I Want to Write More Jewish Characters in My Stories

Posted: September 4, 2021 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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What would happen if I featured my faith more in my stories? Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

I’ve been thinking a lot lately on Jews in the media I consume.

As you probably know, in addition to being an eldritch abomination from another universe in human form, I’m Jewish (we need faith too, you know). I’m not super-religious, but I follow many rituals and feel close to my heritage and my definition of God. But except for a couple of stories, my religion doesn’t really show in my writing. Or at least, characters who share my faith don’t show up in my stories a lot.

There could be a lot of reasons for that. Part of it could be that horror, the genre I’m drawn to and find most exciting, doesn’t necessarily need religion. Horror may draw on religious beliefs a lot, but that doesn’t mean the stories are religious. Religious elements are just tools for telling a good horror story. Also, Judaism itself isn’t really a scary religion. We don’t have a Devil or Hell, and demons and evil spirits are still subservient to God’s Will and Plan. Beyond golems and dybbuks, the biggest sources of horror for us is our history of being oppressed. And finally, I may have never felt a real need to emphasize the beliefs of my characters. It just doesn’t matter that much. Unless I need to state it, their religion is, “Whatever.”

But lately, I’ve been thinking a bit about that. It started with an essay on Variety about Jews in Hollywood and how we’re represented that brought up some good points. I’ll let you read the article yourself, but it made me aware that I don’t see many members of my faith in the media I consume. And that includes in horror. Yeah, there are some: Stan Uris in IT; Yakov Ronen in The Vigil (one of the best horror films I’ve seen yet this year); Tzadok in The Possession (played by musician Matisyahu, believe it or not); and then some.

But still, it’s a small number. And in an age with resurgent anti-Semitism, I feel like that’s something that needs to change.

Besides, I want to challenge myself. What kind of stories can I tell with a Jewish character as a lead? And not just any kind of Jew, but an amalgamation of the Jews I’ve known throughout my life, from secular to religious and old to young, from all walks of life and all types of spirituality? What if I decided, for a few stories, not to make their religions “whatever?”

Well, I actually already know the answer to that. As you probably are aware, my short story “The Divorce from God” is to appear in The Jewish Book of Horror this holiday season, and a short story in this collection I’m working on has two Jewish men as the leads. And I like to think both stories are good (I only have confirmation of one).

But what if I expand that? What if I tell more tales–not all of them, but some of them–with my fellow members of the Tribe? What if their faith is both an aspect of themselves, though not the only one, and a source of strength? What if the lead is that amalgamation I mentioned?

Well, perhaps I’ll find out sooner rather than later. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m thinking of working on another novel after I’ve finished editing this collection and a couple more stories. And while I don’t think it’s necessary for the lead, I can also see them being Jewish. It could actually fit them very well.

We’ll see what the future holds.

I look forward to the stories I write in this vein.

You know, it’s funny. At one point when I was young, a grown up tried telling me I should write less horror and more of what I know. Which at the time was mainly going to a Jewish day school, having rabbis for parents and being annoyed by my sisters. I absolutely refused, telling this well-meaning grown up “that would be boring.” I think they were worried I was going to turn out to be some psychopath who murdered people in basements and then wrote about it (we horror lovers and creators are so misunderstood!). Still, I wasn’t going to write something I wasn’t attracted to or found boring. Stories are an escape from reality, not a regurgitation!

Now I want to incorporate what I know into a horror story. I guess it’s true what they say, when people “write what they know,” they’re writing it in a completely different way than expected. I wonder that well-meaning adult would make of this now? Hopefully they’d be intrigued enough to read it (and realize I grew up much more well-adjusted than they anticipated).

Anyway, it’s late and this post has gotten insanely long. I’m going to sign off and say Shabbat Shalom, an early Happy New Year (Rosh Hashanah starts Monday evening, it’s our New Year), pleasant nightmares, and a good night. See you next time, my Followers of Fear!

Trunk Novels: Sadly, They’re Necessary for our Growth

Posted: August 30, 2021 in Novel, Reflections, Writing
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Have you ever written part of or an entire novel, and then nothing has happened to it? Maybe you edited the hell out of it and tried to find a publisher. Maybe you got some feedback from a beta reader that made you hesitate to put it out in the world. Or maybe you realized that, as much as you loved it and as much work as you put into it, it’s not very good and you’re better off moving on. So this project you’ve worked months or even years on gets put away, stored in a box or on a shelf or in a file drive to gather dust and likely never see the light of day.

If you have one of these novels, you have a “trunk novel.”

What are trunk novels, you may be asking? Well, trunk novels are as I said above: novels that were put away because, for one reason or another, they weren’t suitable to be released or marketed. Prior to computer storage, you might literally put them in a trunk so nobody ever saw them but you. Hence the name.

At least, I think that’s how it got its name. Tracking down the origin of the term was kind of impossible.

In any case, it happens more than we like to admit. We write a story and no matter how hard we try, it doesn’t get past the first draft or never leaves our computers. We may have thought it was the next big thing, or something that could have been published and been a small success, or at least could have gotten a publisher or agent interested. But in the end, it just doesn’t cut the mustard in one way or another, so it gets stowed away somewhere. You may say you’ll work on it again someday, but rarely does that happen.

And it happens to all of us. Really. Even Stephen King has them. He wrote four novels before Carrie was published. Only one of the previous three, Rage, was ever published (and King kind of regrets that). I did a poll in one or two horror writing groups I belong to, and all of the people who answered have trunk novels somewhere in their pasts.

I have several from my younger years, finished and unfinished, that are trunk novels. And one of the novels I wrote in college, Laura Horn, which I am still really proud of, is pretty much a trunk novel now. Why? Several reasons, but the fact that some of the events in the book resemble events that occurred in recent years might have something to do with it. Putting the book out given what’s happened in the last five years just feels wrong.

And I guess you could consider the Reborn City books trunk novels, even though I previously self-published them before taking them out of circulation.

And you know what? That’s alright. Yeah, our feelings towards our trunk novels may sometimes be complex. And we may regret at times that the stories never saw the light of day. But they are still important milestones in our career. They are the results learning to become writers, to learn what works in writing fiction and in learning the discipline of writing. They are the foundation of becoming us. Of becoming the authors we were meant to be.

So, as much as it sucks when a novel goes into the trunk, don’t regret it or feel too bad. It’s just another foundation stone in what is becoming your career.

Do you think I should get one of these and put literal manuscripts inside?

All that being said, I hope none of my completed, as of yet unpublished novels go into the trunk. I’m still shopping around River of Wrath with the hopes of finding a publisher for it, and I plan to work on Toyland again someday soon in the hopes of shopping that around too. What will happen to them? I honestly don’t know. But if they do end up in the trunk? Well, at least I had a hell of a time working on them and honing my skills with them.

Do you have any trunk novels? Would you mind talking about them with me? How do you feel about them? Let’s discuss.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I still have time left in the evening and I have only one story left in the collection I’ve been editing, so I’m going to get to work on that. Afterwards, I have a couple more short stories to edit (including one with dragon bats in it), and then…well, I’m not sure. A couple of new short stories? Perhaps a new novel? I’ve certainly been itching to get into something longer. And now that The Pure World Comes is out (check it out on the Readict app), I think I can afford to put together another sixty thousand-plus word story of terror and woe. We’ll see what happens.

Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night, pleasant nightmares and–OH NO! MY TRUNK NOVELS, AS WELL AS MY TRUNK NOVELLAS, TRUNK NOVELETTES, AND TRUNK SHORT STORIES, HAVE BEEN COMBINED TO FORM A GIANT MONSTER MADE OF PAPER! Excuse me while I get the boom stick and fight it off. Ta ta!

Review: Candyman (2021 film)

Posted: August 28, 2021 in Review, Scary Stuff
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During the slasher craze of the 1980s and 1990s, Tony Todd’s Candyman was a killer who brought a gravitas, elegance and a deeper origin story to his gruesome work. It’s a shame that he only got three films (and from what I hear, I didn’t miss much not seeing the sequels), because he’s become such a beloved character. So when word got out that Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Production company was making what was basically a soft reboot, people were both curious, excited, and more than a little worried.

I saw the film last night and wanted to share my thoughts as soon as possible. But I was tired when I got home last night, so I held off until I had the energy to do so. And folks, I can tell you now that the Candyman still slays like he used to.

And yes, Tony Todd’s Candyman is in this movie. In case you were worried.

Serving as a direct sequel to the original movie (a la 2018’s Halloween), Candyman follows Anthony McCoy, a Chicago artist who hears a version of the events from the first film from his girlfriend’s brother. Interested, he heads to Cabrini-Green to learn more, and there discovers the story of the Candyman. What seems at first to be a simple urban legend turns out to be so much more. And Anthony finding the legend is more than just coincidence. It may even be considered destiny.

First off, I enjoyed the kills in this film. We mostly see the Candyman in reflections from mirrors and windows, which allows for some scary moments and some creative kills (*cough* art critic’s apartment *cough*). I also enjoyed how they re-approached the myth of the Candyman, changing it so that multiple people have taken on the mantle of Candyman so that every generation can recontextualize the myth and have a killer for the age. And the story is very well-written, balancing horror, elements of destiny and the cycle of history with social commentary (mostly race and gentrification).

Also, I love how flashbacks and storytelling is mixed between people talking, shadow puppetry, and flashbacks. It makes for some great visuals.

I did find some elements of the film predictable, however. I guessed one element of the film way early just from some slight foreshadowing, and was right! And there are some moments of info-dumping that I thought could have been done slightly better.

All told, I’m giving 2021’s Candyman a 4.4 out of 5. It’s a visceral, well-done story that brings Candyman back into the spotlight where he should be. And, if it does well, I can see this film being the launching point for numerous sequels and prequels around the new aspects of the mythology.* Grab a ticket, say his name five times in the mirror, and get ready for a bloody good time.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll likely be taking a break from reviews for a couple of weeks to focus on some reflection/writing posts and my own editing. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

*And before that, I need to rewatch the original and watch the sequels. I can’t believe how many things I forgot from the first film! I need to remedy that and watch the sequels, even if they aren’t that amazing. Maybe I’ll start on that tonight.

Review: “American Horror Story: Double Feature” Season Premiere

Posted: August 26, 2021 in Review, Scary Stuff
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Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary classy humans, American Horror Story is back, and it is back with a vengeance.

As you can see from the title, the season is divided into two stories, with the first half of the season subtitled “Red Tide.” In this story, screenwriter Harry Gardner, his pregnant wife Doris and their young daughter Alma decide to winter in Provincetown, Massachusetts so Harry can work on a pilot script and Doris can do some interior designing. However, things in Provincetown aren’t as idyllic as things on the surface. There seems to be a number of strange individuals whom the locals identify as “tweakers,” a number of dead bodies showing up, and some of the local artists appear to know more than they let on.

I have to say, this is a good start to the season. We got the first two episodes last night and the first was full of scares and frights. In the first episode, there were a number of moments where I jumped or was seriously freaked out by what I was watching. Not to mention, there’s one hell of an atmosphere in the setting and story. It’s like The Shadow Over Innsmouth with a dollop of Salem’s Lot thrown in for good measure. That second influence shows quite a bit in the “tweakers,” with their odd movements and savage, animalistic hunger.

The second episode was much more story focused, and while AHS tends to suffer when it focuses too much on storytelling, it was still pretty good here. There’s a lot of focus on the price of artistic greatness and inspiration, and the way they explore that actually would make a better anti-drug PSA than anything the DARE program came up with. There’s also this really suspenseful scene that switches between events in a dentist’s office, one of those perpetual motion swinging ball things, and something going on with the daughter Alma. It’s the kind of scene where you know things can’t go back if certain things happen, and you don’t know what will happen, but it’s thrilling to see how it plays out.

Also, can I just say Finn Wittrock as Harry Gardner does a great impression of me at the tail end of writing a novel during a late-night writing session? I saw him going to town on his laptop, typing till his fingers fell off, and I’m like, “I get it, dude. I totally get it. I’ve been there before.”

I will say, though, there was a lot of exposition, especially in the second episode. And once you figure out some things, which the show doesn’t really take the time to hide, it does take out some of the mystery and allow for more seasoned viewers to get at what could be occurring later in the season.

Still, on the whole, this is a triumphant return for the AHS franchise. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give the premiere of American Horror Story: Double Feature (or American Horror Story: Red Tide, if you want to be pedantic about it) a 4.4 out of 5. I was scared and I enjoyed seeing these characters react to these strange and terrifying circumstances and I look forward to seeing what else happens (as well as reporting my findings at the end of the season).

Just a couple of notes before I end the post.

–First, I want to let you know that the Indie Author Book Expo in Aurora, Illinois has been canceled due to COVID-19. Yeah, I’m not happy about it, either. But with numbers rising and so many people refusing to get vaccinated, what can you do? Thankfully, the Licking County Local Author Festival is still on, and another event is in the works, so they’ll still be plenty of opportunities to say hi and grab a signed book if you so desire.

–Second, thanks to the publication of The Pure World Comes on Tuesday, I’ve now been upgraded from a Supporting Member of the Horror Writers Association to an Affiliate Writer. I’m so excited to be able to share this latest milestone on this road of words and bloody bones with you and I hope you’ll continue to support me down the line.

–Third, I recently read Junji Ito’s new book, Sensors. I’m not going to give it a full review, but I will say that I was disappointed with it. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 1.2. Definitely a waste of potential and not up to snuff with his previous work (speaking of which, has anyone hear been reading that lately?). I’d say skip it and find something else to read. Maybe The Pure World Comes?

–Finally, today I found out I won an advanced reader copy of The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward today from Tor Nightfire Books. Not the biggest deal, but it was a big deal for me. It’s a shame my TBR list keeps getting bigger and more unmanageable, but hey, sometimes that’s just how it is. Hopefully I get through all the reading sooner rather than later.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll see you soon for the review of the new Candyman movie and perhaps a short essay about something on my mind. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

“The Pure World Comes” Has Been Released!!!

Posted: August 24, 2021 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Last month, you might have heard about a novel of mine, The Pure World Comes, being accepted for publication. To be specific, the story was accepted at VitalTek Inc, the owner of the Readict literature app. Here’s the blurb I wrote up for the novel:

Shirley Dobbins wants nothing more than to live a quiet life and become a head housekeeper at a prestigious house. So when she is invited to come work for the mysterious baronet Sir Joseph Hunting at his estate, she thinks it is the chance of a lifetime. However, from the moment she arrives things are not what they seem. As she becomes wrapped up in more of the baronet’s radical science, she realizes something dark and otherworldly is loose within the estate. And if left unchecked, it’ll claim the lives of all she holds dear.

Not a bad summary for a Gothic horror novel set during the Victorian era, is it?

What appears on my phone when I pulled up The Pure World Comes today.

Anyway, I’ve a nice surprise for you. As of this morning, The Pure World Comes has been released on Readict’s app! That’s right, it’s out!

Honestly, it feels a little unreal. Things happened so quickly.

Regardless, I’m excited that the book is out and I can’t wait for you all to read it. You can get the Readict app from your app store of choice (I think I use Google on my phone). Please make sure to check it out. And if you do read it, please let me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me out in the long run.

As for whether or not it’ll end up on ebook or paperback, I’ll keep that to myself for now. But I never say never.

Of course, I still have plenty of stories in paperback and ebook if you’re interested. I’ll leave links below in case you want to see. I wonder, will you check out my collection of short stories? Or my serial killer thriller? Or the fantasy-horror story of a young woman turned into a plant creature? Whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy it.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I have a busy evening ahead of me with this story out. Until next time, good night, happy reading, and pleasant nightmares!

The Quiet Game: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo.

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Audible

Snake: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

Agoraphobia: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Mother of the King: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Review: The Night House (2021 film)

Posted: August 21, 2021 in Review, Scary Stuff
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I saw a few trailers for this film, but wasn’t sure what to expect. Still, the premise sounded interesting, so I went to check it out. And that’s my intro.

Directed by David Bruckner and starring Rebecca Hall, The Night House follows Beth, a teacher whose husband committed suicide recently. As she tries to handle day-to-day activities, she finds out that her husband kept things from her. He may have had a secret life full of darkness. And as supernatural events happen around her, Beth begins to discover that something dark has come for her. And it can be found in a reversed replica of her and her husband’s lakehouse across the lake from them.

The first two thirds of The Night House were really good. Rebecca Hall does an excellent job playing a woman grappling with grief and the senselessness of her husband’s death. There’s a genuine atmosphere of unease that starts fairly quickly and keeps building throughout most of the film. A lot of this is done through what’s not seen as much as what is seen, and that proves to be really effective. Add in how skillfully they pull back the layers surrounding the husband, making him seem more and more complicated and twisted with every reveal, and some genuinely terrifying special effects, and you’ve got yourself a horror movie.

I will say, however, that the final reveal didn’t land very well with me and affected how I liked the final act. I think if they changed a few things, it would have kept up the terror of the film and made it a more effective reveal. As it was, however, it wasn’t as powerful or as terrifying. I respect what they were trying to do, especially as it ties into the film’s themes of grief and loss. I just wish they’d approached it in a way that kept the film as scary as it was for the first two-thirds.

All in all, I’m giving The Night House a 3.9 out of 5. As I said, if the final reveal was more to my taste, it would’ve been a better movie and gotten a higher score. Still, the first two-thirds are very scary, so I’d recommend it just to see that.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll be back before too long, believe me. For now though, it’s late and I need to sleep if I’m to do anything this weekend. So, until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

Conversations with Maxwell I. Gold

Posted: August 19, 2021 in Author Interciew, Poetry, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Maxwell I. Gold, author of Oblivion in Flux.

After so many years of writing and networking, I’ve had the pleasure of making many friends who also enjoy a good scary story. Recently, one of those friends had a collection of prose poetry, Oblivion in Flux, released, and I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with him. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to Rami Ungar the Writer my fellow HWA Ohio member and creator of the Cyber Gods, Maxwell I. Gold!

Rami Ungar: Welcome to the show, Max. Tell us about yourself and your career as a writer.

Maxwell I. Gold: I’ve always had a passion for storytelling and believe it or not, poetry was not my first love. Growing up I read mostly literary fiction and fantasy (Robert Louis Stevenson, Dante, Victor Hugo) and was only exposed to weird horror and cosmic fiction much later in my post-graduate years. I didn’t begin my career, not my favorite term, as an author until 2017 when I had my first prose poem Ad’Naigon published in Spectral Realms from Hippocampus Press. Since then, I’ve published over 100 poems and short stories in both print and online formats.

RU: For many readers, prose poetry is something they’ve never heard of before. The name itself sounds kinda contradictory. Can you tell us a bit about what prose poetry is and some famous examples?

MIG: Prose poetry is not a new art form, I’m merely another creator who’s attempting to shed some light on this exquisite act of poeticism. A lot of confusion that arises when reading prose poetry is people tend think there must be a narrative, and there certainly can be, but it’s not a requirement. For me, when I am writing a new piece sometimes, I imagine brief snippets of a memory possibly forgotten, or a broken dream. All jagged pieces of something bigger that connect in a mad Escherian jigsaw puzzle.

A few famous and favroite examples of mine are Clark Ashton Smith’s Memnon’s of the Night and Arthur Rimbaud’s The Drunken Boat.

RU: Look those up if you’re curious, folks. Now tell us how Oblivion in Flux came to be.

MIG: There’s no fluid answer to this question as it arose out of a few serendipitious conversations with editors, and I wanted to have a collection of prose poems that painted a broad picture of the vivid world where the Cyber Gods dwelled.

RU: Great segue, actually. What are the Cyber Gods you feature in your work and how do you come up with them? And is there any influence from the Cthulhu Mythos?

MIG: Strangely enough, this has been a continuously evolving question and that was purposeful. The Cyber Gods began as a thought experiment, like something meant to be beyond the scope of human reason still borne of our own confused, deranged, and quietly destructive philosophies. Something worse than any Elder God or Old One. I was not directly influenced by Lovecraft’s pantheon of gods as much as I was by this concept of cosmic nihilism, that no matter the value placed on a thing or a valued system of things we’re still like mites scrambling to justify meaning in a world we’ve either doomed to oblivion or worse.

As for the Cyber Gods themselves, they aren’t esoteric as much as they are conceptual. This doesn’t mean they aren’t personified in my stories or poems. For example, Hazthrog is a cosmic virus, but appears in one story as a literal ball of sludge that consumes the planet. Ad’Naigon, the first Cyber God, exists 14 billion light-years away at the edge of known space as a yellow neutron star. This is because at the time I created the character the farthest humans could see towards the edge of known space was 14 billion light-years.  

RU: What is it about prose poetry and dark fiction that draws you to them?

MIG: As I mentioned previously, I enjoy creating terrifying moments sometimes more than writing longer pieces of fiction.

Oblivion in Flux by Maxwell I. Gold

RU: What are you working on now? Any projects in the near future you can tell us about?

MIG: I’m currently working on a collaborative book of poetry with Bram Stoker nominated author Angela Yuriko Smith, titled Mobius Lyrics. I’m also working on a novella titled The Unspeakable: A Cyberland Tale.

RU: Cool! What are you doing when not writing?

MIG: Watching too many shows on Netflix or reading or playing the piano.

RU: I know two out of three of those way too well. What is some good advice you would give to another writer, regardless of experience or background?

MIG: Never stop writing. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s true, persistence pays off in the end.  Always write when you can, and always try something new when you can.

RU: Final question: if you were stuck on a desert island for a while and could only bring three books with you for the duration of your stay there, which would you pick?

MIG: Craig L. Sidney’s Sea Swallow Me, John Langan’s The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies, and Matt Cardin’s To Rouse Leviathan.

RU: Thanks for joining us, Max. It’s been a blast!

If you enjoyed this interview, you can find Maxwell I. Gold on his website, The Wells of the Weird, as well on Instagram as @CyberGodWrites, and on his Amazon Author Page. And of course, make sure to read Oblivion in Flux if you’re a fan of dark poetry like what Max writes! You can find it here.

You can find more conversations with my fellow authors on my Interviews Page here.

And finally, if you’re an author with something coming out soon and want to talk about it, hit me up at ramiungar@ramiungarthewriter.com. If I’m not too busy, we might be able to make some magic happen.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m sure I’ll have more to talk about soon. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

Updates on 2021 Events

Posted: August 17, 2021 in Living and Life
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There’s a phrase about opportunity and knocking on doors, but I can’t think of what the exact phrase is. Oh well.

So, I recently found out I’m going to be a guest author at the Licking County Local Author Festival in October. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Licking County is one county over from Franklin County, where I live and work. It’s a decent drive, but nothing too strenuous. Anyway, I heard about the festival a while back and signed up. Today, I found out I’m going to be among the authors there. And I hear they may have a special section just for those Halloween-loving, terror-propagating writers such as myself.

Plus food stalls (yum!).

Anyway, if you want to stop by, it’s Saturday, October 16th, 2021 from 10:30 AM – 2 PM at the Downtown Library at 101 West Main Street in Newark, Ohio. I hope you’ll stop by.

And as you already know, we’re just over three weeks away from the Indie Author Book Expo in Aurora, Illinois. That’ll be on September 11th from 10 AM – 3 PM at the Prisco Community Center in Aurora, about an hour west of Chicago. I look forward to driving out there and seeing you there.

Heck, I hope to see you at both events. Authors from all over the place and a variety of backgrounds will be at the book expo and the author festival. We’ll all be meeting readers, helping you find your next great read, and maybe making friendships and connections to last a lifetime along the way. So please, come on out!

And if you can’t make it out but still want to support me, you can always find my stories online (the stories of the other authors are another matter entirely). I’ll provide links below. And if you decide to read one of my stories, please let me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me in the long run. Not just by giving me encouragement to write, but by letting other readers know whether they should check out the stories as well.

What will you choose, I wonder? A quick tale about King Arthur or a recluse forced out of his home in a hurricane? The story of a young woman turned into a human/plant hybrid (and that’s just the start of her problems)? A collection of creepy tales that has been scaring audiences for over eight years? Or the tale of a serial killer hunting members of New York’s most powerful mafia family? Whatever you pick, I hope you like it!

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m off to get shit done. Until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and only 75 days till Halloween! Are you excited? Because I am.

The Quiet Game: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo.

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Audible

Snake: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

Agoraphobia: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Mother of the King: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Review: Willy’s Wonderland (2021 film)

Posted: August 15, 2021 in Review, Scary Stuff
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Remember Five Nights at Freddy’s? Well, if you don’t, Five Night’s at Freddy’s, or FNAF for short, is a video game franchise that was pretty popular in the mid-2010’s. The games revolve around surviving the night, usually at a haunted Chuck E. Cheese knockoff, while fending off killer animatronics. The unique and simple gameplay, combined with the dense lore revealed in the games, made it pretty popular for a while. There have even been in-universe novels (all of which I reviewed) and a movie has been in development hell since 2015.

And in the meantime, a couple of other films have been released that use the same concept but are just different enough to avoid IP problems. Thus, we get Willy’s Wonderland, which fills the gap for animatronic carnage horror films FNAF leaves quite well.

Starring (and produced by) Nicholas Cage, the film follows Cage as a mysterious drifter who gets stuck in the tiny town of Hayesville after a car accident. To pay for repairs, he accepts an overnight cleaning job at Willy’s Wonderland, an abandoned family entertainment center complete with giant, creepy electronics and a bloody history. What he’s not told is that the animatronics are alive and murderous. Thus begins a standoff between the eight deadly robots and the drifter. One that will be more explosive than anyone expects.

I’ll say this, these new slasher horror-comedies can be quite surprising. And if films like Happy Death Day, Freaky, and Willy’s Wonderland are the beginning of a new trend in horror, I hope it doesn’t get old too fast.

This film is a bonkers fun time! I think my favorite part is Cage’s unnamed character, who’s kind of a riff on Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name. He’s always got this sour look on his face, and his silence, addiction to energy soda, and routine make him nigh inscrutable. I also enjoyed the animatronics, which were visually interesting, moved well and were in the right area of the uncanny valley to be both funny and creepy. Add in some stellar action scenes and a good balance between the humor and horror elements and you have a really fun time.

I do have some complaints, however. For one thing, some of the slasher tropes felt kind of shoehorned in because they were expected. You would think this long after the slasher boom, even fictional teens would know not to do some of that dumb shit in a situation right out of a horror film. Speaking of which, several of the teen characters are not at all interesting or sympathetic. Honestly, one or two came off as detestable. Which might have been the point, given which tropes they engaged in, but I really could have done without that aspect of the film.

All in all, though, Willy’s Wonderland is a fun, bloody good time that will leave you amused and wanting more. On a scale of 1 to 5, I’ll give it an even 4. A sequel or prequel is supposedly in the works, and I would love that. You could have a whole trilogy around Cage’s character getting into horror movie shenanigans. It would be hilarious and you could come up with so many inventive ways for him to get into scrapes with monsters or bad guys.

And in the meantime, if you want some FNAF movie goodness and can’t wait for that film to be made,* go check out Willy’s Wonderland.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope the next post isn’t a review (though I guarantee nothing). Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

*Assuming it gets made. Supposedly a script was approved and filming was supposed to begin this spring, but nothing happened and we haven’t had any updates in a while. Between that and the franchise having passed peak popularity, I feel like even if the film gets made, it’s going to face the same issues Slender Man’s film did. Namely that it was too late and there wasn’t enough interest, to say nothing of the quality (see my scathing review here).

Review: “Audition” by Ryu Murakami

Posted: August 12, 2021 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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I did say in my last post that I was going to try to get my thoughts out on this novel soon. As it happens, I ended up finishing it before bed, and now’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to write out my thoughts.

The basis for the famous 1999 horror film from Takashi Miike, Audition follows Aoyoma, a father and widower who is ready to date and love again. However, he’s no idea where to start looking for a potential new wife. Luckily for him, his best friend has an idea: they’ll hold auditions for a movie they never intend to make, and Aoyama can pick a girl from any of the applicants. Through this crazy plan, Aoyama meets Yamazaki Asami, a former ballerina who is as mysterious as she is beautiful. And she’s quite beautiful. Problem is, there’s a bit of a dark side to her, and Aoyama is going to discover it pretty quickly. With disastrous consequences.

I may have gone into this one with too-high expectations. I know J-Horror can be hit or miss with me sometimes, but I’ve heard nothing but praise for the movie, so the book had to be good. Right? RIGHT?!

Sadly, I was wrong. As it turned out, this book felt kind of amateurish. The language is elegant and well-written, and the scenario presented within isn’t implausible. And Aoyama’s progression from a salaryman with a somewhat sexist/voyeuristic view of women to a very besotted man with a very narrow view of a particular woman is well written. However, the storyline is basic and nothing special, and there isn’t enough to Aoyama for us to really root for him. I would call it a slow-burn, but there has to be some tension to really make it worth that slow pace. It just comes off as slow and kinda boring.

And Asami’s reasons for becoming the villain that she is feels like it might have been written by a high schooler whose only knowledge of psychology comes from watching Criminal Minds reruns. Not to mention kind of ableist (though that might just be my interpretation).

All told, I’m assigning Audition by Ryu Murakami a 1.3 out of 5. One critic likened it to an early draft or treatment for the movie, and I kind of have to agree with that assessment. It’s the bare bones of what could have been a good, suspenseful story about a man’s love with a twisted femme fatale. As it is, though, it’s at best something to compare to the movie and maybe write an academic paper about.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I have one more review coming up, this one for a movie (not the Audition movie, though I will try to get my hands on that). And if anything else comes up, exciting news or weird musings, I’ll let you know.

Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

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