Back soon

A week ago, I developed a mysterious pain that, after a few hours, bloomed into something intolerable. After writhing, pounding the walls and the bed, convulsing with pain, my wife was advised to take me to the hospital by my on-call doctor. I spent the night in the emergency room, leaving with a prodigious collection of prescriptions, memories of a very surreal night - including an encounter with a CT scan that spoke with a British accent - enhanced with doses of hospital strength pharmaceuticals, and phenomenal, nausea-inducing pain. It was serious, but not life-threatening, at least by the time we capitulated to the medical establishment. At this point, I am definitely on the mend, but am not able to spend a great deal of time walking upright or sitting up straight. If I keep travelling the healing path, I should be back to normal, and posting more, very soon.

In the meantime, I've enjoyed re-watching all eleven hours of the extended version of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy (not in one sitting, mind you), reconfirming to my own taste that its one of the greatest cinematic achievements ever. I've also been able to finally sink into China Mieville's epic novel, Perdido Street Station. My extended stay in the hypnogogic regions of consciousness meshed perfectly with his feverish, phantasmagorical creation. I still shudder at the thought of the slake-moths.

Best Horror from 2006

Last night the winners of this year's International Horror Guild Awards were announced at the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs, NY. Notable winners included Conrad Williams for his novel The Unblemished, Norman Partridge for his novella Dark Harvest, Glen Hirshberg for his short story collection American Morons, and S. T. Joshi for his reference work Icons of Horror and the Supernatural. A complete listing of award winners and nominees can be found here.