Catching Up

Wow! I can't believe that it's been two weeks since I posted here about the up and coming Voltaire show, which is now less than two weeks away. Generally, I try to get something new up here every week to week and a half. Sometimes though, I just can't make it happen.

One week ago this past Saturday, I bailed out of my small cottage ahead of another major ice-storm threat. I put Mr. Gray (the cemetery cat) in a rather large pet taxi and went out to my sister's place for a few days.As has happened so many times before, the deadly freezing rain didn't materialize for very long and instead, we were treated to a sleet event. Still, no one can recall getting so much of the stuff and it froze rock solid. It took several days for me to get home. If I had to choose one word to describe this winter it would be ghastly.

During my time there, the TV was on almost constantly and loud enough, that it was impossible for me to write. So what do you do in situations like that? You surrender to them of course, and that can be a good thing. Let's see, during my four day s there I watched two Star Trek films, re-watched The Conjuring, viewed Alien vs. Predator, several episodes of House of Cards, several installments of Bones and three episodes of The Walking Dead. Now that's a lot of TV crammed into four days!

While I was away, I received some news that has me reworking one of my stories. I'll likely talk about this more in the future but for now, getting that finished to my liking is a priority. There are other things demanding my attention as well.

All things considered, I do have something of interest lined up for a post, which I hope to present in the near future. For today though, I just wanted to check in and let you know that I'm still here. We'll catch you later.   

The Return of Voltaire

After arising this morning, I plopped down in front of my desk and took my first sips of coffee. As is often the case, I grabbed my phone and took my first look at Facebook. "Ah, a notification," I said to myself. Opening it, I saw that it was an event invitation from a friend. As I continued reading, a surge of excitement ran through me. Within a matter of seconds, my morning caffeine fix became totally unnecessary (although I continued drinking anyway). "Oh wow!" I exclaimed. "He's coming back already?"

A bit more investigation on my part revealed the truthfulness of the matter: Voltaire himself is returning to Fayetteville for another performance at George's Majestic Lounge
on March 22. All I can say is, he must have had a good time with us last summer because I wouldn't expect him to return so soon. Appearing with him will be Annabel Evil from Vampire Freaks in New York City.

Today, I feel like a kid awaiting Christmas. The difference is that instead of visions of sugar plums dancing in my head when I next drift off into dreamland, I'll be seeing
Doom Ponies. The good times just seem to keep rolling on!   

Saturday's Darkness Resurrected Dance Night

On the night of Saturday, February 15, the first Darkness Resurrected Dance Night of the new year kicked off at The Stolen Glass in downtown Fayetteville. The Valentine's Hangover Party, as it was so name, began an hour earlier than usual with the new 8:00 to 9:00 pm slot dedicated to a more traditional goth/dark-wave musical repertoire. As my personal reward for arriving early, I was treated to the sounds of bands such as Type O Negative, Clan of Xymox, London After Midnight and Celtic Frost; to name a few.

While I didn't try to count the number of attendees in any serious way, I suspect that last Saturday's affair brought in the largest number of attendees for any Darkness Resurrected night to date; encouraging news indeed for those of us hoping to see more of these events in the future.

Speaking for myself, I had a pretty good time. A little after my arrival some friends whom I hadn't seen since the Voltaire concert back in July startled me by sneaking up while I was nursing my first Guiness. It was good to see them and their appearance pretty much guaranteed that I would end up playing at least one game of pool before the night was through. I wasn't disappointed on that account even if my performance on the table was a bit below average even for me. Also, Saturday night was very productive in that I made some new acquaintances. Some of these were folks I'd seen before and had been wanting to meet and some were there for the first time. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing these folks at future events.  

The Deejays for the evening included DJ Durandal (of course), DJ Axis Stevens from Tulsa, Oklahoma, DJ Deathjest; also from Tulsa, and DJ Anthony Bale. As usual, I thought all four provided us with a good mix of danceable music. I took secret delight in hearing the haunting melodies of Dead Can Dance and the teasingly danceable rhythm of Lucretia My Reflection w hile concentrating on my pool game. One thing I always find neat about these gatherings is that in the days following the event, each deejay posts his or her playlist for that night. That's how I found out  the name  of the Celtic Dust song that I enjoyed so much that evening. It's called Drown in Ashes, and I've been enjoying the heck out of it now that I have access to it.

While the next Darkness Resurrected Dance Night will likely not be held until some time in May, I can't help but wonder what it may hold in store. You see, when I entered the venue and paid my modest cover charge, I received a ticket for free entrance to a so-called mystery event that is in the planning for some time in the future. Ah yes, an air of intrigue should be the perfect tool to keep us waiting in anticipation for our next gathering--or perhaps the next!

Many thanks to all the Deejays, those who worked the door, the venue staff and everyone who came and helped make the Valentine's Hangover Party a night to remember.

The above photo appears courtesy of Darkness Resurrected. 

 

Vampire's Day Soiree

The big day has finally arrived and once again, I find myself participating in the Vampire's Day Soiree, a special event sponsored by Holly, owner of the Blog Holly's Horrorland, a place where you can most definitely find a "collection of creepy curiosities." 

Since I don't have a valentine and since I'm not much for most celebrations created with the sole purpose of hooking people into spending money, Valentine's Day doesn't mean all that much to me. But the Vampire's Day Soiree? Oh yeah! The day not only serves as a marker for me indicating that the end of winter is approaching, but it serves as an alternative I can better relate to as I really enjoy vampire films, literature and programming; that is, provided that it's done well. What I consider well done might well serve as a topic for another post. For now, let's just say that I think there has been an over abundance of vampire material on TV--and it hasn't all been good. As a matter of fact, I just sent three episodes of True Blood back to Netflix without watching the last one. For the first few seasons I really enjoyed the series. I endured season 4 but as I got into season 5, I just couldn't take any more. As far as I'm concerned, they've run that program into the ground and I've lost interest. As I said, this is a topic for another day. 

What I'd like to do for this Vampire's Day Soiree is offer an excerpt from my own latest short story with a vampire theme entitled A Fall From Grace. Although this particular piece is complete in and of itself, I'm working on a sequel, which I've been struggling with a bit but hope to finish soon. Here then, s the excerpt:

An expression of wanton lust overtook her. She stroked his face sensually before beginning to slowly pace in front of him, only inches away. “I can sense the uncertainty in you,” she continued. “You fear me; yet, I sense your desire to surrender. I can smell it in your blood--and I love it!”
 

Unable to speak, his own level of desire growing by the second, Jessie could only moan in response.

She abruptly stopped in front of him and smiled seductively. Then, bringing her face to his chest, she began kissing and biting him passionately, working her way upward, ever upward, sending the man into his own private Heaven. When she reached the base of his neck she could no longer contain herself. Within seconds, she opened her mouth wide; biting him, penetrating his skin with two sharp fangs.

The predator moaned ecstatically as she greedily drank his life essence. In spite of her many kills over the years, no human’s blood had ever offered sweetness such as this. She could taste his innocence as well as the darkness he could never face. She reveled in the flavor of his fear as it meshed with an abject surrender to his fate.

 
As her victim slipped into unconsciousness and his body fell limp, the predator slowly eased him down to the floor before continuing to assuage her blood lust.   

Last but not least, I would be remiss if I didn't direct you to Holly's Site. She is after all, the creator of the Vampire's Day Soiree, which in my mind is fast becoming a February tradition. I would link directly to her January 14 post about the soiree because that's where you can find all the participants. Still, in this case, it might just be better if I link to her main page. That way, you won't miss anything if she posts more for the celebration tonight or tomorrow. If not, just scroll down the page and you'll find her original soiree post below the one entitled Quoth the Raven. There are currently 18 links to the blogs of all participants. I hope that you'll visit them as well to see what vampire-related material they've for  celebration.  And many thanks to Holly for holding this Vampire's Day Soiree 2014! Here's the link to Holly's Horrorland.


And now, if you all don't mind, I'm off to watch The Awakening, a horror film never before seen by me.