End of Month -- and Halloween!

This has been a busy month. I've been finishing up a very big project as well as doing work on others, but there were plenty of distractions. I was visiting my mother -- luckily as it turned out -- when she had a bad fall and couldn't get up, even with my help. The paramedics came, and the police, and then the ambulance. I have to say that every single person was highly professional, warm, and terrific. My sister met me at the emergency room; they decided to admit Mom and she stayed for about two days. All sorts of tests were taken and when it was determined that Mom had not had a heart attack, she was whisked right out of the hospital. [Well, not exactly whisked. It took so long for the wheelchair to arrive that we just got her up and out of there ourselves.] A visiting nurse was supposed to come but because of some mix up or another she didn't arrive until OVER A WEEK later. Mom is also supposed to get physical therapy, home health care and so on -- but only for a couple of weeks.

My advice to everyone: Stay healthy!

Well, I'm going out tonight to celebrate one of my favorite holidays. I've never been crazy about parades -- the village Halloween parade is more for the kids anyway -- but I love going barhopping on Halloween just to see the crazy costumes and have a lot of fun. Barhopping in Manhattan is always fun, of course, but there's something extra special about Halloween, St. Patty's [and I'm not even Irish], and New Year's Eve. Normally I avoid crowd scenes, but these dates are something else.

Have fun!

Official Website

My official web site is at http://williamschoell.bravehost.com. There you will find photos of, and some commentary on, most of my books. I'll be updating the site periodically, with reviews and other information.

Speaking of William Schoell web sites, a few months ago I was surfing the web when I came across an unofficial William Schoell web site called LATE AT NIGHT after one of my books. The site was really beautiful, and to say I was flattered is an understatement. I emailed the fellow who put it together and told him how much I liked it. Then...

... the web site disappeared! Gone, vanished, kaput, as if it had never been ... like something out of one of my novels. I never heard from the guy I emailed. Had I gone crazy?

This is what I think happened. I think the gentleman who put the web site together was overworked, like all of us, with little free time, and another web site was one too many, especially as it wasn't likely to get that many hits. When he heard from me -- assuming he even got my email -- he probably panicked: Oh no, I don't have time to keep this one up -- what do I do?
Then: with a flick of a mouse, the web site was deleted. Vanished without a trace from the Internet, angelfire, the world at large...

Oh well, for awhile I had a nice fan site for my late, lamented horror novels of the eighties and nineties. It was fun while it lasted! I bear the fellow no ill will; in fact, I'm STILL flattered. He is also a writer and has his own web site to deal with. I wish him well.

UPDATE: Apparently this unofficial web site still exists on the web. I came across it one night but failed to jot down the url, which I will if I come across it again. It is called Late at Night but the trouble is if you type that phrase in a search engine you'll come up with hundreds of pages. [Web sites routinely disappear from search engines and then show up again until they're fully indexed but that can take months if not years.]

Bio News

I'm finishing up a major bio with co-author Lawrence Quirk on one of Hollywood's most enduring and still active stars. After that, I'll be doing a bio [for teens] on one of America's greatest playwrights, Tennessee Williams. I love Williams' work, including his novella The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. He was a fascinating and in some ways contradictory character. I'll enjoy revisiting many of his wonderful plays, including the vastly under-rated Vieux Carre. I'm also working on a project on monster movies -- that should certainly be a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll have more news on the 20th Century Opera book shortly.

Welcome to the Website

Okay, this is my first post on the web journal for my official site. This will not be a "blog" as such, but a journal of information, updates, notes on the publishing industry and people I have worked with, info on upcoming books, an occasional rant, advice for new and old writers. Be sure to check out my performing arts and entertainment ezine High and Low NY at http://highandlowny.tripod.com/, as well as the classic film ezine Quirk's Reviews, which I also edit; you can find it at http://quirksreviews.tripod.com/ But there will be lots of new stuff on THIS site as well, which will be periodically updated. I would love to hear from you at wmschoell@earthlink.net Thanks for checking in.

William Schoell