Interiew With Horror Metal Sounds

Horror Metal Sounds interviewed me recently for The Gore Spotlight section. We discussed writing, vampires, zombies, and my upcoming novel Yeitso. You can check out the entire interview here.

Interesting Posts From Other Websites

I know. Another article about Godzilla. But in Godzilla and the Problem with American Monster Movies, Jimmy Janda discusses why American monster movies like Roland Emmerich's Godzilla and Cloverfield are not as good as their Japanese counterparts or the American-made monster movies of the 1950s. And I happen to agree with him.

Since Alien debuted thirty-five years ago this week (yes, that fact makes me feel really old), MovieFone carried the article Alien Facts: 25 Things You Didn't Know About the Sci-Fi/Horror Classic. I'm a huge Alien fan, but some of this information was new even to me.

In Some Thoughts on Vampires, movie critic Kim Newman discusses some of the more commonly-known aspects of vampire mythos and how they are dealt with in book and movies. This is an interesting read, especially if you write vampire novels.

I'll Be on Zombiepalooza Radio This Friday Night

On Friday, 27 June, beginning at 8PM, Zombiepalooza Radio will be interviewing several Permuted Press authors, including myself. I'll be up at 10PM. You can tune in to Zombiepalooza Radio here. Please give Zombiepalooza Radio, and me, your support.

Below is the line-up of authors slated to be interviewed:

Sean T. Smith 
Steven Kozeniewski
Paul Mannering 
Shana Festa (Bookie Monster) 
Gabrielle Faust
Scott M. Baker 
Steven A. North
Stevie Kopas 
Devan Sagliani
Michael & Anthony, the helmsman of Permuted Press

Interesting Posts from Other Websites

Let me start off this week's fare on a serious note. Shock Till You Drop carried an editorial by Amie Harwicke debunking the notion that the horror genre is responsible for the horrendous crimes committed by people today, most recently the stabbing of an adolescent by two twelve-year-old girls in Wisconsin. Check out Shifted Responsibility: Don't Blame Horror.

Weird Tales listed The 15 Most Entertaining Horror Films from the 1980s. While I agree with most of their choices, I can't believe they didn't include John Carpenter's The Thing or An American Werewolf in London, though, in their defense, they do admit that these films are from the early 80s and are considered carry-overs from the 1970s.

I'll Be Attending Walker Stalker Con in Atlanta 17-19 October

It's official. I have a vendor table at the Walker Stalker Convention being held in Atlanta, Georgia from 17-19 October 2014. The guest list is extensive, including forty past and present cast members from The Walking Dead plus many more. I'm really excited about this, and hope to see some of my old fans there and make new ones.

Interesting Posts From Other Websites

One of the things I love about vampires is the diversity within the genre. You can have good vampires, bad vampires, and vampires that sparkle. Although it's an older article from Weird Things, I recently stumbled across The Ten Worst Cliches About Vampire Films From Folks Who Just Watched Hundreds. I am guilty of numbers four, five, thirteen, and fourteen. But I don't care--bad-ass vampires still rock.

Keeping with the vampire theme, according to the Italian English-language newspaper The Local, a group of academics claim to have uncovered the tomb of Vlad the Impaler in Naples, of all places. I don't believe it, but you can read about their findings here.

Giant bugs are one of my favorite monsters. so I was interested in seeing how Dead Central ranked Bugging Out; 5 of the Greatest Killer Bug Flicks. I agree with most of their top five, although I would have substituted another movie for Bug.

Finally, I agree with most of the 5 Horror Movies That Should Not Be Remade. However, The Shining was remade in 1997 as a TV mini-series with Steven Weber in the starring role, and this movie was much more in tune with the original novel. But that is an exception. I hate to think how Hollywood would re-image Jaws.

Cover Art for Yeitso

I'm very excited. This week Blood Bound Books sent me the cover art for Yeitso, which is due out later this summer.

Yeitso is a dramatic departure from my usual zombie and vampire fare. This is my homage to the giant monster movies of the 1950s that I grew up with as a Monster Kid--Them!, The Giant Gila Monster, The Crawling Eye, and so many more. In the vein of those movies, I've toned down the gore and language (no F bombs in this book) and eliminated the sex (except for one brief referral to it in the opening chapter). This is a novel I'd let my twelve-year-old stepdaughter read.

I'm finishing off the final proofs of the manuscript now and, with luck, the book should be available by the end of the summer. When it does, Blood Bound Books will be running a contest to give away six e-book copies and one print version of the book. So please keep watching for further details.

Interesting Posts from Other Websites

This week I'll start off with the Zombie Research Society's exclusive interview with George Romero in which the Godfather of the living dead talks about his collaboration with Marvel Comics on the Empire of the Dead graphic novel series and his work with Steven Schlozman to bring The Zombie Autopsies to the big screen. (I hope it pans out because that is an awesome novel. Check out my review of it here.)

If you think writing a novel or short story is hard, try scaring someone with flash fiction. These two-sentence horror stories are among the best. The third one is my favorite.

Even commercials have gotten into the scare game. This is one of the creepiest commercials I've seen--right up until the very end. Enjoy.

Monster Kid by Dave Lowe

I don't usually promote other websites on my blog out of a sense of fairness; I feel if I promote one author's/artist's website I should be promoting them all. But in this case I need to make an exception. I was trolling around on Facebook this morning and stumbled across the above drawing titled Monster Kid from Dave Lowe's website Para Abnormal. This drawing struck home because it was me as a kid. I had all the Aurora monster and dinosaur models, the posters on the wall (except mine were of Godzilla), and the G.I. Joe with "real hair" and his helicopter. I loved sitting in my room watching old 1950s monster/Sci-Fi movies on TV while reading Famous Monsters of Filmland. Just add curly hair and dorky glasses, and this could be me. It brought back a lot of pleasant, childhood memories. Thanks, Dave. I'll be checking in on your wensite daily now.

Interesting Posts from Other Websites

The pickings are a little slim this week because I spent all weekend in Orlando at Spooky Mayhem, but I did find some interesting tidbits to post.

CNN's On the Road series reported in Vampire burial in Poland keeps alive the myth that will not die on an archaeological dig in northwest Poland that uncovered evidence of a "vampire burial"--its teeth had been removed, a rock had been placed in the corpse's mouth, and a leg had been staked. While this doesn't proof the existence of vampires (or does it?), it's interesting that the locals feared the presence of the undead among them. Unfortunately, the article did not give the time period for the site that was excavated.

Here is something I have mixed feelings about--Edgar Wright Could Resurrect Johnny Depp as Kolchak. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge fan of The Night Stalker. This was one of the most formative TV shows of my youth; it was because of Kolchak that I decided I wanted to be a writer. To me, it's the Holy Grail of television, no matter how cheesy it was. I remember how ABC butchered the franchise in 2005 with their horrible re-imaging of it. When I heard Hollywood was making another attempt to bring my icon back to life, I cringed until I heard Johnny Depp would play him. So I'll withhold judgment until I see the movie. But Johnny better be careful--he owes me one for sitting through The Lone Ranger.