5/6/26
I launched KEENEVERSATIONS a year ago this month, and have been using a Nomono Sound Capsule to record, edit, and produce. The device was recommended to me by Scott Edelman, who uses if for Eating the Fantastic. It’s an expensive piece of gear, but very, very worth it. I’ve had zero complaints about it until the last four weeks, when it’s suddenly begun sporadically refusing to connect to WiFi or deciding that the microphones don’t exist or deciding to go to sleep after I hit record and then taking 15 minutes to wake up again. This morning’s software update seems to have fixed everything, so I’m hoping that’s all it was.
Despite the recent tech glitches, I still highly recommend this unit to anyone with an interest in podcasting, or to journalists looking for a better recorder than their phone when conducting interviews.
I have plans for KEENEVERSATIONS as we head into Year Two. As always, new episodes will be paywalled for the first month, and then made available for free after that.
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Have to take a quick trip down to West Virginia tomorrow, to help my father install an air conditioner at my grandmother’s home, and also haul away and replace a generator at the family cabin. When I say quick trip, I mean just that. Down Thursday, work Friday, and back Saturday. Mary plans to stay home and catch up on the really, really terrible movies she watches for Ghost Hosts Movie Night — a podcast she does with Somer Canon and Matt Wildasin.
Anyway… probably no Blog entries here tomorrow (Thursday) through Saturday, unless I get the free time and a reliable Wifi signal. I’ll preload Patreon so there’s content appearing there like usual.
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Women In Horror Year: Day 31
In Excess of Dark by Red Lagoe
What if every terrible thing imagined came true? Every fleeting, nightmarish thought a reality? For grief-stricken Karina, her newfound ability to turn her worst daydreams into palpable truths has sent her into a downward spiral of depression and guilt. Coupled with the appearance of an enigmatic shadow figure and visions of her dead family, she grapples to maintain her sanity while desperately attempting to harness her abilities and reunite with her loved ones.
I’ve seen In Excess of Dark described as Grief Horror, and it is indeed that, partially. But this novella is so much more than that lone subgenre category. At times violent, at times surreal, and constantly unsettling, In Excess of Dark is a masterful example of an artist writing about art — a creator digging their fists into this process and the things we do, and bringing those fists up wet and red and steaming.
And on a more personal note — as someone with two loved ones who struggle with OCD and intrusive thoughts, as well as having several close friends who struggle with the same — I don’t know if something like that was there in the background as Red was writing this, but as a reader, it made the actual horror elements all the more effective to me. “What if every terrible thought you had suddenly happened in real life” is, for someone afflicted with intrusive thoughts, an absolute fucking nightmare. And for someone who loves people afflicted with intrusive thoughts, it impacted me in a way no other work of horror fiction has since Stephen King’s equally masterful N.
Don’t sleep on this book. You can read it in a weekend, and you’ll have discovered a new favorite author. In Excess of Dark is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook from Sobelo Books.
