Saturday, October 15, 2011

Rock and Shock Summation

So for the first time, I didnt go autograph seeking at this year's Rock and Shock convention.  The first thing that I noticed that was AWESOME was our booth had doubled in size, credit TJ May for that one.  I went around and checked out all the kickass vendors.  Everyone from Thrill Me Entertainment (rare/hard to find movies toys and memoribilia - find them at filmfurie.com ), Lightbeam3D.com (3D printing is their specialty) and of course the answer to the riddle What's black and white and red all over? The answer of course is ZombieInAPenguinSuit.com which is a short but awesome zombie film that was being marketed by people walking around hanging out small fliers and buttons.  I watched it and was blown away with how well-done it was, especially the awakening scene at the beginning.  Very awesome.
Know what else is awesome?  The artwork of Kristilyn (kristilyn.com , zombie-romance.com , kristilynINK@gmail.com ).  She did an awesome caricature of Ashleigh and me that we went crazy over!  She refers to herself on her business cards as a "Supremely Skilled Southpaw" and that's an understatement!  In addition to the caricatures she also does a lot of artwork depicting horror characters as well as turning well-known stories into zombie pictures.  Bambi, Alice in Wonderland and Red Riding hood are zombified, but to find out how, check out her sites!  That's all for now, just had to get this down before I didn't have time to do it.  Check out all the stuff I listed above.  You'll thank me later.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

*REVIEW* Seed by Ania Ahlborn

Okay this is my first book review since Tamworth Grice's Listening to Ian Magick came out, for which I also wrote a review.  This book was suggested to me by my Kindle app on my Android phone.  I had just finished reading some Lovecraft stuff, and I recognized the author name as one of the people I follow and who follows me.  Here goes...

So I cannot say enough about how creepy this book really is.  It takes you into the world of Jack Winter who seems to be your run of the mill Louisiana resident.  His life is a typical American story - his in-laws don't like him because they feel like he isn't good enough for their daughter who is used to the best in life because she comes from money.  But she marries Jack because she loves who he is.  Things are tough but it's okay, because they havce everything they need, even though things get tight here and there.  The story starts off with Jack bringing the family home from a Chuck E. Cheese type of place because it is his daughter Charlotte's birthday.  She turned six, and the family is on their way home from the celebration.  Jack is driving a beat up old saturn because, like I said, things are tough and he and his wife Aimee are saving for a new one and are almost there. 
Then the headlights go out just as Jack sees something in the road - a pair of black eyes looking back at him.  He flips the car in his instinctual aversion of the car - he jerks the wheel to avoid hitting whatever was in the road.  Everyone is okay but Aimee is beyond upset because she thinks that Jack fell asleep.  However Charlotte (who likes to go by Charlie) wanders off, eventually revealing to her father that she saw something in the woods, and that she saw the pair of eyes right before the car flipped.
I will not get into too much detail but suffice it to say that you find out who the eyes belong to as you go along.  Ania does some flashing back and you learn why Jack loves Charlie more than his other daughter, Abby and maybe even more than he loves his wife.  She tells the story perfectly, giving you just enough information from the past and the present that you begin to more and more be sucked into the story, praying for a happy ending. 
Jack's a good guy, you can relate to him.  Charlie and Abby are good kids, and their dog Nubs is even a likable character.  All in all I would say that this is one of the better books I have read in a long time.  Ania Ahlborn does not pull any punches, nor does she take her foot off the gas once she steps on the accelerator.  She forces you to hang on and enjoy the ride, even if you begin to suspect that you may be headed for a cliff.
Ania Ahlborn can be found on Twitter - @AniaAhlborn and her website is http://www.aniaahlborn.com/ so go and sign up for her newsletter and be ready when her next work comes out this winter!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

What a shitty day...

So tonight I got a text from my mother that she is pretty sure that she is going to have to put one of our cats down.  Now since Thursday of last week we have been dealing with some issues with him.  His name was Harpo and we have had him for eleven years.  He was born in the Cat Hospital of Auburn (MA) on February 13, 2000.  He was named Harpo after the Marx brother who did not speak because instead of meowing he would just open his mouth and no sound would come out.  My mother loved him more than any of the other cats she had. 
Last Wednesday she noticed that he was trying to urinate but nothing was coming out.  Turns out his urinary tract was blocked and he was unable to empty his bladder.  This is a potentially life threatening medical issue because if the bladder keeps filling up it will burst causing the cat to die a horribal death.  She made an appointment with him at the Route 20 Animal Clinic.  I brought him there because she was working and I was off until the afternoon.  When I got there the doctor weighed him, took his tempertature rectally and then told me that the cat needed to be unblocked immediately, and that it would be "about a ten minute procedure" and he then told me that he was short staffed and told me to go somewhere else.  Of course he charged me $39 for the office visit, having done nothing but tell me he cannot help and to go somewhere else.  Apparently it costs $39 for that.  It wasn't as if we just dropped in on him and asked him to do something that he had no preparation for.  He knew exactly why the cat was coming in and what needed to be done the ngiht before when the appointment was made.  One can only assume that he also knew he would be short staffed as well, seeing as how the girl was on vacation.
The last time I had gone to this clinic was May 14 of this year.  I had gone with Ashleigh and her cat for an emergency visit and was turned away because, according to the receptionist "He is only working until 1 and wants to leave early".  I explained to her that it was an emergency and that my family had been coming here for about 10 years with our cats and dogs.  She said she knew that, but directed us to go elsewhere.  It was amazing that she knew that, because I did not tell her my name.
So I took Harpo to the Cat Hospital of Auburn where he was born.  They gave me an estimate of $500-$800+ to get him all set.  I said there was no way I could afford that, could they work with me/my family after 16 years and literally tens of thousands of dollars spent there.
I was told all fees had to be collected at the time of the cat's pickup from the hospital.
They would not take a postdated check.
They asked if we had anyone we could borrow the money from.  I don't know about everyone else here but neither I nor my friends have $500-$800 just sitting around.
I applied for Care Credit- sort of like a credit card for vets- and was denied.
They would not take a partial payment and a check, but hold on to the check for a week until everyone got paid.  They said that was illegal.  Bear in mind, we had done this befofre.
I said I would have to take him home and we would explore other options.  Vet told me that would be "cruel and unusual" and that if money was an issue, it would only be $75 to put him down.
After some haggling and figuring out what the bare minimum that could be done - catheterization and drainage- they got down to $179.11.  And even with that, I had to ask Ashleigh for money.  So they did their thing and he was taken care of.  An hour later my dad called to tell me that we wouldn't need to borrow Ashleigh's money because he had won $488 on the daily lottery number. 
Awesome!  Things are looking up!
But Friday came and Harpo was home but still had not urinated.  After calling 15 places all over Massachusetts and Rhode Island, my mother finally resigned herself to the fact that she would have to put him down.  She brought him to Tufts because she was getting attitude from people demanding that if she was going to put him down, she come in and do it bt 11:30 because people wanted to go home by noon.
Tufts worked with her, allowed her to post-date checks from now until October.  It cost about $1200 but everything that needed to be done for Harpo was being done. 
Awesome! Things are looking up!
Then I get a text tonight from her saying that she thought she might have to finally do it.  His bladder was still full and hard and felt ready to burst.  We had not choice but to put him down.  I met her at Tufts, Ashleigh came with me.  My brother Dave drove mom and Harpo in.  On a whim, I stopped at Sunoco and bought a scratch ticket, praying for a miracle.  I matched both numbers on my ticket...could this be the windfall we needed to save Harpo??
Four.  Fucking.  Dollars.
It would have been better to not win anything because seeing that the ticket was indeed a winner only filled me with a sliver of hope.  I forget who said it but the quote goes "Hope is the worst of all evils for it prolongs the torments of man".  That's the fucking truth.
So we brought Harpo in, we had our time with him after mom tried anything and everything to get them to help us out -"Are there any studies going on, are there any students that can maybe work on him so we don't have to pay thousands of dollars for treatment?"
Nothing.
What was one of their solutions?
Sex reassignment surgery.
Let me repeat that.
Sex reassignment surgery.  Turn him from a boy cat into a girl cat.  Are you fucking serious??  That's an option? Spend thousands of dollars on a surgery that has a fucking terrible track record and has less than a 50% chance of success, requireing thousands of dollars in follow-up surgeries...or kill him?  What kind of busisnesses are these fucking places?  Why do they tell you your options are to ease the animal's suffering by spending everything you have on radical surgeries that most likely won't work or forcing you to end their suffering by holding them in your arms as they die because you don't have the money to save them!?! It would be one thing if there were payment plan options or something like that.  But they want their money as soon as the services are rendered.  It's a horrible thing, let me tell you, to have to watch a vet inject shit into the companion you have had for ELEVEN YEARS that you watched come into the world, to literally feel the animal's life drain out of him as you hold him.  To feel him purring against your hand until the poison surging through his body takes his strength away from him, to look into his eye as he dies, knowing that he cannot understand why you are doing this to him.  I was so angry, so angry.  I hated having to put him down.  It was one of the worst feelings I have ever had.  My mother was beside herself. 
That is why I am writing this at 315 am, why I can't sleep.  I needed to get this off my chest, get this out there so that people could see the types of things that we had to deal with.  Now we spent $179.11 in Auburn, and another $1200 at Tufts.  Then we STILL had to bring him back and they put him down, and THEN THEY CHARGED US ANOTHER $350 FOR IT!  Ashleigh was awesome though.  She paid for our visit tonight, because the assholes were DEMANDING something, they couldn't just bill us for it, they couldn't just take another postdated check.  They wanted at least HALF at that moment.  Don't give us any time to grieve, just trot out the fucking bill.So after all they did, he was still suffering and now he's dead.  When my mom wakes up (if she even sleeps tonight) she is going to bury him in the front yard.  It cost us $1750 for nothing.  And it broke her heart to do what she did.  She blamed herself for not making enough money to save her kitty.   
Even if you don't have pets, you have to be enraged with this story.  If you do I hope that none of them EVER have to go through this.  And I have a horrible feeling that this is just the beginning.  We have two dogs, 13 and 12 years old.  We have several more cats, some aged 15, 16, 13 years old.  It sucks.
Look I know that this rant sort of makes me seem like less of a big scary horror writer, but when you love something and you have to choose between money you don't have, and aren't able to get and killing that thing you love, you feel depressed and angry and like a piece of shit.  I feel so awful.  I can't sleep.  I'm venting on my blog about something that I could not control, and I am still angry.  I have to go to work tomorrow, but I still cannot force myself to get back into bed, even though there is no more comfortable place than next to Ashleigh.  Nothing makes me feel better than to curl up next to her.  And even that right now, is not helping.  I appreciate any words of encouragement, any comments you may have.  Thanks for reading.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Here I am, Rock You Like a Hurricaine!

And I'm back on the air.  A lot has been going on recently, so I've been away.  Good news is I am currently working on my zombie novel, the one I am writing with Alyn Day with hopes that I will have a finished product on Kindle by the end of September - I will be writing like a maniac in the meantime.  I am also wracking my brain for a way to afford Bruins home opener tickets for Ashleigh's birthday.  Not sure it will be happening.  Preliminary prices are $265 and those are the lowest I have seen thus far.  I know they aren't officially on sale yet but it isn't looking too good.  Fortunately they have a home game against Montreal on October 27, and pricess seem quite good for that one!
Also trying to decide on complementary gifts for our anniversary in a few weeks (September 13).  Got the big one picked, just looking for the extras.  Thinking about inquiring about a car, or truck rather.  I want something like a Tacoma or Ranger or F-150 but the smaller versions.  I need something with 4-wheel drive.  My Yaris is decent in the snow but a 4-wheel drive truck would be way better.  And rear-wheel drive trucks are not so good.  Had one, worst vehicle I have ever had in the snow.
Looking for a good horror movie to see?  Ash and I recently watched Insidious and we liked it.  Got a tad crappy towards the end but very good overall.  I liked it a lot.  Also Suckerpunch was quite good.  Be back on over the weekend with a little exerpt from the new book as well as the new business card design!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

On a Better Note

So I got a lot of feedback on my guest post on Chris Jensen's blog  Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children as well as my interview with Tamworth Grice's blog Welcome to Griceland .  Rest assured I will be asking them for some guest posts when I get everything on here situated and straightened out.  I will be getting a schedule up shortly.  I've also been trying to budget more time for the reading of other people's blogs so I can expand my knowledge of other under the radar writers like myself, only more talented.  Check out the list of blogs that I follow to see what I'm talking about.  And while you're at it, check them out on Twitter.

Credit Card Companies are Fuckin' Stupid

As you can tell from the headline, I am not too fond of my credit card company right now.  Just took out a debt consolidation loan recently.  One of the items on my list was my American Express card I have had for 12 years, and the credit limit was quite high.  I paid it off.  Got a new card in the mail because it was set to expire at the end of this month.  With the new card came a new credit limit - only instead of increasing it they dropped it by SIXTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS! Fuck! So after taking care of a bunch of things I have maxed out the card when I thought I still had another $1600 on it.  Boy was I ever pissed!
My dad thinks it is a blessing in disguise, saying that it maight be a good thing that the limit was lowered because that means I can't get back into the same hole I was in before.  I say I slightly agree, but I am still rather upset. 

Friday, July 1, 2011

Story Time!

So a couple weeks back my good friend Chris ( @hororwritindad) asked me why I hadn't written anything for his blog "Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children" ( horrorwritingdaddy.blogspot.com ) .  A good question. So I threw a story I had been kicking around into existence and sent it to him, Tamworth Grice ( @TamworthGrice , TamworthGrice.blogspot.com "Welcome to Griceland"), Alyn Day ( @Z0mbiegrl , alyndayofthedead.blogspot.com ) and Jason Darrick ( @fearinwords , jasondarrickfiw.blogspot.com ) and they seemed to like it.  You can find the story here, and feel free to leave comments either here or on his page.  I would love to hear what you think!  Good, bad or indifferent I am open to whatever.  Just want to thank everyone who has already commented either here or on twitter.  You can reach me there too, my username is @PatrickRahall
Look forward to hearing from you!

Monday, June 20, 2011

*WHEW!*

Had a lovely doctor appointment today.  It was a sigmoidoscopy.  Don't know what that is? Here's a link:
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/sigmoidoscopy/
Let's just say that it was the most uncomfortable 3 minutes I've ever had.  Not pleasant.  However what was pleasant was A) the fact that they didn't find anything and B) the offer from Tamworth Grice for an interview.  The first one I've ever done!  It was cool and will be posted on her blog in the next couple of days or so.  Maybe like a week from now.  Sometime in there.  She's a busy lady, promoting her own book and her other interviews that she's done.  I wish I had more time to write.  I need to get a move on if I'm going to be getting my zombie novel out by October and Rock and Shock!  I want to have something in hand when I get there and maybe an ebook option as well!  Does anyone know anything about CreateSpace?  I am thinking of going through them because I have heard some good things and they were highly recommended.  Just want to get some more info from anyone who may have checked them out.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Facebook

So I just created a Facebook page for myself as a writer http://www.facebook.com/pages/PJ-Rahall/155115941225578.  Totally check it out!  Also follow me on Twitter - @PatrickRahall. I can use as much exposure as I can get.  Also thanks to Tamworth Grice ( @TamworthGrice on Twitter, TamworthGrice.blogspot.com) for the nice things she said. 

Been Away, but I'm back!

Yeah I know, I havent been around recently but I do have some good things to say about "Listening to Ian Magick" by Tamworth Grice - great story and very well written!  I definitely liked the point of view and the way she keeps you guessing as to what is actually going on.  You're never really quite sure, and every time you think you have the answer she throws you another curveball.  Excellent story, definitely check it out.  You'll love it if you like well-written stories and awesome characters with depth to them.  None of her characters are shallow or one dimensional.  She makes you care about what happens to Chelsea and what is going on with her life.  Go check it out!
Also, Go Bruins!  Kick some more Canuck ass!

Friday, May 27, 2011

My Eventful Day Off

So what did I do with a full day off to do whatever I wanted and with a gorgeous sunny day in which to do it? Bought and completed Star Wars The Force Unleashed II for my new Wii.  Yep, spent my day being a total nerd and loved every second of it.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Where I Currently Rank

So before when I said I had two books that sold poorly, I was mistaken.  I should have said that I have two books that are SELLING poorly. My mistake; I used the wrong tense.  Sorry!
Cycle of the Hunter currently at #4,054,019
Mist and Shadow currently not showing a ranking, most likely because no one had purchased it from Amazon.

Start of the New Story

Patrick took a long drink from his canteen and noted how light it felt.  His backpack was resting easily on his shoulders now that he put the rolled-up blanket across where the straps had been rubbing his back and shoulders raw.  That was two days ago and his skin was healing nicely now.  It didn’t hurt that they had found some antibiotic ointment at the same place as the blanket.  He was wearing a faded black Boston Bruins playoff shirt with the sleeves cut off, tan cargo pants and sturdy hiking boots.  He and his small group had raided a sporting goods store that was surprisingly not picked over a week ago.  There was a shotgun slung across his back and a .45 on each hip in its own belt lined with clips.  He had a total of thirty 15-round clips in each belt and two bandoliers of shotgun shells crisscrossed over his chest.  His tanned and well-toned arms were covered with sunscreen as was his face, despite his large had that was shielded him from the sun.  The last thing he needed was to be slowed down by heatstroke or a bad sunburn.  He also had a black machete attached to his gun belt on his left hip and a hunting knife on the gun belt in his right hip.  As he was fond of reminding the other members of his small group, “Blades don’t run out of ammo.”
            He finished his canteen, reattached it to his backpack with a carabiner and looked over at Tom.  Tom was a twenty year old kid with a Mohawk, cargo pants and a tight shirt that showed off his lean frame.  He had a rifle slung over his back, his pockets full of ammo and a pair of running shoes.  Tom was engaged in a conversation with Mike, who was once again talking about his girlfriend Andrea (pronounced Ahndray-yuh) with a tone of depression.  Tom was trying to convince him that they would find her, even though he himself did not believe it.  Mike could get easily upset.  Mike, like the others had cargo pants (as they were the most practical for the extra pockets) and sturdy work boots.  He was a mechanic and therefore a vital part of the group. 
            “I just can’t shake this feeling that I’m never going to see her again.  It sucks,” Mike was saying.  He was sitting against the wall of the convenience store they had just broken into to get supplies.  It was surprisingly well-stocked. 
            “C’mon man, we’ll find her,” Tom said altogether unconvincingly.  Truth be told he was more than a little tired of Mike’s depressing attitude.  As if they didn’t have enough to worry about without having to constantly reassure Mike that he would indeed see Andrea again. 
            The other members of the group were milling about chatting amongst themselves because they too were tired of listening to Mike and it was starting to bring down the morale of the group, which was already shaky after watching Eric get ripped apart a few hours earlier.  Fortunately the rest of them were able to escape unharmed and relatively unscathed. 
            “How much longer are we supposed to deal with that shit?” Greg asked.  Greg was 38 and a smoker.  He blew the smoke from a Marlboro away from Patrick’s face but was clearly agitated.  “You need to do something about him or I will.”
            “Greg relax.  I know you’re getting irritated.  But you were the same way a week ago.  Once we finally find a place we can rest for a few days without worrying about being attacked I think he’ll be fine.  Until then you’ll deal with it like everyone else.”
            “I’m just saying it’s getting old.  And he’s bringing everyone else down.  Someone is going to snap.  I would’ve thought it would be Eric, but he’s being digested about now.  But hey, no loss there.  Guy was a royal douche.”
            “Agreed.”
            Greg went back inside the store to search for any missed cigarettes.  Patrick had casually mentioned that while he may have a preferred brand it might make send for him to stock up  while he had the chance.  He had tried explaining to Greg that it would make even more sense to quit entirely but Greg stubbornly refused.  He wanted to keep his life as close to normal as he could.  And in a world where the dead rose to feast upon the warm, blood-nourished flesh of the living, that was important.

Someone's Following Me...

Just like to say hi to those of you who are now following me and I will be following your blogs as well as soon as I finish this post!  If you guys are entertained by what you read here please let your friends know!  I have published two books that did quite poorly but I am attempting to write new stuff that I will NOT be publishing through PublishAmerica, because that just did not go well for me.  If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears.  Just know this - I do not have thousands or even tens of dollars to put towards publishing costs.  So if you guys know of an agent or something like a self publ;ishing site like say, CreateSpace I wouldn't looking into either options.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

New Dawn, New Day, New Computer!

Just got my new computer and set it up as soon as it arrived.  I was super excited to begin writing, as I havent had a computer since November and I have a shit ton of handwritten notes that need to transform themselves into a story.  So far the only thing I haven't done with this thing yet is set up my Dragon software.  But I am already starting my new story so I can get it hopefully published and out there by October.  yes I know its a long shot but if anyone knows of a good publisher or place I can check out agents, I would greatly appreciate it! I will be updating this a lot, so feel free to check back often and leave comments or feedback for me.  I will also be posting snippets of my stories for people to comment on.  Look forward to hearing from you!