What gear would you want to get through the apocalypse? Today, I’m sharing with you a few of the things that my characters in my upcoming book use to get by. THE WILD DARK releases for pre-order today and I figured what better way to celebrate than share some exclusive details not only from this book but…the next one!
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Welcome, welcome! First off, I’d like to thank all of my long time subscribers here on WordPress. You guys have been through all the iterations of this blog from The Monstrum Chronicles, to Writers’ Abditory, and finally to The Kat At Night. It’s taken some time to finally find a steady pace and rebrand into a place where I feel most comfortable.
That being said, I’m expanding my blog into a new monthly newsletter in anticipation of the fall release of “The Wild Dark”. Said newsletter is being provided through my website and SquareSpace. While I’m going to try and duplicate announcements in both places as best I can, I’d really like to make the newsletter my exclusive place to readers to find upcoming content related to “The Wild Dark” as well as info about upcoming giveaways, pre-order happiness, and sneak peeks.
For those of you who don’t know about “The Wild Dark”, I’ll post the cover below along with a brief synopsis:
Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Raleigh has lost everything in the last few months: her job as a police detective, her partner, her fiancé, and her peace of mind. After a month of solitude at a cabin in the woods, she finally feels as though she’s ready to move on.
But in one terrifying night, everything changes. An unearthly forest realm has begun to creep over the world, swallowing up every sign of human civilization. The woods are fraught with disturbing architecture and monstrous wolves hungry for human souls. In addition, ghosts of loved ones have appeared to select people including Liz’s partner, Brody, who doesn’t remember how he died.
As winter closes in and chaos erupts across New England, Liz fights desolation, resurfacing guilt, and absolute terror as she tries to survive one of the North East’s most brutal winters.
Anyone here fans of survivalism? Winter camping? Apocalypses? Spooky woods? Murder wolves? A strong female protagonist? “The Wild Dark” might be for you! The button below will take you to the website where you’ll have the option to subscribe. (Scroll to the bottom of the main page to find the entry form!) I’ll probably be more diligent with promoting the book there than here. I’d like The Kat at Night to include my writing escapades, but to also be its own entity as well. There will be exclusive content in both places.
Again, thanks to all of you who keep me going. You’re amazing!
~KSilva
So, here’s the scoop. On this most special Cooking Adventure in tribute of the James Bond series by Ian Fleming… Nothing, I mean, nothing went right from the start. Due to the time change, I forgot all about losing an hour of daylight in the afternoon on the day I was cooking and unfortunately couldn’t finish filming it. Working the next few days in a row ensured that I wouldn’t have time to finish and make it look seamless. On top of all of that, I ran out of batteries in the camera while filming so I had to film a new intro today as well as some last minute scenes.
The flavorful turkey chili promised in the video ended up being very delicious with the exception of the beans. I opted for dried beans instead of canned this time. I ALWAYS get canned. Turns out that there’s a whole process to cooking the beans first before adding them to the chili…or one is supposed to do the entire thing in a crockpot and have it cook for hours upon hours. Because time was rather short, the beans ended up being a bit chewy and I’m not at all proud of that.
Last but certainly not least, I lost the thumb drive with all of the footage on it and spent several hours acting like a crime scene investigator in my own house while I searched for it. Turns out it was in my purse the entire time. Herp a derp.
Because I’m running behind on time once again, and I still have about a billion pages to write on my NaNoWriMo (Book 4 of the Monstrum Chronicles), I will be including a link to the original recipe for this chili. Definitely check it out and if you plan on making it yourself, I’d advise CANS of beans. So much easier for those of us who like easy in the kitchen.
Boom. Check out this chili recipe!
Enjoy and make sure you watch til the end. There’s an extra fun blooper there for you.
~KSilva
So, if you live in Maine (or anywhere in New England for that matter), this picture above probably describes how you felt today. On three separate occasions today, I spent time digging out my door from impending snowdrifts, and even futilely attempted to dig out the staircase at ground level before the wind filled it all back in again.
Doing all that work in the bitter cold and cutting wind was, however, a welcome experience for me. Why? Because as I’ve now sat down with a nice hot cup of tea, I’ve returned to an apocalyptic story set during the Maine winter that I’d begun a couple years ago and lost my focus on. The characters have been speaking to me for a while as I’ve been working on other projects and I know I can’t ignore them any longer. I feel as though I’ve found the right mood, the right voice, and the right way to tell this story now and I can’t wait to really buckle down and work on it.
COOKING ADVENTURE # 82: White Chocolate Chip Peppermint Cookies
Let’s admit it. In winter, especially one as bitterly cold as the one we’ve experienced in Maine, we instinctually gravitate toward foods that make us feel comfortable, warm, and wonderful. This tends to be things like tea, hot chocolate, cake, lasagna, and, of course, cookies. I found myself with a particular hankering for something different than the average chocolate chip or peanut butter styles. I had a bag of white chocolate chips just sitting on my shelf and an almost forgotten bottle of peppermint extract sitting high upon my spice shelf. I knew such combinations were bound to produce beautiful results. That is…until I looked at my brown sugar and discovered it wasn’t about to make anything easy for me.
I’ve never known a band that would remind me of the sun as much as Fleet Foxes. No matter what song I’m listening to by them, there is always a scene with a gentle sunlight bathing the scene. It’s refreshing and light during a time of the year that can be hard to get through because of the snow and cold. This week after the recent snowpocalypse, I’ve been craving this folksy-bluesy music, dreaming of the spring and summer to come, of flowers, wearing skirts and spending afternoons perusing through shops with no hurry to be anywhere later in the day. I miss this. And when I listen to Fleet Foxes, I can see the scenes in my head as clear as I can see this computer sitting in my lap. I’m thankful that I was introduced to Fleet Foxes a few years ago by a friend from work. New Years Day, as we drove in her car over frost-heaved roads late at night to get the spare apartment key from my parent’s house (because I’d locked myself out), I listened to White Winter Hymnal and was forever grateful for that first exposure. Today, I’ll be sharing five songs with you and what I see when I listen to them. Enjoy.
The Kat At Night 