At The Unspeakable Oath we have fun with the fictional frights of the Cthulhu Mythos, but of course real horrors abound in the world. My friends, family and I experienced one this week.
A series of huge tornadoes ravaged the U.S. southeast the night of April 27. My family and I watched the news on TV as the worst of them tore through nearby Tuscaloosa and then Pleasant Grove, a few miles away from us.
Then we watched as first one and then another tornado came barrelling toward Chelsea, our town. We huddled in the basement office, where I run Arc Dream Publishing on most days, and waited. The storms went over Chelsea without doing any harm. We got very, very lucky.
Elsewhere across Alabama and neighboring states, the devastation was astounding. Two of my good friends — Joe Crowe of RevolutionSF (and my coworker at The Birmingham News) and Lou Anders of Pyr — had falling trees destroy parts of their homes but they and their families came through unhurt. They, too, were very lucky. Hundreds of others are dead. Right now the death toll is rising by the hour.
Recovery is going to be a long, tough process. I’m seeing it first-hand at the News, where we’re working overtime to cover the disaster and keep people informed. My wife, a sheriff’s deputy, is working day and night over the weekend to provide aid in Tuscaloosa.
You can help. Please make a donation to the Red Cross, which is, as always, on the front lines of catastrophe. They’re helping us fight the horrors that are all too real. Donate today.
Support the Red Cross.