A Little Ghost Story

It's Halloween and while I feel dead, I’m not quite there (yet). The past two weeks of “vacation” from the dayjob consisted of the Viable Paradise Writing Workshop (VPXX represent!) followed almost immediately by the World Fantasy Convention, to say nothing about all the requisite travel. So given the holiday and my current state, how about I share an old ghost story...

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Sitting in the kitchen, staring out the patio door into the darkness past the deck, I’m reminded of the story of my grandmother, one of many things my mother handed down to me:

At midnight, every night for months, my Lola dressed in her finest Spanish gown, went out on to her front porch, and screamed for her husband to come home. No one tried to stop her. See, her generation wasn’t unfamiliar with visits from the dead. A young woman calling out into the humid, Philippine night, was pitiable, but not beyond the bounds of reason. My grandmother’s family and townmates shrugged it off, until the night the screaming stopped after only a few moments. They rushed outside, afraid she’d hurt herself, or worse. Instead, they found her standing on the porch, smiling.

“He heard me,” Lola told them. “He came home.”

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Download a free pdf of the rest of “Life After Wartime” here!

“Life After Wartime” by Don Pizarro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

Chapter XLIII

Sorry I’m getting to this a day late, but it’s been a hectic couple of weeks. Chapter XLIII of my life began yesterday, and I’m hoping for some big things. I ended Chapter XLII with two major accomplishments: a promotion at the dayjob to a managerial position which not only gives me an office with a door I can close, but also the funds to attend the 2016 Viable Paradise writing workshop. That’s VP20, everyone! Or, is it VPXX? I’m partial to the latter myself, because it reminds me of a Chicago album.

Speaking of which, the song below is from Chicago XXXVI. With things to look forward to, I've been wondering if a new year requires a new attitude...

I think it’s time for you to lose that cynical suit, now.
You've worn it out and man, the jacket don’t fit you no more.
–Chicago, “Something’s Coming, I Know”

Let's give it a shot...

"Agony in the Garden" in THE CLEVELAND NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDEBOOK

I mentioned this was coming, but now it’s here: THE CLEVELAND NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDEBOOK from Belt Publishing, which has a bit in it by me called “Agony in the Garden.” I got a kick from reading it out of my contributor’s copy. I have to say, these are really nice books!

If you're in the 216, you have several options for getting yours: The folks at Belt will have a booth at the Cleveland Flea on June 11 and will be holding a launch party at the Market Garden Brewery on June 22. (Alas, the dayjob prevents me from making the trip from NY.) I'm also told the books should be available now at Mac's Backs, Loganberry Books, CLE Clothing, Cosmic Bobbins, and Native Cleveland.

If you're not, or are just anxious to get your hands on "The Least Practical, Most Literary Guide to Cleveland," get yours now!