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The Mausoleum: Discussions on All Things Horror... |
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Greetings, Friend- and welcome to The Mausoleum! Please watch your step, the stairs into the tombs are narrow, and it will take your eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness. Take my hand, if you wish. I wouldn't let you fall... Halloween is nearly upon us, and I hope you'll take a few minutes to read my upcoming short story "The People Upstairs." It seems grandma has a poltergeist- and who doesn't love a ghost-story to go with their tricks and their treats? According to the Facebook page of the master of modern horror (Stephen King, in case you were born on Mars) his son Joe Hill's new short novel is being published in Cemetery Dance Magazine this month. Again, just in time for Halloween! Well, thanks for visiting, Friend, and I hope you return to the Mausoleum very soon! No..no, not like that! I meant alive and well, and ready to talk horror! Hope you enjoy "The People Upstairs," which I will post in the next few days! All the Best- to the living, and the undead, J. Robert Kane |
| Greetings once again, my friends, and welcome back to the mausoleum! The body-count continues to rise down here, thanks in no small part to our good pal Scoops the Clown, who remains at large...Lock your windows tonight, for as they say, it is better to be seen, than to be viewed... I'd like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed "Eureka." To date, only one other of my stories, "The Visitor in the Shower," has been so highly rated. I'm so pleased that you all enjoyed it, and thank you again so much for your time and for your thoughts! My new short story, "Kelly Davis' Ghost" is now posted. I hope you'll give it a read, and let me know what you think. I hope that all of your writing projects are going very well, and wish you, as always, All the Best, J. Robert Kane |
| Greetings, and welcome back to the Mausoleum. Mind your step, as it is quite crowded down here (the bodies are piled three high!) since Scoops the Clown has been on his rampage... I would like to thank everyone who read and reviewed Godshead. I appreciate all of your thoughts and suggestions very much! My new story, Eureka, is now posted. I hope you enjoy, and I look forward to hearing your comments!l I will have a new story, Kelly Davis' Ghost posted either tomorrow or the next day. I hope you will give it a read and let me know what you think! And so again I thank you, dear friend. Let's sit awhile in the dank chill of the tombs and talk of things to come... All the Best, John |
| Welcome back, my friend, to the dark embrace of the Mausoleum. Today is a milestone for me. Today, May Fourth (and, May the Fourth be with you, by the way!) Two-Thousand-Seventeen, I submitted a story for publication, for the very first time! I submitted my story "The Visitor in the Shower" to a horror magazine. It only took me forty-three years, but hey, better late than never! Wish me luck. So, have you seen the new trailer for The Dark Tower movie? I saw it yesterday, and I have to say, it looks very good. I have to hurry up and finish the books! Well, as always I'd love to know what you are working on? What horror are you reading/watching? As Always, All the Best! John |
| Well, as predicted, the mausoleum has been a crowded place since Scoops the Clown has been on the loose. There is still room for you, though, my friend...always room for you... I'd like to thank everyone who's read and reviewed my new story, Godshead. I appreciate all of your thoughts, and your time! For those of you who haven't checked it out yet, please do! So there are some big things going on in the world of horror. Pennywise the Clown returns to the screen soon. What are your thoughts on the new project? How did you feel about the first, made-for-television movie? This fall, Stephen King and son Owen King release what is- to the best of this fan's knowledge- their first collaboration. I, for one, can't wait to read this one! Well, here's hoping that your writing projects are going well! Looking forward to reading your stories! All the Best John |
| Stay very close...it's been too long since I've braved the depths of the mausoleum. God knows what dark spirits stir in our absence. Did you feel that- the way it became suddenly more cold? Take my hand, if you will...the air is thin down here, and my light falters... Before the restless dead spoil our time together, I'd like to thank everyone who read and reviewed the two stories I've posted in the last month. Both "By the Roots" and "Scoops!" have been well-received and I appreciate all of your comments and critiques! In the meantime, I continue to plug away at the first draft of my first novel. I'm just under novel length (about 65,000 words,) though I expect the completed draft to round out at nearer to 100,000 words (which is actually closer to what a science-fiction novel should be.) Wish me luck, and I shall keep you posted! What are you working on? I'm always interested to hear, and am always willing to trade reviews! As we part company for today, friend, I implore you to be cautious. Warn your family and friends that Scoops the Clown is on the loose! I expect the population down here to increase rapidly, now... All the Best! JRKane |
| Greetings, friends! Welcome back to the cold embrace of the Mausoleum... Life, as they say, is what happens while you are busy making other plans. Well, as I shared in my last post, I had planned on finishing the first draft of my novel by the end of February. The first week of the month, my girlfriend lost a close friend who was only thirty. A week and a half later and my beloved grandmother passed on to her reward. A few days later, my daughter's maternal grandfather (and a longtime friend of mine) died of a massive heart-attack. Why is it that when death comes, he always pulls up a chair? At any rate, though I did manage to make good progress on my novel, the first draft is not complete, and likely will not be until the end of March. I will keep you posted! In the meantime, I hope you'll give my new short story- Sister Soleil and the One Truth- a read. For some reason or another, a deathbed seemed an appropriate enough setting... All the Very Best to You, Live your life as though it is the only one you get... John |
| Welcome, once again, friends, to the Mausoleum. As regards my recent absence, I cry your mercy... For the next month and a half, I'll be working primarily on finishing the first draft of my novel. My plan is to immerse myself, and so I will be on WDC only sporadically. I am almost finished writing a short story, which I will post as soon as possible, but again, I'm giving my book priority, for the next month or so. In the meantime, I wish you all the very best! Keep writing! John |
| Welcome, once again, to the Mausoleum. Can you feel the energy pulsing through the stones? The electric charge in the air? Poison. It has shaped history. It has sickened and killed. Socrates, Caesar Augustus, Cleopatra and Pope Clement VII all died by poisoning. In literature, Madame Bovary takes poison, as does Romeo Montague in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The poisoning of Hamlet's father, though, is likely the most famous instance of a literary poisoning. I believe one of the reasons that this particular poisoning has resonated so deeply with audiences for the past four hundred years is because it acts as a metaphor... Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, kills the king by pouring poison into his ear. His ear. Hmm. Yes, there are poisons that can be poured into the ear canal- but Shakespeare's choice of this sort of poison strikes a chord in us all, and for a very real reason... We are all poisoned, each and every day, by way of our ears. Are we not? How do you deal with chronic complainers? With people who's negative attitudes threaten to upset your momentum? With your own self-talk, which- no matter how positive a person you try to be- tends toward the negative in us all? How do you protect yourself from these poisons? What strategies have you used to stay at your most positive, motivated, and creative? Seriously, I'd love to know. I'd love to know so much that I'm looking for like-minded writers to join me in creating a community of positive, upbeat folks whose purpose would be to share effective methods of staying motivated and creative! In the meantime, I encourage you to read two blog-entries by a fellow positive-thinker. She is the inspiration behind this new initiative, and I know you'll find value in them, as did I. They are "Invalid Entry"  by {suser_id:} and "Invalid Entry" by {suser_id:}. Give them a read, as they exemplify the sort of attitude we're looking for! Also, they're a good read!All the Very Best to You All! John |
| Welcome once again, denizens of the darkness, to the mausoleum. I hope Friday the 13th brought you a touch of spooky horror and loads of good luck! Good luck? On Friday the 13th? Sure! A long time ago I decided that Friday the 13th was not going to affect me the way it did everyone else. For one thing, I was never a big believer in superstition. Mostly, though, I just assumed that, because my favorite movies were horror movies, and because I've always gotten a bit of a kick out of the darkness, that Friday the 13th- a spooky holiday, of sorts- would spare me its wrath. We were playing for the same team, after all... I'm thrilled to say that it's been at least twenty-five years since I came to that conclusion/realization, and I'll tell you...I've always had good luck on Friday the 13th. And why wouldn't I? You see, I'd programmed myself to look for good luck on Friday the 13th. Of course I didn't realize at the time that that was what I'd done. I just thought I was kind of dark, and romantic and cool. Turns out I was none of the three. You see, I had just stumbled, quite by accident, onto one of the key principles by which life and the universe governs itself. You will find what it is that you look for. Your life experience will be defined by your own perspective. Events are neither good, nor bad- they just are, and we are left the (often overwhelming) duty of assigning meaning and value to them. In other words, look for luck on Friday the 13th, and I guarantee that you'll find it. Look for it on Monday the 16th and you will find it there also. As a recovering alcoholic with two years sobriety, I've had some hard experiences battling and coping with addiction and loss...but you know what? I can't remember a year, even among the very worst of them, that I didn't find a bit of luck whenever a Friday the 13th rolled around. It didn't occur to me until very much later, that I should begin to look for good luck every day. I do now, and I am exponentially happier (or, if you will, luckier) for it. Shall we part ways, for now, remembering the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi? "In my experience, there's no such thing as luck." All the Very Best To You, As Always, John |
| Welcome back, friends! I hope that your 2017 is off to a fantastic beginning. I've been working on finishing the first draft of my first novel- what have you been writing? I'd like to thank the WDC Power Reviewers Group for inviting me to join. I'm very excited to become more involved in the community! So far this year I've been reading Hemingway, Flannery O'Connor and Raymond Carver. Some truly inspiring short-stories. What are you reading? As always, All the Best! John |
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