WD's Pretty Scenery

I’m almost finished with The Walking Dead: Season 4.  A friend and I will watch the final two episodes on Friday. (We chat online while we watch.) I love the series now just as much as I did when I first started watching. The characters are compelling and I care about them. The plot is strong. The show is terrifying, and like good literature, it causes us to reflect on the human condition and human nature.

I am always involved with the story, but there are a lot of outdoor shots, and a lot of the scenes take place in the woods, which can be a little distracting for me. This season, we saw many of the characters hike along railroad tracks through the woods. As I understand it, the series is filmed primarily in Georgia, so the woods are dense and mostly deciduous. They are very much like the woods in West Virginia minus the mountains. While watching the show, I’m sometimes overcome with homesickness. Despite the horror, I long to be in those scenes, to walk along those tracks, to smell the moist earth and decaying carpet of leaves, to hear the birds and cicadas. One of the reasons I like the show is because of all the pretty scenery. That may be a little odd, but it’s true.

Into the Woods

I've wanted to go backpacking for the longest time. Nothing too demanding. I just want to be in the woods and away from civilization for a few days. For a long time, I thought I only needed to get into shape and find someone to go with. Those things might be tall orders for me considering how out of shape I am and how difficult it would be for me to find a backpacking friend given my intense social phobia and PTSD. But I thought I could do it if I set my mind to it. And maybe I could go alone if I didn't feel comfortable going with a friend. But yesterday morning I could hardly move for more than an hour. I went to the bathroom stooped over like an old man and then sat down at the computer and waited for the ibuprofen to kick in. But then again, walking 15 or more miles in a day was never my goal. I just want to be in the woods. So if my arthritis flares up while I'm out in the wild, I can take my pills and sit there until I feel like moving.

Jeremy Irons in Brideshead Revisited

Saying I enjoyed Brideshead Revisited when I was a teenager would be an understatement. Seeing it was a life changing event. The relationship between Charles and Sebastian was depicted in a timid way by today’s standards, but it was a revelation at the time. I remember locking myself in my room and watching it on my small B&W portable with the sound turned way down so my family wouldn’t hear the dialogue. I hardly breathed while it was on because I didn’t want to miss a thing. I literally sat on the edge of my seat and stared at the TV with singular intent. I thought about nothing but the story while it was on. I didn’t think about the past or plan for the future. I was completely in the moment.

I became a fan of Jeremy Irons after that. I’ve enjoyed a number of his performances over the years. However, I have to admit that when I see him now, I can’t help but think of the absurd and insensitive comments he made about marriage equality. I can hardly believe that he actually said he was worried about it because he feared fathers would start marrying their sons. When asked why opposite sex marriages haven’t led to fathers marrying daughters, he replied that they were afraid of having babies with two heads or something. He showed no empathy or concern for the same-sex couples that might want and benefit from marriage, and he was quite annoyed when his opinion became the butt of jokes. I just don’t want to believe he said such things, but I suppose he did.

    

Happy Holidays!

I love the holiday season, but the religious, Christian mythology aspect has never been the driving force for me. I have always loved the music, especially the secular, happy songs. I love the decorations, especially Christmas trees and Christmas lights. I love the gift giving and the pretty packages. Even though I have PTSD and social phobia, I enjoy hearing about and knowing others are going to Christmas parties. I enjoy the food. I enjoy sweet, sappy Christmas movies. Many make a special effort to show their appreciation of loved ones and all of their fellow human beings in the month of December. It’s a celebration of life.

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, it is the beginning of winter, which can be harsh and long. And for many, it was once a frightening time due to the scarcity of food. What a wonderful time to celebrate life and the processes of nature. It’s good that we reassure one another with loving messages and by giving away precious supplies as we head into this dark, cold season. We will stick together. We will survive. And we place our faith in nature and look forward to spring.

I see life as a mystery, and if there is such a reality that is often called “God”, I believe this reality is transcendent. I don’t believe you can ever know it or talk about it in a direct way. Much of religion, including Christianity, becomes absurd to me when it is concretized. So I don’t really care if you go to church, specifically wish me a “Merry Christmas” or if you remember to “keep Christ in Christmas.” I don’t care about any of that. What I like is the underlying message of hope and love which can be expressed in any number of ways.

Remembering The Hardy Boys

I ordered a magazine through Weekly Reader with this photo on the cover when I was in the sixth grade. Our orders were given to us at the start of the day in home room. I already knew I was gay by then, and I remember sitting there in class staring at Shaun Cassidy's crotch and wondering what his dick looked like. Oh, how I wanted it.

The Raven's Sepulcher by Gary Cottle

I wrote The Raven’s Sepulcher after my head surgeries in 1997. Moving around caused the blood pressure in my head to go up, which caused me pain, so I couldn’t do much of anything for about a year. I used that time to finally pursue my dream of writing a novel. I could do that while sitting still. The basic story came to me several years before when I read in WVU’s student newspaper that a mysterious room had been found in the attic of my old dormitory. I polished and worked on the story for years, and I decided this past spring that it was time to share it.

The Raven’s Sepulcher is about a teenage girl on the verge of adulthood who is sent to live with her grandmother. The grandmother lives in old colonial farmhouse in New England. There’s a spooky old cemetery behind the house and a strange chapel in the attic. Eventually, Allison learns that her family belongs to an old and secretive cult, and she has to decide if she will join as her family wants and expects or if she will reject the cult’s barbaric practices and run for her life.

It’s a thriller with elements of supernatural horror, and, as some may guess, it reflects the terror that accompanied the struggle for independence many of us experienced. Some families simply do not want their children to be who they are, and they would rather crush their hopes and dreams than allow them to be free. The Raven’s Sepulcher is a tomb for a broken spirit.

It's at Amazon, Barnes&Noble and Smashwords.