If you’d like to buy a physical book made out of real paper products:

• CreateSpace
• Amazon

If you’d like to buy an eBook made out of real digital code:

• Smashwords (formats for Kindle, Nook, iPad, and many other devices)

Whichever you choose, you’ll find something inside (16 somethings, actually) sure to thrill, amuse, or unsettle you (in the good way).

You can buy the eBook version for $9.99.

Readers and writers of supernatural fiction know M. R. James…or certainly should.  He is one of the very best and most influential writers of the form.  His Collected Ghost Stories has been in print since it was published in 1931.  Ghost Stories of an Antiquary was a book I read early on when I started devouring ghost stories.  My wife and I read it aloud to each other, taking turns on the stories, and we still talk about how unnerving various scenes were despite the fact we were in a well-lit room with each other.  The seed idea for my forthcoming story, “Last Testament”, came to me while listening to a live performance of James’ “The Mezzotint.”

As the page count of the print edition suggests, this is a big book.  It contains not only all of James’ supernatural fiction, but also a long list of essays and letters he penned not only on his own work, but on other authors’ and the field in general.  The Five Jars, a YA fantasy novel he wrote, is also in there.  The stories are annotated, there are additional essays by other writers on James and supernatural fiction, and the bibliography opens the door to further study and exploration of James’ work.

In short, as the promotional copy says, this is, “…the only edition of M. R. James’s supernatural stories you will ever need.”

Learn more about the book on the Ash-Tree Press site here and then go and buy it over here.  While you’re there, you can pick up lots of other fantastic Ash-Tree titles for your eReader of choice.

Enjoy.

We are now the owners of a 2009 Prius.  Our 1998 Honda Accord was totaled with 175,000 miles on it.  No injuries and we wound up with a check for $3,600 from the other driver’s insurance.  Not a bad exchange, in the end.

We’ve been enjoying our new 42″ flat-screen plasma TV that was our family Christmas present to ourselves.  First thing we did was watch the entire extended edition version of The Lord of the Rings.  And, wow, it was like seeing them for the first time since I saw them in the cinema.

I’m working steadily on the novel again.  The nice thing was reading through the work in progress after being away from it for a couple of months and discovering there was more good stuff in there than I remembered.

Finally, being a New England Patriots fan, I’m a pretty happy guy this evening.  Ok, Tom Brady didn’t play well.  Ok, the Ravens kicker missed a field goal he should have made and is either being tarred and feathered or fitted with goat horns right now.  But it was a low scoring (by modern standards), gritty affair and the Patriots made more plays than the Ravens did.  Sometimes it’s that simple.  Cue the  confetti.

I am pleased to announce that my story, “Last Testament”, has been accepted for publication in Supernatural Tales.  A fantastic start to my 2012 on this front.  I’m very excited for all sorts of reasons.

I also feel very satisfied because it’s the culmination of a lot of work.  I had the seed idea while attending a live performance of the work of M.R. James at the 2007 World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs, NY.  My family had just moved back to New England from Chicago and my writing routines were in shambles.  It took me something like five months to write the first draft – an interminable stretch.  But I kept at it, because surprising and good things happened often enough and because I never (or almost never) abandon something during the first draft.

As is always the case when it takes me a long time to get the first draft down, the story was waaaaaay too long. A couple of revisions later, I thought I had it right and sent it out.  Several rejections later, I received some editorial feedback that I took to heart and made another major revision.  Several more rejections later I had still more editorial feedback.  Complimentary, encouraging, constructive rejection letters that, most importantly, said similar things.  So, this past November, I paused work on the novel I’m writing and made still more substantial changes to the story.

I sent it to David Longhorn at Supernatural Tales and that, as they say, was that.

“Last Testament” is set in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, where I spent a lot of time.  The protagonist is a seminary student, which my wife was at Chicago Theological Seminary.  A pivotal scene takes place at Medici on 57th, whose cinnamon rolls we still miss.    It is currently scheduled to be published in Autumn of 2013 or so.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy rest of 2011.

First Coming

By Madeleine L’Engle

He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace
He came when the Heavens were unsteady
and prisoners cried out for release.

He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He died with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine. He did not wait

till hearts were pure. In joy he came
to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
He came, and his Light would not go out. 

He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.

We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

Like many others, my church held a special service last night.  Ours is called, “The Longest Night Service.”  I heard a story this morning on a local NPR station about a similar service at First Congregational Church in Hadley, MA called the “Blue Christmas Service.”  Rev. Sarah Buteux described it as, “Christmas in a minor key.”  I like that.  And the truth is that a lot of people need it, especially here at the darkest point in our journey around the Sun.  Our lives are overloaded.  We are asked again and again to do more with less time and less money.  We’re surrounded by images and sounds that tell us how happy we’re supposed to be.  How holly jolly and magical it all is. But a lot of people struggle more than usual during the holiday season.

It’s important to acknowledge that.  To make space for people to express it, whether out loud or not, and to support those who do.  It’s not about wallowing.  It’s about being honest.  And being honest about the challenges we face need not detract from the miracle and wonder of Christmas and this season.  Because, when stripped down to the realist details, Christmas tells the story of an unassisted birth in a dirty stable at night.  And it’s about a child coming to bring hope to a despairing people.

Meanwhile, the Winter Solstice is a pivot point.  Yes, it’s dark.  Yes, it’s cold.  Yes, many of us in the northern hemisphere have months of bleak winter ahead of us.  But things will change.  Spring will come again.  There’s hope.

But when we’re dangling above despair, our grip on that truth is feeble.  And the world keeps stomping on our fingers.

Greg Lake of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer wrote a song called “I Believe in Father Christmas” that evokes the tension between the image of Christmas and what we so often experience.  But it ends with resolve that we can do better, that Christmas is not an empty promise, but one which has real power.  If we work together to live into it and make it real.  Below is the beautiful cover version released by U2 in 2008, followed by the lyrics.

“I Believe in Father Christmas”
Greg Lake

They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on Earth
But instead, it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the Virgin birth

I remember one Christmas morning
A winter’s light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell
And that Christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire

They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
And they told me a fairy story
Til I believed in the Israelite

And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
Then I woke with a yawn
In the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise

I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear

They said there’d be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on Earth
Hallelujah, Noel, be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas we get, we deserve