Recently: 11 November

11 November 2022

It is November now and I am currently eight books behind schedule to reach my yearly reading goal. I still believe in the dream.

Dan Sinker on the beauty of Weird Twitter and why we still need it.
Inside the growing cult of VHS survivalists
What happened to former child star Lora Lee Michel?
How punk adopted the Godfather of Gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Celebrating 30 years of The People Under the Stairs
“Fear is not the best thing in the world, of course, but it’s not going anywhere and we are likely forced to meet it in some capacity, great or small, each and every day. There’s no way around it. Denying this fact only provides more fertile ground for fear to take root. Worse yet, denying it robs us of our agency to meet and overcome it.” Horror is good for you and for your kids.
“I’ve begun to sprinkle mementos of death into my own home — which, naturally, are also reminders of life.” The Death Artist

I read The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste, a quietly horrific magic realism tale of growing up and leaving, or not, the Rust Belt.
Last spring in New Orleans, I browsed one of its many, many great bookshops and picked up The Writing Habit by David Huddle. I was not familiar with this book or its author at all, but since solidifying my own writing habit has been my primary goal lately, I bought it. It sat patiently in one of my book stacks until it was time to read it, which is now. And it’s exactly what I need to read right now. This one might not be on the usual lists of craft books for writers, but I recommend it for those looking for such.
I saw a screening of Noah Segan’s Blood Relatives, which I enjoyed a lot. A bit more over at Letterboxd.
I also enjoyed Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix. While ostensibly a series of roughly hour-long episodes, each one seems to have been given to an individual director with free rein, so they more accurately resemble small films. My entirely subjective, but also completely correct, ranking: