#K.H. Vaughan

[kristipetersenschoonover]

Tuesday Night Terrors via Zoom: October 24!

This Tuesday, October 24, at 6:30 pm, come join me, Trisha J. Wooldridge, Scott Goudsward, Rob Smales, and Ken Vaughn on Zoom for SHOCK WAVES III: HORROR WRITERS OF NEW ENGLAND with the Swansea Free Public Library, where we’ll be discussing all things that go bump in the night, wander up your stairs and tap on your windows. This virtual bookfest is FREE, but you must register at the link below.…

[weirdletter]

Nox Pareidolia, edited by Robert S. Wilson, Nightscape Press, 2019. Cover art by Don Noble, internal illustrations by Luke Spooner, info: nightscapepress.pub.

From the Bram Stoker Award-nominated editor of the 2018 This is Horror Anthology of the Year, Ashes and Entropy, comes a new vision of weird and horrific ambiguity. Nox Pareidolia includes tales by Laird Barron, S.P. Miskowski, Brian Evenson, Gwendolyn Kiste, Micheal Wehunt, Kristi DeMeester, Christopher Ropes, Zin E. Rocklyn, Paul Jessup, Doungjai Gam, Don Webb and Duane Pesice, K.H. Vaughan, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, and more.

Contents: Watch Me Burn With the Light of Ghosts by Paul Jessup Immolation by Kristi DeMeester Her Eyes Are Winter by Christopher Ropes 8X10 by Duane Pesice and Don Webb Bag and Baggage by Greg Sisco The Dredger by Matt Thompson Hello by Michael Wehunt Gardening Activities for Couples by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro Lies I Told Myself by Lynne Jamneck The Unkindness by Dino Parenti Merge Now by Kurt Fawver When We Were Trespassers by Doungjai Gam Rum Punch is Going Down by Daniel Braum Unmoored by Sean M. Thompson Just Beyond the Shore by Elizabeth Beechwood The Schoolmaster by David Peak The Past You Have, The Future You Deserve by K.H. Vaughan Herr Scheintod by L.C. von Hessen The Room Above by Brian Evenson Sincerely Eden by Amelia Gorman Wild Dogs by Carrie Laben The Moody Rooms of Agatha Tate by Wendy Nikel Salmon Run by Andrew Kozma The Little Drawer of Chaos by Annie Neugebauer When the Nightingale Devours the Stars by Gwendolyn Kiste Far From Home by Dan Coxon Birds by Zin E. Rocklyn Strident Caller by Laird Barron The Taste of Rot by Steve Toase Venom by S.P. Miskowski In the Vastness of the Sovereign Sky by S.L. Edwards

[sillydetectivepizza]

5/20/20 “The Past You Have, The Future You Deserve” - K.H. Vaughan

Another day finished up with work unable to put two thoughts together in any coherent way.  Decided to go easy on myself - check a story by a mutual friend, which limits the, er, emotional baggage that comes with these stories. You know, put on the training wheels.

Nox Pareidolia is an anthology that came out sometime last year - and every once in a while I pick up a story and try it on for size. Roughly half of them I’ve liked a lot so far, and that’s saying something. Usually like one or two stories stand out.

I’ve tried “The Past You Have, the Future You Deserve” a few times and never got past the first few pages. It was def one of those Other Stories until now. Like you feel a bit of guilt in the back of your heart because you can’t get into it, that kind of thing. But today was tiring, life is tiring, I needed to be taken away somewhere for a while. I’d heard Vaughan read a bit a few weeks ago and it stuck with me, so I gave it another shot. I’m glad I did. The story’s present tense except when it isn’t, and Vaughan’s style is far from spare, but still very careful and deliberate. Muted. And that muted, distant style means the first part of the story - where the reader experiences the childhood of the protagonist - feel like we’re injecting the protagonist’s memories to experience them first hand. Time passes in the story - and it drifts into past tense and back again - a deliberate narrative choice that I can understand why but it still took me out of the story a bit - that turns the story from what could be a pretty typical Stephen King plot into something grand and melancholy.

The story - about the survivors of an unnamed event that’s killed a number of children, is, at its core, a story of how trauma reverberates for generations, never quite healing those struck by it. I loved this bit, at the beginning:

And it factors into that trauma the million little choices caused in part by that trauma and how it adds up and weighs the hearts of those who have  made it past the prime of their adulthood.

It should, really, be the kind of story I need to avoid - God knows I ruminate about this shit enough on my own, but that’s the odd healing part of tragedy, you know? It feels like a release sometimes, a release that couldn’t happen any other way. Your soul feels a bit more free having experienced that emotion.

I choked up, a bit, at the end. I kinda needed to feel that strongly about a story.

So yeah, I liked it.

[mechagalaxy]

Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184: Mecha Combat #1015 - December 3348 Quadruple Rainbow

(By Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184)

Mountain Climbing Mecha Combat #1015

Brought to you by ANN

Highlighting the December 3348 Quadruple Rainbow

The Gaming authorities was quite busy and hoped to keep us pilots the same.

Now they launched a Rainbow event, the least restrictive so far made: The Quadruple.

Allowing Commanders to use up to four Mechs of each model, it put less emphasis of having at least one Mech of each type, so Commanders can focus on the models they find most effective.

I was back for a short while, and signed up in hopes of being able to get some kind of prize, but was called away on urgent business almost immediately.

My crew was beaten into submission and ended out on the plains, but at least they got enough footage that I later figured out the winners had been:

Div 1 392+ (18 Commanders): Dexter Berry, Warlock (13h,24m)

2: Bernard Johnson

3: Sal Vezzosi Jr

4: Gary Muenzel

5: Terry Cole

6: Jeff Haas

7:Ben Rail

8: Claude Poirier

9: Stuart Myshrall

10: Robert C Goetz Sr

Div 2 -391 (18 Commanders): Jaime Beltran, Death`s Collector`s (9h,26m)

Div 3 -254 (5 Commanders): Bob Schlomer, B.S.L.R. (9h,54m)

Div 4 -208 (18 Commanders): KiloToneRecoil, B.o.A.D. (12h,44m)

Div 5 -160 (23 Commanders): Brian Vaughan, Diamond Dragons (20m,1s)

Div 6 -119 (18 Commanders): Drake Hunter, Star League (35m,39s)

Div 7 -90 (19 Commanders): Mike Slowenski, Steampunk Dragons (4h,9m)

Div 8 -66 (17 Commanders): piratekilla, T.B 1st K.H. (13h,6m)

Div 9 -44 (9 Commanders): Rick D Larrew, *R.V* (1h,44m)

Div 10 -30 (13 Commanders): Shaggy_Two_Dope, ICP (23m,39s)

Div 11 -19 (10 Commanders): Cris Mari Macabudbud, Outcast (12h,27m)

Total Contestants: 168

Total medals claimed: 142 (of 165 possible)

Compared to the previous, King of the Mountain, event we lost ten fighting formations.

Added to the imbalance we normally have, and the curse of K3 that was back with a vengeance, a total of twenty-three Bronzes from four tops ended unclaimed and were returned for resmelting.

The last half-hour saw two Golds changing hands, while seven Golds were held for at least two hours.

Was this due to strong winners, or a lack of fighting? Hard to say, but a clue can be found by examining the number of medals held for more than 30 minutes in this event:

.............Silvers......Bronzes

Div 1 ....1 of 4.........6 of 10

Div 2 ....4 of 4.........9 of 10

Div 3 ....2 of 4......…….N/A

Div 4 ....4 of 4.......10 of 10

Div 5 ....2 of 4.........5 of 10

Div 6 ....3 of 4.........9 of 10

Div 7 ....4 of 4.......10 of 10

Div 8 ....4 of 4.......10 of 10

Div 9 ....4 of 4.........4 of 4

Div 10 ..3 of 4.........6 of 8

Div 11 ..4 of 4.........5 of 5

Looks like a pretty quiet event. K4, K7, K8, K9 and K11 had no successful medal attacks, and the only top where the majority of the medals was in play was K5. The rest of the tops saw moderate action.

This was an event where no single clan managed to get more than one Gold. None of the unaligned Commanders managed to snag one either, but we had one repeat winner; Dexter Berry on Mount Olympus.

Upcoming event: Fire and Ice

Here we have a weapon type enhanced event, or should I say weapon types?

Both Ice and Fire weapons will dish out an additional 80% damage, so adjusting weapon loadout and shielding might be an excellent idea.

[kristipetersenschoonover]

The Stars Were Right! at NECRONOMICON PROVIDENCE 2022

The Stars Were Right! at NECRONOMICON PROVIDENCE 2022

[weirdletter]

Wicked Weird: An Anthology of the New England Horror Writers, edited by Amber Fallon, Scott Goudsward, and David Price. NEHW Press, 2019. Cover art by Ogmios, info: Amazon.

There’s a side of the world those deemed “normal” don’t see, save for glimpses in flashing moments of fear and confusion. These places exist just around the corner of our vision, beyond the ocean fog of memory and nightmare, where monstrous children cry for love and secrets are hidden in remote caves; where nature reclaims its own and a sweet taste in your mouth portends evil beyond imagining. Within these pages are twenty-one secrets hidden behind a veil only the most ancient of beings have dared to pass through, brought to you by some of the most talented and imaginative authors to come out of New England.In short, these stories are Wicked Weird.

Contents: Those beneath, devour — Victoria Dalpe A Strange Haze — Matthew M. Bartlett A Song of War and Death — Errick Danger Nunnally Salt Cave — Morgan Sylvia The Sweetness and the Psychic — L.L. Soares A Feast of Flies — Steve Van Samson Pet Shop of the Gods — Rob Smales St. Scholastica’s Home for Children of the Sea — Emma Jane Shaw Gibbon The Mass of the Greatest Sin — Trisha Wooldridge The Painted Girl — Paul R. McNamee Reclaimed — William D. Carl Better Late, Than Never — Wicker Stone Starry Night — Jason Parent Sanguisuga — Kali Ann Moulton J. Edwin Buja — The Lost Mine of St. Eloi It Is a Long Walk to the Ocean — K.H. Vaughan The Promised Death of Zebediah Dewey — John Goodrich Please Stay Dead, Aunt Marnie — F.R. Michaels The Perfect Parent — Peter N. Dudar Your Emergency Response Guide — Jeffrey Thomas The Night and All Its Visitors — Barry Lee Dejasu About the Contributors

[weirdletter]

Machinations and Mesmerism: Tales Inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann, edited by Farah Rose Smith, Ulthar Press, 2019. Cover art by Sabinaka, info: lulu.com.

Machinations and Mesmerism is an anthology of fantastic, strange fiction written in the vein of Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, the oft’-unsung artistic polymath and writer of Dark Romanticism, Gothic Horror, and Fantastic literature. E.T.A. Hoffmann was a Prussian lawyer, artist, composer, and writer. His stories are ripe with strange atmospheres and peculiar characters (including automata, madmen, and spectres), which would go on to influence the Gothic and macabre writers of the following generations including Poe, Gogol, Kafka, and Baudelaire. This carefully curated anthology honors the literary dance between mesmerism, mechanics, and magic through which Hoffmann explored issues of Romantic idealism and the self.

Contents: Introduction — Farah Rose Smith Professor Homunculus — Michael Cisco Dr. Ligeti’s Dream — Ian Delacroix Alpha and Iota — Jayaprakash Satyamurthy Heirloom — L.C. von Hessen The Face and the Flame — M. Lopes da Silva Where the Sky Is Silver and the Earth Is Brass — Sonya Taaffe Deadhead — Jennifer Quail Unheimlich — K.H. Vaughan A Woman From the Dark — Aydan Hasanli No Half Measures — Rhys Hughes Awake in the Hands of Solitude — Kurt Newton & John Boden The Polished Scope of Dragon Hide — Michelle F. Goddard Ladali — Sandy Parsons Spinollio — D.J. Moore Fruit of the Earth — Nidhi Singh Notes Toward a Philosophy of Sleep — Michael Uhall

[mechagalaxy]

Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184: Mecha Combat #1004 - May 3348 10 Red Tons

(By Sten Hugo Hiller - 627184)

Mountain Climbing Mecha Combat #1004

Brought to you by ANN

Highlighting the May 3348 10 Red Tons

Unlike a couple of the recent events we have had, this time the Gaming authorities had decided on one of the war specialist formations, 10 ton to be exact.

As I have mentioned before, all Commanders should be able to afford one of these formations, so this would be a good test for the upcoming war

My formation was dispatched to the arena, and claimed a spot on the foothills.

In good time before the scramble I returned, and as most of the opponents were still in main getting a spot on the slopes was no trouble.

But there were still lots of details to take care of back at the compound, so my crew was left to hold the position and get footage until I returned.

Unfortunately, the last meeting ran into overtime, and at my return to the mountain I discovered it had been an early ending.

But my crew had at least gotten the required footage, and after looking through it I saw this events winners had been:

Div 1 299+ (29 Commanders): Bernard Johnson, Warlock (28m,26s)

2: Stuart Myshrall

3: Jeff Haas

4: Dexter Berry

5: Sherriff Leary Wretham

6: Sal Vezzosi Jr

7: Dan Ross

8: David Cox

9: Jay Fleharty

10: Jeff Page

Div 2 -298 (10 Commanders): Michael Coldwell, Northwind Dragons (8h,18m)

Div 3 -195 (13 Commanders): Brian Vaughan, Steampunk Dragons (1h,2m)

Div 4 -157 (18 Commanders): Joe Smith. Death`s Disturbed Asylum (27m,42s)

Div 5 -127 (18 Commanders): Joseph Badbear, M&L B.C. 13th A.D. (15h,1m)

Div 6 -91 (24 Commanders): Gerardo Boneque Molina, HF 110th C.C. 1st A.R. (14s)

Div 7 -69 (15 Commanders): Ken Freon, T.B. 1st K.H. (17h,50m)

Div 8 -52 (5 Commanders): Dizzy Cat, MurderMechs (13m,37s)

Div 9 -35 (10 Commanders): Jindaporn Dinkel, *R.V. 2.0* (6m,1s)

Div 10 -24 (16 Commanders): Fitzwilly, Jagdstaffel 2 (18h,4m)

Div 11 -14 (12 Commanders): Krowl Pops, *R.V. 2.0* (12h,30m)

3+6(2S)+7(1S)+4(1S)+8+0+4+(2S)+8(3S)+11(1S)+11(G,3S)= One Gold, thirteen Silvers and fifty Bronzes were awarded to Commanders who obviously had overweight Mechs in their formations.

Total Contestants: 170

Total medals claimed: 140 (of 165 possible)

Compared to the recent 50 ton event we had, the number of fighting formations that showed up was reduced by six.

Given this low number, and the usual imbalance between the tops, a total of twenty-five Bronzes from five tops ended unclaimed and were returned for resmelting.

The last half-hour saw five Golds changing hands at least once, one of them not decided until the last quarter-minute. On the flip side, five Golds were held for more than two hours.

Did we yet again have an event where the fighting was unequally distributed? To find out we examine the number of medals held for more than 30 minutes in this event:

.............Silvers......Bronzes

Div 1 ....3 of 4.........8 of 10

Div 2 ....4 of 4.........5 of 5

Div 3 ....4 of 4.........8 of 8

Div 4 ....3 of 4.........7 of 10

Div 5 ....4 of 4.......10 of 10

Div 6 ....1 of 4.........5 of 10

Div 7 ....1 of 4.........6 of 10

Div 8 ....0 of 4......…….N/A

Div 9 ....3 of 4.........5 of 5

Div 10 ..2 of 4.........9 of 10

Div 11 ..4 of 4.........6 of 7

Three tops; K2, K3 and K5, saw no succesfull medal attacks. The two tops that was most active was K8 (all medals in play) and K6 (majority of the Medals in play).

The fighting on the other tops varied from light to pretty heavy.

The only clan to claim a double triumph this time was the *Raging Vengeance 2.0* who brought home the top prizes from both K9 and K11. None of the unaligned Commanders managed to secure a Gold, but we had one repeat winner; Brian Vaughan from the Steampunk Dragons on K3

Upcoming event: Double Rainbow

Here, as in all Rainbow events, all Mech models are legal.

But also in Rainbows, a Commander are only allowed a certain number of Mechs of each model. Here that number is two.

Event ends June 18 between 0730 and 0800