Virginia Austin's Blog

"The Assassin and the Disciple" will be going under a free kindle edition promotion from Aug 18 to Aug 20.

Melting Salvation Press, LLC

I just wanted to say that my readers are the best. They are superbly well-read, quite the devours of literature and I can't thank them enough for their reviews - reviews that have been quite informative to me as an author. These reviews I understand quite well take precious time out of their days. The response has just been tremendous and I can't say enough of how grateful I truly am. So, all of you just rock. And once again, thank you so much. Literature is far from dead. The people of goodreads and all the other sites are the torches that keep this medium alive and well-lit for other generations to come.


Virginia Austin

I would like to thank Darker Times Fiction (United Kingdom)for selecting the short story "A Sort of Homecoming" as an Honorable Mention in its recent short story competition. This story is an excerpt from "The Assassin and the Disciple."

Happy 16th Birthday to Malala Yousafzai. Despite all attempts by the Taliban, she is still alive and well. There is no better example of courage and determination than this young girl. I applaud and deeply admire her efforts. The oppressive ideology of the Taliban is in need of eradication. I thank both sides of our government for standing up to them in Afghanistan, and also give thanks to our American soldiers for their sacrifices. When the fuck does anyone have the right to tell young girls that they are forbidden to receive an education.

Tonight - Late, I'm guessing. Somewhere around two a.m. A little break from writing. Trying to finish up learning Springsteen's "Born to Run" on my Washburn. I just don't hear that chord change from E to E9. And what's worse is I'm close to the end of this bottle of cabernet. That's odd, too. Because usually I hear those changes much better with just two glasses.

Anyway, I know he's been called one of the greatest pop poets. And that's true, but I think I'm going to go a little further and say he is one of the greatest short story writers of our time. His lyrics are so efficient that you hear entire storylines in just one song. And that's amazing if you really think about it. He does what it takes authors three hundred pages to accomplish.

Today - I am assuming the “Gone Girl” lives no more than six blocks from me since we inhabit the same area. The only solace I take in proximity not breeding success is that her extreme fame has most likely kept her from the social scene while my extreme anonymity has allowed me to still frequent some very, very cool bars without having to put down my glass to pen another autograph. You see I both drink and sign with the same hand so it would be wildly inconvenient. My only contention with the author as I do enjoy her work is that she says her basement writing area is the “scariest twenty square feet of writing space ever seen.” I am currently staring at two life-size statues of skeleton crosses, one poster of Joy Division, one poster of Kurt Cobain, four actual funeral stickers on a broken picket fence, six Styrofoam headstones and a desktop one-winged gargoyle that isn’t protecting a single soul. It’s lit by two strands of Christmas lights and twenty-seven candles. The exposed joists are populated with the webs of my favorite eight-legged denizens. The limestone walls whisper water when it rains hard. The concrete floor is forgotten, cracked and ashen. And, the kicker is, I don’t even write thrillers or horrors. It just makes me feel at home. So, I guess to me it’s the happiest twenty square feet of writing space ever seen.