First newsletter
Hello. I’m Bob Pastorella, co-host of the This Is Horror podcast, website manager for This Is Horror, and writer. I’m the author of Mojo Rising, They’re Watching (with Michael David Wilson), and have numerous short-stories and non-fiction online and in print in various publications.
Hi everybody,
If you’re receiving this email, I’ve successfully migrated my previous newsletter data. If not, then I’ve done something very wrong and have no idea how to fix it.
Happy Holidays! This time of the year is extremely stressful for me due to working in Retail Hell. The retail sector during holidays is rough, long hours, crappy customers, and demanding upper management. This will all soon be over and I’ll resume normal levels of stress, definitely not as apocalyptic as they are now.
Some cool things I’ve encountered recently:
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré. This is espionage fiction by way of brooding characters using deception and subterfuge to gain information, constantly dreading possible death if caught, and living a lonely existence because getting close to people can get them killed. I never realized spy fiction could be so good. Definitely will be checking more of le Carré’s work soon.
I started reading The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, and damn, this is going to be good one.
I finally watched Trouble Every Day, a film by Claire Denis. I had no idea this was a vampire film. It’s horny and bloody and disturbing, and I really enjoyed it. Best to go in cold, the less you know, the better. Vincent Gallo, who I cannot stand, is in this film and he’s fairly decent, so that should be a testament to how well-done this film is. Highly recommended.
I plan on committing to writing more newsletters in the future, so you can expect more frequent visits to your inbox. I need to figure out how to import my previous newsletters to an archive here, but if it’s too complicated, then there’s a huge possibility that’s not going to happen. The idea of letting substack disappear into the void is troubling to me, because there are good people there who I follow, and I still want to get their newsletters. Chances are I will wait before nuking my substack from orbit to see where these good people are going to land.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a safe and joyous holiday season and new year!
peace&love
Bob