“Everything you love must die…” I MET HER ONE YEAR AGO this month. We were just visiting the Bird Is The Word store to get some seed for our “flock.” And Shaun and Geri and I all held this little green Canary Winged Parakeet that they’d just gotten in from a breeder in Florida. She was a baby and a cute little thing… and somewhat rare — the store had never gotten one of that…
I LOOK FORWARD to Flashback Weekend: Chicago Horror Convention every year. Not so much because of the guests of honor (who are always great — this year included Robert Englund, Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi) but because of the chance to hang out for a couple days with friends and fans that I only see a once or twice a year. While the Nightmare on Elm Street, Candyman and Evil Dead reunions are going on…
I COULD FRAME a long litany of “once upon a times” about Charlee Jacob, but none would be as effective as any of her prose. She was an inspiration to me before I knew her and a friend once we met. ONCE, she wrote a short story about A Town Called Everson… and I responded by writing a story about an oracle named The Char-Lee. ONCE, I read a story I’d written called “Bloodroses” that…
LAST WEEK, my 11th novel, The Devil’s Equinox was released by Flame Tree Press, but ironically, this week, I’ve been getting more press for some of my other books! Today, I’m the featured author at ManyBooks.com, where they interviewed me about my 10th novel, The House By The Cemetery. Naomi Bolton asked me about the influences behind House, my writing habits, my “secret skills” and much more in an interview titled “John Everson – An…
TODAY WAS A DAY that we have prepared for literally for years. But… you’re never really prepared for the end, are you? Lem, the queen Lutino cockatiel of our flock of birds passed on, after living with us for nearly 30 years. She was the bird who sat with me in our first apartment at night while I wrote music on my Roland after Geri had gone to bed. She was the bird who sat…
I DID NOT GO to the beach during spring break, though I saw plenty of social media posts from those who did. But we had a good Everson “Staycation” anyway. I set what may be my personal high score in bowling when we took Shaun and a friend to Bowlero for an afternoon. (I hit a 195, and while I know I’ve hit the 190s at least once before when I used to bowl a…
I TURNED 53 just over a week ago. Not sure how that happened. Seems like I was just 35. I had to be away from home this year — I had a four-day business trip to Las Vegas that meant I was working for 12 hours on “the day.” I’m not a gambler, so I’m not a big Vegas fan, but I did manage to make the most of the small amount of free time…
THIS WEEKEND, I’ll be hanging out with some of my best friends at Capricon 39, a science fiction / fantasy / horror convention in Wheeling, IL. Hoping to see lots of genre fans at my reading tomorrow night, as well as at the panels and autographing session I have coming up over the next four days. We’ll be talking about everything from “The Art of Violence in Horror” to the “Twisted Mind of Guillermo Del…
THE BALL HAS dropped. The family’s in bed. 2018 is over. As I write this, I’m spending the first hour of 2019 with The Marx Brothers and a movie they made 87 years ago (Horse Feathers). There are some things that stand the test of time. And many, many more that are forgotten. I’m going to reflect here on a few things I’d like to remember about the past 12 months. I will definitely remember…
IT’S BEEN ALMOST four months since our baby blue parakeet, B.B., managed to fly over my head and out the door when I was taking out the garbage. I detailed that horrible day in a blog on Sept. 3rd. But what I haven’t written about is the amazing turn of events that followed a week later — and led to a month of “pet” adjustments in our house. As I sit here on Christmas Eve,…
