Haunted Minds

The last couple of weeks have been frantic.

As some of you may know I am the chair of five different community projects right across Northern Ireland and unfortunately I'm not the kind of chairperson who can sit back and do nothing. And the projects are quite demanding.

One for example has been set up on a local estate to help one parent families attain education. It provides a creche and a number of other facilities such as laundry services etc mainly for young mothers on the estate. It actually started out as a women's drop in centre but has now a turnover of a few million pounds. Consequently it is run almost like a business - I was in at the start of it and I suppose myself and the Committee are victims of our own success - and it needs a Chairperson working closely with the Business and Project Manager to keep it even going. Recently it's been extended to include domestic abuse - started out with abuse towards females but now has been extended to include abuse towards males which is a growing problem on the estate and in Northern Ireland in general. There is no comparable organisation in Northern Ireland so we've been starting from scratch.

That's just one of the projects I chair and as you can probably see it takes up a lot of time - especially as everything requires a report, evaluation and assessment. We have meetings tomorrow with the police to look at abuse referrals from them and from the courts, so it's pretty steady going.

In the middle of things I'm writing the new Lovecraft book A Haunted Mind. It's hard going - there are so many Lovecraft fans out there that you want to get your information right because there are people who eat and breathe the Mythos. I don't think that there is another Lovecraft book like it in the market - see when it comes out and let me know what you think.

At the moment I'm going through the books of the Mythos in order to see if they could be based on some actual works and where Lovecraft and others might have got his inspiration for them from.

As well as that I'm working on American Vampires which will be following closely on the heels of A Haunted Mind. This has been a lot of fun but it's taken a lot of research too. I hope you will like the result.

So just eating sleeping and working. But I think the reults will be worth it. I'm also working on cannibal cults at the moment for the Cultes des Goules which may have had its origins in actual historical events. I'll not say any more - you'll have to buy the book when it comes out. Off now to grab a bit to eat and then back to American Vampires and Skinwalkers. It never ends!

American Vampires

I know I said that I'd keep these blogs - this and the Bogstandard Comix one going on a regular basis but it's been proving very difficult. I've been really under pressure over the past few months with both writing and community work and doing interviews on the books. Thankfully the interviews are easing off a bit but I'm still doing the odd one.

The community and historical work is taking on more and more impetus - I've just got involved in what will hopefully be a new project on the Spanish Armada as well as one celebrating 400 years of a local Council. All this on the top of about five committees which I chair and which run projects in various parts of Northern Ireland and writing briefing papers for various committees. I'm also trying to write two books simultaneously. One is A Haunted Mind which is on Lovecraft.

I enjoying doing it but it's such a complex subject and so much has been written for die-hard fans whom I want to keep happy, that it's quite a challenge. The other book is American Vampires which I've found fascinating to do but there is a vast amount of research to it. This looks as the various culture blocks within America and how the respective vampiric creatures have emerged out of this. Forget Buffy or Twilight - vampires are different all over America, just as they are all over the world. A vampire comes out of a different cultural background in say South Carolina than it does in New York State or in New Mexico. I need to keep on top of that - but I really do think that both books will be fascinating and hopefully very informative.

I'm also excited about the new digital books which should be out in 2012 and which I've signed the contracts for. I'll keep you all posted as to these.

Well I'd better get back to the books or New Page will be reminding me of my contract. I've bee watching and recording the new Spielberg television series Terra Nova which both my son and I are watching. It's good and no money has been spared on it, but don't you think it's a bit predictable - sort of like a Star Trek with dinosaurs? Maybe it will become more interesting - it's very formulaeic at the moment.

Anyway, I promise I'll try and do these more often, though I might have said that before.