Vampiric Evolution in 'Stake-Out'

I was one of the people who hated the thought of vampires being anything but cape-wearing, coffin-sleeping murderers. Having been obsessed with the species since I was a toddler (ask my mom, it’s true), I had a clear picture of what a vampire was supposed to be, and Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee perfectly encompassed my ideals.

 

As I got into my very early teens, the sparkling vampire craze began. Now, I’m not going to say anything derogatory towards those vamps, their creator or their fans. I will just say that I was not a fan because those vampires didn’t fit into my little world of the Undead. As I perused the YA section of my bookstore, I came across three different series that changed my view on vampires in the modern world:

Vampire Kisses, by Ellen Schreiber.

The Saga Of Darren Shan (AKA Cirque Du Freak), by Darren Shan.

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, by Heather Brewer (now known as Zac Brewer).

Each series is vastly different, and each series focuses on vampires in the modern world. Reading those, I began to start to perceive vampires in a different light. I always wanted them to be real (and I’m talking the “burn in the sunlight” and “can’t go into churches” real, not the types of vampire cultures we have today), but as I read those books I knew that a vampire like Count Dracula could never exist in the real world. Alexander Sterling, Larten Crepsley and Vlad Tod could, however.

I began embracing this new evolution of vampires: vamps who could drink bottled human blood, or drink from the vein and not kill. That didn’t make any of those vampires less badass than their murderous counterparts. Instead, it made me love them more: they were immortal and could fight if necessary, but didn’t need to murder humans to feed. They dressed the part of humans and could pass unnoticed amongst them if they chose. They walked amongst the mortals, the unsuspecting humans never knowing they were rubbing elbows with the Undead. The idea was exhilarating!

Fast-forward nine years later. A twenty-year-old Goth sits on her bed, watching a crime drama. She thinks, What if a cop’s perp turned out to be a vampire? What if he turned out to be a Bram Stoker-esque vampire? That girl was I (obviously), and I wrote the prologue to Stake-Out that next afternoon. What’s Stake-Out? It’s my debut novel published by Vamptasy Publishing. It is the first of four novels in the Paranormal Detectives Series (number two,Miranda’s Rights, was just approved and I should have a release date soon).

It focuses on said cop, Danny Mancini, who has a near-fatal run in with a violent rogue vampire named Vincent, who is on a killing spree all throughout Chicago. When the CPD doesn’t believe him, he gets fired.

Two years later, Vincent is back in Chicago, and Danny is contacted by the FBI’s Paranormal Investigative Division. More specifically, by Agent Angelica Cross, a beautiful girl Danny immediately falls for. As they get closer to each other, Danny starts having visions of a past life with Angelica, Vincent keeps killing, an old enemy resurfaces and Angie’s secrets are revealed for all to see.

I made two types of vampires in my book: the classic and the revamped (excuse the pun). Why? Because both of them are great and both types have a place in vampiric literature, television and film. I will always love my ruthless vamps, but just because the vampires who follow the paranormal laws I put into place in Stake-Out don’t kill to feed, it doesn’t mean they are any less awesome. If you do decide to pick up Stake-Out, you’ll understand what I am talking about. It is a vampire’s nature to kill. In my modern world, vampires just kill bad guys to keep this place safer for mortals, satisfying their innate bloodlust and doing good at the same time.

The vampires also have an ulterior motive: the less evil vamps out there killing wantonly, the less likely humans are to wise up to the existence of the paranormal world and start hunting down vampires (or shifters, or witches) just because they are afraid after reading ’Salem’s Lot one too many times.

So that’s what the Paranormal Investigative Division does, and you’re damn lucky they exist, or you might be dinner tomorrow night.

The point here is, the classics are wonderful and deserve to be kept alive, but some changes can be good. Just open yourself up to them. Look at theUnderworld film series, or Buffy. Those are amazing vampires, but they are also fairly civilized.

It was an honor for me to be able to contribute my own vampires to popular culture, one good and one bad. Creating them was not hard, they brought themselves to life on the page, but it was a lot of fun. Just like in humankind, all types of vamps have their proper place in the world. In Stake-Out, I got to utilize two sides of the same coin and come out with something readers really seem to enjoy.

If I scared you, made you gasp, made you cry or made you shake your head and start yelling at your ereader, I have done a my job.

You can purchase Stake-Out internationally as an ebook or paperback on Amazon.

If you live in the US or Canada, you can purchase the paperback via Barnes and Noble or Books-A-Million.

Read more about book two, Miranda’s Rights, on my website.

Article by Lily Luchesi

Lily Luchesi is a young author/poet born in Chicago, Illinois, now residing in Los Angeles, California. Ever since she was a toddler her mother noticed her tendency for being interested in all things "dark". At two she became infatuated with vampires and ghosts, and that infatuation turned into a lifestyle by the time she was twelve, and, as her family has always been what they now call "Gothic", she doesn't believe she shall ever change. She is also a hopeless romantic and avid music-lover, and will always associate vampires with love, blood and rock and roll. Her interest in poetry came around the same time as when she was given a book of Edgar Allan Poe's complete work. She then realized that she had been writing her own poetry since she could hold a pen, and just had not known the correct terms. She finished her first manuscript at the age of fourteen, and now, at twenty-one, has two contributing credits in anthologies and a debut novel, Stake-Out (Paranormal Detectives Series Book One), was published by Vamptasy Publishing on May 19th, 2015.

She has a short story, "Undead Ever After" in the Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly anthology Love Sucks (released on June 13th, 2015). She will also have a short story, "The Devil's Dozen", in the upcoming Hot Ink Press anthology Death, Love and Lust. (Release date TBA.)

Links:

www.twitter.com/LilyLuchesi

www.facebook.com/LilyLuchesi

www.facebook.com/lilyluchesibooks

www.instagram.com/lilyluchesi

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7369101.Lily_Luchesi

http://amazon.com/author/lilyluchesi

Silent Hill 2 Fan-Article

James Sunderland heads to Silent Hill, after receiving a note from his deceased wife, Mary... On his travels he meets Angela Orosco and Eddie Dombrowski. He also meets a little girl called Laura, who claims to have been friends with Mary. Plus, James meets Maria, a woman that looks exactly like his dead wife.

Both graphically and game play wise, “Silent Hill 2: Inner Fears” is a superior sequel. Just when you thought the previous one was creepy, Inner Fears ups the ante by introducing Pyramid Head. James first encounters this eyesore when he’s hiding in a closet, inside an abandoned apartment building, and witnesses the monster playing with some corpses (charming). He scares it off with a gun, but later on, he encounters this abomination again (wielding a massive sword)...

Inner Fears carries on the tradition of delivering psychological horror, and crazy symbolism. Not only is this a horror gamer’s dream, I assume those that are interested in psychology would love to dissect this. Sunderland even gets to see the personal hells of two of the characters.

(Some spoilers are ahead):

Eddie Dombrowski (reveals he killed a dog and shot the owner in the leg), his hell is a meat locker whereas the meat carcasses are wearing his clothes. The cold air represents what Dombrowski’s heart is like, and the carcasses are his insecurities of his weight. Angela Orosco’s personal hell is being trapped inside a flesh room – with pistons pushing backwards and forwards in the holes – and being confronted by a libidinous monster, that is trying to attack her. James’ hell is pursuing a woman that looks exactly like his wife, only to witness her dying (failing to save another woman).

When I first played Silent Hill 2, and witnessed the hell of the other characters, it reminded me of Hellraiser sequel Hellbound. In fact, the entire game reminds me of some horror movies. When James finally heads to Lakeview Hotel, the hotel itself reminds me of Overlook from The Shining. Going to the Otherworld reminds me of the Nightmare On Elm Street movies, and Pyramid Head and his minions remind me of the Cenobites from Hellraiser. On the other hand, Pyramid punishes bad people, so that aspect reminds me of Pumpkin Head.

Like the first game, Inner Fears will make you question your own sanity. Whether it be dopplegangers, deranged killers, monsters, nightmare worlds and even unexpected game shows. It wouldn’t be a Silent Hill game if it didn’t have id monsters. The Bubble Head Nurse. According to the Silent Hill wiki, they may be a manifestation created by James. They dress provocatively due to his sexual frustration. They can be encountered in Brookhaven Hospital. They carry melee weapons and make horrible gurgling noises.   

The game even foreshadows whom the antagonist is in Silent Hill: The Room (the fourth instalment). James Sunerland comes across a newspaper article that has reported about a notorious serial killer, Walter Sullivan. It was reported that Sullivan had killed many people, including two kids. The police had thought that they’d arrested the right guy, and even assumed it was Sullivan that ended their life in a prison cell. There’ll be more on that in my post on the fourth game.

There are many puzzles I’ve liked, but the one I hated was the keypad puzzle. James gets locked in a room, surrounded by many bugs. The key to leaving the room is a keypad near the door, where three of the buttons have been lit. By the magic of trial-and-error, the player has to figure out what the code is. When you’re messing about with this one, it’s handy to keep a sheet of paper and a pencil.

I forgot to mention this in my Silent Hill post, so I’ll make up for it by putting it in this. In Silent Hill, the streets are named after famous authors. Koontz Street, Sagan Street, Shelley Road and Barker Street (to name a few). There are lots more, so be sure to check out the Silent Hill wikia if you want to have a look.

Silent Hill 2 is a spectacular game. On the Xbox Classic version, you even get to play as Maria. Her story involves helping a recluse man inside a spooky mansion. The side story has a great twist to it, but of course, I won’t be spoiling it.

Thanks for reading and stay glued to the screen, for there are more to come.

Article by: Craig Wilson – Father of the Demon

http://fatherofthedemon.tumblr.com/

#ShareTheHorror

My first novel, The Haunted Halls, came out in July of last year, 2014. I knew the publishing world had changed from the days of the publisher taking care of business for the author. I knew I had to promote my novel myself, and mostly by myself. I had played in punk bands for years (none that were “commercially” successful), and I believed in our talent. I believed in my talent. I could gladly tell you about my band, but I had very little experience in pushing books, and even less confidence in my own ability as a writer. Being new to the writing game, I had to learn fast. And I did.

In October of 2014, The Haunted Halls was followed by my self-published short story collection, Slush. I actually sent out some ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies)!  Hey, I was learning. In January, alongside Samhain favorites, Jonathan Janz, Russell James, and Hunter Shea, Samhain Publishing released my novella, Abram’s Bridge. This month, they unleashed my horror/sci-fi/aliens among us second novella, Boom Town.

In the horror writing world, self-promotion is a talent. There is a delicate balance between getting your work out there and spamming your Facebook friends with your ugly mug and the fiction you have to peddle. Think of it like opening your mailbox: Is your “promotion” like a surprise letter of awesome news that’s going to make them smile or want more? Or, as a lot of self-promoting comes across, does your daily “promo” go the way of those dreaded circulars piling up in their trash? At least with using the internet there’s no paper involved. #SaveTheTrees

I have been pushing Glenn Rolfe novels and novellas for the last ten months. That’s a lot of “me” posts. I don’t want to become an endless stream of e-Circulars.

In the fall of last year, about the time I released Slush, the Horror Writers Association started the “Horror Selfies” campaign:

In 2014, the Horror Writers Association (HWA) created the Horror Selfies campaign in an effort to highlight the exceptional work, both literary and cinematic, produced by the horror genre. Inspired by the popular “Say it with a Sign” meme—used by everyone from Ellen DeGeneres and Jon Bon Jovi, to David Beckham and Princes William and Harry—the HWA is utilizing the vast reach of social media to provide a platform through which people can tell the world why they love horror.

This was a wonderful idea that was conjured by the HWA president, the late Rocky Wood (along with Tom Calen and AJ Klein). If ever there was a person to fall in with, and to compel one to participate in the cause, it was Rocky Wood. What Rocky understood, above all else, is that we (the horror lovers of the world) are a community. And successful communities take care of one another. They praise one another. They know that one member’s success is a success for all of us.

In December, I decided to take this concept and apply it to my daily posts. In order for me to feel comfortable in promoting my own works, I would double up on promoting works by others. I began posting my favorite reads of the years complete with direct links to those works. It was in that first month of being a cheerleader for my favorite horror writers that I coined my own campaign, my own hashtag: #ShareTheHorror

It feels amazing to heap praise upon your favorites and spotlight authors you admire. A lot of members in the horror community are really good at this. Others, not so much. I invite you to #ShareTheHorror today. If you feel good, give it a try for a week. I think you’ll enjoy it enough that you’ll be on the #ShareTheHorror campaign trail for life.  

I will tell you to go out and find my best work to date, Boom Town, but while I have your attention, let me also point out five other new pieces of dark fiction worthy of your consideration:

Damien Angelica Walters - Sing Me Your Scars

Brian Pinkerton- Anatomy of Evil

Keith Ferrario- Monster

Todd Keisling- The Other Land Express

Frazer Lee- The Skintakers

Share your favorites, share what you love….share the horror.

Article by: Glenn Rolfe

Click here to view our recent promotion for ‘Boom Town’

Psychosis Y Dementia – A Love Story

What does ‘Halloween’… ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’… ‘It’… ‘The Wolfman’… ‘Dracula’… ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’… all have in common?

Yes they’re all horror classics, but they have all been remade and released for a brand new audience…

Remakes and Reboots and Clones; oh my!

Several films of all genres are being remade and rebooted for newer audiences; sometimes with no respect for the original. Some storylines or mythologies are being revamped from a different POV to make the characters more… likeable.

Twinkling vampires? Warm blooded zombies? Friendly ghosts? (Okay the last one had nothing to do with horror but technically nether do the first two!)

In a time where it seems that remakes have dominated films of all genres; can an original idea come forth to save us from the mountain of ‘cloned’ and remade films? Is there anything new under the sun when it comes to horror?

Ah, probably not!

But wait! There is new blood in the horror genre to save the day! “Psychosis Y Dementia – A Love Story”

In the early 1500’s, in Central America; A 400 year old Mayan beast of retribution is revived by the blood of an innocent victim to exact revenge. The creature continues his rampage until his bloodthirsty path crosses with the daughter of the murder victim. Now the creature must choose between meting out justice; or protecting this woman from a band of cutthroat gang members…

(That sounds innovative; tell me more!)

The demon was originally summoned by a Mayan medicine man to avenge the slaughter of his tribe by marauding invaders seeking gold. The creature was captured and bound by a blessed golden mask and buried. Around the mid-1900’s; he is reincarnated in the body of a dead renegade biker. A killer then inadvertently disposes of a bloody machete on his shallow grave. The creature can now continue his unholy mission to avenge the innocent.

(But what makes him… loveable?)

Glad you asked. Just as TV audiences grew to love ‘Dexter’ as the man who killed serial killers; the demon; “Psychosis” kills those who are in ‘need’ of killing. Now set in the mid-1900’s; the creature metes out justice in brutal fashion using the Spanish machete called a ‘Panga’. The audience will get caught up in the revenge killings and will actually cheer for the creature. The story continues to a surprise ending that no one sees coming.

Titled: “Psychosis Y Dementia – A Love Story”; is the newest concept combining Spanish horror and romance. Don’t get me wrong. No Edward and Bella here. There is no Romeo zombie. There is plenty of blood, gore and body parts everywhere to satisfy the horror/slasher aficionado.

Presently the film project is making its rounds on Juntobox.com waiting to be green lit by Forest Whitaker; meanwhile the full length novel is slated to be published in April 2015 on amazon.com and Kindle. The comic book; inked by Cristian Sauret, is due to be published in time for NYC Comic Con 2015 and will be available worldwide.

Follow the film project and give it five stars and maybe; in the near future someone will remake it!

http://juntoboxfilms.com/projects/psychosis-y-dementia-a-love-story

Help me make ‘Psychosis’ the next horror film Icon! Thank you!

Stay tooned!

Article by Hector Valle

Hector Valle is a four time self-published author who has written ‘The Rapture Trilogy’, ‘The Rapture Chronicles’, ‘The HarlequinX’ and ‘Psychosis Y Dementia – A Love Story’

Guest Aricle by Matt Manochio, Author of The Dark Servant

Today, December 6, is the Celebration of Saint Nicholas in Europe. That means last night was Krampusnacht, the first one I celebrated since The Dark Servant was released on November 4, and I didn’t do a damn thing because there were no Krampus runs in my area. That wasn’t the case in Europe, where friendly Germans and Austrians donned their Krampus attire and flooded darkened Berlin streets to scare children.

But I have a feeling that will change. A few cities held Krampus events this year, and I’m certain the big hairy brute will find homes in other American cities as well. And it’s websites like Promote Horror that will help facilitate it. It’s not just books about Krampus that I’m sure will be popping up because he’s such a rich character. We’ll be getting movies by Kevin Smith and other filmmakers next year, and I’m sure Promote Horror will be there to spread the word.

Promote Horror is the final stop on my publicity tour, and it seems appropriate. As a new author who dabbles in horror, a genre that sometimes doesn’t get the respect it deserves, sites like Promote Horror are crucial to give those of us starting out a chance to attract attention to our various projects. Most of us don’t have huge budgets and will gladly seize a free opportunity to entice, in my case, potential readers.

So thank you, Promote Horror, not just for promoting The Dark Servant, and Krampus, but for aiding numerous writers, filmmakers and other artists in our quest to make a living, or supplement one, doing what we enjoy.

The story behind Fearbreeders by Rich James

  This post by dent of the story concept behind my new crossover YA fantasy novel series, Fearbreeders, will necessarily be a little more surreal than the usual “here’s why I wrote what I wrote”-type post, so thank you at the outset for bearing with me. In fact, the most interesting story behind my new YA series may yet literally be the one my readers are writing as they get involved online and through their eReaders with this cross-media concept. How so? Although readers – i.e., you – remain largely unaware of it, you’re actually influencing and affecting my work, even as you read this post online. Kind of like the “observer effect” in physics – you know; the one that states you can’t observe certain phenomena without changing the outcome. It’s a bit like that.

  Mind-blowing-The-Matrix-type-stuff, I know. So let’s back up a bit. Start at the beginning, like a good story should. As a west London native, now living in east London to write my books, it was only as I began researching this series that I began to see the world in this interconnected, causally-oriented light; a new perspective, as it were; the kind of perspective a shift in location and thinking can grant a person. It was a chance to reinterpret my creative ideas through the prism of a place that I found fascinating; at once familiar but also strangely alien.  

  East London is a tough part of town – a “world”, some would argue, that is strange enough without embellishment: and I say this out of great affection for the place. It’s Earthsea with an ocean of accents … Middle Earth with a McDonalds Drive-thru; a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities; the weird, wonderful, wayward and unique. As I am originally from the rather more gentrified Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, moving here was actually an unexpected language and culture shock – unexpected as it is less than 5 kilometres away … but it might as well be in another dimension! I was determined to use this feeling of disorientation, as well as that experienced by the people who live here, along with their speech and dialects, in my books. I liked the idea of incorporating what I actually heard around me: in your typical high-fantasy novel you’ll find all manner of faux Nordic “invented” languages. In east London, why bother? The reality of what I hear on the streets round here trumps anything Tolkien could have imagined!

  Moreover, it is precisely the idea that in east London “everyone is a stranger” that works for fantasy fiction, especially mine. Street kids round here have got used to the demands of what is admittedly a tough existence at times; isolating and disorientating. It occurred to me these types of characters were precisely the types of individuals you’d want fighting evil alongside you (I certainly would!), and not the refined, well-spoken milksops you typically see in British fantasy.  

  No, my protagonists, I decided, would fight evil the way a hard-nosed east London street kid actually would: by dispensing with the fantasy baloney and looking for the facts behind the strange phenomena they encountered, Googling answers on their iPhones rather than picking up some hokey book of spells.

  Fearbreeders tells the story of three young, hip “psychic channelers” fighting all sorts of arcane, evil monsters and ghosts in the modern world. I characterise it as “Middle Earth-meets-working class”. Or “Ethnic HP”. So far, so genre specific then. But I consciously chose to slant my story more to the pragmatic sensibilities of east London, to elicit nuanced drama and humour in with all the monsters. Imagine an episode of EastEnders where aliens invade the Old Vic: how would the locals handle it? Sure, they might surrender the planet in the name of peace, but they sure as heck wouldn’t surrender their place in the queue at the bar! That kind of darkly funny vibe.

  By doing so, I hoped to update the fantasy genre for a sophisticated, modern audience. Being savvy, streetwise technophiles, my heroes have little time for the usual fantasy tropes as they go about the business of fighting an “army of darkness” from their crumbling, centuries-old school in Leytonstone, east London. In their jaded existences they have no need for “magic” chants and spells (any more than any of us do, if we’re honest) to enlist the spirits of the dead to help them fight evil. Knowledge of quantum physics and electromagnetism is all it takes to do that, thank you very much! They have no desire to undertake dangerous and noble quests to find some reputedly significant artefact: why not just buy said artefact from a four-star seller on eBay and save themselves any uncertainty(and on postage)?

  So you begin to see the humour my work is written to engender; humour that is prevalent on the streets around here as a coping mechanism, really. But this concept runs much deeper than surface laughs. Being a writer of radio stories and plays, as well as high-concept, commercial Hollywood screenplays, I know that we laugh initially because something is funny but we keep laughing because there is more than a smidgen of truth to it. And as I continued to write my series, it became stranger and stranger how often the themes intersected with the truth of the way we all increasingly live our lives, east and west –through the prism of the internet.

  Thus, my eureka moment came relatively late in the process. I realised I had hit on not only a new way to write books for a digital medium but also a new way to communicate and entertain by combining my passion for cross-media as well. How so? Once I had figured out this new, modern direction for fantasy fiction it then occurred to me that the sites I was using to research the story on behalf of the characters might as well be included in the eBook itselfas in-text links.

  And why not? EReaders are specialised browsers, which means a novel manuscript is a specialised website, pure and simple. I have no time for simply recreating a flat, 2D digital counterpart of a physical book. I find it lazy and assumptive on behalf of an author and publisher when the medium pretty much demands cross-media applications to fulfil its potential. Better yet, by including picture, puzzle, game and video links, the process of reading the story mirrors the creative process the author, in this case, me, pursued while writing it. This not only creates maximum engagement but also serves to educate and enlighten.

  Moreover, it gets my readers thinking: if everything in my stories neatly conforms to the sites a reader can actually click through and follow along with my characters – in other words, the online world being identical to the “real” online world (whatever that oxymoron might mean) –as together characters, author and readers pursue the story, then how much of the story might actually be true. This opens up a Pandora’s Box of paranormal possibilities … lets the Jeanie of Surreal Juxtaposition out of an especially jaded lamp! What is “truth” anyway and how is the internet redefining it (being another one of my themes)?

  And I think this is an important theme. Surely the blurring of the lines between what is "real" and what is artifice online is a perfect place for evil, both ancient and modern, to hide?

  Weirder still, if you’re following the same sites as my characters, influencing these sites through comments, backlinks and guest blogs (like this one), hence influencing the story, then how do you know you haven’t just passed over into my story world through your eReader in the same way as my characters have? How do you know they’re fictional and you’re real, and not vice versa? Think about it: (philosophically, anyway) you do not and cannot.

  Told you it was weird. In the final analysis then, when reading my eBooks it is actually impossible to say where you actually are in time and space. Are you in the “real” world? In virtual reality? In your mind or imagination? Maybe a combination of all of these concepts? And so the disorientating effect I was going for as I wrote and researched my eBook has ultimately been multiplied many fold by its deployment – creating a fantastic new cross-media reading experience. My characters struggle with infinite dimensions on their path to their goals, never sure which dimension it is they exist in: read my books and you won’t be too certain anymore either.

  If you’re still brave enough to take a look at this new form of entertainment, one I characterise as introducing a narrative interface for the web, then go check out my work. If you dare…

Article by Rich James

Fearbreeders - http://eepurl.com/5e-wj

http://upcoming4.me/tag/Story-behind

Happy Horrordaze: Killer Fun with Sadie the Sadist

Here come the holidays, and it’s your turn to host a party, but you’re not loaded. No need to panic. I’ll lead you step by step, as you take a stab at preparing my killer recipes. Easy to make, economical, and nourishing, my innovative twists on traditional crowd pleasers will surprise and amaze your friends. Weenies and balls, what could be better?

Bonus: Sadie Says, waste not want not. Not only are these recipes are nifty and thrifty, they are excellent for disposing of unwanted guests and relatives.

Sadie’s Beanie Weenies

Basically, this recipe contains two important ingredients: beans and (you guessed it) weenies. I use canned beans, but when it comes to weenies, I want them fresh and plump. Whacking weenies can take time, (unless we’re talking teenagers) so plan ahead—at least a dozen heads, really, if you plan to make a pot. Note: I’m referring to the little head, of course.

Ingredients:

1 pound weenies (can substitute with hot dogs)

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 28 oz. can baked beans

2/3 cup ketchup

1½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1½ teaspoons powered garlic

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

Cheddar cheese, grated for on top

Preparation:

1. Slice weenies. (Weenies are easier to slice when cold, in fact you may want them frozen … unless you’re using hot dogs.) Some people like thick slices, so you can stab them with a toothpick. I prefer thin, and I often serve this as a main course.

2. Melt the butter in a large skillet or pot, add chopped onions and sliced weenies. Brown until weenies crisp, and sprinkle them with brown sugar to form a yummy glaze.

3. Add remaining ingredients (except cheese) and bring to a boil.

4. Immediately turn heat to very low, and simmer about 25 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking.

5. Transfer to a crockpot to keep it warm (or serve immediately).

  

6. Serve in bowls with grated cheese

Sadie’s Swedish Meatballs

Who doesn’t love meaty balls? Swedes are hearty and sexually liberated people, but you don’t need a Swede to make these tangy treats. You don’t even need balls (although that’s what I often use).  Note: I serve this dish as an appetizer with fancy toothpicks; if you want a main course, double the sauce and serve over noodles.

Ingredients:

2 slices day old bread, crumbled (you can use white, but I use whole grain because it’s healthier)

1/4 cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup finely chopped white onion

1 teaspoon sea salt

1½ pound ground meat (I use whatever meat I have on hand, or in hand, as the case may be … but you can use half pork, half beef. Some people use turkey.)

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/4 cup white flour

3 cups beef broth

4 ounces sour cream

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Place breadcrumbs in a small bowl, add cream, mix, and let sit for about ten minutes.

3. While bread is sitting, melt one tablespoons of butter in a skillet and sauté the onions until golden.

4. Place the onion in a mixing bowl. Add meat, egg, salt, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, sugar, and bread crumb mixture. Mush together using your fingers.

5. Melt the rest of the butter in the skillet. Pinch off about 1½ tablespoon of meat, and roll hunk into a ball. (This should make about 30 meatballs.) Brown meatballs in the skillet for about 5 minutes, turning frequently. The insides should still be pink.

6. Put browned meatballs in a baking dish. Pour in a quarter cup of the broth, cover, and bake for 40 minutes, until the balls are tender. (Yum!) Remove meatballs and place in a serving dish.

7. Save all the juices for the gravy, and pour them into a saucepan. Whisk in the flour, and stir until it’s smooth. Then whisk in the remaining broth. Continue whisking, while you bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Just before serving, whisk in the sour cream and season with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the meatballs. (Yum! Yum! Yum!)

Sadie Says: Have fun. Don’t let vegans and other party poopers talk you into serving tofu meat alternatives! Tofu is made with soy, an insidious ingredient that finds its way into all kinds of things (read your labels) along with corn. Yuck! Human beings are natural carnivores. Basically, we’re predators.

Article by: Zane Sachs

Check out her blog: Zané Sachs-Going Down

The Production of a Double Edged Sword

The Production of a Double Edged Sword

By Richard Romero

    It seems like recently, all of the big name directors in the genre have jumped onto the production ship in an attempt to give lesser-known directors the limelight. This can be seen most recently in the latest efforts from Eli Roth and Guillermo de Toro in their films Aftershock and Mama. These directors seem to go years without coming up with something entirely “theirs” on screen. Is there a magical profit equation in this production plan that is causing the trend? The production game is far from a new profession, but one must wonder, what are the pros and cons of this career route for directors? Why not just make your own movies consistently?

PROS:

1.The opportunity to skyrocket a new Director’s career

This is one reason that, although somewhat rare, is a definite pro, because if the film is a hit, then who gets the credit? Not just the director, but the famous producer behind him as well. Taking a look at Eli Roth (HOSTEL I and II), it is well known that he got his big break from Quentin Tarantino’s executive production of his euro-horror Hostel franchise. Roth is proof that it is possible to start on the path of gold from a generous production name behind one’s film.

2.More credit to a Director’s name

Looking at the top three recent Directors in this horror trend, Eli Roth, Guillermo Del Toro and Michael Bay, it seems like we haven’t gotten enough of them over the last five or six years. It would appear that they had been putting out consistent horror films once, sometimes even twice a year (Roth this year with Aftershock and Hemlock Grove). However, the truth of it is, the promotion of the film, pegged their names in bold and they were the real reasons that people flocked to see some of these movies. Let’s face it Del Toro’s last picture was Hellboy II and Roth’s last release was the less that enjoyable Hostel Part II. However, they have been consistent with their production and have managed to keep their names fresh on the tongues of horror fans all around the world.

3.More $ for less work 

This observation may be a bit rough, but think about it. Would it be more fun to write your own epic term paper, or put your name as co-author on someone else’s paper, where they do all the heavy lifting and you get some dough off of it? Especially when your last paper was just a “C”! Eli Roth sure took the hint when Hostel Part II brought in $17 million Domestic Total Gross in theaters. He took a hiatus from behind the chair and went on to produce the low budget, yet highly publicized chiller The Last Exorcism, which raked in $41 million DTG. That’s no $78 million DTG of MAMA, but 41 million of anything is nothing to be scoffed at. So far, Roth’s latest production effort, Aftershock has proven successful, even with a limited 100 theater release, raking in $40,000 opening weekend. For a review of Aftershock, see the embedded video below.

So I’ve examined the three most evident Pros in producing a low budget film, but the move is also a major double edged sword. Here are the major cons that I have found as an avid moviegoer and critic.

CONS:

1.Limited releases could damage efforts

Although Roth’s production of Nicolas Lopez’s Aftershock is making somewhat of a start to a profit, some productions from big names don’t get off quite as lucky. Just last year, Roth and Quentin Tarantino both had their names behind RZA’s kung fu film The Man With The Iron Fists. Not even two big names were able to save the film from only making $16 million, with a $15 million budget. Part of this was due to the film’s limited and rather short release in theaters. Del Toro has also suffered a similar fate when J.A. Bayona’s ghost story, The Orphanage only made $7 million on a limited release…which is sad because The Orphanage is such a great film. This is proof that promotion is a big deal, especially when looking at other films like MAMA and The Last Exorcism.

2.The film may not even take the ACTUAL Director anywhere

Okay, this CON is most definitely premature if looking at directors of the last five years that have worked on these films, but the risk is STILL there. Daniel Stamm, the director of The Last Exorcism Part I did not return to helm the lackluster sequel, and I haven’t found another thing he’s made since that movie. The same goes for Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’s Troy Nixie, who I would have never even known had I not looked this up. He has made nothing since that movie and has nothing planned on IMDB. That is sad, because I found Dark to be a relatively enjoyable film.  However, on the flipside, The Orphenage’s Bayona recently directed the downer, but Oscar acclaimed The Impossible. So it was nice to see him going somewhere.

3.The film could backfire and taint a Director’s name and image

For a while it seemed as if every single horror film had action mogul Michael Bay behind it. I mean, he’s “okay,” Bad Boys II and The Rock were genius, though I can live with just one Transformers movie. Bay is a good action director, but his production choices in Horror have been the biggest piles that I’ve seen as a viewer. He butchered Friday the 13th, massacred Texas Chainsaw: The Beginning, and he shot The Amityville Horror in the head. Since then, I’ve pretty much groaned whenever I’ve heard the name Michael Bay mentioned in any sentence involving movies. Had he stepped back and just stuck to his own films during those horror years, maybe his name wouldn’t have the sour taste that it does today, minus Pain and Gain.

There are several directors not mentioned in this article and I know I just skimmed the surface, but these are just some of the reasons that I found to both like and dislike the production efforts of popular directors.

For more Horror information be sure to visit livinginthedarkness.com.

Writer's Block Trilogy: The Possession

Gregory Stillingsworth, a world-renowned horror writer, an author who has already surpassed the greats, was destined to reach the top, surpassing Koontz, King, etc. Or was he? Was he destined; instead, to live the life carved for him by his cursed forebears?

Instinctively, it has always been Gregory’s custom to write his books one after another. His wife, Jamie, who serves as his lawyer, critic, and business partner, gave up convincing him to slow down so to focus on starting a family. Gregory, though, is relentless in nourishing his career; that is until for the first time, he runs out of words, sending him into an uncontrollable rage that even his wife cannot comprehend. Is this unexpected rage an extreme reaction to the stresses of writer’s block? Or is it the unveiling of his true role among us, a scribe born into this world only to write of the coming Armageddon?

Gregory, in fact, teeters on the edge of a convoluted path that dangerously nears fruition as with the planned discovery of an unlikely malevolently muse, who happens to guide his lore, dictates his every move.   

HIS MALEVOLENT MUSE . . .

Back in its beginning, the entity that now resided within the beauty of an antique doll had predicted it needed a long-lasting fit for its existence. Call it vanity, if you will, but this thing, this creature, had reached from the dark ages – the time of its birth within the doll – into the future, where it had gathered from the modern world an image fitting of royalty.

Although dolls representing humans have not yet been discovered at prehistoric sites, they were, quite possibly, the earliest of mankind’s playthings. Dolls delighted adults, but they served primarily as the ominous, mysteriously mute, and sometimes gentle presence through which children projected their fantasies and fears. Though none can fathom the motivation behind their creations, dolls have carried more fear throughout the ages than fantasies. The phenomenon can be compared to a caveman looking at his image in a mirror for the first time, then recoiling with enraged violence. Mirrors are a common necessity for modern-day man; but then again, man has been conditioned to this form of magic.

The most poignant evidence of the timeless love children have for their dolls is the preserved body of a little girl found at Herculaneum, the ancient Roman city buried along with Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Excavators discovered the child still clutching her doll.

Most ancient Egyptian dolls that have survived were found nestled within the tombs of their young owners, little ones who clutched the miniature human figures as if they were the key to survival within the afterlife. Paddle-shaped dolls, discovered in tombs dating from 2000 B.C., were made of wood with hair fashioned from strands of clay beads, affixed to the heads with wax. Many were sadistic in appearance, thought to have clung onto the children they possessed in life.

Other Egyptian dolls had linen bodies with embroidered faces and thread or human hair. Ancient Greek and Roman dolls are documented to have been made of such materials as human and animal bone, ivory, wood, wax, terracotta, and lead. They were commonly sold in marketplaces and by itinerant merchants.

Unlike the priests of ancient Egypt, the Catholic Church frowned upon the practice of burying children with their toys, so very few dolls from the Middle Ages have been preserved in tombs.

Some dolls, ranging from charred sticks wrapped in rags to exquisitely carved miniature sculptures, had been used for hexing or for killing over the years. They served as a ritualistic medium for the conjuring or for the healing by ancient witch doctors.

One particular doll, affectionately referred to as Christie, had a life-like image. Her glass eyes contained a beautiful blend of brown, green, and blue. Close up, the colors could be seen spinning and blending, giving her eyes a sheer, unique pulchritude in which one could get lost. Her flawless, creamy tanned skin had the feel and texture of a warm newborn baby after a bath.

Christie needed no introduction, for anyone who gazed upon her found her completely irresistible. Her beauty made everyone adore her. She connected herself to those whom she possessed, holding on, manipulating, as if she were playing an unorthodox, medieval game of chess . . . sacrificing her pawn at will.

When Christie possessed someone, she intertwined herself to that person’s deep-rooted thoughts, aggravations, and fears, thus making it easier for her to dictate the providence of the souls needed for her survival. She had lived for millennia, feeding off her possessed. Wars had been fought, kingdoms had fallen, and blood had been spilled due to her manipulation, her want, and her evil.

Christie’s history dated back to the 1300s in the small town of Berkshire, England.

THE OMINOUS CONNECTION . . .

The world in which we live is an unusual cartography shaping and molding our existence. It acts as a caveat, and this phenomenon walks with us like a silent entity inhabiting the cerebral, influencing one’s every thought.

Little do we know that from the highest peak, all resemble carrion … and as bright as the sun and as luminous as the moon, angels cascade with blood--tipped swords in their hands? They boast white cashmere wings, body armor of gold, silver, and bronze, and the engraved pictorial of Jesus Christ displayed prominently on their chests. From the earth’s floor, black--armored, pitchfork--bearing, black--winged Warriors of Legion await the battle. Neither side’s soldiers hold fear in their eyes.

This confrontation is called the War of the Angels and relates directly to all the ups and downs of the human race … all the pain, heartache, and senseless death.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936085712

GET TO KNOW AUTHOR A.K. KUYKENDALL BY CHECKING OUT THE NEW INTERVIEW BETWEEN HE AND HIS PUBLISHER. SEE WHAT MAKES HIM TICK, WHAT DRIVES HIS PASSION FOR LITERATURE, AND WHAT INSPIRED THE NOVEL WRITER’S BLOCK: THE POSSESSION 

http://blog.decenthill.com/a-conversation-with-a-k-kuykendall-author-of-writers-block-the-possession/

Article by: A.K. Kuykendall

**“The opinions in the article are those of the writer and not necessarily PromoteHorror.com.”