After Midnight

There are a couple of items I should mention, though.

For one thing, I was in the doctor’s office last month and read in Entertainment Weekly that this really major actor has signed on to star in a film version of a movie called The Dark Pit, from the novel of that title by the late Murphy Scott.

Cool, huh?

He would’ve liked that.

It made me awfully sad, though.

The other thing is, Judy and I are going to be mothers. Both of us. We’re due at about the same time, early in April. Sounds corny, I know. I mean, like a soap opera or something. But you might say it’s sort of a mixed blessing.

The father of my baby has to be Murphy. Which is wonderful, I think. Wonderful and sad, like the fact that they’re going to make a movie of his book, only better than that, and worse. Him being dead…

But Judy’s child—well, we don’t know who the father is.

Possibly Tony. But he’s a long shot, considering the time element. The father is almost certainly Milo or Steve.

Not exactly the best news.

Genes count for plenty. Do we really want to bring a kid into the world if half his genes come from a vicious rapist, a sadist, a thrill-killer, a cannibal?

Judy and I talked about terminating the pregnancy.

But we decided against it.

For one thing, we wanted nothing more to do with killing.

For another, half the baby’s genes will be from Judy, and that’s got to count for plenty.

RAVE REVIEWS FOR RICHARD LAYMON!

“I’ve always been a Laymon fan. He manages to raise serious gooseflesh.”

—Bentley Little

“Laymon is incapable of writing a disappointing book.”

—New York Review of Science Fiction

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—Dean Koontz

“If you’ve missed Laymon, you’ve missed a treat.”

—Stephen King

“A brilliant writer.”

—Sunday Express

“I’ve read every book of Laymon’s I could get my hands on. I’m absolutely a longtime fan.”

—Jack Ketchum, author of The Girl Next Door

MORE PRAISE FOR RICHARD LAYMON!

“One of horror’s rarest talents.”

—Publishers Weekly

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—Horror World

“Laymon is an American writer of the highest caliber.”

—Time Out

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“Laymon doesn’t pull any punches. Everything he writes keeps you on the edge of your seat.”

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“One of the best, and most reliable, writers working today.”

—Cemetery Dance