Jonathan Wilson Brings My "Ash Tree" Reading To Life

Well, a half-life anyway.

One of my favorite writers to run stories by on the Podcast That Dares is MR James, and my favorite of those stories (so far) has been "The Ash Tree."  It's a really creepy tale about skulking creatures in the night, and the ending does not disappoint.  And what Jonathan has done is extremely simple, yet it totally works--he's got an image of a foggy manor house at night that is subtly animated, and that's the only visual.* 

It's something I wish I were capable, not only due to its effect, but its simplicity.  Anyway, give it another listen RIGHT HERE.  Thanks, Jonathan!

*Other than burned-in subtitles, unfortunately.

The Case of the Wandering Laptop

INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - DAY

A homeless dude was talking to me at my desk about an hour ago, which is totally fine except for the way his voice carried every time he used the f-word (funny how variable sound can be), when a patron--young, probably a student--approached me and said that someone had taken his laptop.

Well, that was the homeless dude's cue to leave*, as I stood up to help the guy out--or see if I could.  The young man (let's call him "the student" from this point on) explained that he'd been sitting in the northwest corner desk, typing on his laptop, then he got up and got lunch, and when he came back, his laptop was gone.

My immediate question was, "Why would you leave your laptop alone when you went to eat?" but people always do that--every single day, I see someone's phone left alone to charge, or their iPad left unattended, or worst of all (and it is rare), their keys or wallet just left on the desk while they walk away.**  However, I didn't have to.

The student explained that he had gotten up, put his laptop in his backpack, went to lunch, and when he came back, the laptop was gone from his backpack.  I checked the recording, and he had sat right under a security camera, so I told him I would look at the footage.  Sure enough, he got up, put the laptop in the bag, then left his books there while he walked offscreen.  He came back about half an hour later, his backpack still on his shoulder.  On the video, he sat down again, opened his bag, and then started looking around.  So if someone had stolen the laptop, it was when the student had been outside the view of the cameras.  

I asked him if he had put down his bag while he ordered or ate, and if someone might have taken it then.  He didn't know, all he knew was when he came back to the desk, his computer was gone.

Well, there wasn't much I could do.  I told him the story of the lady who had put her laptop on top of her truck and driven away with it on there, but this was nothing like that.  He said he had checked his car thoroughly and the laptop was not there.  It was a mystery.  He said, "You saw me put it in here, right?" and he patted his backpack.  Then, a look came over his face, and he unzipped the bag . . . revealing that the laptop was right there in the bag, and had been the whole time.

He apologized, he went red, and he tried to explain, but ultimately, he walked off to continue his homework where he'd been sitting before.  Embarrassing, isn't it?

Buy hey, I believe him.  I really do.  That sort of thing happens to me all the time.

So, all's well that ends well, no?

*I guess I would be suspicious about that had this story gone another way.  But it didn't.

**When I was first hired, I would grab people's wallets to take to the lost and found whenever I saw them just sitting there.  But one guy actually told me not to, that people around here just leave his stuff alone.  So my current rule is: I take any wallet or keys that seem abandoned to lost and found . . . except his.

My Story "Returning The Favor" Available - Warning: Idaho!

I recently put out a Lara & The Witch story called "On Your Side," which I believe I mentioned was a sort of two-parter*, even though I decided they're distinct enough to release separately.

In this tale, the time has come for Old Widow Holcomb to pay back another witch for a favor she did her.  She takes Lara on a road trip to find a mushroom . . . the magical (and impossible-to-find) Cordobese bone fungus.  Who knows what they do, but they taste great on pizza!

If you'd like to read it, check it out HERE.

*Enough that I nearly called this story "On Your Side: One Year Later" instead of its own thing.

I Narrate "The Oval Portrait" On Journey Into...

Hey there, sir, would you take a look at that portrait there?  What shape would you say it is?  Not a circle, exactly, but definitely not a square or rectangle.  Hmmm.

The other day, I sat down to record some audio (I finished another reading of a Lara & The Witch story), when I got a text from Marshal Latham, reminding me it was Poe Month on his podcast.*  He was thinking of running "The Gold Bug" again (Princess Leia forbid), and I told him I could record something.  While I waited for his reply, I did a search for Edgar Allan Poe stories, and found "The Oval Portrait," which I had never read.  It was short, so maybe I could record and edit it in time.

A minute later, I got the message from Marshal, "How about The Oval Portrait?"

Well, it was Karma, I suppose, so I quickly performed the story, got it edited, and sent to Marshal the same day.  Like I said, it's real short.

So, the newest episode of Journey Into... is up and available.  Feel free to check it out HERE, and feel free-er to go HERE and support Marshal's fine podcast on Patreon.  Tell 'em Large Marge sent ya.

*To all who celebrate.

How Much Horror Is Enough?

(I covered this in my New Year's episode, but since I went to the trouble of typing it up . . .)

Well, just turning on the news is too much horror, but as far as horror movies go, this is what I watched in 2025.  I had set a goal of seeing fifty horror movies in that year (and I'll set it again for this year), so here's how I did:

 13.  Watch 50 Horror movies (149 films total)

-1.  Nosferatu (2024)*

-2.  Village of the Damned (1960)*

-3.  Children of the Damned (1964)

-4. 13 Ghosts (1960)

-5.  Hell's Trap (1989)

-6.  Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984)

-7.  Food of the Gods (1976)

-8.  The Ghost Ship (1943)

-9.  The Leopard Man (1943)*

-10.  Talk To Me (2022)*

-11.  Heart Eyes (2025)*

-12.  The Monkey (2025)

-13.  The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959)

-14.  The Thing From Another World (1951)*

-15.  Squirm (1976)

-16.  Sinners* (2025)

-17.  The Conjuring  (2013)

-18. Until Dawn (2025)

-19.  Frogs (1972)

-20.  Final Destination Bloodlines* (2025)

-21.  IT! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)

-22.  The Monster That Challenged The World (1957)

-23.  Annabelle (2014)

-24.  28 Years Later (2025)*

-25.  Fantasy Island (2020)

-26.  M3GAN 2.0

-27.  Planet of the Vampires (1965)

-28.  Daughters of Darkness (1971)

-29.  House of Whipcord (1974)

-30.  I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

-31. Dead of Night (1945)

-32.  Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)

-33.  Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo (1977)

-34.  Weapons (2025)*

35.  Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)

36.  Jaws (1975)*

37.  The Conjuring 2 (2016)

38.  Transylvania Twist (1989)

39.  Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)

40.  The Dungeonmaster (1984)

41.  Kill, Baby, Kill (1966)

42.  Ants/It Happened At Lakewood Manor (1977)

43.  Annabelle Creation (2017)

44.  The Savage Bees (1976)

45.  Terror Out Of The Sky (1978)

46.  The Bees (1978)

47.  Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)

48.  Black Phone 2 (2025)*

49.  The Cabin In The Woods (2011)*

50.  Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1982)

51.  The Nun (2018)

52.  The Woman In The Yard (2025)

53. Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010)

54. The Birds (1963)*

55.  Five Nights At Freddy’s (2023)

56.  Willy’s Wonderland (2021)

57.  Jaws 2 (1978)

58.  The Curse of La Llorona (2019)

59.  Anaconda (2025)

60.  The Incubus (1982)  

(*Denotes particularly good, underline denotes seen before)

How did you do last year? If you watched more than twenty horror films, between you and me, you have a problem.

Cry In The Night, If It Helps

I rarely use this blog to toot my own horn . . . and this isn't that either.

Monday, I walked past a guy who was using the courtesy phone at our library, his back to me, his breath hitching in what was either a happy sound or a sad one, but loud either way. I looked over at the Circulation desk, where the clerk there was one of three library employees who have made it clear they're no fans of mine (there are probably more, but they haven't said). Still, I approached her and said, "Is that guy laughing or crying?" She glanced past me and said, "Been there a while. Sounds like he's crying."

Huh.  

Well, I don't always engage with strangers when they're in distress, but the librarians have told me they absolutely don't do it, so I waited until he hung up the phone and took him a box of tissues. He was a heavyset twenty-something, was indeed crying, and when I asked if he was okay, he unburdened himself on me, telling me he had just gotten word that his grandmother died and he had been planning on visiting her in the springtime, but now he never could. She had practically raised him and now he'd never see her again. He made use of those tissues, and I considered telling him I understood, and that just that day, we'd picked out a headstone for my uncle, but he didn't really want to hear from me . . . he just wanted somebody to listen.

So I did. We're not supposed to touch patrons (you can understand why), but I did pat this guy on the arm, and eventually, he went off to find a place to sit down and mourn in peace. I made my way back to the Circulation desk to explain what had happened to the clerk there, but she told me she had heard him (the poor dude had been pretty vocal) and me. She gave me a reluctant nod as if to say, "I still don't like you much, but that was pretty nice."

(I asked A.I. to generate me an image of the lady in question, based on my description.  Not too far off, really)

I'll take my victories, as minor as they may be.

Rish Outcast 319: New Year's 2026 Show

Rish talks about his family Christmas party and whether his table or his sister's table won the Best Table vote.

Also, how did he do with his 2025 goals . . . and would he be foolish enough to make some in 2026?

If you want to download the episode, Right-Click HERE.

If you want to support me on Patreon, click HERE.

Logo by Gino "Spew Year 2026" Moretto.

Marshal & I Visit A Planet of Vampires

Years ago, I tried to watch Mario Bava's 1965 film PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, but only made it a few minutes in before losing consciousness.  Years later, while visiting my friend in Germany, I tried it again, and maybe it was jetlag, but I fell asleep once again.

Here we are today (well, last year, actually), and I am attempting to watch it a third time, this time for Marshal Latham's "Outfield Excursions" podcast.  Can I stay awake?  Is the movie good?  And was there any influence on Ridley Scott's ALIEN, the way the folks say?  Find out HERE.

My Story "Fairest" Available To Scorn

I'm trying my best at getting some publishing done before the end of the year--though one 12,000 word story probably won't make it till 2026--and the most recent tale I've put out is "Fairest," which, despite having a pretty banal name, is a fun one.  This was written off a prompt sent to me by Marshal "The Bludgeoner" Latham, about an old, ornate hand mirror.  In my story, a newly-married young woman is given the mirror by accident, and in looking into it, she discovers she's super duper attractive, as you do.  

I've written a handful of cursed object stories over the years, enough to fill a truly one-note story collection.  This was a fun story to write, though that may not carry over into reading it.  You've probably heard authors say that before.

Something that I have greatly enjoyed in writing the Lara & The Witch stories is giving Lara Demming malapropisms and incorrect pop culture references*, and there are a couple in here where Jolene confuses Spider-man for Wolverine and Hilary Duff for Hilary Swank and Joe Pesci for Joe Dimaggio.  She also quotes Jane Austen a lot more than any character I've written, and that makes her just about the polar opposite of me (whereas her dorky husband is decidedly not).

It's also the only story I've written (to my knowledge) with an umlaut in it.

Feel free as a bird to check it out HERE.

*I also greatly enjoy that she hates Taylor Swift, which prompts me to put a Swift reference into nearly every Lara Demming story.

Podcast That Dares 65: The Birds

Happy Halloween, kids!  What, it's not Halloween where you are?

For an extra-long treat (rather than a trick), Rish presents Daphne du Maurier's 1952 story "The Birds," about an English village beset by flocks of avian killers almost as sick of humanity as you are. Apparently, they once made a film of it.

Note: This very nearly was split into two episodes, and only the promise of the greatest holiday of the year kept them stuck together.

Note 2: You're welcome.

If you want to download the episode, Right-Click HERE.

If you want to support me on Patreon, click HERE.

Logo by Gino "The Nerds" Moretto.

Rish Outcast 317: In Security 7

Rish talks about some experiences with the homeless and homelessness itself, friendship with his boss, bionic implants, going to the library on his day off, and how working as a security guard has changed him.

Also, Supergirl.

If you wish to download the episode, Right-Click HERE.

If you wish to support me on Patreon, click HERE.

Logo by Gino "Spin Securely" Moretto.