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Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Hallloween, October Dreaming: A Note

Going through a family crisis. I haven't the heart or headspace to post anything new about Halloween reading (book, comics) or films this year. I can, though, repost a post from 2020 listing all of these peccadilloes. 

Previous Post from 2020

Autumn, for me, is the most beautiful and in some ways, the saddest, season. I'm in the same school as Ray Bradbury and Jack Kerouac on this one. While I certainly don't subscribe to everyone Kerouac suggests, I did journey through a significant Kerouac phase. Bradbury I have never fully recovered from. In fact, I am currently reading Jonathan R. Eller's Bradbury Beyond Apollo, the third biography in the astonishingly well-done series, the first being Becoming Bradbury and the second, Ray Bradbury Unbound.

For me, inspiration runs to a fever pitch even as the leaves turn, fall, and  the, heady wine-like smell seems to pervade the world. I used to always pen a Halloween story, from grade six or so onward, up through university, and afterward. It is no coincidence that my first novel, Town & Train, was literary horror. So, I am always seeking out Halloween viewing and reading. 

Over the years, on this blog, I have made the strong case for Hallowe'en films and comics and books. You can find links to all of these posts below:  

By Year

Thursday, October 21, 2021

Burden

Today, I discovered that when someone you love is dying of lung cancer, that they will give you back your short stories and novellas of yesteryear. 

I am touched they kept my earlier efforts.

But I would do almost anything to have my sibling stay, and in good health. I don't want these pieces of writing back, to be burdened with their return.

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

October, ruinous, heartbreaking

October moon, you reduce me to ruins in my tumuluous times. 

I cannot even seek solace in you in my grief. No use trying to think through my loved one's suffering, but only to act, react, reach the next crossroads of emotion, whether brief relief, sadness, or fleeting joy.

Such a beautiful moon, it breaks my heart.

Full Moon in Aries, over the Rideau Canal, Ottawa. October 20, 2021.