Christmas And Beyond

Taking time off from writing for Christmas (you don't see the word Christmas much anymore and it's a shame) to concentrate on singing in the studio. I go in on the 27th to record about seven Sinatra songs for a CD and a demo for possible big band work. I've had a bad head cold, and I'm working on a Z-pack to knock it out, hopefully by the 27th.

The Kentucky Ghost Hunters are coming back in February to spend the night at my house. Holidays always seem to spark some activity among our live-in other dimension friends, if they can be called friends. We are supposed to have a man, woman, and child spirits, and one of them is angry all the time. Their activity doesn't seem to be on any regular schedule. It has never been aggressive, but is more to let us know they exist, with thumps, crashes, flitting images, lights on and off, and whispering.

Yesterday, another one of my childhood friends, JC, reached the 65th snow mark. None of us thought we would live this long, given the wars and the lifestyle of our generation. We're glad to still be around, but we're at the age where we know many more dead people than live ones. We meet every Thursday for breakfast.

Back in 1998, three out of five members of our then breakfast group died within two weeks at age 50. JC and I were the two left, and the odds against our survival seemed pretty slim. People looked at us like we were angels of death. But we're still here almost 15 years later and have added a few more members.

Lord of Homicides is one of my favorite novels. I love writing bizarre humor to explain weird events, and I had a blast with it. The Kindle version cover is above. I truly believe there is a parallel dimension that crosses into our lives at certain times and we have contacts from beyond. It's kind of like dealing with DC politicians.

Comments

Vietnam: The Liberty Bridge

(This entry has had a lot of comments, and I'm glad it can help bring Nam vets together or to help find each other. If you have a comment, please attach your name to the comment or from this point forward it won't be published. I've received many comments that are phony and obviously made up, submitted by anonymous submission. I do screen all comments. Click the photo to enlarge. Semper Fi.) This is the Liberty Bridge (click to make larger) in Quang Nam Province in Vietnam during July of 1968. Of the 14,000 Marines killed in Vietnam, 10,000 were killed in Quang Nam Province. (Figures in comment section show a little under 7000 KIA in Quang Nam.) This was late in my tour on July 2. The bridge had been blown once again by the enemy to isolate the Marine base at An Hoa. I was a 50 caliber machine gunner on a convoy to resupply the An Hoa Firebase. I called this the River Styx because it had a ferry boat. Once you crossed the river you entered a nightmare hell on earth cal...

The Jesus Moth

Photo taken through a window screen. I had just gone over the first print copy of The Bad Season on July 22, 2006. I walked over to the window and saw this moth on my outside air conditioner unit. It was the most bizarre thing I had seen in a long time. I retrieved my digital camera and snapped a picture through the glass and the window screen before going outside in a failed to attempt to capture the moth. I contacted a moth expert. He told me what kind of moth it was, but added that he had never seen one with a cross on its back like this one. I call it the Jesus Moth, the Crusader Moth, or maybe the Infidel Moth. The syndicates wanted me to give it to them for free. They said they don't take pics from non-employees because "we would actually have to pay you for it." Hmm, what a novel concept, getting paid for something. I offered to swap for a syndicated story about my book. They refused. So I copyrighted the entire pic (the one below is a fragment from that p...

Help Solve This Murder From June 2000 (Update)

(I've done an update to keep this story in the public eye. Ohio has just released a list of what will probably end up being close to 2000 unsolved homicides. Southwestern Ohio has at least 500 crimes on that list. There had been no activity on this story since Ohio detectives came to see me in 2009 and asked me about my theory. I don't know if they followed up on what I told them, but a statement in the comment section makes me believe someone knows more about the crime than what has been released to the public by police.) At home, George Gibson, age 47, is found dead inside the tiny first floor bathroom, as if trying to escape his killer. A veterinary pathologist and a twelve year employee at Proctor and Gamble, he appeared to be caught by surprise while at the kitchen table and tried to escape into the bathroom. Gibson was shot nine times, seven small caliber bullets to the head and two to the chest. One of his three pet Bernese mountain dogs was shot to death on the f...

Dennis Latham: Life, Fiction, and the Pursuit of Madness

Search This Blog