Sunday, September 20, 2009

A belated return

Life brings many surprises, some of them quite unpleasant and life altering.

Since my last post over a year and a half ago, the course of my life diverged into a path of profound and tremendous upheaval, including first and foremost a painful divorce. Such times call for the creation of a space to heal, a reassment of priorities and the will to rebuild. Despite the promptings of several dear friends, I felt little desire to post here. I was shell shocked and locked in survivor mode. Of course my interest in the field of weird studies never flagged. I read more than ever and felt that my love of weird fiction was a saving grace bestowed upon my wounded soul. More often than not, the words to express this love and gratitude failed me. So I've remained silent.

The course of my life is altering yet again. I'm emerging from the dark of the woods, and can see daylight and hope ahead. Good things are happening. Small and large blessings have been cropping up. I'm feeling the urge to write here again. Despite the pain of the last few years, I'm starting to understand that the path has always been right even through the darkest parts where there seemed to be no path.

This year I have the good fortune to be participating on a couple of panels at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon. I have attended the festival, and occasionally reviewed it for VideoScope magazine, over the last ten years. I love this festival with all my heart and am thrilled to be a participant however small a role my part is in the overall scheme of the event. Naturally, I plan for my next few posts to be related to Festival topics and H. P. Lovecraft, the grand old master of cosmic horror and true connoisseur of the weird tale.

Thank you for reading. I truly am grateful for each and every one of you who takes the time to read my blog.