Month: September 2017

Announcing: 31 Ghosts!

I did it! There are 31 Ghosts! Scroll down for the collected links

https://pixabay.com/en/users/Fotomek-1339977/

I love October for many reasons, the largest of which are a) my birthday, and b) Halloween. Do you really need other reasons? You might, and I’ll make some of my other October loves clearer as we go on, but here’s the deal. October has, obviously, 31 days. For each day in October I will provide a story — mostly fiction, but there’s bound to be non-fiction in there, as well. They may not all include ghosts, contrary to the name of the project. But they’ll all be Halloween-y and I promise a little bit of creepiness or other-worldliness in each and every one. They’re not going to be long because, well, I just came up with this idea a few days ago and I haven’t had time to write anything in advance. But this is a good thing in our overly-scheduled world; I’m not asking you to devote an hour to read a story, but instead just a few minutes.

Also, there’s now a way to sign up on the sight for email notifications of updates!

The inspiration for “31 Ghosts” comes from two sources. The first is the apocryphal anacdote of Ernest Hemingway betting a group of drinking buddies he could write a novel in six words. He then writes, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn” on a napkin and accepts his winnings. The other comes from a book that I absolutely loved as a child. First, let me say this: I was a weird child. Okay, the book is from Time Life Books series, “The Enchanted World” (remember those commercials in the 80’s? OMG, I forgot about this one with Vincent Price!). The first book was “Ghosts” and in a sidebar described a short tale of a haunted room simply, “He woke up frightened and reached for a match, and a match was put into his hand.”

Did I mention I love October? Sign up for updates and I’ll see you soon… if you dare! [cue Vincent Price laughing from “Thriller”]

EDIT:

It’s long past October 2017, and, Spoiler Alert: here are your 31 Ghosts:

 

What I’m Reading This Week – Week 39

I’m a little behind on this – skipped Week 38, but I intend to make What I’m Ready This Week (WIRTW) a weekly thing, most likely updated on Fridays, and I’m hoping for about five links. None of these links are behind a strict paywall — I think a couple are behind soft paywalls (“We’ll let you read a few articles a month before we cut you off). Hope these strike you as interesting as they struck me!

What I’m Reading This Week

Week 37, 2017

This is the inaugural WIRTW, so the list is going to run a bit long, but bear with me — I assure you will not click away from this list without learning something. I’m quite selective about what I recommend, so know it’s not going to be a wasted link.

Let’s get into it!