Normally I’d write one post about all the live events I did in a year: the readings, lectures, book signings, convention panels, book sales, and what have you. Instead I managed 3 readings.

I’m trying to figure out if I want to lecture online next year. In the olden days, I gave talks in public on graveyard ghost stories, the removal of the cemeteries from San Francisco, and tracing the Mission Dolores graveyard through tourist postcards. I could adapt any of those to online audiences. I could figure out how to teach cemetery history or writing and revision… I just am not sure if it’s worth the time I would need to spend developing things. Maybe, if I start to think about it now, I’ll be ready for next October!

Readings:

In the meantime, I read the entirety of “In the Pines” and “The Acid that Dissolves Images” from Unsafe Words at Story Hour on August 5, 2020. You can watch the video on Facebook. I start about 29 minutes in, but you might enjoy RS Benedict’s story, too. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=744234116395899&extid=op7nr2BNpZaCuw6t

I read “The Angel’s Lair,” the short story that inspired the Lorelei/Azaziel books at Story Hour on November 11, 2020. I read first. My co-reader was Mike Allen. https://fb.watch/2FTx3Y4KPw/

I read a touch of “The Magic of Fire and Dawn” for the San Mateo Public Library’s Fourth Annual Tales of Horrors event. The video premiered on October 5, 2020.

Radio and Podcasts:

Ken Volante invited me onto his Something (Rather Than Nothing) podcast to talk about Morbid Curiosity magazine, cemeteries, and the purpose of art in these dark days. Airdate: September 1, 2020. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4WyvBI3A5WgIqeJUSOejRN

Bridget Marquardt shared her love of cemeteries with me on her Ghost Magnet podcast. Airdate: September 21, 2020. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3wAvGv98DvKVDDBURHEPGy?si=kKroEHEBQUqlCqHelQICPg

Here’s a clip from that interview:

DJ Lilycat invited me back to her show on FCC Free Radio. I read part of “With You By My Side, It Should Be Fine,” a story that was published for the first time in Unsafe Words. Airdate: September 27, 2020. CW: the discussion got a little real, since we were FCC-free. You can listen to the whole show here: https://www.fccfreeradio.com/lilycat-on-stuff-unsafe-words/

Xtina Marie and James Longmore invited me to read part of “Here There Be Monsters” from Unsafe Words on Panic Room Radio. Xtina’s response is delicious. Airdate: October 29, 2020. https://www.blogtalkradio.com/thenewpanicroom/2020/10/30/the-new-panic-room-episode-211

Joanna Penn and I had the best cemetery conversation of my life on her Books and Travel Podcast: Life Obsessed. Cemeteries, Graveyards and Ossuaries. Airdate: October 29, 2020. https://www.booksandtravel.page/cemeteries-graveyards/

RS Benedict invited me to talk about catharsis and how horror prepares us to deal with the harder parts of being alive at her Rite Gud podcast. Airdate: December 10, 2020.

Finding Beauty In Darkness

Finally, I read a little snippet of “Here There Be Monsters” for KALW’s New Arrivals feature. Airdate: December 17, 2020. https://www.kalw.org/term/new-arrivals