Deluded

One Man's Delusion, Another Man's Gold

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A change of thought, not mind

My wife and I talked about my writing last night. In my last post I suggested I was considering stopping altogether. It’s something that’s been on my mind for the last six months. She didn’t so much talk me off the cliff as put it into perspective about where I was ten years ago when we moved from Las Vegas to where we’re at now in Utah. And more importantly where I’m at and where my writing…

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Break

I’m not sure how long I’ll be doing this but I’m taking a break from posting anywhere. I’ve deactivated all of socials, deleted my substack, and the only reason I haven’t deleted this is because I’ve had it for a very long time. I need to take time for me and all this and all of my writing isn’t going anywhere and I may not publish anything else. I’m burned out and tired of trying to get my…

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Changing Things

This is a cross post from my Substack, where I’ll be posting more often. I’ve been away from this place for a couple of months. I’ve been sorting things out in my head. It’s about deciding what way I’d like to take my writing. It’s been a long time coming to get to this point. I love writing. I love writing what I enjoy reading. Let’s skip the BS and get to the nitty gritty. Hello, I’m Brian.…

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Gears are changing

As with everything, writing changes. I’ve kept a close eye on the sales of my books through this year. I’ve sold 21 copies of my books this year. Most of them are in Ebooks, but it’s not the number but which books are selling better than others. My thriller, Disunion By Force, sold more copies than my horror novel and while it’s close, the various places its sold around the world is the most…

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Review for Staircase In The Woods by Chuck Wendig

As I’ve said in my other reviews, I try to find a common thread in them. I want to connect to the stories personally. Sometimes, I can do that easily; sometimes, I can’t. Chuck Wending is a favorite author. Wanderer’s is a book that my wife and I devoured in a week for me and a few weeks for her. It got us through lockdown in 2020 and everything that year threw at us. It’s a big book about a…

Review for Staircase In The Woods by Chuck Wendig

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Review for Kill Your Darling by Clay McLeod Chapman

Every parent thinks about what they’d do if they lost their kid. When they’re babies, we worry about whether they’re breathing in their cribs. When they’re toddlers, they get quiet in their rooms. We run to their room, and they’re usually asleep in a pile of toys or stuffed animals. We lose sight of them when they get older, and we walk around the store. All the thoughts run through our heads.…

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I cried a lot...

When I woke up I read the news. Somehow I knew it was going to be bad. I’m not sure how I knew, but it was there. I tossed and turned the night before. Sleep came in fits and I wondered how it could happen. When my youngest asked, I told them what happened. They were afraid. Afraid for themselves, their friends, and I suppose their brother as well. The world changed, or at least this country…

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Good morning, Good Evening or Goodnight?

I’m writing this as I put a self-imposed ban on social media. I have deactivated my IG, Threads, and TikTok to get my head right. I have contemplated quitting writing over the last month, but I sold a book recently, and my thriller, Disunion By Force, is selling well. I needed time to get my head right. It’s been in a bad place, and while I like sharing my journey with my mental health, it…

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Review for The Witches Of El Paso by Luis Jaramillo

With every review, I try to connect myself to the words on the page. This time, I did that, but it’s a bit different from my other reviews. My maternal grandfather grew up in New Mexico. He spoke Spanish, he had an eighth-grade education, and like most of his generation, he worked his ass off. He worked for Union Pacific for years when my mother was young and took trips with him to San…

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Review for "The Darkest Night, 22 Winter Horror Stories, edited by Lindy Ryan."

Holiday Horror is one of my favorite subgenres. Whether it’s Christmas, Easter, Halloween, or Valentine’s Day. I will search it out. I found this one on NetGalley and requested it from the publisher. My wife tries to find me a collection around the holidays. This will be the one I get. I’ve read it, but there are great stories in this Anthology. Let’s get started: The Mouthless Body In The…

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Review for House of Bone And Rain by Gabino Iglesias

Gabino is one of my favorite authors. I’ve taken a few of the writing classes he’s offered. I’ve read Coyote Songs, Zero Saints, and The Devil Takes You Home. He’s not just a fantastic writer but a nice dude. He cares about the writing community, and his legendary tweets and TikTok posts about writing and some of the shady operators within the community reflect this. I knew very little about…

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Review for I Was A Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones

My first Slasher was Halloween. I was 10. My mom rented a couple of movies from UHaul—yes, you could do that at one point—and I watched them repeatedly. My older sisters were teenagers, and I was left to my own devices. My younger sister was too small to watch it, and I knew that after the first time through. I remember the opening scene vividly. Michael stalked around the house. His mask went…

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Review for Josh Malerman's Incidents Around The House

Josh’s novella collection, Spin A Black Yarn, was one of my favorite books of last year. I read it in two days. I talk about it enough that my wife has told me to stop. When I got the Netgalley approval, I didn’t know what I was getting into. It took me to some places—not the places I wanted to go—and scared me. I would have read it in a day, but I needed breaks from the seriously freaky things…

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Review for The Day Of The Door by Laurel Hightower

I have a few reviews incoming. I thought I’d posted them here, but it was only on my substack, which doesn’t get any traction. I’ll post them here. I’m sorry for flooding your inbox. Before this review, I knew this book was about childhood trauma. I did not know the depths it would take me to. I continue to deal with childhood trauma from abuse, physical, mental, and other. I feel a bit of a…

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Review for Horror Movie By Paul Tremblay

I write my reviews a bit differently than other writers. I try to find a comp book. I beat myself up while reading this one over it. Then, toward the end of the book, it hit me. I read Grin Of The Dark By Ramsay Campbell a few years ago. I came to my horror journey late, and it was the first book of his I had read. It’s a weird book about a man searching for a film he remembered. It is a story…

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Review for Tom Clancy Act Of Defiance by Andrews and Wilson

I read Red October years after it came out. It’s the only one of Tom Clancy’s books I didn’t read in the 80s. I read Red Storm Rising in paperback and Patriot Games in Hardcover. I did the same with Clear & Present Danger and Cardinal Of The Kremlin, my favorite of Tom’s novels. I always read ahead of my grade. I read Red Storm in 6th grade. I saw The Hunt For Red October in the theaters the…

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Review for The Atrocity Engine By Tim Waggoner

I have read a couple of Tim’s books. I loved them. He takes an idea and turns it into a fever dream. I don’t know where the idea for the Atrocity Engine came from, but it’s wonderful. We start with the main character, Neal. He works for an organization trying to keep the universe from being consumed. The story has a lot of detail about what is consuming the universe and its eventual end. I’ll…

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