Monthly Archives

March 2015

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The Ouija Board

The original Ouija Board, originally created in 1852, when William Benjamin Carpenter analyzed how the original talking boards worked. The toy Ouija board was patented in 1891 by Elijah Bond, Charles Kennard, and William H.A. Maupin. From here, the idea of a talking board grew in popularity and eventually became the Ouija board we know today. In 1973--the year I was born BTW, maybe this has something to do with my love of horror--The Exorcist hit the big screen; changing the fun game into a gateway to hell. This certainly didn't deter people from using one, inst[...]

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Welcome New Member Timon Skees!

I am beyond excited to announce our newest member.   The planets have aligned bringing us some of the most talented writers out there. Our line-up and blogging team is made up of Amy, Faith, Kathy, Suzy, Kira, Jennifer, Kim, and Jolene. And now, we've gone one more spooky spirit on our squad. Welcome Timon Skees! Timon spent his youth locked in a tower on a rain-swept moor, where he developed a talent for staring moodily out of windows just as lightning struck in the distance. He fled to the continent after his older brother framed him for the death of[...]

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The Horror of Dave Eggers

If I could have dinner with one author, it would be Dave Eggers. His writing style is my muse. His merger of artistic quality with social justice inspires me. I want to be like Dave Eggers--except scary. In A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, he writes: “[M]y mother read a horror novel every night. She had read every one in the library. When birthdays and Christmas would come, I would consider buying her a new one, the latest Dean R. Koontz or Stephen King or whatever, but I couldn't. I didn't want to encourage her. I couldn't touch my father's cigarett[...]

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Horror in Unfamiliar Territory: The Reddit Resources

Once upon a time when this creepy lady first met her honeybunch (hereafter known as HB for simplicity's sake), they discovered that they shared many geeky things in common and affection blossomed over text messages and in the depths of the blanket forts they built together to watch movies. He liked the Avengers and she liked the X-Men. He wrote code and she designed interfaces. They both enjoyed fiery Indian food and even though he didn't like horror movies, he curled up with her to watch The Babadook for the first time. Their blanket forts became architectural[...]

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Frankenblogs: Quotes from the Original

A lot of people avoid the book, because a lot of people simply avoid books from the 1800s, and that's okay, but you're missing out on some great classic quotes here, and that just can't happen. Because I'm all about compromise, I'm posting some of the more famous, and some of my favorite, quotes from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It pays to remember when reading these that, as mentioned in the trivia on my first Frankenstein post, the monster talks in the book, unlike in the early films. Quotes from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein!   “Life, although it[...]

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Research for Horror Writers

Research. A necessary evil in the writing world, yes. Although all writers do research for the same reason--to better the story--there are a few different ways this can be done. For example, if I were to write a book about mythology, I would absolutely have to research so that my facts were correct. That I was writing a story with the correct information. Now, I don't write the type of stories where I need to do a lot of fact checking. But I do research. When I'm writing a horror story, I immerse myself in the world of fright. For my first novel (a NA psychologi[...]

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Cover Reveal: SWEET MADNESS by Lindsay Currie and Trisha Leaver

SWEET MADNESS, September 18, 2015 from Merit Press Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty one. Who was Lizzie Borden? A confused young woman, or a cold-hearted killer? For generations, people all over the world have wondered how Andrew Borden and his second wife, Abby, met their gruesome deaths. Lizzie, Andrew’s younger daughter, was charged, but a jury took only 90 minutes to find her not guilty. In this retelling, the family maid, Bridget Sullivan, shines a compassionate light on[...]

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Hidden Gem: American Mary

American Mary background in the image above thanks to Bloody Disgusting. Hey all! It's Kim again, and I'm going to have a small series I'll be running for a month or two called Hidden Gem. There are so many great horror movies out there—both domestic and foreign—that don't get the love they deserve, usually because they don't fall under the mainstream film category (like say the Friday the 13th movie franchise or Scream does). So for my first post on Hidden Gem, I'm focusing one of my favorites: American Mary. Hidden Gem: American Mary I love, love,[...]

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Horror? But You Seem So Nice…

The strange and dark things that exist in my mind surprise people. I seem so nice. So innocent. Well, not exactly. For my first post here with The Midnight Society (EEEEEEKK!) I want to introduce myself... or more specifically the dark side of myself. The weird, the fantastic, the scary have always drawn me to gaze into the shadows, to look under the bed and in the closet, well, maybe not the closet. Let's not go crazy. There are monsters in there. Seriously, you know that, right? My love of horror began long ago. Books like 'The Spell of the Sorcerer's Sk[...]

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Frankenstein (1994)

It's Wednesday! Time for another post exploring all things inspired by that classic tale, Frankenstein! We've gone over the first time Frankenstein took to the screen, now let's explore something a wee bit more recent, the 1994 film starring Robert De Niro (as the creature) and Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth. A few parts of this one had me hugging my pillow. Helena Bonham Carter. I mean... what can I say?   Interesting bit of trivia on this one: the word monster was banned from the set. The credits billed Robert De Niro as "The Sharp-Featured Man" ([...]