Horror Movies That Influence Me As a Writer

As a writer of horror stories and connoisseur of scary flicks, I get asked a lot what my favorite horror movies are. Well, it's not that simple with me (it never is; ask my wife and kids). There are so many and how can one possibly pick a favorite when there are favorites in so many subgenres? (It's like how my wife tells me she can have more than one best friend when "best" is a superlative, not a comparative.) 

Anyway, as of this moment in time (subject to change), this is my list of favorite horror movies (and those that influenced my ideas and my writing) categorized by subgenre. 

If you want to consider this your own "to watch" list, I won't stop you. It's a fantastic list (at least in my opinion) of the essential horror stories committed to film. 

FYI, you will notice some crossover between subgenres, because, well, that's just the way horror works. 

Ghost Stories

For me, ghost stories are my favorite genre of horror tales, and whether they're about a haunted person, house, or even plot of land, I'm all in. 

1. The Orphanage

2. The Devil's Backbone

3. The Haunting (1953)

4. Thir13en Ghosts

5. The Others

6. Ju-on

7. The Ring (US version) 

8. The Innocents

9. In a Dark Place

10. The Sixth Sense 

11. The Shining

12. Session 9

13. The Terror

14. Kwaidan

15. The Babadook

16. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

17. Dark Water (original) 

18. Crimson Peak

19. Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman

20. The Changeling

The Living Dead

I'm really burned out lately on zombies, and I'm really tired of the "zombies as the apocalypse" theme. I love, however, to see directors and screenwriters do something new and different with the living dead, which for me also includes mummies and ghouls returned from the grave. 

1. Dead Girl

2. Night of the Living Dead

3. Carnival of Souls

4. The Fog (original) 

5. Tombs of the Blind Dead

6. Make Out With Violence

7. 28 Days Later

8. Dawn of the Dead

9. The Re-Animator

10. Zombi 2

11. Dead Snow

12. Brain Dead

13. Dance of the Dead (2008)

14. Return of the Living Dead

15. Day of the Dead

16. Candyman

17. Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night 2

18. The Ghost Galleon

19. Night of the Seagulls

20. Blood from the Mummy's Tomb

Dr. Frankenstein/The Monster

The scientist who wants to play god is another of my favorite genres in horror, but not just that. This type of film also includes for me those who can't accept the "wrong" parts of people and want to create a sort of perfect version, even in non-science-y ways. 

1. Deadly Friend

2. Bride of Frankenstein

3. The Bride

4. Frankenstein

5. Frankenstein Created Woman

6. May

7. Lady Frankenstein

8. Splice

9. Embryo

10. Demon Seed

11. Halloween III: Season of the Witch

12. Depraved

13. The Spirit of the Beehive

14. The Curse of Frankenstein

15. Ex Machina

16. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman

17. The Island of Dr. Moreau

18. The Golem

19. Tusk

20. Island of Lost Souls

Vampires

Vampires. The original bad boys long before they ever sparkled. Let's just get this straight. I don't mind modern romantic vamps, but I prefer even my romantic vamps to enjoy a good rip of the jugular every now and then. 

1. From Dusk Till Dawn

2. Forsaken

3. Dracula (Spanish Version)

4. Let the Right One In

5. Night Watch

6. Chronos

7. Shadow of the Vampire

8. Nosferatu

9. Prey

10. Salem's Lot (original TV miniseries)

11. Near Dark

12. Dracula

13. Lost Boys

14. Fright Night

15. 30 Days of Night

16. Strigoi

17. The Night Stalker

18. Embrace of the Vampire

19. Taste the Blood of Dracula

20. The Brides of Dracula

Werewolves and Shapeshifters

Lycanthropes may be the A-listers in the shapeshifter crowd, but the world of therianthrope isn't limited to just wolves. I think for writers, the shapeshifters offer one of the best shorthand for looking into what makes humanity actually human, whether, wolf or cat or snake or lizard.

1. Cat People (original)

2. Howling

3. Howling V: The Rebirth

4. An American Werewolf in London

5. The Wolfman (original)

6. The Reptile

7. The Gorgon

8. Cursed

9. Cat People (remake)

10. Dog Soldiers

11. Silver Bullet

12. Blood and Chocolate

13. Underworld

14. The Wolfman (remake) 

15. The Curse of the Werewolf

16. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman

17. Ginger Snaps

18. Ginger Snaps Back

19. Skinwalkers

20. Night of the Cobra Woman

Demons

There are as many cultures of demons in the world as they're are countries and cultures of people. Although movies tend to default to the Western devil and demons, I wanted to include a few other brands of the demonic here as well. 

1. Wishmaster

2. Sinister

3. The Beyond

4. The Exorcist

5. Lisa and the Devil

6. Rosemary's Baby

7. Drag Me To Hell

8. Jennifer's Body

9. The Evil Dead

10. Hellraiser

11. Demons

12. Night of the Demons

13. The Garden (2006)

14. Insidious

15. The Exorcism of Emily Rose

16. The Last Exorcism

17. Nightmare on Elm Street

18. Antrum

19. Prince of Darkness

20. Hereditary

"Witches"/Cultists

Yeah, I know there's a huge different between horror movie witches, Wiccans, and nature worshippers, but for this list it if fits in any of those it works. 

1. Suspiria

2. Black Sunday

3. City of the Dead (Horror Hotel)

4. The Dunwich Horror

5. The Wicker Man

6. The VVitch

7. The Babysitter

8. Midsommar

9. House of the Devil 

10. Witching and Bitching

11. Season of the Witch

12. The Virgin Witch

13. The Love Witch

14. Inferno

15. Mother of Tears

16. Rosemary's Baby

17. Blood on Satan's Claw

18. Witchouse

19. The Lords of Salem

20. The Autopsy of John Doe

Slashers

It's the genre that will never take a break, must less die. Knives, axes, machetes, pointy sticks, bows and arrows, you name it, these folks use any tools at their disposal to dispose of their victims for revenge or no motive at all. And we still love to watch them. 

1. Twitch of the Death Nerve (Bay of Blood)

2. Peeping Tom

3. The Burning

4. Halloween

5. Sleepaway Camp

6. Friday the 13th Part II

7. Dementia 13

8. Hatchet

9. Audition

10. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

11. Stage Fright (2014)

12. Last House on the Left (original)

13. I Spit on Your Grave (original)

14. Theatre of Blood

15. The Visit

16. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

17. Martyrs

18. Final Girls

19. The Banana Splits Movie

20. Happy Birthday to Me

Creature Features

For my list, I'm separating supernatural and mutated creatures from the "Nature Gone Wild" critters. These monsters should be way about sharks and bears on the scary-ometer. And they are. The thing I love about this genre is that often the critters are more sympathetic than their prey. 

1. Pumpkinhead

2. Gojira

3. She Creature

4. Pan's Labyrinth

5. The Creature from the Black Lagoon

6. Silent Hill

7. Dagon

8. Feast

9. Troll Hunter

10. Humanoids from the Deep

11. Tremors

12. Nightbreed

13. The Mist

14. Digging Up the Marrow

15. The Host

16. The Bay

17. Jeepers Creepers

18. Tremors III

19. The Golem

20. Cellar Dweller

Nature's Monsters

You'll never go back into the water. You'll never venture alone in the woods. You won't piss off earthworms or birds anymore either. 

1. Jaws

2. Cujo

3. The Birds

4. Eight-Legged Freaks

5. Piranha (original)

6. Chaws

7. Deep Blue Sea

8. King Kong

9. Orca

10. Squirm

11. Willard

12. Empire of the Ants 

13. Marabunta

14. Sssssss

15. Them!

16. Grizzly

17. Food of the Gods

18. Anaconda

19. Snakes on a Plane

20. Link

Aliens

At some point, sci-fi aliens shifted from adventure to horror, and I love it. Who says first contact should be with something we can categorize and tame? Certainly not these otherworldly killer critters?

1. Alien

2. Slither

3. A Quiet Place

4. John Carpenter's The Thing

5. The Blob (remake) 

6. Species

7. Virus

8. Night of the Creeps

9. Bad Taste

10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (remake) 

11. Phantasm

12. Pitch Black

13. Day of the Triffids

14. Planet of the Vampires

15. Galaxy of Terror

16. Dead Space: Downfall

17. Under the Skin

18. Killer Klowns from Outer Space

19. Ghosts of Mars

20. The Color Out of Space

Psychos

There's often a lot of crossover between psychos and slashers, but a true psycho is out of his/her/their mind. They over have little to no rationale for their killings, and or if they do, it's because of a break from sanity. They take the murderous urge above and beyond the average.

1. Nightmare in the Wax Museum

2. House of 1000 Corpses

3. Psycho

4. Misery

5. The People Under the Stairs

6. Pieces

7. The Devil's Rejects

8. The Boy

9. 2000 Maniacs

10. Eaten Alive

11. Saw

12. Don't Breathe

13. The Collector

14. Dressed to Kill (and yes, there are problematic issues that don't translate well to today)

15. Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator

16. Christine

17. 31

18. The Devil's Rejects

19. Fade to Black

20. The Pit and the Pendulum

Creepy Kids

Creepy kids have to be the absolutely creepiest movie "monsters." But it's so easy to overdo them and turn a flick into a farce. There's a very fine line that must be walked for the story to avoid the "cornfield" motif from Twilight Zone. 

1. Orphan

2. The Omen

3. Children of the Corn

4. Cooties

5. The Children (1980)

6. Hard Candy

7. Village of the Damned

8. The Bad Seed (1956)

9. You'd Better Watch Out

10. Wicked Little Things

11. Who Can Kill a Child

12. Alice, Sweet Alice

13. The Brood

14. Goodnight Mommy

15. Them (2006)

16. The Children (2006)

17. Kill, Baby, Kill

18. Case 39

19. Spider Baby 

20. Pet Semetary

Holiday Horror

I love just about any horror flick that attached to a holiday. They can be so much fun, and typically they don't take themselves too seriously. Some though can be super creepy and terrifying, in spite of the holiday trappings (or often because of them). 

1. Black Christmas (original)

2. Halloween

3. Rare Exports

4. Santa's Slay

5. Saint

6. Gremlins

7. April Fool's Day

8. My Bloody Valentine (original) 

9. Anna and the Apocalypse

10. Trick or Treat

11. Satan's Little Helper

12. A Christmas Horror Story

13. Wind Chill

14. Dead End

15. Santa Jaws

16. Letters to Satan Claus

17. Holidays

18. Krampus

19. Terror Train

20. Midsommar

Anthologies

Okay. A lot of anthologies kind of suck. Maybe one good segment in a bucket filled with crap. But a few, a select few, get it right. Maybe by theming with a good theme. Maybe by lining up great writers and/or directors. Or just maybe by getting lucky. 

1. Trilogy of Terror

2. Trilogy of Terror II

3. Tales from the Crypt

4. From a Whisper to a Scream

5. V/H/S

6. Creepshow

7. The House that Dripped Blood

8. Asylum

9. Southbound

10. The Field Guide to Evil

11. Trick 'r Treat

12. Creepshow 2

13. A Christmas Horror Story

14. V/H/S II

15. Dr. Terror's House of Horrors

16. Tales from the Hood

17. XX

18. The Uncanny

19. Cat's Eye

20. Ghost Stories

Creepy Comedy

There's a big difference to me between a comedy movie that adds tropes from horror and a horror flick that paces and dresses like a comedy during its run time. I tend to like them both. But the best is the kind that integrates both genres almost seamlessly. 

1. Bubba Ho-Tep

2. Shaun of the Dead

3. House (with William Katt)

4. Monster Squad

5. Black Sheep

6. Fido

7. The Cottage

8. Trailer Park of Terror

9. Doghouse

10. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

11. Love at First Bite

12. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie, not series)

13. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

14. Grabbers

15. Zombieland

16. Evil Dead II

17. Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy

18. Psycho Goreman

19. Young Frankenstein

20. Zombie Strippers

Giallo Horror

When Noir abandons black and white, it found the world of four-color gore and violence. This is one of my favorite genres to watch. I love the everyman aspect, caught up in a dangerous crime spree or mystery. And I love the way this type of film skirts the edges of horror tales and mystery stories. 

1. Don't Torture a Duckling

2. Deep Red

3. Blood and Black Lace

4. Hatchet for the Honeymoon

5. Bird with the Crystal Plumage

6. Tenebre

7. The Case of the Bloody Iris

8. Cat O' Nine Tails

9. Kill, Baby, Kill

10. Four Flies on Velvet

11. Night of the Glass Dolls

12. The Red Queen Kills Seven Times

13. Black Belly of the Tarantula

14. Unsane

15. A Blade in the Dark

16. Whatever Happened to Solange?

17. Don't Look Now

18. Stage Fright 

19. Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key

20. The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Body Horror

This one can be a tough genre to watch. It tends to revel in its super-gross-out ideas and images. It can be sickening down to its core concept (I'm looking at you Centipede). But when maintaining a fantastic story to accompany that imagery, they can be the most memorable stories around.

1. Videodrome

2. Blue My Mind

3. Dr. Jeckyll and Sister Hyde

4. Altered States

5. Shivers

6. The Human Centipede II

7. The Fly

8. Teeth

9. Spring

10. Thale

11. Tetsuo the Iron Man

12. Society

13. The Fly (Jeff Goldblum)

14. Bug

15. Splinter

16. Dead Ringers

17. American Mary

18. Eraserhead

19. The Skin I Live In

20. Tusks

 

Voodoo

Voodoo is a mixed bag in horror. Some films treat it as a bogeyman and make up stuff left and right to give it more horror gravitas while some evil cast it as the "white man's fears of others" -- some select few at least try to treat it fairly as a religion. But whatever the bag it's put in, it's still the home of the original zombies. 

1. White Zombie

2. The Serpent and the Rainbow

3. Scream Blacula Scream

4. Venom

5. Eve's Bayou

6. Sugar Hill

7. The Skeleton Key

8. Ritual

9. Jessabelle

10. I Walked with a Zombie

11. The Plauge of the Zombies

12. Black Mamba

13. The Curse of the Doll People

14. I Eat Your Skin

15. Ouanga

Gateway Horror for Kids

Even as a kid, I loved being scared by movies. Without these horror-themed entry-level flicks, where would kids like me have ended up? Some were designed to be horror-lite, but some just took elements of horror and wove them in to build in the creepy factor. Either way, they were my gateway drug as a kid. 

1. Coraline

2. Corpse Bride

3. Monster Squad

4. Goosebumps (the movie) 

5. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

6. The Gate

7. Willy Wonka

8. Monster House

9. The Watcher in the Woods

10. ParaNorman

11. Hocus Pocus

12. Little Monsters

13. Gremlins

14. The Lady in White

15. The Witches

Super Powers Gone Crazy

As a writer of superhero fiction, I love it when horror and superpowers mix. Call me a cynic, but I think if we have powers like that in the real world, they would more often lend themselves to moments of real horror more than boy scouts saving folks from falling buildings. 

1. Phenomena

2. Carrie

3. The Fury

4. Firestarter

5. Brightburn

6. The Crow

7. New Mutants

8. Split

9. Scanners

10. Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Warriors

11. Akira

12. Dead Zone

13. Chronicle

14. Blade

15. Tourist Trap

Creepy Dolls

On the creepy scale, does anything rate higher than creepy dolls? I mean, really? (Okay, maybe clowns, but even that would be too close to call without a photo finish.) What is it about things that are almost lifelike that scares us so? Especially things that are inanimate. It there something in them that reflects something we don't want to face back at us?

1. Dolls

2. Puppet Master

3. The Boy

4. Dead Silence

5. Love Object

6. Magic

7. Dolly Dearest

8. Marronnier

9. Worry Dolls

10. Tourist Trap 

11. Annabelle

12. Devil Doll

13. Bride of Chucky

14. Trilogy of Terror

15. The Devil's Machine

Stupid Shark Movies

I'll admit it. I love shark movies, both the genuinely awesome, scary ones that make me look twice at the ocean before entering the water at the beach AND the ones that are so stupid, so ridiculous that I simply laugh all the way through at the zany situations they create on celluloid. In fact, sometimes I prefer the really goofy ones, and the dumber the better. 

1. Sharktopus

2. Sharknado

3. Santa Jaws

4. Sand Sharks

5. Ice Sharks

6. Ghost Shark

7. Two-Headed Shark Attack

8. Empire of the Sharks

9. Sharknado III

10. Planet of the Sharks

11. Trailer Park Shark

12. Jurassic Shark

13. Ouija Shark

14. Toxic Shark

15. Malibu Shark Attack

Torture Porn

Not a fan or the subgenre, but the first Saw and the first Hostel, like the original found footage cannibal films, were groundbreaking horror flicks. Seems like the films they inspired were just insipid and uninspired derivatives. 

1. Saw

2. Hostel

3. Cannibal Holocaust

4. Martyrs

Truly Weird/Genre Defying/Outliers

This last list is for my absolute favorite of horror flicks, the kinds that don't fit neatly, or often at all, into easily definable categories. This is the place where the truly gifted or the truly insane come to play. It's the kitchen where writers and directors operate with a blender and a spray nozzle more than with a paintbrush or a list of classic techniques and storylines. And it's were the best of the best in horror can usually be found (at least in my opinion). 

1. House (Hausu)

2. Usumaki

3. Lake Mungo

4. Rubber

5. Dave Made a Maze

6. The Lift

7. In the Mouth of Madness

8. Lord of Illusions

9. From Beyond

10. Chopping Mall

11. Cabin in the Woods

12. The Woman

13. Jacob's Ladder

14. Freaks

15. Donny Darko

16. Us

17. Waxworks

18. The Deaths of Ian Stone

19. Irreversible

20. It Follows

21. Frontier(s)

22. The Broken

23. The Baby

24. Scare Me

25. Santa Sangre 

Motivational Monday -- Im/Possible

 

Pulp for Modern Audiences

The Panel Room 72 is a look at modern pulp in books, TV and film with James P. Nettles (jamepnettles.com), James Palmer (jamespalmerbooks.net), Glenn Parris (glennparris.com), Sean Taylor (thetaylorverse.com), and host Jason Tongier (jasontongier.com). How do we define pulp now vs classic pulp, how is the genre changing and adapting for modern audiences, and how to get into the business!

#ConTinual #ThePanelRoom #Pulp #Writing #WritingFiction #WritingTips #Marvel

https://www.facebook.com/james.nettles/videos/347557920140210

[Link] When Characters Won't Leave

by Bobby Nash

Don’t you just hate it when guests don’t know when to leave?

I’ve had this same issue crop up with characters before and why not, eh? I mean, when I create and write characters, they become real to me. Sometimes too real. Eventually, they stop listening to me until finally, they start telling me what they’re going to do.

As a writer, this is a great thing.

It’s also a pain in the butt.

When my characters become real, they have character traits, foibles, and personalities just like real people. At the best of times, those character traits will elevate the story and gives those characters that added oomph! (that’s a technical term) that helps the reader connect to them. Have you ever fallen in love with a fictional character? I know I have. This is why.

Way back in the previous century, sometime in the late 1990’s, I was writing what would become my first published novel. It was called Evil Ways (Shameless plug #1: you can still find Evil Ways at your favorite on-line retailer). Evil Ways is a mix of thriller, mystery, and horror. I once described the book as “imagine if Die Hard’s John McClane found himself in a horror movie setting.” Sounds fun, right?

Evil Ways stars FBI Agent Harold Palmer and his brother, small-town newspaper reporter/owner Franklin Palmer (Shameless plug #2: Evil Intent is coming in 2021. It is also currently being released as a serialized novel at www.patreon.com/bobbynash). The brothers are on the trail of a killer while reconnected after many years apart.

As a newbie novelist (I had already been published with comic books and short stories), I set about creating a fictional town and county called Sommersville, Georgia (before I realized there was a real Summerville, Georgia. Oops!). The action took place in this fictional county. I needed a local cop to interact with the Palmer brothers and that was the first time I met Sommersville Sheriff Tom Myers and his deputies, Benjamin Dooley and Christopher Jackson. They were important to the story, but were not the main characters. As luck would have it, they all survived the novel, although not unscathed as I had put them through the wringer.

In all honesty, I never planned to write these characters or fictional county again.

What did I know, huh?

Read the full article: https://bobby-nash-news.blogspot.com/2020/12/when-characters-wont-leave.html

AUTHOR E.W. FARNSWORTH RETURNS TO LIVING AND DYING IN THE WEST-DESERT SUN RED BLOOD II’ NOW AVAILABLE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Words mean nothing in a land where bullets fly and red blood flows. And even bullets don’t kill like the red sun does. Author E. W. Farnsworth returns to the wild west with his latest story collection from Pro Se Press -- DESERT SUN RED BLOOD II, available now in print and digital formats.

Ben Dauber continues to fight his way through the west as a reporter, taking on injustice and evil from all sides. The sinister machinations of the railroad combine, Dauber finds, extend to the highest levels of American government. Fortunately, Naud Dauber, Ben’s wealthy mother, can help when powerful figures try to silence the young reporter on the fast track to modernize the frontier press. Gunfights, fisticuffs, ambushes, bushwhacks, skirmishes and intrigue erupt on both sides of the Indian Wars. Action rides hard from Mexico to the Rocky Mountains across the west in Desert Sun, Red Blood Volume Two by author E. W. Farnsworth. From Pro Se Productions.

Featuring a fantastic cover, cover design and print formatting by Antonino lo Iacono and Marzia Marina, DESERT SUN RED BLOOD II is available in print for $12.99.

The second book in this western series is also available on Kindle formatted by Iacono and Marina for $2.99. Kindle Unlimited Members can read Farnsworth’s latest stories for free!

For more information on this title, interviews with the author, or digital copies for review, email editorinchief@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

Ricky Ruszin: People Are the Real Monsters

During the day Ricky Ruszin is an elementary school educator. At night he's a writer. Kind of like Batman, except he doesn’t fight crime. 

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

My upcoming book Showtime is a suspense thriller about a college student who learns that his grandparents’ television allows him to travel to the past. Once he makes that discovery, he uses it to travel back in time to try and stop the perpetrator of the talent show massacre that claimed his grandmother's life. So, you know, it’s a real feel-good story.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?

I went to a career advisor and said, “What career can I try that’s incredibly difficult, solitary, and leaves my financial future uncertain?” And voila! I became a writer.

Kidding.

I started writing fiction in high school and later focused on it in college where I earned my BA in English Language and Literature. I wrote my first novel that summer, teaching myself as I went, and have been writing since.

What inspires you to write?

All types of storytelling. Movies, TV, books. Any time a story is being told well, it starts the creative juices flowing and amplifies my own desire to write and create.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of people being the real monsters. Ghosts and demons and zombies make good antagonists and are scary in their own right, but there’s something extra creepy and unsettling about the idea of someone who can put on a pleasant, charming face for people they know, and swap it out for a deviant, malevolent one when they’re alone. The duality of that is pretty chilling. It’s something that tends to find its way into my writing a lot.

Showtime especially deals with the idea of how the past—through thoughts, experiences, and conflicts—can cause horrors in the present. If people did a better job at communicating with each other in the real world, so much unnecessary conflict and horror could be avoided. Unfortunately, my characters tend not to realize that until it’s too late.

What would be your dream project?

It doesn’t take much! Anytime someone is offering to pay me for something I’ve written, that’s enough for me. But I do think it would be fun to write for TV. I chatted with Dennis Lehane a few years ago when he was part of the writers’ room for the adaptation of Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes, and it seemed like it’s a grind but an enjoyable process. Gillian Flynn has also done pretty well making the jump from author to screenwriter so it seems like a natural progression.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

As a kid, I used to hate reading until I found books that interested me. I clearly remember asking the elementary school librarian, “Do you have any Stephen King?” (Spoiler alert: she did not), and have been reading him since, so he has been a large presence in my literary life. He taught me how to create three-dimensional characters and that the best, most interesting ones are often the messiest. People in real life aren’t perfect, so why should your characters be? Perfect is boring…and unattainable. Characters need to act and sound like real people or it’s not going to ring true to the reader. You could have the most ingenious plot but if your readers don't care about the characters involved, it doesn't matter.

Michael Koryta does a killer job writing books with kick-ass characterization and plots that keep you turning the pages. He’s a writer who doesn't waste his words. Each sentence has a clear purpose, the prose is tight, and everything in the book needs to be there, so his writing is a great reminder to write with purpose and start reeling things in if the thread starts rolling away from you.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

I wrote my first novel during the summer after college graduation. It's called Dark Chambers and is about a series of disappearances in a small town inspired by my hometown of Dundalk, Maryland. It got some good feedback from agents but the consensus seemed to be that the villain’s involvement and motivation could’ve been stronger. Looking back, I can't disagree. I know what I want to do with it do deepen it and make the reveals and villain more robust, so I'm hoping to revisit it one day.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

Writing is as much art as painting or sculpture. It takes time, practice, skill, and you’ve got to put in the work if you want to get anything out of it. There’s plenty of creativity involved in crafting plot, developing characters, and maintaining suspense, but then there’s also the technical side that’s just as important—structuring on a macro and micro level, making sure everything flows, and crispness of prose. If you don’t do it right, the book’s not going to land as well. So I’d say that writing is both art and science—the novel skeleton is the science, and how you fill it out is the art. You can’t have one without the other.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Sometimes I’ll reach a crucial part in a manuscript where a Big Decision has to be made on my part. For example, is a character going to live or die? How is the rest of the story going to be affected if they die midway through instead of at the end? I can usually see how both would work towards the story, but choosing which path to go down and committing to it can be intimidating since there are dozens of different directions the plot can branch off into with each minute change.

On a macro level, it's always a bit nerve-wracking when embarking on a new project, thinking, “Can I really do this again?” So when you get in the groove and realize that what you’re writing isn’t completely horrible (and that you're actually going to finish it), that's always pleasant.

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?

Writer friends and acquaintances are great to have because they’re the only people who are really going to understand the writing process—the joy, the frustrations, all of it. I think there’s a common guilty thought among writers that you have to write every day for a certain amount of time to prove to yourself that you deserve to be successful. Every writer works at a different pace, has different goals and different things going on at home. No one is the same. So talking to other writer friends and having that sense of camaraderie and understanding definitely helps to build you up and motivate you and let you off the hook on those days when you’re not feeling particularly productive.

What does literary success look like to you?

I don't think you need to be a New York Times bestseller to be successful. If I’m able to make a living solely from writing, that’s enough for me. On the other hand, when you have a reader who tells you that you made them think or feel something with your words, I'd call that a success for sure.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

The next book is done and ready to go. It's called Monsters and is absolutely the most horror-centric thing I've written. It's about a first-grade teacher who witnesses the death of her student and is convinced she's being harassed by the dead student's mother... until she starts to see a tall, horned figure in her bedroom. As you can imagine, things go downhill pretty quickly, and Terra starts to question her own sanity as she’s forced to reconcile the horrors she sees while knowing that they can’t possibly be real…or can they?

After that, I've got the next two books planned out so I've got enough work for the next few years to keep me busy!

You and pre-order Showtime here: https://www.inkshares.com/books/showtime

Movie Reviews for Writers: Valerie on the Stairs

 

Admittedly, Valerie on the Stairs isn't quite a full movie, but one of the many long-form episodes of the Masters of Horror anthology show. But let's ignore that because this is (in spite of the negative reviews all over the internet) a fun little flick with a fantastic cast and credentials. Based on a story by Clive Barker, it features Clare Grant, Christopher Lloyd, and Tony Todd.

What is real? And its companion question: What is fiction? are common themes in movies from Matrix to Cool World. And here both questions are taken to the farthest logical ends. But I'll stop that line of thought to avoid spoilers.

Valorie on the Stairs begins like so many writers' stories, with rejection. Stacks of letters saying the proverbial thanks but no thanks. Robert knows what it's like to be a storyteller without an audience, a preborn, perhaps unborn, creative with something personal to offer to the world. So, to hone his craft and become a published writer (i.e., successful) he moves into Highberger House, an enclave for unpublished writers to help them have a quiet place to work. 

Now, as he begins to see visions of a beautiful girl on the stairs, he works up the nerve to ask a fellow member of the house, "Is this place haunted?" After a smirk and a laugh, the neighbor responds, "Only by the specter of failure."

It's a danger we all fall prey to too easily at times. See enough rejections, and failure becomes not a temporary place we're moving through, but a character trait we wonder if we've caught like a disease.

One of the exchanges I really love from this movie is the following:

"Weird fucking people. We're writers. It's not like you're seeing ghosts."

But as writers, we are, aren't we? We're always seeing and hearing ghosts. Of course, granted, they're not actually spirits of the dead but the people, the words, the action in our work that is always floating around our brains. 

Those are our ghosts. And our only recourse is to write them away. How often have you not been able to sleep at night simply because there is a scene or snippet or bit of dialog you have to write down before your mind will let you relax and sleep?

In many ways, our stories own us, not the other way around. They have the power to control our lives simply by existing in our imaginations. 

Like Rob, we write to know we are real, that we exist. We write, as I said in a previous review, what we are looking for within. Rob Hanisey wants love. It's why he dreams of a lost romance. It's why he is drawn to Valerie and is willing to risk everything to save her. It's why he writes that love is a claw. It's all he knows of love. 

I have a friend who is a fantastic example of this. He believed that he had experienced and lost his "one great love," and because of that, the idea of that one great love that transcends time and space and dimensions filtered its way into his work -- and I mean a lot of his work. His fantasy book was all about the man who ventures through hell to save the girl who was that love. His short stories often talked about loves separated across time. He was obsessed with the one great love, and it showed in his work. As he got older and his life experiences took him beyond that, his work started to reflect his new needs and obsessions. It's only natural. 

And those characters are what they are as they are birthed from our mysteries. For example, is Valerie good? Is she evil? Is she a captive? Is she complicit? She simply is as she is written. 

In spite of how the stories can affect reality, in spite of how the stories reveal our needs and wants, in spite of how the stories make us feel like either failures or successes, we are the drivers who chart the path. We are the painters who decide the colors and the emotions in the work. We are the architects who put the Valeries in the walls and on the stairs. That's all our doing as writers. 

10 Comic Books by Women You Really, Really Need to Read!

Fantastic creator-owned or non-mainstream comic books written by women who aren't Gail Simone (not that there's anything wrong with Gail, but she'd be the first to tell you she's far from the only mondo-talented woman in comic books). These are books from a few years ago and books from now, and books from even more than a few years ago still worth reading...

The Book of Mer -- Afua Richardson

Simply, breathtakingly beautiful book. Perhaps one of the finest comics artists working today. Afua has done beautiful work for others, and it's a joy to see her telling her original mermaid story here. 

Monstress -- Marjorie Liu

Another epic tale of looking past the surface of situations and people. This dark fantasy is full of longing and wonder. 

Pretty Deadly -- Kelly Sue DeConnick

Cerebral, oddball fantasy that really crosses a lot of genres. It's a sci-fi, western, fantasy, dystopian, utopian nightmare as only Kelly Sue can create it.

Grindhouse/Grindhouse Drive-In, Bleed Out -- Alex De Campi

Perhaps the best anthology to come out since the old Witching Hour and House of Secrets/Mysteries books. A little bit of many genres cover covered, from horror to sci-fi to exploitation to you name it, and all with the best kind of drive-in style.

Go-Girl -- Trina Robbins

People who said there weren't any fun, awesome books for girls must have never seen this phenomenal book. She flies, that's it, but it's also a story about kids and parents, generational issues, fun adventures, and super cute art. 

Peepland -- Christa Faust

Perhaps her only bio says it best, "A Veronica in a world of Bettys." And it shows. Any work Christa touches feels the special kind of grimy only she can deliver. But it's totally the best kind of grimy. 

Lady Killer -- Joëlle Jones

This is the pulpy masterpiece I wish I had written. Housewife by day, assassin by night. She can bring home the bacon and kill her prey with a pan. The weaker sex?! I don't think so. 

Relative Heroes -- Devon Grayson

Fun, super-hero action that really deserved broader attention. Grayson's super-powered family of adolescents tours the DC Universe and learns to get along with each other, It's the super hero version of "ohana means family."

Cairo -- G. Willow Wilson

Writing a book this good is how you land sweet Ms. Marvel and Wonder Woman gigs. Breathtaking story. Beautiful art. Literature told in pictures. One of the best graphics to come out in years. 

Elfquest -- Wendy Pini

The original and still the highpoint for classic fantasy comic books. I originally didn't include this on the list because I figured it was already so well known. 

Motivational Monday -- 10 Deep Dives to Understand Your Characters Better

Alfred Hitchcock on Dead Bodies

 

[Link] THE LIES BEHIND PRODUCTIVITY

by Andrea Judy

Sharing time! I'm obsessed with productivity tips and blogs. Articles like '7 Habits Only Happy People Have' and '12 Ways You Waste Time Every Day' devour my morning and leave me feeling productive even when I have literally just spent 3 hours on LifeHacker and have nothing to show for it but chapped lips, dry eyes and a lingering sense of guilt. 

While I love reading about these tips, it's just because it feels productive without me having to actually do anything hard. Reading an article? Psssha, that's easy work and a total time waster, but this article will teach me how to optimize my morning so I get everything done and become a productivity ninja! 

That's not to say that these articles don't share good advice or fun tidbits of information that make you feel great about yourself. (I mean, did you know that millionaires tend to smile a lot. I smile a lot, I'm totally on the way to being a millionaire since we have so much in common.) However, at some point it's time to stop with the fun articles and buckle up for a ride. 

Read the full article: http://www.judyblackcloud.com/blog/2017/3/13/the-lies-behind-productivity

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS WU-DANG : RETURN OF THE WANDERER

For Immediate Release

Airship 27 Productions is thrilled to announce the release of the third in Barbara Doran’s amazing fantasy adventure tales of the wandering Chinese prince, Lang Yixao.

A Daoist Priest in exile, Lang Yixao, has been traveling through California with his close friend, Heibai Wuchang doing his best to stay out of trouble and continue his spiritual training. But trouble won’t leave him alone. Working as a mail carrier, Yixao encounters a group of warriors from his mother’s homeland of Khaitan. The Five Elemental Masters are attempting to escape an evil sorcerer and his agents. Failing to subdue his curiosity, Yixao joins Jigme, the Elemental Master of Earth in his battle against the Five Demonic Elemenatalists. This ultimately leads them back to China for a climactic battle with their real enemy. In the end, it isn’t quite the homecoming the Wanderer had imagined.

“This series is truly special,” states Airship 27 Productions’ Managing Editor Ron Fortier. “Combining her knowledge of both western and eastern history along with Chinese mythology, writer Barbara Doran has woven an incredible saga filled with some of the most colorful characters to ever grace the pages of pulp fiction. This is action and adventure interwoven with exotic locales and truly amazing magical creatures. It’s a one-of-a-kind series our readers will love.”

Artist Gary Kato provides all 9 black and white interior illustrations and Art Director Rob Davis the beautiful color cover.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION.

Available now from Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle.

John Bruening: At Any Given Moment

John Bruening is, in his own words, at any given moment a writer, editor, publisher, artist, marketer, creator, dad, and husband.

He has been a professional writer and editor since the 1980s in a variety of disciplines: journalism, magazine editing, marketing, advertising and small-press book editing. He has won two awards for feature writing (2000 and 2011) from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is a co-founder and editor for Ohio-based Flinch Books, and the editor-in-chief of ARC Magazine, a quarterly publication covering the welding and fabrication culture.

Tell us a bit about your latest work…

This past April, Jim Beard and I published OCCUPIED PULP on our Flinch Books imprint. (For those who may not be familiar with Flinch, we publish novels and anthologies that span a variety of genres – adventure, mystery, horror, occult, and more – and it’s all written and packaged in the spirit of classic pulp fiction.) OCCUPIED PULP is a collection of short stories set in Allied-occupied Europe and Japan in the months immediately following the end of World War II – a time and place where the map of half the world was being redrawn and a whole new global balance of power was taking shape. The war was over, but old scores were still being settled and the geopolitical intrigue was getting into high gear. We have a great lineup of writers in this book: Will Murray, Patricia Gilliam, Bobby Nash, William Patrick Maynard and Justin Bell. In addition to co-editing the book, I also contributed a story of my own called “Searching for Benito.” Everyone on this project was on their A-game – not just the writers but also the cover artist (Adam Shaw) and the designer (Maggie Ryel). The end result is something we’re very proud of.

Just a few weeks prior to OCCUPIED PULP, Mechanoid Press issued WAR FOR MONSTER EARTH, the third and final installment in the Monster Earth trilogy originally developed several years ago by James Palmer and Jim Beard. I contributed a story to this anthology called “Titans of Tropic Fire,” which takes place in the Amazon jungle of South America. Anyone who’s been following my work for the last few years will know that stories about radioactive, fire-breathing kaiju in an apocalyptic battle for global domination is way outside of my wheelhouse. On top of that, my story had to fit into the context of a larger story arc established by an editor and five other contributing writers, so that was additionally challenging. But it felt good to stretch myself a little bit, and I think I pulled it off well enough not to embarrass myself. (Then again, the book has yet to receive many reviews, so it may be too early to tell).

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?

I don’t know that there was one singular event. I think it was more of an evolution. I was consuming stories at a young age from the typical sources – and some atypical ones too. In the earliest days – the late 1960s in my case – it was animated cartoons and comics (my infatuation with the latter lasted well into adulthood). Then it was paperback novels, television, and movies – including a lot of black and white B-movies and cliffhanger serials. I was even listening to recordings of old-time radio dramas, which my dad turned me onto when I was no more than 10 or 12 years old. I’m pretty sure there weren’t too many kids in the mid-1970s who had much familiarity with the golden age of radio drama.

At some point in my late teens and early twenties, I started sticking my toe in the water and writing short stories of my own. They were pretty bad, but I kept coming back to it off and on over the years. At the same time, I was starting a career in newspaper and magazine journalism, so I was writing news stories and feature articles every day from the mid-'80s onward. By the time I was in my late twenties, I took a step back and looked at everything I had been doing and I realized I was a writer. So there was no pivotal moment. It was a gradual discovery of what I was good at and what I wanted to do with it.

What inspires you to write?

Good stories. Stories about individuals or small groups of people – sometimes fictional and sometimes in the real world – who have to dig deep and harness all their inner resources to overcome impossible obstacles and impossible odds to save the day or save the world.

I’m also inspired by other writers, the ones who take their craft seriously without taking themselves too seriously. And I think “craft” is the keyword here. I admire the writer who keeps putting the words on the page and keeps hammering and polishing, even during those stretches where the lightning bolt of inspiration isn’t striking. I think that’s part of the fascination of the original pulp era for me. It’s not just the stories themselves, but the people who generated them. We’re talking about writers whose livelihoods depended on cranking out the words, so they did it day after day and they rarely let up. In the process, some of them got really good at it. Not all, granted, but some. That unrelenting approach is something that inspires me.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

The gray area between the law and justice has been an interesting space to explore. I didn’t know it when I was writing the first Midnight Guardian book (Hour of Darkness), but I later realized that some of the inspiration had come from THE UNTOUCHABLES, the 1987 Brian DePalma film. The question that drives that entire movie is: How far are you willing to go and what limits (legal, ethical, moral, etc.) are you willing to test to accomplish your mission? It’s a question that comes up in the first Guardian book, and to some degree the second one. I even borrowed Sean Connery’s recurring line of dialogue in THE UNTOUCHABLES, “What are you prepared to do?” and inserted it into the second book.

If the question is about a specific time period, I’m pretty fascinated by the years between the Great Depression and World War II. It was a moment in history (if 15 or 16 years can be called a moment) when the state of the world was very precarious – first economically, and then geopolitically. Everything was uncertain and anything could happen, not just on the battlefront but here at home too. As a result, people were often forced to make hard decisions with potentially life-changing consequences. Those are the moments when the great stories emerge.

What would be your dream project?

Funny you should ask, because one of them just came my way in June when I was commissioned by Moonstone books to write a Green Hornet story for an upcoming issue of their DOUBLE SHOT magazine. This is a character who’s been all over the place since his inception in 1936: radio, comics, two cliffhanger serials in the 1940s, one season of television in the 1960s, a few short-story anthologies in the past ten or twelve years, and a feature-length film in 2011 (granted, not many Green Hornet fans are terribly enthusiastic about the last entry on that list). So I’m looking forward to making my small contribution to this 85-year legend.

Another character I’ve always been fond of is Spy Smasher, created in 1939 for Fawcett Comics by artist C.C. Beck and writer Bill Parker. Spy Smasher got the big-screen treatment in a well-crafted serial produced by Republic Pictures in 1942. Of all the serials ever made, this is probably my favorite, and I can say Spy Smasher was part of the inspiration for The Midnight Guardian. So it would be great to have the chance to go back and write a story of my own about Spy Smasher’s ongoing crusade against saboteurs in the years leading up to and during World War II.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

I started reading Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series shortly after I finished college in the mid-1980s. Since then, I’ve read all the books in the series at least once, and some more than once. Parker was great at writing snappy dialogue, and Spenser was the ultimate smart-ass private detective. After reading Parker for a couple years, I read Raymond Chandler’s THE  BIG SLEEP, and I realized that Parker was riffing on Chandler in some respects, so I started reading Chandler as well. A couple people (not many, but a couple) have told me that my Midnight Guardian books read a little bit like Chandler. The mere mention of my name and Chandler’s in the same sentence is laughable, but I humbly accept the compliment.

There’s also Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series. McBain was great at throwing the spotlight on the often tedious and unglamorous aspects of police procedure and detective work and somehow making it all fascinating. I admire his ability to riff on various aspects of New York and Manhattan to build a city that’s completely fictional but completely believable at the same time.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be and what would you do?

Luckily, there’s nothing I’ve written (so far at least) that makes me cringe when I look back at it, but I do believe the expression that “the devil is in the details.” I tend to sweat the small stuff. There are bits and pieces of larger stories that I wish I could go back and rewrite – maybe make an opening scene a little stronger, or make a chapter a little tighter. But I think I’ve had the wisdom to recognize the really godawful stuff and keep it in the drawer where it belongs.

Writers often get asked why they write. There are a million different answers, and some of them can be fairly pretentious. I write in the hope that I’ll continue to get better at it. Unfortunately, that means I’m learning the craft and refining it in front of an audience, which can be unnerving at times. 

Where would you rank writing on the “Is it art or is it science” continuum? Why?

This circles back to something I mentioned earlier. I tend to think of writing as “art versus craft” rather than “art versus science.” And in the context of that equation, I’m probably 25 percent art and 75 percent craft. I do get the occasional lightning bolt between the eyes that leaves me feeling like I just connected with something greater than myself, but I also spend a lot of time just typing one word and then another and then another to get to the end of the chapter or the end of the book.

There’s a great quote by Jack London about the relationship between hard work and inspiration. It often gets truncated to the point where it loses some of its impact, but the entire quote is: “Don’t loaf and invite inspiration. Light out after it with a club, and if you don’t get it you will nonetheless get something that looks remarkably like it.” This, to me, is what it’s all about. On those days when you don’t feel all that inspired, you just have to keep writing regardless. Because if you do, something good will inevitably emerge.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Plotting. Setting the characters and circumstances in motion to make a compelling story that comes to a logical and satisfying conclusion. I try to map a lot of it out at the front end of the process, so that when the writing starts, it’s a little easier (not easy, but easier) to get where I want to go without getting hung up on detours that go nowhere. So in the great plotter-versus-pantser debate, I’m definitely in the former camp. I have nothing but respect for those in the latter, but if I don’t have some kind of plan going into the process, I’m afraid I would wander aimlessly in the desert for years.

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?

I’ve made a conscious effort in recent years to expand my creative circle and get to know more writers. The mere fact that some of these folks have reciprocated my efforts to establish relationships and friendships is a form of inspiration and encouragement all its own.

I mentioned Jim Beard earlier. He’s definitely a writer and definitely a friend. But he’s also my publishing partner, which means that if he and I are going to run a business, I have to get my share of the writing and editing projects done in a timely way and to a certain standard of quality. So he creates a layer of accountability that I might not have otherwise.

There are others. William Patrick Maynard has always been supportive, and he’s been good at the occasional pep talk in those moments when my stamina and/or confidence start to wane a little bit. Just being connected to friends who work hard at the craft – regardless of where they are in terms of their own creative development – is something that rubs off and makes me better.

What does literary success look like to you?

Would I love to be on someone’s bestseller list? Sure. But until that happens, I guess my version of success would be a combination of consistent output and a consistent readership. In other words, if I’m writing and publishing on a regular basis – something new at least once or twice a year, and something always in the pipeline – and if there’s a readership that’s interested in coming back for each new piece of work and spending the time (and yes, the money) to read it, then I guess I’m doing something right.

It feels weird to say this, but retirement is less than ten years away. But when I say “retirement,” I’m merely talking about the time when I stop punching someone else’s clock and start punching my own. The writing will continue long after that transition. I plan to do some version of this for as long as I can breathe, and when I can’t anymore, I hope to leave behind a substantial body of work for others to enjoy after I’m gone. That sounds like success to me.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

There are things I can talk about and things that are still under wraps for the time being.

Flinch Books will publish another anthology around the fall of this year. The collection will include ten stories in all, and I’m co-editing the project and writing the introduction. At the moment, I can’t offer specific details about the genre or the lineup of writers, but I imagine we’ll be able to say more by late summer.

In addition, I’ve written a post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure for the third issue of PULP REALITY, published by Charles F. Millhouse at Stormgate Press. I’m currently working with Damian Aviles, an artist based in Mexico City, to develop some illustrations for the story. PULP REALITY #3 should be available late this year – around November or December.

I already mentioned the Green Hornet story for Moonstone. I’m not certain of the publication date, but I’m inclined to say it will be before the end of 2021.

The third Midnight Guardian novel is also in the works, but the timing on this one has been a little tricky. The story has a holiday setting and theme, so the original plan was to publish it in early November of this year. However, it was pretty obvious by mid-year that the projects listed above were going to eat up all of my bandwidth over the next few months, so the Next Midnight Guardian novel will publish in November 2022.

One project that isn’t necessarily writing but certainly writing-related: I’ve been trying for more than a year to put the finishing touches on my website and get it online. It’s way overdue, so I’ve made it a priority to get that finished this summer – which is one more reason why the next novel has been pushed back.

So regarding your earlier question about what success looks like: Having a steady stream of projects in the pipeline can be challenging, but I consider it a sign that I’m doing something right.

For more information, visit:

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