Afterward.
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We know ourselves a little better now. Burned bones about; still we can’t quench the pyres. Our mirrors built the shanties in this town. We locked our doors and doused ourselves with gout, our only ties a thin gruel spread on wires (so we know ourselves a little better now)— then glass exploded. Shrapnel flew about and drowned our ethanol in hollowed fire among the mirrored shanties in this town. The witches (who were us)? We pushed them down into the shards of glass we still call liars (do we know ourselves a little better now?)— We rot away to everything but doubt, imagine we’ve escaped electric mire, and wonder why our mirrors are our town. We stare at shards, denying life torn down, our necks bent over jagged pacifiers— but we know ourselves a little better now. Our mirrors built the shanties in this town. 🕹🌙🧸
Remember free stuff? It’s back—in book form!
Hey, thanks for reading! If you’re new to this newsletter, here’s how it works: everyone who signs up to receive it in their email inbox gets free e-book copies of both my published books, plus you get entered in a monthly drawing for a free signed paperback copy of each! Why? Because I like you.
So, just for signing up, you’ll get:
Ophelia, Alive: A Ghost Story, my debut novel about ghosts, zombies, Hamlet, and higher-ed angst. Won a few minor awards, might be good.
Murder-Bears, Moonshine, and Mayhem: Strange Stories from the Bible to Leave You Amused, Bemused, and (Hopefully) Informed, an irreverent tour of the weirdest bits of the Christian and Jewish Scriptures. Also won a few minor awards, also might be good.
…plus my monthly thoughts on horror, the publishing industry, and why social media is just the worst. Just enter your email address below, and you’ll receive a monthly reminder that I still exist:
Congrats to last month’s drawing winners, moriahkrawec and paris200! (If you are paris200, please reach out to me! I’ve emailed you twice, to no response!) I’ll run the next drawing Sept. 1! 🕹🌙🧸
Two years ago: Yes, you should read the Bible. Yes, you can start with the poop jokes.
Early on in this blog, I was still trying to make my book Murder-Bears, Moonshine, and Mayhem: Strange Stories from the Bible to Leave You Amused, Bemused, and (Hopefully) Informed happen. It sold all right, but never really made waves—and my publicity team never found a place to run the promotional essay I wrote about why everyone, regardless of religious conviction, should read the Bible. So I threw the piece up on the ol’ Substack:
What I’m about to talk about can be kind of a tricky subject, so let me start by trotting out an old tidbit from my English teacher days: A lot of the phrases you use every day were coined by William Shakespeare. Stuff like “a sorry sight” (Macbeth 2.2) and “bated breath” (The Merchant of Venice 1.3) and “break the ice” (The Taming of the Shrew 1.2). Some of you have been influenced by the Bard without even knowing it. Pretty cool, right?
Now, all of that, but about the Bible. (…Read more here!) 🕹🌙🧸
Stuff I’ve been enjoying lately
My favorite singer/songwriter/comedian/weirdo, Emma Blackery, just dropped this tune that more or less captures the ways I feel about stuff these days. The lyrics are pretty on-the-nose, but I tend to think a painfully stupid world demands painfully on-the-nose lyrics. Either way, the tune’s a banger. Great bass line. 🕹🌙🧸