Happy Halloween, everyone! Hope you all are having a wonderfully spooky season 🎃👻🎃

Finished moving recently! Gearing up for the move is one the reasons I‘ve been MIA for a while. Been dipping into King‘s Night Shift to reread some favorite short stories while I get everything sorted. Hope you all have been well!

Current read.
I've enjoyed Nevill's short fiction, and looking forward to reading his longer works, starting with this one.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Loving the tagged book on Audible. Last month marked a year since my dad passed away, so I wasn‘t in the best headspace. Aside from the garden variety work stress, the past few weeks have been particularly tense on account of some turbulence in the family business, which I‘m currently looking into to ensure we‘re not duped. Hoping to find balance and get back into the swing of reading and writing.

A while back I‘d shared news about my debut collection, The Endless Walk, coming out in August; however, the release has been pushed back to early 2022. In the meantime, my publisher has a new anthology called Hymns of Abomination, a tribute to the work of Matthew M. Bartlett, coming out a week from now on September 1. So pumped to check it out. And if you haven't read Bartlett's work, the tagged book is a great introduction.

Happy Birthday to Emily Brontë 🖤

This is one of my most looked-forward-to books, so I'm beyond excited to finally start with this!

I've worked myself to exhaustion recently, so I've decided to take some time off and spend the entire weekend reading. The tagged book contains four of James's works. I read the The Turn of the Screw some years ago and recall not quite connecting with it, but having reread it now, I enjoyed it a lot and found much in it to appreciate. Excited about the other stories.
#CurrentlyReading

Starting with this as research for a story I'm working on.

Not book-related, but sharing a work update I‘m excited about. Creating this Skillshare class consumed my time these past months & stoked that it‘s finally live! If you‘d like to check it out, use the link below to sign up for a free trial, which you can cancel anytime, & view a bunch of other classes apart from mine, as well, on everything from drawing to photography to fashion. I‘m delighted with how it came out & hope people find it helpful.

The first book in a series called The Skillute Cycle, Knock Knock is a coming-of-age story about three girls, who unwittingly invoke an entity in the woods, that unfolds not only into a generational drama that‘s stepped in terror and dread, but also ushers in hazardous ramifications for the town they live in. As much an exploration of the darkness in the human heart as the heart-stopping darkness that haunts the characters. ⬇️

I've been slogging through some of my recent reads, which has more to do with my headspace rather than the books themselves, so started reading this to switch things up, and enjoying it.

Pumped to start with this collection.

Started with this yesterday. Thought I'd read a few pages but wound up reading ten chapters. Can't wait to dive back in. Also, for some reason, I'm subvocalizing in Rahul Kohli's voice as I read, which is making it a lot more compelling.

This happened earlier today. To say it brightened my day would be an understatement. Have enjoyed Sam's work in various anthologies, and especially loved his piece in Nox Pareidolia, so coming from him, it means a lot. Can't wait for you all to read the collection, which is currently in the editorial phase.

Had one of the most crippling instances of depression in the last few weeks. I‘m beginning to crawl out of it only now. I‘m very self-aware, and while I can spot triggers and toxic thought patterns, I‘m often unable to stop them from unfolding. It‘s often like watching a collision. This book about mind-management has been really helpful in that regard, addressing how one can “catch and edit” thoughts before they spiral down a drain of negativity.

Dipping back into this book. The last few days have been far from good. Felt depressed and overwhelmed, and yesterday, I was laid up with a kidney stone. It was a first for me, and one of the most horrendous pains, made worse by the nausea and vomiting, I‘ve experienced. Thankfully, I passed the little bastard around evening and am much better now, focusing on healing.

✒Writing update!✒ I‘m about a day or two away from wrapping up the first draft of a new short story. Was going to make a post about it later, but today was a good writing day, so felt like sharing 😊

Up next.

#RantTime Wish I was unaware of the existence of the book on the right. The Goodreads review on the bottom sums up my feelings. I loathe stories that portray colonialism through a rose-tinted lens. The tagged book, which I started a while back but couldn‘t finish on account of how triggering I found it, is a great place to start for anyone interested in the grim reality of the era. Based on Dr. Tharoor‘s speech at the Oxford Union (Link Below)

This cracked me up more than it should have 🤣

Fishing becomes something of a solace for two widowers, but a trip to Dutchman's Creek changes everything. Can‘t remember the last time I was so consumed by a book. A portrait of grief, deep & raw, woven with the trappings of cosmic horror in a fashion that‘s fresh, phantasmagoric. I especially enjoyed the story nested within the story, which read like a novelette of historical horror & had some deliciously creepy moments. Both epic & intimate.

The Fisherman has been on my TBR for a really long time. So pumped to finally dive into it.

Recently started this anthology about haunted manuscripts and really enjoying it.

Love this so much. 😂

📚Cover Reveal!📚 Thrilled to share the cover for my debut horror collection! The book will contain eleven short stories. So excited that this will be out in the world in August 2021.
Grateful to Silent Motorist Media for making this happen.
A lot of you on Litsy have always been super supportive about my writing, and I can‘t wait for you all to read it! Do check out the link below to read the official announcement.

First heard about this book in a short story by John Langan & was looking forward to it since. It hit all the right notes of a possession story, but I enjoyed the telling more than the story itself. The latter was straightforward, which I don‘t mean as a negative; in a way it lent the story a certain inexorableness, which suited it well, but made for a monorail narrative. SG does a terrific job weaving the demon into the mental fabric of the MC ⬇️

Last novel I read was du Maurier's Rebecca back in November. Since then I've mostly read short stories and non-fiction so I'm looking forward to diving into this one.

If Arthur Miller took a stab at writing horror fiction, the result would likely be similar to the stories in this collection. Wow. I love the restraint NB employs in the telling, focusing on the feelers of darkness that brush the human heart, rather than any external horror. The point at which he chooses to snip the narrative thread adds more gravity to the story, leaving you with a sense of lingering unease and resounding pity. Masterful.

Have some writing-related good news to share. My debut short story collection, The Endless Walk, was accepted for publication by Silent Motorist Media.
Grateful to Editor Justin Burnett for his kind words and interest in my work.
SMM has a terrific line-up of books, and I couldn't be more honored to be a part of it.
Been missing my dad especially since he always encouraged my writing and would've been really excited.

Currently reading.

Reading really helped with my mental health in the past few months. These two books in particular clicked with me from page one and kept my mind from wandering.

My dad passed away due to a heart attack yesterday. My family and I are still shocked by the suddenness of it. Will be on hiatus for a while.

Thank you for tagging, @batsy! 😊
Super late with this. Had a busy few days, trying to catch a deadline.
1. I keep them. I'm picky about buying books because the absurdly high prices at my end tend to put a dent in my budget. Lately, a majority of my reading has been on Kindle.
2. I clicked with Stegner's voice having read an interview of his a while back & have been meaning to check out his short stories since.
#Two4TuesdayGiveaway
@TheSpineView

Normalize the demicolon! 🤣

Up next! I've enjoyed Adam Nevill's short stories so excited about checking this out.

All the nopes.

After receiving a distressing letter from her cousin, a young socialite is sent by her father to gauge her cousin‘s health & fetch her should she find it amiss, but things go sideways during her visit. This was a solid horror novel that weds the weird tale with its gothic origins. It‘s been described as Lovecraft meets the Brontës, which, I think, is inaccurate. It‘s more of a mash-up between Shirley Jackson, Arthur Machen & Jordan Peele. ⬇️

I was going to pick up an ebook of this next month, but I recently joined Kindle Unlimited and was stoked to find that this was one of the titles available. Two stories in and it's every bit as fantastic as I was expecting.

Happy 100th Birthday to Ray Bradbury.
His inimitable, dark, and deeply human stories are timeless in their capacity to entertain, inspire, and linger in the reader's mind, often prompting reflection.
This short story by Neil Gaiman is such a fitting tribute. 🖤
https://m.soundcloud.com/neilgaiman/the-man-who-forgot-ray-bradbury

Excited to dive into this one.

Freshly infected by a hyper virulent strain of rabies, Nats reaches out to her doctor friend, Rams, & they set out on a quest to seek help. Survivor Song sinks its hooks into you very fast, setting up an unrelenting tone, & just carries you away. Aspects of it read like a docu-drama at times, mirroring the current global crisis. The bond between the protagonists is the book‘s heartbeat. Intense, harrowing, terrifying, & tender. ⬇️

The opening of the tagged book 😄 Few pages in and loving it. I wish I'd picked it up sooner.

Up next.

I think I fall somewhere in between. On a side note, would read both. 🤣

No contest there 😄

This quote by Neil Gaiman with Chris Riddell's art 🖤
https://chrisriddellblog.tumblr.com/post/162317897394/neil-gaiman-on-libraries-a...

I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say this, but no harm in repeating: Read and let read. 😊 💜