Hello, my friends and the occasional relative!

Last couple of days to snag a cheap kindle version of The Killer and The Dead! “Get them while they’re cooling on the slab!”

Mortuary joke. The lead character works there, when he’s not, you know, offing people to keep his family fed. The ungrateful swine.

Happy Hallowe’en in advance! Have a ghastly one, my sweet night creatures!

In the spirit of the season I have assembled, then chopped and re-stitched the Franken-corpse that is The Red Palace into one new piece. Alas, it is still missing a few organs, and the legs it needs to carry it to a finale. But now, with my creation suitably arranged, the missing organs have been suggested to me, and the legs are ready to be delivered: my mental Burke and Hare, shovel and club in hand, have assured me that they have the matter in hand and will soon provide me with just what I require, for the usual fee, of course!

The ghost of novel future therefore floats before me, beckoning, even as the ghost of novels past clanks its chains and asks me why this one will be any different. Recognizing doubt in the ghost of novels past, I do not employ foul language as I may recently have done, but wish it well, offer it a cup of tea and a plate of cookies even, for my novels past exist in the glorious and eternal present, and as such their final fate has yet to be written.

So, my ghoulish friends, have a wonderful week, and remember that what has been made lives on, and what has yet to be made already has its spark inside of you. Do the work, pull the lever, and you too may be able to deliriously cry, “It’s alive! It’s alive!”

Hallowe’en: the season of dark optimism.