The 51st Delusion
Summer Ain't Worth a Sh*t!
It’s summer, which means the blackberry bushes are loaded, despite the fact that rain has been scarce here in eastern Tennessee. My wife and I have been picking berries almost daily. She’s made blackberry sauce that goes great on oatmeal or yogurt and tonight we’ll be making blackberry preserves with what we picked over the weekend.
Fireflies have been out. They twinkle in the trees across the street like a starry night closer to terra firma than the actual starry night above.
It’s been humid, but that’s to be expected in the South in summer.
Despite the things I do enjoy about summer, I long for fall. Only the other day I was dreaming of that crisp feeling of a fall morning. That might have been a thought on the first official day of summer. This certainly isn’t my season, but it does have its perks.
Welcome to Confusions, Delusions, and Formidable Impressions.
News
Sunday July 7th is release day for Ain’t Worth a Shit, my novella co-authored with Jack Bantry. This little book was originally published by Sinister Grin Press shortly before they went tits up. It had been a long time in coming back then, and we were both excited to work with Sinister Grin, considering what they had put out in their time as a publisher. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out so well for us. The book sold pretty good at first without any real push or promotion, but dropped off a ledge into obscurity and then went out of print.
That was several years ago. We’ve polished the book, had a fresh edit by Dannielle Yeager, and ended up using the same cover art, thanks to Chad Lutzke who I contacted for new cover art but insisted that we should try to use the OG art, and he was right. It’s an eye-catching cover that never got its fair shake.
For the rest of this year, I will have at least three more books out. Mickey and Mo, co-authored by Tomasz Czarny, which will be the next release after Ain’t Worth a Shit, Master of Bodies, which should drop around September, and Sing Me a Death Song, which is a part of the Death’s Head Press splatter western series and slated for release December 10th. Pre order your copy HERE.
Recent Reads from Hell
I’m not sure where I left off with my reads back in newsletter number fifty. I have kind of slouched on releasing regular newsletters. I recently finished Expiration of Sentence by John Lynch. I enjoyed that one. A man is sentenced to years in prison for killing his son’s abuser. In the pen he is faced with challenges that make doing time for what some might find to be a justifiable crime—I can only imagine how I would feel if I were in his shoes—that much worse. But there seems to be a way out . . . albeit a strange path with many risks. Cool read!
I also read Borrowed Flesh by Sephera Giron. I loved her book House of Pain but this one wasn’t quite for me. I read the whole thing and enjoyed it well enough, it just wasn’t nearly as good. It felt like a paranormal romance with horror elements.
I’m currently reading The Old Lady by Kristopher Triana.
Closing Words
This was a short one and I think the newsletters are all going to be shorter. Who has time to read these things anyway? There really is no reason to add any more than what you, the reader of this here newsletter, could consume while staring at your phone in a line or waiting for coffee or on a lunch break. I certainly appreciate your support and interest. As I stated in the opening, summer is not a favorite time of year for me. I get to feeling down in this heat and I long for fall. It isn’t like being a kid and looking forward to summer as a break from the monotony of school. As working adults we get few real breaks. And a week vacation is nothing like looking forward to that months-long summer break between grades. I’ll gladly trade in the twinkling fireflies and belching bullfrogs for a crisp fall evening.
Until next time . . . read a book and tell the world about it.