Window in My Head

Finished, for now

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:33:28 GMT

Friday, I had the edits for The Ghost Hunter's Survival Guide done and on my editor's desk. Today, the "Sources and Further Reading" section that will appear at the back of the book is finally finished -- no thanks to my cats who have both been so enormously clingy that any attempts on my part to sit and work at a desk are met with great bouts of mewling and pacing. You see, if I sit at a desk, there's no acceptable room in my lap for a cat. Cornelius refuses to duck under the desk like a good kitty and sit contentedly in my lap while I write -- he demands the opportunity to sprawl, and that simply cannot be accomplished while I sit in a desk chair.

This is why most of my books over the past couple of years have been written either while stretched out on a futon or at Panera -- where the cats cannot come to bother me. I love them dearly, but Cornelius is clingy and needy in ways that defy description, and if it were up to him, I would spend the rest of his life in devoted attention to his royal highness, with the laptop perched somewhere atop my knees so as to make more room for the cat. Oh -- and did I mention that if I shift or move him at all, this means he must jump up from his seat, stare at me peevishly for a while, and then leap up to try to get himself settled all over again?

Ah well. At least the book is done. I can mark that one completely off of my "to do" list. Now I have to focus on the next one -- my original goal for the months of June and July was to get the lion's share of the newest book written. But these past several weeks have been so full of ups and downs among my Family and friends, I've gotten very little writing time in, despite actually being home and not on the road. Not much to do about that, really. I need to be there for my friends -- perhaps more than I need to work on the newest book, simply because I'm so rarely around these days.

And now I'm listening to someone's belated barrage of fireworks outside and contemplating watching the rest of season 2.0 of Battlestar Gallactica.

--M

What's Your Take?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:37:40 GMT

I'm working on the final edits of The Ghost Hunter's Survival Guide. It comes out in October.

When I finished the manuscript the first time around, it seems that I totally flaked on doing a bibliography. I remember debating whether or not it would be better to do a reading list, which would also be appropriate, considering the way the book is put together. But apparently, I debated it until I forgot entirely to do anything like a list of works consulted.

What can I say? I was finishing the book at a pretty hectic time. I've still not adjusted to being so very busy with all this filming and travel.

A little about the book: Basically, there are nine chapters. Each chapter starts with an ongoing story of a past investigation that continues throughout the book. The lessons and exercises in each chapter build on the events of the story, and the story helps to give readers a concrete idea of how these things are applied and what circumstances really warrant them. Because I do my best to cover a variety of belief systems as well as more skeptical approaches, the chapters can cover a lot of ground -- one references everything from Binding Words to Teachings Around the Sacred Wheel.

So, since I can't make up my mind whether or not to list all the references as a chapter-by-chapter "Sources and Further Reading" entry or as your more standard (and potentially boring) bibliography, I thought I'd give all of you an opportunity to chime in.

If you were to pick up a book on how to help protect people in negative hauntings, how to cleanse houses, and how to remove unwanted entities, would you prefer the book to have a standard bibliography in the back, or would you prefer a chapter-by-chapter reading list?

I've got to get the manuscript with its completed edits back to the publisher by the 6th, so let me know as soon as you can!

--M

Bloggers' Choice Awards

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:57:21 GMT

It's come to my attention that some folks really like reading this journal.

They like it enough to have nominated it for the 2009 Bloggers' Choice Awards. I'm humbled and delighted, all at once.

If you are one of the people who really like this blog, drop by the site and vote for me:

Best Pop Culture Blog

Best Celebrity Blog (I don't think I really have a shot at this category, as I'm not really a celebrity of any serious caliber, but what the heck, if any of you think it fits, give it a shot!)

Thanks!

--M

I thought my weird-shit-o-meter was broke...

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:46:05 GMT

And then this happened...

So, I went for a walk while talking on my cell phone with someone earlier tonight (around 11 pm or so). I live in suburbia, and there are a lot of animals and things that live in the neighborhood as well -- raccoons, deer, and so forth. The deer around here are pretty tame -- I see them using the sidewalks on a fairly regular basis.

So, of course, there is a deer. And the deer is on the sidewalk ahead of me. It looks up, checks me out, then eventually wanders off of the sidewalk to let me pass ... and then it begins to follow me. It does so at a discrete distance -- maybe ten feet behind me or so, but it follows me along the sidewalk like a lost puppy dog.

I try to ignore the deer, which stubbornly continues to follow -- when, after about a block, I am greeted by an exuberantly friendly orange cat. I stoop to pet him (with the deer pausing about ten feet discretely behind me), and, as I walk on, the cat decides that he's following me, too.

So there I am, walking down the sidewalk at 11 pm in my quiet suburban neighborhood with an orange tabby at my heels and a mule deer trotting along about ten feet behind me the whole way. We are, shortly, joined by a black and white cat from another person's yard who also apparently hears the siren call of phantom music that must be playing around me (I mean, really, what the hell else would inspire this crazy parade?). Eventually the deer gets bored and runs off, leaving me with two feline companions for the rest of my hour walk. They only decide to run off once I turn around and get back to my street.

Apparently, I am a Disney princess and I didn't know it.

Oh, yeah -- and there's a new Shadowdance. It does not involve deer or cats, but vampires:

Shadowdancepodcast

In this episode, Michelle and Jackie visit Chris’s backyard around midsummer and revisit and update the topic of vampires, which we last looked at in 2006. A lot has changed in the past three years, and the hosts look at every aspect of the community in this ninety-minute rollercoaster ride.

Enjoy!

--M

Vampires are Gay

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:05:53 GMT

Or at least the vast majority of influential fiction written about them is steeped in homosexual undertones. The tension between Polidori and Byron writhes throughout's Polidori's novella, The Vampyre and LeFanu does not even attempt to be subtle about the lesbian qualities of his title character in Carmilla. And now that I've finally read through the entire book, Reminiscences of Henry Irving, penned by Bram Stoker in 1906 after the actor's death, I can heartily say that there's some tension between those two in their fictional alter-egos as well: Dracula for Irving and both Van Helsing and Renfield for Stoker.

A lot of folks who write literary criticism claim that Stoker idolized Irving, citing Reminiscences as the proof of this idolization. But consider the cultural milieu in which Stoker existed: steeped in the theater culture of Victorian London, he was friends with Oscar Wilde. So close was their relationship that they romanced the same woman, with Stoker eventually marrying her once Wilde got tired of the gal.

Of course, Stoker's involvement in the gay underground active in England during his time is just as much a point of conjecture as his involvement in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, also active in England during his day. The same arguments work on both ends: He had tons of friends involved in the Order and he spent a lot of time with those people. The social circles he moved in almost demanded that he interact with these people and encounter many of the same influences that influenced their practices and beliefs. And yet whether or not he himself was a member of the Golden Dawn is still hotly debated (despite the fact that James and Alex Baker, in their contribution on Crowley's vampirism in Vampires: In Their Own Words seems to lay the matter to rest, IMO). There's no decisive proof that he was actively involved in either the occult underground of Victorian England or the homosexual underground of the same, and yet the circumstantial evidence mounts up.

But I'll let Stoker speak for himself, as he does so eloquently and effusively throughout Reminiscences:

"so great was the magnetism of his genius, so profound was the sense of his dominance... recreated by a force of passion which was like a new power." (p. 29)

"Soul had looked into soul! From that hour began a friendship as profound, as close, as lasting as can be between two men." (p. 33)

"And the sight of his picture before me, with those loving words, the record of a time of deep emotion and full understanding of us both, each for the other, unmans me once again as I write." (p. 33)

Idolization. That word -- I do not think it means what you think it means!

So ... Stoker may have been in love with Irving quite literally -- and expressed this love through his writing. But what does that really mean for vampire literature?

It's interesting that Stoker, who envisioned Irving playing Dracula on the stage, redirects all of the character's sexuality to his mouth (as well as his eyes, which Stoker repeatedly has lit-gasms over in Irving's case). Polidori does the same thing with his character, Ruthven. In a word, vampires suck, yet not in a receptive female way. The expression of their sexuality through biting is dominant/phallic. I don't need to go all Freudian on everyone to complete that thought, do I?

What it means for vampire literature is about the real appeal vampires hold for us, over and over again. In literature, the vampire is a wish-fulfillment figure and, more than that, it is an expression of darker sexual desires. Vampires, since they are not properly human and therefore exist beyond the bounds of human rules, can engage in forbidden sexuality with impunity. And, so long as humans are seen as their "victims" -- individuals upon whom this forbidden sexuality is forced, whether through physical or metaphysical dominance, then the protagonists of these tales can engage in this forbidden sexuality without the stain of guilt or remorse. After all, it's not their fault the vampire came stalking along, hungry for their blood.

This raises some interesting things for the appeal of Twilight. In Polidori's and Stoker's times (even in Rice's decade) homosexuality was certainly a forbidden expression of sexuality. With even IOWA getting in on the gay marriage thing, I think we can safely say that, although still a controversial topic, homosexual behavior is hardly the taboo that it once was.

So what are our current sexual taboos?

Consider the age difference between Edward and Bella, add in the stalking behavior he exhibits throughout the books, and I think you'll have your answer...

--M

New Contacts

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:26:47 GMT

So, a few of you have been twisting my arm (in a metaphorical sense) for me to sign up to a couple online sites.

This is me, flying the white flag of surrender.

And this is me, on Twitter: sethanikeem

And this is me, on FetLife: m_belanger

And this is what I'm listening to right now, which I highly recommend: Jujun by Graydancer

And, finally, this is what completely sucked me in yesterday and left me intensely impressed with both the scholarship and insight of the author: Vampires Today by Joseph Laycock

And, just in case you missed it, this is me on Facebook: Michelle Belanger

--M

New Fiction

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:08:51 GMT

Still taking that break (or trying) but I wanted to let you know two things:

New fiction of mine can be found at Expanded Horizons Magazine. Many of you should find it amusing.

And ... Chris and I (and Jackie) recorded another episode of Shadowdance. We revisit the vampire episode and talk about how the community has grown and changed since the last vampire episode (back in 2006!)

It'll be up on the site within the week, far as I know.

--M

Summer Vacation

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:22:10 GMT

Hi, everyone --

Sorry I've not been around for a bit, but after the Kheprian Open House and everything else I've been doing lately, I've been taking a much-needed break. That break is likely to extend into most of this coming week as well, but after that, I should be around more to answer all the piled-up emails and I'll even be consistently by my phone (sorry to everyone who has called while the phone's been in a corner!).

I see a lot of new faces here, so welcome aboard, one and all. I promise I'll post something with a little more content in a week or so.

In the mean time, if you like the great outdoors, get out & enjoy them!

--M

A World of Change

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:57:51 GMT

I was going to post about the Kheprian Gather from this weekend, but first, this deserves reposting in full here:

For Immediate Release June 1, 2009

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

Big Weekend

Thu, 28 May 2009 19:40:22 GMT

So tomorrow starts the 9th annual Kheprian Gather. Or House Kheperu Open House (which sometimes sounds redundant -- starts with House, ends with House -- too much House), or whatever we've called it over the years.

Hard to believe that next year will be the tenth anniversary of the event.

I have spent the whole week cleaning -- having a bunch of Family over for the weekend is a great incentive to organize the clutter and throw things out. Though I feel for our garbage man tomorrow morning -- I really do. There was enough random stuff that I seriously considered having a rummage sale at the event. But for lack of knowing where to put it quite a lot of Goth and Pagan little doo-dads are currently living in my trash. A gargoyle here, a pile of old incense sticks there, some beginner's ritual kit that I won at some event a few years back and then never made use of... Yeah, I'm a bit of a packrat. Runs in the family. Wait till you hear the hair-raising tales about my Great-Uncle Bill and his farm in The Ghost Hunter's Survival Guide.

Anyhow, several people are arriving today. Some of them are probably in the air even as I type this. Hopefully the thunderstorms we're having here currently don't screw with anyone's flights or other travel plans. We really needed the rain -- it's been unseasonably hot the past few weeks (after an unexpected drop into the 30s a couple nights in a row -- not sure what that was all about, but Ohio's weather has always been a bit bipolar). It started getting really muggy, and finally the humidity was enough that rain was inevitable.

Just got off the phone with Chris Miller, and we are going to try to record a new Shadowdance podcast Saturday night at the event. We've both been very bad on keeping up with this, and we apologize (as usual) profusely to our fans. In theory, since Chris is now living back here in Ohio, things will go a little more smoothly in terms of coordinating our schedules for recording. One can only hope. Even I've missed the old Shadowdance conversations. We'll probably try to grab some of the (willing) guests and get them to chat for a few minutes on that ep -- we've got quite a mix of people, so that should be fun and very informative (I am bummed that the gathering committee people scheduled Kenaz Filan's Haitian folklore talk against Ana's talk on the Egyptian Soul ... I'd better learn to bilocate in a serious way!)

So ... sitting here listening to the rain outside in a house that is quiet and empty aside from me and the cats. That will soon change in fun and exciting ways, but for the moment, the peace and quiet is good.

Safe travels to all of you who are coming this year. And for those who couldn't make it -- seriously consider coming out next year. Ten year anniversary. That's all that needs to be said.

--M

Coast to Coast Update

Tue, 26 May 2009 23:03:18 GMT

Slight time change -- only by an hour, but it may impact all you East Coast listeners:

I'll be on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory tonight starting around 11 pm PST. That's 2 am EST, and I'll be on till 5 am EST. I don't know how many of you will be able to hang in there with me, but I do know that they'll be taking callers all during that time.

We'll be talking about my latest book, Haunting Experiences, my time on Paranormal State and, of course, vampires.

--M

Coast to Coast

Tue, 26 May 2009 03:32:26 GMT

Hey everyone --

I'll be on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory Tuesday night, May 26th, starting around 10pm PST. We'll be talking about my latest book, Haunting Experiences, my time on Paranormal State and, of course, vampires.

--M

Psychic Development, Energy Work & Fun!

Fri, 08 May 2009 17:24:05 GMT

Hey all --

If you live in or near Ohio and you've got a little free time at the end of this month, consider dropping in on the Kheprian Open House. It's a weekend of workshops and classes on energy work, spirit communication, psychic self-defense and many other fun and engaging topics.

We've been doing this since 2000, with a great response every year.

Guest speakers include Kenaz Filan and Jane Pierce of the MEC Council. Josh Light and Eilfie Music of Paranormal State will also be in attendance! In addition to our more well-known presenters and guests, there are a lot of great people who come to this event every year, and they help to make even the between-class conversations fun and enlightening.

Click here for more info.

Also -- the cover of The Ghost Hunter's Survival Guide is live on Amazon.com. This book is aimed at both ghost hunters as well as people who feel that they are haunted, and it teaches, in very easy terms, methods of protecting yourself from negative entities and clearing unwanted energy and entities out of a space. This book was inspired by many of the cases I participated in with Paranormal State, and it wouldn't be around if I hadn't had those opportunities to learn the most common questions asked about psychic protection by the people experiencing a haunting.

The Ghost Hunter's Survival Guide won't come out till October. In the mean time, don't forget about Haunting Experiences: Encounters with the Otherworldly. That's my most recent release, and it recounts many of my own haunting experiences, explaining, along the way, how I learned to trust and make peace with my abilities to perceive spirits.

And if you have questions you'd like to ask a spirit medium, hop over to "Ask a Medium" on my site Twilight Path. This site will be the hub for all my paranormal-related material. Currently, there are several audio recordings in the "podcasts" section where you can hear me and my medium friend Jackie Williams discuss our experiences with spirits. And the "Ask a Medium" section will feature the profiles of several spirit medium friends that I trust and work with. They have very graciously agreed to answer questions for me on that site.

--M

Safe Psychic Development?!?

Wed, 06 May 2009 16:56:53 GMT

Over on the Paranormal State boards, someone asked me for advice on how to safely develop their psychic skills. I gave a basic answer, reprinting the Reality Check-List from my Psychic Energy Codex as a good guide for assessing experiences and maintaining objectivity, but safely delving into this realm takes more than a simple checklist. It requires a whole and healthy mind.

Life roughs us up. It gives us enough issues to fill a bookstore, more hang-ups than a walk-in closet, and more scars than Claude Rain's version of the Phantom. When we delve into psychic work, we are delving into uncertain mental territory. There is a fine line between being open to psychic impressions and falling prey to wishful thinking and delusion. The experiences we have when we start to focus on and hone these skills can sometimes challenge our accepted notions of reality. Not to get all Lovecraft on people, but there are experiences that can cost you sanity simply through the cognitive dissonance they can inspire between what you thought you knew and what you are viscerally experiencing in that moment.

All of this means that, in order to safely delve into psychic development, you need to start with a firm mental foundation. And that means that you need to take a good, hard look at all those issues, hang-ups, and scars. You will never solve all of them. You will never be able to wave some magic wand and make them go away. This is life. It's never easy as all that.

What you need to do is to be honest about them: why they still matter; where they come from; how they affect your behavior; whether or not they influence you subconsciously. Being whole isn't exactly about making the problems go away -- trust me, once you do that to one layer of problems, you'll simply find that there's a whole new layer, just waiting to be dealt with. Being whole is about knowing how to navigate your mental territory. Knowing where the trouble areas are. Knowing when something from your past may influence your expectations, perceptions, or behavior. And, knowing this, you can then recognize when it happens and choose to either exert control so that you are stronger than your issues or, you remove yourself from the situation where your issues may compromise you or others.

I stop short of telling everyone who wants to develop their psychic abilities that they should go for therapy. I know as well as anyone that not all of us are responsive to therapy, and not all of us have the money to experiment with it in order to see if we're responsive or not, so it's sort of a moot point anyway. Then, of course, there's the fact that many standard therapists would hear about our beliefs and make judgments on those, rather than helping us to focus on the real problems. (You can imagine the scene, "Good afternoon, Dr. Headshrinker. I talk to dead people, but that's ok. I really came to talk to you about my mother.")

Despite the potential problem with tradtional therapies, in my opinion, developing your psyche is still a fundamental and necessary part of developing your psychic abilities. The journey of development, walked with a guide or alone, is itself a kind of therapy. (Know thyself, anyone?) You can't afford illusions on that path, and so many of our issues are cloaked in nice, neat illusions that help us to pretend that they're not there.

So, anyway, safe psychic development -- maybe it's an oxymoron. Maybe all books that try to help people delve into and develop their abilities should come with the warning: Here There Be Dragons. It's not the "dragons" of the spirit-world that you've got to worry about opening yourself up to once you start to breach those barriers. There are external threats that can hurt you -- or at least give you a really bad day -- but the real threat is the dragons lurking in your own mind. Those are serpents that none of us like to wrestle with, but we at least need to be aware of their presence there, deep within the sea of our internal world, if we are going to safely navigate around them.

--M

Paranormal State

Mon, 04 May 2009 18:55:58 GMT

Hey, everyone!

New Paranormal State tonight. 10 pm EST and again at 2 am EST on A&E.

This is the last episode that I'm in for third season.

Watch me do my walk-through blindfolded. It was fun!

--M

The Weird Files

Mon, 04 May 2009 04:12:00 GMT

Well, here's something you don't see every day ...

Supernumerary Phantom Limbs

From the article:

She does not always perceive the arm but "retrieves" it when needed, doctors told the Swiss news agency.

It is nevertheless the first case known to doctors of a person being able to feel, see and deliberately move a limb that doesn't exist. The findings are published in the Annals of Neurology.

--M

New Fiction

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:15:56 GMT

Yay!

Ok, so most of you know I write non-fiction. That's why half of you are here, reading this journal in the first place. But not all of you know that my first and foremost aspiration was to become a fiction writer. It's a much, much harder market to break into, and (at least in my opinion) it's also a lot harder to do right.

Writing non-fiction comes very easily to me. I think it has to do with plot -- with non-fiction, you don't have to worry about making up a plot. You have facts, and you have a logical way in which those facts should be presented, so the book practically writes itself, so long as you have all your information down.

Fiction -- that takes a whole lot more work, at least for me.

But it's so much more rewarding when I do write fiction, and when I get feedback that that fiction is worthy of being published. My first novel, This Heart of Flame will be coming out later this year. And now I've had a short story accepted in an anthology from Cleis Press: The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica.

Yeah, I know -- vampire erotica. Who's shocked? The story is entitled "Wicked Kisses," and the collection will be out in bookstores, Amazon, and other venues this October.

Whee!

--M

The Gay Choice

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:05:17 GMT

I make a point of participating on the Paranormal State forums whenever I've got a chance, in part to answer questions for fans, and in part because I actually enjoy many of the debates that go on there. Some debates, however, get a little eye-twitchy for me. Paranormal State -- and the paranormal community in general -- appeals to a wide variety of people. And this wide variety of people has a wide variety of beliefs. There are very conservative Christian ghost hunters out there, just as there are Pagan, agnostic, and Jewish ghost hunters out there.

They all come together on the Paranormal State forums, which leads to some very intriguing discussions in the Debate section.

The most recent of these is on homosexuality. Is it a choice? Is it a sin?

As you can imagine, there are pages and pages of people going back and forth, some with more tact than others. I jumped in with a long passage out of Leviticus outlining the sex laws that may or may not have been over-written later by the teachings of Jesus -- pointing out the typical hypocrisy of picking and choosing which Biblical "sins" to enforce (considering that Leviticus 19 then tells people in pretty clear terms that they shouldn't consult individuals who talk to spirits...)

As much as parts of the debate have seriously pissed me off (there are people on there who would likely agree with Senator Foxx in this willfully ignorant, WTF statement), I've learned quite a lot. And the debate has given rise to the BEST SUGGESTION EVAR for solving the "is gay a choice" debate.

It's a challenge to prove that homosexual behavior is a choice. If it is a choice, it follows that any heterosexual person could make that choice and be gay for a while. So the poster challenged the straight men on the forum who were very, very certain that gay behavior is a choice to choose to be gay for a period of five years, and to do so successfully and convincingly in order to prove it.

Made. Of. Win.

--M

Crazy Wisdom Presentation

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:18:51 GMT

Thanks to my friend Matthew ( a fellow podcaster), I've got the mp3 of the energy body presentation I did at Crazy Wisdom this past weekend. It's already up and downloadable over at Chasing Infinity. If you missed the event, hop on over and give it a listen!

Also over at Chasing Infinity, I've swapped out the former WMA file of the UnivCon 2008 presentation on Alternative Methods of Paranormal Investigation for a shiny new mp3 that should be downloadable for everyone -- even MAC users. That recording is accessible here.

Also -- here's the little article they did on my talk in the Kent Stater.

And now I feel very pleased with myself for getting a bunch of things done, so I believe I shall head off to Panera and have soup. Mmmm ... broccoli & cheese!

--M

Michigan Tour (and Kent State)

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:18:15 GMT

Honey, I'm home!

Back from a fantastic mini-tour that had me bouncing around MI and OH. I presented at Kent State Friday night, and apparently missed a 50+ person riot at the school that happened the very next day. I guess it's getting a little too close for comfort to the anniversary of the May 4th shootings... But the folks who showed up at KIVA auditorium for my Vampires: the Real Underworld talk were great and I believe there's a small article in the Kent Stater offering commentary on me & my talk that's somewhere online now (I'll try to dig up a link).

I dragged Jackie along for company, and she was kind enough to take pictures to document our adventures. More people than I expected showed up to every single event -- it was humbling, really. And the whole trip was topped off with a fun encounter at the Outback in Brighton, MI, where I was recognized by a very appreciative crew for my work on Paranormal State.

Anyhow, I'm sure you all want to see the photos.

Chilling at Schuler Books in Lansing, MI just before the presentation for "Haunting Experiences."

Some stories from the book...

Signing...

The next day, it was back to Ohio in time to present at Kent State:

Powerpoint on the big screen (subliminal messages, anyone?)...

So many people showed up!

Off to Ann Arbor the next day...

Crazy Wisdom is a very cool store. I highly recommend checking it out if you're in Ann Arbor.

Presenting up in the Tea Room:

And the awesome crew at the Brighton Outback in Brighton, MI:

Jackie took lots of other pics, but those give you a good idea of what I was up to all weekend. I spoke at Coyote Wisdom in Lansing on Sunday, and Jackie got so busy talking to Elige there, that she totally forgot to get photos. But rest assured, it was just as cool there as everywhere else on our little weekend adventure.

Thanks to everyone who had me come out!

--M

Michigan Mini-Tour

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 04:56:54 GMT

Just a quick update, as I'm in the middle of a book tour that's taken me to Lansing, MI, back near home to Kent State, OH, up to Ann Arbor, MI and back to Lansing tomorrow --

So far it's been fun and every event has been packed -- so many people! Thanks to all the people who've shown up thus far. Amusing moment at Crazy Wisdom today in Ann Arbor involved leading the group on a visualization and rain that fell as if on cue to go along with the guided imagery.

We recorded the presentation, so as soon as we have the file for that, it'll get up on one of my sites so folks who couldn't make it can hear what they missed.

Tomorrow -- Coyote Wisdom in Lansing, MI. Then home, and I rest & catch up on email and stuff.

Also, I have a Facebook page now. So you can add that to the ways you can keep track of me online.

Too tired for much else, I'm afraid. Sleepy time for me!

--M

Speculative Fiction

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:47:39 GMT

For some reason, over the past several days, I've been bitten by the fiction-writing bug again. It's resulted in a number of short stories and flash fiction pieces. And of course, whenever I start writing new fiction, I pull out the old stories that never found a home and I go looking for new and interesting places to submit them to.

For the past twenty years, a lot of my fiction has been too quirky even for the most speculative of speculative fiction magazines, largely because I have this habit of including multi-gendered or non-gendered characters, weird psychic powers, and other such things (like most writers, I write from life -- my life just happens to be a lot stranger than most!).

Well, all this rambling has a point. You see, the lovely and talented Vyrdolak brought an awesome little online magazine to my attention. It's called Expanded Horizons. It publishes speculative fiction, but it's premise is to boldly go into that territory that other magazines of its kind tend to avoid. Go read their mission statement & you'll see what I mean.

And while you're at it, go read "The Prince of Wolves." It's in their second issue, I think, and it is one of the best pieces of short fiction I have read in a long time!

-M

Poetry Month, part II

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:45:58 GMT

Since it's poetry month, I was sharing a few tastes of one of my favorite poets, Rainer Maria Rilke (other favorites include Sylvia Plath, Octavio Paz, Robert Frost, and Baudelaire).

Anyhow, someone asked whether or not I ever scribbled poetry in my day. A long time ago, poetry was practically all I wrote. Back then, it was all meter and rhyme, some of it romantic, some of it silly doggerel verse. More recent poems tend to be free-verse, even though there's a fond spot in my old heart for more traditional forms.

Here's one that appears in a limited-release poetry collection, This Ritual of Me.

Ode: Silence, the Past

Held close against you,
there is nothing but this moment.

How did we ever find ourselves here?
And yet, feeling this --
the pulse of our bodies,
the fire of our souls --
where else could we have ever been?

The past flickers between us,
images projected on the screens of our souls.
There is a city,
great destruction,
a being -- infinitely sad.

I huddle closer to you,
wrapped in your arms
and trembling wings.

**********

And, every once in a while, a poem demands a language other than English:

Et moi, avec mon coeur sauvage,
Quand je tombes, je tombes en feu,
Un point lumineux, bref et brilliant
Au profound de la nuit…

EDIT: it occurred to me that I should probably translate that:

(and me, with my savage heart,
when i fall, i fall in flames,
one luminous point, brief and brilliant
in the deep of the night)

--M

Poetry Month

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 04:23:48 GMT

Years ago, I discovered an amazing poet: Rainer Marie Rilke. And, since April is apparently National Poetry Month, I thought I'd share one of my favorites from his work:

You, Darkness

You, darkness, that I come from
I love you more than all the fires
that fence in the world,
for the fire makes a circle of light for everyone
and then no one outside learns of you.

But the darkness pulls in everything-
shapes and fires, animals and myself,
how easily it gathers them! -
powers and people-

and it is possible a great presence is moving near me.

I have faith in nights.

*************************

Oh, and on a completely different subject: more Twilight Path podcasts!

--M

UnivCon 2008

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:36:47 GMT

So ... I've been sitting on some audio files for a bit, with the intention of getting them uploaded so people can listen to them.

I *finally* have one of my classes from UnivCon 2008 uploaded to the Chasing Infinity site. I can't vouch for its state of editing -- it's recorded live, and the format I received it in, I couldn't edit with my programs. So you get the whole thing -- complete, uncut and all that.

It's long. About an hour and twenty minutes. This was the presentation I gave on alternative forms of paranormal investigation -- methods that go beyond pure tech and Christian religious approaches. Take a listen here, if you're curious.

--M