For those of you either not into computer games or living under a rock, a new game is sweeping the Interwebs called Minecraft. Minecraft is a single and multi-player fantasy world crafting and adventure game. In it you mine things like stone and wood and gold and such and us what you have mined to make tools and weapons and buildings and other stuff. It is fun. It is creative. And is as addictive as crack. In fact, it is a new kind of crack for people like me because it offers almost instant gratification to my creative urges. And it is more immediately satisfying than many of my other creative endeavors.

In the short time I have played, I have built a tall tower, dug a mine down to the bedrock of the Minecraft world, built a castle with a lava mote, and bridge across a bay. Unfortunately, these efforts have taken their toll on other creative projects, specifically my writing. And that is a problem. It has put me way behind on articles (specifically reviews I need to get done), on work for The Adventures of The Snark Avenger web comic, and on prep for NaNoWriMo as well as other writing projects.

Minecraft, I wish I could quit you.

In light of all this, and the impending start of NaNoWriMo, I am taking a hiatus from Minecraft for the months of November (in fact, in November I will be avoiding all games) and December and possibly longer. I love the game, but I need to stay away from it for a while.

It is here my friends. My favorite month of the year. It is the month of pumpkins (specifically pumpkin lattes, pumpkin mochas, pumpkin pie, and Pumpkin Pie Blizzards at Dairy Queen) and crop harvests and haunted houses and, of course, Halloween. It is that spooky time that transitions us from Summer to Winter. It is really my favorite time of the year. In honor of it being my favorite time of the year I am doing some extra podcasts and stuff to celebrate. Here is an update on that stuff:

First off, I am releasing 37 podcasts this October. 31 of them are branded under “Snark Infested Water’s 30 Days of Halloween”. (I know there are 31 days in October, but I screwed up when I recorded the intro and didn’t realize until I had completed production on the first few show.) The other six shows are interviews with authors and audio producers. My guest list includes authors Michael A Arnzen, Chet Williamson, and Steven Savile; audio producers Jeffery Kafer and Steve Cox; and author and publisher Scott Roche. (The interview with Michael A Arnzen was released on October 5th.) The other shows are mostly spooky and thrilling OTR (Old Time Radio) from great series like Beyond Midnight, Escape, Lux Radio Theater, Mercury Theater, and Light’s Out. So if your looking for some spooky listening to haunt your October listen head over to http://thesnarkyavenger.com and check out the shows .

Second, I have an article up about some cool and unusual haunted house movies over at Abattoir Webzine. Check it out at: http://flyingislandpress.com/abattoir/2010/10/06/five-haunts/

Third, I have a few audio book reviews to post including three books by Chet Williamson (Soul Storm, Ash Wednesday, and Lowland Rider) and one by Steven Salive (The Forgetting Wood). And I have finally finished all the films from Afterdark Horrorfest 4 (2010), so I should get a review of those up this month as well.

So enjoy the extra content for October, and happy Halloween!