NEED LAUGHTER?

The always fascinating Ksenia Anske:

http://www.kseniaanske.com/

has the funny and wise A. Lee Martinez doing a guest post on her blog. 

Don't miss it.  And do not miss his award-winning:

GIL'S ALL FRIGHT DINER -
http://www.amazon.com/Gils-Fright-Diner-Alex-Awards/dp/0765314711

On my cross-country travels, I certainly have stopped at my share of ... unique diners ...

with clientel that bordered on DELIVERANCE meets THE ROAD WARRIOR

A. Lee Martinez has written a book that is part Christopher Moore and part SUPERNATURAL. Read it and you'll find yourself going out to find all the titles Mr. Martinez has written.

I envy you reading them all for the first time.


GIL'S ALL FRIGHT DINER is where H. P. Lovecraft meets his match in a trucker werewolf and a scientologist vampire.

Something Evil (that's with a capital E) is stalking Gil's All Night Diner in Martinez's terrific debut, a comic horror-fantasy novel.

Heading the delightfully eccentric cast are buddies Earl (aka the Earl of Vampires) and Duke (aka the Duke of Werewolves), who are looking for a place to eat as they drive through Rockwood, a small desert community besieged by cosmically weird stuff.

Soon after stopping at Gil's Diner, the pair help Loretta, the formidable owner-operator, fend off a zombie attack.

Determined to do the right thing, the two supernatural misfits take on further challenges, such as trying to prevent Tammy (aka Mistress Lilith, Queen of the Night) and her loyal but dumb boyfriend, Chad, from ending the world.

The fast-paced plot is full of memorable incidents

(e.g., a ghost and a vampire fall in love;

a Magic 8-Ball becomes a message vehicle for trapped spirits,

the menace of zombie cows ... you will never again hear "Mooo" in quite the same way) and such wonderful observations as ...

"this whole undead stuff sounds good on paper, but it ain't all it's cracked up to be."

Laughter. A rare commodity in fiction these days.

Unlike despair and inner pain. Those you find all too often in today's fiction.

Sometimes you look around, and it seems the people all about you are drowning on those things. Sometimes you are one of those people.

We as writers are sometimes the only anchor a reader will have in a dark moment. We must remember that.  Do we fan the embers of that darkness?

Or do we give them strength?  The strength that comes from laughter, from another hurting spirit in the dark who stops to help, to listen, to give a damn.
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And a song with that thought (with captions for Indigo and other friends) :