Archive for the ‘Scary Stuff’ Category

Is Cosmic Horror Evolving?

Posted: August 15, 2019 in Reflections, Scary Stuff
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A sketch of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft, and an embodiment of cosmic horror.

Earlier today, I read a very interesting article about how cosmic horror is evolving from the state it was in when HP Lovecraft pioneered the genre, courtesy of Bloody Disgusting (you can read the article here). To sum the article up, the author states that cosmic horror originally had little room for emotions other than fear. The idea was to explore a vast cosmos filled with powerful entities and secrets that humanity can’t begin to grasp. Humanity, and our ideas and emotions, are inconsequential to these beings, and they are too much for us to fathom. However, lately the genre has been used to explore emotional themes such as closure of grief or to overcome childhood schisms and trauma.

I thought it was an interesting article, so I shared it among my fellow horror writers (as well as reserved some of the films mentioned in the article from my local library). And the responses I’ve gotten so far have been rather telling. One author I’m friends with mentioned that horror, including cosmic horror, has always been used to explore themes of emotions and the human experience. Sure, that sometimes involves things so outside the human experience our mind can’t comprehend them, but in the end, they deal with every day human fears of how much we matter, whether we’re alone in the universe.

Look at IT, for example (and yes, I am excited for Chapter Two. My sister and I are even trying to arrange to see it opening weekend). While it is about a shape-shifting being fond of the form of a clown and the people who stand up to him, it’s also about dealing with the change from childhood to adulthood, how reality hardens you and destroys your sense of wonderment. Very relevant to the human experience, underneath the clown make-up.

Another person in that discussion also mentioned how, in the age of the Internet, Twitter, and all the human-made horrors, some people doubted the need for cosmic horror. I mean, isn’t everyday news bad enough? Who needs alien gods with tentacles when you have mass shootings and human rights violations?

Well, not necessarily. Think about how, despite all the “connections,” we live more hermit-like and isolated existences these days. We live very much alone. And seeing all these awful things in the world, one can feel powerless. The world is just too much to handle, it seems, let alone take on.

And that’s cosmic horror in a nutshell. Humanity feeling small, our lives not ours to control, but at the mercy of forces that don’t care one way or the other about our well-being. It was a common enough feeling for many after WWI when HP Lovecraft was building the genre, having experienced the trenches, the gas, and the flamethrowers. And it’s still a common feeling today.

And so long as that feeling of hopelessness and isolation in the face of a seemingly senseless, uncaring world is part of people’s lives, there will be an audience for cosmic horror. The genre will evolve and change, but the swirling darkness that birthed Cthulhu and other monstrosities will always be at its core.

But what do you think? Is cosmic horror evolving? What direction do you think the genre will head? Are you, like me, actually an entity from beyond this planet or realm whose true form induces all who see it to madness? Let’s discuss.

Until next time, my Followers of Fear, goodnight and pleasant nightmares.

Review: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019 film)

Posted: August 10, 2019 in Review, Scary Stuff
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I don’t remember much of the Scary Stories series from my childhood days, but what I do remember terrified me shitless (thank you, Mrs. Paulowicz, for scaring your entire third grade class with the story of the grave digger who stole silver coins from over the eyes of a dead woman). So when it came out that a movie based on the stories was in the works, people were excited, skeptical, curious, and terrified (of their beloved childhood memories being tarnished). And then we saw those initial trailers on Super Bowl weekend. And we were like, “Ooh, this should be good.”

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark takes place in a small Pennsylvania town in the fall of 1968. Several teens, led by aspiring writer Stella Nichols, go to visit the old Bellows mansion, an abandoned house supposedly haunted by the spirit of a murderess who was kept hidden in a basement from the world, poisoned kids who came to hear her scary stories through the wall, and hung herself. They end up finding the book of Sarah Bellows, which is still being written, with the teenagers as the main characters. Now they have to find a way to stop Sarah before the antagonists of the stories take them and kill them all.

I’ll admit, the story has a predictable structure, and the third act could have been a lot scarier and less reliant on CGI monsters. Still, Scary Stories is a decent horror film. Much better than some other films I’ve seen lately (looking at you, Midsommar!).

For those wondering, this film does contain a lot of favorite monsters and references to other stories. Jangly Man, the Pale Lady, the girl who had spiders birthed from her cheek. They even make several references to The Hearse Song, which many people were first exposed to through the book series (and which is one of the inspirations for my short story Pinochle on Your Snout).

The best part of this movie is its scares and atmosphere. While there are jump scares, they’re not overused and for the most part are pretty effective. The filmmakers used a combination of settings, such as the house, a cornfield, or a hospital wing,* along with lighting (or lack of it) and practical/make-up effects to create a claustrophobic and suspenseful atmosphere that will make you curl in on yourself in terror. I swear, the scene in the cornfield with the scarecrow had me genuinely freaked out. Especially when it moved!

The actors also do a good job with these characters. I really empathized with Stella, played by Zoe Colletti, who loves horror and writes, but at times has trouble interacting with others and has to deal with bullies (girl, I’ve been there). And Ramon Morales, played by Michael Garza, came off as truly kind and sympathetic.

Also of note is the theme of persecution in the film. There’s a reason that this film takes place in 1968, when the first book was released in 1981. Sarah Bellows, whom we only really see at the end, is revealed to be born with a disability, and is treated horribly by her family for it. Several of the main characters have dealt with bullying for being different, and Ramon is persecuted mainly because he’s Hispanic. The Vietnam War and the 1968 election also comes up quite a bit in the story. All this comes together to give this film a rather poignant undertone that one could find ways to apply to our current political climate (just saying), and that never hits you over the head to get the message across.

But as I said, the story is kind of predictable and the third act has some issues. Specifically, there’s too much attention paid to making Sarah Bellows a sympathetic villain, along with wrapping things up with a nice bow, that the fear kind of dissipates by the end of the climax. Doesn’t help that they chose a monster requiring lots of CGI to bring to life in that act.

But all in all, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark will delight fans of the series and should satisfy regular horror fans. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give Scary Stories a 4.2. Atmospheric and creepy, you’ll be drawn in and learn to be afraid of the power of stories. Go and check it out.

*By the way, one of the locations in the film is the Pennhurst State School, one of the haunted locations I want to visit! Not the real one, but a great recreation. Way to tie in a real haunted location with a sordid past into a horror film, filmmakers. I’m impressed.

An Evening of Horror Stories with Rami Ungar at Brothers Drake Meadery

Posted: August 6, 2019 in Living and Life, Scary Stuff, Writing
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I’m very excited to announce that I will be doing my very first professional solo author reading on August 18th at Brothers Drake Meadery! And of course, one of the stories I’ll be reading from is Rose.

Now I think I’ve mentioned them on this blog before, but if you’re unfamiliar with Brothers Drake, they’re a local maker and purveyor of mead, or honeywine. I’ve loved their mead since college, and celebrated both finishing up the third draft and the publication of Rose with their product and posting pictures and videos of said celebration on my Instagram.

This has led to the owners of Brothers Drake and I building a relationship, and earlier this week, they agreed to host a reading for me at their bar in the Short North area of Columbus.*

Anyway, I’m so grateful to Brothers Drake for having me. I can’t wait to be there on the 18th and I hope it’s a wonderful experience for all.

And if you happen to be in the Columbus area on the 18th, head on down to the trendy Short North area and arrive at Brothers Drake a little before 5 PM (parking in the Short North area is a cutthroat competition). You can buy some wine unlike anything you’ve likely ever had before, and then sit back as I read from not just Rose, but other stories that are either coming out soon or I hope will come out someday. Afterwards there will likely be a Q&A and then I’ll be selling and signing copies of Rose. And after that…who knows? I’m no fortune teller, despite my many other supernatural talents.

Anyway, if you’d like to RSVP, you can hit up the event page on Facebook by clicking this link. I hope I’ll see you there. It’ll be a spine-chilling good time.

And speaking of Q&A, there’s still time to participate in this blog’s Q&A (or would AMA be more accurate?). In honor of my blog’s eighth anniversary, between now and August 16th, you can send me any questions regarding writing, horror, my stories or myself and, unless I have a good reason not to, I will answer them. Just send your questions to ramiungar@ramiungarthewriter.com and if I get enough questions, you might see yours.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

*This is why you support local businesses, because you can end up building incredible relationships sometimes, and it can lead to extraordinary things happening.

Review: “Kinfolk” by Matt Kurtz

Posted: August 2, 2019 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff
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I saw this novel featured on Red Lace Reviews and got interested, so I asked my library to order a copy. Lo and behold, they ordered one, and I got through it in about two weeks (it would’ve been sooner, but I had to skip some lunch breaks due to workload or illness). And as often happens when I get my hands on new horror, I have to review it.

Kinfolk follows Ray and Eric, two brothers who have been brought together after years of separation to wrap up some unfinished business. However, while traveling through the backwoods of Texas, they get lost and stranded, and find themselves at the mercy of a twisted, cannibalistic clan who have way more firepower than they do, as well as enough bloodlust to match. In a moment, the brothers’ thoughts of revenge are pushed out by a much greater need to simply survive.

So if “backwoods of Texas” brought to mind images of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, don’t worry, because that’s been a lot of people’s impressions. In fact, it wouldn’t be too far off to call this book an updated TCM without the chainsaws. And given my own dislike of the original TCM (bite me, Tobe Hooper fans, that movie’s shock value has waned after forty-five freaking years!), I’m happy to say that I enjoyed Kinfolk a lot more.

Kinfolk does a very good job of freshening up the “rural, cannibalistic, in-bred family” trope. Rather than portray all of the members of the clan as outright crazy and obviously dangerous, a lot of them on first glance seem normal, which plays into a sense of false safety before we’re given a rude awakening. And the concise language helps evoke the story in your head so you can plainly see (and occasionally feel) the Texas setting, with all its hidden dangers.

The main characters are also fun. Ray and Eric are by no means saints. They won’t win any awards for intelligence, and they don’t come off as even the romantic sort of criminals one might find in a novel like this, but there’s something about them that makes you want to root for them and hope they survive whatever’s about to befall them. Maybe it’s because they’re underdogs, just trying to get by and find some peace in a world that doesn’t always allow for peace or sense for any length of time.

If I had any problems with the novel, I’d say that it did play into a few tropes a bit too much, and that made it at times a little predictable. Especially when you’re like me, and you’re used to trying to guess how things will play out from the writer’s POV.

However, Kinfolk was, on the whole, an enjoyable read that I had trouble putting down. On a scale of 1 to 5, I’ll give the novel a 4. If you want a fast-paced horror story that manages to put a fresh coat of paint on a certain horror story, then fill up the tank and drive right in. You won’t be disappointed.

Review: “NOS4A2” Season One

Posted: July 29, 2019 in Review, Scary Stuff
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I listened to the audio book of NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (aka Stephen King’s son Joe King) about a year or two ago. I liked it: it had several scary moments, awesome characters, and trippy psychic phenomena his dear dad probably approved wholeheartedly (the only real downside was the narrator. Just totally wrong for that book). When I heard a TV adaptation was in the works, I got interested, especially since the book doesn’t exactly lend itself to adaptation. But adapted it was. And whoo-boy, what an adaptation.

NOS4A2 follows Vic McQueen, a teenager whose motorbike allows her to access the Shorter Way Bridge, a supernatural wormhole that helps her find lost things. She later finds out that there’s another like her out there: Charlie Manx, a man who kidnaps children in his Rolls Royce Wraith (the license plate of which is where the title of the show comes from), transforms them into vampiric monsters, and takes them to a place in an alternate dimension called Christmasland, where it’s Christmas Eve every night and Christmas Day every day. In exchange, he gets to stay young. And whether by choice or by fate, Vic must face Manx and stop him, or he’ll keep taking kids forever.

Let me just say, the cast of this show is the best part. Every actor fully becomes their characters, so that it becomes hard to remember anything else you’ve seen them in. The best, of course, are Ashleigh Cummings as the protagonist Vic McQueen and Zachary Quinto as antagonist Manx. Cummings truly makes you believe she’s a teen just trying to get out of town and out of poverty, preferably by going to art school in Providence. And oh my God, whether as his normal self or under a lot of make-up and prosthetics to look a hundred years old, Quinto is creepy as heck. He comes off as charming on the surface but underneath is a psychopath hungry for power and totally convinced of his own line of altruistic bullshit. I swear, if he goes in character at a convention, every parent who’s seen the show is going to scream and grab their child out of instinct before remembering he’s an actor in a role.

Of course, the show itself is nothing to sneeze at. There are several creepy and tense moments, and more than a few scenes where Vic is in danger that kept me on the edge of my seat. Even better, there are no episodes where things slow down and get unnecessarily boring. There was one episode where Vic had to go to a hospital where I thought it would get slow and boring, and she’d spend the whole book sorting her life out before deciding to fight Manx. Without getting into details, my expectations were subverted (and not in a bad way, like what I hear happened to the last season of Game of Thrones).

The only issues I had were that some things the writers included just didn’t feel necessary or make sense to me. In one episode, Vic’s got twelve hours to meet up with Manx, who has kidnapped a kid she knows. What does she do in the meantime? She parties at a rich friend’s house, gets drunk, and talks with a cute boy before getting sick. Whaaat?

And what was with the halfhearted love-triangle? They just kind of didn’t go anywhere with that, so why would they include it?

But on the whole, NOS4A2‘s first season is a strong start for the series, and I can’t wait for the second season. On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m giving this season a 4.4. An amazing cast and great storytelling mixed with taut atmosphere and mystery. Grab your reality-cutting knife, get some hot chocolate and candy canes, and dive into the Highway of the Mind. You won’t be disappointed.

And until next time, my Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares.

Rose: One Month Since Release

Posted: July 21, 2019 in Novel, Scary Stuff, Writing
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It’s Sunday, July 21st, 2019. Exactly a month since Rose was released to the world. And wow, what a month it has been!

So for those of you who don’t know (and for those who do, feel free to skip ahead), Rose is my fantasy-horror novel, and my first with a publisher. The novel’s description goes like this:

Rose Taggert awakens in a greenhouse with no clear memory of the past two years and, to her horror, finds her body transformed into an unrecognizable form.

Paris Kuyper has convinced Rose that they are lovers and as Paris could not bear for her to die, he has used an ancient and dark magic to save her from certain death.

But the dark magic Paris has used comes at a price. A price which a terrible demon is determined to extract from Rose.

As Rose struggles to understand what is happening to her, she must navigate Paris’s lies and secrets; secrets that Paris will do anything to protect.

I’m still in a giddy state over the novel being out. I started it as a thesis project in college, and while I always thought it had potential, there were several moments where I was sure it was a crap novel and wasn’t going to go anywhere. This was especially true when I did the first round of edits after Castrum Press accepted the novel, and I realized just how much editing and rewriting I had to do.

Thankfully, Rose seems to be doing well now that it’s out. A lot of people have called it “twisty,” “exciting” and “hard to put down.” One guy at work even said he can visualize a movie version (I wish). It makes me glad that I stuck with the book.

And that I came up with an actual marketing plan with this book before it was released. Seriously, I wish I knew how important those were before I self-published my other books. Oh well, at least I know now.

Anyway, if you want to check out Rose, I’ll include the links below. And if you do get a copy, please let me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love feedback and reviews, and they help me out in the long run.

And for those who’ve already read and even posted reviews of Rose, thank you so much. Your support is not only helping me reach more readers, but keeps me going and makes me want to write even more. With time, I hope I can follow the book up with plenty more stories for you to enjoy. But for now, thank you. You have my gratitude for helping me make this dream come true.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

101 Facts About Stephen King: A YouTube Video I Was Lucky Enough To Sponsor

Posted: July 20, 2019 in Living and Life, Scary Stuff
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It has been difficult beyond belief to keep this under wraps for so long. Hell, I even dreamed about this last night, I was so excited! But today, I can proudly announce that I had the opportunity to sponsor the latest video from YouTube channel 101 Facts, in honor of the release of Rose. 101 Facts puts out a new video each week listing off–you guessed it–101 facts on different subjects, ranging from the latest in movies and TV shows, celebrities, historical events, countries, topics in science and literature, and so much more. And they do it in such a way that’s engaging and hilarious, might I add. At the time I’m writing this, they have over four hundred forty-two thousand subscribers on YouTube, which goes to show how well they’ve been doing with this series.

And I was lucky enough to be able to sponsor their latest video, centered on His Royal Scariness, Stephen King!

Honestly, I’ve been hoping for them to do a video on King since I first became a subscriber to the channel. And when Rose was accepted for publication by Castrum Press and they asked me to start looking into ways to advertise the novel, I knew I should see about sponsoring a YouTube channel, as other brands have done that very successfully. And 101 Facts was at the top of the list of YouTube channels to inquire working with, especially if I could do it on a subject I love.

It took A LOT of emails, but Stephen King was available as a subject, and after a few more questions and emails, we struck a deal. The results were uploaded today, “101 Facts About Stephen King,” which at the time I’m writing this has garnered twenty-three hundred views within a few hours (for context, the video on my YouTube channel with the most views has forty-one hundred views, and that took over a year to achieve). And if you’re interested in watching the video, you can watch it on YouTube (perfect for liking and commenting on the video itself) or by watching the embedded video down below.

I would like to thank the crew over at 101 Facts for agreeing to work with me and make this happen. The final result is freaking amazing, and I love it so much. I’m looking forward to bragging about it on Monday at work. And I hope someday, depending on what I publish in the future and what you guys release in the future, we can do it again. After all, neither of us will ever run out of subjects to write stories or make videos about, will we?

And to the people reading this post, I highly recommend you watch the video if you haven’t already, and maybe consider supporting 101 Facts with a subscription. As this video evidences, they put out great content, and it’s always nice to support creative types by supporting their work.

Speaking of which, if you’d be interested in checking out my novel Rose, I’ll include the links below. Rose is a fantasy-horror novel follows a young woman who starts turning into a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). In the past month since it’s release, it’s gotten a lot of positive feedback, and I’m eager to introduce it to more and more people. And if you do end up reading it, I hope you’ll be kind enough to leave me a review letting me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love feedback, and it helps me out in the long run.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll probably have one or two more posts out very soon, so keep an eye out for those. In the meantime, I’m off to take care of some things that need doing before the end of the weekend, including something that terrifies even me: cleaning my apartment!

Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

If Your Horror Story Stars Teenagers, Is It YA Horror?

Posted: July 13, 2019 in Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
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As much as we make jokes about it, young adult fiction, or YA, is a massive and popular genre. Over ten-thousand YA books were released in 2012, read by both the targeted demographic, teens, and by an increasing number of adults. And among horror, there are writers who specialize in YA horror. But that leaves a question: when is a horror story a YA horror story? Does it have to star a teen or teens? Or is there something more to it?

I ask this because I have a project for National Novel Writing Month in November where nearly the whole cast are teenagers. And while I have nothing against YA or those who write/enjoy it (the amount of anime and manga I consume is primarily aimed at teens, which says something), it’s not a label I think this story should be given.

If you ask most authors and fans (and believe me, I have), YA fiction is usually defined as having teen protagonists and including themes prevalent around the teen years: first love, friendship, identity, and growing up. By that definition, many horror novels could be considered YA, even though they’ve traditionally been aimed at adults. A good example is Carrie by Stephen King. It fits both requirements–teens are prominent in the novel, and themes such as bullying and inclusion, first love, and becoming an adult are all present in the novel.

I even asked in one of my Facebook groups if other authors considered Carrie YA. I got over fifty responses in the course of a week, and it was divided almost evenly down the line. And while the opinion was split, many people admitted they or their children read it as teenagers. I myself read Carrie as a teen. So is it YA fiction then, like the Cirque du Freak books and last year’s bestseller The Sawkill Girls? And are other novels with teens in the lead role to be considered YA?

Well, here’s the thing: the above definition doesn’t include something very important that has to come into consideration. What is that? Marketing. Who is the book being marketed to? Marketing has always played a part in categorizing what is called YA and what isn’t. In fact, the demographic of YA fiction (it’s not a genre, no matter how much we think of it as one), was first defined by librarians in the early half of the 20th century who wanted to know which books were being read by the newly-defined teen demographic and why. It was later picked up by publishers when they realized how they could increase their sales by marketing certain stories to the 12-18 age group.*

So while Carrie has always been popular among teens, it was and has always been marketed at adults, as have all of King’s books. And that’s because King wrote it for adults, not for teens. Meanwhile, books like the Cirque du Freak series were always aimed at the teen demographic, from early writing stages to their eventual publication and marketing.

And that’s what we need to answer my earlier question: if my NaNoWriMo project has a teen cast and incorporates certain themes relevant to teens, is it YA? While I’m sure, if it gets published, some will categorize it as YA horror, I write for an adult audience. Everything from what I include in the story (including possible sex scenes) to just the word choices and the explorations of characters’ thoughts and feelings is through an adult lens.  YA, it is not.

So while a story may include teens prominently in the cast and feature themes and content relevant to teenagers, unless it’s written and later marketed for teens, it can’t necessarily be called YA fiction. Many may still slap the label “YA” on a story given its content, and they have every right to do so, if they feel that story fits their definition of YA fiction. But the intention of the story’s author will be the ultimate decisive requirement, whether in horror or any other genre.

Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Thanks for reading this little piece I wrote just to get my thoughts out on this subject before I started writing in November. But tell me, what are you thoughts on the subject? What makes a story, horror or otherwise, YA? Let’s discuss.

Until next time, pleasant nightmares.

And look, I went an entire post without once mentioning Rose. I consider that an accomplishment–oh dammit!

*Thank you Lindsay Ellis for helping me research this article with a great YouTube video.

Review: Midsommar

Posted: July 6, 2019 in Review, Scary Stuff
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Hereditary was one of the scariest films of 2018. It’s considered so unnerving and terrifying, watching it a second time is considered by some to be a masochistic act (believe me, I was called that when I watched it again a month or two ago). So when we all heard director Ari Aster was following it up barely a year later with Midsommar, horror fans everywhere get excited. We were even willing to forgive him diving back into the evil cult trope just because he did so well with it in Hereditary. With the bar set high, I went to the theater today to see if this follow up could measure up to its predecessor.

Midsommar follows Dani, a young woman who, after suffering a family tragedy, joins her boyfriend and his friends on a trip to Sweden for a summer solstice festival held in the childhood home of one of the friends. While at first things seem innocent enough–minus a bit of drug use, of course–it soon becomes clear that these rituals and celebrations have a dark side to them. And not everyone will survive the nine-day festival.

I can say this movie is weird and fucked up. But not in a good way.

Obviously, this movie’s going to be compared a lot with Hereditary. But you know why that film worked? Because everything in it, from the painful breakdown of the family to the supernatural occurrences–felt like one big domino effect or Rube Goldberg machine. And in the end, it turned out to be that way. And it was done by looking into every situation where horror could be derived and then exploiting it to its most effective length. There’s none of that here. It felt like Aster just took one of the most prominent factors in Hereditary–the cult aspect–and extended it with psychedelic imagery and as much weird stuff as possible, though with barely any rhyme or reason, let alone with a Rube Goldberg-like exactness.

Even worse, it wasn’t scary. Actually, at times it feels kind of comical. One guy in the theater laughed at out at one point, and I couldn’t blame him. What happened was ridiculous.

And the majority of the characters are flat as rocks. You can sum most of them up with a single sentence, and it’ll encompass all of them completely and succinctly. You have the horndog who’s pissed he’ not having sex every other minute; you have the scholar who only cares about the research; you have the boyfriend who clearly isn’t happy but is guilted into the relationship; and you have the friend who invited everyone and is obviously hiding a lot.

Oh, and there’s something involving disabled villagers which just…didn’t sit right with me. I won’t go into spoilers, but I’m troubled by it, and let’s leave it at that (if you know what I’m talking about, let me know if you were troubled as well in the comments below).

Was there anything good in this film? Well, there’s some beautiful cinematography, shots that take weird angles or go on for minutes at a time. The psychedelic imagery, at times, is pretty cool. There are moments where flowers seem to breathe, which is visually stunning. And Dani is not only a fully realized character, but one whose battle with anxiety and depression come across as very genuine. You really see this woman who has been beaten down by life, and is just trying to find some joy and happiness while on this trip. It’s really heartbreaking.

But on the whole, Midsommar feels like a promise broken after the gem that is Hereditary. On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m giving the film a 2. If you really want to watch this one, I’d wait until it’s on DVD or streaming. Either that, or watch either Wicker Man movie, because they deal with similar concepts. Or The Apostle or The Ritual on Netflix, because they have similar concepts as well and are done soooo much better.

Either way, Ari Aster will have to do a lot better with his next film to regain our trust.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Hopefully the next review I do is for something that really hits it out of the park. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

Rose: First Reviews are In!

Posted: June 29, 2019 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff, Writing
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So it’s been about a week since Rose was released, and a few days since the paperback was uploaded onto Amazon (though those pages still aren’t linked for some strange reason. Jeez Amazon, what are you waiting for? A kindergartener to play a matching game?). And while I can’t be certain of how well it’s been doing, I can say the responses I’ve gotten so far have been overwhelmingly positive.

A lot of people have, of course, praised the cover. Not surprising, given the work of The Gilded Quill, the cover’s designer. It’s actually been quite the lure, if some of the comments I’ve gotten are anything to go by, as has been the excerpt I’ve been leaving on various sites. And according to Goodreads (a site I don’t use, but which I may have to start using), a lot of people are either reading it now or are going to read it. I’ve also heard from some friends and family and a few of my advanced readers, and those who have started the book say they’re enjoying and find it intriguing.

But biggest indicator of all is that Rose already has a few reviews! Yep, that’s right, we have reviews. Two on Amazon (one of which is also on Goodreads) and one on the website of a colleague of mine.

The first review came from one of my advanced readers, and someone who you may have seen in the comments sections of these posts. Priscilla Bettis gave Rose 4.5 stars (though Amazon doesn’t allow half-stars, so she gave it a 4) and had this to say:

This book starts with a surreal quality (I mean, human-plant thing, hello!), but even in the midst of that bizarre stuff it’s easy to follow. The protagonist, Rose, is turning into a rose. I kept thinking, “Oh, the poor woman!” And then the story turns into something so scary that I kept holding my breath as I was reading.

PROS:
The tension between Rose and Paris (and between other characters, too) kept me turning pages.

There is a disembodied laugh in the second chapter that ignites a mystery, and the mystery isn’t solved until almost the end of the book. It’s sort of a B-story, but more like a layer of the main story. I loved this added complexity to the plot.

The fight scenes are excellent! They are well-written, easy to picture, and full of excitement.

And then there’s the twist that I should have seen coming but totally didn’t. Fabulous fun.

CONS:
The book has a fem-lit overtone having to do with how men are supposed to treat women in relationships. Rose’s thoughts got a little preachy on the matter, so I took off half a star for that.

There are a few typos, like calling Chrissy “Christy” later on, and Paris comes out “Pairs” once. But the typos are few and far between and didn’t affect my reading experience. I didn’t take off any stars for this.

OVERALL:
Rose is a fun, scary, and crazy-imaginative book. I super enjoyed reading it. 4.5 stars!

Tension and twisty. High praise. As for the feminist tone, yeah, guilty as charged, but given some of the news stories out there, I felt like adding that overtone was necessary.

The other review came from Kimberly Napolitano, aka kimnappi, who said this in her 4-star review:

Rose is a wholly original story that has about everything horror and fantasy involved that it will satisfy every reader.

Rose wakes up in an unfamiliar home with her memory erased all of the past two years.. she’s in a panic because something is happening to her…

No spoilers, actually anything beyond that point would ruin the story for you. The action was fast, scare jumps perfect and plot twist? Absolutely! So if you love supernatural to creature feature. You got it all here! Enjoy!

Apparently that plot twist is popular. Good to know. I promise to not be M. Night Shyamalan and overdo plot twists in future books or insert stupid ones for no good reason.

As for KG Finfrock’s review, I won’t post it here but instead give you the link to check it out so you can check it out yourself. Just know, it’s very positive and I’m glad she enjoyed the book so much.

If any of this has convinced you to check out Rose, the links below lead to its Amazon pages. And if you do read it, I hope you’ll let me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love feedback, and reviews help me out in the long run.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ve a previous engagement to get to. Until next time, happy reading and pleasant nightmares!

Paperback Link

E-book Link

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