Synopsis: In 1986, Clive Barker released his acclaimed novella The Hellbound Heart in the Night Visions anthology by Dark Harvest. A dark tale of lust, love and the flesh. Not long after its original publication, The Hellbound Heart was optioned for a film that ended up being directed by Barker himself--retitled as Hellraiser. Some parts of the story were changed for the adaptation, but the central character remained the same—an unsatisfied wife named Julia Cotton. In the novella, and first two entries in the Hellraiser franchise, Julia was the main antagonist. However, the wicked stepmother was never ‘the face’ of Barker’s dark fairy tale.


There’s no doubt that since the franchise began, Pinhead (or—as he is formally credited in the first movie—The Lead Cenobite) is the face of Hellraiser. From the first promotional posters, VHS box-art and so on, Barker’s peculiar-looking sadomasochistic creation was an instant attraction for fans of the horror genre. One of the most spectacular things about Hellraiser is the way in which Barker’s vision comes to life and invokes a fear from the audience due to his unusual, nightmarish, gory imagery. The fantastical elements in the films are often what any fan of Hellraiser, or Clive Barker in general, will remember them most fondly for. However, just like the novella in which Pinhead is simply a tactical part of the story, in the first two movies he wasn’t the lead antagonist—I’d go so far as to say that the cenobites were not antagonists at all. As frightening as their appearance and presence in the film is, they are merely gatekeepers of a darker foe. What makes The Hellbound Heart and its theatrical adaptation so horrific is not the monsters, but the humans—particularly Julia Cotton.

One advantage that Hellraiser has always had over other famous horror franchises is the female gaze, and perspective from the villain in the first two instalments. Julia dominates the screen thanks to Clare Higgins’s phenomenal performance and her cat-eyed glances, sly smirks with delicious satisfaction and, of course, her regal glamour. Higgins really takes to task on her character and makes Julia a villain that the audience loves to hate. At first, we are led to believe that Julia will be the heroine of the story as all the Gothic tropes and elements point towards that, yet Barker steers the genre—and character—in the opposite direction. Julia starts off as a character with a dilemma of the heart, someone who could easily be plucked from a Gothic novel. She feels a connection with her brother-in-law Frank that she doesn’t feel with her own husband. To state it bluntly: the sex with Frank was better. It’s not the most liberating of traits in Julia, admittedly, but her development from a cheating spouse to a coldblooded killer shows the lengths that she will go to so that she is reunited with Frank. Two particular scenes in the film show this transition perfectly as she stares at her bloody face in the mirror after taking her first victim—at first remorseful then with a hint of satisfaction. Later she watches a boxing match on television as Larry comments that the violence would usually repulse her. She smirks to herself before stating: ‘I’ve seen worse.’


Hellraiser was to be titled after the original novella but the studio thought it sounded too much like a romance novel. Struggling with a new title for the adaptation, Barker asked the production team for ideas and a female crew member offered the suggestion: ‘What a Woman Will Do for a Good Fuck’. It seems as though this is the box that Julia’s character was placed in originally: a lonely housewife still lusting after an affair with her brother-in-law. On the surface, yes, that’s exactly how her motive to kill comes to be. However, it’s how Julia’s character from the first film to second develops that really intrigues me. I’ve always thought of the Hellraiser films--and a lot of Clive Barker’s work, in fact—as a dark fairy tale. Parts of the film and novella have often reminded me of the Bluebeard tale, for example. The attic acts as chamber of concealed horror, where a dead lover’s remains are kept hidden from the other lover. Although it isn’t Julia who has hung, drawn and quartered Frank, in this case, she would be the Bluebeard character in the story due to her betrayal of Larry. However, there is one other fairy tale that comes to mind when I think of Julia Cotton.


The most significant change in The Hellbound Heart’s transition to screen is the character of Kirsty. In the novella, Kirsty is a co-worker and friend to Roy (renamed Larry in the film), whereas in the theatrical adaptation she is his daughter. The change in Kirsty’s characterisation not only provides her with stronger ties to the central antagonist, but it also gives Julia a motive beyond just seducing sexually driven men into Frank’s lair. They’re family which makes Julia’s actions more personal and intimate for Bambi-eyed heroine. Hints of a rift between Kirsty and Julia are planted throughout the film, and often Julia seems disinterested in her husband’s daughter. It’s only when her drive to kill builds up that she has no problem with Frank taking her husband’s skin and is happy to oblige when he also wants Kirsty’s. Unfortunately, this is where it backfires and Julia is murdered by her lover without remorse as he smoothly tells her ‘It’s nothing personal, baby.’ Kirsty gives Julia some competition and acts as the obstacle between her and Frank finally being reunited. However, Frank seems to have more of an interest in his young niece than his onetime lover. This is where the allusions to Snow White begin and really fleshes out Julia’s character arc—she is the wicked stepmother in Barker’s deranged fairy tale.


After her death—by the hands of Frank—Julia is allowed to return to earth via Leviathan in Hellbound: Hellraiser II. The events of the first film have changed her into an evil servant of Hell and a colder, more calculated villain. Julia’s development from the first film into the sequel is an outstanding display—and masterclass—of how one goes bigger and better with a returning antagonist. Thanks to Peter Atkins’s brilliant screenplay, Clare Higgins plays the role with sublime relish and really sinks her teeth into Julia’s new attitudefor act two. The setting of the labyrinth-like underworld acts as the dark forest that Kirsty and her new puzzle-solving sidekick Tiffany must explore so that they can rescue Larry from his torment. However, out of the many obstacles in Kirsty’s way, it’s Julia who will be her toughest challenge to face. No longer the squeamish and bored housewife who wants to be with her male lover, Julia has more important interests now. So much so that when she comes face-to-face with Frank again, she literally rips his heart out. Julia sums up her wicked new attitude herself when she sees her stepdaughter again for the first time: ‘They didn’t tell you did they, Kirsty? They changed the rules of the fairy tale. I’m no longer just the wicked stepmother. Now I’m the evil queen. So come on! Take your best shot, Snow White!’


But of course, no fairy tale would have a satisfying ending unless the evil queen is defeated. And sadly, Hellbound: Hellraiser II was the last outing for Julia Cotton in the Hellraiser franchise. With the popularity of Pinhead, and the other cenobites, the franchise changed its original intention to have Julia Cotton continue as the lead antagonist. In the original ending of Hellbound, Julia emerges from her death once again, wearing a black gown to rule the underworld. Apparently, Claire Higgins didn’t want to return for any future films and the franchise became what it is today. As hard as it is to imagine Hellraiser without Pinhead, I often wonder what it would look like had Julia continued to be the main villain of the franchise. With a remake and television series on the way, I hope that we see Julia Cotton once again and see more of what this wicked stepmother can do.

Clive Barker is my hero.


To fully understand this statement, I should preface this article by saying I was a child in the 1980s, a teenager in the 1990s. Not that long ago, but in some ways it feels like forever ago. Before Ellen and Will and Grace changed the television landscape, when queer people couldn’t openly serve in the military, before marriage equality was considered even a remotely realistic possibility.


And definitely before queer representation in the horror genre.


In fact, during my formative years you were hard pressed to find queer representation in most any genre, but it was particularly sparse in the horror field. You had the tragic gay couple at the beginning of Stephen King’s It, or you could dip way back to the lonely lesbian character in The Haunting of Hill House. The most positive representation we had were the gender-fluid vampires in the work of Anne Rice. But if you were a queer horror fan during that time, as I was, you weren’t going to be able to find many books where you found yourself represented.


And I looked, believe me I looked. Not just in the pages, but behind the pages. Back then you would also be hard pressed to find openly queer creators writing horror books. As an aspiring writer with an interest in horror myself, it left me with the impression that there was no place for me in the genre. My earliest writings contained no queer characters because judging by what I saw being published, I thought such a thing simply wasn’t allowed in horror.


Then Clive Barker changed everything for me.


I’ve heard people since say that even before he publicly came out, everyone in the industry knew he was gay. Well, I wasn’t in the industry. I was a teenager living in a tiny southern town, lonely and feeling like my favorite genre had no room for people like me.


Until the February 25, 1995 issue of The Advocate magazine.


At that point in my life, I was taking my first tentative steps out of the closet. In life, if not my fiction. I routinely bought the latest issues of The Advocate (subtitled at the time “The National Gay and Lesbian Newsmagazine”), and in this particular issue I was surprised and delighted to find an article on Clive Barker.


As a horror fan, I was of course familiar with Barker, both the films (Hellraiser and Candyman were particular favorites of mine) and the books (at this point I had read The Books of Blood, The Thief of Always, and The Damnation Game). I appreciated the breadth and boldness of his imagination, the sheer originality of his fiction, and I got a kick out of the fact that he utilized a gay couple as the leads in his short story “In the Hills, the Cities.”


Yet I had no idea the man himself was gay. Not until I read that article in The Advocate. Charles Isherwood had gone to Barker’s Los Angeles home and interviewed the storyteller for the piece, and in it Barker talked openly about being a gay man and how he thought his homosexuality was an asset to his creative endeavors.


I have to admit, I was shocked. Here was a well-known author who made movies and published with a major publisher (HarperCollins), an icon in the horror genre who had been praised by the likes of Stephen King himself, unashamedly talking about his homosexuality. In the article, he also talked a lot about the imagination, his writing process, the importance of stories, but he did not shy away from talking about his sexuality in very overt terms. He was frank and fearless, and I was left feeling stunned and elated.


In this day and age, I’m not sure if I could explain that feeling to someone who didn’t grow up queer in that time period. This was truly unprecedented, and the fact that he talked so candidly and casually about his sexuality made it even more groundbreaking. There are those that say a person’s sexuality doesn’t matter, but usually the ones who say that are people who have never been ostracized or discriminated against because of their sexuality. It does matter, and it particularly mattered in the mid-90s, so coming out in such a public way was an act of courage from Barker. Something that entailed actual risk to his career, but he did it anyway.


And that is why he is my hero. He didn’t just open a door for queer creators in the horror field; he blew the door right off the fucking hinges!


Coming out in The Advocate didn’t end Barker’s career or even slow him down. In fact, the very next year he released the book Sacrament which featured an openly gay man as the protagonist and used the AIDS epidemic still ravaging the gay community as a metaphor for endangered species. Or he used endangered species as a metaphor for the gay community. However you look at it, the book put gay themes front and center. In a mainstream horror/fantasy novel published by HarperCollins. His official bio started referencing his “husband.” In 1998, he produced the queer-centric film Gods and Monsters – a fictional account of the final days of real-life openly gay Frankenstein director James Whale, based on the book by openly gay author Christopher Bram, directed by openly gay filmmaker Bill Condon, starring openly gay actor Ian McKellen. Barker’s career continued to flourish, and he remained a respected member of the horror community.


That makes him more than an icon but an actual fucking legend in both the horror community and the queer community.


After reading that article, I began to rethink my assumption that I would find no place at the horror table with overtly queer work. It caused a shift in me as a person and as a storyteller, and I realized I was erasing myself from the narrative. I had craved representation in the horror genre, and Barker helped me see that I could contribute to that representation. I may never be as successful as him, but I could be as fearless and frank.


After that, I started putting queer characters in my work. Front and center. I started exploring queer themes, and my work became more honest, more personal, and I think much richer and deeper. Barker gave me that courage.


I also took strength from his example when later on I encountered publishers who were very upfront with their misgivings about queer elements in horror. These publishers weren’t necessarily malicious, but they all had an attitude of what I would call casual, even unconscious homophobia. I was told being so openly gay would kill any chance at a career in horror, that using queer characters would “alienate the heterosexual male fan base” of the genre. I was told I may need to find a publisher that specialized in marketing to a gay audience, intimating that a straight audience would never accept my work. I even had small word choices questioned because, I was told, one man calling another man “beautiful” would be too jarring for straight male readers.


But I persevered, in part because I had seen Clive Barker do it. He had blazed that trail and all I had to do was follow.


Today I see the horror genre (particularly in the small press, big New York publishing still has a ways to do) flourishing with such a diverse array of openly queer creators, and I feel it can be traced in part back to Barker, to that article in The Advocate. He gave us the signal that it was okay outside the closet. He was and is a pioneer, and that should never be forgotten.


Clive Barker is my hero.

Halloween is just around the corner, and we all know what that means, no I'm talking about cool costumes and candy, and talking about the release of lots of great movies.  

This weekend Ginger Nuts of Horror brings you news of some great looking horror movies that you might not be aware of that are releasing around the Horror Christmas period 

CREATURE FEATURE HORROR RELEASED IN UK THIS HALLOWEEN


 There’s something strange lurking in the woods by the lake in the unsettling new folk horror sensation NIX, released in the UK 31st October.


Genre star favourites, Michael Pare (Bad Moon) and Dee Wallace (Cujo) star in this nerve-shredding supernatural thriller about an evil entity threatening a family, directed by Anthony C Ferrante, the man behind the hit horror comedy Sharknado films, here turning away from tongue in cheek to scares in the woods.


Inspired by German folk tales, NIX is an eerie and intelligent examination of the impact of trauma on generations of families - as well as an all-out terrifying horror film with a very memorable new screen monster to scare you witless.


Strikingly photographed, with elements of super-shockers Hereditary and Sinister, as well as containing a nifty nod towards the famous Patterson-Gimlin ’Bigfoot’ footage, and with veteran thesps Pare and Wallace lending a stamp of chiller credibility, NIX is sure to become a new Halloween horror favourite after it is unleashed this October.


SYNOPSIS: A camping trip for the Coyle family ends in tragedy, when their young daughter Tessa disappears. Twenty-five years later, they are still haunted by the events of that day. Matriarch Donna (Dee Wallace) still believes Tessa is alive and continues to celebrate her birthday every year, hoping for her return. Oldest son Jack (James Zimbardi) tries to keep the family together without breaking down himself. Meanwhile middle son Lucas (Skyler Caleb) is a recovering addict with a young daughter of his own that he’s trying to protect. Terrible things start happening to the family again, with the appearance of a mysterious entity known as the “Nix”. The Coyle’s must confront the past - and what really happened out in the woods all those years ago - or succumb to the darkness that is waiting to consume them.


NIX was acquired by Central City Media in a deal closed by Jackrabbit Media.


NIX IS RELEASED DIGITALLY ON 31st OCTOBER​

Lightbulb Film Distribution is thrilled to confirm that the surreal, critically acclaimed sci-fi / horror Something In The Dirt will be in UK Cinemas from 4th November and then available on Digital Download from 28th November and Blu-ray from 5th December.
 
Something In The Dirt is the latest title from filmmakers Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, the creators of the crtically acclaimed The Endless, Synchronic, as well as episodes from Marvel's Moon Knight and the upcoming second season of Loki. The film is fresh from its sold-out UK premiere at FrightFest and there are also two further October festival screenings at Celluloid Screams (Sheffield) and FilmFear (Manchester)
 
When neighbours John and Levi witness supernatural events in their Los Angeles apartment, they realise documenting the paranormal could inject some fame and fortune into their wasted lives. An ever-deeper, darker rabbit hole, their friendship frays as they uncover the dangers of the phenomena, the city and each other.
 

“like nothing we’ve really ever seen before and like nothing we’re likely to see again.” «««««
THE GUARDIAN – SUNDANCE 2022

“ravishing, wildly original first feature”
NEW YORK TIMES

AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS TO RENT AND OWN FROM 20TH OCTOBER 2022
Named as ‘one of the 10 directors to watch’ by Variety, Macedonian-Australian Writer/Director GORAN STOLEVSKI’s audacious feature-length debut YOU WON’T BE ALONE is a visceral, spellbinding, dark supernatural thriller starring Starring Noomi Rapace (Lamb, Prometheus) Alice Englert (Beautiful Creatures, Top Of The Lake), Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days, Sex Traffic), Félix Maritaud (BPM), Sara Klimoska (Would You Look At Her, Willow), Carloto Cotta (Tabu), and Arta Dobroshi (Lorna’s Silence).

Drawing on his Macedonian roots, Stolevski sets his truly unique story of the birth of a shape-shifting witch in a 19th Century Macedonian village where superstition and folklore dominate the lives of the inhabitants.

Maria (Anamaria Marinca), a 200-year-old witch, abducts a young girl to raise as her own. But after transforming 16-year-old Nevena (Sara Klimoska) into one of her own kind, Maria quickly loses interest in her protégée. Abandoned in the woods, Nevena accidentally kills a peasant woman (Noomi Rapace) and assumes her shape. Enraptured by the wonders and hardships of life, Nevena continues to kill and inhabit both female and male villagers as she learns to treasure the range of human experience. But when Maria suddenly reappears, Nevena is forced to make a heartbreaking decision.

YOU WON’T BE ALONE is a hauntingly humanistic, lyrical exploration of what it means to be human from a great new filmmaking talent.

YOU WON’T BE ALONE IS AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS TO RENT AND OWN IN THE UK FROM
20th OCTOBER 2022
​

[September 23, Los Angeles, CA] Screamfest announced today its second wave of titles including the North American Premiere of MEAN SPIRITED. It will be screened on Tuesday, October 18 at 7:30pm at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, located at the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame.

MEAN SPIRITED follows a wannabe YouTuber who set out to bury the hatchet with his celebrity friend, just to find out that he is not quite himself anymore... 
Tickets to the premiere will be available on Screamfest’s website: https://screamfestla.com/2022/film/mean-spirited

“we are proud to be back at Screamfest with Jeff Ryan’s crowd-pleasing horror-comedy” said Entertainment Squad’s CEO and Executive Producer, Shaked Berenson, “after a great reception at Frightfest, we look forward to show the film to American public for the first time” Squad’s genre label, The Horror Collective, will release the film early next year. 

Festival Founder and Director Rachel Belofsky added: “Having produced some Screamfest favorites like The Golem, The Lodgers and Tales of Halloween, we’re looking forward to having Shaked back in the festival with Jeff Ryan’s Mean Spirited.”

“We had our eyes set on Screamfest since writing the script, so we are honored to have our US Premiere at the legendary Chinese Theater. We look forward to laughing and screaming with everyone in October” said director Jeff Ryan.

 Ginger Nuts of Horror brings you news of some of the horror movies  at this year's London Film Festival.  We have kindly added a link to purchase tickets to the films at the end of each listing.  

The Festival runs 5 to 16 October in cinemas around the UK
and from 14 to 23 October on the  BFI Player
​
For full details of the films on show please follow this link 

“Joanna Hogg returns to the LFF with an enthralling ghost story, featuring an astonishing performance by her The Souvenir and The Souvenir Part II (LFF 2021) collaborator Tilda Swinton.”
​
Director-Screenwriter
Joanna Hogg
Producers
Ed Guiney, Emma Norton, Andrew Lowe, Joanna Hogg
With
Tilda Swinton, Joseph Mydell, Carly-Sophia Davies
UK-USA 2022. 96min
Sales
A24
Language
English

Shot in secret during lockdown, the details of this project have been kept under wraps. To share too much would spoil some of the pleasure in decoding its riddles. Suffice to say The Eternal Daughter centres on a middle-aged filmmaker (Swinton) and her mother who spend a few nights in an old country hotel, a location that holds meaning for them both. It’s an intricately layered piece about motherhood, memory and loss, dressed up as a gothic chiller. Swirling mist, looming shadows, a ghostly presence half-glanced in a window… embracing some of the heightened stylistic flourishes seen in The Souvenir Part II, The Eternal Daughter takes Hogg into exciting new territory, while retaining her distinctive naturalistic signature. The film exists entirely as its own deeply enthralling and moving drama, but fans of the filmmaker’s recent work will also find it a puzzle-box of meta-textual delights.
​

“The dreams and nightmares of a teenager in lockdown are imagined in this darkly funny and nightmarish new film from Zombi Child (LFF 2019) director Bertrand Bonello.”

Director-Screenwriter
Bertrand Bonello
Producers
Justin Taurand, Bertrand Bonello
With
Louise Labeque, Julia Faure, Louis Garrel
France 2022. 80min
Sales
Best Friend Forever
Language
French
With English subtitles

​
Director-Screenwriter
Gabriel Bier Gislason
Producer
Thomas Heinesen
With
Josephine Park, Ellie Kendrick, Sofie Gråbøl
Denmark 2022. 105min
UK distribution
Shudder
Language
English, Danish
With English subtitles

“Lars von Trier returns with the long-awaited third season of his landmark supernatural hospital drama, 25 years after the first series aired.”

​
Episodes 1 and 2
Series Creator-Director
Lars Von Trier
Producer
Louise Vesth
Screenwriter
Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel
With
Mikael Persbrandt, Lars Mikkelsen, Bodil Jørgensen
Denmark 2022. 120min
UK distribution
MUBILanguage
Danish, Swedish, Latin
​With English subtitles

“Six tales of loneliness, romance and brutal murder interconnect in this ingenious horror-comedy set in social media-obsessed, post-pandemic Seoul.”

​
Director-Screenwriter
JUNG Bum-shik
Producers
PARK Min-woo, CHOI Jin
With
CHOI Ji-woo, LEE Yu-mi, CHOI Min-ho
South Korea 2022. 112min
Certificate
LFF 18
Sales
UNPA STUDIOS
Language
Korean
With English subtitles

“Like the 3am screams of a new-born, this chilling Norwegian pregnancy horror is guaranteed to give you sleepless nights.”

Director-Screenwriter
Kjersti Helen Rasmussen
Producers
Einar Loftesnes, John Einar Hagen
With
Eili Harboe, Herman Tømmeraas, Dennis Storhøi
Norway-France 2022. 100min
UK distribution
ShudderLanguage
Norwegian
With English subtitles

As most of you probably know, for the last, bloody hell, eight years, I've written the My Life In Horror essay series as part of Gingernuts Of Horror. During that time, I’ve stoked controversy, challenged orthodoxy, championed brilliance and, once or twice, even gone viral.


That blog series comes to an end this October.


And I won’t lie, it’s going to be a wrench. There have been months over the last eight years, especially when the wider climate has been bad, or my fiction projects have been kicking my arse and refusing to play, when bashing out a couple of thousand words about Indiana Jones or The Wild One have been a highlight, even a bridge back to confidence in my abilities - hey, man, you can still do this.


That said, it’s time to bring the curtain down, or, honestly, probably slightly past it. For one thing, there’s simply too many other projects demanding my attention these days; for another, I think there can only be a finite number of times you can describe a piece of work as a defining experience before people start to grow suspicious.


Two years ago, I collected the first 29 essays; revised, expanded, and resequenced them, creating an autobiography via the medium of pop culture criticism and remembrances entitled My Life In Horror Volume I. And enough of you wonderful, lovely people pledged to support it that, following a successful IndieGoGo campaign, I was able to put the book out in ebook, paperback, and hardback.


And now I want to do it again.


And I’m going to need your help again.


My Life In Horror, Volume II


Bigger. Bolder. More Personal. My Life In Horror Volume II contains a whopping 35 essays; each one revisited and revised for this edition. This time out, the subject matter is even more eclectic, as totemic horror works sit side by side with other pop culture items and deeply personal experiences.  As the blog series progressed, I dug deeper, really trying to get under the skin of the art that moved me as a child and young man... and to answer that seemingly eternal question, Why Horror?


This volume two collection includes essays on:


The Nightmare On Elm Street franchise
Candyman
George Ramero's Martin
Bodycount's debut album
Natural Born Killers
Superman III
The Columbine massacre


And many, many more.


As with Volume I, every single essay has been fully revised and will be professionally edited for this edition, and the essays themselves have been rearranged to be presented in the order in which I first experienced the subjects. This volume will represent the definitive edition of this work, creating a book that serves as both a passionate appreciation of the works of horror that have shaped my life, and as a memoir of my development as a writer.


I am incredibly proud of this book and want to ensure that, as with volume I, it's published to a professional standard, with thorough editing, clean formatting, and a good-looking cover.


And I can only do it with your help.


What I Need & What You Get


Professional editing costs money. Professional formatting costs money. Professional cover design? Money. I need this book to be as good as it can be, and I'm not currently in a position to invest that money ahead of time. This campaign allows me to fund that important work by pre-selling copies of the book, and then use the funds raised to ensure the book is presented to a standard I feel proud of.


For that reason, I have made this an all-or-nothing campaign. That means the project will only go ahead if I raise enough money to ensure that the editing, book production and shipping can be completed (including calculating in-site and transaction fees).


So, that's why I'm making this project a crowdfunded one. What do you get in return for your support? Well, most obviously, you'll get a copy of the book, in advance of mass-market publication - and in the case of the physical editions, signed limited edition books with exclusive-to-the-campaign cover art.  The campaign paperback and hardback editions will both be signed, limited to 100 copies, and feature campaign-exclusive cover art. There will also be a Deluxe Hardback Edition (limited to 26 copies, lettered and signed) that will contain an exclusive bonus essay that will only ever be published as part of this edition of this book.


There are also exclusive-to-this-campaign perks where you can request me to record a reading of your favorite My Life In Horror essay. See the campaign FAQs for more.


This will also be your last chance to get your hands on the Limited and Deluxe editions of My Life In Horror Volume I. Backers of the Volume I campaign have kindly given me permission to put out the remaining unsold limited editions of Volume I, exclusively via this campaign. These editions will never go on general sale, so if you missed out on them last time, this is your final chance to get one of these numbered or lettered copies of Volume I (including the essay printed in the Deluxe edition which, again, will only ever be published in that book).


So, you'll get My Life In Volume II, signed and/or in a format unique to this campaign. You'll get a chance to pick up the last copies of the Very Limited Edition Volume I hardbacks. Most importantly, you'll get a warm glow from knowing you helped me get this book out into the world in the best shape I could.


I know I’m shooting for the moon here. Regardless of whether or not this campaign pans out, I’m grateful to each and every one of you that’s read, shared, and chatted with me about these essays over the years. And I know it’s a tough and deeply weird time, financially, and not everyone can afford to support a campaign like this. The good news is, there are plenty of other ways you can support this project and help make it happen:


Tell people about the project - Tweet or post a link to Facebook. Tell people why you dig My Life in Horror, and why you think this'll be worth their while.


If you have a blog, plug it there (and if you want me to provide some text, drop me a message).


If you have a podcast/YouTube channel, mention it there - again, every avenue that helps get the word out helps the project (and if you do this, drop me a link so I can signal boost).


If you're a part of any Facebook or Goodreads group that might enjoy the book, share the link and let them know.


Thanks for your support and enthusiasm for this project. However the crowdfunder goes, the essays will remain on this site, free to read, for as long as there’s a Gingernuts Of Horror.


And I’ll forever be proud of my small contributions to this amazing site and community.