Horror does good

Doings this week in the horror community

Tuesday, October 15, please join me and many other folks in the horror film and literature community at Scare Up the Vote, a two-hour online rally and fundraiser for Harris/Walz.

There’s been a lot of raging back and forth over whether authors should get political. We’ve all gotten angry emails from readers who were disgusted/disappointed when we expressed our political leanings, threatening to burn our books and never read one of our works again.

I don’t want to offend anyone, any more than I want someone to shove their political beliefs in my face. But after a long federal career, it’s impossible to disentangle politics from who I am. (Strangely, because when I was fed, you were not allowed to discuss partisan politics in the office AT ALL. Until Trump.)

I was a civil servant under every administration from Reagan to Trump. From the late 1990s on, I ended up working more closely than a typical analyst in support of senior policymakers. I even spent two years doing policy work during the George W. Bush administration. I’ve been in the West Wing, Congress, briefed at the Cabinet level, been part of U.S. delegations.

I’ve seen great public servants, folks voted into office who try to work for the good of the American people. And I’ve seen terrible ones, politicians who cared less for the good of the country than they did for enriching themselves and their friends. I was in the Rumsfeld Pentagon, after all, involved in the Iraq war planning debacle. But I’ve never seen anyone as disastrous for this country as Donald Trump.

A vote for Kamala Harris isn’t just a vote against her opponent. She’s one of the good ones. She will work for the good of all Americans and uphold the Constitution. And that’s the job description. Who can even pretend this is true of Trump?

If you’re of a similar opinion, won’t you join us Tuesday night? A whole lot of horror royalty will be there including Stephen King, Joe Hill, Mike Flanagan, Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Tananarive Due, Christopher Golden, and so many more. Lots of Hollywood folks. Please register at the link above to make sure you get the link for the livestream Tuesday.

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Tomorrow also begins an auction of luscious horror goodies to benefit the Ashland Public Library in Ashland, Massachusetts. I remember going to Ashland State Park for family picnics when I was a kid. Lugging Coleman coolers full of my mother’s excellent cooking out to a wooded glen. Climbing rocks and following streams. So when I was contacted about donating to the auction, I was happy to help.

There’s offerings from dozens of authors, including friends S.A. Barnes, Nat Cassidy, Clay McLeod Chapman, SA Cosby, Delilah Dawson, Christopher Golden, Rachel Harrison, Grady Hendrix, Stephen Graham Jones, Joe Hill, R.L. Stine, Paul Tremblay, and Chuck Wendig. Whew. Lots and lots of signed and/or personalized books up for grabs, folks. I’ll be donating a copy each of the trade paperback of The Hunger, The Deep, and The Fervor, signed and if you’d like, personalized. Don’t forget: signed books make GREAT holiday presents.