MidSouthCon 32!

MidSouthCon 32 has come and gone, and as a grinning survivor of the juggernaut that was the 32nd MidSouthCon, I am happy to report it was a rousing success.

The Memphis Hilton was packed with science fiction and fantasy fans of every sort. There were gamers, costumers, filkers, authors, artists, publishers, cosplayers, and lovers of the strange and unusual, all packed into the Hilton with one goal in mind -- to have a lot of fun.

Mission accomplished, because fun was had by the steaming, giggling metric ton. I met a lot of great people. Sat in on some writer's panels that were illuminating and entertaining. I saw truly stunning art, and listened to some great Celtic autoharp music.

And that was just sitting in my truck in the hotel parking lot. Things really got moving once I ventured inside the Con itself.

Did I take pictures? Of course I did. The one above shows three old Con friends who favor the universe of the Doctor. They don't say much, but they do freak out the people on the hotel elevators.

I haven't had time to go through all the photos I took, and that's not going to happen today. What the Con gives in entertainment it takes in strength, and I am beat right now. So I'll just post a few pics and some news this week, and post more later.

The crew from Expedition Unknown was of course on hand, to showcase their paranormal sleuthing skills in panels. In the image below, investigator Tanya Vandesteeg demonstrates a novel use for an infrared temperature gun.  

I was inducted into the Dal Coger Memorial Hall of Fame, and my book Brown River Queen was 1st runner-up for the Darrell Award for novel of the year. Not a bad haul!

I met and spoke with author Kellie Armstrong, who wrote Bitten, which is now a TV series. She was gracious and patient and I hope she returns to MidSouthCon soon. I also met Toni Weisskopf, publisher of Baen Books, and she is also a Jedi Master of Being Cool.

As I said, MidSouthCon was a blast. But it must also be noted I am no longer in my teens or my twenties or my thirties (we'll stop there, lest I discover I am a mummy and vanish in a cloud of dust), so I must now crawl toward the nearest couch in rapt anticipation of The Walking Dead. 

Take care, folks! Buy some books!

Link to The Five Faces on Amazon

Fried Convention Catfish and the Unwavering Stares of Dogs

The above is Primary Paranormal Research and Editorial Assistant Dog Lou Ann, who is giving me her patented 'Why aren't you writing?' look.

A bout of springtime hay fever reduced my word count by half last week. It's hard to simultaneously generate deathless prose and expel a continual stream of violent sneezes, and sadly the sneezing took precedence.

For any other writers out there struggling with allergies, I can recommend over-the-counter Allegra. It knocked the allergies nearly flat, and only reduced my IQ (via the 'antihistamine haze') by about 10 percent. Seriously, the other stuff I've taken leaves me barely able to babble and grasp soft objects. I don't know why, but old-school Benadryl and the like rendered me so groggy I had no choice but to go to bed and wait until October to roll around.

Now I can muddle along, slower but that's better than nothing.

Hopefully the allergies will fade, and I can get back to full word-slinging mode.

Random Eatery Review

I am currently overwhelmed by an unseemly desire -- no, not an unseemly desire, but an unholy craving -- for fried catfish.

And there is no better source of fried catfish in all the land than Old Taylor Grocery, pictured above a few hours before they open. After they open the place will be surrounded by vehicles.

It is an old grocery store, and yes, it looks it. That's part of the charm. You sit on the porch and wait until your party's name is called, and you watch life on Main Street in Taylor, Mississippi amble past.

Inside, the rough-hewn walls are covered with writing. It's a decades-old tradition that people sign their names on the walls (and the tables, and the ceilings) and leave a word or two of home-spun wisdom. Writer Willie Morris left his name there. Prince Charles left his as well, and we are told he found the fried catfish delicious.

Old Taylor has a website, and a menu is available online.  I suggest the Large Fillet Catfish plate, because LARGE + CATFISH.

Alas, I must needs console my aching hunger with, um, let's see -- half a Pop-Tart and what appears to be hummus. Let's hope it's hummus, anyway.

But one day soon, Old Taylor, one day soon...

MidSouthCon32!

If you plan to attend MidSouthCon this year, shoot me an email (franktuttle at franktuttle dot com). I'll be there, dressed as an unremarkable middle-aged human male. I'm taking my camera and will post lots of sweet con pics soon after.

This year, under the SCHEDULE tab on the Con website, you can create an account with a scheduling service, pick all the events you want to attend, and then consult your schedule from your phone or mobile device. No more lugging around dog-eared Con schedule books! No more trying to remember where events are held, or when! 

I suspect everyone but me has been using this feature all along. But if you're another poor Luddite, check it out -- it's free and quick and easy.

A Link for You to Love

One of my very favorite hangouts on the Web is a place called io9. 

Io9 features everything from cutting-edge science news to the latest in affairs of geekdom. You'll find short but brilliant indie films sandwiched between articles about gravitational waves, the latest on SF and fantasy books, and a host of other tidbits too numerous to name. As a source of story ideas, it simply can't be beat.

Do yourself a favor and add this one to your bookmarks. 

IO9 link

Last Words

First, the image I posted in last week's blog (along with the offer to send a free print copy of BROWN RIVER QUEEN to the first person to correctly identify the object) was a brick. A close up of a brick.

I meant to make it really easy, but in retrospect I was so enamored of my new camera's macro function I couldn't have identified the image either, even had I know it was an extreme close-up of something.

So, to make up for that, I'll send a free signed print copy of BROWN RIVER QUEEN to the first person who asks for one in the comment section of this blog. 

If you haven't read any Markhat, here's a good place to start!

Time for me to get back to work. Take care all, and remember -- oh. I forgot.

In Which I Fan the Flames of Controversy and Wax Rhapsodic About Weevils, Pt. 1

This is Petey, another of our rescue doggies. You've seldom seen photos of Petey because even after all these years he retains a stark terror of having anything pointed at him. But with my new telephoto camera, I can be a great distance away and still catch him being contemplative.

Petey has a habit I've not seen before. To amuse himself, he will scoop fallen leaves or soil into a mound. He does this by keeping his back legs planted, and turning in a circle while digging or scooping with his front paws.

Then, when he has built a mound of sufficient height and diameter (he is very particular about the exact dimensions), he circles it, barking and snapping, as though it were animated and moving.

The other dogs just watch, giving each other 'there's one in every pack' canine eye-rolls. Petey ignores that too, because he's made himself a tiny world of pure joy and he's happy in the moment.

There's a lesson in there for me. Sadly, I lack the delicate motor skills and balance required to shape debris into a properly sloped mound. But I'm working on it.

Pond EVP Session

I've mentioned here before that I can't offer any explanation regarding my experience with EVP captures and locations.

All the EVPs I've captured have been in cemeteries. Which doesn't make any sense to me, so I sometimes go to places at which I am relatively sure no corpses are buried, marked or otherwise.

Case in point: one of the small ponds behind our house.

I was there yesterday, accompanied of course by Supernatural Research Dog Lou Ann, and I brought my Zoom portable recorder and my camera.

It was a lovely day, as you can see. I was in short sleeves, a faux-diamond tiara, and my most elegant evening gown, which sadly was not revealed in the reflection of the water. 

I sat down, took the photo above, and held an EVP session while Lou Ann searched the water for poltergeists, selkies, or inexplicable falls of beef jerky.

This was the view directly above me. As I said, it was a beautiful day.

Oh, and one quick note to any paranormal researchers out there -- dogs CANNOT resist field microphones topped with a fur wind-screen. There's a moment of high drama in the recording in which Lou Ann sees the mic, which I placed on the ground beside me, and snatches it up because the furry wind-screen makes it look like a recently deceased rodent or other tasty treat. 

I got the mic back before she chomped down or dived into the pond with it. But it was close, so lesson learned.

I listened to the recording twice, and like all my other mundane locales, there's not the least hint of anything unusual on it. 

But it was fun watching Lou enjoy her swim while the wind sounded through the bare trees.

Writing Update

The new Mug and Meralda book now stands at slightly over 40 thousand words. I wish I could talk about it without adding spoilers, but there's no way to do that, so details will have to wait. I will say the single word romance. There, I said it. You may now speculate.

Markhat has news too -- I posted this last week, so if you already know The Five Faces is available for pre-order, or that Brown River Queen is now available in print, skip ahead. 

By the way, if you happen to be a book reviewer and you'd like a free print copy of Brown River Queen, email me! I'm franktuttle at franktuttle dot com, and I'll get you a book out pronto. 

Finally, a few words about maintaining a 2K a day writing habit.

I've developed a twitch in my right eye (that's not a joke). Not sure if it's related, but my left elbow appears to be coming apart like a cheap action figure's molded-plastic arm. And I'm going to need a new keyboard when this book is done. 

But the book is getting done, and it isn't taking years. So my arm can fall off and my eye can turn around backwards in my skull and it'll all be worth it if I can maintain this pace.

I want my new robot body NOW.

Thoughts on Anonymous Amazon Reader Reviews

There's a petition going around written with the intent of telling Amazon to remove the anonymous book review feature as it currently exists.

No, I won't link to the petition, and I won't mention the particular author who is the driving force behind it. Mainly because I suspect ulterior motives -- what a coincidence, you've got a new book coming out shortly, and it suddenly occurred to you to push a controversial public petition, using your press contacts to drive it. As SNL's Church Lady would say, "How convenient."

The petition cites the actions of troll reviewers as justification for insisting on real names to accompany reader reviews of books on Amazon.

I believe this is a bad idea on a number of levels. First of all, it's pointlessly intrusive. If you bought my book and read my book and didn't like my book, you have every right to say so without showing anyone your ID. I don't need to know your name. Nobody does.

Too, let's say you're a schoolteacher who enjoys bloody zombie horror, or you don't want your elderly granny to know you just gave 5 stars to Ride Me Cowboy, a Tale of Lust, Love, and Little People in the Wild Wild West. You shouldn't have to trumpet your private reading tastes to every search engine on the internet.

Finally, demanding real names on Amazon book reviews is rude. This is just my opinion, but it seems to me that someone got a couple of poor reviews and couldn't abide the mere idea that someone on the internet didn't venerate their each and every word and turn of phrase, and this is their way of making sure that never EVER happens again.

And that's all I have to say about that.

My Private Mars Mission, and a Background Image

It wasn't easy, building my own Mars probe in my shop using only material sold by Sneed's Hardware on University Avenue, but I did it, and the image above was obtained during my probe's touchdown.

Or was it? A free print copy of Brown River Queen goes to the first person to correctly identify the subject of this photograph. Respond in the blog comments section!

This is my current background image. It's a photo I took of the propane gauge on our tank, which resides under a steel hood but nevertheless manages to pick up a lot of dirt and debris. I like it because, um, I've received numerous sharp blows to the head over the course of my life. 

You can download the whole huge image by clicking  here.

Okay, back to work for me! Take care all, and remember -- there only has to be a snake in your hat once to make checking worth your while. 

Things That Go Bump 2014, #2: Vapor Interaction Observation Chamber (aka the Fogbox)

In keeping with my tradition of meddling with Things With Which Man Was Not Meant to Meddle, I've built a new ghost hunting tool. This new tool started out as the Vapor Interaction Observation Chamber, but from now on I'll be referring to it as the Fogbox.

Frank's neighbors express their approval of his paranormal endeavors.

That's exactly what a fogbox is -- a box full of fog. Why fog?

Because fog is a suspension of tiny water particles in air. Really tiny particles. Moving them around should be easy even if you're some sort of discorporeal energy entity (i.e., a ghost).

People I know and trust have told me they've been touched, had their hair pulled, felt cold little hands slip into theirs during paranormal investigations. Now, I've never experienced anything like that. A couple of years ago, I'd probably have dismissed their claims as imaginary or contrived. But then two things happened. One, I recorded my own EVP phenomena, which proved to me such events are neither always faked nor always imagined. Second, I got to know paranormal investigators who I trust. If they say they've had their hair pulled, they've had their hair pulled.

From their experiences, I can theorize that some agency (let's call it Agency X because I'm hesitant to use the g-word) is capable of infrequent, small-scale physical exertions on material objects. I don't know by what means Agency X exerts these forces, but let's assume they do.

My Fogbox is an effort to capture any small-scale physical effects photographically. Simply put, you fill the lighted chamber with fog. Then you wait for disturbances within the fog or upon the condensation on the inside pane of each of the chamber's sides.

Here's what the Fogbox looks like in action:

But let's back up a moment, and I'll describe its construction.

I took an 18 inch by 24 inch sheet of clear acrylic sheeting and cut it into two 12 by 18 sheets. I then separated these sheets with three-quarter inch pine stock. The top frame member is removable so the interior of each pane can be cleaned.

So what's all that tubing and the wires and the switch do?

The switch box controls two devices. One is the fan that sits atop the Fogbox. It draws artificial fog from the fog cylinder via the black hose and pumps the fog into the chamber.

The other powered item is the blue LED light strip that lines the sides and the bottom of the chamber. This serves two purposes -- one, to light the chamber, and make any motion or markings on the panes easily visible. Two, it looks really cool.

Fog usually occurs when the air temperature equals that of the dew point, but I'm a busy guy and I don't have time to go chasing fog around with my box so I make my own. You take one part pure glycerin to three parts distilled water. Mix well. Put that in a metal container and heat it. Draw off the resulting fog. Yes, it's harmless to breathe. I originally planned to use dry ice, but you can't get dry ice here in Oxford, so I had to drop back to the old Halloween glycerin-and-water recipe.

Here's what the Fogbox looks like with the fog not heated yet. The metal cylinder on the left, which looks suspiciously like an old coffee can, is an old coffee can in which a frame holds a small metal cup above four burning candles. The candles heat the mixture of water and glycerin. The fan and the tube draws this fog into the chamber.

Here's a shot of the Fogbox getting filled.

This is after about 10 minutes:

And here we are full of fog, and glowing!

A close up of the Chamber:

An even closer shot:

Total cost was about 30 bucks. I used an metal watch box as a switch box and the whole thing is powered by an old 12 volt wall transformer. The fan is a 12 volt PC fan of the 'squirrel cage' blower variety.

I just used what I had lying around; nothing about the parts or dimensions is special.

I think the Fogbox would be best used in a location known for high activity.

My hope is that one day a face will appear in a Fogbox and stick out its tongue before writing 867-5309 on the pane.

Markhat Release News

Brown River Queen will be released in print on Tuesday, March 4! So if you've been waiting for a print copy, your wait is nearly over. Of course the ebook version is available now. 

I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention that a new Markhat book, The Five Faces, will be released in ebook format on June 17. You can pre-order now, unless you want to make me cry. You don't want that, do you? Of course not.

Meralda and Mug Update

The new Meralda and Mug book, All the Turns of Light, is proceeding quickly. Is it possible I'll be complete or nearly so with the rough draft by the end of the month?

Yes it is. I don't want to jinx it by saying too much, but it could happen. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

That's it for this edition of Mad Science. I would like to wish a final farewell to Harold Ramis, who brought Dr. Egon Spengler to life and inspired me to do inadvisable things to common household items in the name of Science. 

Don't cross the streams, buddy. See you around.

Taciturn Ghosts and Markhat Release news!

Midway Cemetery, 2014

After capturing a loud EVP incident last week (listen to it here if you missed that blog entry), I returned to the same tiny cemetery yesterday, to see if anyone still felt like talking.

Armor-All the fearless armadillo was there, happily scooting about for tasty grubs. He was a bit more wary than before, though, and he waddled into the woods before I could get a good photo of him.

I spent 22 minutes among the headstones. I also took over a hundred photos, in case any of the spooks felt frisky. Of all those photos, I saw one unusual effect, which is show below:

See that squashed rainbow object at the lower right corner?

I've seen similar images touted as evidence of the paranormal. Sadly, I'm sure this is nothing but sloppy camera work.

Look how the shadows of the headstones fall. It's obvious the sun is off to the left of the image. Which means a ray of bright sunlight entered my lens and caused the prismatic rainbow effect, putting it opposite the bright light source. Nothing paranormal about this.

I did capture a single very faint sound that might be a voice. I'm on the fence about this one, because it is so faint. But listen for yourself (I put a link a few paragraphs below).

In the rear of the cemetery is a tall marble marker for a Mrs. Mollie Boone. I put my Zoom mic atop her marker and left it there for a while. Here's the mic atop the marker. Oh, and that fuzzy bit atop the microphone is a windscreen. 

The maybe-voice occurs around the ten minute mark on the full recording. I remark that the cemetery is peaceful, retrieve the mic, and walk away. As I am walking, I recorded a single very faint sound which sounds like a male saying 'hey.'

It's so faint I've amplified and looped it below:

Hey looped.

Like I said, I'm on the fence with this one. Could be a voice, could be a lot of other things, I suppose.

If you want to slog through the entire 22 minute recording, be my guest. The link is below.

Entire cemetery visit.

I have most of the components for a new ghost-hunting tool I've never seen built before. Hopefully next week I'll have photos of the completed device, or at least the smoking ruin of the prototype. Should be fun either way.

Meralda and Mug Update

Have I made progress on the new Mug and Meralda novel?

Yes. Yes I have. Fans of the first book, All the Paths of Shadow, will be happy to know that (gasp) Meralda and Mug have left the Royal Laboratory and indeed all of Tirlin. 

All the Paths of Shadow was written to be a sort of anti-quest fantasy novel. Look, I don't have anything at all against quest books. Loved The Lord of the Rings. Heck, I even enjoyed the Shannara books, when I was a kid. There's something innately exciting about a band of misfit adventurers slogging across the landscape in an effort to save the world.

But I'd seen so many quest novels. What about writing a protagonist who likes to sleep in her own bed, likes her morning coffee just so, and has no desire to drive across town, much less sleep in the mud?

That's Meralda. She just wants to be left alone, so she can do her research from morning till night. Of course that's not how her life is turning out, but if I was nice to my protagonists the books would be too boring to bother reading.

I'm trying another new thing with this book by including excerpts from Mug's private journal between chapters. Since this is his private journal, he's even more outspoken in these excerpts than he is in public. I'm waiting until the book is complete to see if these journal entries add or detract from the overall reading experience. So far I think they add a good bit of humor, and yes Mug can write using his vines to hold the pen.

I would post an excerpt here but there's no way I can do that without including half a dozen spoilers. 

I will say this book is a much faster-paced entry than All the Paths of Shadow. Sea monsters may be involved. And storms. And we may finally learn why the Vonats are so dead set against -- well, everything.

The Five Faces

Love this cover!

Good news! The Five Faces is now up for pre-order on Amazon. If you have a Kindle (or the free Kindle app), you can order your copy now and have it delivered to your device on June 17.

Pre-order The Five Faces on Amazon

I'm really excited about this book. I believe you'll like it too.

In case I have any readers new to the series, there are 8 Markhat titles for you to choose from. I'm often asked what order they are best read in, so here's what I suggest:

1) Dead Man's Rain

2) The Cadaver Client

3) The Mister Trophy

Note that it really doesn't matter what order you read the first three tales in. Any order is fine, really.

Dead Man's Rain is set in a haunted mansion. Markhat doesn't believe in haints, haunts, and bumps in the night, but he does believe in greedy relatives and he's not one to turn down a hefty fee. But Markhat soon learns that the horrors lurking in House Merlat might just be all too real. As Mama Hog observes, 'sometimes good and dead ain't good enough.'

The Cadaver Client finds Markhat in the hire of a remorseful ghost, who communicates with him through a little old lady who claims to speak to the dead. The ghost wants his living wife to have a sum of money, but it seems even the dead have more lies to tell than truth.

The Mister Trophy sets Markhat against the deranged head of one of Rannit's Dark Houses. Three mighty Troll warriors hire Markhat to find their cousin's head, which went missing during the War that almost wiped out humanity. Markhat finds the Troll head, but bringing it home to his clients may be a war in itself.

Those are the first three Markhat adventures. They are available only in ebook form individually, but if you prefer print books you can get the print anthology The Markhat Files, which contains all three!

The Markhat Files print anthology

I suggest reading the rest of the books in the order below. Note that each of the following books is available as an ebook or a printed book.

4) Hold the Dark

5) The Banshee's Walk

6) The Broken Bell

7) Brown River Queen

8) The Five Faces (available June 17, 2014)

Hold the Dark introduces new characters and conflicts, and sets a story arc that continues through The Banshee's Walk, The Broken Bell, Brown River Queen, and The Five Faces. 

The tone of the Markhat series is a little bit Raymond Chandler and a little bit Nero Wolfe. Markhat lives and works in a city called Rannit, which houses some 600,000 souls. Rannit isn't on Earth; I created a new world for the series, which they call simply 'the world.' 

Think 1930s Chicago, with vampires called halfdead holding most of the money and Ogres doing the heavy lifting. Rannites have ironworks, gas lamps, cannon, and gunpowder. Markhat is an Army vet who earns a living as a 'finder,' which is what we would call a private eye. If you've lost someone, or something, Markhat will search it out for you. For a price, of course. A man has to eat.

What Markhat mainly finds is trouble, of course. Bad trouble, because the bigger the problem, the better the book.

If you'd like to check out all my books, click below. You'll see covers and links to various purchasing options, because I'm A) helpful and B) avaricious. 

Frank's Books

That's the cover for Brown River Queen, which is set aboard a lavish gambling riverboat. The Queen's maiden voyage doesn't go entirely as planned...

MidSouthCon!

It's nearly March, and that can mean only one thing -- MidSouthCon!

This year's Con will be MidSouthCon32.  I love MidSouthCon -- it's large enough to attract some fascinating folks, and small enough to meet them.

For instance, here's the gang from Expedition Unknown, the Mid-South's premiere paranormal investigators. They have a website, and a YouTube channel featuring some of their best paranormal evidence. You should check out the YouTube channel -- the EVPs are fascinating.

And of course there are the cosplayers!

This year, Brown River Queen is up for a Darrell Award for best novel. I'm up against some stiff competition, so wish Markhat good luck!

I'm also being inducted into the Coger Hall of Fame, which is based on a body of work and not any single title. The judges cited my short stories and short story anthologies Saving the Sammi, Wistril Compleat, On the Road, The Far Corners, and Passing the Narrows as the basis for my induction, and I'm honored and very proud of being included in the Hall of Fame. 

So, if you're planning on being at MidSouthCon this year, look for me -- I'll be the guy grinning like a fool!

Things That Go Bump 2014, Issue #1: Mad Science, Ganzfeld Edition

Can you spot the armored mammal in this photo?

Welcome, boys and girls, to another edition of Things That Go Bump. 

I hadn't actually planned to offer another installment of my amateur supernatural sleuthing today, but a chance visit to a local cemetery resulted in the capture of what I consider to be my best EVP recording yet. I'm really excited about this recording, for a couple of reasons.

First, the vocalization is unique in that it extends over my own soft laughter. Which means it wasn't some weird unintentional grunt or burp, because I'm not a ventriloquist.

Next, it's pretty clear. Clear that it's a voice, and a voice not my own, and clear in what it seems to be saying.

Finally, because it was fairly loud. I didn't hear a thing at the time of recording. Nothing. But my good Zoom H1 mic caught it, and now you can hear it too!

First, a bit of backstory.

Karen and I drove up to the old Midway Cemetery in Lafayette County, Mississippi, after visiting my dad today. It's a sunny day, and warm compared to the weather of late, so we thought we'd go kick around up there for a bit. I took my new SL1000 camera and my trusty Zoom mic with windscreen.

We stayed at the graveyard for about 22 minutes. We weren't alone, though, as Karen, who had the camera, quickly discovered. This little fellow was there first.

Yes, that's an armadillo, and he got within about 3 inches of Karen's shoe before they became aware of each other.

Why is the image black and white? Because I'm going through my Ansel Adams phase and it was in B&W mode when I handed it to Karen. So that's my fault, not hers, but I love the pics anyway.

We watched the armadillo, whom Karen dubbed Armor-All, roam and root throughout the place, oblivious to our presence. I believe he might have been deaf.

They're actually cute, up close. I had no idea they had so much hair on their body armor.

We did switch to color, and here's what he looks like:

It was during our observations of the little guy that I captured the EVP.

The phenomena occurs at about 14:25 in on the full recording. I haven't said anything for several minutes. I'm standing alone, watching Karen take pics of Armor-All and chuckling aloud to myself because the critter was so cute and so unafraid. There was no conversation, no questions asked, no comments made by me.

I've isolated the EVP voice and my laugh in the short clip below. Please listen, and see what you think.

Midway EVP word

That sample has been amplified just a tad so you can listen without headphones. Here's the raw sample, unmodified:

Midway EVP Word, raw

Finally, here's the full 20-plus minute session, in case you care to listen. I didn't hear any other voices.

Full visit sound file

Let me reiterate -- I did not hear the voice until I listened to the recording. No one was close to me. I hear, quite clearly, a whispered or airy voice say the single word 'goodbye.' Which is apropos of nothing, as they say, since that doesn't fit into any conversational context at that time.

But it is a word, and it is a voice, and it came seemingly from thin air.

I have no explanation.

Weird Science: The Ganzfeld Effect

Way back in the 1930s, it was observed that placing goggles which presented a blank, uniform visual field to subjects resulted in hallucinations and changes to the brain's electrical activity. 

In the 1930s, this was considered rare good fun, so scientists ran with it. The phenomena came to be known as the Ganzfeld Effect (Ganzfeld is German for 'complete field'). After adding headphones playing white noise to the blank white visual field, test subjects reported seeing the kinds of things LSD enthusiasts would also report thirty years later.

The Ganzfeld Effect eventually came into play as a technique used by parapsychologists and ESP researchers. It was thought subjects undergoing a Ganzfeld environment showed increased psychic abilities. There are rumors the CIA tried using the Ganzfeld Effect in its own infamous remote-viewing experiments in the 1960s.

So. We have 30s-era mad scientists with their wild hair and side-buttoning lab coats in one corner. In the other, we have shadowy spy agency types glaring at grinning, tripping hippies.

Anything that attracts all these sorts has got to be fun, so count me in.

You can replicate the Ganzfeld Effect for yourself easily enough. Here's what you need:

1) A pack of ping-pong balls (two at least).

2) A razor knife.

3) 300 grit sandpaper.

4) Headphones, and a device to drive them.

5) A white noise source. I got a free white noise generator from iTunes, and played it on my phone.

6) A comfy chair.

7) A lamp.

Look at the picture below. Yes, I know it's painful, but look anyway. Covering my eyes are a pair of halved ping-pong balls. With a little work, you can trim them so that they fit over your eyes perfectly, rendering your entire visual field a blank white expanse.

That's where the razor knife and the sandpaper come in. Cut the balls to fit, then sand the edges smooth. The edges of the balls, not your eyes. Keep the sandpaper away from your eyes. 

Cut the ball in half. Trim each to fit your eye socket. Easy peasy. The CIA probably paid some government contractor half a million 1965 dollars just for that.

Load up your white noise, don your stylish and comfortable headphones, and put the Ganzfeld goggles over your eyes. Lay back. Face your lamp. Hit play.

And, according to the literature, prepare to be transported to an amazing new dimension of hallucinatory delight.

The Ganzfeld Effect is said to work because your brain, my brain, even the brain downstairs I keep alive in a jar is constantly looking for patterns in chaos. That's why we see faces in wood-grain doors, sometimes, or animals in clouds. 

So, by presenting your brain with a blank, uniform visual field via the eyes and random white noise via your ears, you set the stage for a kind of visual/auditory feedback loop, fueled by imagination and hallucinations. People report seeing loved ones, pastoral scenes, vivid colors, moving landscapes, you name it. The CIA even thought people might see inside naughty Russian missile bases, or sneaky submarines.

Look, if all it takes to hack my brain into being amusing for a change is a pair of ping-pong balls and a free white noise app, I say let's do this thing.

So do this thing I did, yesterday afternoon.

Below is the log of my experiences with the Ganzfeld Effect.

Ganzfeld Session 1
Saturday, February 15, 2014
1435 hours

White noise, 12 minutes. White light source.

Visual Hallucinations: None.
Auditory hallucinations: None.
General Impressions: Boring. The improvised 'goggles' worked well enough, in that they provided a uniform white visual field. The white noise generator paired with my good headphones was effective at blocking out all background noise. So I was presented with a blank white field of vision and my hearing was limited to pure white noise -- both of which were simply boring. At no point did I begin to 'see' anything but white. At no point did my surroundings fade or change. In a word, boring.
Mystical Impressions Received: I think this experiment would be a lot more fun if I replace the white noise with the Beatles and their Magical Mystery Tour album. But I won't, because this is Science.

Ganzfeld Session 2
Saturday, February 15, 2014
1517 hours

White noise, 12 minutes. White light source, rendered brighter than the source in Session 1 because I placed the lamp on my chest and aimed it at my face.

Visual Hallucinations: None.
Auditory hallucinations: None.
General Impressions: Seriously, were the people who reported visual hallucinations with this set-up enhancing their research with a little, shall we say, herb of the field? You know what I did gain a profound awareness of? I became profoundly aware that I was sitting in my chair with ping-pong balls over my eyes and a lamp on my chest. Now, this is hardly the strangest thing I've ever done, but in the other instances (yeah, especially the beach-balls and the ostrich) I could at least point towards an empty cooler and say 'beer.' This is just silly.
Mystical Impressions Received: After witnessing this display, my dogs are seriously considering appointing a new pack alpha.

Ganzfeld Session 3
Saturday, February 15, 2014
1601 hours

White noise, 12 minutes. White light source, rendered brighter than the source in Sessions 1 and 2 because I added an extra lamp to the rig.

Visual Hallucinations: None. What a shock.
Auditory Hallucinations: I believe I heard a voice from above spaketh the words 'Wow, what a wanker.'
General Impressions: See sessions 1 and 2. What a waste of time and white noise. I suppose it's possible that some people do experience visual hallucinations this way, but I'm obviously not one of them. I am annoyed, which probably isn't significant because I can achieve that mental state quite easily without sticking Mole Man goggles over my eyes.
Mystical Impressions Received: Ping-pong balls and loud static are NOT the gateway to another universe no matter what happened on that episode of Fringe.

Not a single Russian launch site did I view. I am very disappointed.

But at least I have some neat new goggles, suitable for Halloween or any formal occasion.

Mug and Meralda news

Work on the new book speeds along! I am now on page 59 of the new book. Not too shabby!

No, that's not the new book cover. It's the first book in the series, All the Paths of Shadow. Click the link! Leave a review! Buy a copy! Sorry. The brain in the jar downstairs needs a fresh supply of expensive nutrients.

Hey, how's this get in here? It's the cover for Brown River Queen.  A review? Please, guv'nor, it would mean ever so much to Tiny Tim...

And I'm out. 

Please, please comment on what you think the EVP voice said. I'm really stunned with this one.

By the way, not sure this is relevant, but I have a number of relatives buried there. People I knew well, and loved well. It's a peaceful place, with no spooky atmosphere that I can detect. 

Anyway, take care all!  See you next week!

White Skies at Night

It's full of stars...

Snows is akin to a teacher's pay raise, here in Mississippi, in that snows are few, far between, and tend to leave much to be desired in terms of actual measure. But when we left the Malco Theater late Friday night after seeing a block of films at the Oxford Film Festival, the sky was full of the stuff. The above is a photo I took, because yes, to Mississippi natives taking a picture of snow is deemed not only reasonable but mandatory.

The ground got a light covering too. I am pleased to report that the town didn't shut down, mainly because it happened at night and it would take a full-scale invasion by a foreign superpower to impede the Oxford Square bar traffic on a weekend. No, we Oxonians soldiered on, with nary a panicked run to the grocery store for milk and eggs. Although I suppose drink orders for White Russians may have seen a sudden uptick.

Markhat News

That's the new cover. Yeah, I know I did a reveal for it last weekend, but I like it, so here it is again.

I am pleased to report that the latest round of edits for the book above is complete. This round is known as the FLE, or First Line Edit. In this round, a sharp-eyed editor who has thus far not been involved in the back-and-forth edits between myself and the wise and all-seeing Editrix H reads the edited manuscript, looking for issues we may have missed. 

First Line Editors are chosen for their supernatural ability to spot continuity errors which may be separated by hundreds of pages, or even by books in a series. For instance, in the Markhat series, the phrase 'Angels and Devils' is a mild curse, usually spoken in anger or disgust. 

But did we use 'Angels and Devils' in Book 2, or did we drop the capitalization on Devils and use 'Angels and devils?'

The FLE knows, or knows to raise the question. That slipped right past me (the answer, by the way, is 'Angels and Devils.')

The good news is that the June publication date is firm now. The bulk (if not all) of the editing is done, the cover is set, and the book is ready to be converted into the various formats and distributed to booksellers around the world. Samhain handles all that. I just sit back and...I mean, I start immediately to work on the next book.

The Darker Carnival 

I am pleased to announce that the new Markhat adventure, The Darker Carnival, is done. First draft, that is. I'm pleased with it. So pleased that I've sent the book to my fearless beta reader for a round of first impressions.

Since you're a reader of my blog, I'll reveal a few things about the new book to you. As the title indicates, this entry is set in a carnival. 

What kind of carnival, you ask?

Well, on the surface, Markhat describes it thusly:

"Oh, it's wholesome, harmless diversion," I said. "A place where simple pleasures can be safely pursued by apple-cheeked children and their plain, homespun parents. Why, I wouldn't be surprised to learn the midway is manned by cherubs."

But of course that's Markhat being sarcastic, and while there might be winged things hiding along the midway of Dark's Diverse Delights they certainly aren't cherubs.

I really enjoyed writing The Darker Carnival. I will let it slip that this book brings major changes to the series, for all the characters, and while nothing will ever be quite the same again I hope the experience for you, the reader, will be improved.

But we'll have to wait and see. As usual, there's no guarantee The Darker Carnival will be picked up. Of course, if enough readers (wink wink) buy Markhat books, or drop the publisher quick little notes telling them how much you enjoy the series, that would certainly improve the odds.

Meralda and Mug news

Now that the The Five Faces is nearly ready for release and The Darker Carnival is a finished first draft, I'm turning my sights back to the sequel to All the Paths of Shadow. 

I have nearly fifteen thousand words of the new Mug and Meralda book down. It will be called All the Turns of Light, and I hope to have the first draft done before The Five Faces hits the stands in June. 

Phantoms or Foolery?

The Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles has a long history of macabre goings-on. It's linked to the Black Dahlia murder and just last year a missing tourist was found drowned in one of its rooftop water tanks. 

So if you took a shower or had a nice cool glass of refreshing water at the Cecil Hotel around that time, um, yeah. I wouldn't want to talk about it either.

On the plus side, it's slightly cheaper than the Bates Motel, and the snacks in the vending machines are usually fresh, or at least fresher than the corpses filling the water tanks. You can also probably drag a suspiciously lumpy roll of stained carpet out of the place without raising any eyebrows. That's just a tip from me to you.

A new photo has surfaced which shows what some call a ghostly image outside a fourth story window of the Cecil. Click below to read the story for yourself.

Window Ghost at the Cecil Hotel

I'm going to call this one a reflection phenomena, because it looks to me as if the photo was taken from inside a vehicle, and the 'ghost' is nothing more than a reflection of something on the dashboard. But that's just a guess.

Time for me to get back to work! Take care, all, and if you own a hotel please check your rooftop water tanks for corpses every now and then.

Still here? Quick, go read this!

Middle Earth as Seen From Space