March is easily the best time of year. I say that knowing full well that I love any time of year because the seasons, months, weeks, and days are all what you make them. But March truly is Madness, and if you’re into college sports at all, the past thirty-one days have lived up to their namesake.

For context, I live in the basketball capital of the world. The Connecticut Huskies, both the men and women’s basketball teams, have played their hearts out this season and it shows. For the fifth time in school history both teams have reached the Final Four in their respective tournaments. For context, no other university has had both their women and men’s teams win the National Championship in the same year.

Except for UConn.

Twice.

And that’s not even moving onto hockey where our women’s team won their conference championship for the first time in program history.

Outside of college basketball there’s been the culmination of another college hockey season filled with playoffs and championships and a team from Boston that took down our reigning national champs…

And that’s just in sports! Which you’re not here to talk about. You’re here because you have no better way to procrastinate answering those dozen emails clogging your inbox. Luckily, I have a few updates that are hopefully more interesting than your upcoming meeting.

Writing

Horror over the Handlebars! – Beyond thrilled to have a short story, The Ghost Girl of Rocky Neck in this anthology of stories set in Connecticut. Forthcoming this year, this coming of age horror collection is sure to have some New England treasures in them (I mean New England’s the best, come on).

Bothered Stories – so I saw a call and wrote a story and now might have a gig writing some good ol’ fashion erotica (I still haven’t decided if the term smut has fallen away… I’d check social media but then I’d have to actually use it so that’s out). Bothered Stories accepted and is working through edits on the first piece with a potential conversation about future ones. More to come (haha) okay, that’s the only time I’ll do that. Also, the salacious stories will be published under B Thomas, not Benjamin. So, you know, family members and such probably ignore the ones with a B Thomas byline. Just saying.

SFWA Volunteering – one of the biggest achievements in my writing life has been to have the credits under my name to join the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association. The organization is a wealth of information and opportunities, as well as the hosts of the Nebula awards. Adhering to my resolution of networking and *ahem* being social? I responded to a volunteer opportunity within the organization and am going to be co-managing their NetGalley program! Information about the program can be found here and I’m super excited to jump in!

The Pallid Ponderings of Poe – I know, I know… I missed last month (I’m sorry to the four people who died waiting for the next installment… I’m kidding… maybe…) but I mean it was a busy March and I had to make a choice! We’ll revisit our favorite gothic horror master later on this month so stay tuned.

March Reads

• The Night Shift by Alex Finlay – A sometimes convoluted, yet still entertaining story about surviving a couple late night killings. Weird mashup of a final girl story and a detective thriller. – 2*

March Films

• The Last Tourist (HBO) – a look at the way over-tourism is impacting local communities and the environment. A little disjointed but still interesting – 3*
• Summer ’03 (Hulu) – a darkly comedic, heartwarming yet frustrating coming of age movie set to pull at any Millennial’s heart strings – 4*