Big storms erupting
Lightning flashes, thunder booms
Electrical air
I thought I left you behind.
Your pages now dusty and alone.
Why have I found you again?
Rewriting, such a chore filled groan.
Creature of the dark
Figure in the deepest night
A Christmas savior
·
New short story available:
Description:
A vampire who uses his vampiric skills to bring joy to those in need during the holiday season.
Find it at these places:
Kindle for 99 cents:
I have the story on the two sites below, but they are waiting publication. I’m not sure it will ever work with Nook, I keep having issues there. Kobo is in the process of publishing it as I write. I’ll update once it becomes available on either site.
Nook for 99 cents
Kobo for 99 cents
The cool thing about this next one is that it is completely free. You can leave me a dollar tip if you want to, but that’s up to you. Read it here, enjoy it all you want at no cost.
Noise Trade: http://books.noisetrade.com/atothewr/a-vampire-at-christmas
If all goes according to plan. I hope to sell a few more books through these sites. I’m also looking at Apple as well. So, be on the lookout for other places besides Kindle to purchase and read my stories. Thanks for reading, thanks for following.
Excerpt from A Vampire at Christmas:
The tomb was silent. A large coffin, large enough to fit a human male of about six foot five, black in design, kind of rectangle, plain and basic, sat in one corner of this tomb. The floors of the tomb were made of a soft brown dirt. The walls and ceiling were made of grey concrete, streaked with dark spots of dampness. It smelled of must and of things closed up in a tight Earthly space. There was a large door that protected this vampire from the intrusions of the outside world. This door was solid thick granite, something only a vampire could move. Scattered on the walls were small pictures in gold frames. These pictures reflected a life of a vampire through the ages, a lot of ages to be exact. He had been alive for centuries, haunting, roaming the Earth like a ghost; but he never tired of his vampire existence. He loved it.
Today was a very special day for him, because today was December the 24th. It was almost Christmas in the mortal world. His favorite time of the year.
This vampire had put up a tree in one corner of this tomb, and found a way with his cunning ingenuity to have it light up and flash while he slept or admired it. The tree splashed its holiday colors, reds, greens, and blues all over the coffin and the drab surroundings of the room. There were no ornaments on this tree, no tinsel, no garland of any kind, just lights wrapped deep inside the evergreen. The coffin was decorated with thick silver tinsel, and it draped and wrapped itself around this orifice of death like a shiny snake, reflecting the light of the tree. This vampire dared not play Christmas music because he might draw attention to himself. People might discover his hiding place if they heard music playing up from somewhere deep in the Earth, no matter how far into the woods he had made his lair. The tree and the decorated coffin were more than enough to keep him in a Christmas mood.
Unrelenting sun
Cooling oasis of shade
Nowhere to be seen
•
Tough one out there today. Getting to be too hot to run even at 10 in the morning. Guess I am going to have to stick to evening runs until the fall – late fall. Anybody else ready for the summer heat? I know I am not. Use to not bug me, but the older I get the less I can take it.
Plop
New coffee pot
Plop, drip
Smells strong and hot
Plop, drip, drop,
Black liquid
Plop, drip, drop, sip
Tastes better somehow
Sign posts of the past
Spirits of a former race
Guiding me along
+
I wrote this Haiku in my head while I ran down the green-way. There were all these words in sidewalk chalk starting to fade out. These words were words of encouragement from the runners who ran a recent 5K – I think. They pushed me on as my stiff legs did their best to move forward.
Have a great Sunday.
A doom like sky line
Thunderstorms in the distance
Dark grey clouds above
•
Nice to get the legs moving after being in the car for a few hours today (also nice not to have those scary skies open up on me tonight). We went to visit family over the weekend, and on the way home we saw not one, but two accidents. The first was the scariest because I actually saw a car wipe out, slide sideways, correct and then come to a stop without hitting a thing. Not sure who was driving that car, but we were all lucky we didn’t get caught up in it. Tough to react when you are pushing 80 mph an hour. The second one we saw was the after effect. Some van was all smashed up in the front, scared kids, everyone looked to be okay. Just glad to be home after all that. Makes you want to park the car and never get out again. So, how was your Memorial Day?
I’m on an island
In the middle of an endless sea
Career hopes, desires, wants and needs
Washing on the shore in front of me
My voice is lost
Hidden by the crying gull
Hunger for a feast
Like my dreams inside my skull
Body wakes slowly
Stiff, aches, pains, and creaky joints
Caffeine’s sweet relief
+
Not sure why, but just woke up feeling off today. The walk/run was tough last night – 2.5 miles, more walk than run. Maybe I am just pushing myself too hard, maybe its my age – don’t recover as quick as I use to, or maybe it was the heat. Could have been so many things. I do know one thing that will help, Big Time! Coffee. Got to go me a cup.
Okay, so, your turn coffee drinkers.
How bad do you need that first cup in the morning?
Me, I can go a bit if need be, but some days, like today, I almost need it poured into me before I get out of bed.
Darkness swallows me
I move into nighttime’s grasp
Embraced by the black
•
I got a late start tonight, so I was watching the sunset as I did my walk/run. Nice night out there. 60 minutes worth of freeing my mind from a tough day – stay at home dad duties get the better of me sometimes. By the way, in case you were wondering about the title – 6 for 10. That means I did six segments of ten minute intervals – walk 10, run 10, walk 10, run 10, etc. Felt good to do it that way today and just skip counting miles. Very freeing. Okay, guess that’s it.
Light breeze in the air
Nighttime’s darkness closing in
Chasing me back home
•
I would have posted this last night, but by the time I got home it was already pushing 8:30. Had stuff to do so I did that right quick, had a bite, then relaxed. Just didn’t feel up to hopping online. Anyway, it was a great walk/run. I made it up to five miles, which is a great thing for me. Longer segments of walking and running – especially running. I am trying to get back to more continuous miles so it is nice to have a night like this. Had to post about it even if it was the next morning.
It was also a cool night for May. I think that helped as well.
Sidebar: Discovered something dangerous this weekend, cast iron cookies. Basically take cookies and instead of using a cookie sheet to bake them just use a cast iron skillet. So, so, so, so good. Trying to cut back on sugar, believe me this doesn’t help.
Okay, that’s it. Back to your day.
Full moon transparent
Just creeping out as I ran
Hot as hell tonight
◊
Seriously, it was sweltering out there tonight. Probably the hottest run I’ve had since last summer. Not as muggy though so that helped. Hard to get use to. Tough one, but surprisingly a good one. Ran a 2 continuous mile segment. Hadn’t done that in a bit.
So, does the heat bug you or not? You don’t have to be a runner to answer.
I’m going to dedicate this Megadeth song to this run. Enjoy.
I haven’t had time to compose a new poem or haiku for Mother’s Day so I thought it might be nice to re-blog a classic. Hope you enjoy it and Happy Mother’s Day to all moms out there. Hope you have a great day.
How to describe a mom,
well,
it may be too hard to do,
without leaving out,
too many things,
that are true.
For a mom is a blessing,
a true gift from God,
her patience and virtue,
is something,
you could never prod?