addiction of the me-me-me generation. It’s gone beyond Socialism. And worse, his supporters will not listen to reason. He’s fed them his lies for so long they can no longer hear his true words. He hides behind a suave personality and silvery tongue. He’s somehow mesmerized a huge percentage of the population with his constant appearances on television, on radio, in books and even has these Nazi-youth-like songs sung by a group of kids whose minds he’s brainwashed.

He has other crimes against him, lesser known. He oversees a drafted labor force —volunteer, my ass, when we have such a recession going on and one has no place else to go--forcing them to work under miserable conditions for little or no pay. He gives away the results of their toil for “free”, but make no mistake about it, it’s coming out of your taxes, out of your paycheck. It doesn’t stop at his employees, either. The few pets he has suffer through deplorable conditions and his wife has been warned to keep her mouth shut now and to stay in the background. Yet, if an election were held today, the guy would still fool millions into voting for him and win by a landslide.

But he is a dictator, pure and simple. He has too many mindless automatons backing him up and silencing the opposition. The administration is riddled with corruption while he sits around reaping the rewards mindlessly handed over to him. But I won’t be quiet about it anymore. I’ve had enough. Things need to change and folks need to wake up and see this guy for what he really is. For your children’s sakes, for the generation who will inherit this mess.

I would say start a letter-writing campaign, tell him you are fed up, but recently the Post Office declared they’d no longer deliver mail to him and email addresses will simply be harvested for nefarious use. He already knows way too much about each of us as it is. He sees when you sleep, eat…

And whether you are bad or good. And if you oppose him you can damn well bet you are on the bad list.

It’s up to you. Let the wool keep being pulled over your eyes or do something. I am starting what I call “Egg Nog Parties.” You can join or work out your own strategy. But don’t let this man ruin lives anymore.

Tell him enough is enough. You are fed up and won’t take it. He goes under a number of aliases but Claus is the main one. Santa Claus. Dictator of the North. Enslaver of Elves and reindeer.

Don’t let him get away with it any longer. Ho ho ho, indeed…

Western Wednesday: Miss Calamity

It’s another Western Wednesday on Dark Bits-do you know where your horse is and what he’s up to? Wild oats and all that…

The second Express Westerns short story anthology (which includes my short tale called “Billy” about a Down Syndrome boy in the Old West) now officially has a name—A Fistful of Legends--and is nearing publication. Publication will be, coincidentally, on my birthday, Dec. 12. For further details please mosey on over to writer Ian Parham’s fine blog at http://ijparnham.blogspot.com/ I’ll be posting ordering links when it is available. This is one you won’t want to miss. 22 original tales by the best writer Black Horse has to offer and a couple of brand new extremely talented folks as well.

It’s been my privilege lately to write a new Sherlock Holmes story for an upcoming short story anthology from Moonstone (http://www.moonstonebooks.com/), at the invitation of my pal, writer extraordinaire, Martin Powell. I was actually pretty nervous about writing such a beloved, established character and doing Martin proud, but that’s a story for another blog.

What does this have to do with Westerns, you might ask (and, hell, even if you don’t you know I’m gonna tell ya’ll anyway!)?

The anthology deals with crossovers, characters fictional or real who have crossed paths with the Great Detective. My character choice happens to be the inimitable Miss Calamity Jane.

Martha Jane Cannary is one of the Wild West’s most colorful characters. She was an Indian scout, sometimes prostitute and swore like a cow-puncher, and was given to fits of incredible hyperbole and downright fantasy. She claimed to have married James Butler Hickok—Wild Bill Hickock—and had a child with him, a child later given up to another couple, though no evidence of this birth exists. Her nickname she claims came from saving an officer from “calamity” at the hands of Indians, though others say it was because she caused such wherever she went (and there are other varying stories about how she acquired the appellation). She was also an alcoholic and died just over 50 years of age from pneumonia, as did her mother when Calamity was young (though some accounts blame Martha's death on the degenerative effects of alcoholism.)

Tintypes from the time show a brawny woman with short dark hair and dark eyes, a real handsome gal. In the early 1890s she did join up with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show, but her claims to have saved Custer appear entirely fabricated, as no evidence exists she ever met the famous general.

Whatever Calamity Jane was or wasn’t, she was a bigger than life figure and one of the few women, along with Big Nose Kate, Annie Oakley and a handful of others, to shape Wild West lore. She was also a great deal of fun to write and an interesting foil for Holmes, who, in his adventures, often chastised Dr. Watson for exaggeration of their cases. The anthology should be available sometime next year.