Starting a New Museum Meetup Group!

Well, I'm no longer a member of the Goth meetup group; it was my choice, but I'm still a bit sad.  The main organizer and the other co-organizer, both friends of mine, left the group, and someone else took over.  I just didn't have the cash to become the organizer again.  The new leader is a DJ at a club on the other side of the bay, and so far all he has ever put up as meetups are his club's Goth Nights and a single band event.  No one else has put anything up for months now, and the one event I suggested since he took over was ignored.  So, I hustled my black-covered tush right out of there!  I can still go to Death Guild without being a group member, and NO points taken off my Goth Card for that.  :-P

Anyway, I was looking around on the site for museum meetups, and did find a couple; unfortunately, most of them aren't all about museums, they just have occasional museum events, and the one that IS all about museums seems to be focused on art museums.  Bleah!  Art is fine, but there are soooo many other kinds of museums to visit around here.  So as of next month (after I get paid), I will be starting my own museum meetup group, offering visits to all sorts of museums around the SF Bay Area, and see if anyone rises to the bait. 

Of course, one of the first events will be a visit to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, with a personal tour hosted by Yours Darkly...  ;-) 

Now I just need to think up a good group name.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 

Sweet 16th Anniversary

No fancy posts today!  Martin and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary yesterday, and I just have to say this to the person at our wedding whom my son overheard saying that "it won't last a year":

IN YOUR FACE!  Tttthhhpppppffftttttt!!!!!  

Light Summer Reading, Goth Style!

Well, now that Summer (ewww!!) is here, I hope you have all the important items goths need at this time of year:  sun glasses, gloves, SPF 1000+ sunscreen, a big hat, a huge parasol, etc.  You know, like these savvy people:

The OTHER thing you will need is appropriate reading material, and I've found some perfects books to share with you!  Four collections of horror stories, written mostly by Victorian writers.  I found all of these books in my favorite thrift store (Half Price Books); only one was actually a used book, but every singe one was priced at only $3.00 or $4.00!  Anyway, here they are:

The Power of Darkness: Tales of Terror by Edith Nesbit  (David Stuart Davies, Ed.)

Edith Nesbit is best known for her classic children's books, including The Railway Children, but as it turns out she was also an incredible teller of horror tales!  Of the twenty stories in this collection, there is only one I don't like.  If you like stories involving possessed statues, reanimated corpses, vampiric vines, vengeful ghosts, and love that transcends the grave, you will LOVE this book!  It definitely found a permanent place in my bookshelf.

Bone To His Bone: The Stoneground Ghost Tales of E.G. Swain

Originally published in 1912, this is a reprint of a really interesting collection of nine ghost stories that revolve around the Reverend Mr. Batchel, rector of a small English parish around the turn of the 20th century.  Mr. Swain wrote in the style of M.R. James, a well-known author in the Victorian period whose horror stories are legendary (I'll be hunting for one of HIS collections next.)

As a bonus, six stories by a modern author, David Rowlands, are included, which continue the supernatural adventures of Mr. Batchel, and honestly, they are written in a style so close to Swain's that I doubt I'd know the difference if I hadn't been told.  This book is another keeper!

Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories (Michael Sims, Ed.)

This is a collection of 22 vampire stories by various authors.  Some are extremely good, others not so much.  I decided not to keep the book, as less than half of the stories made me want to read them a second time.  However, I definitely recommend it for at least one reading!  And it introduced me to a couple of writers whose other stories I will be searching out in the near future.

Night Shivers: The Ghost Stories of J.H. Riddell  (David Stuart Davies, Ed.)

I haven't finished this one yet, but it's already a keeper.  The author is another Victorian woman who really knew how to keep her readers interested and hanging on her every word.  I've read about half of the 15 stories, and the last one is actually a novella, so I will finish this horror story reading frenzy with a BANG!  

So, are you reading anything interesting this summer?  

June: "I'm SO Goth..."

Even in ancient Greece, there were "goths" (as opposed to those Visigoths)...

The translation of the words on this ancient Greek mosaic is:  "Be cheerful, live your life."




This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes (of course, I can't remember who said it):  "While you're living, do all the living you can.  You'll have plenty of time to be dead."