Jul 14 2012

Life Lessons from Southfork

Life Lessons from Southfork

by Stacey Longo

I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve watched the new Dallas series. In fact, I got a sneak peek of the first seven episodes and wrote a review of the show (read it here!) See, my sister made me watch the old Dallas when I was about nine years old, and she must have made me keep watching it up until I was 18 and it went off the air. Seeing my old friends Bobby, Lucy, Ray, Sue Ellen, and J.R. on the new show made me realize how much I’ve missed them. So many of the life lessons I abide by today came from watching Dallas. For instance …

1. If you’re going to shoot someone, make sure they’re dead when you’re finished.

2. Sure, you can use your pretty face to marry money, but deep down, you’ll always be Digger Barnes’s daughter.

3. That little old lady may look sweet, but you don’t know if she’s bludgeoned her husband to death with a frozen leg of lamb, then cooked it up and served it to the police investigating the crime. (Wait. That might be a life lesson from Alfred Hitchcock.)

4. Don’t sleep with the hired help. That hot ranch hand might turn out to be your uncle.

5. It’s probably not a good idea to start getting drunk at 8 AM. But since I’m not married to J.R. Ewing, who am I to judge?

6. Sometimes, when you think your life has turned to crap, it actually all turns out to be a bad dream.

So take it from me: tune in to the latest antics of J.R., Bobby, and Sue Ellen. You just might learn something useful!

Life lesson number seven: there’s something to be said for keeping up with your eyebrow plucking.

Editor’s Note:

This entry originally appeared on author Stacey Longo’s website.

Jul 13 2012

Upcoming Articles

Next week, there will be a review of The Dark Knight Rises on Friday. There will also be articles about Readercon 23 and ConnectiCon and pictures from Necon 32.

The following week, there will be interview articles with Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the married couple who brought audiences Little Miss Sunshine and their new movie Ruby Sparks. There will also be an interview article with Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan, the stars of Ruby Sparks. There will also be a review of the movie.

Jul 12 2012

ConnectiCon Happens this Weekend

ConnectiCon runs from Friday, July 13 through Sunday, July 15 at the Connecticut Convention Center, located at 100 Columbus Blvd. in Hartford.

Convention guests include Amanda Winn Lee, Jim Cummings, and Margaret Killjoy. For a complete list and guest bios, click here.

The convention brings people the RKO Army, out of Rhode Island, which will perform scenes from the Joss Whedon Universe and “Repo.” There are also events such as ComicStripTease and Cosplay Chess. For a complete list, click here.

According to its website, “ConnectiCon is New England’s ONLY massively, multi-genre pop culture convention, the convention’s focus is on all things pop culture and does every genre of pop culture in as big a way as possible.”

For more information about the convention, click here.

Jul 11 2012

Readercon 23 Begins Thursday

Readercon 23 starts tomorrow and runs until Sunday, July 15, at the Boston Marriott Burlington.

There will be four New England Horror Writers’ members, Don D’Ammassa, Craig Shaw Gardner, Jack Haringa, and Paul Tremblay, at the convention. For a list of other guests, click here.

Tremblay mentions his Readercon schedule on his website, which you can click here to see it.

Guests of Honor include authors Peter Straub and Caitlín Kiernan. The memorial guest of honor this year is author Shirley Jackson.

If you have a smartphone, you can download the Guidebook app then have the Readercon program at your fingertips during the entire convention.

If you tweet about Readercon, the official twitter account for the convention is asking people to use the hastag, #Readercon.‪

Jul 11 2012

Horror Director Talks about His First Movie

Horror Director Talks about His First Movie

by Jason Harris


Writer and director Eric England talks about Madison County, his first horror movie; his first movie ever.

England said that this is his version of “a backwoods slasher movie.”

“I wanted to do something that was faithful to all the films that had come before it, but also tries to stand on its own two feet.”

He drew inspiration from several different places, including things that had happened to him and from the local legends he was aware of in Arkansas, where he filmed Madison County.

The idea for England’s movie came to him when he was 14, he said. He wrote the script back in 2009 and the movie was released last year.

“The idea for Madison County had been sitting in my brain for years before I ever sat down to put it on paper.”

He is planning a follow-up to his $75,000 first movie, and this time he will give audiences more of prolific serial killer Damien Ewell’s history.

“I always planned for Madison County to be part of a much bigger picture. I don’t want to beat people over the head with exposition, but I’ll definitely hint at information about his origins,” England said about his movie.

His serial killer is not a supernatural being under that mask, he said.

“He’s 100 percent a human being. If you cut him, he bleeds. If you hit him with a shovel, he goes down. Under the pig head, he’s just a man.”

It took him under two years from the written word to filming. He had gone through almost 10 different producers and teams of producers before the finished product came to be.

“A lot of promises were made and never made good on, so I eventually went off and made a little experimental movie called Hostile Encounter in November of 2009.”

His experimental short inspired producer Daniel Dunn to find financing for film to make “a bigger film which was ultimately Madison County.”

There are many movies that have inspired England.

“My favorite movie of all time is Scream. I like a lot of really weird movies. Everything from The Sound of Music to Last House on the Left to American Pie. It’s hard to pinpoint where my brain gets inspiration from.”

Along with favorite movies, he has some favorite directors that include Alfred Hitchcock, Wes Craven, Quentin Tarantino, and David Fincher. He also likes Tim Burton’s older stuff.

He is currently working on a few projects, the Hitchcockian thriller Roadside and a psychological-horror-sex-thriller called Contracted. He also attached to direct a studio film, which he couldn’t talk about.

“I’m kind of a workaholic.”

Editor’s Note:
This article also appears on the DVD Snapshot website. Click here to check out other interviews, dvd reviews, and contests.

Jul 10 2012

Author Releases ‘The Dark Poet’


Poet Robert Rumery has self-published his first collection, The Dark Poet, through lulu.com.

According to Rumery, his poems contain various feelings he has had; good and bad.

His book is $15 and can be purchased by clicking here.

Jul 9 2012

Author’s ‘Death’s Companion’ Released

Author Dan Foley’s first novel, Death’s Companion, was released by Necon E-Books in May.Death's Companion

The book tells the story of Jerry Gibson, who chooses to kill himself, but discovers he can’t die. Instead he becomes Death’s Companion, forced to share the deaths of countless others. Then in one act of rebellion Jerry saves the life of a sixteen-year-old girl and unleashes a horror on the world that could destroy his immortal soul.

Author Christopher Golden (The Myth Hunters, Wildwood Road) said Foley’s novel is “clever and well-written,”

The e-book is $4.99 and can be purchased by clicking here.

Jul 8 2012

The Epitaph, Issue 21 (June 2012)

Issue #21 (June 2012)

The Epitaph

Journal of the New England Horror Writers (NEHW)

The NEHW Committee:

Tracy L. Carbone – Co-Chair
Stacey Longo – Co-Chair
Dan Keohane – Treasurer
Jason Harris – Director of Publicity/Webmaster
K. Allen Wood – Director of Publications
Scott Goudsward – Director of Events
Danny Evarts – Art Director
Tim Deal (alternate)
T.J. May (alternate)

NEHW WRITING OPPORTUNITIES

From Trisha Wooldridge:

 
Doorways to Extra Time, a short story anthology, is now accepting submissions.

In our busy world of meetings and microwaves, car radios and cell phones, people always wish they could get an extra hour in the day. What if they could? Doorways to Extra Time is an anthology that explores ways to get extra time (be it an hour, a day, or a decade) and the impact it would have (whether upon a single life, a family or an entire world).We’re looking for stories with a touch of the fantastic—whether mystical, magical, mechanical, or just plain mysterious—but they can be set in any time or any genre: contemporary or historical, science fiction or fantasy, horror or magic realism. We could even find a place for a nonfiction essay if it was truly exceptional. In short, show us something show-stopping, and we’ll make time for you.

Suggested Length: full stories (from 3,000 to 7,000 words) and flash fiction (preferred under 1,000 words). We will accept good stories up to 10,000 words but longer lengths are a harder sell.

Due Date: October 15th, 2012

Editors: Anthony Francis and Trisha J. Wooldridge

Submission Guidelines: Please email your submissions to anthology@spencerhillpress.com.  Put your story in the BODY of the email (no attachments) and put “DOORWAYS TO EXTRA TIME” in the subject line along with the title.

And now the boring bits: We can only accept previously unpublished stories. Please don’t use characters or material to which you do not own the copyright so Disney doesn’t come sue us—this is not a fan-fiction anthology. Contributor contribution will be an advance of $10, a contributor copy of the print edition, and a equal share of the contributors’ portion of the royalties. Please make your work appropriate for a PG-13 audience and avoid gratuitous sex, violence, politics and puns.

For accepted submissions, Spencer Hill Press will take first print and electronic publishing rights, which are exclusive publishing rights for as long as the anthology remains in print. This means that authors will not be able sell or publish their stories elsewhere, and when the rights revert to the authors after the anthology is no longer in print, they will only be able to market the story as a reprint, which in nearly all cases is a harder sell and has a lower pay rate than first print. We at Spencer Hill Press hope that the anthology will have strong sales that will result in healthy royalty payments, but we want authors to go into this with eyes open, knowing how acceptance to one anthology limits the marketing of the same story down the road.

From Scott Goudsward and Rachel Kenley:

Over the river and through the woods does not always lead to grandma’s house or happy endings—especially if grandma’s house is infested with zombies, or if grandma is really a Lovecraftian being in disguise. Once Upon an Apocalypse is a two volume post-apocalyptic anthology laden with the undead and otherworldly mythos crossing into the realm of fairy tales, nursery rhymes and other timeless stories. Editors Goudsward and Kenley, along with publisher Chaosium, are currently open to submissions for these two books of mixed-up retold fairy tales.

What we are looking for:

For both volumes, we want stories with strong narrative lines, stronger characters and a clear blending of the theme and the fairy tales.

For Volume One, imagine Cinderella arriving at the ball and discovering it filled with zombies. Or how different the story would be if it was Snow White and the Seven Zombies. Give us new horrors with Alice in Zombieland, and a prince who climbs Rapunzel’s hair to get away from and find a way to defeat—you guessed it—zombies.

In Volume Two, we want a strong dose of Lovecraft thrown in. What happens to the townspeople in The Boy who Cried Cthulhu?  Pinocchio is going to have a much harder time getting out of the Old One than the whale; a wolf would have been preferable to Little Red Riding Hood and the Byahkee and the Little Mermaid has so much more to worry about then her legs and a missing voice when she faces a Deep One.

Once you choose a story to change it’s your call how far you will take it.  Make the apocalypse clear and give some meaning as to why the dead are meandering through the streets and munching on the breathing or why the Elder God has paid the town a visit.  Plague, pestilence, bio warfare, meteor shower, tail of a comet…be creative.

Because we don’t want duplicates of themes, you will be able to follow the progress of the anthologies on our blog (http://onceuponanapocalypse.com) or Facebook page (www.facebook.com/OnceUponAnApocalypse) where we’ll keep a current list of themes/tales accepted.  For example, if we get a Sleeping Beauty story and it’s awesome, that will be it for the book.  Stories should be 2K – 4K in length (please query for stories under or over our limit. We will consider them if they are of exceptional merit.)  The only true way to have similar stories is A Snow White and the Seven Zombies in one and Snow White Star Vampire Slayer in the other.

What we are not looking for:

We all know these are dark fiction anthologies, but gore for the sake of gore is un-needed. This is not splatterpunk or extreme horror.  Sex?  If the story calls for it, fine, but keep it to an R rating (maybe even PG-13). We don’t to hear about insertions and spurting fluids, unless its blood from a bite wound or a gun shot.  Try to keep the violence towards animals at a minimum.  In some mythos, zombies chew on animals and that’s fine, but we don’t want redneck zombies killing all of Bo-Peep’s sheep for a pie.  Finally, though we shouldn’t have to mention it (but we will, given the theme)—go easy on the child-related violence, please.  And no pedophilia—that’s just skeevy.

Reading period: now through July 31, or until filled.

Pay rates: pays $.03 per word, no royalties, and three free books and additional copies at 50% off cover.

Email subs to: ouaastories@gmail.com

Format:

Stories should be an attachment to your cover letter email, NOT copied and pasted into the body of the email.  The cover letter should include a single paragraph synopsis of the story and your publishing history. The submission should be in RTF or DOC format (no DOCX).  Left aligned, 1/2” indentation for paragraphs, single spaced. Double space between scenes and use five stars (*****) for breaks in the story. Contact info should be on the first page of the story with word count.

Please do not query for your story until we’ve had it for at least 12 weeks.  Publication is expected for the first half of 2013.  No reprints and no simultaneous submissions.  If we turn you down feel free to try again with a new story, but give it a few days between submissions.

And please, when submitting, be specific which book you are submitting to. We’re reading for both simultaneously. Subject line of the email should be Name, Story Name, Which book.

NEHW MEMBER NEWS:

From Nick Cato:

Cato’s new novella, The Apocalypse of Peter, was officially released on June 1 from Damnation Books. There is a synopsis and a brief excerpt on the publisher’s site:  http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615726806

From Stacey Longo:

Longo has written and illustrated a children’s book. Pookie and the Lost & Found Friend was published by Farmer’s Daughter Press on June 30 and is the story of a cat named Pookie, her friend Jack, and their hair-raising Halloween adventure. The book is available at http://tinyurl.com/pookie630.

From John Grover:

Grover is proud to announce his participation in the Dark Light charity anthology. This anthology, assembled by Carl Hose, gathers over 40 of today’s horror writers. All proceeds go to the Ronald McDonald House. Grover’s story, “Hannah’s Babysitting Blues,” is featured. A great book for a great cause. Check out the e-book at Amazon: http://amzn.to/KPPfLj

Grover also has a story, “Under a Civil Moon,” in the anthology, Best New Werewolf Tales volume 1, by Books of the Dead Press. Check it out here: http://amzn.to/LHehgT.

Coming soon is his first zombie book, Frozen Stiff. The zombie apocalypse is upon us. A small group of survivors rescued by a military search and rescue team is re-routed to a secret artic ice station when the city’s rescue shelter is overrun. There they are ordered to await evacuation. Problem is, no one knows when that will be. The weather worsens, the generators weaken, and the dead wake from a cold sleep. Look for it soon on Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook.  Amazing cover art by NEHW member Jonathan Banchik can be viewed at his site: http://bit.ly/ME03f3.

From L.L. Soares:

Soares’ novel, Life Rage, will be released this September by Nightscape Press. It will debut at the KillerCon convention in Las Vegas the weekend of September 20 – 23.

From Eric Dimbleby:

Dimbleby’s novel, Please Don’t Go, won the “Best Speculative Fiction” award for the state of Maine in 2012. The award was issued by the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

His newest novel, A Beast in Spring, was released in e-formats on June 4. It is a twisted tale of juvenile survival, cruel demigods, and malignant father figures. One fan referred to the story as “Lord of the Flies, but on a terrifying acid trip.” You can purchase both novels by visiting www.ericdimbleby.com.

From Daniel Robichaud:

Robichaud’s story, “Weathering the Storm,” will be reprinted in the State of Horror: Florida anthology from Rymefire Press this month.

From L.L. Soares:

Soares novel, Life Rage, will be coming out this September from Nightscape Press. More details can be found at http://www.nightscapepress.com/books/novels/.

The Collected Cinema Knife Fight: Volume One (2004 – 2009) by Michael Arruda and Soares is now available on Kindle, Nook, and other e-readers from Necon Ebooks (http://www.neconebooks.com/cinemaknifefightv1.htm). Volume One collects all of their early columns that appeared in the Hellnotes newsletter and the website Fear Zone.

His story, “The Gulch,” will be appearing in the anthology, Welcome to Hell (An anthology of western weirdness) edited by Eric S. Brown, coming soon from E-Volve Books.

From Robert Heske:

Heske reports The Night Projectionist, hit store shelves on July 5. The reviews on the book that Fangoria called “The next ‘30 Days of Night’” are already starting to come in.

If you don’t see it at your favorite comic book store, tell them to order it by giving them this Diamond Preview code: MAR121187 NIGHT PROJECTIONIST TP. Or simply go to this web page:

http://www.studio-407.com/preorders/NightProjectionistPreOrderForm.php

Or order it on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Night-Projectionist-Robert-Heske/dp/1935385089

Heske is also putting together packaging on an ultra-low budget film that he hopes to film in Massachusetts. More details to come!

From Dale Phillips:

Phillips will be appearing in the Author’s Expo, to be held at the Danvesport Yacht Club, on Wednesday, July 18th. Check out the event’s website,

http://peartreepublishing.net/events/2012authorsexpo.php.

From K. A. Laity:

Laity has signed with Tirgearr Publishing in Ireland to bring out Unquiet Dreams, her collection of horror and dark fantasy tales this autumn.

Laity is editing the anthology, Weird Noir, for Fox Spirit Books in the UK.

Space is limited, but if you have a pitch that might fit, let her know ASAP, katelaity@gmail.com.

Her recent publications include:

The Tender Trap. Flash fiction. At the Bijou

<http://at-the-bijou.blogspot.ie/&gt;, July 2012.

Losing My Religion. Flash fiction. Spinetingler Magazine

<http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2012/06/29/flash-fiction-losing-my-religion-

by-k-a-laity/>. June 29, 2012.

The Beaver Dating Service. Humour. The Laughter Shack

<http://thelaughtershack.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/beaver-dating-service-by-k-l

aity.html>. June 29, 2012.

Kingsley Amis in the Afterlife. Poem. Short Humour Site

<http://www.short-humour.org.uk/6writersshowcase/kingsleyamisintheafterlife.

htm>. June 19, 2012.

Homework. Flash fiction. Necon E-Books

<http://www.neconebooks.com/flash.htm&gt; . June 2012. Honourable mention, May

Flash Contest.

Twitter Wedding. Poem. Asinine Poetry

<http://www.asininepoetry.com/issues/view/25/0&gt; (Summer 2012).

Just Waiting. Short story. Near to the Knuckle

<http://www.close2thebone.co.uk/wp/?p=530&gt;. June 5, 2012.

From E. F. Schraeder:

Schraeder’s story, “The Threshold,” appeared at Tales of the Zombie War in June, and “Stacked” appears in the summer issue of Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine.

From Scott Goudsward:

Goudsward’s novel Trailer Trash has been re-issued from Briona Glen (http://www.brionaglen.com/). The book is up at Smashwords now and should be on Kindle soon, not to mention the trade paperback version.

Goudsward’s story, “That Place,” has come out in the book, The Call of Lovecraft, which was edited by Geregory Norris and published by Evil Jester Press. It is now available in print and kindle formats.

From Roxanne Dent:

Dent’s short story “Zombies at Red Rock” will appear in the anthology A Fistful of Horror, published by Cruentis Libri Press. The anthology is due out July 2012.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS:

 Joe Mirabello (MA)
Curt McDermott (NH)
Rob Hunter (ME)

– Jason Harris, Editor, the Epitaph: Journal of NEHW
– Stacey Longo, Assistant Editor, the Epitaph: Journal of NEHW
 

Jul 6 2012

Horror Writer Becomes a Children’s Book Author

One of the New England Horror Writers’ Co-Chairs has authored a children’s book.

This week Stacey Longo’s book, Pookie and the Lost and Found Friend, was published by Farmer’s Daughter Press. Within the book’s pages, readers will find out about Pookie and her friend, Jack, and the adventures they get into one night in the cemetery.Pookie and the Lost and Found Friend

Along with writing this children’s book, she also illustrated it. It is available at Amazon for $7. To purchase a copy, click here.

For more information about the author, check out her website, http://www.staceylongo.com/.

Jul 6 2012

‘Savages’ is Intense and Entertaining

‘Savages’ is Intense and Entertaining

by Jason Harris

Three-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone is back with a new thriller, Savages, which is reminiscent of one of his previous hits, Natural Born Killers.

Savages starts off with a voiceover by Blake Lively (Green Lantern), who portrays Ophelia, but has shorten it to “O” for a number of reasons. She states that she may or may not be alive by the end of her story, which was is a device used in American Beauty (1999). Except in that movie, the character of Lester tells the audience he’s already died.

O introduces Chon and Ben who are in the drug business. Ben, portrayed by Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass), is the brains behind their superior marijuana and Chon portrayed by Taylor Kitsch (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) is the muscle that deals with problems that arise. Since he is an ex-Navy Seal and ex-mercenary, this makes him well equip to deal with these problems that make-up about one percent of their business. The other 99 percent is violence-free.

Savages

Chon, O and Ben live an idyllic life in Laguna Beach in a scene from Savages. Picture courtesy of Universal Pictures.

O, Chon and Ben make-up a post-modern family except in this family O is the girlfriend for both men. O states the men together make-up the perfect guy. The men have no problems sharing her. There is great chemistry between these three actors, which keeps you hoping that they are all alive at the end of the movie.

Their lives become endangered when their operation comes to the attention of the Mexican Baja Cartel, headed by the ruthless Elena “La Reina” portrayed by Salma Hayek (From Dusk Till Dawn). The cartel wants to form a partnership with Ben and Chon, who decline her invitation. This causes O to be kidnapped by Elena’s enforcer, Lado portrayed by Benicio Del Toro (Traffic), who brings a menacing demeanor and look to his role. Earlier in the movie, Lado is shown dealing harshly with a cartel lawyer whose client went to prison. By knowing how lethal Lado is, it puts O in a more precarious situation when she is his prisoner.

There were moments where Stone seems to have been inspired by Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill, Vol. 1). Those inspired elements are the picture going from color to black and white a few times and his choice of music. One piece of music, “Psycho Killer” by Bruce Lash played after a scene where Lado talked to Elena about killing Chon and Ben. Del Toro has the look of a killer and is only slightly held in check by his boss. Stone made an excellent choice in music for this scene, which is a talent Tarantino has.

The movie is based on Don Winslow’s best-selling crime novel of the same name that was one of The New York Times’ Top 10 Books of 2010. Recently, Winslow released The Kings of Cool: A Prequel to Savages, which is available in paperback on Amazon for $16.50.

Stone fills Savages with intense and funny moments along with a few action scenes. All together the movie is an entertaining thrill ride.