10/13/26
Productive day yesterday. Spent the first half of the morning writing, then broke for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking. Managed to get the Whiteboard of Doom hung in its new location, and maybe ¼ of the Vortex online store stock shelved. I also got the old Brother WP3400 out and plugged in. I never use that old word processor, but I wrote my first attempts at professional stories and novels on it, and about half of the stories collected in NO REST FOR THE WICKED were first spawned from it, so it has nostalgic value for me.
Mary and I went into town for dinner, and then stopped by the assisted living facility to visit my grandma, and then got groceries for us and shelled corn for the deer and turkeys.
There’s a massive black bear lurking about. He dug up the yellowjacket next in our side yard (right next to the propane tank). Bears, raccons, weasel, skunks, and wolverines will do this to get to the grubs and larvae in the nest, which are good — if somewhat disgusting — sources of protein. I know it was a bear because 1) There were some pretty big rocks tossed aside and a raccoon or a skunk couldn’t have unearthed and moved them, and 2) my uncle, who is our nearest neighbor, has caught the bear on his trail cams several times over the last few weeks.
There are also six deer who have been coming in regularly every evening, including a late-season fawn, and four turkeys that move grouped together, always.
The cats are very curious about all of these new friends outside the windows.
This morning I’ll work on me and Chris’s follow up to OPERATION LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK (I know, I know… there’s been no official announcement as to what OPERATION LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK even is and yet we are already working on a sequel to it? Although, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Listeners to KEENEVERSATIONS were already told what the book really is). This afternoon will involve more unpacking. I’d really like to get the audio equipment hokked up before bed tonight, as I work best to music, and try very hard these days to avoid using Spotify or the other music streaming services as I have too many friends in the music business, including a few Grammy winners, who have shocked me with just how little $ they make every time we stream a song.
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Women In Horror Year: Days 128 and 129
Obelisk by Ehren M. Ehly
Totem by Ehren M. Ehly
Trapped in the hot, fetid darkness of an ancient Egyptian tomb, Steve Harrison was suddenly assaulted by bizarre and horrific images of a past he had never known. Even when he returned to New York, he found himself driven by strange cravings and erotic desires he couldn't explain; his girlfriend suddenly feared for her life and that of her unborn child. Steve Harrison only had one chance to restore his deteriorating body and cleanse his diseased mind--a final confrontation with incredible forces of evil, this time in Central Park, this time in the shadow of the forbidding ...Obelisk.
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A golden hawk fell from the sky, ushering in a storm of terror as the sleeping dead began to stir beneath the earth. Deaf to the hawk's strangled cry of warning, the workmen continued to uncover the ancient evil that lay within the Indian burial ground, unwittingly unleashing an unholy force on an unsuspecting world. They had angered the Ancient One, and his appetite for revenge could only be satisfied with the souls of those who had awakened him from his eternal rest. Only one woman could stop him, one woman rich in the knowledge of the old ways, one woman prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice at the bloodied base of the Totem.
Ehren M. Ehly was the pseudonym of Moreen Ehly (1929-2012). Born in Heliopolis, Egypt, she won the title of Miss Egypt in 1949. While in Cairo, she met her future husband Robert, an American Marine stationed as an embassy guard. In January 1952, Moreen and her mother fled Egypt during the Black Saturday riots in Cairo and settled in London. where she reunited with Robert. According to biographical notes:
Getting Moreen legally into the United States would prove difficult, and it was only through the efforts of Ralph Edwards, the host of the Truth or Consequences show, that cut through the red tape. Fellow Marines in Robert's company had contacted Edwards, who came up with a plan to have Robert appear on the show to judge a beauty contest. On stage, models and starlets were to pop out of oversized advertisement product containers. Moreen popped out of a huge Pet Milk can, much to Robert's surprise and joy.
Moreen and Robert settled in California, and in the 1960s, she became one of the first female commissioned salespeople in the U.S. while working as a home appliance salesperson for Sears. Upon her retirement, she began writing horror novels — including Obelisk, Totem, Evil Eye, and Star Prey.
Both Obelisk and Totem are renowned for their classic 1980s cover art (by Ben Perini) including some glorious die-cut reveals. First published by Leisure Books as mass market paperbacks, both novels pretty much epitomize the aesthetic Grady Hendrix writes about in Paperbacks From Hell. The stories themselves are lurid and pulpy, the prose is accessible, and the plots are vintage (Obelisk can be summed up as “evil Egyptian sorcerer’s spirit takes posession of the body of a grave robber”). What makes Obelisk stand out from the rest of the 1980s torrent, however, is Ehly’s drawing upon her past and her culture, imbuing the supernatural elements with a clarity and earnestness that transcends the typical “white archeologist gets cursed by a mummy” sort of thing. Which, in turn, makes Totem all the more curious. While the covers might have led the reader to believe the two novels are related, they are not — although they share many similar set-ups and plot mechanics. Unfortunately, Totem utilizes the by-then tired Idnian burial ground trope, and doesn’t treat it any better than any other writer of the period. Despite this, the book is a fun, pulpy read.
Paperbacks for both of these books are long out of print and command $50 on the secondary market (in Fine to Mint condition), but both are available in eBook from BookBaby. Here is Obelisk on Kindle, and here is Totem on Kindle.
