Posts Tagged ‘horror’

Excerpts

Posted: October 27, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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I’ve decided to post excerpts of my published work on separate pages. From now on, readers can click on any of the pages for the books I have out and read excerpts from the final drafts of each novel/short story collection. So if you’re interested in getting a sneak peek at The Quiet Game, Reborn City or Snake, you can scroll above, click on any of the pages for those works, and find a link to an excerpt.

I hope you get a chance to take a look at them. Each excerpt is carefully selected to give you an idea of what you might be reading should you decide you might want to purchase a hard copy of my published work (or e-copy, as it is these days).

I’m signing off now, but I want to let you know at some point during the week, besides more countdown posts for Reborn City and the usual Weekly Exercise, I also plan to write a reflection piece or two on themes in writing and perhaps a special Halloween post. Oh, and my last review till the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special.

Until then, have a good night everybody! See you later in the week and happy reading!

Review: Dracula Series Premiere

Posted: October 25, 2013 in Review, Scary Stuff
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He and Lestat can bite my neck any time.

Yes, another review. Don’t worry, I plan to do the new Anne Rice book and then just leave it at that till the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special. On with the review!

From the beginning, promoters for the new Dracula series have been saying this won’t be your usual look at the Dracula story, and they certainly didn’t lie. In this incarnation, the Prince of Vampires is played by the darkly sexy Jonathan Rhys Meyers (I cannot believe I just wrote that, but it’s true). And guess what? Dracula’s playing roles too, this time as Alexander Grayson, an American industrialist who plans to bring free power to England using fantastic technology. Why the disguise? Because apparently he’s hunting the Order of the Dragon, a secret society that Dracula has a history with (quite literally actually: the Order of the Dragon was a real order during Vlad Tepes’ time that fought to keep Christendom in Europe safe from Turkish and Moorish invasion. Here though it’s every myth about the power of the Illuminati/Freemasons/Jews rolled into one tight British package). When not hunting members of the Order though, Dracula seems rather taken with a certain young medical student named Mina Murray, who looks a lot like Dracula’s deceased wife from 500 years ago.

While the whole my-love-has-been-reincarnated trope has been used before with the Dracula legend, it’s been done sparingly enough that there’s room for breaking new ground here, and it looks like they intend to break a lot of new ground with this Dracula story. Here Dracula’s portrayed as an antihero seeking to use a combination of traditional vampiric war and deft political maneuvers to take out his enemies, who so far are portrayed as elitists wishing to retain their power with oil and their money and influence (gosh, why does that sound familiar?). And Mina Murray and Jonathan Harker have also been updated in this version, given the roles of a sweet medical student and an aspiring reporter respectively, and Renfield’s been portrayed so far as an intelligent black gentlemen who acts as Dracula’s link to the world rather than a crazy bug eater in Bethlehem Hospital (progress in the media!).

I have returned with a sexy beard. And thank the producers I don’t glow!

The acting is very solid as well. Meyers switches accents very well, as he also does with his personality, going from charming Victorian to ruthless, tormented killer in seconds. The character of Lady Jane, played by Victoria Smurfit, is also an interesting character, because she seems to be holding more secrets than other characters. It’ll be interesting to see where her character goes in the series…if she survives! And I can’t wait to see the interplay of the Dracula-Mina-Harker love triangle that will inevitably occur (we’ve known it would happen before we even saw the previews). If it’s done as well as the first episode has been done, even things we can see coming can have quite the impact.

And for those of you who are wondering if it’s too scary to watch, it’s not that bad. And coming from a guy who doesn’t get too terrified watching Evil Dead or Carrie, that’s saying something. There’s minimal blood and the scenes where blood does show up are tolerable. Indeed, you find yourself more interested in the action, the character interaction, and wondering how this battle will play out.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this miniseries goes. The first episode sets the bar high, but if they can keep meeting the challenge…who knows? Emmys and a second season might be in the mix.

I’m giving the first episode a 4.2 out of 5. I look forward to next week’s episode. I hope it’ll be terrifying.

Weekly Exercise #10 (10/21/13)

Posted: October 21, 2013 in Scary Stuff, Weekly Exercises, Writing
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It’s time once again for my Weekly Exercises. These flash fiction pieces are my chance to practice my craft. They also act as sounding boards for readers to comment on how I’m doing, and they’re my shameless plug to get people interested in my published work.

This one’s a special one, since it’s number 10. Ten weeks in a row, plugging these things out. It’s been quite fun writing them and I’m constantly looking for new ideas for an exercise (and if you have one let me know. I may just write an exercise based on a suggestion, and you’ll get a mention). For this week’s exercise, I decided to do something a little special. I wrote a piece about an obsessed fan, but I changed a few things around for this piece. It’s always nice to try something original.

If you have any thoughts, please let me know. I love getting feedback from readers, which is partly what the Weekly Exercises are for. Also, if you want to take a look at any other exercises, you can check out the Weekly Exercises page.

Enjoy!

~~~

Katie loved the books of Emma Davies, stories of love and swashbuckling adventure on the high seas. She had probably read the Vivian Carpenter books a dozen times, cried each of the five times she’d read The Admiral’s Daughter, and when Davies’ latest book, Shanghai Bride, had come out, Katie had stayed up for two days straight reading it, pouring over the text, imagining the characters in her mind, gushing over each and every word in the book.

And sometimes, when she was alone at her apartment or at work or those rare opportunities when she was the only rider on the bus, she would kiss Emma Davies’ photo on the back of her paperbacks, kiss it like she’d never kissed anyone before. She loved the woman, blue eyes and blonde hair with pink highlights. Emma Davies loved Katie too, she knew it. Every book had been written for her, coded as a fun adventure story as well as a romance-filled love letter to Katie. Oh, when would Katie and Emma Davies be united at last? She couldn’t stand the wait!

So Katie packed up her bags and drove out to New Hampshire, where Emma Davies was supposed to live. It took some time, but Katie tracked Emma down to a lovely Victorian mansion in Concord with a brick wall encircling it. Oh, Katie wanted their wedding here! She climbed over the wall, tiptoed through the lawn to the back and was trying to unlock the back door when she felt a sharp pain on the top of her head and passed out.

When she woke up, her head hurt, she was in a dark room with only a single light bulb and no windows. Emma Davies stood before her, wearing a white silk kimono and frowning angrily. Overjoyed to be finally united with her, Katie tried to get up and hug her, but found she had been tied with chains and had a gag in her mouth. She tried to shout through the gag to Emma, but the beautiful woman only scoffed.

“Did you think that I would be happy to find you on my lawn?” she said, shaking her head. “I mean, I get how popular I am with my fans. I’ve hugged crying women more times than I can count at book signings and in the supermarket and while getting my hair done at Aveda. But honestly, if you’re going to sneak onto private property, you should know there are some consequences. So what do you have to say for yourself?”

Emma removed the gag. Katie sucked in a lungful of air. “Emma, I love you!” she cried, tears falling down her face. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Oh, I love you too.” said Emma, kissing Katie’s forehead. “I love all my fans very dearly. But the ones who go the extra mile and think their love trumps my personal space must be punished when they step out of line.”

“What do you mean?” asked Katie, but as she spoke Emma picked up a chainsaw from the corner. Seeing it, she realized what was happening. She screamed.

“Oh, don’t scream.” said Emma, pulling the chainsaw’s cord. “It’ll be quick. And besides, you’ll be remembered. Once this kimono’s soaked up your blood, I’ll frame it in my office. I tell people the bloody kimonos I collect once belonged to a little-known pirate who was a terrible sadist. It’s a hoot how they buy it up. And yours make six. One for every book I’ve written! How exciting.”

“But I love you—“ And then there was only pain.

Review: Carrie (2013 film)

Posted: October 19, 2013 in Review, Scary Stuff
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Ever since I heard that this film was being made, I’ve been excited for it. Over the past few days, my behavior has been pretty close to that of a Belieber right before a Justin Beiber concert, I’ve been so excited. And this evening I went to the movies after dinner and sat in the best seat in the house. Afterwards, I struggled to find a phrase or a sentence, some way to describe the Carrie remake. I hit on it on the way home:

This is not like any version of Carrie you’ve ever seen before.

And I mean that. The storytelling, the acting, the music, and the special effects go together perfectly to create an awesome Halloween movie. Even when I knew something was going to happen, from plot points to scares, I was totally freaked out.

I’ll start with the acting, because that was just phenomenal. It’s amazing to watch Carrie White, played by Chloe Grace Moretz, go from a shy, terrified girl to someone who’s starting to come into her own power and rebel. Then at the climax of the movie, she doesn’t just become an angry telekinetic girl. She becomes Nemesis, Goddess of Revenge, and an angry witch upon her dais emerges to reap what has been sown. Afterwards, broken by all the pain and misery, she become a little girl again, wanting only love. And when she can’t get that, she looks for peace.

Julianne Moore was also great. You sensed she cared for Carrie, but the way she played Margaret White as a delusional woman with vacant eyes and a propensity for self-flagellation even in public was positively spooky. Honestly, she could win an award for playing Margaret and putting the “mental” in fundamentalist. In addition, all the other actors were great in their roles. I truly got the sense that Sue Snell, played by Gabriella Wilde, made me feel her remorse as the one girl who regretted hurting Carrie, while Portia Doubleday embodied the entitled bitch that was Chris Hargensen. And Judy Greer, you get a nod for really seeming like you cared for Carrie, comforting her while also making sure that no one would hurt her further. I can see why Carrie left your character alive. You made us believe she deserved not to die.

The next aspect was the storytelling. In this version of Carrie they actually included parts not seen in other adaptations of Carrie, including the love between Sue and Tommy Ross and what that love results in, the destruction of the town, and even the flying rocks make an appearance in the story (though not in the way we might expect). The filmmakers were also able to work the Information Age seamlessly into the plot, using a video of Carrie’s first period to the greatest effect. The only thing added in that I didn’t care for was the bath scene at the end. Honestly, there’s no bath scene in the book, and we already get Carrie covered in blood in the shower. Why do we need it again in the bathtub?

You don’t want to mess with this Carrie!

Now for the music, it was terrifying and vivid. It matched every moment and I felt it adding to my terror during certain parts of the film. And the special effects were better than everything we’ve ever seen in a Carrie adaptation. The destruction at prom had everyone in the theater on the edge of their seats and the showdown between Chris Hargensen, Billy Nolan, and Carrie is like watching Titans battling each other! I couldn’t believe any of it was done with computers or wires, because it all seemed so real and terrifying to me. The only thing I didn’t like was the blood that fell on Carrie’s head. I thought it looked more like corn syrup or Jell-O that hadn’t yet solidified than blood, but maybe that’s just me.

Am I using the word terrifying too much?

This lady deserves the Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Doesn’t matter. Honestly, I want to buy the DVD when it comes out, because this was one freaking epic horror film and I loved every minute of it. For the 2013 adaptation of Carrie, I give it a 5 out of 5. Congratulations to the cast, the crew, including director Kimberly Pierce, and a special congratulations Stephen King, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Julianne Moore. King made a wonderful story that will last long after he has left the Earth (hopefully that won’t happen anytime soon) and I think Moretz and Moore could easily win Oscars for this one. It’s just that good, so go and see it if you get the chance. You will not regret it.

The Quiet Game: Review #5

Posted: October 18, 2013 in Living and Life, Review, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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tqg cover

Last night a review for The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones appeared on Amazon. This was a very nice 4-star review, keeping the average on Amazon a 4 out of 5. And it was written by my dear old father, affectionately called Abba. Here’s what my dad had to say:

This is not my genre, but since I know the author [:-)], I read the stories.  Each one was very unique and created its own atmosphere and mood.  My favorite story was the Quiet Game but I found the ending a little confusing since I didn’t really know the literary reference at the end; what I loved was the world created in the story and the message it conveyed.  I look forward to the author’s improving his craft, and I will certainly read more.

Well Abba, since you didn’t know the reference, let me tell you that Puck is a fairy or spirit from English folklore who’s considered a very nasty trickster. Don’t cross him if you ever meet him, because he’s just as likely to give you a winning lottery ticket as he is to give you an atomic wedgie. And I’d rather not see that on Facebook.

Also, thanks for uploading that review. It means a lot to me, and there’s good news. Since Reborn City is coming out soon, you can look forward to me hounding you to read that in two weeks’ time! Yay more fiction from your son to read out of obligation as a father! I’m kidding, I bet you can’t wait to read it.

I’m always happy to hear from readers, so whether you liked The Quiet Game or hated it, I don’t mind hearing from you about it. And if you’re interested in reading The Quiet Game; Five Tales To Chill Your Bones, you can read it on Amazon and Smashwords. Have a lovely day.

The Quiet Game: Out Three Months Now

Posted: October 17, 2013 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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tqg cover

It’s been exactly three months since I uploaded The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones onto Amazon and Smashwords. I’ve done a sort-of-but-not-quite second edition to fix the typos in the first couple of books, I’ve told people all about it, and now I’m marking the passage of time again, as I cannot believe how well it’s doing.

I didn’t really have any expectations when I first published The Quiet Game. I mean, I wanted it to do well, but with the volatile market that is self-publishing, I could be totally obscure and sell only a few copies or maybe it’ll be some strange explosion and a lot of copies will sell and plenty of people will write reviews. Turned out to be somewhere in the middle, where in the past three months I’ve sold a little under fifty copies and recieved four reviews (there are supposed to be two more but for some reason neither have appeared on Amazon’s website). The average rating right now is still 4 out of 5 stars incidentally, which I’m very happy about. My one five-star review came from Jason Haxton, author of The Dybbuk Box and owner of a box believed to be possessed by an evil spirit. It meant so much that another published writer thought so highly of my work. Then again, The Quiet Game has a dybbuk* in one of its stories, so that might explain a bit of it.

*A dybbuk, for those of you unfamiliar, is a spirit in Jewish folklore. To find out more about it, please go to Wikipedia, see various films about them, or read my book or Jason’s book.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how The Quiet Game does from here on out. And who knows? With Reborn City coming out in fifteen days, sales may increase. Wait, fifteen days? Jeez, that’s soon!

If you’d like to check out The Quiet Game, you can find it on Amazon and Smashwords. Both offer previews into what the book is like, so take a look if you’re interested.

Weekly Exercise #9 (10/13/13)

Posted: October 13, 2013 in Scary Stuff, Weekly Exercises, Writing
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Time once again for my Weekly Exercises. These flash fiction pieces are part opportunity to practice my craft, part sounding board so as I can feedback on what works and what doesn’t work when I write, and part shameless plug to get readers interested in my published fiction. Remember, the Weekly Exercises rely on reader feedback, so whatever your thoughts, it’s greatly appreciated if you leave a comment and let me know.

Also, if you wish to see my past Weekly Exercises, please follow the link to the Weekly Exercises page.

~~~

He was angry. He’d been taken from the prison system as soon as his mother had died. They said they were going to take him to the funeral service. A special treat, said Officer Marcus, for good behavior. If anything, Teddy would’ve rather had a drink and some video games to celebrate his mother’s death rather than go to his funeral and see if anyone actually showed up, let alone anyone showed up with anything nice to say. After all, Teddy’s mother had let him go to school hungry every day to pay for her drug habit. And when he started breaking into people’s homes in high school, she had given him up as a scoundrel and a menace and lied at the trial! Now at least she could finance her drug habit without having to worry about her kid.

But he was glad to get out of prison for a little while. He could see the sun without having bars around him, and maybe convince these cops to stop by McDonalds for some real food.

But then he’d been taken to a government lab and drugged. And then they’d started experimenting on him, putting weird stuff into his bloodstream. What were they trying to achieve? To turn him into a super soldier? To see how they could awaken telekinetic abilities in him? To see how much a person could be tampered with before their bodies broke down? Or did they just do it for kicks and they had a poor minority kid in the system, so why not use him? Nobody would miss him!

But at some point the experiments had worked. And now he was taking his revenge. The scientists ran in terror while soldiers came for him with bullets. Teddy let them come, let them feel his wrath. He hit them with one of his new tentacles and then started biting them with his poisonous fangs. He was a monster, but he was finally the one in control of his life instead of stupid adults who only cared about themselves.

With a crash and a bang Teddy escaped the lab onto the roof. Far away were the lights of a huge city. Jumping off the roof, crashing through the gates and hiding in the forest, Teddy slowly made his way towards the city, using the trees and rocks and the river to hide from his pursuers. Now that he was out, he thought he’d hit the town and have a little fun.

Weekly Exercise #8 (10/7/13)

Posted: October 7, 2013 in Scary Stuff, Weekly Exercises, Writing
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It’s time for my Weekly Exercises again. These flash fiction pieces are part chance to practice my craft, part sounding board so that my readers can tell me what they think works or doesn’t work, and part shameless marketing ploy to get people interested in my published work. Remember, these Weekly Exercises rely on reader feedback, so whether you love it or hate it, please let me know. I love to hear your opinions.

This week’s exercise is a bit longer than the past seven have been. But it needed to be in order to get what I wanted out of it. Tell me, is it better being longer than the others? Or I was better being brief? You decide.

Hope you like it. And if you wish to read more of my Weekly Exercises, you can find them all on their very own page.

~~~

Lacey had been staring at the painting ever since they’d moved into the house. It came with the house, her mother said. It wasn’t very amazing, for a painting. It was a bunch of ladies in big dresses holding parasols on a beach. The plaque on the frame said it was called The Spider’s Web by William Ryan and painted in 1865. Other than the weird title, she didn’t know why she was so obsessed with the painting.

But for some reason Lacey kept staring at it, kept coming to look at the women in the dresses. Sometimes she thought she could hear the sound of waves and seagulls, a snatch of womanly laughter. And she wanted to know what the laughter was about.

Until the little girl appeared in the painting, though. She hadn’t been there before, hadn’t been holding the women’s hands when Lacey first moved here. And for some reason, the little girl looked a lot like Lacey. And she heard her voice giggling with the woman’s laughter and the seagulls and the ocean waves. She wanted to be in the painting too.

Momma was worried about Lacey. “You spend too much time in front of that painting.” she said. “Play with some toys. Watch TV. Go to school and make some friends. Put rocks up your nose.” And Lacey did all those things, went to school and made friends and played with toys and did things kids shouldn’t do. But she still stared at that painting. Stared at it, and the little girl with the women in the painting

And the painting whispered to her. It said that she could come in. They wanted Lacey to come in and be with them. Lacey wished and dreamed to be in the painting with them. And then one day, the women and little girl came out of the painting. But when they did, they became a big spider with a woman’s head. Lacey wasn’t scared though. She wanted this. And the spider lady picked her up in its six arms and brought her into the painting. And then Lacey was with the ladies on the beach, holding their hands and laughing with them.

She never knew what they laughed about, or that Momma cried when she disappeared, or that the spider lady was eating her soul bit by bit. But she laughed anyway, because she got her wish.

The Scariest Chapter I’ve Ever Written So Far

Posted: October 6, 2013 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Some of you may be wondering what the scariest chapter I’ve ever written so far must be. I write scary stories, so it must be something gruesome. What could it be? Monsters? Evil spirits? Something not of this world or any other world we know of?

If you guessed pure, human evil, then you were correct.

I’ve written several times on this blog that one of my works-in-progress, Laura Horn, has a teenage girl and a survivor of sexual assault as its protagonist. Naturally, the question came up of whether or not to actually show her sexual assault in the novel. I’m not sure when I decided on that issue, though it was probably when I wrote the outline for the novel. But I decided to show her assault, devoting Chapter 17 of the book to it.

The past few weeks, where I knew it was only a matter of time till I reached that chapter, were not terrifying, nerve-wracking, or exciting as I expected writing a sexual assault would be. Instead, I just felt a sort of…acceptance, I guess. I’d committed to writing that sort of scene, and when I finally got to it, I got to it.

And last night, after finishing Chapter 17 of Video Rage, I took a short break, and then I started writing Chapter 17 of Laura Horn. Today, after finishing up my homework and meditation class, I did the last of it. and now the first draft of that chapter is complete.

I don’t know if what I’ve written will resonate with readers or feel real to them. I wrote this scene based on testimonies and memoirs by rape victims that I’ve read, the articles I’ve read on the statistic and psychology of rape, more Law & Order: SVU episodes than I dare mention, and my own overactive and sometimes unhealthy imagination. (Those last two I’m not sure you can count as credible sources). But if I’ve done my job right, then I will be able to put the reader directly into Laura’s state of mind at the time of her assault, make them understand what she’s been through and how it’s affected her three years after the event when the story takes place. And only then will the readers really understand who Laura Horn is, and truly be able to empathize with her.

And speaking of which, I’ve had trouble at certain points of writing this story getting into Laura’s head and understanding her both as a character and as a person. But having just written the formative event of her young life, I now can truly get into her head, understand her motivations, her thoughts, were obsession with avoiding drawing attention to herself. So hopefully writing the rest of Laura Horn will be a little bit easier.

However, that doesn’t change the fact that this is the scariest chapter I’ve ever written. In fact, it scared me personally, because I was terrified of the fact that I could conceive this scene and then write it down without losing my stomach. Even now, I’m wondering how screwed up I truly am to write such a scene. Considering how many times Stephen King’s written that sort of scene, I can say I’m fairly f***ed up.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever do such a scene again. However I do believe that when Laura Horn makes it to print, whenever that is, if I’ve done my job right, then the readers will feel the fear I wish to convey. And maybe they’ll understand the terror and trauma of rape victims. Maybe the book will help people who’ve experienced sexual assault. Maybe it’ll cause some people to think before they say someone deserves to be raped. I don’t know if any of that’ll happen, but it’s my hope that it will.

And now I’m going to take a break from writing. I’ve done a lot in the past 48 hours, and I’d like a little break before I pick up with Video Rage Ch. 18. I’ll need to recharge my batteries, especially after writing that sexual assault scene.

Until next time.

Losing (And Gaining) An Idea

Posted: October 6, 2013 in ideas, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Had a pretty interesting experience today. This morning as I was getting ready to leave the house for my meditation class when I had an idea for a short story. I wanted to write it down, but I was about to leave the house though, so I couldn’t write it down. Instead I made a promise to write it down as soon as I had the opportunity to do so.

Just one problem: a good percentage of what passes through our five senses and through our thoughts gets forgotten pretty quickly if we don’t really grab onto the details and keep it in the short-term memory. And guess what? I didn’t seize a hold of this idea and now I’ve completely forgotten it! (I have a feeling it has something to do with the movie Pacific Rim, but other than that I cannot remember a single detail). And when I realized that, you know my beat myself up over losing it.

So I spent my meditation class trying to meditate my idea back to myself. I went over my morning, trying to find the moment where I had that spark of inspiration. However, I didn’t catch it. Whatever that idea was, for now it’s been lost to the darker recesses of my memory.

However, the day and the meditation wasn’t a total wash. I did manage to come up with a second idea that was just as good as the first (I think). I remembered a story I read last night, about a man from my state who had chained up his German Shepherd to a tree for four years and had neglected, abused and tortured the poor thing during that time (as hard as it is to read, I urge you to check out here). I thought to myself, what if the police hadn’t intervened and something happened to the dog? I recalled a certain belief from Southeast Asia about what happens when you abuse certain dogs, and I decided to turn that into a short story.

So while I would like to still get that idea back (and maybe someday I will), I think this idea is pretty cool as well. And it gust goes to show how ideas keep bubbling up in a writer’s imagination. It also shows you need to write them down as soon as you get them, but I think I already mentioned that. If I have any other good ideas, I’ll let you all know.

By the way, has anything like this happened to you? How did you feel about it?

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