StokerCon was great. It felt strange and encouraging to be around so many other horror enthusiasts and creators, from beginners to veteran stalwarts of the genre. I made some new friends, and I learned a lot from the helpful panels. I also pitched a novel to a couple editors, and they both showed interest.
You know I’m not much for taking a lot of pictures, but I did bring back a few.
Above is the first picture I took in Rhode Island. I took it at a rest stop, but the moon looked really cool.
These two I took from the window on seventeenth or eighteenth floor of the Biltmore Hotel, where the conference was located. You see the center of downtown Providence below. I hate driving in and out of cities, but once I was in, I loved it. I didn’t take as much time to walk around the city as I would have liked, but as you’ll see, I did explore a few blocks from the hotel.
This is an Episcopal church building not far from the Biltmore. I love the architecture. I don’t know if that’s Gothic or not, but it’s cool.
The PPAC. Love the lights. This month they’ll be showing the Tony Award®-winning musical An American In Paris, and I really wish I could be there for that. But I don’t have the money or the desire to drive all the way back to Providence so soon after this trip!
Here’s guest of honor Ramsey Campbell starting things off the first night. I am much shorter than this picture makes me seem. Thanks to Dan Rabarts of Raw Dog Screaming Press for taking this photo over everyone’s head.
Not exactly part of the conference, I guess. I drove past these turkeys in Tiverton on the way from my friends’ house to Providence one morning. I figured Dad would like this one, then I forgot to text it to him.
By the time I convinced myself that I would always regret it if I didn’t get a book signed by Ramsey Campbell, the table in the dealer’s room was sold out. So I ran around Providence with only hours left of the conference looking for a book. Finally found one! Took it back to the conference and got it signed. Mr. Campbell is super friendly!
This is not where I found The Kind Folk, but it is a very cool little used bookstore stuffed full of all kinds of old paperbacks and hardcovers. Oddly enough, after going through this door, you have to walk up two sets of stairs before finding the bookstore.
Huge thanks to David and Wendy Friend for letting me stay with them at their house in Tiverton, and for taking me to see the coast, which brought to mind Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth“.
Well that’s all I got. Really looking forward to continuing the relationships I made at StokerCon. Hope to come back again!
photos
Leaving for the Allegheny Trail; also, some pictures from this summer
I want to let everyone on here know that I will soon be away from the internet, for most of September. For our fifth wedding anniversary, Emily and I are using up all of her paid vacation days to attempt a thru-hike of the Allegheny Trail.
Not to be confused with the Appalachian Trail or the Great Allegheny Passage, the Allegheny Trail is a 300 mile hiking route that stretches from the PA border of West Virginia to the VA border. We plan to finish in three weeks. I will be bringing my phone primarily for emergencies, as well as a section where the trail isn’t finished that I might need to call someone nearby to drive us from one section to the other, unless we decide to walk the gap. I might turn my phone on in a non-emergency setting during our scheduled resupply days at certain towns, but if I do that, the most I’ll probably do online is delete junk emails and perhaps post on Instagram—but don’t hold your breath. If anyone comments, tweets at me, emails, or whatever, don’t expect a prompt reply. In fact, though we plan on getting back for the last week of September, my inbox will probably be so swamped (mostly with junk) that it will take me a while to get back to anyone who has tried to contact me. If you email and don’t hear back after the second week of October, try contacting me again (I might have lost your message in all the junk email I’m sure to get, and accidentally deleted it).
For more information on the trail Emily will be backpacking, peruse these websites:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_Trail
https://www.wvscenictrails.org/
Emily and I also went to the WV State Fair this summer and I got some cool pictures. Some of them are kinda creepy so I thought somebody out there might like them.
This one is my favorite. I waited a while for crowds to disperse so I could get a clear shot of this creepy blackface clown trash can. Why would anyone make this thing unless they are trying to creep kids out???
I love the lights of the carnival, and stuck around until dark primarily just to see it. A raptor specialist came to show off his birds. Owls are my favorite animals (and the novel I’m working on features a pretty creepy barn owl), so this was the highlight of my day. There was a tiger show, but it was so crowded (and I’m not a very tall person), that I missed most of it.
I’m excited but nervous about the trip. I’ve still been feeling some pain from an injury I got cross country skiing last winter. But most likely, a trip like this is now or never, so I bought myself a brace and have been wearing it for a couple days and it does seem to help. Pray for me and my leg, as we need to average fifteen-mile days to complete the trail in time.
Here are some parting pictures for you, of my chickens and the camp’s goats this summer:
Going “radio silent” (or internet silent, I guess?). Later.
