The skies they were ashen and sober;

   The leaves they were crisped and sere—

  The leaves they were withering and sere;

 It was night in the lonesome October

  Of my most immemorial year;

 It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,

  In the misty mid region of Weir—

 It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,

   In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

--From "Ulalume" by Edgar Allan Poe

That seems like a fitting piece of Poe for Halloween. I nearly chose a selection from "The Raven" or one a stanza from one of the dream poems, but finally went with this one for the inclusion of both October and ghouls. Poe provides a fertile field for poetry that lends itself to the holiday. I enjoy the meter and rhyme with which he creates ethereal scenes.

The giveaway winners are: Loretta and Crystal. They have selected Truth in Flames and ??? (Crystal, please pick up the white courtesy phone--or simply respond to my email before I have to select an alternate winner).

I'm happy to announce the completion of three chapters on my adventure book sequel to Accidental Pirates (which will be published by Raconteur Press in November). Accidental Wizard (the working title) promises to be even more exciting. My detective short story remains only partially written because I realized I wasn't going to finish it before the submission deadline. I had an epiphany about the adventure sequel, and wanted to start working that iron while it glowed white hot--that is the best way to forge a cutting story. Ideas about the magic and a particularly potent ending presented themselves to me, and I couldn't ignore them.

I'm currently reading The Reader Over Your Shoulder by Robert Graves. Here's a quote from the early chapters: "To write English perfectly is impossible in practice... Even to write it well is difficult." I'm enjoying it so far.

I finished One Crowded Hour: The Little Bighorn by David Larson. You can see my thoughts on it here.

I listened to Mahler's 5th this week, based on the experience of a longtime internet acquaintance going through a troubling time. He's quite the classical music aficionado. Several years ago, I acquired Mahler's 6th based on his references to it. Both are powerful pieces. I would have to listen to the 5th again before I could comment on it in any meaningful way, and while I remember the great hammerschlag (of which there are two or three in the last movement, depending on which version is being performed, one of which can be seen here) of the 6th and the overbearing nature of the piece, I haven't listened to it in years. While I enjoy them both, I'm more of an 1812 Overture, Night on Bald Mountain, Ein Heldenleben (which I'm listening to as I write this), Scheherazade, along with Mozart, Bach, a bunch of French composers, and some assorted trumpet concertos type of guy. I know what I enjoy, but I'm not sufficiently schooled in the nuances--oh, and that Adagio that pulls the soul through a keyhole with languishing sorrow weeping from the strings, and Holsts' rollicking Planets masterpiece--to offer a rant, diatribe, or exegesis about any of them. I lump them all into "classical" when there are many subdivisions into which they probably more properly fit. The first cassette tape of classical music I acquired was for the 1812 Overture. It also had some other stuff on it. Later, I acquired a Mozart cassette and then Strauss' Ein Heldenleben, also on cassette. The latter at first disappointed me, but I came to appreciate most of it. Of course, nothing compares with Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in "Kill da Wabbit" and "Rabbit of Seville."

All my published books and stories can be found here.

You should have a look at these too:

Worlds of Wonder free fantasy books

Here's Fantastic Free Fantasy for November

And This Free Fantasy and Science Fiction

History Bite:

When Hernando De Soto neared Napituca, seven chiefs came to inform him that they were subjects of Chief Uzachile, and indicated they would cooperate in a war against the Apalachees, and asked him to free the chief of Aguacaleyquen. De Soto promised to meet them outside the Spanish camp on a small plain with the chief and only a few soldiers. Apparently, Napituca was planning a surprise, as one of the chiefs revealed to the native interpreters, in which they would capture and kill De Soto and attack, capture, and torture to death the other Spaniards. The interpreters decided that the plan was unlikely to be successful, and therefore informed the Spaniards. De Soto had his men secretly prepare for combat. 400 Indians took up positions around the camp and two came in to request the release of Chief Aguacaleyquen. De Soto brought the old chief out with only 6 footmen attending him. When De Soto sat down on the saddle he had brought for a stool, the Indians poured from the woods, the Spanish trumpet sounded, and the mounted Spaniards raced from their hidden positions in the village. The horsemen raced across the plain, lancing Indians as they went. Some Indians fled to the forest while others took refuge in two nearby lakes, treading water beyond the reach of the Spaniards. Although the natives in the larger lake eventually escaped, De Soto had the smaller one surrounded, and after midnight, those exhausted souls came ashore to surrender. The Spaniards allegedly took 300 prisoners from the lake, including several chiefs.

--Summarized from Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun, by Charles Hudson.

Quote: "I like thinking big. I always have. To me it's very simple: If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big." -- The Art of the Deal, by Donald Trump.