To celebrate, I’m going to have a bit of a Memorial Day sale through Monday: through Smashwords, all three main books will be just 99 cents each while “book zero” will continue to be free (but maybe not for much longer). Be sure to use the correct coupon code (not case sensitive) on checkout to get your discount! Tell your friends!

The Crooked Man – Use $0.99 coupon code NA59M
The Terminal People – Use $0.99 coupon code UW75Y
Schoolhouse Number Five – Use $0.99 coupon code RD38H
Forget Me Nots – Still free (for now)

Believe it or not, there are hundreds of decisions that have gone into my Reaper cosplay outfit, from little things (did you know there are white Velcro strips on the top of the skull mask that pair up to black Velcro inside the hood so that the cowl moves with my head turns and keeps it in the right position without risk of falling off?) to big things (a fully collapsible scythe so that it slips easily into a gym bag). The scythe in particular has been an ongoing project to improve its look.

I wanted a more realistic look for the blade (since that’s where people’s eyes are drawn to when looking at the Reaper’s signature “farm tool of choice”) and initially painted it a metallic silver. It didn’t have the effect I wanted; it looked like poorly painted wood. I also wanted to reinforce the tang and ring assemble (the part that holds the blade onto the snath/staff) because the blade would bob a bit (making it look very fake), and I came up with a simple, light-weight way to do that. Over all, it looks very heavy (it isn’t) and very rigid. There is no actual blade edge, but you can’t tell from looking at it straight on; the illusion is complete.

The added bonus was filling the holes that I had to drill (to mount the assembly onto the blade) with bolts that reinforced the hold onto the snath but also made the entire blade look more realistic. Finally, I gave the entire rebuilt blade a few coats of coppery fleck paint to give it an oxidized look, and the finished product (mounted on the collapsible snath) is the product you see here. I think it turned out pretty good!

Americans do, however, have Edgar Allan Poe.

According to the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, Edgar was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19th, 1809, the son of two actors. He was briefly left in Baltimore, Maryland with his grandparents, then later taken in by John Allan following the untimely death of Poe’s mother and father in 1811 (this is the origin of Poe’s middle name ‘Allan’). After a childhood traveling to Scotland and London, England, it was 1820 when Edgar returned to America and was enrolled into the Richmond, Virginia school system. Young Edgar was discouraged from publishing his first book of poems while in school, although Poe was described as “a born poet” with “no love of mathematics.”

In 1831, Edgar was dismissed from West Point (for failing to follow orders and being genuinely disenchanted about receiving them) and eventually returned to Baltimore, moving in with his aunt in the Spring of 1833. By this time, Edgar had published three books of poems and numerous others in local periodicals but had received very little money in return. Poe was living poorly when he wrote what is generally accepted as his first tale of horror, an award-winning short story called “Berenice.”

Poe lived and wrote in other places (Philadelphia, for example), but it was in Baltimore that his known career began to emerge and, sadly, where he later died at the age of forty “after he was found in a tavern delirious and in distress, two years after the death of his young wife, Virginia, from tuberculosis.” (NY Times) The Baltimore Poe House was nearly destroyed seventy years ago when homes in the old neighborhood were being renovated, but it has since been declared a national landmark. While it is in no danger of being torn down, it may no longer remain open to the public since the Baltimore housing authority pulled their $85,000 annual operating budget; reserve funds may run out as early as this summer.

Why bring light to this now? The Raven, a film starring John Cusack as Poe himself, opens this weekend (and will likely be completely forgotten about by the time The Avengers comes out the following weekend). Could there be a more perfect time or event to call attention to the creator of the detective fiction genre, American gothic literature, and the namesake for the Edgar Allen Poe Awards of the Mystery Writers of America? I don’t think so.

What can you do about it? Glad you asked:

• Make a donation to the Poe Bicentennial (The Baltimore Poe House Museum) Website
• Sign the petition to ask the Mayor of Baltimore to keep the Poe House & Museum open and restore funding!
• Read the Baltimore Sun article “Poe’s legacy in Baltimore at risk”
• Read the NY Times Article About the Baltimore Poe House Closing

Any other ideas? Let’s hear ‘em!

Within two months, I had that new job (whew!) and I’ll have been at that job for an entire year right around May 25th. That was the same day that, after spending half a day either looking for work, filling out applications, or interviewing, I was spending the other half putting in place the elements to officially launch my writing career. Sure, I’ve been writing critiques for almost fifteen years now, but most of that was honing my written “voice” while learning to break down plots and characters that would fuel my own stories. “The Spooky Chronicles: The Crooked Man” went live on Smashwords that day.

Of course, the real reason for all the life changes was to move in with my girlfriend (who became my fiancée on Christmas Eve of 2011). That’s three fairly significant life changes all for one year’s time, and each one has been hard work but wonderful nonetheless. This year, I launched my third and fourth Spooky Chronicles book, am revamping my MovieCrypt.com movie review website to take it up another notch, started bicycling again, worked my way up into a better paying position at my day job (right back up to about the same as the old job I left), and have been co-planning a wedding. We even found the perfect hotel for our honeymoon already.

Sigh. I don’t think I could be much busier or much happier right now.

Okay, back to work…!