by

An Amusing Halloween Read

TheHalloweenTreeBradbury

One of my favorite authors, Ray Bradbury, provides a wonderful fantasy Halloween romp in his 1972 book ‘The Halloween Tree’.

“It was a small town by a small river and a small lake in a small northern part of a Midwest state,” reads the opening line.

In the typically quirky, spooky fantasy style only Bradbury can conjure, we follow the mysterious Mr. Carapace Clavicle Moonshroud as he leads a group of eight Halloween-dressed boys on a trick-or-treating journey that turns into a mission across time and space to find the group’s missing friend, Pipkin. Along the way, they discover the role that fear of death, ghosts, and the supernatural have in shaping our world.

This adventure is just pure Ray Bradbury fictional fun.

by

Goodbye My Love, Goodbye

‘Tis near the season for Halloween so why not post something a little chilling?

Working on the second book of short stories, I completed one about a young man, his high school sweetheart, and their less-than-desirable relationship. The story is actually humorous and ends well. However, in some dark corner of my mind, I wondered:  what if it hadn’t ended well? What if the man couldn’t handle the fact his one true love was unfaithful?  What might he do? That’s when this poem came to me.

FoggyCemeteryGoodbyMyLoveGoodbye

“Goodbye My Love, Goodbye” by Jack R. Cotner  Copyright 2015. All Rights Reserved.

Retreating inward from the pain,

I smell the sweetness of her hair

As we move along the path. I strain

Uphill, dragging muddied weight to where

Headstones squat like sacred peaks between

Mowed grass where walked mourning crones.

Stoic statues weathered, weeping, still serene,

Guarding lengthy rows of buried bones.

We halt. Crows pass, loud caws abating.

A portal beyond the pale awaits, silent.

The gaping hole lies open, waiting, waiting

For my dearest here quiet, broken, spent.

Farewell, sweet beauty, unfaithful miss.

I weep. Red lipstick on blue, icy lips

Beckons. Entranced, I take one final kiss

Before tossing splendor into the dark abyss.

Goodbye my love, goodbye

by

Author Millie Thom’s Book 3 Available

Author Millie Thom has a new release:  Wyvern of Wessex, Book 3 of her Sons of Kings series.

WyvernOfWessex

I’ve added it to my library alongside her first two books, each of which I’ve read, enjoyed, and reviewed.

Book 1, Shadow of the Raven, review can be found here.

And Book 2, Pit of Vipers, review here.

You can learn more about this wonderful series at Millie Thom’s blog.

by

Inspiration From The Past

In “Storytellin’: True And Fictional Short Stories Of Arkansas” I write about a young boy, a midnight train, and the value of friendship in the tale “He A Friend Of Yours?” The title of the story is actually a question posed to the young boy by a train station employee.

Several of my family provided inspiration for the story not the least of which were my grandfather, father, and an uncle who all worked for the Rock Island Railroad in various capacities including railroad bull, brakeman, and conductor. All of their work began and ended with the Rock Island Rail Road train depot in the small town of Booneville, Arkansas. Not coincidentally, the fictional story’s beginning is set in and around a train depot.

In its heyday, the Booneville depot was a busy, thriving place, bustling with activity. I remember trips to the depot to either welcome or say goodbye to family members as they left for work or arrived after a working absence. More than once, I too, rode the railroad to and from Little Rock to visit uncles and aunts.

RI-BoonevilleTrainDepot

This picture of the Booneville train depot was taken in the early 1980s and reflects a mere ghost of itself in comparison to the days when it thrived. Built in 1910 originally as a railroad eating house, the building style is unique compared to the average Rock Island train depot in Arkansas.

The days of riding the rails from Booneville to Little Rock are gone forever now, as are my family members who worked on the line. Sadly, just a few years after this picture was taken the Booneville depot burned down and its stories mostly lost to history.