Category: Nerd in a Bar with a Book

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It shouldn’t be so fun to read about a vengeful spouse stalking her family from beyond the grave. But it is. A ghost seeks revenge, zombie curse, whodunit all rolled into one novella. I’ve called JG Faherty the Master of the Mashup before this, and it’s an appropriate title. Don’t ever think one of his books will be simple and straightforward—there’s always a surprise. Death Do Us Part is a fun read. For true terror, turn to his latest three novels.

That’s a flight of semi-dry wines from Von Jakob Winery & Brewery, and that beautiful vista is from their large back deck.

The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan is the first book of a trilogy—which I didn’t know when I nabbed this one from the local Barnes & Noble. Glad to see it, though, because of course I want to know what happens next! I’ve seen this one compared to Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire and I get that. The Last Werewolf  takes a philosophical approach, as we understand that we are reading Jake Marlowe’s journal and following along as he faces the extinction of his species at the hands of The Hunt—and what that means for him personally. Wait till you meet Talulla and Cloquet! These two breathe a new vitality into the story, as they are meant to. Nothing in this book is a mistake, read it closely. Don’t worry, you’ll love it.

When I could tear my eyes away from that beautiful Pope County scenery at Shotgun Eddys, and when I wasn’t listening to my beloved, favorite singer-songwriter Tim Crosby, I was knocking back a couple of Stags and reading about Marlowe’s wild world. A good combination.

#nerdinabarwithabook Share yours!

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The Bell Witch by John F. D. Taff is far more than a telling of the folk legend of Tennessee’s Bell Witch. It’s also a contemplation on the psychology of being haunted, and a philosophical musing on the essence of haunting and being haunted. It’s the kind of book you can have a conversation with, a story to think about while you are watching a camp fire jump and blaze, or when you hear something thud on the roof of your house at night. Taff keeps true to what happened in the Bell Witch legend, and stretches enough to ask “Why did it happen?” Intriguing read.

I don’t usually try to match what I’m drinking with what I’m reading. Check out Jo Kaplan’s excellent newsletter for that kind of alchemy. However, in this case, I couldn’t resist an old-fashioned made with locally foraged shagbark syrup. At Ebb & Flow Fermentations, the charms of which I have previously sung here. If you are in Cape Girardeau, make sure you stop at Ebb & Flow.

The Witch Hunter by Finnish author Max Seeck, (translated by Kristian London) was a whole different critter. A police procedural noir crime novel, this grim and occult-dusted story introduces Jessica Niemi, a cop without the usual foibles (alcoholism, history of insubordination, you know the routine) but with plenty of her own secrets. I carried this book with me everywhere because whenever I had 30 seconds, I was reading it. That kind of stop/start reading doesn’t always work so well with a book in this genre—the plots are usually far too complex. And this one is complex! But it’s so gracefully written that falling back into it is easily done. No spoilers here, just read it. And if you are a beautiful brunette, treat yourself to a chic black evening gown. Wink.

I’m at Blue Sky Vineyard for this one, and that’s a glass of their estate-grown rosé, one of my favorite local wines. It’s always a hard choice at Blue Sky because I like so many of their dry and semi-dry wines, but rosé is always a good choice.

What are you reading in a bar (winery / microbrew) these days?

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The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes is a re-read for me. As is often the case with a really well written book, it’s even better the second time. The ending hit me harder, the inherent heartbreak in it.

It’s a time-travel serial killer story—so, a sci-fi psychological thriller. I don’t always love time travel, but Beukes makes it work seamlessly, and, in the world of the novel, believably. Plot basics, spoiler alert — in Depression-era Chicago, con man loser Harper Curtis discovers, literally, a key to time travel. He is compelled to seek out and kill “shining girls.” The anachronistic clues he leaves with each body are enough to put one of his planned victims, journalism student Kirby Mazrachi, hot on his trail.

I’m a bit behind in posting these—this is from May 5. I was at The Brick Bistro & Brew in Festus, Missouri, where Tim had one of the first outdoor gigs of the year. Considering the date, I had a margarita.

At Twelve Oaks Vineyard, I had a flight because I couldn’t decide. Since I was reading Lethal White by Robert Galbraith / J.K. Rowling, I snapped a shot with a bottle of their Cayuga White. I love Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott, and Galbraith tells a good story. I’m usually in suspense all the way to the end. I’m becoming impatient with the love interest side of things—either get them together or have them address why it won’t work (if it wouldn’t work). Still, I’m invested in the characters so I’ll ride out the series.

Share your own #nerdinabarwithabook if you like!

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I like a marina bar. Water. Piers and docks. But also, there’s often a sense of community. A vacation vibe even in winter.

Pyramid Acres Marina Bar features a Bloody Mary bar. Did I take advantage of it? No, readers, I did not. I got an attack of shyness and didn’t want to inquire how one approached the bar. I mean, you get the vodka part of it at the bar, or…? So I had vodka and soda instead. I think there’s a name for that drink, but I didn’t order it by any cool name, just by ingredients.

The book is Revenant, by the late Melanie Tem. Revenant is a ghost town. It’s a last chance place for the dead and those who mourn them to make peace with death. It’s a very dark book, and I read a lot of dark books. It’s also hopeful, in the way the sun behind storm clouds is hopeful—the kind of gold rim that makes the dark more ominous but also reveals that the sun is still there.

I brought John Dies at the End by David Wong, the identity assumed by Jason Pargin for that book and the serial story that preceded it, to Nessie’s the marina bar at Lithia Springs on Lake Shelbyville. Turns out Jason Pargin is an alum of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where I have my day job. My signed copy is from Confluence Books, our indie used (and some new) book store.

That book is a wild ride. Sci-fi /cosmic horror, humor black as night, and truly likeable characters. The drink is a Midori-based spring-themed house cocktail. It was as yummy as it looks.

A cool thing about Nessie’s—a lake monster hangs out there. Not really, I wish though. It’s a marina sign. Still fun though.

Keep reading!

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I’m still in the afterglow of AuthorCon / Scares That Care! March 31-April 2 in Williamsburg, Virginia—my first horror writing conference. I met so many cool people, attended some readings that made me grateful for this new golden age of horror, learned a ton at various panels, lost my glasses, had my glasses returned to me, and bought a ton of books! By many people’s standards, my haul was modest, but for me, more than a dozen books at anything other than a library sale is a lot of books!

I can’t drive through mountains without stopping. So I built in time for some hiking. Not enough time! But better than no time. I drove the Newfound Gap through the Smokies, and part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Also, I visited my very good friend Pam Schmalenberger in Raleigh! We stayed up until 5 a.m. and could easily have kept going with the catching up another all-day and all-night.  Pam is a reader, too. She and I and fellow Hogwarts supporter Ashley Wiehle-Framm waited in line, wands in hand, for the release of the last of the Harry Potter books, then slunk off home to begin a reading marathon. Pam finished first, as I recall.

But the trip also gave me a chance for some fun Nerd in a Bar with a Book places to read! #nerdinabarwithabook

The Siren and the Specter by Jonathan Janz is a high-octane story that features several kinds of hauntings—a house, a river, a man’s past. I picked it for the trip because it’s set right down there in Virginia in AuthorCon territory.

I read it at Gatlinburg Brewing Company (where I should have bought one of their cool shirts or something!) and paired it with a guest tap from the Gypsy Circus Cider Company, the Lotus Dream Orange Blossom Cider.

I picked up Crescendo by L. Marie Wood at AuthorCon. So cool to get to meet Lisa! Seriously, everyone was gracious at AuthorCon, kind, and encouraging—it was a pleasure! This is another haunted house, haunted man, haunted family story, but very different from the Janz book. This one takes a deep dive into the role of a person’s mental state in a haunting, and how brushes with malevolence can take a toll on a person’s sanity.

This one was at Blowing Rock Brewing Company, and let me just say I’ll be back to Blowing Rock some day. I ordered a flight. We have here: Kölsch, Chai Kölsch, Long Moon wheat beer, Honey Amber—all of them Blowing Rock beers. I bought some Kölsch to go.

Happy reading, y’all!

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I designated March as vampire month. No particular reason. Nothing about March that suggests vampires. Random.

Reluctant Immortals by Gwedolyn Kiste should, first of all, win awards for such a cool cover. But once you are done admiring the cover, read this! Gothic / literary heroines (Lucy Westenra and Bee Mason) and villains (Dracula and Mr. Rochester), prepare for a final showdown in the 1967 Haight-Ashbury flower-child-strewn Summer of Love. You will love these characters. This feminist take on underappreciated female characters is smart, tough, tense, and sophisticated.

I was at Vixen Hill Winery in Palmyra, Illinois, enjoying a rich red wine (of course), Soloman Hill Red.

Octavia E. Butler’s Fledgling is a re-read for me. My first read was in 2014. It’s a strange, beautiful book. The vampiric protagonist looks much younger than she is, which makes for some unsettling images. Though the story is told from the young vampire’s point of view, I think this story has some of the best, most troubling and thought-provoking presentations of vampire victims I’ve ever read. As always with Butler, she challenges the reader to consider broader issues, including racism, genetics and consent.

I was at Huckleberry’s Pub with a good ol’ Samuel Adams Winter Lager.

The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women, edited by Stephen Jones, is a grand collection. I’m half way through, and no two stories have had anything more in common than a vampire in the story. Stories by authors I am familiar with and many I am not – but will be.

I was on the covered patio at Feather Hills Winery, on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail, not far from our home. My beloved, Tim Crosby, is playing his original Americana / black dirt music. And I was drinking a red blend, Amalgam.  

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I’m one of those people who sometimes causes computers to malfunction just by walking into the room. It happens with other machines, too. Motorcycles, snowmobiles, wave runners. So I’m on the fence a little bit about technology being the nemesis of the manitou in The Manitou by Graham Masterton, a classic in the horror genre. (Also, I did not realize the book was the first in a series until I pulled it up on Amazon to share the link.) At the same time, it makes good sense, and is right in line with what I’ve learned from old fairytales and folklore—some of our friends from the other side of the veil do even less well with technology than I do.

That drink is a fancy cocktail enjoyed at Walker’s Bluff – Tasting Room. I can’t remember what was in it, but it the garnish was an edible flower. I ate a petal. Because of course I did. It was called a flower child. Pretty.

Used book stores are the bomb. I love to buy new books hot off the presses, help out a writer in the process. But finding gems at used book stores is such a dang thrill, isn’t it? I knew I was going to Owl Creek Winery. So it’s only natural to read a book by Owl Goingback! Darker Than Night was published in 1999, but it has all the very best features of a 1970s horror movie. I’m reading it and all but shouting “Tell him!” “Believe her!” “Why are you doing that?” Also, if you move into a house overloaded with kachina dolls… don’t.

The drink is a blueberry basil cider. Owl Creek makes some of my favorite summer wines, but when I go there, I always wind up seduced by the cider.

I always say I don’t want to start in a book in a series. It’s intimidating, picking up that first book and knowing there are six more to go. I mean, I got things to read, how can I commit to your series? And then I wind up captivated and reading the series. Countless times. This time, it’s the Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott mysteries by Robert Galbraith, aka JK Rowling. I read Career of Evil at Pheasant Hollow Winery with a Catawba wine. Catawba is a bit sweeter a wine than I typically drink, but it’s not an icky sweet—it’s got a nice earthiness to it, too. There are maybe three wineries I’ve been to that I really love the Catawba, and Pheasant Hollow is one!

Also, friends, please don’t worry. I have a backlog of these, I’m ok, really! 😉

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What I’m reading and where I’m reading it. And what I’m drinking for part of the time I’m reading it.

So, this first one is a book about a woman driving alone in the mountains on her way to a horror convention, and encountering the Mothman or something like it and assorted other baddies along the way. For reasons I’ll explain in mid-April, that one skeered me. Below by Laurel Hightower is genuinely scary but it’s also empowering.

I enjoyed that book at Ebb & Flow Fermentations in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Ebb & Flow has got just the best vibe. Inside it’s eclectic funky, and outside it’s herb garden magic. It’s February, so we’re inside. They have a series of beers named after goddesses and made by their women brewers. This one is Arduinna, which they describe as a dark saison ale with chocolate malt and roasted hickory bark. It was a perfect match.

Into the Forest and All the Way Through by Cynthia Pelayo is a collection of poems based on real life / true crime stories of murdered and missing American women and girls. It is heartbreaking. It’s one thing to read or write fiction that has murders — even if you are drawing from your own experience, you know the story itself is fiction. It’s another to write true crime — most of that is written in a clinical, research-forward way. Cina Pelayo goes into the heart and all the way through to your soul. I’ve not read anything quite like it.

So after all that seriousness, it seems almost stupid to talk about reading it in a bar during Valentine’s week. Johnson Bar in Paducah, Kentucky was all done up for the holiday, in reds and blacks and pinks and hearts and arrows and naughtiness and snarkiness and a nod to the heartbroken. The red lighting made the pictures kinda cool. That’s a Paloma I’m drinking — they do complex cocktails very well, but that night I was more traditional.

I am honored to call Meg Pokrass my friend. She has been my flash fiction mentor, a source of encouragement and inspiration, and a supporter when I needed a hug followed by a kick in the ass (all virtual). She lives now in Inverness, Scotland, the gateway to Loch Ness, and if Nessie is going to show herself to anyone, it’ll be Meg. They are two of a kind — mysterious, shy, beautiful and playful. Kissing the Monster Hunter is a series of flash fiction stories about a monster hunter. And love.

I was at Hill Prairie Winery upstate in Oakford, Illinois. They have historic pictures of horses on the wall — Morgans, a Percheron stallion, mules, work horses, all of them previously associated with the place in days of yore — so you know I loved it. The wine in this picture is Fireside Cran-Apple Spice, which tastes like a mulled wine.

Cheers!