31 Days of Halloween - Day 5

Rawblood by Catriona Ward

Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 2015.


Young Iris Vallarca, the last of her line, is kept isolated by her father at their ancestral mansion, Rawblood. The reason he keeps her there and away from other people is that the house seems to be the only place where their unique disease, Horror autotoxicus can be kept in check. This same disease, she is told, took her mother and has caused early deaths for every other member of their family. As Iris grows up, her suspicions that this unique disease might not even be real, seem to be confirmed, but the alternate explanation for what's causing the deaths at Rawblood is far more sinister.

This is at once a classic gothic tale rich with secrets and atmosphere and a compelling, dark character study. It pushes the characters and the reader towards more and more disturbing revelations until it's punch in the gut climax. This was really outstanding.




The book has been retitled as The Girl from Rawblood for American release.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 4

Morbid Curiosities by Paul Gambino

Laurence King Publishing. 2016.


If you have an affinity for the bizarre and macabre, this book is a must. This is an examination of the collections of seventeen individuals who have filled their living spaces with all manner of memento mori; skeletons, anatomical models, photographs of the diseased, misshapen, and dead, gas masks, serial killer memorabilia, preserved specimens, medical tools, and taxidermied specimens, both normal, monstrous, and anthropomorphized. The photos are glorious, the collections astonishing, and the stories of the people behind them just as interesting as what they collect.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 3

Euro Gothic by Jonathan Rigby

Signum Books. 2016.


If there's one area of horror cinema that I know the least about, it's the films that came out of continental Europe. Too many movies had very similar titles (or multiple titles) with quality varying widely and extremely. The best known directors had very inconsistent quality within their own output. Films weren't as easy to come by either. The whole regional genre output seemed like an impenetrable maze.

Now, with Rigby's new book, I have a map. Focusing on the countries of Germany, Italy, Spain, and France from the dawn of cinema through the mid 1980s, this is a comprehensive examination of key (and some utterly disposable films) from this region of the globe. Like me, you'll probably want to keep a list of movies to find while reading this.

If you've read Rigby's other two regional studies, American Gothic and English Gothic, as well as his Studies in Terror, you'll know that his research and observations are outstanding, and that these are essential books for fans of the horror film. If you haven't read any of them, then acquire them as soon as you can. You'll thank me.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 2

Nightmares - A New Decade of Modern Horror Edited by Ellen Datlow
Tachyon. 2016.

When you see Ellen Datlow's name attached to an anthology, you know you are looking at a quality collection of stories. Nightmares is no exception. Organized by year of publication, Nightmares contains what Datlow considers the cream of the crop in horror fiction published between 2005-2015 (there is also a companion volume, Darkness, which covers the years 1985-2015). Authors include Laird Barron, Caitlin R. Kieran, Stephen Graham Jones, John Langan, Gene Wolfe, Gemma Files, Garth Nix, and other notables. There are twenty-four stories in all. Like any anthology, there will be stories that strike a chord with you, and others that don't do as much. There were no outright misses for me in this anthology, but several that made this one of the outstanding collections in recent years for me.  Among my favorites involve a mysterious phenomenon that cuts off a house from its neighborhood, an apocalyptic being kept sequestered in a safe house, and a book thief and an atlas of Hell. Your own favorites will probably differ, but feel free to post them in the comments section below.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 1

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All  by Laird Barron

Night Shade Books. 2013.


Nine stories by Laird Barron is a great way to begin this season of darkness, and here you get two fistfuls of unsettling cosmic dread mixed with crime and the every day. What I like about these stories is that in most of them, Barron takes his time getting to the weird stuff, but even while he's setting up characters going about their every day jobs and concerns before they encounter that which will change them forever, that malevolence is there in ambient form. While the stories all stand alone, you'll discover common elements like a sinister black hole in the air looking back at you that makes it seem that it is the same darkness that is moving through this world highlighting examples of its dirty work for us to witness. That the stories themselves don't conclude with neatly wrapped up endings enhances that feeling that the bad stuff keeps rolling on.  I highly recommend any of Barron's work.

Also, kudos, to Norman Partridge for his entertain introduction.

Welcome to My 12th Annual Halloween Countdown

Welcome to my 2017 Halloween Countdown. This is my twelfth annual Halloween Countdown.

Like last year I'll be devoting this to some of my favorite genre related books I've read this year;
anthologies, single author short story collections, novels, macabre non-fiction, biographies and graphic novels are all represented. Like last year, I've decided to only include books I enjoyed and to showcase authors that don't get the same amount of love and attention as the genre heavyweights.

Because I really like to go into a book knowing as little about it as possible, the reviews are pretty general and as unspoilery as I could make them. Some of the books work incredibly well if you have no idea what they are about before starting them.

Most of the books I chose are also pretty easy to get your hands on, and I've even provided a handy link on each post so that you can order the book from Amazon. Please use this link. If you make a purchase from Amazon by visiting through those links (even if it's not the item in question) Amazon will throw some revenue my way. It's hardly a noteworthy amount, but can cover the cost of a book or two that I purchase later on.

I recommend doing this on any site that provides a link to something that the creator of that blog has steered your way. Think of it as a tip jar for being directed to quality entertainment.

Also, be sure to visit my companion blog, The Grim Gallery for all things monstrous 365 days a year.

I'm not alone in running an annual Countdown to Halloween. After you are done here, please visit Countdown to Halloween where you will find links to hundreds of blogs hosting their own countdown this year. If you want to be part of that group, information on how to do so can be found at that link as well.

There's nothing better on an Autumn night when the temperature is down, and perhaps there is wind, and even better, rain, than to curl up with a good drink and a spooky book to usher in the season. Hopefully, this countdown will make it easier for you to choose what to read next.

Enjoy!

Coming Soon...

October 1, 2017. Midnight. Here.

Milestone Update

I'm a little behind here, but for those of you who have been asking me about Milestone Media and when it will be returning, here's an update (of sorts) from San Diego Comic Con 2017. Read it here.

"Thirty Years Later" Now Open

"The Predator" is the 3-D cut paper piece I made for the "30 Years Later" show, celebrating the films of 1987, which is now on exhibit at Gallery 1988(West) through August 12, 2017. Visit in person, if you can.

Coming July 21st

Mad Scientist #32

Issue #32 of Martin Arlt's excellent magazine, Mad Scientist is now available. It's a mere $8.00, including shipping, and can be ordered here, where you can also view the contents of this issue. I created a cut paper portrait of Boris Karloff in The Black Cat which can be found within this issue.

Star Wars - The 40th Anniversary

The movie now known as Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, turns forty years old today. Back when I saw it in 1977, it was just Star Wars. It feels like we were just celebrating it's 30th Anniversary, something I actually did with a month long examination of the film which you can scroll back through by visiting my posts from May, 2007.

The Grim Gallery Turns Six

My companion blog, The Grim Gallery, turns six years old today. If you have any interest in monsters, be sure to check it out.

Derry, Maine - 1957

For the Stephen King show, now on exhibit at Gallery 1988 (West), I told myself I wasn't going to do anything related to It. My decision had nothing to do with my feelings for the book (it's one of my favorite King novels), but because I figured Pennywise would be getting a lot of exposure in the show. However, when this idea occurred to me I had to do it.

The tower in the background, which features prominently in the novel, is based on the Thomas Hill Standpipe in Bangor, ME, which is the actual bit of architecture that King used for the Drrry standpipe in the book. In fact, if you visit the actual site, you'll find that the entire location is pretty exact to how it's described. I took liberties with the setting though.

The boy in the piece is actually based on a photograph of Stephen King as a boy and seemed like the perfect trusting, innocent little boy unaware of the horrors of the world (or those he'd later create).

I did try to give Pennywise the silver clown suit he wears in the book, but it just didn't look right. I ended up going with dark blue because the blue connected to the boy's clothes, only much darker, giving them a relationship. I don't think I need to go into any of the other symbolism in the image. It isn't subtle. I'm actually really happy with how this one turned out.

I Am the Doorway

The Stephen King show opens at Gallery 1988 (West) tomorrow night. I have two pieces in the show, including "I Am The Doorway" shown above.

My piece is 3-D cut paper and obviously based on the initial paperback cover of Night Shift with art by Don Brautigam (shown below with it's die cut outer cover).

Brautigam (1946-2008) created the covers for the paperback versions of some of King's earliest books, including The Stand, Firestarter, The Dead Zone, Different Seasons, and Cujo (as well as numerous other books and well known record album covers as can be seen here.) Even before I'd ever read a Stephen King book I was drawn to the covers. As far as I'm concerned none of the covers of subsequent editions has come close to recreating that sense of the uncanny that Brautigam's covers brought to King's works.


The covers for Night Shift and The Stand resonated with me the most, and I'd initially planned to recreate both of them, but time and life had other intentions.

Friday...

What Lies Ahead.

Here's a couple images that have stayed with me since first encountering them on the cover of paperback books quite some time ago now. They are also influencing some stuff I'm working on for something happening in April. Stay tuned to find out what.

It's Rondo Time

The 15th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards are happening now, and if you are a fan of classic horror, feel free to voice your opinion on the best of 2016  by voting here, where you will find the complete ballot of all nominees in all categories.

RIP Dave Hunt

Dave Hunt was an inker for Marvel, DC, and Disney in the 80s onwards. He inked a number of the Scooby-Doo stories I wrote. You can read more here.

Ask Me Anything #61

It's the first Monday of the month and time for "Ask Me Anything."  Ask me anything you want.  Anything except what is happening with the Milestone relaunch, because I don't have an answer for you beyond "it's still moving forward."

Questions can be posted in the comments section below, and I'll either answer them there, or in a separate post sometime later in the month.

I've been asked a lot of good, thought provoking questions in the past as well as some really banal ones, all of which I tried to answer. You can see the previous questions by visiting Ask Me Anything  #1, #2 ,  #3, #4, #5, #6 , #7 , #8, #9,  #10,  #11,  #12 , #13, #14,  #15 , #16, #17 , #18 , #19,  #20,  #21, #22,  #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #35, #36, #37, #38, #39, #40, #41, #42,  #43, #44, #45,  #46, #47,  #48, #49,  #50,  #51, #52 , #53, #54, #55, #56,  #57,  #58,  #59, and #60.

Answers not found following the questions can be found in the archives section for each associated month under Ask Me Anything.

Now ask away.