Writing is such a crazy and selfish act that it’s always surprising that more authors aren’t a little nutty or end up a protagonist in their own work.

One simple antidote that I’ve found helps me get out of my own head and neuroses? Try to do good. Look for ways to help others. Be of service.

It can bring happiness to you and others. Win-win. Sort of like this little email.

 

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

 

3 LINKS

• USA Today recommends a wide variety of reading material, from graphic novels to supernatural genre thrillers to Joyce Carol Oates, to get you in the spooky mood.
  

• We should wrap up Bly Manor this weekend and it has us in a gothic mood. The Guardian looks for the forgotten female authors of Victorian ghost stories that have mostly been written out of history.
  

• The Washington Post looks beyond the mundane to their favorite odd haunting settings for scary stories.
  

 

2 QUOTES

Two quotes from TURN OF THE SCREW author Henry James:

• “We work in the dark – we do what we can – we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.”
  

• “Sorrow comes in great waves…but rolls over us, and though it may almost smother us, it leaves us. And we know that if it is strong, we are stronger, inasmuch as it passes and we remain.”

 

1 QUESTION

• What’s your favorite spooky book or ghost story to read this time of year? My personal boogeyman, especially since I became a parent, is PET SEMETARY by Stephen King.
  

 

Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series