Sunday, January 17, 2016

Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On


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Yes, I know I haven't posted anything lately. It's been a rough month with too much to do that is mostly out of my control. I probably wouldn't have posted this (even to shamelessly promote the latest book, Swords of Darkness, in which I have a story, The Sword of Hexworthy Manor) if an unusual event hadn't spurred me to do so.

It seems there has been an earthquake in my end of the country and I'm not particularly pleased about that.

Map with location of magnitude 3.0 earthquake on January 17, 2016
Location of 3.0 magnitude earthquake
January 17, 2016
Source: US Geological Survey

I know what you're thinking. This is supposed to be a blog concerning my writing. What could possibly be important enough about a (relatively) minor earthquake that would merit a blog post and how could this real event have anything to do with fiction? I shall explain.

  1. As stated previously, it's on my side of the country. These sort of disturbances should be kept at least three states to the west unless it is an absolute necessity.
  2. I once lived just a few miles south of this location, and I've hiked all around the area, so it is an area I am both familiar with and have fond memories of.
  3. It's dreadfully near the location of a graveyard described in a story I've written. 

See, this post is about writing after all.

The story is called Neersville. Neersville is a real place, although not much of a place. Not too far from "town" is a small church graveyard which holds the remains of a renegade Confederate soldier named John Mobberly. He wasn't particularly a pleasant sort of fellow, although the young ladies of the area (at that time) thought he was the bee's knees

The point being, having visited the cemetery in question, I can vouch that a certain uneasiness exists whenever I'm there. Even driving by can make a shiver go up my back. In my story, John decides he doesn't like people disturbing his peaceful rest and makes life difficult for a photographer one autumn night.

That's fiction, of course. I've never actually seen a dark horseman awaken from that eldritch burial ground.

Still, I don't want to take any chances with all this shaking going on nearby. Enough with the earthquakes. There's no need to push our luck, is there?


© 2012-2015 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

2 comments:

  1. Yikes! I didn't know about the earthquake, and by all means let's keep moody Mobberly happy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First earthquakes, now blizzards. I'm not liking the trend here!

      As long as they only happen every few years, though, I guess I'll be okay.

      Delete

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