Author: James Viscosi

Sorry, No Part Two Today

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

So I was working on part two of my story about how I got into and out of the horror field.  I think it was a good post — unusually long (by my standards) and unusually revealing (also by my standards).  It was almost finished; I just wanted to add a few links.

And then my browser ate it.

And WordPress, which normally keeps revisions of drafts as you go along, mysteriously didn’t have any revisions of this one.

I’m just not feeling up to retyping the whole thing again right now.  So, unfortunately, I’ve got no Part Two to show you today.  Can I interest you in some talk about the legendary Chilean Meat Plant instead?

Stumbling Into The Horror Field

~ James Viscosi ~ 10 Comments

In the comments for my “Pinch Bobby ‘Til He Bleeds” post, Almostgotit asked how I got into writing horror and why I got out.  Like many things in life, I just sort of stumbled into it, but getting out again was a little more complicated.

Continue reading “Stumbling Into The Horror Field” →

New (To Me) “Night Watchman” Review

~ James Viscosi ~ 5 Comments

As I mentioned a while back, I periodically Google myself to see if there are any new reviews or other mentions of my stuff.  Evidently I don’t do it often enough, though, because I’ve only just now become aware of this review (published last August by Sharon of A Bookworm’s Journey; Sharon’s dog Rusty is good friends with Dennis the Vizsla, and the two can often be found conspiring together against the squirrels) of Night Watchman. A brief excerpt:

Once I started it it was hard to put down. The characters and places Viscosi created were engaging, interesting. I would have loved for Yolanda, a psychic, to have had a bigger part.

I can’t argue with that — by the time I was done writing this book, Yolanda had become my favorite character as well.  Perhaps she’ll get her own story some day …

Sharon gives Night Watchman 4 out of 5 stars.   Thanks, Sharon!

Random Rejection: E-scape, “Pinch Bobby ‘Til He Bleeds”

~ James Viscosi ~ 8 Comments

This week’s random rejection happens to be another one from E-scape, which you may remember from such other random rejections as “Comfort“.  Once again the editor has nice things to say about the story, but once again, she doesn’t like it enough to publish it, thus continuing my long tradition of entertaining editors for free.

Continue reading “Random Rejection: E-scape, “Pinch Bobby ‘Til He Bleeds”” →

And On The Sixth Day

~ James Viscosi ~ 10 Comments

In place of the usual random rejection letter or snarky review, this week, we have my installment of The Sixth Photo, which Dennis’s friend MyEye tagged me to do.  In my case, the sixth item in the sixth folder was another folder, so I took the sixth picture from inside there.  I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone that it’s a picture of a dog.

Continue reading “And On The Sixth Day” →

The Depressing Song Challenge

~ James Viscosi ~ 11 Comments

Dennis recently got tagged by Tony in Tasmania to do the Depressing Song Challenge, but since he doesn’t usually listen to the lyrics, he asked me to handle the challenge for him.  So here I present my current top depressing song and video, “Broken”, by Seether, featuring Amy Lee of Evanescence:

Continue reading “The Depressing Song Challenge” →

Six More Facts About Jimmy

~ James Viscosi ~ 10 Comments

One of the readers of Dennis’s Diary of Destruction, Anna of Anna’s Bee World, tagged both Dennis and me for a Six Facts meme.  Dennis already has posted his, which means it’s time for me to post mine.  But first, the rules:

Continue reading “Six More Facts About Jimmy” →

Random Rejection: Pulp Magazine

~ James Viscosi ~ 8 Comments

This week’s rejection “letter” can’t really be called a letter.  To me, it looks more like a sign that you might see posted on the telephone pole outside your house advertising a garage sale, except in this case, it’s advertising that your submission will not be appearing in Pulp Magazine.

Continue reading “Random Rejection: Pulp Magazine” →

The Superior Scribbler Award

~ James Viscosi ~ 11 Comments

This week I got a cute addition to my iconography from Alyson over at Laugh in the Sun:

Continue reading “The Superior Scribbler Award” →

Free Software for Everyone: Avidemux

~ James Viscosi ~ 5 Comments

So it’s been quite a while since I did a “free software” post, mainly because I had already blown through all the free software that I use that might be of general interest. (Unless someone wants to hear about the wonderful PekWM window manager for Linux. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) However, recently I’ve been spending time with Avidemux, a simple yet powerful application that allows you to do some basic video manipulation. You’re not going to be creating green-screen Stephen Colbert lightsaber duel videos with it, but you might find it useful for other things. Like what, you say? Let’s take a look:

Continue reading “Free Software for Everyone: Avidemux” →