Nannerl (the Schnapps?)

I took this picture during our holiday in Vienna, in one of the many souvenir shops the city has. I used to say that Mozart is everywhere there, but it's also true of his whole family. And it is true of his sister Maria Anna Mozart, better known to the world as Nannerl, her pet name. So she has a schnapps named after her. I guess they were running out of chocolate flavours. Anyway, I tried plenty of beers during our time there, no local wine (to my great shame) and no schnapps. Maybe I should have tried this one, given my love for her brother's music. And side note: I'm wondering what she would think of having her face and name used to brand a drink. And next to an Empress, no less.

Les passeports pour le Salon du livre

Petite annonce: j'apprends grâce à la page Facebook du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean que les passeports pour le Salon seront en vente dès le 1er septembre. Moi, ça va, j'ai mon passeport à vie. Lire ce billet pour plus de détails, si ça vous intéresse. Hélas, je ne pourrai pas en profiter cette année encore, bien entendu. Mais c'est quand même plaisant de savoir que j'ai un lien comme ça avec ma région.

Herbert West, Reanimator

What you see here is a portrait of Dr. Herbert West taken from the RPG game Call of Cthulhu. Horror fans will know him as the villainous protagonist from H.P. Lovecraft's aptly titled Herbert West-Reanimator. The not so good doctor is a disciple if Frankenstein and he reanimates dead bodies. Except he is far more ruthless and cynical about it. Frankly, he is utterly amoral and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The short story is not very well written, Lovecraft considered it an old shame, yet it's very entertaining and genuinely scary. I am blogging about it today because they are filming a new adaptation. I'm carefully optimistic. They made a Re-Animator back in 1985, which was followed by sequels, but the film was very loosely adapted from the source material and turned into a gory horror comedy. Still fun to watch, but I think, I hope, that the new adaptation will be suitably dark. Anyway, I am in my countdown to the countdown to Halloween, so always nice to keep myself in a spooky mood and look forward to new horror movies.

Du chocolat aux bleuets

Je partage encore une fois une photo qui ne vient pas de la page Facebook des Pères trappistes. Ils ont été assez discrets cette année sur les réseaux sociaux, enfin c'est mon impression. Je ne sais pas trop pourquoi. Mauvaise récolte? Des messages de certains amis me le laisseraient croire. Mais enfin bref. Mon père m'a envoyé des photos de ses stocks de bleuts enrobés de chocolat, donc au moins tout n'est pas perdu.

The Open Gates of Hell

As you probably know, we are in a never ending heatwave. I mean, yes, it has been cooler these last few days, the heatwave is technically gone, but some meteorologists are forecasting another soon. The fifth or the fourth one, I have literally lost count. And it hasn't probably rained for at least a month, a month and a half maybe. Okay, it rained on Tuesday, for like a minute, and not a lot. So we have heatwaves over heatwaves and a very long drought. As I keep saying: "It is as if someone forgot to close the Gates of Hell." Which I think deserves to be a great unknown line.

Encens (calembours atroces)

Ma voisine fait brûler de l'encens dans son jardin ces temps-ci. Elle fait ça le soir. C'est moins irritant que lorsque ses filles fument la cigarette et que la fumée remonte à nos fenêtres de l'étage, juste dans notre chambre, mais c'est agaçant quand même. Hier soir, j'ai soudainement eu en tête quelques calembours atroces, guère plus que des allitérations en fait. Attachez votre tuque avec de la broche, ils sont vraiment mauvais:

-L'encens sent.

-L'encens sent sans bon sens.

-L'encens brûle le soir, mais y'a pas d'encensoir. 

-L'encens, c'est lassant. 

Je sais, je sais, j'ai du temps à perdre. 

Berlin, City of Espionage

This is a new post in my City of Espionage series started in February this year, about cities associated with espionage, in history and fiction. And today, I blog about Berlin, a city I haven't visited yet. Berlin has been a centre for espionage for centuries, since at least the first two world wars, then the Cold War and is still now. I have seen it featured in a few spy thrillers through the years, you must have too. More recently, it was the main setting of Netflix spy thriller Unfamiliar, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I posted about it here. I might post more on the series, but I digress. I don't know if and when I will visit Berlin, but I'm sure I will see the city in the other seasons of Unfamiliar, if there are any, or in other stories.

Bleuets, framboises, fraises, crème...

Mon père aime les desserts simples et frais, surtout l'été. Alors il se fait ces temps-ci un mélange de bleuets, framboises, fraises, crème et sucre d'érable. Et il m'a envoyé des photos pour le blogue. J'avoue que je suis plutôt porté aux trucs plus riches, pour moi les fruits, c'est entre le repas principal et le dessert, justement. À moins qu'ils soient dans une tarte ou un gâteau. Mais bon, on va s'entendre, ça n'a pas l'air trop dégueulasse.

Augtober (You Are Here)

 I found this meme online and I thought I would share it. Because mentally, I'm here. It is not August, it is Augtober. Yes, it's not time to pick up pumpkins yet, but all the same, Halloween is on my mind: I am reading horror stories already and I am this close to decorate the house with autumnal stuff. It's far too hot, the worst summer we had in decades, nevertheless I am looking for signs of autumn. Anyway, that's me. And for you, is it Augtober too?

Chocolat aux bleuets (encore)

Cette photo n'a pas été prise sur la page Facebook des Pères trappistes. Non, c'est mon père qui a acheté des stocks de chocolats aux bleuets et qui a pris cette photo. Je la partage à défaut de pouvoir en manger et parce que c'est le temps des bleuets.

Great Britsh Folklore and Superstition MAP

On my last writing workshop, one of my fellow writers brought this Great British Folklore and Superstition MAP. You can find it, like other maps, on the Marvelous Maps website. I had a good look and I really, but really want one. The map is hard to read, but it gives you the whereabouts of many legendary creatures, haunted places, as well as a few monsters from fiction. It would be a highly valuable source of information and inspiration for my scary stories and for this blog during the countdown to Halloween. Even though I am terrible at folding maps.

Le retour du chocolat aux bleuets

Cette photo a été publiée sur la page Facebook des Pères trappistes le premier août. C'est donc officiel: leur chocolat aux bleuets est de retour. Je ne sais pas si c'était si tardif ou si c'est simplement qu'ils ont été en retard sur l'annonce, mais enfin bref, c'est officiel maintenant. Les meilleurs sont les bleuets enrobés de chocolat noir, si vous voulez mon avis. Enfin bref, je vous encourage à en acheter et en profiter, si vous êtes au Québec.

Bokken (Signature Weapon)

 This post is a new entry in my Signature Weapons series, about weapons that are or should be featured in crime fiction and other genres as signature weapon for heroes and villains. And everyone in-between, really, antiheroes and whoever else. As I was binge-watching a certain animated series with Wolfie (more on that later, maybe, I discovered a new weapon I didn't know about, at least the term describing it. It's the bokken, a Japanese wooden sword used primarily for training. That said, it can still cause grievous damage if used in real combat. It can even be lethal. It's one of these weapons that I think would be more suitable for a hero than a villain, if only because it is primarily meant to be a training tool. Maybe as a weapon of opportunity sometimes, but as it is in effect a wooden stick used by someone skilled in sword fighting (more specifically kentjutsu), I could really see a fighter either from Japan or with ties to Japan using the bokken as a way to subdue his adversaries without killing them. There is just something potentially ethical about this weapon which I like a lot. And it also has a sober elegance, even though in the end it's just a wooden stick. All the same, I love the bokken and I want to see it as someone's signature weapon.

De la verdure et des bureaux

 Je me promenais avec petit loup dans le quartier des affaires de notre petite ville. Les arbres qu'ils ont planté il y a un peu moins d'une dizaine d'années environ commencent à prendre des dimensions et avoir de l'allure. L'arbre que j,ai pris en photo est un Charme commun, enfin je crois. On l'appelle aussi charmine. Une chose m'est venue à l'esprit: les bureaux dans le coin sont vraiment bien, notamment à cause de la verdure autour. Je n'ai pas travaillé dans une entreprise de la ville où je réside depuis des années et jamais dans le parc industriel. Mais si c'était le cas, ça serait vraiment bien: les bureaux ne sont pas trop loin de chez moi et ça me ferait une petite marche de santé facile. En plus et surtout, il y a beaucoup de verdure.

Dracula on Stage at Whitby

Oh the cool things you are made aware of on social media. I found this picture on the Facebook page of Whitby Abbey. They are making a stage adaptation of Dracula by Bram Stoker. I know it has been adapted for theatre plenty of times, with various degrees of success, and this photo looks cheesy as hell, so this adaptation might be rubbish for all I know. That said, as Whitby and its abbey are closely associated with Dracula, so if nothing it could be a great immersive experience. Anyway, you can buy your tickets here. Don't think I can do it this year and Wolfie would be too young to appreciate (as in: he'd be scared). But one day (or one night), I hope I can watch a performance for my countdown to Halloween.

Des requins blancs dans le St-Laurent

J'ai blogué sur le sujet l'an dernier et avant cela en 2023. Mais je ne m'y habitue pas. Enfin bref, j'apprends que cette année aussi, il y a une présence accrue de requins blancs dans le Saint-Laurent. Ce n'est pas nécessairement une mauvaise nouvelle, au moins selon une experte. Moi, je ne m'inquiète pas tant de leur présence (je sais qu'ils ont une mauvaise réputation surfaite et que c'est une espèce en danger), que pour la raison de leur présence aussi loin au nord. Quand les eaux du Québec deviennent tropicales à cause des changements climatiques, c'est toujours inquiétant.

Lammas Day ("there comes an autumn sickle...")

 

And as the daylight's fading
When Lammas has come in
And gleamers go to work among the stubble
There comes an autumn sickle
To cut the summer's throat
Before the season knows it is in trouble

Martin Newell, Black Shuck

 We are Lammas Day, the first of August. As a tradition on Vraie Fiction, I quote this poem, maybe my favourite poem ever. A scary story in the form of a poem. Anyway, for me these verses remind me that autumn and Halloween are coming and they put me in an autumnal and spooky mood.

Les Bouquinistes et le 12 août

Photo prise sur la page Facebook des Bouquinistes. Nous sommes le premier août et dans moins de deux semaines, je vous rappelle d'acheter un livre québécois. Et pourquoi pas aux Bouquinistes, si vous âssez dans le coin.

Last Day of July

 We are the last day of July, at long last. How has it been for you? I have been hating July 2026, oh so much! I never like July, it is my least favourite month of the year. Because it's a summertime month, because it's generally the hottest, because it's prone to heatwaves. And we've had heatwaves over heatwaves this year. So I hated July even more than usual. Anyway, now at least it's ending. Yes, I know, the hot weather will not disappear by magic, but at least the evening will fall earlier and earlier. And we can hope that heatwaves will eventually end. Be that as it may, good riddance to this July.

Lulu et son chocolat aux bleuets

Je le savais déjà, mais la page Facebook de la Chocolaterie Lulu (d'où j'ai pris cette photo) m'a rappelé qu'ils vendent aussi du chocolat aux bleuets. Je ne sais pas si c'est aussi bon que celui des Pères trappistes, en général ils sont un tantinet moins bons (un juste pas aussi bons), cela dit je les essaierais quand même.