We Placed Second in the Saugus.Net Ghost Story Contest!!!

Last year we placed third in the 14th annual Saugus.Net Ghost Story contest; Adult category. This year I am happy to say we finished second in the 15th Annual Contest with a satirical look at municipal building regulations and boards and The Grim Reaper in a story titled: THE DEATH KNELL. Nothing gory here, just comedy. We are happy with the finish. My best to the first and third place finishers in the adult category and my best to the judges who completed their decisions despite having to deal with the damage and power outages wrought by the true monster of this years Halloween--Sandy. The story is posted on Saugus.net under Adult and will be posted shortly on josephjpatchen.weebly.com. Congratulations too to the elementary school, middle school and high school winners as well. Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween

Of course we here have to wish all of you a Happy Halloween. This year is a haggard and tired Halloween for obvious reasons. I pray all of you are safe and I pray that the most overlooked comforts of life return soon.

As We Wait On Hurricane Sandy

That is for the monster known as Sandy, we clean our desk to help us compartmentalize understanding that the demons that dance in our imagine are not as powerful and horrific as those who actually walk among us. Hurrican Sandy is a force of nature that simply cannot be defeated. She can only be respected and feared. We cannot strike back against her assault only accept it. Our fear and feeling of dread is heightened so we wait and work on cleaning our desk... And when you come across the story of a New York City Police Officer who plotted to kill and eat up to one hundred women the shudder you feel rattles your spine. People disappear everyday. Bodies are found. The monsters are truly out there and while we have fun this Halloween with our candy and costumes and movies and with our tales of terror the monsters are truly out there...be safe everybody.

"THE DARK ONES" reviewed on LURIDLIT Now!!!!

I was supposed to publish this review on Halloween but thanks to the real monster Hurrican Sandy we publish early while we still have wifi and electric.... This novel was penned by Bryan Smith. If you recall we loved his "Rock and Roll Reform School Zombies". Both published by Deadite Press. Please give it a read, as with all my columns on Luridlit.com. Thank you.

We May Be Down: A Rant About The Weather Channel

I am not making light of the 'unprecedented storm' that is bearing down on us--in the New York tri-state, but enough Weather Channel. You guys had me so ramped up last night I signed a will, built my coffin and set up a pyre in the backyard. Enough! We understand the severity of this storm but harping and harping and harping when we aren't sure where it is going to make landfall gives the appearance that your editorial policy of the station (and Network NBC) will be disappointed if Sandy misses the most populated area. Please just report facts as our local weather coverage is doing; most noticeably Channel 12 Connecticut whose coverage is calm, informative, intelligent and stellar. So cut it out Weather Channel please. So, we may be down for a while depending on how our infrastructure and utilities fare. I'll see everybody post-storm. Stay dry and stay safe.

HARD BITE: THE NOVEL Thank you Blasted Heath

It is great to be quoted and great to be there as the announcement for this wonderful and gritty book is published. We were quoted in the announcement! I am honored. By the way, buy "Hard Bite The Novel". I cannot recommend it enough.

josephjpatchen.weebly.com has been updated

Stop by there. We have just updated it for month of October. You'll find new stories, book reviews and an article or two.