By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 10/31/2016
Yeah, so the irony about me doing a post about scary books for Halloween is that I am a wimp who tends to avoid anything scary. But I do like suspense, and sometimes I can handle a good dark fantasy. And, of course, I've had to read more than a few... Read the rest of this post
By: Shelley Workinger,
on 10/28/2016
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By: Matthew Cheney,
on 10/28/2016
Thirty-five years after his death, Robert Aickman is beginning to receive the attention he deserves as one of the great 20th century writers of short fiction. For the first time, new editions of his books are plentiful, making this a golden age for readers who appreciate the uniquely unsettling effect of his work.Continue reading at Electric Literature.
Unsettling is a key description for Aickman’s writing, not merely in the sense of creating anxiety, but in the sense of undoing what has been settled: his stories unsettle the ideas you bring to them about how fictional reality and consensus reality should fit together. The supernatural is never far from the surreal. He was drawn to ghost stories because they provided him with conventions for unmaking the conventional world, but he was about as much of a traditional ghost story writer as Salvador Dalí was a typical designer of pocket watches.
By: Cynthia Leitich Smith,
on 10/8/2016
I saw that today the Sharknado movies started running, and I watched some of the good parts of 1 and 2 . The ending of S2 (NYC) is fun--the Today show scenes, etc.. Sharknado 4 is on tomorrow night; S3 precedes it.. Planet of the Sharks is on at 1 am tonight, and I missed it the other day. (I wanted to see the beginning of the planet being inundated by water because of the melting glaciers.) So I may look at the beginning; I have to get up in the morning or I'd sleep in.
Add a CommentI'm looking forward to Sharknado: The 4th Awakens; it's scheduled for Sunday, July 31. And I see that the SyFy channel is running a lot of shark movies to get us there. (There are that many?!) A new one, Dam Sharks!, is this Monday night. Hmm. Not much info on the plot yet. The genre is Horror; and the blurb says: Voracious sharks use human bodies to build dams. Uh, why. And if they're so voracious, how come there are any bodies available?
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By: Matthew Cheney,
on 6/14/2016
Lots to do, lots to do… and so little time. You would think we would be old pros at this now, but damn if the butterflies don’t start a fluttering around this time. Paying for shows, flights, hotel rooms, airbnbs… and a whole slew of other things that will cause a bit of anxiety. But it is worth it as we love traveling and seeing everyone at the shows, which will start off Saturday with a one day horror show.
The 4th Annual Spook Show at the Halloween Club in La Mirada is here on March 5th and it will be our third time doing it. It keeps getting better and better each year; artist, crafters, vendors, food trucks, music, and much more. One of our favorite small shows, plus it is a great way to start off the con season. The show is free, but you must RSVP your free tickets to gain admittance. It is from noon til 7 on Saturday and family friendly.
There are plenty of more shows in the coming weeks, so everyone have fun and we hope to see you soon.
The post Con season begins once again… appeared first on Ghoulish Bunny Studios.
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By: Becca F (ReadingTeen),
on 1/31/2016
By Becca... REVENGE AND THE WILD By Michelle Modesto Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Balzer + Bray (February 2, 2016) Age Range: 14 up Grade Level: 9 up Language: English Goodreads | Amazon The two-bit town of Rogue City is a lawless place, full of dark magic and saloon brawls, monsters and six-shooters. But it’s perfect for seventeen-year-old Westie, the notorious adopted daughter
By: Shelf-employed,
on 1/19/2016
GALE, Laurel. Dead Boy. 5 CDs. 6 hrs. Listening Library. 2015. $35. ISBN 9781101916827. digital download.
Gr 5-7–Crow was once a regular boy who played baseball and had friends and loving parents. But now, he’s dead. At first, being dead wasn’t so bad, but then his rotting flesh began attracting maggots. He couldn’t eat or sleep. His parents divorced. His mother will tell him only that his parents “wished him back to life,” but what kind of life? He’s trapped in a house kept purposefully cold to slow the putrefaction of his flesh. When Melody and her father move in next door, she and Crow become secret friends against the wishes of their parents. Together, they begin to unravel the terrible secret of his parents’ wish. Their forbidden friendship will be tested as they face a series of deadly challenges in their quest for the truth. Though the book’s description promises humor, narrator Robbie Daymond’s presentation of Crow is morose and forlorn. His cheerful portrayal of Melody offers the only break from the macabre atmosphere. VERDICT - Not for the squeamish, this one will be best for middle school fans of ghoulish favorites like The Night Gardener (Abrams, 2014) or The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls (S. & S., 2012). [“A great recommendation to middle grade fans of dark humor”: SLJ 7/15 review of the Crown book.]
By: Jerry Beck,
on 1/8/2016
One of the most original voices in contemporary stop motion talks about his work with us.
The post The Art of Animating Horror: An Interview with Robert Morgan appeared first on Cartoon Brew.
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By: Becca Fowler (PivotBookReviews),
on 1/5/2016
Review by Sara... HELLRAISERS (The Devil's Engine) by Alexander Gordon Smith Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Macmillan (December 1, 2015) Language: English Goodreads | Amazon The Devil’s Engine is a machine from the darkest parts of history. It can make any wish come true—as long as you are willing to put your life on the line. When a sixteen-year-old asthmatic kid named Marlow Green finds
By: Andye ReadingTeen,
on 12/22/2015
Review by Krista THE UNQUIET by Mikaela Everett Kindle Edition, 464 pages Published September 22nd 2015 by Greenwillow Books Goodreads | Amazon For most of her life, Lirael has been training to kill—and replace—a duplicate version of herself on a parallel Earth. She is the perfect sleeper-soldier. But she’s beginning to suspect she is not a good person. The two Earths are identical in
By: Andye ReadingTeen,
on 12/13/2015
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Would you rather be a werewolf, a zombie or a vampire? Enter to win an autographed copy of Monsterland, by Michael Phillip Cash; plus a living dead themed travel mug and a $50 Amazon gift card! Giveaway begins November 14, 2015, at 12:01 A.M. PST and ends December 16, 2015, at 11:59 P.M. PST.
Add a CommentYou've received a free VIP ticket to join us as we go on the Monsterland tour with award-winning author Michael Phillip Cash.
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INSANE ASYLUM FOR GIRLS. That’s enough to get anyone’s attention, but unlike many slick, cheap-thrills books that quickly bore me, The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall is one of the most well-crafted YA horror books I’ve read in ages. It’s a short but surprisingly thoughtful book, with good creepiness and suspense and sadness, as well as the right balance of teenage snark and feeling. It’s hard to juggle humor and darkness, but the author does a great job of that here. I also very much appreciated the writing–I loved the way the passage of time was described, which places the reader in an unsettled frame of mind, as well as the sensory experiences of being in Delia’s mind and body as she adjusts to living in the house. There are good plot twists, a well-written back story that doesn’t slow down the pace, and logical progression in character and plot... Read more »
The post The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall: review appeared first on The Midnight Garden.
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By: Lizzy Burns,
on 11/5/2015
This week, my niece and I went to see the film Crimson Peak
We were both looking for something scary; and we were both quite pleased with the film. She, because Crimson Peak delivered on it's promise of horror and gore; me, because it was a Gothic romance.
It's the early twentieth century, in Buffalo, New York, and Edith Cushing is more interested in her writing than in balls and society. Also, she sees ghosts -- or at least, saw one ghost, once -- the ghost of her dead mother.
These are not shadowy ghosts, wisps of smoke, faded photographs of dead people. These are rotting corpses, blood and muscle and sinew, in the colors of death: the black of rot, the red of blood. They are bony fingers and sharp fingernails, skeletons and skulls of horror.
So Edith is a bit of a modern girl, and in this she is loved and supported by her father and her childhood friend, Dr. Alan McMichael. In the first frames one can almost see how Edith's life is supposed to play out: the doted on child of a rich father, then the friend becoming love interest, both supporting her writing but their love and comfort keeping her in her safe life, her safe town.
And then they come to down: Sir Thomas Sharpe and his sister, Lucille. When Edith hears of Sir Thomas visiting, she is dismissive, looking down on what she assumes is a spoiled aristocrat. But then she meets him and all I can say is : Tom Hiddleston, in full-on dazzling charm mode, with an accent. Dr. McMichael - Charlie Hunnam without beard, tattoos, or bike - is no competition, especially since Sir Thomas is new, and Alan is known, plus Alan's mother and sister are kind of bitchy. Thomas's sister Lucille may be a bit cold, but she's not as bad as Alan's women folk.
Part of what attracts Edith is she is the wallflower, even though it's by choice. She sits at home, reading and writing, rather than going to balls, and her father is happy with that because it protects her. He sees Thomas as a threat. Her father complains to Edith that Thomas is seeking money and investors, has gone to several countries in his quest for funding, yet his hands are soft. Thomas is soft. Edith sees that Thomas wears good but old clothes; she sees him as an impoverished aristocrat, yes, but one who is trying to turn things around. And he - it seems like he sees her as desirable. He wants her. He looks at her like no one else does -- well, except for poor Alan who just can't compete.
Let's cut to the chase. Edith and Thomas marry, and go back to the family's mansion in England, and soon she starts seeing ghosts. And I don't want to give too much away, but it's a ghost story, of course, so who are these ghosts? And what is going on in this mansion, with areas Edith is warned against entering? And it seems like Thomas and his sister have secrets, many secrets -- what are they?
Why I loved this movie: first of all, it's gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful. The clothes, the settings, whether it's a ballroom in Buffalo or the decrepit mansion, it's just stunning. And the mansion -- it's so dark and mysterious and also falling apart, literally holes in the ceiling and red clay seeping through the floors. The red clay! The house is built on red clay and it seeps into everything, seeps up through the ground so it looks like blood. There are barrels full of it, and it looks like barrels of blood. When the mansion first appears, my niece and I were all "OK, I would turn around and walk right out that door."
But Edith stays. She loves Thomas, and sees the romance of it, and has hope. Hope she holds on to, tight, until the ghosts show up. Also -- to be clear -- she is only slowly discovering she is in danger. Things are shared with the viewer that she doesn't see, and I liked seeing how and when Edith would realize.
Edith! Here is the thing: Yes, she was sheltered. Yes, she was blinded by love (or, possibly, lust. I mean, Thomas is dashing and has an accent.). But she's not stupid. She sees things, she puts things together. She is not passive. (It's actually another thing that the niece and I really liked.)
And there is another thing, that the niece liked. Let's just say she appreciates gore in horror movies, and while Crimson Peak is a more a Gothic romance than horror, the deaths (like the ghosts) are gory. Someone is bludgeoned to death, and it's brutal, and bloody, with torn skin and shattered bone. But here's the thing: it was real. And for all the ghosts and dread, there weren't that many murders shown on screen, so there was enough that it made sense and it shocked like it should, it wasn't too many.
Overall? A thumbs up!!
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© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
By: Lizzy Burns,
on 11/4/2015
Of Monsters & Madness
The Plot: It's 1824 and Annabel Lee, 17, has moved to her father's death following her mother's death. The world of Philadelphia, and her role of daughter of a doctor, is very different from a childhood spent in Siam. She lacks the freedom she had there.
There are secrets in her father's house -- including her father's two assistants, handsome Allan and cruel Edgar. Including her father's scientific experiments.
And there are the gruesome murders....
The Good: I'll be honest: I read Of Monsters and Madness about a year ago, when it first came out, enjoyed it, but just didn't get around to writing anything up.
Then I saw the movie Crimson Peak (review tomorrow) and began to wonder about possible read-a-likes for teens who may go see the movie and want a taste of Gothic horror and romance. And I remembered Of Monsters and Madness.
The setting, early nineteenth century Philadelphia, is wonderfully shown; Annabel is a strong young woman who has been raised away from her father and his family. She wants to connect with them and please them, but her desire for independence and to pursue studying is at odds with their perceptions of what a proper young lady is. Plus, Edgar Allen Poe as a hot young man!
And plus there are references / homages to works by Poe as well as other writers. So this can lead to wanting to read more Poe, and Robert Louis Stevenson, and Oscar Wilde.
Of Monsters and Madness was published by Egmont USA, which, sadly, no longer exists. So when I went to the author's website to write this post, I was very pleased to learn a few things: first, that it's available on Kindle; second, that for a limited time it is $1.99; and third, that Verday has included the sequel, Of Phantoms and Fury, in the Kindle edition so you are getting two books for one.
Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.
© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
In this novel written for fans of the dystopian-horror genre, Cash delivers a gripping story with a Jurassic Park vibe.
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By: Debbie Ridpath Ohi,
on 10/29/2015
;)
By: Lizzy Burns,
on 10/29/2015
Jane-Emily: And Witches' Children
By: Audrey Niffenegger,
on 10/22/2015
Describe your latest book. I recently edited and illustrated a collection of ghost stories, Ghostly. It features stories by E. A. Poe, Neil Gaiman, Saki, Kelly Link, and M. R. James, and also some stories by writers who one might not associate with ghost stories, including A. S. Byatt, P. G. Wodehouse, and Edith Wharton. [...]
