What is this? Dusting off the ol’ raincoaster blog after lo, many a year, to update whoever is still out there on the internet instead of in the streets rioting as all people of sound mind and noble heart should be!

Myself included.

But today I’m being lazy, so am taking some time out from my busy pet-sitting, Pokemon Go-playing, and tv-watching schedule to update y’all on a little thing I like to call…

MY FIRST FUCKING BOOK Y’ALL!!!!!

Yes, and I meant every one of those five exclamation points.

It’s actually the fourth that I’ve worked on, but the first to make it to publication, and although today is the official release date, it’s already shipping out from Space Penis Guy’s site. It is, of course, also available from Canadian behemoth Indigo (their blank web page for it notwithstanding), and your local indie bookstore or school or library can order it from their usual channels, provided their usual channels are Login. And you can go ahead and encourage them to do so; yes, you have my official permission, if not (yet) my official imploration to do so.

It’s designed so that you can read one story every second day of December leading up to Christmas, and then you have the gloomy and ghastly”Tarnhelm”, the creepiest of the lot, to unpack on Boxing Day. These are all classics, varying from 100-200 years old, and include some of the very best ghost story writers in the English language. There are Americans, there’s a Canadian story, some Irish, and a lot of English authors gathered together in 330 pages.

Aside: my publisher rues the day he asked me for a slight 100 pages or so of ghost stories for a little seasonal product. Hi Kyle!

Cannot tell you how badly I wanted a cover image by John Atkinson Grimshaw; he’s the definitive spooky Victorian night scene painter. And the back cover image is by the very talented but less well-known Elizabeth S. Tucker from St John, New Brunswick.

Anyhoodle, it’s ooky, it’s spooky, it makes a perfect seasonal gift, and it’s currently #10 on Amazon for Anthologies and Collections, so what are you waiting for?

Space Penis Guy’s Website Links because it’s the only store I know that’s already shipping the book. If you know of or represent any other stores that are carrying it, please do let me know! I’d love to give them some exposure via the 15,000 or so lost souls who still follow me on Twitter. I’d rather support the indies anyway.

Christmas Ghost Stories by Lorraine Murphy at Amazon.ca

Christmas Ghost Stories by Lorraine Murphy at Amazon.com

Christmas Ghost Stories by Lorraine Murphy at Amazon.co.uk

And if you’ve already bought it, let me know what you think of it! I can’t wait to hear from the haters!

[forgive the janky formatting. I’m an OG and never got used to Gutenberg]