Introducing... Emma Carmichael

Today you have the unique opportunity to once again jump inside my twisted mind. Today you will meet my pride and joy: Emma. She is my favorite of all the characters I have written and in fact have written over 125 short stories about her.

Remember in the last post I talked about how sometimes I have a hard time distinguishing the real from the fiction? She is the main reason. She has become a part of my life that will never go away. My series of short stories chronicles her life from when she was in high school up to when she is in her 30s married with a son. Oh and did I mention? She kills monsters for a living.

Think of her as a Buffy-esque character but with a lot more attitude and a lot more issues. The basic premise of my series is: What would someone's life be like if they killed monsters/demons/ghosts for a living? It was something that the show Buffy adressed but in a more campy fun kind of way. My stories are anything but campy. They get at the truth behind what would be going on in someone's head who had this kind of a life.

So the result? We have a strong female character who has relationship, trust, and authority issues out the wazzo. The only thing she actually has a handle on in her life is killing all those evil things out there. And of course since this is my world, she happens to be a practicing witch who gains more and more knowledge of the craft throughout her life.

So... you ready to meet my beloved Emma? Then head on over to the Samhain's Sirens blog today to read one of the first short stories, "Out of the Norm" in the series! It is featured on today's blog along with some other fun crafts, treats and giveaways!

Image: Tsarevna Frog by Viktor Vasnetsov

Disclaimer

Today as I was driving to work in the dark and rain (while sitting in traffic as usual) I started to think about why I write what I write. See I am a horror writer; I write about psychological tendency, gore, sex, mischief, violence and that grey area that people seem to skip over. Honestly I can't tell you when a switch flipped in my head to decide to write horror; it's just something I've always done.

Part of it comes from dealing with things in my life. Instead of facing them directly I take what I've experienced and blow it out of proportion with a horror story. This is what has kept me sane the past years. That being said I've realized I just have a twisted mind.

I like to visualize things and most of my stories start with a visual idea and I work out from there. For example, my short story series that I'm in the process of publishing now started off with me visualizing a scene of a vampire bearing down on a man in a motel bathtub and his blood staining the otherwise stark white porcelain. So yeah... I might be a little bit messed up in the head sometime but you know what? I'm completely okay with that.

The feeling to be able to create these stories, characters and scenarios is one that honestly I can't explain. I love taking these otherwise deranged concepts and turning them into my own work. Most times I find that I quickly fall in love with my characters and wish that they were real.

Yesterday after I was writing a particularly gruesome short story I decided I wanted to go running outside. In retrospect I shouldn't have jumped right into going in going out into the woods since it had a strange affect. There was a man walking through the woods with a cane who then suddenly picked it up and started walking regularly and even almost running.

For some reason I got it in  my head that he was going to come after me (completely irrational I know) so I took off running down the hill and up the other hill. I stopped once I was far enough away that I couldn't see him anymore and continued to jog back to my apartment. Turns out I ended up with a good work out from that. It's just an example of how sometimes I get so wrapped up in my stories that I lose sense of reality.

Basically what I'm trying to get at here is my stories are not for the faint of heart. My grandmother always jokes that she will gladly buy all my books but she will probably never read them since she can't handle horror. So just know that Dark Cell was the tamest out of all my writings. It was written for a class originally so it couldn't be too demented. My other stories though, especially my book Summer's Hollow,be ready to be disturbed, intrigued and fall in love with my characters right before I go all Whedon and kill them off (just kidding, or am I? mwuahaha).

Charity Round Up!

Okay guys, so I need your help on some things. See October is not only full of pumpkin lattes, hay rides, pumpkin picking and trick 'r treating; it also is when many charity organizations have events going on. This year I'm directly participating in two different events. One is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I will be participating in a 5k walk up in Hunt Valley, MD on Sunday. Our team is looking to meet our donation goal and aren't quite there yet. If you have ANYTHING you can donate please think about doing so! Follow the link below to our team's website:

 

http://www.komenmd.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1024383&lis=1&kntae1024383=D587166DFE2F4BD596EEDDB2E9CFE255&supId=0&team=5282239

The other event I'm participating in is for my work. We have partnered with Shepherd's Table, a local shelter, to help those who are less fortunate than us. From October 22 – November 16^th Radius will be participating in a Food and Clothing Drive through Shepherd’s Table.

Below are items taken from the organization’s wish list:

Food Items:

Margarine or butter

Pepper

Salad dressing

Hot sauce (an item our guests love)

Fresh fruits and vegetables

Canned vegetables (large #10 cans)

Soup (cream-based or broth)

Spices

Coffee

Creamer

Sweet-N-Low or other sugar substitutes

Kitchen Items:

Aluminum foil (large industrial roll)

Saran Wrap

Paper Napkins

Industrial Can Openers

Tide Laundry Detergent (powder)

Metal Silverware (spoons and forks)

Clothing Closet Items:

Shepherd’s Table always accepts donations of new and gently used-clothing and shoes. Please donate seasonal items that will enhance the dignity of their clients.

Sweaters

Sweatshirts

Sweatpants

Men’s Jackets

Children's Clothing

New Men’s and Women’s Socks

New Men’s Underwear (smaller sizes)

New Women’s Underwear (all sizes)

Shampoo, conditioner, soap, shaving cream, toothpaste, and deodorant (travel-size bottles)

Resource Center Items:

Blankets

Safety Razors

Administrative Items:

Stamps

Paper (97 bright white)

Link to website: http://www.shepherdstable.org/wishlist.php.

If you have anything you would like to donate please message me or email me (curtincall89@gmail.com). 

Thanks in advanced for everything!! 

Call for Submissions

As I mentioned in my last post, the veil is becoming very thin and more and more people are experiencing the rise in spirit activity. If you, or anyone you know, has some cool experiences to share I'd love to post them on my blog!

You can email me at curtincall89@gmail.com make sure you put in the subject line "Spirit Meetup" this way I know it won't fall through the cracks! Please submit all stories by Sunday October 28th!



Photo Courtesy of UC Santa Cruz's play "The Thinning Veil" (which I so wished I was able to see when I friend who goes to that school told me about it!)

Thinning of the Veil

It's that time of year again. The leaves are changing, the air is crisp and weird noises start to be heard from our apartment complex. No I am not referring to my incessant screaming during Redskins games or even my cat like screeches while singing along to Dr. Horrible tonight. I am referring to those noises and experiences that happen around this time of the year as the veil thins.

Like I have mentioned before, I am sensitive to spirits at all times of the year. It is not uncommon for me to walk into a haunted area and the entity there show itself to me (by sounds, touch or even the occasional apparition). During this time of the year that sensitivity is ultra heightened. This past week especially I have been feeling spirits everywhere I go.

In particular there have been two instances that stuck out in my head. The first was in the gym in my apartment complex. Now in the gym is isn't strange to feel like you're being watched. It is a very tall room that used to be a racquetball court. The outside wall is part glass so that people above in the club house can look down and the other part of the wall are mirrors. This causes people to feel like they're never alone. Add in the bulky equipment everywhere and it is easy to think that someone could mistake any of this for a spirit. This was not the case.

On Monday I had the day off so I was at the gym, on the elliptical, jamming out to the new Three Days album. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a figure. Thinking it was just my reflection in the mirror or my eyes playing tricks on me I kept on going. Suddenly a chill crept up through my hands and into the rest of my body. Now this gym, like I mentioned, used to be a racquetball court and any of you who have ever been in one know that they have no air flow and can get really hot and humid. There was no reason that I should be cold. 

Feeling that sensation that I was being watched I turned my head to the right to see a figure standing in front of one of the weight machines. It started off as just a black mass but then slowly formed into the apparition of a boy. He seemed to be about my age, in his early 20s, and he was wearing basketball short, a hoodie and sneakers. His hair was dark brown and his face oddly enough was almost tan. I stared at him for about 2 minutes and just as I went to say hi, he disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

That is to date the most clear of an apparition as I have ever seen. I did a little bit of research to see if there was anything in the area about a young man his age dying, but I wasn't able to find anything. I'm hoping this weekend when I have some free time I can do some more research.

The second instance happened last night. I was driving back from meeting my best friend for coffee. It was a nice, cool night and I had my windows down as I drove down the highway. Since it was such a nice night I decided to drive the back roads. There's one road that come to a one lane bridge where you have to look beyond the bridge before you cross to make sure no one is coming the other way.

As I came to a stop and was looking ahead the air grew a lot heavy and thicker. There was nothing coming the other way so I continued across the bridge and that's when I saw him. Standing in the middle of the road was a little boy (or what I assumed was one since it was dark and hard to see). I of course stopped the car, afraid I was going to hit him. As I stopped the car, he disappeared. I looked all around to see where he had gone, but there was no sight of him anywhere on the road, in the woods or up the driveways of the houses nearby.

I continued up the hill with my car but I kept feeling like something was staring at me from the backseat. Honestly felt like I was in a horror movie as something like this had never happened to me before. I don't get spooked easily but this definitely spooked me.

After I drove out of the woods and back onto a somewhat main road that feeling of being watched went away and the air seemed to go back to normal. Once again I want to investigate to see if I can find anything about that boy (or what I assumed was a boy).

So there you have it, some eerie experiences from this past week. I'm sure I'll have loads more as the veil gets thinner and thinner. If you want to learn even more about my past experiences make sure you read today and tomorrow Samhain's Sirens blog. You'll learn how it all started for me.

Bones!!

So I realized that I've been neglecting the "Bone" part of "Bones, Buried Treasures and Beliefs" so I thought I'd give you guys a round up of all fossil discoveries of the past couple of months. Some are ones that I have known about for a while and a couple I just heard about today. There's some pretty interesting finds, so check out the links for the full stories!




NASA Dinosaur: Spiny Nodosaur Footprints Found At Goddard Space Flight Center
August 21st - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/nasa-dinosaur-spiny-nodosaur-footprints-goddard-space_n_1819574.htm

Neanderthals May Have Worn Dark Feathers 
Sept. 19th - http://news.discovery.com/history/neanderthal-feathers-120919.html

Battle-bruised skeleton may be King Richard III
September 12th - http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/09/12/battle-bruised-skeleton-may-be-king-richard-iii/


Archaeologists find lost tombs in Philippine Mountains
September 20th - http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/09/20/archaeologists-find-unique-tombs-in-philippines/

T.rex-size crocodiles ruled the ancient seas
September 28th http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/09/28/giant-crocodies-once-ruled-ancient-seas/

All That Remains: Fossil Finds (Slide Show)
http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/scitech/2011/01/19/remains-fossil-finds/#slide=1

October is Here!

So contrary to my last post about taking deep breaths, I ended up sick this weekend and am still recovering from that. Seems it might have been the combination of a sickness that has been going around, working like crazy and then to top it off going to my high school reunion on Saturday night. Anyways, things are good now and I'm back on track (again) from where I was before. Luckily I am able to do a lot of work from home so I was not to get too far behind on things.

That being said, I'm halfway through this first class for Grad School! I'm loving it even though it is time consuming and a lot of work at times. Still I love learning new things and delving into these assignments and projects. Our proposal for our final project is due soon and I'm playing around with ideas now. So far I'm thinking about showing how districting is done in Howard County for election purposes. With election day being the day before our final project is due I think it's very topical. Also Howard County is awesome and puts there GIS information online so I don't have to digitize that much data (and I also happen to live there).

So that's class... now onto the fun stuff! So as you guys know I have been talking about the amazing Samhain's Sirens and since today is October 1st the extravaganza has begun! Click either the text above or the button on the left side of my blog to visit our blog. We have some awesome giveaways, recipes, crafts, rituals, songs, blog posts and more! I've even lent my story telling skills to a couple of posts that I know you all will enjoy!

October happens to be my favorite month. First of all I love the weather; the leaves change color and start falling, the air become crisp and the nights and mornings are cool. Then of course there's football. Whether it's rooting for Penn State or the Redskins, I love donning my jersey over my jeans or leggings, grabbing some chilli and beer and planting down in front of the TV. It's also Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a subject that is very dear to my heart since I have friends and family that have been touched by it. This year I have the opportunity of participating in a Walk for the Cure with Kallan and her lovely daughters, one of whom is organizing the whole thing. If you have any change to spare think about donating it to our team (message me for details)!

Last, of course there's Halloween/Samhain which is any of you know me, know that this is my favorite holiday! It is my favorite Holiday because it is a day where you can feel the magic in the air while pretending to be someone else. What I love is dressing up in elaborate (and somewhat obscure) costumes and playing as someone else for a night. It is what I do when I write so to be able to do it around other people is quite awesome. In my last post I even mentioned that this year I will be dressing up as the main character from my one short story series. I just ordered a sweet wig since she has much darker hair than I do. I think I might be way to excited to get to be her for the night.

So I ask you, what do you like most about October? Or what do you like best about your favorite month?