Life goes on…

It’s been three weeks since Butch, my father-in-law, passed away. Since then our lives have been like a rocking ship trying to sail its way through stormy seas. Some days are good, some are bad, but nothing feels the same, and we desperately need them to. I’m assuming that as the days go on we’ll feel more normal, but for now that just isn’t possible. Dealing with his estate and getting all of his affairs in order is a huge task that never seems to end, while at the same time reminding us constantly that he’s dead. The scab of his passing can’t heal because we’re forced to pick at it all the time. Meanwhile, I’m trying to get back into writing, and my success with that has been iffy. I’m trying not to push things, to let them flow naturally, but that’s hard. I want to be okay, I want to write, and I want to be happy. Maybe someday I will.

But, not all is grim and Debbie Downer. I recently picked up a horror novel titled “The Strain” by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It’s like “The Hot Zone” meets “Salem’s Lot,” and I loved it. I finished it last night, and immediately I wanted to dive into the next book. I have no idea when it comes out, but it can’t be soon enough. The book wasn’t all that scary, but it was creepy as hell, and that’s just as good. Creep can be sustained a lot better than horror can. I can’t recommend it enough. I chose it as the book for our next podcast book review/discussion. I hope the other guys like it as much as I did.

So, that makes two books I’ve finished in the past month. First it was Scott Sigler’s “Contagious,” and now “The Strain.” I thought about reading J.F. Lewis’ “Revamped,” but I didn’t want to follow one vampire novel with another, so instead I cracked open Joe Hill’s “Heart-Shaped Box.” He’s the son of Stephen King, so my expectations are high. Thus far, they’ve been met. We’ll see if he can keep it up.

Anyway, that’s it. That’s life. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have… well, you get the idea.

Take care.