I have a confession. I have fallen down the YouTube hole, and, yes, I realize that I am years behind the times. See...my daughter introduced me to the YouTuber Markiplier, who plays horror video games. 16yo: "Mom! This guy plays scary games and you would like him! He's so funny and loves creepy stuff." Me: "That's cool." 16yo: "No, watch!" *sets screen in front of my face* Me: "Who is this?" 16yo: "Markiplier." And that was the end. I don't play video games. If you want to talk to someone who does, go find our Midnighter Brian, who posts what he's playing o[...]
Category
Horror
1 When you're fully immersed in a story, you hang on your favorite character's every word. Whatever they say will show how they're feeling, how connected they are - or want to be - to the person they're talking to. You'll know what they want, what they need, once they speak. OXENFREE follows Alex and her friends as they party and fight to survive on a deserted island. There's instant friction between characters. Snarky comments and awkward exchanges hint at the grief, regret and romantic tension between them. As Alex, you want to withdraw, but you're pushed to[...]
My favorite kind of gaming experience is one where I can immerse myself in an interesting world and explore it by myself. So much of my writing is both inspired by games, and fueled by the time they provide for me to be in my own head. I cannot tell you how many times I've worked through story ideas on an almost subconscious level while wandering around the world of a game. It just puts me in a creative space. When I find a game that provides this kind of experience, and has a horror element to it, I cherish it. And Capybara Games' Below is one such game for sure[...]
I keep seeing their faces. Their eyes. Madness radiated from them. The damaged woman. The mother. The final girl. Her face was full of angry, terrifying joy. Her face was twisted by secrets. It's been a couple days since I saw Us, Jordan Peele's latest horror film, and I'm not sure which woman is haunting me more. Us is a story of families, of community, and class. It's also the story of two women and how dangerous they became when cornered, how they defended the life they'd created. Adelaide fights for her family. She clings to them, unwilling to give them[...]
I fell in love with horror fiction through short stories. The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe. NIGHT SHIFT, by Stephen King. My family car was littered with horror anthologies I found on bookstore racks and garage sale tables. As a writer, I love the tight structure and elegant story telling. As a reader, I love a small story that rips me apart and leaves me gasping. GUTTED: BEAUTIFUL HORROR STORIES, edited by Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward, is a gorgeous collection. The stories delve into the dark, emotional connection we feel towards what we treasure[...]
This week news dropped about a new podcast coming from Shudder, hosted by horror legend Adrienne Barbeau! It's called She Kills, and the ten-episode season of the show will be released on March 1. You can get the show on iTunes and Shudder. Here's the blurb: "Hosted by horror icon Adrienne Barbeau, She Kills explores horror through a female lens with conversations from women in front of and behind the camera – including Karyn Kusama, Dee Wallace, Jennifer Tilly, Illeana Douglas, Polyanna McIntosh and more." I cannot overstate how excited I am for this show. I[...]
First Impressions I have always judged books by their covers so it was no surprise to me that Stephanie Perkins's There's Someone Inside Your House was an instant YES. There's a lot I love about this cover, but my hearteyes were first sewn to three things: That hint-of-late-eighties neon pink projection lettering. How some of the words are broken across the stairs and railing (why do those creeps in the movies always go upstairs when they're alone? Constant disappointment. My fellow screenwriters could know better. You don't go upstairs. You wait for the[...]
I spent the past weekend at Borderlands Press Writers Boot Camp. My cohort of writer grunts faced brutally honest horror and science fiction writers and an editor, and they pushed us to self-edit and craft our best stories. Writers (especially speculative fiction writers) who want to take their craft to the next level will be transformed by Borderlands Press Writers Boot Camp. It took two years for me to believe my writing was ready after JG Faherty recommended it to me. Application to Borderlands Boot Camp included a writing sample, after all. Once accepted, I[...]
Dead Space is my favorite horror game series of all time, and over the past few years, I've revisited each of the three main games with a let's play on my Co-Op Critics YouTube channel. I've recently started the series for Dead Space 3, so I thought some of our horror gaming fans might enjoy it, especially if you haven't experienced the series before. What's interesting about Dead Space 3 is that it's a prime example of a publisher ruining something great. Dead Space 1,2 and Extraction (the Wii on-rails shooter) were all fantastic, horror-driven games. But by the[...]
When you find a great horror book, you share the news. So, I'd like to draw your attention to The Harpy by Julie Hutchings. The blurb from Amazon: Charity Blake survived a nightmare. Now she is one. Punk-rock runaway Charity Blake becomes a Harpy at night—a treacherous mythical monster who preys upon men just like the ones who abused her. Struggling through an endless stream of crappy coffee shop jobs, revolted stares, and self-isolation during the day, Charity longs to turn into the beast at night. Doing the right thing in all the wrong way[...]