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Treat #1: Being an obsessive Googler of my own name (as all good authors should be, right?), I'm not sure how I missed this lovely review of "Empty Vessels" from Morpheus Tales VIII:

"... modern-day horror story set in the bayou and the Gulf of Mexico after a disastrous flood has drowned hundreds of local people. Elroy Jantz, a boatman who occasionally contracted for shrimp companies, is drafted along with many other small boatmen to retrieve the water-logged bodies from the waters. This was one of the gems of this issue and made for a strong finish. The imagery is dark, but unique, and the development of the reader’s understanding of Elroy’s past is revealed carefully, without stunting the pace of the story."

Read the rest of reviewer Maggie Jamison's take at Tangent Online.

Heck, read "Empty Vessels" for free via Scribd.

Treat #2: Tangent keeps coughing them up...a bit about "Precious Metal" (Albedo One #38) from reviewer Dave Truesdale:

"...Aaron Polson's "Precious Metal" gives a snapshot of a post-collapse world where professional gangs ravage the countryside for anything of value, in this case scrap metal of any sort. Using mob tactics, they regularly extort from one old man who lives in a junkyard and who, on the sly, makes the most wonderful creations. His pride and joy is a mechanical owl who can think (think steampunk here). When the mobsters visit the kindly old man in what turns out to be their final visit, the tragedy turns poignant as we learn the mechanical owl has been imbued with feelings as well as thought. Though reminiscent of the devotion flesh and blood animals feel for their owners/masters (especially dogs), this—for want of a better decription—"emotional vignette" achieves its purpose. The final image is well drawn."

More here.

Treat #3: The incomparable Gef Fox allowed me to write about two of my favorite movies (with the same name): Thing One and Thing Two for the Monster Movie Marathon. I like to talk about monsters...

And finally, Treat #4: Joe Nazare has some author blurbs about their favorite Halloween costumes. The blurbs won't be posted until Halloween, but I suspect I'll be busy. Check it out at http://www.macabre-republic.com.

Max and Owen caught a number of smallish fish at a city "lake" this morning. We've been fishing a few times this summer with no luck. When Max (sporting the stylish Scooby-Doo fishing pole) reeled in that blue gill, you would have thought he'd caught the great white whale. We are strictly catch-and-release fishermen (as if anyone could find a half-ounce of meat on that poor little fella, anyway). Good times.

Where'd Max get that goofy smile? Must be from his mother's side.

Speaking of hauling things in, "Precious Metal" received a nice write-up in this review of Albedo One #38. Yeah, I smiled when I read it--but it wasn't like catching my first live fish with a bona fide Scooby-Doo pole...

(Okay, so the review has vanished into the ether...I'll post a link when I can find one which isn't broken, 'kay?)

"Precious Metal" (from Albedo One #38) has a brief but favorable mention at Stepehn Hunt's SF Crowsnest.

Reviewer Gareth D. Jones uses the words touching, poignant, and valuable, but not necessarily in that order.

Read the review of the whole issue here.