theblackempty's Blog

Hello!?

That my dear fellow Librarians is the Great Alice Cooper's Welcome to my Nightmare.

The Rock of Providence

It had drifted through the cosmos for untold millennia, crossing unimaginable time and distances. Pushed and pulled by forces immense and timeless it moved towards the destiny that awaited it. Measuring less than six feet across and weighing in at just over fifteen hundred pounds by earth gravity, this tool of fate was nothing more than a dust speck in the vastness of the universe. Yet this iron-nickel alloy speck of dust had a purpose, an as of yet unrealized role in the story of the universe.

Ever so slowly, this left over chunk of rubble from the creation of all that exists tumbled through the black empty nothing between the swirling galaxies. Then, as so often happens in the grand scheme of all things, fate reached out for the speck of dust in the form of the gravitational pull from a star it had drifted by in its journey.

The larger bodies of debris that already orbited the star had only just begun to cool, when the speck of dust fell into orbit with them. The first time it passed by the third planet from the star, several hundred million years had passed, a blink of the eye of God in the timelessness of space. The second time it passed close by the third plant, violent storms raged in the developing atmosphere. As the millennia passed, the speck of universe dust bore witness to the beginnings of life on the little planet. Finally, after a few more blinks of God's eye, it drifted close enough for the little blue-green planet’s gravity to pull it to the destiny it had been waiting for.

It slammed into Earth’s atmosphere with a brilliant flash of light over the Atlantic Ocean. It screamed across the sky like a fireball shot from the cannon of space and time. The dust speck soared over the east coast of North America leaving behind a smoke trail of itself thousands of miles long. As it burned, the atmosphere ripped away at the outer body leaving only a flaming solid iron core less than a foot across.

“It’s like raiiin, on your wedding day!” Rob sang along Alanis Morissette at the top of his lungs, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “It’s a freeee riiiide, when you’ve already paid!” He looked over his left shoulder just in time to catch a passing motorist staring at him and laughing. This only made him smile and raise his voice higher.
“It’s some good adviiiiice, that you just can’t take.” He was nodding his head from side to side now, in time to the music. “And who would’ve thought, it figures!”

At that moment, the flaming ball of iron space dust gave up the fight against the atmosphere it struggled against. Finally, after an unimaginable expanse of time and space, it surrendered to the gravity that drew it earthward, it surrendered to fate.

Rob drew in a breath and lowered his voice as the tempo of the song slowed. “And isn’t it…

Rob’s car exploded violently as the meteorite slammed through the roof at several hundred miles per hour. In a fraction of a second, metal, plastic, rubber, and flesh were incinerated as the little speck of dust from the universe fulfilled its destiny.

M. M. Johnson.

And a happy new year to you too Nickie.

We need someone who is a really good shot to put one between 2008's eyes to make sure it dosen't rise from the dead in 2009. The last thing we need right now is a 2008 zombie shambling around mucking up the works.

Dieu bénit

Doc...thats only stating out loud what everyone here has known and been saying from the start, you my friend, are really, honestly and truly, talented!

Yeah I know, I know, you know we love you, but it is nice to hear it out loud and from a newbee every once and a while.

Be well friend and heres wishing you and your family a happy new year and have a drink on me, or at least for me.

Mucho love and heart felt respect...

Mark.

Joyeux Noël et une bonne année à vous et votre Nickie de famille

Object all you want Bob, they have f***ed up my puter so many times that in my personal version of Hell, they burn for all time.

Curses!

I only saved the letters that I received approval responses for. We may have to send out the word and hope that if any other writers from Zombiefans want their letters included they will have to submit them to you directly assuming that they saved their own work.

If there is a Hell, its filled with hackers!

What else can we do but carry on, I only pray that the Genius hell hackers don't turn their crooked eyes this way next.

Watch your stuff people!

Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!

I went by the zombiefans message board this morning expecting the usual and got what looks like a Palestinian hack job by someone who calls himself the Network Hacker Palestine or GeNIus HelL Team, the screen scrolls past a giant mushroom cloud in the shape of the international gesture of F**k you. I also received an e-mail from the zombie fans admin. If you receive a similar e-mail I would advise you to do as I did and delete it immediately.

Score another point for the asshole hackers.

Wonderful to hear your back country Virginia drawl again Doc.

We are now Taking submissions for the official dumb ass dictionary.

Homophobic:
Definition #1. A gay male photographer.

An uproarious burst of laughter echoed throughout the Library of the Living Dead, followed by a thunderous round of heartfelt applause!
Good librarian Nickie has struck yet another blow against worldwide stupidity!

Is this chat still shambling around or has it taken a shot to the head?

Here is a little something I threw together.

His headlights flashed across the front of his neighbor’s house as Rob pulled into his driveway. He drove past the side of the house and pulled up to the garage before stopping and parking his car. He sat there in the driver’s seat for a minute listening to the popping and clicking of the cooling engine. Rob smiled to himself as pleasant memories of the day, passed before his minds eye.
“Good day,” he said laughing at himself as he opened the door and climbed out of the car. Reaching back into the car he grabbed his laptop case and pulled it out closing the door behind him. He fumbled with his keys searching for the house key as he walked towards the back door. Movement caught his eye; he stopped short and jumped when someone casually stepped out from the shadows behind the house.
“Shit, hey what…” He shouted in shocked surprise then stopped talking when he saw the gun. It was a kid, Rob’s quick eyes told him. The kid was Blond, well-dressed, soft almost feminine features, late teens early twenties at most. What struck Rob the most were the striking light blue tear streaked eyes the kid was staring at him with.
“You killed them,” the kid sobbed raising the gun in his right hand and pointing it at Rob.
“Wait I…” Rob said, and then the gun spoke interrupting his reply. There was no pain at first, only the sensation of impact in his chest just below his left shoulder. The impact turned him slightly and then the sudden explosion of pain drove Rob to his knees and over onto his side. He lay bleeding on the ground gasping for breath as the kid walked up and stood over him, still pointing the now smoking gun at him.
“You killed them,” the kid repeated, his voice thick with emotion.
“Killed who?” Rob asked in a gasping pain chocked voice. “I didn’t-kill-anybody-man.”
“It was you,” the kid replied, cold confidence seeped in to replace the emotion that stained his voice only seconds before. “You’re a killer.”
“No-I swear I don’t-know…” abruptly, Rob stopped talking. He looked closely at the kid standing over him. The light from the side of the house played over the kid’s face revealing his soft features clearly. Rob’s eyes widened in disbelief, he recognized the kid.
“No,” Rob hissed, “you can’t be, you can’t…”
“You killed them all,” The kid snarled his voice filling with hatred, “but never again.” He leveled the gun with Rob’s forehead.
“Johnny wait!” Rob gasped holding up his hand, then the kid fired. The first bullet hit Rob just above the bridge of his nose collapsing his face inward. The second blew off the top of his skull splattering the pavement and the side of the house with brains, bone, and blood. The last three bullets destroyed what was left of Rob’s head then the gun ran dry. Johnny continued to pull the trigger, the dry clicks seemed almost louder than the firing bullets. He lowered the hot gun and with a sigh let out the breath, he had been holding.
“It’s done,” he whispered to the night, relaxing his hand Johnny let the gun fall from it. The gun made no sound as it fell to the ground, it simply ceased to exist when he released it. Stepping over Rob’s twitching body Johnny walked to the back door of the house and walked through it as if he were nothing more than a figment of someone’s overactive imagination.
He walked through his victim’s home like a ghost, touching or affecting nothing with his passing. The squeaky floorboards of the living room floor remained silent as the grave when he stepped over them. Johnny strolled into the recently murdered writer’s study and stopped before the computer desk.
He reached out and rested his right hand on the open pages of Rob’s first number one New York Times best selling book.
“You have been avenged,” he whispered softly, his voice again brimming over with thick powerful emotion. He was there in the study holding his hand upon the open pages of the book, then not. The pages suddenly began turning, pushed by a phantom wind that affected nothing else in the study. Then the hardback cover slammed shut with a soft thump.
Off in the distance a dog barked at a passing cat or squirrel as the first of the nocturnal creatures of Rob’s neighborhood began to sniff around the freshly killed meat lying in the driveway.

That was fun to read, well done.

Yeah, what the Doc said, that was truly unexpected and down twisted funny.

#68!!

68 podcasts and over a year of the undeniably fantabulous Dr. Pus. Wow buddy, you have come a long way. I'm very glad to hear that You’re up and about. After seeing how ragged you were being run at the fest, I really felt that you needed to slow down a bit. You know, every once and a while you need to stop and smell the rotting corpses. If your not enjoying yourself, how you gonna have any fun and if its not fun its not making you happy and that’s what it is all about. Slow and steady wins the race. I know things are tough right now for you and yours, but it will pass as all things do. I really want to see you stand the test of time Doc, because I don’t want to imagine a world without you in it, pod casting away and doing the things that you do so well. So take er easy man and I’ll catch you on the flip side.

Your fair and foul weather friend always.

TBE…

Really hope that things on the old Pus ranch get better, the family and I are wishing you and yours well.

I think that if more good librarians are planning to show up next year at the zombie fest, that we should all volunteer juts a little bit of our time to help our good Doctor in his Zombie fest responsibilities. The Poor Doc was running on all eight cylinders and hitting the afterburner this year at the zombie fest, to keep up with all the things he had to get done. I know that he was truly in his element, I just think he was a bit over worked and that it may have taken away from his enjoyment of the events. We can call ourselves the Good Librarian’s maybe even get ourselves a badge or a uniform or something. I cannot speak for the Doc, this is just my opinion, but I am sure he would appreciate all the help he can get.

That is too cool Doc.

My daughter is Alice but not in wonderland and I am the Cowboy from Hell

You can't hear it but Leather Face, Darth Sidious, and the Cowboy from Hell are rocking out to Black Sabbath loud enough to frighten the neighbors and small children.

Brandon the rockin red neck in his new favorite T shirt.

Cindy and Aussie passing out candy.

Photos from the Saturday Zombie Fest.

My Wife Cindy, Daughter Nicole, and I at the Saturday Festivities.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4492.jpg

Q&A with Ken Foree.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4511.jpg

My son Brandon in his new favorite T shirt.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4528.jpg

It takes my Daughter five minutes to make best friends with the special effects make up people.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4532.jpg

Some images from the Zombie Museum.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4538.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4539.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4544.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4545.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4546.jpg

Brandon rides the Zombie experience.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4551.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4552.jpg
Here you can see him on coffin cam.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4553.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4555.jpg

Writers panel discussion with Stephen A. North, Ryan Mecum, and Michael A. Arnzen.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4556.jpg

Q&A with the wonderful cast of the Its Alive Show.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4561.jpg

The Prof on the Set.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4568.jpg

Photos from Sundays Zombie Walk at monroeville Mall.

The Zombies are coming!
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4584.jpg

Let us in, we only want to eat your brains!
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4593.jpg

My wife cindy as, Sister Zombie.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4573.jpg

Now thats a family to die and rise from the grave for.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4581.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4632.jpg

You may have risen from your grave, but you still have to sign in.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4589.jpg

The hardest working zombie dentist at the Zombie Walk, Dr. Pus will sign you in.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4634.jpg

My Daughter Nicole and her new dead friends.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4596.jpg

Mid Evil Zombies.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4678.jpg

These folks look a mess.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4597.jpg

Hey, who's the guy with the big head?
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4607.jpg

The sister meets her Savior.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4608.jpg
The Sister and the Pope.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4650.jpg

My son Brandon and I.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4630.jpg

Stephen North looking like he had a rough night, with Robin the Zombie Diva charming and lovely as always.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4633.jpg

My undead family.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4642.jpg

Oh my god, its the Tele Tubbies!
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4677.jpg

Over 1300 zombies gather. Don't go into the light!
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4641.jpg

"Ok Zombies," the Prof instructs, "your dead so put away the cameras and lets walk!"
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4636.jpg

Zombies gather at the end on the walk.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4645.jpg

The Prof and Pointy of Death Mobile, rock the undead!
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4655.jpg

Dr. Pus rocks out and worships Death Mobile.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4656.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4663.jpg

The view from back stage.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4670.jpg

Dr. Pus and Stephen North.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4671.jpg

Nicole and the Tom Savini Students.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4676.jpg

The Family meet Dr. Pus and Stephen North.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4679.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4680.jpg

Dr. Pus gets a blessing from The Sister.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4681.jpg

Two of the coolest guys at Zombie Fest and I.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m182/TheBlackEmpty/IMG_4682.jpg

Ok that was fun, lets do it again next year!

Beware the indestructible zombie trees, my house is infested with them, their everywhere, and they’re eating my brains !!

I’ll be picking my copy up in person in two weeks, one day, eleven hours, fifteen minutes and twenty seven seconds, at the Doc’s table in Monroeville Mall at the zombie fest.
I have foreseen this in a dream, a very strange dream, with dead cats, melting vanilla ice-cream with sprinkles, screaming women, and an undead dentist with a party hat on.

Yeah I knew he looked familiar.

Hey Doc, maybe you should have him look a little more decomposed and rotting each time he appears on one of LotLD books. Soon he will begin to get a little, runny. A few more books and things will be falling off the man.

By the way, I love that cover art, it looks like we finally get to see Eric’s zombie muse in the flesh!

In fact if you really think about it, making paper out of the trees is like bringing them back from the dead, making it our own undead tree format.

Hey that zombie looks familiar, last time I spotted that rotting corpse it was creeping out of a local lake, he gets around don’t he.

My albeit brief letter was set in London (England not Ohio). Do you need longer ones (ooer)?

It was semi-autobiographical and was meant to make people go EWWWWWW and show the lighter, tenderer side of necrophilia...

-dancingfred

So far all of the stories I have seen have been from the U.S. I think what we really need are more letters from other points of the compass. How about some letters from Africa, Britain, (ello Fred) France, Germany, China, Russia, and so on. I know there are good librarians from all over the world, wish we could get them writing.

Pus is like the undead santa aint he, what with the way he spreads the joy of zombie love to all the bad boys and girls all around the world.

Rhiannon, I think that standard manuscript format would be fine, the best way to transmit via e-mail is in rich text format.

Standard manuscript format is basically A 12 point courier new font double spaced with your contact information in the upper left hand corner and word count in the upper right of the first page. Along with page numbers and your name and title on the header of every page except the first one which should have only the title and Author name above the beginning of the text.

Correct me if I’m wrong.

This is a good example of standard manuscript format, but there are many others on-line.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mslee/format.html

I am having a blast with this, I’m so glad that the Doc asked me to jump in on this project.

Looking forward to reading all of the letters in the finished book!

Library of the Living Dead ROCKS!