Quick post today to let you know I've had a new short story published in the February issue of the lovely Apex Magazine. The story is "Work, and Ye Shall Eat," and it's one of the more bizarre things I've written, but also one of my favorites. Check it out! There is plenty of other great stuff there, including stories by Alix Harrow and P. Djeli Clark, as well as columns by other magazine contributors. The story is free to read online, but consider supporting the magazine with a subscription or through their Patreon; they deserve it. … [Read more...]
When a Movie Makes You Crazy
I saw a movie on Thursday, and it blew me away. Julia Ducournau’s Raw is about a young veterinary student who becomes a cannibal. It’s the best new film I’ve seen twenty years. I’m going to skip the traditional accolades here. Too many writers are better at describing why the film is great than I would be. And reviewing is not what I do on this blog. I will sometimes point you toward things I like, but mostly it’s a bizarre show and tell with a bit of futurism. So I will instead describe my reaction to Raw, and that will serve as my review. It will also demonstrate how crazy I … [Read more...]
Eight Great Horror Films of the Last Ten Years
In my last post, I listed the films and stories that creeped me out as a kid. The idea was to follow it with a list of what scares me as an adult and look at how things have changed. If that sounds like a bad college paper, don’t worry—I’d never put that much effort into it. For the childhood list, body horror was a common theme. So what scares me as an adult? Global coffee shortages, ankle sprains, and car trouble. But let’s keep it to movies… Here’s the problem: horror movies don’t scare me. A few can inspire a brief sense of unease, but that’s usually as far as it gets. I still … [Read more...]
What’s Scary to a Kid? A Personal Accounting
To keep with the spirit of Halloween, I decided to explore the way in which my film fears have changed between childhood and adulthood. To measure the change, I needed a baseline, and that starts with childhood. I’ll tackle my adult picks in another post. The following list won’t be complete, but it’s what I came up with after sitting in thinker-pose for an hour. These are the scares from films, stories, and scenes that cut me deep. My ultimate goal is to find a common theme. As a writer, I’m hard-wired to try for a specific conclusion—even in a blog post. Let’s see how I do. The … [Read more...]
It’s Hard to Build a Monster
It’s October, and there are monsters in the streets. Seeing so many of our traditional (favorite) creatures all at once has me thinking about hard it is to make a new monster. I’ve tried. It’s tricky. As a fan who enjoys the fantasy/supernatural/horror side of life, I’ve often wondered about the cultural domination of what I call the Big Six: 1) Vampires 2) Werewolves 3) Zombies 4) Ghosts & the Dead 5) Possession/Demons/Devil/anything that comes out of “Hell” 6) Witches I know these aren’t the only monsters out there, not by a long shot. We have everything from our … [Read more...]