Had a great time in Chicago last week. It's a big, beautiful clean city. Lots of homeless people, though, rivaling Toronto in that regard.

Still, it was a great trip. Saw a Cubs game at Wrigley field! Even Carolyn, not a sports enthusiast, enjoyed that. Ate at the infamous Billy Goat Tavern, home to the Cheezeborger! Cheezeborger Cheezeborger! skit on Saturday Night Live. "No Pepsi! Coke." "Chips! No Fries!"

We did quite a few museums, and an aquarium. Shopped the magnificent mile. Ate well, including what was probably my favourite meal of the trip, the Jambalaya at Buddy Guy's Legends blues club. Sampled many local brews. Went to Millennium Park. Rode the subway. Did a bus tour.

One of the highlights was the architectural cruise down the Chicago River. Great stuff. We went to 2 blues clubs (3 if you count House of Blues -- but we only ate lunch there), including Buddy Guy's place, and caught some tremendous music. Buddy Guy was there, and got up on stage with Eddie Shaw and sang a couple songs. Eddie Shaw's son, Vaan, is a fabulous guitar player. Saw Shirley Johnson at another club called Blue Chicago. There's nothing quite like live blues. I'll post pics once I've some time.

Early Sunday Carolyn and I are jetting off to Chicago for a week. Should be fun. Got Cubs tickets already. Want to check out a blues club, maybe Buddy Guy's. The architectural tour along the river looks good. So does the history museum. And the food! We still have to pack, get food for the kids and cats (who are staying behind), and convert our pathetic Canadian money for American currency.

It's been raining here all week. Thus, the roofers haven't come. They promise they'll be here tomorrow. Fingers crossed. I'd like for them to get it done before we leave the next day. But we'll see. We're also supposed to be going to Diana & Phil Barron's annual Canada Day barbecue tomorrow. Here's hoping.

My friends Simon Strantzas, Ian Rogers, and Richard Gavin are heading to ReaderCon next weekend. I'll be in Chicago. Maybe next year I can join the Canadian contingent on their road trip. I am thinking about World Horror in Brighton next year. It might not be in the cards, but maybe I can swing it.

Horror Mall has put up their bestseller's list for June. Looks like Ouroboros made it to number 4, which, considering it'd only been available for 13 days of the month, is quite good, I think.

BLAZE OF GLORY by Weston Ochse


SEX, DEATH, & HONEY by Brian Knight


BOOGALOOS by Douglas E. Wright


OUROBOROS by Michael Kelly & Carol Weekes


THE WORLD MORE FULL OF WEEPING by Robert J. Wiersema


THIS GHOSTING TIDE by Simon Clark


URBAN GOTHIC by Brian Keene


VALLEY OF THE DEAD by Kim Paffenroth


MONSTROUS AFFECTIONS by David Nickle


CYESOLAGNIAC by Edward Lee

My friend Rob Swartwood is editing a book of "hint fiction" for W. W. Norton. Submissions open on August 1. You can find all the gritty details here:

http://www.robertswartwood.com/?page_id=8

Have fun!!

Writer, editor, critic Norman Rubenstein has some wonderful things to say about Ouroboros on this week's edition of POD of Horror. The segment is about three-quarters of the way in. Check it out, if you've a moment:

http://cdn2.libsyn.com/horrorreader/PoH_54.mp3?nvb=20090701132242&nva=20090702133242&t=0893edce0a086e0977dc4

Hey, it's turned out to be a good Father's Day! I got some cool gifts from my family; I barbecued a nice piece of salmon, and I just sold a story. Whee!

Don't think I can say much about the sale, yet. The story was solicited, so it is always nice when these things actually turn out. My story, Different Skins, will be out sometime this fall in a themed anthology. Yeah, I wrote to theme and it worked. Go figure.

Don't take too long to think about it: fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. Make sure it's the first fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Shadowland by Peter Straub

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

The Road by Cormac Mccarthy

The Howling Man by Charles Beaumont

The Wine-Dark Sea by Robert Aickman

The Sea Came in at Midnight by Steve Erickson

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

Swan Song by Robert McCammon

The Snowman's Children by Glen Hirshberg

Hope everyone has a great day.

Wow! That's about all I can say. Vincent Chong has delivered the artwork for Ouroboros. The guy has mad talent, and I couldn't be happier.

This is the front cover:



This is the signature sheet:



And this is the foil stamp:

My friends at Bloodletting Press and FearZone have some news for you:

http://www.horror-mall.com/haunt/forums/display_topic/id_1297/New-Arcane-Wisdom-Title-Announced-OUROBOROS-by-Michael-Kelly-amp-Carol-Weekes/

http://www.fearzone.com/blog/pre-order-ouroboros

Wow, eh? This has been a long, long road. But it's publishing, so what do you expect?

Ouroboros is getting the deluxe hardcover leather, foil stamp, signature sheet treatment from Bloodletting Press, under their new imprint Arcane Wisdom. This imprint publishes more traditional supernatural tales. Their first book, in fact, is a Machen. Hard to follow that, I know.

I hope you'll consider ordering a copy of Ouroboros. Here's the link to the pre-order page.

http://www.horror-mall.com/OUROBOROS-by-Michael-Kelly-Carol-Weekes-Limited-Edition-p-19372.html

Wow! I've just seen Vincent Chong's artwork for Ouroboros. Amazing. Stunning stuff. I couldn't be more pleased. Once I get permission, I'll upload it. Can't wait to share it with you folks. The book will go up for pre-sale soon.

I'm on Facebook. Who isn't? Here's where you can find me:

http://www.facebook.com/michael.kelly2

On Thursday my daughter graduated from prestigious Victoria College at University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor of Arts. I'm so proud of her. I never had the opportunity to go to college or university (though some say you make your own opportunity, so I've no excuses) so I'm very pleased that she went and thrived. It was a great life experience for her, I'm sure. What made me smile the most was seeing how happy she was.

The ceremony itself, held in beautiful Convocation Hall, was great to see. Film-maker Norman Jewison is one of the University's Chancellors, and he was in attendance. Author Dennis Lee received a Doctor of Letters and he spoke very eloquently to the graduates about navigating their future through intuition and common sense. It was a lovely ceremony, and I did get a touch emotional.

Last night family and friends went out to dinner to celebrate my daughter's accomplishment. It's nice to share that sense of achievement, and to feel that life is an open road ready to be traveled.

Well, now that the rock and roll is done for a bit, it's time to scratch the writing itch. I owe a couple stories to people, and soon.

My back is still bothering me today. Twinging. Also feels like it has a deep bruise. Just off somehow.

I wish I could get a roofer out here to see the damn roof. Seems they are all too busy. Urgh!

There is a set of photos, by Denis Cyr, here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18151054@N00/sets/72157619328001261/



Denis Cyr Photo


Michelle Shephard Photo

Alas, I've just heard that Undertow and Other Laments will not be available until September. We were trying very hard to get it out this month or next, but it is not to be. The publisher, Dark Regions, has quite an ambitious schedule at the moment. So we wait.

The book will be available as a deluxe 13 numbered edition (bonded leather, slipcase, etc.), 100 signed and limited cloth hardcover editions, and, eventually, as a signed trade paperback edition. The hardcover editions will contain 2 extra stories not available in the trade edition.

And it's me!

So, last night me and rest of The Deadlines took part in the annual charity battle of the bands event known as Newzapalooza. It was a great night. I screwed up the opening of our last song -- nerves, I guess -- but other than every musician in the house, not too many people noticed, I hope. There were 8 bands, and we each did about 4 songs.

We opened our mini set with 20th Century Boy by T-Rex.  Next we followed that with Wonderwall by Oasis.  Then we did Tom Petty's Free Fallin'.  We closed our set with a raucous version of The Tragically Hip's Little Bones.  Had a blast!

Thanks to everyone who came out and made it a special night.  We helped raise over $8000 for the Children's Aid Foundation.

There were lots of photos and video shot.  Will post links once they are up.

One last reminder to Toronto-area folks about the battle of the bands charity event tomorrow.

8 pm at the Opera House (Queen & Broadview). Doors open at 7 pm.

Just found out our band is up first, at 8 pm sharp. Which means we'll have the very last sound-check. So if you're there between 7 and 8, you'll likely hear our sound-check, as well.

All the event details, including band bios, celebrity judges, the charity, the venue, etc., can be found here:

http://www.newzapalooza.ca/

Looks like pre-order info for Tesseracts Thirteen is available. Not sure if this is the final cover, or not.

http://www.edgewebsite.com/future.php