This gif seems appropriate right about now.

Buy a short story, help those in need.

***FUNDRAISER TO BENEFIT "DOM'S DIMES"***

Please join me this Halloween weekend for a different kind of charity fundraiser. From Friday, October 30th until Sunday, November 1st, all profits from the sales of Dan DeWitt's short story "It's Not Really Halloween Until It Gets Dark, Anyway" will be donated to DOM'S DIMES.

THE CAUSE:

DOM'S DIMES is a charitable enterprise created by 12 year old Domenic DiOrio with a singular purpose of soliciting contributions to assist the homeless by providing ground level, hands on aid to the homeless. After his own personal contact with homeless people in his local community, Domenic relied on a saying from his father in creating the charity - "If you've got just one dime, you can't do much, but if you stack up thousands, you can do some serious damage." Through various online and person to person sources, in just over one month, Dom's Dimes has raised over $3,000 toward his cause, and has been recognized by The South Shore Chamber of Commerce as a Business Innovator. You can read more about the charity and join the campaign at www.facebook.com/domsdimes10.

THE SHORT STORY:

"It's Not Really Halloween Until It Gets Dark, Anyway."
A mysterious man. A lost girl. A small-town diner. Halloween night. No lights allowed.
This ebook is available for just $0.99 at: http://www.amazon.com/Really-Halloween-Until-…/…/ref=sr_1_1…

REMEMBER: BIG CHANGE CAN START WITH SMALL CHANGE!

That music you've heard a million times, but don't know the name or who it's by ... "Sleepwalk" by Santo & Johnny

My personal, totally random, completely non-comprehensive "Best of 2012" list.

• The Avengers
• The good parts of The Walking Dead (the bad, soap opera parts would make my "Worst of ..." list).
• Mike Daniel sings "Ramblin' Man" while wearing five shock collars.
• The Passive Voice blog
• THE BUTTFUMBLE (and the Jets circus in general)
• XKCD's "Click and Drag"
• 11/22/63
• My new Keurig
• Ted
• The Zombies, Run! app
• Maroon 5's "Payphone" video
• Getting back into size 38 pants.
• Nate Silver kickin' wholesale ass.
• The Halo 4 campaign (Chief, you inspire me!) Also, Forward Unto Dawn.
• The full YouTube walkthrough of Binary Domain ... damn, this game should've been bigger. Faye is now my favorite video game babe of all time.
• Dayum, dayum, dayum!
• Gaining some actual fans of my writing. That's a weird feeling.
• Joe Hill and Nathan Fillion on Twitter
• The new Target that opened up a few miles from my house. We're through, Wal-Mart.
• These rugged good looks of mine (just seeing if you're still paying attention).
• Guy jumps into frozen pool, because it's hilarious and I saw it when it only had 2,000 views (23 million + now)
• The last Twilight film. Not the movie itself, but because it's over. 
• TheRadBrad
• Dunkin' Donuts pumpkin spice coffee
• Cat completely fails a jump
• Wreck-It Ralph in a D-Box theater. Rise of the Guardians was great, too.
• Living to see 2013. That's a big one.

100-Word Review: "Afraid" by J.A. Konrath

Though I've followed Konrath's blog for about a year, Afraid is the first book by him that I've read. It didn't hurt that it was free. Anyway, Afraid is a story about a town under siege by a handful of augmented and utterly psychotic super-soldiers. The pace is fast, the characters are believable enough, and it held my attention. Caveat: The gore is over the top (if you don't like graphic descriptions of violence, just move on), and the death count is enormous. Suspend your disbelief (super-intelligent monkey, anyone?) and don't bother looking for a hidden message. Subtle, it ain't.

"Addicted" Part 2: Sibling Rivalry

Cade instinctively brought the gun up to fire, but it took him about one second to realize he was a half-second too slow. He got one off; it might have been a hit, but his big brother charged right through it and tackled Cade so hard he though he might pass out. The gun flew off into a bush as Matt landed on top with crushing force.

Cade was a calm, disciplined fighter, and his brother never became anything but a brawler. He wrestled with his brother, intending to subdue him, smack him across the face a few times, and find out what he was on to make him go crazy like this. He quickly gained the advantage, pinned the good arm, and thought it might be over. But Matt strained with the other arm, the one with the titanium shoulder, and it made a sickening popping/grinding noise as he threw him off like a bull throws its rider when it decides it has had enough. Before Cade knew it, he was flying through the air, shocked at the strength and disregard for pain he had just witnessed. That was impossible. Last I knew he couldn’t even shoot a basketball, let alone throw a 220-pound guy around with one arm. Then he hit the back wall and crumpled to the ground, all thoughts gone.

When they were growing up, they fought sometimes, as brothers, especially two so close in age, like to do. They were always fairly well-matched, and as adults often joked about their unbeaten record against the other. Truth is, they always fought to a draw, because neither one, in his heart, really wanted to win. They were brothers, and that trumped whatever game or girl they felt was worth fighting over at any given time during their fleeting adolescence.

This time, Matt clearly wanted to win. Matt was pounding on his little brother, not caring where the blows landed. He was repeating his mantra of “Whereisshe? Whereisshe?” His voice grew more and more hysterical with each repetition. Cade covered up as best he could, but he was taking a lot of punishment. He heard his wife screaming from the balcony and then run inside. He knew she was heading to him, to help him, to save him. He wanted to scream at her to stay inside or run, but he had no breath.

He’s going to kill me, Cade thought. My brother’s going to beat me to death, and then go after Liss, and I’ll never know why. He thought he heard sirens off in the distance, but he couldn’t be sure. He focused on the only thing he could: keeping Matt busy for as long as possible. He took several brutal blows to his face, and he knew it just wouldn’t be long enough.

Then, a shattering of glass, and a terrifying growl. He had forgotten all about Loki, but Loki had forgotten nothing. It had only been about thirty seconds since Matt had first broken the picture window, and Loki had been working his way through it. He launched himself, all sixty pounds of him, at his master’s attacker with a fury Cade always wondered about, but never thought he’d actually see. He tore into whatever he could grab, and Matt moved off Cade.

Good boy, he thought as he fought unconsciousness. That’s my good boy. Liss burst out of the house, carrying the aluminum baseball bat that he stored under the bed for, well, for something like this, he guessed. Matt threw Loki off and moved for her, but the dog was back on him instantly. She swung, catching him square in the chest; he staggered a bit from the blow, a dog was shredding his leg, and still he moved for her.

Stubbornly clinging to life, Cade struggled to his feet. They didn’t abandon me … least I can do...

Liss swung again, but Matt moved in and punched her in the jaw, driving her backwards. She collapsed, out cold. Matt grabbed the bat, and the look in his eye was both vacant and homicidal at once. Cade could do nothing but stumble to his unconscious wife and cover her up with his battered body. He saw that his brother had raised the bat for the killing stroke.

Cade had just enough energy left to whisper, "Why, Matty?"

Two shots rang out in quick succession. They weren’t police-issue handguns. He wasn’t positive, but it sounded suspiciously like his neighbor’s rifle, the reports echoing in his head as he slipped into darkness.

My first impressions of the "Zombies, Run!" app

Before you read my mini-review of the Zombies, Run! app, you should know two things:

1) People seem to think that I'm into zombies, but I have no idea why.
2) I'm carrying about forty extra pounds. Fifty if you want to be an asshole accurate.

So, because the universe thinks I'm tilting the Earth's axis is helpful, it gave me this app.

In a nutshell, Zombies, Run! is part fitness app, part zombie audio drama, and all fun. A player will get the most out of this by running outside, but I gave it a test run on the elliptical. It goes a little something like this:

- Set playlist
- Start app
- Choose mission
- Insert headphones
- Assume the role of Runner 5
- Alternately move your ass to the beat, the instructions coming from Abel Township, and the melodic groans of zombies closing on you to eat your face.

In the initial mission, I was instructed to escape the wreckage of a downed helicopter, then make a side trip to the hospital to pick up supplies in order to earn passage into the Township, and finally make it to the town in one piece. Interspersed with the radio instructions were songs from my playlist (keep your songs short-ish unless you really like running). Along the way, I automatically picked up supplies like batteries, tinned food, and fresh tightie-whities, which I then distributed among Abel Township in a light "Sim City" mode. As a bonus, if you run longer than the mission length your music will continue to play and a couple of pirate radio DJ's will bust in here and there.

Even though I was on the elliptical, I was really engrossed in the narrative, and my pace actually increased when I was being chased by a horde. As a by-product, 30 minutes flew by. That's good, because the immediate goal here is to get back into reasonable shape so I can hit the road/trail, where I assume this app really shines. Outside and with the GPS turned on, not only will the app track your time and distance, but will enable "zombie chases," periods in which you need to increase your pace by approximately 20% for about a minute to escape a horde. If you get "caught" you'll have to drop some of your supplies to get away.

One thing that people may see as a drawback (which I definitely don't) is the price tag. At $7.99, the price is really steep ... for an app. I've seen some people who are outraged over having to spend so much, and I think those people are ridiculous. $8 for an app that makes exercise much more entertaining and tells a riveting story, to boot? BARGAIN. Having spent a half-hour with it, I think it's well worth that small investment, and I hate running.

The ultimate goal is to get ready for the Run For Your Lives race next year.

No idea where this notion that I have a zombie problem comes from.

Anyway, if you're looking for a great way to get motivated again, I wholeheartedly recommend Zombies, Run!