Beyond The Darkness 21
Welcome Back, Kotter
Well hello, everyone! Long time no see. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. It’s been a really lengthy time since I’ve sent out a new edition of this newsletter. The end of June of last year, to be precise. And for that I’m very sorry. Life, unfortunately, got in the way. Majorly. Of pretty much everything. In turn, it’s nearly completely taken my time away from my laptop and writing in general.
A ton has happened since issue twenty. For starters, we switched to ten hour shifts at my day job, which has cut close to two hours out of every evening. By the time I get home every night, play with my son, spend time with my wife, and cook dinner, it’s already bedtime. Sure, I have Fridays off, but I watch my child all day, who, although is pretty independent now as a two and a half year old, still needs an eye on him while he plays so he’s not spilling or breaking things.
The biggest change is that we finally got out of the place we were renting and moved into a new home this past January. Over the last six plus years, we’ve had nothing but hellacious issues living in the city. A few years ago my car was stolen, which we thankfully got back after finding out some fourteen year olds took it and drove it two hours away to Allentown, where they promptly got into a police chase and hopped out from the vehicle, letting it roll into another car. When we finally got to actually see the car in person again before we had it towed back to get fixed, we discovered in the twenty-four hours those two had it, they went to McDonald’s for lunch, a gas station to buy new phone chargers, and somehow left ALL their dirty clothes in the backseat, underwear included.
About a year and a half ago, while he three of us were asleep, we heard three incredibly loud gunshots outside in the alley. Our son woke up screaming, and I jumped to the window to see if I could spot anyone. After seeing nothing, we fell back to sleep and I went to work the next morning, not thinking anyone of it. My wife called me about two hours later in tears, telling me she discovered a bullet hole in window just above our son’s changing table, five feet from where he slept, which then lodged itself into his closet door. We then found another bullet hole in the awning just below his room, above the front porch. Then, after the cops left, we found ANOTHER hole in my wife’s driver’s side door in her car, which is still there.
The final straw happened sometime last summer. I was off work for whatever reason that day and I was standing in the kitchen, trying to administer some cold medicine to my son, when I heard a loud boom. At first I thought something fell over in the living room, but when I stepped out into the hallway I saw the front door was sitting wide open. Upon further inspection, it was plainly easy to see someone had kicked my front door in and busted the double locks right off their hinges. I still can’t wrap my head around it because it was early in the morning and we lived right across the street from a school where children were still walking to and being dropped off at. Months later, I’m now convinced it was a kid doing some TikTok challenge or something, since we at the time were the only house in the neighborhood without doorbell cameras. That didn’t make it any less terrifying. Add to all of that our landlord selling the place out from under us and the new company threatening to hike the rent way up, it quickly became the final push we needed to get the hell out of dodge.
And get out we did.
I can say, despite getting royally fucked with our interest rates, our family finally found a home a good ways out of the inner city and into a beautiful quiet neighborhood where we’re not constantly on high alert every time we step foot outside. For the first time in six years, I finally feel safe. I don’t have to worry about my wife and child’s safety and wellbeing. Our wallets hate it, but our peace of mind is priceless.
So yeah, I can see how people could see those as excuses for why I haven’t written in months. And that’s fine. Everyone has their stress limits, and those like myself don’t feel their most creative or artistic when they’re worried about getting shot at or not seeing sunlight for most of the week until the weekend. Life’s been rough.
But I can say now it’s gotten so much better.
I’m mentally and physically in a better place. We all love the new house, I’ve gotten used to my new work schedule, and I’m finally feeling good about myself. I’m ready to start writing again, thank Christ.
I want to say thank you to everyone who has been following me for all these years. Your support of my writing endeavors and me as a person has been a massive contributing factor to why I keep doing this. You’re why I keep putting out new stories, why I travel to book events, and why I keep trying to better myself in any way I can. Seriously, I haven’t even put out a newsletter in nearly a year and I’m still getting notifications about new subscribers nearly every day.
So from the bottom of the heart, thank you. Keep following me into the darkness. I hear there’s spooky shit ahead… (New book out this fall…)
I'm extremely excited to announce that I will be hosting a once a month Mystery Horror Movie Night at Vortex Books & Comics in Columbia, PA!
Address: 477 Locust St, Columbia, PA 17512
Every month, on a Friday night after the store closes, owners Brian Keene and Mary SanGiovanni have graciously allowed me to transform their side comic room into a mini theater, complete with a 70" screen and brand new 4k movie projector.
My goal for these events is to introduce (or refresh) the audience to some awesome horror films from all around the world, from Italy to France to Taiwan to Britain to America and everywhere in-between, all from my extensive home disc collection.
Please join us Friday April 26th at 7pm for the first film showing! Though I can't tell you what film we're viewing until showtime, here's a few hints to keep you guessing...
Country of origin: Italy (Dubbed in English)
After many years of acting in small roles in dozens of classic Italian genre films, this was the director's debut film behind the camera, and only one of four horror films they ever made.
"Birds of a feather"
"Break a leg"
A few notes for the events:
1. *Most* of these films will be Rated R and for mature audiences, so please use discretion when bringing anyone under 18.
2. Seating will be very limited, so get to the store early. Some standing room will be available in the back of the room.
3. Though many of the films will be in English, I will let everyone know in the weeks leading up if the upcoming film will be in another language and subsequently subtitled.
4. There will be free pizza available at this first showing, but bring your own drinks.
5. Although these events are completely free of charge, please consider donating a couple of dollars to the store. I, Wesley the host, won't be taking or making any money, but Vortex is graciously letting us use their space, electricity, and time after store hours, so every little bit helps them keep the them running and allows these events to continue for us to collectively enjoy great horror films together.
I was extremely fortunate to receive an ARC of the new, upcoming Bentley Little novel BEHIND, coming out this summer from Cemetery Dance. I’m about halfway through and I can tell you this book is absolutely fantastic. I’ll try to post a review if it here when I’m finished. Thank you to Dan Franklin and the CD crew for sending this over.
As a thank you for sticking with me, please enjoy a nice discount for my webstore. Use the code “NEWSLETTER” at checkout to receive 20% off your entire order. Most of my books are in-stock and ready to ship to almost anywhere in the world. Code expires next Sunday.
Congrats again on the move! I wish I could be there for the movie night at Vortex, especially since I think you pick one of my favorite giallo films.
Hang in there, man. You're 100% trending in the right direction.