Recently I listened to the Door’s mellow yet satisfying album Waiting for the Sun.

The track “Summer’s Almost Gone” particularly resonates with me this time of year, although probably not for the same reasons as it did for The Doors (interestingly enough, another track on the album is “Wintertime Love”, so the change of the seasons definitely influenced the band on this album).

For me, this is the time of year that I get jacked for Jack-o-Lanterns, giddy for gourds, and generally pumped for pumpkins.

I long for the that crisp feeling in the air, falling leaves, and fire pits, that season that the poet Keat’s described as “the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”.

This makes me wonder – how did something as innocuous as a mere fruit become an object of terror? Certainly stories like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and movies like Pumpkinhead have helped solidify this gourd’s place in all things spooky, but where did the association between pumpkins and fear begin in the first place? One wonders.

Back to The Doors – near the end of the song, Morrison mournfully croons these lyrics: “When summer’s gone, where will we be?”

Well, by early October, the major cable networks (AMC, USA, etc.) will start running horror movies nonstop – classic movie franchises like Halloween (ironically, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, involves the Druids and Samhain, which I mention earlier in this post) and Friday the 13th (and yes, the excellent Pumpkinhead), as well as newer additions to the horror film lexicon like Scream and Urban Legend.

So my dearly departed Morrison, when summer’s gone, glued to the silver screen is where I’ll be!

Where you will find yourselves as we enter the dark half of the year?

Welcome Readers

Welcome to my brave new blog! This is my first foray into blogging, and I hope you find it engaging, or at the very least entertaining.

My name is R. David Fulcher, and I am a life-long writer. I’ve been labelled a horror writer by some, and without a doubt my writings lurk more in the shadows (see my short story “Pumpkin Seed Spit” in Halloween Party 2019 published by Devil’s Party Press) than in the light. That being said, I’m as proud of my two chapbooks of nature and romantic poetry as I am of my horror stories, and my first book Trains to Nowhere is a historical fiction novella set in World War II.

I don’t intend for this blog to be a formal listing of my publishing credits. I desire this blog to be a place where readers like yourself can get to know me, not as a stodgy distant figure in a tweed jacket, but as a normal person that has this strange compulsion to put my thoughts into words. I hope to make this fun, or at least as much fun as you can have on a web page.

I have an amazing wife, Lisa, no kids, and two crazy cats named Inky and Rocky (see below):

So I implore you to Follow, Like, Subscribe, and Comment as much as you’re able. Do you want to know my take on a new horror movie or book? Drop me a comment and I promise an honest (if perhaps eccentric!) reply. Want to discuss the merits of literature over genre fiction? Go ahead – strike up the debate! Just hoping the Washington Capitals get back to the Stanley Cup this year? Drop me a line.

This doesn’t have to be a conversation just about writing…Favorite Food? Mexican. Favorite beverage? India Pale Ales (IPA’s) – no, not Absinthe, the favorite drink of vampires worldwide. Sports? Yes, please (I play amateur ice hockey in Virginia).

So grab your lantern before the candle wick burns too low, and let’s walk into the catacombs together…

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.