The Book of Cthulhu is now available from better independent booksellers everywhere, and online through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
Rogue: Hazelnut Brown Nectar
The one thing I love more than a good beer recommendation? A good beer recommendation I can actually find. So when Constance Ann Fitzgerald, author of Trashland A Go-Go and fellow Petaluma resident, told me that I not only needed to try Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar, but that they had it at Wilibees, I headed right over to pick up a bomber. Continue Reading →
Sierra Nevada: Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale
Feet. Amazing things, aren’t they? They’re a ticklish subject, and it’s true we walk all over them, but without our feet, without those seven tarsal bones, five metatarsals, and fourteen phalanges (not to mention the tiny sesamoid bone in the big toe), we wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Continue Reading →
Notes on a Writers Conference and Imposter Syndrome
I was invited to be a presenter at this year’s San Francisco Writers Conference, something which still boggles my mind a little bit (but more on that in a sec). So yesterday afternoon, I drove down to the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, at the top of Knob Hill, signed in, and participated in a standing-room-only genre fiction-focused panel called “Making Your Fantasies Come True,” along with editor Gabrielle Harbowy (who gave me a copy of her Dragon Moon Press anthology, When the Hero Comes Home), authors Ransom Stephens (a fellow Petaluman) and Pam van Hylckama, and agent and dean of San Francisco Writers University Laurie McLean. Continue Reading →
Victory: Hop Wallop
Once home from my adventures at the San Francisco Writers Conference, I cracked open a Hop Wallop from Victory Brewing, purchased as much for the cartoonish prospector on its label as for the promise of a DIPA. Continue Reading →
Bear Republic: Racer X Double IPA
“Got a big white X / On the top of his car / Rex keeps his speed / In a little glass jar…” –Big Black, “Racer X”
I am unabashedly a fan of Speed Racer (Mach GoGoGo), the late 1960s anime series focusing on the adventures of race-car driver Gō Mifune (AKA Speed Racer, voiced in English by Peter Fernandez) and his hard-driving family, including his incognito older brother Rex, better known as the masked Racer X. And while drinking and driving definitely don’t mix, there is a certain appeal to knocking back a cold one while enjoying the vicarious thrills of fast cars, intrigue, sabotage, and a pretty girl with her own helicopter. Continue Reading →
Shipyard: XXXX IPA (Pugsley’s Signature Series)
Another crazy week. Not only did my anthology, The Book of Cthulhu, make it onto the Locus Magazine 2011 Recommended Reading List (Anthologies, Reprint), but it also got onto the 42nd Annual Locus Awards Ballot (Best Anthology).
Best part: You don’t have to be a Locus subscriber to vote (though subscriber votes count double), all you gotta do to vote is drop by the web page and fill out a ballot. Continue Reading →
Stone: 11.11.11 Vertical Epic Ale
It’s been a wonderful Saturday, starting with a drive (down to The Country Vet, but you take what you get) with Jennifer and Maddie, moving from there to a bit of shopping (although the lamp I bought didn’t work), then to a little bit of work (more corrections), followed by a Maddie-led walk downtown (Straight to Petaluma Pie and Copperfield’s Books… what a dog!), and ending up in my reading a few stories, including the impressively chilling tales by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. and Genevieve Valentine from the inaugural issue of Phantasmagorium. And, rumor has it, there still may be a slice of Maddie-versary sweet potato pie for dessert. Continue Reading →
Sierra Nevada: Ruthless Rye
Another week gives way to another weekend. And what a busy week it was. I seem to be coordinating and correcting a ton of projects right now, having just wrapped up Jonathan Strahan’s The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Six, and working concurrently on Ellen Datlow’s The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four, Phil and Kaja Foglio’s Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess, Bradley P. Beaulieu’s The Straits of Galahesh, Laird Barron’s The Croning, and Mary Gentle’s The Black Opera. It’s a lot of juggling (and unfortunately, my training is in fire-breathing), but all the balls seem to be remaining in the air. Continue Reading →
Samuel Adams: The Vixen
Randy and Jan invited us over for enchiladas tonight, so earlier today, when I stopped by Petaluma Market for a few necessities, I picked up a little something that caught my eye: The Vixen, a chocolate chili bock from Samuel Adams. An “Ale brewed with cinnamon and with spices and cocoa nibs added,” The Vixen sports an attention-grabbing label, featuring a lovely blonde, rose clenched in her teeth, eyebrow provocatively arched. Can’t resist a pinup. And the ingredients? Promising. Continue Reading →
Speakeasy: Butchertown Black Ale
Third time’s the charm.
I have the best intentions in writing these reviews. I believe that brewing is one of the hallmarks of civilization, and that by sharing my thoughts on quality adult beverages with you, I somehow enrich your lives. Continue Reading →