Last week, I mentioned my vacuum cleaner breaking while suctioning up flea dirt. This week, I have a new vacuum cleaner. I'm not usually one for Black Friday sales, but I needed a vacuum cleaner before the fleas made my cats sick. 

I have wanted a decent vacuum cleaner for so many years now. This was one of many reasons I wanted to establish a career and independence for myself all those years ago. Things like working vacuum cleaners were always denied to me (and depending on the person, I'd either be shouted at because the house wasn't clean or shouted at for wanting to live in a clean environment or told I had no one to impress so I shouldn't bother cleaning). 

I am so happy with this one. So much cat fur has come off my carpets. I didn't realise my rugs could look so clean. Was it worth rushing to ASDA the day my tax credits cost of living payment arrived? Yes. Was it worth risking myself in a taxi? Yes. And it was the last one in the shop. Even my son was excited about it and took pictures to send to his friends. He was the one to unbox it while I used the flea spray (also in the picture) to quickly treat the house. 

On Thursday, I did the proper clean and de-fleaing. By this point, it seemed most of the fleas were dead, but you can't be too cautious with a flea infestation. Plus, they run the risk of triggering a PTSD reaction (as I mentioned last week). 

I had time booked off work for Thanksgiving long before the fleas and my vacuum cleaner breaking. I had a half day on Thursday. Cleaning my house and vacuuming everything was not how I planned on spending Thanksgiving but it is now so clean in here.

I finished the cleaning yesterday, so woke up today with no chores. That is a nice way to wake up on a Saturday. I did cook a turkey yesterday. All the pans are washed and put away but the serving dishes holding the leftovers are still out. And there's some laundry that can't go in the tumble drier hanging up, but apart from that, everything is clean. Even did the dusting. 

I am going to try to finish up those few things I have to do now. And then I get time away from writing while I enjoy the festive time and decide if I want to finish off Snow White or We Gave the World Synthpop Dreams first. Or, work on something else entirely (I have that cut-ups project, some sound projects and more than a few visual art projects). 

Oh and vacuuming is so much quicker and easier now. Plus better for my back. 

We've arrived at the final run up to Christmas. As I've previously stated, between the late August Bank Holiday and Christmas is exceptionally busy for me. At this point I am down to writing one Christmas story. Need to record me reading two Christmas stories (including the one I am writing). And then I have to finish formatting 56 Seconds for re-issue plus do a cover for that (GIMP was frustrating me earlier today, so I didn't get very far). After that, I will be formatting a gnome story and the marmite story for godless.

​Then I'm done. I will most likely have a Halloween release for godless (and maybe even amazon) and I will have a Christmas release for 2023, but I will be taking a step back from indie horror for a bit. I have a lot of other projects I want to finish off anyways. I obviously have a godless only Christmas release for this year. 

The final straw for me arrived when another author questioned why I get my hair and nails done if I'm not interested in dating. That's a major red flag. That's rape culture right there. As I stated a few years back, women don't fashion themselves based on impressing other people. It is not my job to deal with these people. I am not a social worker. I had to deal with this same sentiment growing up and it was unpleasant and it only attracted more people with beliefs like that into my life. Obviously, I don't want that. 

Last time I took a step back from indie horror it was due to creeps. You know the sort, they see a single mother and try to wear me down into dating or sex that I don't want. They also think that everything a woman does is to impress someone else and attract a man. So, basically, same sentiment. (At one point, someone even convinced himself I was cleaning my house to impress him and would go out of his way to cause drama and distractions so my house never got fucking cleaned). 

If you follow my social media, you may catch videos of me calling myself "Nobody" or "No one". I've had a lifetime of people telling me "no one cares about your makeup so why bother putting it on" and well, I care. I don't care if no one else cares (because they really shouldn't) but I care. And it has applied to every single fucking aspect of my life this "no one cares". It doesn't matter if it is makeup, cleaning my house, my nails, something I'm wearing or my business or my writing or my art. It has been absolutely everything about me. What I really want to know is why these people who clearly don't like me still try to inflict their company upon me? Jeez, go find someone you do like and stop taking my time and taking me away from people who do like me. 

​In other writing news, I think this week's big seller was Broccoli. As I've stated before, this final stretch to Christmas makes it difficult to track book sales. Thank you for buying. That was one of my early experimental ones. Told entirely in second person present tense. And it is really disgusting. 

And in life news, my cats have fleas. They've been given a second lot of drops because the first lot failed (two weeks ago, the fleas mutate but the cats don't, so you still need to leave a delay). However, my vacuum cleaner spat sparks at me while I was trying to vacuum flea dirt. Although it picked the right time of year to break (because they're all about to be on sale), I didn't finish vacuuming flea dirt. I'll be getting a new one either when the cost of living grant arrives (I'm still entitled to tax credits, I'm just on zero payments until April now because with the Inland Revenue messing up everything they overpaid this year's award already) or my last overpaid taxes payment. 

I'm hoping these fleas won't trigger a PTSD reaction. For those that don't know, my mother had an awful lot of cats and I've kept cats my entire life. I know how to deal with fleas. But way back when I first moved to Liverpool and my son's father was alive, he decided I didn't - this was years before legal changes. And he forced me into using products I knew didn't work, wasting time and money and one of my cats nearly died. And then he would get mad at me because the products wouldn't work but apparently worked for his brother. He also blamed me for his flat mate having fleas and spreading them around the office. And then he "discovered" flea sprays and drops and claimed all credit for treating the fleas with the same products I intended on buying anyways before my cat nearly died and he decided I didn't know how to treat the fucking fleas. Luckily, that incident is already documented and filed with everyone who was connected to him mentioned. (And yet another reason to back away from indie horror for a bit, far too much harmful advice I don't need or want in terms of managing my life. I clearly don't want people like that in my life. And well, the law is different now so I can and do phone the police and report people like this for harassment, but I'd rather not have the bother.) 

There were still live fleas this morning. I have treated with just drops before but that was when I had a working vacuum cleaner. So, fingers crossed my cost of living grant arrives this week and not next. I did plan on a really big Christmas this year and buying some new clothes for myself, but that money is now being spent on a new vacuum cleaner. 

I'm really excited for my new vacuum cleaner. I have needed one for years but never had the money and I will have it soon. And I always wanted a good one. And that's what I'm going to get. 

Plus, I'll still have money to celebrate Christmas. And I'm excited. Not just for my time off work and spending time with my son (might dig out the Playstation Classic) but for Christmas in general. This is the first time since early childhood I have felt this way. Typically, Christmas, especially since having my son, would induce anxiety with no one around me (yes, this includes family and my son's old school staff and teachers, so people that I couldn't escape from) letting me earn a living (I guess, keep them dependent and then they can't abandon you mentality there, not sure about the school though). Therefore, I've never really been able to afford Christmas (a big fuck you to that guy that decided my business was being set up just to impress him, I needed that business to earn a living in the field in which I'm qualified to work in). This year I can. And once Christmas Eve hits, I bake a cake and order delivery and my door won't be open again until after Boxing Day. Therefore, no one taking their stress out on me or inflicting their company on me when they clearly don't like me. 

Things will be a bit tight from January until April when tax credits start again, but I'll be on the right tax code and I've had a raise so I'll get by (provided nothing else breaks and pasta doesn't double in price again). And it won't be nearly as bad as last year. Hopefully, I'm off that knife edge now. Still living month-to-month (otherwise I'd have a new vacuum cleaner right now) and have a mountain of debt, but things are moving in the right direction. And I get to work in the field in which I went through Hell to get a degree in order to work in it. 

And on that thought, I have to change kitty litter without a vacuum cleaner to suction up any spillages. I've tried over the years putting down newspaper or plastic bags when I do it, and it doesn't help. Plus my bin bags are a bit thin. Hopefully they won't break. 

Have a nice week. Hopefully I'll be back to post again before Christmas. Not sure if I'll have the time, especially with the getting rid of fleas added to my already tight schedule. Thanks for all the book sales. You can check out my art too. 

I don't typically do landing pages for anthologies. I don't even have one for The Year's Most Hardcore Horror 3 and that was a really big deal (I should probably do one for the Bumper Book of British Bizarro at some point as I helped put that one together. The only reason Call Me Hoop has one is because of how those stories were released.) There was a time a few years back (prior to 2018) when I was having anthology and magazine releases near monthly. Tracking down all these anthologies and magazines and working out what is still in print and what isn't would take an entire weekend. So in fairness, I don't do the landing pages for them. 

In Uterus, as the title suggests benefits a horror reviewer who is recovering from surgery. All sales go to help her out during this time. 

It is the new home of Gang Bang at the Old Folks Home. If you like that, you'll probably enjoy my latest release 30-50 Feral Hogs versus the Big Bad Unicorn. Gang Bang at the Old Folks Home takes it name from the Steel Panther song. I still don't like metal (except black metal and some of the heavier industrial bands, some does not mean all), so don't try to pretend that I do or create some sort of fake connection based on music I don't actually like (that's a really horrible thing to do to someone). 

from godless..

In Uterus is a charitable anthology for Corrina Morse, book reviewer extraordinaire and darling of the horror, splatterpunk, and bizarro communities. It has been produced to help cover her costs during recovery and recuperation from an urgently needed hysterectomy.

Initially, the team contacted the great and good of literary society, but they weren’t at home. Neither were the up-and-coming bright young things. In desperation, they finally reached out to the n’er-do-wells: the writers who lurk in the dark corners, the ones who brush past you in street muttering barely-intelligible curses, the faceless ghosts who rub up against you on crowded public transport, leaving mysterious dirty marks on your clothes.

These stories will make you scream, weep, puke, laugh, shit, and even touch yourself in a bad way, hopefully all at once. They are the soothing ointment you’ll relish after the mad gynecologist with the rusty scissors has done his most dastardly thing!
Authors in this Anthology:
Matthew Clarke
Russell Holbrook
Peter Caffrey
Todd Love
DE McCluskeyy
Sean Hawker & Simon Mchardy
Michelle Butcher
Kevin J. Kennedy
Jason Myers-Author
Natasha Sinclair
Ruthann Jagge
Brian Berry
Dani Brown
Jim Ody
Henk Wester
RJ Roles
Reek Feel
Frank Edler
Terry Miller
James G. Carlson
Ben Arzate
Mick Collins
Andrew Lennon
Drew Stepek
Jonathan Butcher
R.J. Benetti
Donna A Latham
Peter Blakey-Novis

PS. sorry about the butt rock, but the lyrics are so funny, much like my story. 

Thank you so much for purchasing 30-50 Feral Hogs versus the Big Bad Unicorn. This is a difficult book to promote. With the exception of Twitter, I can't post an uncensored version of the cover or really tell anyone what it is about. And I'm pretty certain that Musk is going to burn Twitter to the ground so I'm not sure how long I can say "buy my latest book. The prime minister has a dick on his forehead that he uses to fuck pigs and snort cocaine." Luckily for me, my twitter account is where I post and leave. I might occasionally interact with something I see on there but that has been a dumpster fire for a long time. I hear it is worse now.  I wouldn't know because I stopped hanging around on there years ago. 

It is even more difficult to promote a book only available on one platform while trying to sell my books on another platform so I can watch the British economy tank. 

So, thank you so much for buying my books on any platform. It is really appreciated and it really helps me out. 

Last month, clear sales winner again was Ketamine Addicted Pandas. But we had a new second place with Name Dropping with Hayden. This one is basically the genre fiction version of Becoming (or kindle). Name Dropping with Hayden is obviously a bit easier to read and it was very fun to write. Not like Becoming wasn't fun to write, but I didn't have to pause because I had a fit of the giggles. Keeping the rhythm going in Becoming prevented any giggling. Plus keeping the story straight because it does tell a story, you just have to work for it due to the lack of A-B-C structure (or B-C-A, C-A-B or anything that would be considered a traditional narrative structure). 

And on that thought, I have Christmas stories to finish, laundry to do and I need to finish the rest of the cleaning. My salon appointments have been rescheduled. If I don't respond to you on social media, it is because my fingernails are basically claws making operating a touchscreen difficult. They should be fixed on Wednesday and once January hits, I can have them done every three weeks again instead of every 4-5 (no, I can't cut them myself, there's thick ass builder gel on them). 

And yes, I am feeling incredibly relieved now that this mess with the Inland Revenue seems to be well on its way to being resolved. Although I can't cross that problem off my list, I should be able to soon. It was obviously creating a lot of background stress for me. I still have a few other major problems to deal with, but they are slowly being dealt with. Unfortunately, I need to pay off all the debt before I can deal with the worst of them. This includes the debt from when I was nearly evicted as I have family members with the emotional maturity levels of Twitter users (which unfortunately has to be dealt with before the rest of the ten years of people not letting me work in the field in which I'm qualified to work in debt, yes, this does include the teachers at my son's primary school as well who seemed to think it would be acceptable for me to leave a five year old home alone while I went to work a low-skill low-paid job).