Had a fantastic time at the McMaster event last night. It did take Carolyn and me 2 and a half hours to get there, though, as we came from the east and had to traverse Toronto traffic, which is notoriously bad, during peak rush hour. Hamilton is a it of a hike for us. but it was well worth it.

I got to see many friends again, including Mark Leslie, Edo van Belkom, G & Marcy Italiano, Richard Gavin, Simon Strantzas, Gord Rollo, Adriana, Derek Sullivan and Seph Giron. Seph saved the day as she stopped at the airport on the way and picked up the Humdrumming anthologies that had been FedExed from Britain.

Special shout out to Greg (Johnny Gruesome) Lamberson, who did NOT get lost in Guelph, for once, but arrived after his scheduled reading. Greg's reading was terrific! All the readings were good, and there was a diverse selection of horror on hand. I think a few books were sold.

We went out for drinks and food later, the highlight being me shouting repeatedly at Strantzas, calling him a "skinny f**ker."


Here's the formidable Canadian power trio: Simon Strantzas, Michael Kelly, and Richard Gavin.

Photo by Carolyn Macdonell-Kelly

Well, now I know why I've been having headaches and a slight ringing in my right ear. It's infected. Now I have to pour drops into the ear for the next week or so. Fun. And it's beautiful outside. Plus, I wanted to work on a short story. Maybe I'll persevere and push through. I'll leave you with this crappy Haiku that came into my head, unbidden. I don't know what it means, either.

In the Goblin wood
he dreams of eating their bones
Children run and scream

I'll be taking part in a horror-themed event this Friday October 10th at 7:30 pm at McMaster University in Hamilton. Hope all you Toronto-area folks can attend. It promises to be a great event, with a great line up. There will be readings, signings, and custom ghost walks around McMaster's campus. And McMaster has one of the oldest and most gothic campuses in Canada. It's really a gorgeous place. Here's the list of authors attending:

Kelley Armstrong
John Robert Colombo
Simon Strantzas
Gord Rollo
Richard Gavin
Marcy Italiano
Michael Kelly
Sephera Giron
Gregory Lamberson
Edo van Belkom

The event takes place at the University bookstore, Titles. And there are some cool door prizes like signed collectible books, etc. Haunted Hamilton is conducting the ghost walks. It'll be spooky fun.

Many thank to Mark Leslie for putting this together.

http://markleslie.blogspot.com/

Just a reminder, I'll be in New York with my better half for our silver anniversary at the end of October. So, to all you New Yorkers and ex-pats: What is a must do? We plan on a Broadway show, and we've got tickets already to Colbert and The Daily Show. We'll be staying near Penn Station. Any food recommendations? Must see events?

Today I start another long stretch at work. Sigh. Looking forward to getting away at the end of the month.

I'm also looking forward to the imminent release of Ouroboros, the novel I co-wrote. You can check it out here, if you haven't already:

http://www.humdrumming.co.uk/books/978-1-905532-49-0.html

Denver, CO—October 1, 2008—QWAND LLC’s publishing unit WRONG WORLD announced today the release of 20-HALLOWEEN-08 —I’m Going to Tell You One More Time.

The collection contains 24 stories by these 24 excellent authors:

• Sara Joan Berniker • Mort Castle • Ralan Conley • O’Neil De Noux • JG Faherty • Bruce Golden • John Grover • Jane Gwaltney • Brian A. Hopkins • Michael Kelly • Michael Keyton • John Kuhn • Barton Paul Levenson • Norma Jean Lipert • William Meikle • Scott Nicholson • Maria E. Schneider • Kristi Petersen Schoonover • Jacqueline Seewald • Martin R. Soderstrom • J.J. Steinfeld • Bev Vincent • Kaaron Warren • Donald P. Willard •

You can watch Dr. Lyle Merrick’s Halloween greeting and introduction to the collection here.

The collection may be purchased for just $.99 in EZ-Read PDF or $2.99 on DVD-Video for TV viewing.

A treat awaits readers at the end of most stories, where they will listen to the storyteller recall some very special Halloween memories.

http://www.wrongworld.com/shop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=17879&category_id=268

Mmmm. I made a big batch of Chili yesterday. I tried a different chili powder and it didn't quite have enough bite to it. But I kicked in some hot sauce and it was fine. Here's my sure fire recipe:

1 to 1 and a half pounds ground turkey.
2 large cans stewed tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
1 large can white kidney beans
1 large can red kidney beans
1 large sweet yellow pepper
1 large sweet or cooking onion
2 large tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon honey or brown sugar
2 bottles premium beer (optional)

Just chop and brown everything (except the beer -- that's to consume during prep time) and throw it all into a slow cooker for 6 hours. Top with shredded or grated cheese, and serve with a nice crusty baguette or french bread.

I don't have The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror in hand, yet, but I'm very pleased to hear I garnered 4 mentions this year.

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (with Scott Thomas), Scratching the Surface
"Winter Birds," City Slab Magazine
"Wolves and Angels," Scratching the Surface
"Worse Things," Scratching the Surface

Holy crap! McCain did not look at Obama once. Every time Obama directly addressed McCain, all McCain did was stare straight ahead like a churlish child. To me, that shows a distinct lack of respect. Obama has looked directly at Mccain the whole debate. How can you trust a man that won't look you in the eye? Any small smidgen of respect I had for McCain has just left.

Barbecued a nice big piece of Salmon yesterday. I rubbed it with a lime chili spice and finished it with a mango salsa. Tasty. have to get in as much barbecuing as I can while the weather holds.

Hey, I wrote 300 words yesterday. Miracles. And I'm about to start a screenplay. Yeah, I don't know why, either.

Caught The Mentalist last night. It was either that or Fringe, so the choice wasn't too difficult. I quite liked it. This show, like most, relies on its lead and I liked him. I found the show at turns dark and then funny. Hey, there's nothing really new here, but the writing was sharp. Let's hope this isn't a one-trick pony.

You know all those plot threads are getting confusing, and worse, annoying. Still, it kicks Lost all over the parking lot.

If you head on over to my publisher's site -- http://www.humdrumming.co.uk/ -- you'll see that Ouroboros is nicely placed in the upper right corner for all to see. So, very soon now. Yes, it's the little things that make me happy.

http://www.humdrumming.co.uk/

I bought a small basket of peaches the other day, because they are cheap and in season. There were 13 peaches in the basket, for $3.00! Of course, the kids don't eat much fruit so Carolyn and I would be eating them all. I pondered what to do with the peaches, and thought I'd barbecue some and serve them with vanilla ice cream. I took half the peaches, halved them, and removed the pit. I made a little glaze or sauce out of brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, orange juice and water. I boiled it down and slathered it over the peaches. Then I let the whole thing cool in the refrigerator for a few hours. After dinner last night I took the concoction down to the barbecue and grilled each peach half for about 5 minutes. I put 2 peach halves in each of our bowls and scooped some ice cream onto them. The vanilla ice cream melted over the warm peaches and tasted delicious.

I'll be taking part in a horror-themed event on Friday October 10th at 7:30 pm at McMaster University in Hamilton. Hope all you Toronto-area folks can attend. It promises to be a great event, with a great line up. There will be readings, signings, and custom ghost walks around McMaster's campus. And McMaster has one of the oldest and most gothic campuses in Canada. It's really a gorgeous place. Here's the list of authors attending:

Kelley Armstrong
John Robert Colombo
Simon Strantzas
Gord Rollo
Richard Gavin
Michael Kelly
Sephera Giron
Gregory Lamberson
Edo van Belkom

The event takes place at the University bookstore, Titles. And there are some cool door prizes like signed collectible books, etc. Haunted Hamilton is conducting the ghost walks. It'll be spooky fun.

Some quick comments on films I've recently seen on DVD.

Captivity -- Probably the most boring "controversial" film I've ever seen. Flat and insipid.

Harold & Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay -- Fell asleep during this puerile piece of cinema.

Audition -- Awesome! Last fifteen minutes are killer.

Hostel -- Juvenile crap. Grue for grue's sake. Eli Roth telegraph's every scene so much that there's no suspense whatsoever.

Doesn't anyone make atmospheric, moody and suspenseful horror films anymore?

The film festival has ended for another year. Yesterday we caught our last film, "Only," about two 12-year-olds spending their only day together in a Northern Ontario town. The film perfectly captured that pre-teen ennui.

This year's highlight had to be seeing Jimmy Page, Edge, and Jack White. It was cool seeing Michael Caine, too. My favourite film was C'est pas moi, je le jure! It was tremendous.

As usual, the festival was a lot of fun. It's back to work today.

A couple of things to look forward to:

We're off to New York in about 6 weeks. And the novel will be out shortly after that. Here's where you can get the book:

http://www.humdrumming.co.uk/books/978-1-905532-49-0.html

Yesterday Carolyn and I brought our son, Daniel, to the festival. We screened 2 films: "The Burrowers," and "Goodbye Solo."

"The Burrowers" is directed by JT Petty (Soft for Digging, S&Man), and is set in the late 1800's in the Dakota Territories. It's a western/horror hybrid and a good old-fashioned creature feature. From the title, you can probably guess the premise. It's smartly shot. Petty does a good job of ratcheting up the tension by use of sound (or no sound), and he effectively muted the colors to give an authentic, gritty western feel. And all the actors were exemplary. It was quite a good film. My son proclaimed it "one of the best horror films he's ever seen." Afterward, there was a short Q&A with the Petty. Lionsgate Films has distribution rights, so the film will get released, eventually. Seek it out.

The next film, "Goodbye Solo," is a profoundly moving character study. Solo is a Senegalese cab driver in Winston-Salem who picks up William, a taciturn, crusty older gentleman one night. Solo (played with elan by Souléymane Sy Savané) is talkative, endearing, and you can't help but like him. William is quiet, holding secrets. William books Solo for a long trip to a faraway mountain, and Solo begins to think that William has a tragic plan. To me, the film is all about family, and is telling us that the North American ideal is fractured. The message here is definitely that it takes a village. You`re not alone. The director, Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart), shows a deft, nuanced hand. And the ending plays out, to me anyway, in the only way it could. The film hasn`t struck any distribution deals, but if it does this is a must see.

Okay, looks like we won't be going downtown today or tomorrow. Back at it on Thursday, when we'll screen JT Petty's "The Burrowers." The world premier is tonight at midnight, but I can't make it. Hopefully JT Petty and cast will be at our screening Thursday. Not sure at this point what else we'll see Thursday. There's a Japanese film, "Tokyo Sonata," that looks good. Also an American film, "Goodbye Solo." We'll see.

Meant to mention that at last night's film there was a lady from California who comes up every year for the festival. She screens 5 films a day. She was going to watch 46 films. Yikes. That's a film fan. Every year we bump into people from all over, and it's nice to hear them talk about their shared love of film. And mostly it is about the films, and not the stars.

Also wanted to note the screen writer of "The Narrows," Tatiana Blackwood, as she did a great job, and also because I think she was slightly taken aback when I asked her for her autograph. See, I geek out more about the writers and directors, rather than the stars. Yes, they play their part, of course, but it all starts with the script.

The film festival is half over. It ends this Saturday. We caught a film yesterday, but I'm not certain how many more we'll get down to the rest of the week.

Yesterday's film was "The Narrows." It's a small independent American film, that does not yet have (and might never have) distribution in North America. It stars Vincent D'Onofrio, Kevin Zegers, and Sophia Bush, and is ably directed by Francois Velle. Set in present day Brooklyn, it's a story we've all encountered before. Zegers needs money to go to university so he can pursue his photography passion. His proud father, D'Onfrio, will not let him take out a loan. So Zegers takes a "job" delivering packages for a small-time mobster. That's never a good idea, is it? At university he meets and falls in love with Bush. Only problem is Zegers already has a girlfriend. Again, that's never a good idea, is it? Neverless, the screenplay never gets maudlin. It keeps an even keel and a steady pace. At any rate, the real star of the film is Brooklyn itself. The use of a HD cam, an interesting color palette and modern music by The Black Keys gives the film a certain unwavering realism. While I did enjoy the film, I wish the principals in the cast were fleshed out a bit more. There was a short Q&A afterward.

After the screening I noticed the screenwriter and the director outside the theatre, so I approached them and got them to autograph our ticket stubs. I chatted with the director, Francois Velle, for a few minutes just in general about his choices in the film. He seemed more than happy to talk about the film, and seems like a nice gentleman. In general, that's what I like about the festival. It's still accessible. The Q&A's are interesting,and everyone is usually available for questions and autographs.

Here's another grainy shot, as we were a bit back.

Kevin Zegers and Sophia Bush:

Yesterday was another great day at the festival. We've been really lucky so far with our film choices. The first film we saw was "Is There Anybody There?," starring Michael Caine and Bill Milner (Son of Rambow). Caine stars as an aging, senile magician who pines for his dead wife and is staring down is own mortality. Bill Milner is the young boy who lives with his parents, who run a seniors' home where Caine ends up. Milner is fascinated with the dead and ghosts and the paranormal. Caine takes Milner under his wing, as a surrogate son, I'd say. Again, this one had me in tears at the end. Set in the early eighties, it's a sweet, sentimental and realistic look at aging and senility and the power of family. Caine and Milner are terrific! Recommended.

Caine and the director, John Crowley (Boy A), were in attendance and did a Q&A afterwards. Grainy photo to follow. It was quite fascinating to listen to Caine talk about his process. There's a real presence to the man. He considers himself a method actor.

The next film we caught was "Slumdog Millionaire," directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later). The film is set in present day, in the slums of Mumbai and concerns a young man, Jamal, (played by Dev Patel), and his rags to riches story. Jamal ends up on the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. No one can believe he knows the answers to all the questions, as he'd grown up in a slum. He's arrested, questioned, tortured. During the interrogation his back story is revealed, and we see why he knows the answers to the questions. This is a love story, at heart, and has a little bit of everything; gangsters, murder, Bollywood dancing, comedy, adventure. It's not a great film, by any stretch, but is endearing and charming.

Afterward, Boyle and the main leads Dev Patel and Freida Pinto came onstage for a Q&A. Grainy photo to follow. Boyle had told us beforehand to temper our expectations, and seemed thoroughly pleased with the audience response.

As Carolyn and I left, we saw Boyle and the stars leaving the theatre through a side door. Carolyn got an autograph from young Dev Patel (who stars in a television show called "Skins"), and Danny Boyle signed my ticket stub. I snapped a picture of him, but it is a side profile. Boyle was quite congenial and stayed awhile signing autographs and posing for pictures. He chatted informally about Trainspotting, Cillian Murphy, and anything anyone asked him about.

Director John Crowley and Michael Caine.


Director Danny Boyle, and to his right Freida Pinto and Dev Patel.