A Load of BS

  They say a picture is worth a thousand words. To quote a dearly departed songwriter, if you could read my mind, what a tale my thoughts could tell.  The catch is I don't remember some of the finer details, nor do I want to.  The photo you see above here was the last picture taken from what would become my last author signing event. I learned from my friends and colleagues to leave a piece of your work behind as a way to thank the hotel staff for their hospitality.  I didn't know it at the time, but maybe this was a case of foreshadowing. I always loved using that tool in my stories. I'm a lifelong pro wrestling fan. When I found this photo yesterday, the first thought that popped into my head was that of a veteran grappler ceremoniously taking off his boots and leaving them in the ring. This is a time-honored tradition and a clear sign that he has just competed in his final bout.  I didn't realize it until last night. This photo symbolizes me leaving my boots ...

There are landmark days that stand out in people’s minds, for a variety of reasons. Your birthday, your wedding day, your high school graduation day, or the night you drank the blue liquor and nearly blacked out at a bachelor party. Authors tend to commemorate these occasions by releasing a book on their birthday, or perhaps re-releasing a book on the same day for continuity purposes. I published my first book on February 26, 2016. Even then, I wasn’t an author. I was simply a guy who wrote a book. Some years later, I published another book on April 20, 2023. For all intents and purposes, that was my first day as a “real” author. However, the day that truly sticks out in my mind is July 29, 2023. Facebook likes to tell you what happened "On This Day". You see, a year ago, I boarded a plane to visit my family in Florida and enjoy a trip to Walt Disney World. I landed at approximately 1:30pm, walked for a thousand years through a brand-new concourse at Orlando International Air...

Until a few minutes ago, I couldn't decide which project to work on tonight. As I sat here with the ESPN bowl games acting as background noise, I wondered ' Do I work on the continuation of my Core Memories sexy romance series? ' (Yes, I can say the word sexy here. It's my blog. I'm not going to ban myself). ' Do I revisit my full-length work-in-progress that feels empty to me? '  Don't get me wrong. The latter is going to be a wonderful story once I decide to continue writing it. I just don't feel comfortable penning a straight fiction novel right now, even though one of my dear friends insists (and I'm paraphrasing here) "There's something uniquely special about a Brian Scala book." I can't shake this feeling that it needs to be something more than what it is. Romance, Horror, Suspense, maybe all of the above. I need a niche. People want horror or romance, or both. That's partially why I decided to dive into the romance th...

First and foremost, it is never anyone's business why somebody decides to consume or not consume anything, whether it be food, alcohol or other recreational substances. Nobody has questioned me on this topic recently. However, I started thinking about the who, what, where, when, why and how and decided to offer some context. My grandfather, Vincent Scala Sr., was always kind and loving towards me. He was a lively individual who enjoyed his Yankees, his horse racing and trips to Atlantic City. He also enjoyed his alcohol. By all accounts, he enjoyed it too much. I don't know what made him tick. I wasn't around for 95% of the bad times.  Towards the end of his life, all of his major organs started failing. His four children (and my grandmother, by then his ex-wife) took turns caring for a belligerent, mean bastard that was once my kind, fun-loving grandfather. Finally, my father took him in. There he stayed until his life ended in 1998. When I started noticing changes in my b...