Listening to the new Grisham which was dubbed as a whodunnit murder mystery. I’m about 4 hours in and it’s a slog. Mostly the unlikeable main character doing unlikeable things. No murder yet, no mystery. The real whodunnit is if I’m going finish.

Fact: My mother takes much better care of her dog than she ever did of us. Also Fact: I don’t blame her.

It’s Sunday and I made french toast and the wife put Forever Knight on the telly. I have puppies and a apple cider mimosa. No complaints.

So what song do you want Jason Isbell and Drive-Bye Truckers to play on The Late Show next month? My pick is Goddam Lonely Love. Although it’s more likely to be Decoration Day since it’s for the anniversary of that album but man I’d love to hear them play that.

I see a lot of people taking shots at country music based on an AI generated song taking #1 on the charts and I think this misses the point. There is a lot of amazing artists in country music putting out great music, and this hackneyed drivel of a song doesn’t even come close to them. Fuck AI.

Everyone should check out @vortexbooksncomics.bsky.social Ebay site. I won 5 James A. Moore fantasy books and included in the package they sent me was a bonus book, a bunch of bookmarks and oddly a pamphlet for a senior living community. @briankeene.bsky.social

There are books that I read the description and I’m like “man, this sounds like something I would love” and when I read it I’m like meh. Then there are authors I read who I’ll read the description and I’m like “meh” but then I fall in love with the book. MR Carey is one of those authors.

Just finished King Sorrow by Joe Hill in audio. So many people raved about this so I was totally expecting to be let down. But man, what a ride. Messy and darkly beautiful. The audio was so well done. I won’t say this is my favorite book of the year but it’s one I’ll be thinking about for a while.

So we are supposed to be able to see the Aurora Borealis today but John Wyndham taught me to never trust children, plants or astronomical phenomena.

I think for the first time in many years I haven’t read any of the Goodreads nominees for Science Fiction.

My father was a Vietnam Veteran. He also wasn’t a great father. He missed most of my life events. He eventually came back into my life only to again abandon us for a new wife and family. Years later, he sent us a viscuous message about how ungrateful we were for not wishing him Happy Veteran’s Day.

Dear author of “7 Films You Didn’t Know Where Based on a Stephen King Story.” Most Stephen King fans know that a minor character in one book was the second cousin to a minor character in another book, so I’m pretty sure they know all those movies where based on a Stephen King story.

I have what I call a “car book.” It sits in my car for when I have to wait for the girls to finish dance or I run out on my lunch break to grab a slice of pizza. It usually an anthology of some sort. Right now it’s @briankeene.bsky.social’s The Rising: Selected Stories… (cont.)

Reading my first book by @laurelhightower.bsky.social . It’s a print read so it’s slow reading, maybe a chapter or two a day but man is it creepy as fuck. Just finished a chapter today with a total wtf moment.

Pet Peeve: I hate when people make a post about a book they don’t like and say, “I don’t understand why people like this book.” I have read plenty of books that I didn’t like but I can understand why they may appeal to others.

Guys I’m at 93 books for 2025. So close to 100 so yes I’m going to read King Sorrow by Joe Hill next.

Just realized @eeknight.bsky.social is here on the bluesky and now I want to go back a reread all the Vampire Earth books. I miss Valentine and Ahn-Kah.

Reading a Jonathon Tropper novels (for work and not pleasure) and man does he like to wax elegant about how hard it is to be a 40 year old middle class white dude.

Today’s mail:

This morning I made Pancakes for the kids and French Toast for me and my wife and this asshole managed to knock a whole uncooked scrambled egg onto his head.

So I just did a full month of horror novels and want to take a break and maybe read the new Lincoln Lawyer book or the new John Grisham novel but damn that King Sorrow by Joe Hill looks so tempting.

Reading Brian Keene’s news letter and he mentioned he liked the The Rule of Jenny Pen. I hated this movie and I think he nailed the reason why. Working for a Residential facility for individuals with IDD I just couldn’t believe any staff could be this incompetent.

I guess the cat’s out of the bag. My job announced a series of leadership changes and promotions and with 24 years of experience at various positions in the organization I will not be taking over as the President of the company. But, I did finally get my own work phone number this year.

Seems that in the 30 years since I was in the conservative fundamentalist christian movement they have gone from “it should be our responsibility through charities and churches to care for the poor and disadvantaged and not the government’s” to “It’s not our responsibility, let them starve.”

Settling in for another hard day at work:

Finished Breathe In, Bleed Out by @brianmcwriter.bsky.social read by @jercarparvo.bsky.social Another fun slasher with more depths than I expected. Going to have to check out his other books. Next up is The Haar by @davidsoderberg.bsky.social.

Reminder: Pat Tomlinson is a mysogynistic asshat who has harassed women online, made rape threats and is basically just a bad actor and recently made up an outrage (when there is plenty of things to be upset about that Trump has done) for likes and engagement. Don’t give to to him. Always fact check

I have a few friends reposting Pat Tomlinson recent performative post about Trump’s west wing destruction claiming a sign from the FDR museum is being destroyed when it isn’t. Can we all agree to give honest critiques of Trump while ignoring Pat’s erroneous claims? He doesn’t deserve out attention.

I’m not sure there are any studies to back me up but I truly believe that screeching loudly in the most annoying voice possible while watching a televised football game in a public setting doesn’t help your team make that tackle.

Finished The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Masacre. Heading into the sprint of my October Halloween Horror Audiobooks starting with Breathe In, Bleed Out, my first @brianmcwriter.bsky.social book.

My wife has an Edgar Allan Poe tattoo. Tonight we are going to a Halloween Party with a reading from a Poe Inpersonator, giving me the chance to yell, “Why is your face tattooed on my wife!” Followed by fisticuffs.

I am having a lot of fun with @pfracassi.bsky.social’s The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre but then he had to go and throw in a scenes that hit me with all the emotions, especially as a dog lover. Now I want to go home and give Crowley belly rubs. (Don’t worry, no animal cruelty or killing.)

Next up in my October audiobook queue is The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by @pfracassi.bsky.social read by the great @justjanuary.bsky.social. Chose this one because I needed something fun and I hope it fits the bill.

I just finished The Deep by Nick Cutter and man, I can totally get why people love this book but, outside of a few “Oh, shit” moments it didn’t work for me. I appreciate it more than enjoy it. Although, I did kinda dig the ending.

Tribulation of Dax is so much fun. Plus it’s free! Free Fun!

My @thestorygraph.com review of The October Film Haunt by @michaelwehunt.bsky.social. A very creepy, well constructed horror thriller which left my head spinning. Like, Regan spinning but without all the messy green vomit. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a87e...

Finished The October Film Haunt by Michael Wehunt, on audio. Have some thoughts which I will formulate into a coherent review. Next up is And Then I Woke Up by @malcolmdevlin.bsky.social narrated by Graham Mack for @tantoraudio.bsky.social. About an hour in and really digging it.

I have now entered the itchy scabby period of my new tattoo, which is the worse part, exacerbated by the fact that the tattoo is right above my wrist and it’s now officially hoody season. So the cuff of my hoody falls right on the new tattoo.

This is why local elections matter. The Bucks County Sheriff and 16 of his officers are being trained by ICE yet he hasn’t yet developed the directives they will follow but promised (yeah, right) he won’t be exercising the full authority the statute grants him. www.phillyburbs.com/story/news/l...

My wife and I finished Monster: The Ed Gein story last night. I think the only reason we finished it was that when we got to the end of an episode we said, “Well, it can’t get any worse than that.” Then it got worse than that.

For my current book the female narrator is amazing and really capturing the eerie meta nature of the narrative. The male narrator sounds like the movie phone guy on a bad day. Bland and monotonous with no connection to the character. It’s how I imagine AI narration.

I live dual narrator male/female audiobooks when both narrators are good and if they both suck, well, I can skip or read the print book. The worse thing is when one of the narrators is really, really good and one, not so much. It’s frustrating and totally takes you out of the story.

Fresh from Outtasight studios my latest addition to my Dark Tower tattoos. This is Blaine the mono traveling through Lud past the statue of Maturin. Thought the artist did a great job with the weird spot I wanted it.

Tomorrow, popular indy author Luke Smitherd releases I’ll Quit When I’m Dead, his first book published my a major publisher. Here is my @thestorygraph.com review of the @hachetteaudio.bsky.social audiobook. app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/7953...

Free Book. If you haven’t read one of Thom’s books this is your chance. Highly recommend!

Getting a new tattoo tomorrow. This one I’m a little nervous about how it will turn out. I haven’t seen the final stencil for it yet and the space it’s going (under my Shardik tattoo) is weird. Plus, it’s a different direction than other versions of this character I have seen.

My work space:

So my October spooky fridaylistens is ROTTEN TOMMY by @paperbacksandpugs.bsky.social. It’s my first time listening to one of their books and it’s creepy as fuck. Also, there’s some characters in it that I’m super looking forward to seeing them killed horrifically.

My wife is taking the girls to get their nails done so I am going to relax and watch the last episode of Ballard with the puppies.

antifa is actually short for anti-fanta