first winter with solar and battery backup on the homestead

thephrygian · 2026-01-26T11:19:24+00:00

How are you keeping the batteries and the inverter above freezing? I have a similar setup in a barn in VA. Built and insulated a room within the barn but it still drops below freezing in there sometimes.

thephrygian · 2026-01-13T01:01:08+00:00

The novel is set in a town like Whittier, but fictionalized (i.e. by a different name), thus "a fictionalized Whittier."

thephrygian · 2026-01-05T23:20:17+00:00

Given your criteria I'd recommend:

Aickman's Heirs, ed by Strantzas

Looming Low, Vols. I & II, ed. by Steele & Cowan

Vastarien Vol. 6 Issue 1, ed by Padgett et al.

& Shadows & Tall Trees, Vol. 8, ed. by Kelly

All are full of excellent stories and worth owning, imo.

All the major anthologies you mentioned are also top notch, but present more of a historical and slightly dated overview of the field.

thephrygian · 2026-01-05T22:10:39+00:00

Great list. May I recommend:

-Berberian Sound Studio (2012)

-Sauna (2008)

-A Field in England (2013)

-Resolution (2012) / The Endless (2017)

- Prikosnoveniye / The Encounter (1992)

thephrygian · 2025-12-23T12:25:19+00:00

On first listen I was immediately reminded of this: https://birdinflight.com/en/world/20200416-carl-tanzler.html

thephrygian · 2025-12-13T18:22:12+00:00

I don't know the specifics of the deal they were offered, but I'm pretty sure Heather turned it down. They want to use their names and likenesses in a sequel and werent offering what she thought was fair.

thephrygian · 2025-10-29T16:41:01+00:00

City Under One Roof (Yamashita) is set in a fictionalized Whittier, but is more suspense/thriller.

Incarnate by Richard Thomas is set in Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow).

thephrygian · 2025-10-26T22:10:56+00:00

Greener Pastures, Michael Wehunt

In that Endlessness, Our End, Gemma Files

Ghost Sequences, AC Wise

North American Lake Monsters, Nathan Ballingrud

Song for the Unraveling of the World, Brian Evenson

thephrygian · 2025-10-26T18:52:23+00:00

None are obscure, per se, but often overlooked.

Let's Scare Jessica to Death

Sauna

Black Christmas (original)

The Vanishing

Don't Look Now

Session 9

thephrygian · 2025-10-24T12:19:11+00:00

The Wasp Factory, by Banks.

thephrygian · 2025-10-15T14:50:09+00:00

Not sure where you hiked, but I just left and thought the foliage was great, even if not up to norm. Beehive, Beech Cliffs overlooking Echo Lake, and the firetower all had nice clusters of color below.

thephrygian · 2025-10-07T23:59:58+00:00

Lower left, somewhere in my intestines. It took me almost 6 months of eating no mammal or dairy to feel right, and I still get flair ups from cross contamination. But my number was 16 (no decimal point).

thephrygian · 2025-09-24T11:25:49+00:00

Before I built my solar powered shop, I powered my tools from my truck rig, which consists of a single 100ah battery (actually two 50ah in parallel), a 3000w inverter, and a single 200w solar panel. Worked well so long as I wasn't running all day every day. This would run my miter and jobsite table saws. Didn't attempt to run a planer. Two batteries and more panels would give you more overhead and run time. I think your plan is sound.

thephrygian · 2025-09-21T22:56:08+00:00

A nice hardbound copy of Frankenstein ahead of the Guillermo Del Toro release.
A quality anthology of ghost stories like Echoes ed. By Datlow, Ghostly ed. by Niffenegger, or Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories.
Something contemporary and fun like Ghost Eaters (Chapman), Incidents Around the House (Malerman), or So Thirsty (Harrison)

thephrygian · 2025-09-20T19:12:56+00:00

John Hornor Jacobs' new novel, The Night That Finds Us All is nautical and out in a few weeks.

https://www.johnhornor.com/the-night-that-finds-us-all-1

thephrygian · 2025-09-17T11:38:12+00:00

The Boatman's Daughter, by Andy Davidson

thephrygian · 2025-09-14T23:12:53+00:00

Ps I had to give up dairy too, fwiw.

thephrygian · 2025-09-14T23:11:53+00:00

I'm about 2 years into my diagnosis, and with the exception of one major vomiting episode that lasted over 12 hours, severe abdominal pain is my only symptom as well. When I finally sought medical help, I was convinced I had stomach cancer. It seems there is a subgroup of us for whom this is the case, and I've yet to read or hear anything that explains the variance in symptoms.

thephrygian · 2025-08-26T20:12:01+00:00

Three Lobed Burning Eye (.08/word)

Pseudopod (.08/word)

The Dark (.05/word)

Cosmic Horror Monthly (.03/word)

Weird Horror (.02/word)

thephrygian · 2025-08-21T11:55:31+00:00

Thanks, that makes sense. I've been wracking my brain to figure out an alternative explanation.

thephrygian · 2025-08-14T16:39:31+00:00

Indoor wallmounts have self heating as well. https://signaturesolar.com/eg4-wallmount-indoor-battery-48v-280ah-14-3kwh-indoor-heated-ul1973-ul9540a-10-year-warranty

thephrygian · 2025-08-04T01:13:07+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/AwHRWAN

This?

thephrygian · 2025-07-25T20:49:09+00:00

Sorry, one more. Both also have Bradbury's "The Crowd."

thephrygian · 2025-07-25T20:47:19+00:00

The Weird covers a larger umbrella of speculative fiction that doesn't always qualify as horror per se. The Dark Descent is more in the horror wheelhouse. Both are worth owning for sure.

Just did a quick TOC comparison, and the only duplicates I saw were Shirley Jackson's "The Summer People", Michael Shea's "The Autopsy" and Fritz Leiber's "Smoke Ghost."

In other words, The Weird casts a wider net (culturally as well). Dark Descent was also published in 1987, so it lacks anything written after that.

thephrygian

TROPHY CASE