The Fantastically Demonic World of Nila N. Brown

This weekend, I found out that a friend, Shannon Blackmon, was murdered. "Suthrn," as I came to know her before I got to know her as "Shannon," was energetic, funny as all out get out, and so beautiful. She had everything going for her. She had this effervescent personality; Shannon could match and even go above and beyond me in telling a funny story and keeping the energy going. She was so passionate about what she believed in and she fought like a warrior. Our favorite thing was talking about "True Blood." She went from being a super fan to hating it like it was a walking sin.That show going off was the worst thing that happened to us. We had nothing else to hate, so she stopped posting about it. What we all failed to realize that the end of the series seemed to usher in a dark cloud that didn't come to its unspeakable conclusion until December 4th, when I found out that she had been murdered. Shannon fell off the grid. She stopped comin...

Hello, my Lovelies! The fact that I suffer from depression is the worst kept secret ever. I hid it at first because, you know, trying to start a writing career, I didn't want someone to look at me like I was a nut case. I slowly left that thinking behind me. It took some time, meds for a hot minute, and therapy for me to understand that I've been clinically depressed for over 32 years. On a recent trip home to St. Louis (enjoyed it immensely!), I had a discussion with my mom, brother, sis-in-law, step dad and cousin that made me realize where the depression stemmed from and how it started. I won't go into that, but I really felt connected to my family more than I had in my nearly 50 years on Planet Stinkyball Earth. Things that are said or done early in life have a great impact on you later in life without you even realizing it. So I came back to Georgia and set about writing the book that I will read at DragonCon on Friday, September 4th (date change). However, on A...