The holidays are here, for all that is worth in this strange and painful year. Many folks are still cooped up and isolating. Many more should be doing the same. Granted, some people are fortunate enough to still have a job, possibly even one where they can work remotely from home. Others have to go out and risk getting ill or making others ill.

The holidays are a time of happiness for many. For others, it can be quite depressing. With COVID-19 threatening the world and possibly someone close to you, it will make this season a little more difficult to cope with for several people. Some may throw caution to the wind and visit across the country, traveling by mass transit, risking lives because they can't handle cabin fever.

Many have probably binge-watched everything in their collection or anything they can stream on the various services available.

But how about all of those books on your To-Read shelf? How many of those have you sat down and read?

Not to mention, how about starting that novel, memoir, how-to book, or even a short story? So many people come up to myself and other authors, or even during writing panels, and say they want to write. NANOWRIMO is over, but that doesn't mean you have to stop writing if you've started. If you haven't started, now's your chance.

Why? Because writing and reading are relaxing and therapeutic. Granted, there are moments in the creative process that can be stressful, but overall, it's a great outlet to withdraw from everything else going on around you and be creative if you're writing. It's a chance to escape to another world, even if you're reading a literary novel set in modern times.

So take time out from the virus, holiday shopping, the post-election insanity, and a break from job hunting if you're in that unfortunate situation, and let yourself go by reading or writing a book.

Meanwhile, if you're seeking something old and new to entertain you, the new anthology Island Terrors & Sea Horrors (ITSH) is available with over 300 pages (printed version) containing 36 stories & poems along with 24 B/W & color illustrations and photos.

To hear more about the book, listen free to the After Rot podcast I did with host/author William Snider and author Larry Atchley Jr.

We discuss everything from pirates to beer, Iron Maiden to nautical history, vicious penguins to voracious amphipods, dragons to Moby Dick, and artists such as Bob Eggleton, Gustav Doré, and David J. Martinez, photographer Ian Keattch, authors Robert E. Howard, Edgar Allan Poe, Larry Atchley Jr, and more.


Now, time to get to my own writing. So many new stories came to mind as I edited the ITSH anthology. In addition, time to finish up the next MG Weird Tales Mysteries book and the origin novel of The Savage Cat, the prequel to The Savage Caged.

But first, recording the narration to my poem "Rose & Thorns" for the publication Love Letters to Poe, due out Jan. 21, 2021. Then, on to writing a treatment for a new pulp hero novel to submit to a publisher.